Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 57

At some point last semester, Donghyuck and Renjun had driven them home from school late one night. Chenle couldn't even remember why anymore, but he remembered that Jisung had been too embarrassed to admit he no longer lived with his dad, and the pair had almost ended up stranded at a bus stop in the dark.

With no other choice, Jisung had decided to come clean to Donghyuck and Renjun, to trust his friends with his most closely guarded secret. With the fact that, instead of living in Neo City, Jisung lived two towns over with his brothers—Taeyong, by blood, and Sicheng, in all but—because his father hadn't been able to cope when their mother got sick.

He'd taken his frustrations and grief out on Taeyong, only growing more vindictive after she died, and they'd eventually left for their own safety. Taeyong and Sicheng had found a house off-campus and made it a home for Jisung. Chenle had since spent many happy days and nights with the three of them there, and there was so much love inside those walls. So much joy and safety—but the school knew none of that.

As far as the Principal was concerned, Jisung only had two legal guardians on file in case of emergency—or, in this case, temporary suspension—and neither of them was named Lee Taeyong. The reception staff had actually called his mother's old number first, and it had taken everything in Chenle not to cry for his friend as he'd been forced to watch Jisung explain to the woman behind the desk that his mom was probably just out shopping or getting coffee somewhere, and that was why she wasn't picking up her phone.

After that, Jisung had made up some bullshit story about his father being at work, despite the fact that they both knew he hadn't worked a day since his sons had left him. The child support paperwork he forwarded to Taeyong each month told them as much—Chenle had been unfortunate enough to be there one day a few months back, when the usually stoic university student had broken down upon opening one of those letters—but the bottom line was simple.

If they called Jisung's dad, he'd pick up. If they called, he'd come. He'd come and he'd take Jisung away, and Chenle wouldn't be able to do anything to stop him. He had every right to, as dictated by the paperwork held on file two floors below where he and Donghyuck currently stood, and there would be no going back from that.

Jisung would just be...gone.

Not to mention, the man had thus far neglected to inform the school about the changes to his youngest son's living arrangements—whether through disinterest, laziness, or something closer to stubborn pride, Chenle couldn't say—but there was no guarantee that it would stay that way if he came down here in person.

All it would take is one off-hand comment, a few words spoken with a careless tongue, and social services would be all over their family. They might even take Jisung away from Taeyong permanently. Chenle wasn't sure either of them would survive that.

"Hyung, we can't let them call him!" His voice shook as he spoke, and Chenle's fingers clamped down hard on the hand still gripped tight in his.

"Okay." Donghyuck sounded oddly calm as he spoke, but there was a harshness in his expression that hadn't been there before. "Okay. Okay." Chenle wasn't sure what good repeating himself would do, but he wasn't about to argue with the older boy. "Here's what we're going to do. You're going to run back down there and try to stall the office staff for a few more minutes. Stall them any way you can, and I'll try to get in touch with Dongyoung-hyung."

"Dongyoung-hyung?" It took Chenle a moment to remember that Dongyoung was Taeyong's boyfriend, but then it suddenly made sense. If anyone might know where Jisung's brothers were, since they weren't answering their phones, it would be him. This, he mused as the older boy steered them towards the nearest staircase, was probably why Jisung had asked for Donghyuck. Donghyuck was smart. Almost as smart as— "Wait, hyung."