Head Down

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"What did you do?"

Jaemin grunts, flexing his red and bruised knuckle. He looks too much like someone Mark used to know back in Vancouver, and it only prompts him to miss home even more. There's a frown settled onto Jaemin's face, and there are hard lines on his forehead. Similar to Donghyuck, those two things don't belong on Jaemin's, perfect, beautiful face.

"Don't be quick to blame it on me," Jaemin answers, a juxtaposition because of how soft his voice comes out compared to how beaten up he looks. "Jeno started it."

"You do realize how immature you sound, right?"

Jaemin throws him a glare, the first negative reaction Mark has ever seen from the younger. His hand is still red, and it's obvious that it's in pain. There are a few cracks and tears in the skin which let's the crimson colour of Jaemin's blood be visible to the eye. The cut on the high of his cheek, almost right under his eye, is still clearly visible.

"Put ice on that," Mark sighs, jerking his head in the direction of Jaemin's hand. "And put a bandage on your cut." He goes to walk the few extra steps it takes until he's on his property, but he turns around halfway and speaks. "And don't get into anymore fights. Things like that...People like them won't understand."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"You have a lot of balls showing up here again."

Mark ignores the words, sitting down on the bench nearby. Donghyuck is only a few feet away from him, but Mark hopes that it's enough to keep the other away. Donghyuck doesn't say anything after, and Mark doesn't even know what he's doing because he won't look over. He sighs, stretching both of his arms out along the back of the bench.

"Public park." Mark says quietly, half to bite back at Donghyuck and half to have the last word. He stares up at the moon which is peeking out from behind the translucent blue clouds, the sun setting in another part of the sky.

The sun and the moon, huh? The two planets correlate an awful lot to Donghyuck and Jeno, Mark thinks. Donghyuck— People refer to him as the epitome of sunshine in this town. He's spoken of so highly, so royally and people always give Mark the stink eye when he ignores Donghyuck in the halls, when he dared to stir up a fight with the only thing Donghyuck holds precious to his heart: Jeno. Jeno— The boy who always wears a cold expression on his face, who always looks like he's ready to kill. The moon, because he shines, in a dark way. To everything and everyone negative, Jeno is their sun. Donghyuck is the sun, spreading warmth to the cold stone town and Jeno is the moon, leading darkness through the night for the dead hearts.

But Mark knows that Donghyuck cares for Jeno as if he were an angel on Earth. Mark knows that Donghyuck would let anything happen before so much as a finger could be laid onto his one and only Lee Jeno. Donghyuck looks at Jeno like he holds the answer to everything, like he is the only person deserving of anything and everything in the entire universe. But Jeno isn't any better. Jeno, who's always off the hook because Donghyuck's father is the principal. Donghyuck is Jeno's deity. His king, queen, his prince, princess, his and only his. Jeno, who is ready for blood if someone stares at Donghyuck for too long, Jeno who would be damned if he let someone make Donghyuck feel less than what he is. Jeno practically worships the ground Donghyuck walks on, and Mark thinks there isn't anything Jeno wouldn't do for Donghyuck. They were the sun and the moon, and there is no doubt about it in Mark's mind anymore. Donghyuck, the sun who steps down so that his moon can shine. Jeno, the moon who only leads in the lonely darkness, so that his sun can appeal to the more deserving of warmth.

Would Mark even call it love? Or is it just unhealthy obsessions? Untreated feelings? Unspoken emotions? Do the two of them even have a label?

And even if, somehow, in their own twisted way, it was love, would Mark ever feel that way for someone? Would Mark ever be able to give up everything for someone else? Would he be able to devote himself to a singular person, to cherish and be so invested into their life? Would Mark ever be able to... Be the moon for a sun?

He is snapped out of his overly complex thoughts when Donghyuck speaks to him again.

"Father brought back more flowers tonight," he whispers, picking himself up from where he was sitting cross legged on the grass. His strides are small and his steps are so quiet that they're almost nonexistent. When Mark looks back to where Donghyuck was sitting, he sees that there are more flowers petals, shredded to the smallest pieces, littered along a two foot square. This time however, he notes that the flower petals aren't dead or wilted. When his eyes flicker back to Donghyuck, who's now in front of him, Mark sees a whole of one, singular flower which is still connected to its stem. A dark green stem, with the thorns still attached. The flower is a white rose, plain, simple and dainty. "So I kept one alive."

Mark thinks that Donghyuck doesn't make any sense, but he never had to begin with anyways. A few hours prior, the younger was yelling at him to stay away from the one thing he holds to his heart, and now he's tucking a white rose behind his ear. Mark can only stare at Donghyuck's face as he manoeuvres the stem behind his ear, and he's barely affected by the way the thorns prick at his skin. Donghyuck's face is illuminated by the sun which is setting behind Mark, and he has no doubt that his own face is illuminated by the shy moon behind Donghyuck.

"What about Jeno?" Mark immediately asks when Donghyuck moves back, flower securely lodged behind his ear, thorns poking at his sensitive skin. Donghyuck seems to perk up at the mention of Jeno, and he clasps his hands behind his back, tilting forwards and backwards on his feet. There's a smile on his face: bright. But his eyes swim with something darker in them: mirth.

"Jeno?" He questions, looking down momentarily to toy with one of his large sleeves. When he looks back up, Mark thinks about their last encounter at this very park. "Jeno gets the flower without the thorns."