#mind dust

“Did I wake you up?” Donghyuck sounds frustrated, exhausted, and guilty- a common mixture of emotions at 3 in the morning.

“You know I’m always awake for you babe,” Mark responds while jumping around the room, slipping on the closest pair of pants and grabbing his dorm keys.

“I can’t sleep. Can you come over?” There’s soft sniffling on the other end of the line and Mark feels his heart break bit by bit.

“Order it yourself,” Jaemin mumbles, turning to show Jeno the broad expanse of his back. His boyfriend frowns and climbs into the bed, pressing his cold ankles against Jaemin’s warm calves. Jaemin yelps and promptly shoves him off the bed, sighing loudly when Jeno lets out an alarmed noise and pouts up at him from the floor. When did he get so clingy?

“Fine,” he finally concedes, moving out of his messy sheets to pull Jeno up. “But you owe me. We have to watch the scary movie that just came out.”

Yukhei coughs. “Let it be said,” he grabs a rag and moves to start wiping down the counter tops. “You started it.”

"I told you," he whispers, "I told you it would end this way. Are you happy now?"

Mark feels the wet stickiness flow through the grooves of his palms and clenches his fist. Was he happy? He presses his side against Jeno's and wraps an arm around the younger boy's shoulders, careful not to get blood on him. Jeno is still pure, untainted by Mark's lifestyle. "Baby," Mark whispers back, "I did this for you. Of course I'm happy."

“Hold on babe.” Yukhei drops his backpack by the door and puts the large white box he’s carrying on the coffee table before pulling Donghyuck into his arms, settling comfortably onto the couch. He feels curious eyes shift between him and the box but doesn’t elaborate.

“What’s that Xuxi?”

“Why don’t you open it?”

Donghyuck is still slightly suspicious, but shifts out of Yukhei’s hold to reach for the box. He pulls it into his lap, giving it a tentative shake. At this point Yukhei is practically vibrating next to him, so he bites the bullet and uses one manicured nail to slice the tape off the opening, revealing the soft material of what looks to be a very expensive jacket.

“Do you like it?? It’s cold now, so you should wear it to stay warm.” Donghyuck pulls the jacket out of the box to examine it further, face flushing when he notices Yukhei’s name and number on the back of it. He coughs. Yukhei has basically just gifted him an extremely nice varsity hoodie. Still...