Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 5

"One of your drama society friends?" she asked, coming over to sit on the step next to him. She made no move to touch him, which he was grateful for, but her proximity was calming. Motherly.

"No. Renjun. He's not in the--" He broke off as she let out a small gasp of surprise.

"Just when I think you're all out of surprises, Donghyuck-ah," she murmured. "That boy is an angel, and he has always been such a good friend to you. I don't understand why he stopped coming around here." She looked up at him, watching him carefully, but Donghyuck couldn't meet her eye. He wasn't sure either, if he was honest, but he couldn't tell her that.

"We've recently started talking again," he said eventually. That was the truth, even if he was being deliberately vague on the definition of recently. She didn't need to know that it had been a matter of hours. "I'm meeting him in town at 9." They both glanced up at the clock together, following the minute hand as it ticked past the 8, indicating that he had twenty minutes before he needed to be in the cafe Renjun had suggested.

"You'd better go soon then," she told him, gently patting his arm. She seemed to be aware of his reluctance to initiate further physical contact, or maybe the other Donghyuck just wasn't touchy-feely. He couldn't imagine being like that himself but, for now, he was grateful. He settled for a quick smile and a nod, then he pushed to his feet and started to pull on his shoes and hoodie.

He had to make a quick detour back upstairs to his room to collect his car keys from the pocket of his school uniform jacket, still not used to actually having and needing a car of his own to go anywhere, but then he was out of the door with fifteen minutes left to make it to the cafe. He hoped he made it on time. He didn't want to make a bad impression.

--

At 9:12 am, he caught Renjun's eye across the mostly empty cafe, hurrying over to take a seat opposite the black-haired boy, who wore a relieved look and a massive fluffy sweater. He gave Donghyuck a once over, taking in his pink cheeks, mussed hair and racing heart. He opened his mouth, and Donghyuck expected a well-earned rebuke, but then he just laughed. The sound was rich and full, and the younger boy didn't think he'd ever heard a sound so good in his life, his favourite ad-lib off the latest Dream album included.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," Donghyuck said quickly, still trying to catch his breath. He'd parked a few streets away and had been wandering for a while, stopping to ask bewildered locals how to find the building he suspected he should know well. He'd gotten some funny looks, and a few people had actually rolled their eyes at him and walked away without a word, but he'd made it eventually. Only twelve minutes late--it could have been worse.

"It's fine," Renjun said, smirking.

"No, it's not." He took a deep breath, feeling his heart starting to drop back into its normal rhythm. He took another breath. And then another. "It's really not. I got a bit lost, but that's not an excuse."

"You got--" Renjun didn't finish the sentence, instead choosing to stare up at Donghyuck in what looked to be amazement. At what, Donghyuck wasn't sure. His poor sense of geography was more tragic than amazing.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't know where--" Now it was his turn to fail to end a sentence coherently. It wasn't like he could just come right out and tell Renjun the truth, which was that he'd had no idea where this cafe was because he had no idea where anything was in this tiny town. Ironically, for a place called Neo City, he thought wryly, it felt entirely as alien to him as almost everything else in this reality.

"Oh, I just realised," Renjun's voice was barely a whisper now, " you've never been here before, have you?" His hand shot out and Donghyuck jumped as he seized hold of the fingers of his right hand, which had been resting on the table. "I mean, I know we've been here together hundreds of times as kids, but," he paused, "you've never been here."