never not | markhyuck

seventeen ♣

   it was around seven, and mark had finished eating about thirty minutes prior. he wished he'd been more specific earlier now that he wasn't sure where to find donghyuck. if only he had set up a meeting place and time rather than claiming he would find the younger himself. 

   mark wandered the halls, going to the library, the break room, and even scanning the tables of the dining room. with no luck, he went back to their dorms. opening the door, he was hopeful, but unfortunately, donghyuck wasn't there either. "looking for someone?" jaemin asked, whom mark realized was sitting on his bed, studying a textbook. 

   "yeah," he nodded, "have you seen donghyuck?" jaemin laughed, but it wasn't full and cheer as he usually sounded. it was almost—dead, and exasperated. his voice sounded dry as if he were near to losing his voice. "i haven't seen him, i never see him," jaemin told.

   mark eyed him carefully, taking a seat on jaemin's bed. "what are you reading?" the brunette snapped his book shut and hugged it to his chest protectively. "you can't have it," he glared. mark shook his head, "i don't want it." he gently moved jaemin's arms so that he could read the title. algorithms to live by: the computer science of human decisions, it read.

   why would jaemin be so secretive about a book on computer science? mark hadn't even realized that jaemin had even been taking computer science classes. i guess i need to be more observant, he told himself inwardly. he stared at the book longer and noticed that there was a lump between the closed pages, preventing the covers from meeting one another.

   he reached his hands towards it, but jaemin jerked his body backwards. "i said you can't have it!"

   this caused mark to pull back himself and frown. why was jaemin being so aggressive about it? mark observed his face, noticing the enlarged pupils and bloodshot eyes. "jaemin," mark breathed, watching as jaemin twitched ever so slightly. he knew just by watching that it was uncontrollable and jaemin was most likely unaware of it even happening.

   "are you-," he fell quiet as jaemin suddenly laughed again, throwing his head back. "are you okay?" mark asked. "i thought you were looking for donghyuck," jaemin changed the topic. "you and donghyuck spend an awful lot of timeee together," he spoke. his words seemed to barely be there, hanging in the air only faintly.

   "jaemin, i'm gonna take you to the nurse," mark decided. "no!" the younger shrieked, clutching the book to his chest once more. "go away, go away before i yell bloody murder," he said harshly, eyes becoming daggers. 

   "jaemin," mark reached out to grab his shoulders, but the younger male dodged it and got up, dashing out of the room. by the time mark caught up and looked into the hallway he had no idea of what direction jaemin had even gone. great, just another addition to my list of people to find, he thought to himself.

   on second thought, mark looked out the big window in the hallway, out to the yard. under the tree there was a person lying down. even with the slight fog and pouring rain, his gut told him that it was donghyuck. 

   before he could change his mind, he ran towards the yard in the rain, heading straight for the curled up body underneath the tree. just as he'd suspected, it was donghyuck. he got on his knees touching donghyuck's face gently. "hyuck wake up," he called. 

   the sun kissed male only stirred, not being as responsive as mark had hoped. "c'mon, donghyuck, wake up," he shook him now. almost grudgingly, donghyuck opened his eyes. mark breathed out in relief, helping him up in a sitting position. donghyuck did as he instructed, but refused to look at him. mark took notice in that, and tried not to push things. "can we go inside," he nearly begged. donghyuck was shivering and mark knew he would be next.