Chapter Text
“I think I can smell sounds.” Jaemin croaked.
They (Mark, Jaemin and Donghyuck) were lazing around in Mark’s dorm room after the end of exam week. Their brains were fried, Jaemin had drunk 50 of his horribly strong coffees, so the sound smelling thing wouldn’t be surprising, if it weren’t for a small, much more potent, factor.
“I think your head’s too close to Hyuck’s feet.” The boy’s legs were on the bed, but his head was hanging just above the ground, right in front of the aforementioned feet.
He lifted his torso to look at Mark, then Donghyuck.
“Shit. You’re right.” His eyes widened. “Dude, your feet stink.” And even though they stank, he returned to his previous position.
“I haven’t showered for three days. I’m doing a social experiment.” Donghyuck shrugged from the ground, not even lifting his eyes from his phone screen.
Mark scoffed. “You’re just being disgusting, and you know it.”
Donghyuck paused his game, lifted his eyes to meet Mark’s, and slowly raised an eyebrow.
“You didn’t think I was disgusting when-“
“Guys! I’m having a spasm on my eyelid!” Jaemin shrieked, turning around to show them. The middle of his eyelid was twitching up and down.
“Woah, what the fuck?”
“Yeah, Renjun told me his parents weren’t home and sent me a lovely photo and I think that’s why this is happening! Who would’ve thought you could have a spasm on your eyelid?” He rolled onto the ground.
“Wait, where are you going?” Mark asked when Jaemin started putting on his shoes.
“Renjun’s house.”
“Like, now?” Mark asked, slightly panicked, as Jaemin put on his shoes.
“Yeah, I’ve got to fuck all this energy away. See y’all later.”
He rushed out the door, leaving Mark alone with Donghyuck and his… unique aroma.
Mark looked at the closed door, feeling like a child who lost their footing at the deep end of a pool. He could feel Donghyuck’s piercing gaze on him, and he would ignore it for as long as possible.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Donghyuck open his mouth to speak, which could not happen in this moment.
“The eyelid thing was pretty crazy.” Mark blurted out, cutting him off.
Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Mark.”
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” He threw reluctant finger guns.
Their gazes locked once again. This time, Donghyuck lifted himself from the ground, going on his hands and knees, and started crawling toward the other boy.
“Mark…” He purred.
Mark noticed that the light from the lamp on his desk illuminated the room with an orange tone, reflecting off of Donghyuck’s nose and cheekbones. Mark could feel his heartbeat in his throat, pounding harder as he got closer. He altered between looking at his eyes, the tip of his nose, and his lips, watching the boy get each time closer, close enough to smell his surprisingly, thankfully minty breath.
“I’m not going to kiss you when you stink.” He blurted out when Donghyuck was a couple of centimeters away from his face.
A smirk slowly spread on his lips.
“So now you admit it.”
“I wouldn’t kiss you even if you smelled nice.” Mark grumbled.
“Hm, but you did already. A week ago. And you kissed me, not the other way around.” Donghyuck settled next to him. “You kissed me and you’ve been ignoring me ever since.”
Mark inhaled sharply. Of course he would notice. Mark really was stupid sometimes.
It had been exam week, but it hadn’t been their first exam week. Nothing had ever stopped them from talking to each other for an entire week. In fact, the longest they’d gone without talking to each other was during the beginning of their friendship, when they were nervous about seeming too clingy, and unsure of each other’s boundaries.
The only times they’d been together in the past week had been in cram sessions with their other friends and now, with Jaemin as the unknowing buffer. But now he was gone, and Mark was left to fend for himself.
“You smell really bad.”
Donghyuck rolled his eyes. As I said, Mark really was stupid sometimes.
“If I shower, you’re going to jump me and we’re not going to talk about anything, and you’re going to ignore me again. I stink so that you don’t notice how hot I am.” He explained, as if it were something completely normal which people did with a considerable frequency (he was right, though. The absence of his best friend during the past week, after their kiss, made him crave the boy even more).
“Cocky, huh?”
“You wish you could disagree. Now, talk.” He nudged Mark with his elbow.
Mark fiddled with his fingers, avoiding Donghyuck’s stare. “What do you even want me to say?”
“I don’t know, maybe what’s on your mind.”
“No thoughts, head empty, baby.” He giggled humorlessly.
Donghyuck sighed.
Mark finally looked at him. He’d pulled his knees up, hugging his arms around them. There wasn’t any cockiness anymore. He looked small and frail.
“Then tell me why you kissed me.” He bit his thumb nail. Mark’s heart accelerated once again.
“I don’t know.” The thought of telling Donghyuck that, that night, he’d looked at him, seen the way his smile filled the room with life, with light, and simply couldn’t keep to himself anymore, needed to have him a little closer than before, was mortifying.
“So you’re not going to tell me anything?” He could hear the disappointment in his voice, it matched the frustration building up in his chest.
“What do you want me to say?” He spat out without meaning to.
“That you want me back. That you like me back.”
“Oh.”
Mark felt something lift off of his shoulders in that moment. His lungs filled with fresh air (and a hint of Donghyuck’s stench god fucking damnit). The corners of his mouth lifted in a smile and he coughed out a laugh.
“You smell so bad Hyuckie. Will you please take a shower now?”
“Are you fucking serious?” He shot up, shouting at Mark while pacing around the room. “I tell you that I like you and the only thing you can say-“
“I want to kiss you and hold you but I can’t because you smell disgusting, okay?” Donghyuck froze in front of him. He grabbed onto Donghyuck’s limp hand with a grin. “I kissed you because I couldn’t not kiss you. I couldn’t stop myself.” A shy smile spread on Donghyuck’s face. “I like you back, and I’ll like you even more after you shower.”
He tugged at his hand. “Shower with me, I want to kiss you as soon as possible. You have no idea how many feelings I have right now, it’s disgusting.”
“Fine.”
Mark let himself be led into the bathroom and watched as Donghyuck took his clothes off and got onto the bathtub.
“Clean yourself first, I’ll join you in a second.”
Donghyuck pouted but did as he said, washing himself very thoroughly, making sure Mark saw how well he was cleaning himself.
Mark saw, alright. He watched as the water ran down his tanned, toned body, while slowly undressing.
Only after Donghyuck finished washing his body did Mark join him, closing the curtain and pressing himself against his back, wrapping his arms around his waist immediately.
Donghyuck leaned his head back, onto Mark’s shoulder, and the boy started dropping chaste kisses on his neck, traveling from his collar bone to his jaw, then turning his head to the side and finally kissing his lips.
Donghyuck moved his hand to grasp the back of Mark’s head as their lips moved against each other’s and turned around in his arms.
Mark held him even tighter when he dropped a final kiss on his lips, pulling away with a lazy smile.
“Want me to wash your hair for you?” He caressed Donghyuck’s cheek.
“Maybe not yet. I’m going to sweat later.”