liminal ; markhyuck

twenty-three

mark stood in front of donghyuck with a towel around his neck. donghyuck ran his fingers through mark's wet hair and sighed, "i need to clean up before my parent's start dinner."

mark shuddered at donghyuck's second time of running his hand's through his hair. donghyuck made eye contact with mark, "what's wrong?"

mark looked down and then back up at donghyuck. "i'm scared of meeting your parents as your boyfriend. they saw me when we were with the boys so they didn't get much time to question me. but now the boys are gone so it will be a one on one conversation. is it bad that i'm this nervous?"

donghyuck smiled at mark and stole the towel off his neck to wipe his hair. mark scowled when donghyuck removed the towel from his face and shook his head to get the extra wetness off of him. donghyuck yelped and jumped back in disgust, "what the hell. jeno did the same to me earlier."

mark smiled nervously, "yeah i know. it was really funny. and you didn't answer my question."

donghyuck patted mark on the back and walked inside the house. 

-

mark helped donghyuck set the table for dinner and even helped with washing dished before. donghyuck's parents watched the two from the loft. donghyuck's dad chuckled when mark quickly defended himself when donghyuck 'accused' him of not washing the fork properly. he took a sip from his wine glass and turned to his wife, "he's very different from yukhei."

donghyuck's mom nodded and looked down intensely at mark. almost like he was trying to read him. "what are you doing?" donghyuck's dad said in a low feverish voice.

donghyuck's mom looked at her husband and then cracked a smile, "analyzing him of course. i like him much better than yukhei. yukhei was always one to be pushed around whenever a threat came his way."

donghyuck's dad agreed quickly, "maybe that's why jungwoo-"

donghyuck's mom covered his mouth and shook her head in disapproval, "remember the rule we made with donghyuck. although the incident is over we don't need to have him overhear and cause him pain."

he only sighed and refuted to his wife because that's all he could do.

-

"well mark, you're a lovely young man." donghyuck's mother said as she scrubbed the glass dish smoothly.

donghyuck tugged on his mother's sleeve, "may mark and i be released?" 

donghyuck's mother nodded, "your father and i are going to go out for a bit. so feel free to be in the living room after we leave."

donghyuck and mark bowed and scurried to donghyuck's bedroom.