Limitless (NCT one shots)

No limit (Mahae)

Age gap- Mark is 42, Donghyuck is 20

When Donghyuck's mother died four years ago, leaving him with his stepfather he was numb. He was sixteen, confused about his feelings. He knew he should be sad but he could never bring himself to be. For this he felt guilt and shame and it led to a year of rebellion that almost landed him in a juvenile detention center. Luckily his stepfather Mark, was a rich and powerful lawyer who was able to get him off with only community service. He was great full but would still come home and complain every night like a petulant child about having to clean dog shit at the local pound and walk the smelly beasts too. He would come home, voice his complaints then head to the shower to wash it all away in the hottest water he could stand.
Mark would listen to his complaints, half heartedly then wave him off to do his thing.

Mark understood he was struggling, and he knew the reasons why. One night when Donghyuck came home so drunk he could barely walk, he had told Mark about his guilt of not feeling sad. Mark didn't blame him really. He knew what a retched witch that woman was. She was a marriage of convenience for Mark. He could never love her. She only wanted him for his money anyway so when she died that night in her car that slipped off an embankment, he too didn't feel the way he should.

They were married for four years, in that time he watched her treat her only child like a disease. He wasn't born in a loving home with a happy relationship, he was born as a helpless product of a one night stand. She never really wanted him but due to family pressures, she kept him.
Mark couldn't stand to see the way he was treated at the young age of twelve so he worked later hours and stayed away as long as he could.

This all changed the night before his thirteenth birthday. Mark came home late as usual, it was nearing eleven pm. His wife, was sitting on the couch with a half empty bottle of wine in one hand and a cigarette burning in the other. He was fuming.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? You know I don't allow smoking in my home." She scoffs as he plucks it from her fingers and puts it into the wine bottle to snuff it out.
"It's our home baby, we are happily married." She says with fake sweetness lacing her voice.
"Yes, we are married but it's still my home, and what about Donghyuck? He's a child and this is not good for his lungs." She slams the now undrinkable wine bottle down and scoffs indignantly.
"That thing is a brat, ungrateful brat that doesn't deserve clean air. But don't you worry your pretty little head. I gave him what he deserves." Mark frowns, his chest tight with worry.
"Where is he?" She shrugs.
"He should be sleeping peacefully in his bed right about now. He was being a brat. He had it coming." Mark didn't stick around any longer to hear her useless chatter anymore. He practically ran up the stairs and burst through Donghyuck's door. He turned on the light and frantically searched for him, his bed empty. He ran back out to the bathroom across from his room and his heart stopped when he opened the door. There on the floor pressed between the tub and the toilet, he was passed out. He had a purple hand print on his cheek and foam at the sides of his mouth. He could tell by the contents in the toilet that he tried to throw up whatever poison was in him but it wasn't enough.
With a shaky hand he called 911 and did his best to give him cpr, even though he was untrained.

After she berated him for one grade that wasn't as high as she thought it should be, she slapped him around quite a bit. When she had enough of his crying she smashed up a bunch of sleeping pills and put them in a glass of juice. Donghyuck had figured right away there was something wrong with the juice because she wouldn't let him stop until it was all gone. But when he started feeling more tired than he ever had he knew he needed to try to get it out of his system.
He ended up being in the hospital for a week. Mark visited everyday. He even stayed to watch tv at night until he fell asleep.
After that, as much as he wanted to just divorce her and cut his losses, he couldn't leave Donghyuck alone with her.
She knew she was on thin ice so she didn't pull anything that horrific anymore, only told him how disgusting he was when Mark wasn't there to hear it.