something sweet, a peach tree | mark/jaehyun

Chapter 8

Mark doesn't realize it until the last day of his internship, but he's fractured his life into three jagged-edged parts. First, his family, who think he's the same diligent Markie who stays late at work and goes to bed early and spends his free time with his friends as he prepares for his final year of college. Second, his friends, who think he's the same diligent Mark who spends time looking after his little niece and paying his older brother and sister-in-law back for looking after him all these years. And third, Jaehyun, who only knows the Mark that has blossomed in the bright heat of this summer, shy and cocky all at once, thrilling and pretty and free.

His family thinks he's spending time with his friends. His friends think he's spending time with his family. Jaehyun... Mark doesn't want to know what Jaehyun thinks. He hopes Jaehyun doesn't think about it at all. That would be better than him worrying silently over the sacrifices Mark makes and the lies he tells, but Mark has a feeling the latter is closer to the truth. So he doesn't ask.

Only Johnny has a sense of what's actually going on. But Johnny is grown up, with his own job and bills and maybe a thing for the cute guy on a different team at his company who sits three cubicles down. So while he expresses some vague concerns to Mark over how he's choosing to live his life, Mark knows he doesn't really have the mental space to actually keep track of him. So he agrees to help Mark lie to the others, something about wanting to be a little more independent, and just tells him to be safe.

So really, Mark's life is in four parts, the final part being his internal world, which is vast and dark and lonely. He says bye to his fellow interns after a few celebratory drinks and tries to recall their surnames or their majors or anything really about them at all while he walks home. By the time he's unlocking his front door, he's still drawing a blank.

He doesn't have much time to really piece through it, because Saturday is all moving. James is there early in the morning with coffee and breakfast, and they haul Mark's stuff to his new unit. It's a three-bed with a nice living room and pretty spacious kitchen, and two bathrooms, one of which features a tub and a shower. It also has a little balcony off the living room space, just big enough for a medium sized table and a couple chairs.

Mark's sharing with Donghyuck in the middle-sized bedroom, their two twin XLs carefully tucked in opposing corners of the room to give them a little space, though Mark has a feeling Hyuck's gonna insist on morning cuddles even though a twin is barely big enough for one. Their room has a nice big window and solid closet space, plus room for two small dressers and desks and a shared bookshelf.

The juniors, Chenle and Jisung, will be in the smallest bedroom despite the fact that Chenle is the reason any of them get to live here at all. Technically, he could have his own studio or one-bed if he wanted, but he wanted to live with his friends, so Mark doesn't feel bad. Those two have opted for a bunk bed for some insane reason, which remains unassembled and boxed with the rest of their furniture on the floor.

The other three are sharing the master bedroom, which features an en-suite bathroom. It's the smaller bathroom of the two, so that will be theirs, while Mark will share the big one out by the kitchen with the Donghyuck, Chenle, and Jisung. Mark would be a little pissed that he's not in the fancy bedroom, but Renjun and Jeno and Jaemin have some bizarre psychosexual thing going on, so he's kind of glad they have their own space.

He tries to be his usual chatty self with James as they clean up his old, empty unit, but he's tired by the afternoon and his thoughts are far too absorbing. To James' credit, he only asks if Mark is okay once, and seems to accept his answer about being stressed about school starting without question. They're done in time for a late dinner, and Mark collapses into his new bed in his new room as soon as James leaves and instantly falls asleep despite how deeply his body aches.