Slopes

t w e n t y n i n e

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"Y'know," Donghyuck starts as he clambers into the bus seat. "I used to think you were straight."

Mark, who had the window seat and was leaning his head against it, turned abruptly. "Sorry?"

"Yeah, I thought you were straight," Donghyuck repeated. The bus began moving, the boys shoulders' knocking together from the rumbling.

"You mean," Mark's voice was pitched higher than normal as he said, "You looked at me and went 'ah yes, a heterosexual'."

Donghyuck rolled his eyes. "Look, it's not my fault you're straight-passing."

"I am not straight-passing! I'm fucking bi!"

Donghyuck gave the older a flat look before saying, "You literally called me 'dude' after making out with me."

"That doesn't mean shit."

"Oh I think it means all the shit."

Mark groaned, holding his face in his hands. The ride was silent for a few minutes, nothing but the soft tune of a SVT song that played through Donghyuck's headphones to fill the quiet. Their hands were clasped together, fingers interlocked and shoved in the space between the two of them. Mark's hands were warm and calloused, soft in the same way a carpenter's were. Donghyuck however, always had cold hands. His fingertips like ice, no matter what he tried.

"Jesus christ...I am straight-passing," Mark muttered into his unused hand. He was staring at the seat in front of him in bewilderment.

"What? Has no one told you that before?"

"I don't think it's something most people really go around saying, Hyuck."

Donghyuck smiled and brushed his thumb against Mark's knuckles. "Good thing I'm not most people."

"Good thing?" Mark raised a brow, eyeing the boy beside him. His voice was teasing, edging Donghyuck on with fond annoyance.

"Har har. You're sooooo funny hyung. Really, I can't stop laughing."

Mark cracked a smile, pleased. Donghyuck had been calling him 'hyung' more often. Which yeah, wasn't innately strange or a huge deal, but even when he said it in a room full of people, Donghyuck made it seem like it was only meant for him. Sure, Korean formalities weren't special in any sense, but after nearly nine months of just his name, Mark felt his chest swell with unmistakable joy at the upgrade. Before it was muttered in the soft moonlight, only when they were alone, and yeah there was a certain charm to it, but nothing felt quite as good as Donghyuck saying 'hyung' and everyone in the room knowing it was meant for Mark.

Mark shrugged. "I'm a comedic genius, I know."

"Ugh. You've been spending too much time with Jungwoo." Donghyuck crossed his arms over his chest, bringing Mark's hand with him as he was unwilling to let go. "You have such an ego now."

"I like to think I've always had an ego."

"Yeah but now you're flaunting it."