Safe place (Markhyuck)

6

Mark: Good morning.
Mark sends a simple text to let Haechan know he is thinking of him before he heads out to work. He hops on the bus and is lucky to get a seat of his own, for now anyway. He is getting sleepy midway through the ride but the ding from his phone wakes him up.

Haechan: Good morning, have a good day at work. Maybe later you can tell me about your coworkers?

Mark chuckles excitedly, he is thrilled that Haechan is opening up to him so quickly.

Mark: I definitely will. Learn a lot.

Haechan giggles and sets his phone to the side to try to focus on school. It is going to be hard since he is thinking so much of Jeno's cousin.
He has a long boring day as usual, at least until he starts getting texts from Mark.

Mark:

This is Yuta pretending to be a model. He's starting to be a fun guy. For like the first week he thought I was going to try and steal his man so he was kind of angry all the time. Now he knows I'm not a threat.

Mark:

This is the love of his life and my mentor Sicheng or Winwin. He's really helpful and he is so cute. The best part is how oblivious he is to Yuta's feelings. I can tell he likes him back because I catch him staring quite a bit. They are hopeless.

Haechan is hysterical and is so thankful for this much needed break and laugh.

Haechan: They are too cute, I bet they are fun to work with. Do they know about me?

Mark: No, I told them my mom wanted photos of my coworkers to see if they were nice. They bought it so it's all good.

Haechan: thank you. It means a lot. My trust issues run deep , so at least for now I'm glad they don't know about me.

Mark: I had a feeling, but tonight I'm only working half a shift at the cafe, I'm going to stop by a little early and we can visit then. I have to get back to work now.

Haechan is shaking as he sets his phone on the table. He likes this Mark guy but he's not ready to have just anyone stop by for a visit. He tries not to think about it but it's always there in the back of his mind. He spends the rest of the day dwelling on it and cleaning his already clean house even though he has no plans to let him in.

Mark is happy to get off early for a change, so this time he goes a little further out of his way and buys two cupcakes at the bakery. They are just white with chocolate frosting but he has them wrap them cutely.

Mark: I put your surprise on your back steps and I'm in front so I won't make you uncomfortable.

Haechan's jaw drops, he never thought a person could be so thoughtful. He peeks out the front and sees Mark sitting on the step so he goes to the back and quietly and quickly opens the door to get his things.

Haechan: thank you. You are sweet. I have to be honest I was super scared today when you said we are going to have a visit.

Mark reads the text and smiles softly to himself.

Mark: you are welcome and I'm so sorry I scared you. I just thought I could sit out here and text you, almost like having a face to face conversation.

Now Haechan is sure he has to be the sweetest guy alive. He giggles at how cute he is and opens the nicely wrapped box.

Mark: it's nice for a change to get off work early, i needed it for sure.

Haechan: wouldn't you rather be with Jeno? Or another friend? I don't want to keep you.

Mark: Don't worry I want to be here. I just need some time to relax and I think hanging out with you is perfect for that.

Haechan: how was work? And are those your only coworkers?

Mark: it was good, I have more but I'm going to make you wait. When I'm done with the ones at the office I will introduce you to the ones who sometimes make your lattes.

This makes Haechan smile again, If he has to wait then that means that Mark will be texting again.

Mark: how was school today? Do you like doing it online or is it more of a pain?

Haechan: honestly it's more of a hassle and if I can't figure something out I have to email the professor and wait until they reply. I wish I was brave enough to go to real school.

Mark feels bad for bringing it up, he doesn't know what's off limits to talk about and doesn't want to offend him only after texting for two days.

Mark: I'm sorry if you don't want to talk about it. If I ever ask or say something that makes you uncomfortable just say pass, and I won't hesitate to leave the subject.

Mark: also, I think you are brave for letting me in to your life, and I thank you.

Haechan smiles reading both texts and wipes his tears.

Haechan: thank you, you are so thought full and kind.
Sometimes it's hard to think about the things I can't do, on those days I get angry and sad. I try not to dwell on it but sometimes it's really hard and I have to find a way to cope. Some days I feel like a burden to Jeno, because he spends his time running errands and visiting me when he should be with his boyfriend.

Haechan: lately when I start to feel those feelings I read your notes and they help me, a lot. I hope we can be great friends.

Mark can't help the warm feeling in his heart as he reads these. He's so thankful that he can help and be a friend at the same time.

Mark: I'm happy that my notes help you, and that you want to be my friend. Don't worry about Jeno at all, he loves you like a brother and would do anything for you. He doesn't mind a bit and Jaemin is good with it too.

Haechan: can I see your face? Like just a selfie or something? Not that it matters but I would like to visualize the person I'm talking to.

Mark thinks long and hard.

Mark: I will send you one tomorrow along with two of my coworkers and I want to see if you can guess who I am.

Haechan pouts.

Haechan: That sounds hard, you will have to give me some sort of clue to go on.
Haechan waits but doesn't get a reply so he peeks out the little window on the door to see what looks like Mark sleeping against the railing. It's not that warm right now so he doesn't want him to get sick so he does the only thing he can think of, and calls him. As soon as he sees that it worked he hung up and texted him.

Haechan: go home and go to bed, you need to rest. We can talk tomorrow.

Mark reads it and sighs, he really wanted to spend more time here but he is really tired.

Mark: I'm sorry, I wanted to stay longer but I should go to bed. Goodnight Haechan.

He stands and looks at the house and waves toward the window not knowing if Haechan can even see it. He does. He smiles softly and lifts his hand only to pull it back down knowing Mark can't see him.
He feels sad again, he was strangely disappointed when Mark left and also angry at himself for being so pitiful. He decides that he's better off going to bed now or he will stay up and dwell on his negative feelings and probably hurt himself.

As he tries to sleep he focuses on the fun parts of their conversations and the sweet things Mark does and says that make his day, he actually falls asleep with a smile on his face.