Slopes

t w e n t y s i x

<^>

Mark had a very large problem on his hands. That problem being: he found the right word to describe Lee Donghyuck. A crush.

Mark had realized this while he was eating chinese takeout with Yuta in the apartment, and he ended up choking on his tangsuyuk. It was not a pleasant evening, as right after he got over his choking fit, Mark let out a string of curses that even his aunt would slap him for saying. Yuta, who had been sitting there, noodles halfway in his mouth in frozen surprise, almost wanted to laugh at the young man. Did he know what was wrong? Not at all, but seeing Mark struggle was entertaining nonetheless.

Mark eventually got over it, and stayed in his seat, slumped and wrapped in his thoughts. When did this happen? When did Lee Donghyuck suddenly appeal to him like this? And why? Sure, the kid was good-looking, we've been over that– so why was Mark suddenly so infatuated with him? Well, maybe not suddenly, he'd been thinking about Donghyuck more and more over the past months, and it all had come to fruition at the dinner table.

Horrible timing, really.

Had it been that moment in the crashroom at midnight? Mark had found Donghyuck asleep (again) in the locker rooms, slumped against the bottom locker, his knees up against his chest and his arms around them loosely. Mark had just arrived for his practice, and had gone in to change when he found the boy in that state. Sure, his heart had skipped a beat but that didn't mean that anything, did it?

Or maybe it was the time where they were on the bus and Donghyuck had woken from a nightmare more shaken than usual. Mark had, instead of waiting with Donghyuck for his stop, invited him into his own apartment and let him sleep there for the night. In the morning, they had woken up in each other's arms, but neither said anything about it afterwards.

Or maybe it was the afterparty from one of their meets, where Donghyuck had lost his section [🐵: it wasn't the race dw] and had clung to Mark sadly the entire night. He hadn't paid attention to whatever was going on with the rest of his team, his focus only towards the boy that was sighing while hanging on to his arm.

Or maybe it was at last week's meet, where Mark noticed he couldn't take his eyes off of Donghyuck as the boy raced down the hill like he always did. There was just something about the look on Donghyuck's face that always put Mark's heart into overdrive. If he didn't know any better, he would say that everyone's hearts would pound when Donghyuck flashed that smile.

And oh god, was his smile beautiful. The way Donghyuck's entire face would shine even brighter when he flashed his teeth, his lips curling into his gums expressing the pure happiness he was feeling. And it did something to Mark whenever that smile was directed at him, as if he was the only person in the world who could make Donghyuck smile like that. As if Mark was special. And some part of him truly wished he was, that he was someone who Donghyuck treasured, who Donghyuck thought about in the early rays of the morning sun. And though that hope was fleeting, all doubt would wash away when the boy would look at Mark, smile softly, and whisper 'hyung'.

Okay, so maybe it was more than a crush. Mark could accept that, at least, he thought he could– but when he went to practice the next morning, he had no idea what to do with himself. He didn't think his enlightenment would affect him this much yet here he was, staring at Donghyuck as if nothing else was worth his time (part of him believed that to be true, but Mark tried to shut that down as quickly as possible).