Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 6

"I did some research online last night," he began, ignoring the fact that Donghyuck had just flipped the page and started a second page of names. "There wasn't anything exactly like this, not that I expected there to be, but there are some movies that are kind of similar."

"Oh?"

"Well, take Groundhog Day, the American movie, for example. The guy in that got stuck in a time loop until he figured out how to fix things and go back to normal. You're not in a time loop per se, but you are stuck." Donghyuck glanced up at him, pausing to take a sip of his drink before responding.

"I've never seen that one," he admitted, shrugging. "What does he do to get unstuck?"

"I--I haven't seen it either," Renjun admitted sheepishly. A raised eyebrow from the other boy had him hurrying on. "I don't think the specifics are important though, Hyuck. I think the point is that there are a few movies and books that are similar." He flipped the slightly crumpled sheet of paper in his hands and held it up so Hyuck could read it. "As I see it, there are three common threads running through all of them, more or less. We just need to figure out which one is relevant to you, and to that list, and then go from there."

"Simple as that, huh?" Donghyuck didn't look entirely convinced, but he wasn't outright shooting Renjun down. That was a start.

"I--" Suddenly this didn't seem like the genius plan that it had appeared at 1 am that morning. "I'm sorry, Hyuck. I'm just trying to help." His enthusiasm started to dwindle, but then Donghyuck's face was right next to his and he couldn't look away.

"No, this is perfect, Injun-ah." Renjun's lips curled into a smile at the casual use of the unfamiliar-yet-fitting nickname. Donghyuck smiled angelically up at him then, and he was reminded of why this boy had almost always been the very centre of his universe, even when he turned out to be from somewhere else entirely. "Without you, I'd have nothing. Tell me more!"

Over the next ten minutes, Renjun outlined his crude bullet points for Hyuck, who nodded along and gave him his undivided attention. Renjun's list included three possible catalysts, each of which Donghyuck agreed could be entirely plausible.

"Righting past wrongs makes total sense," Donghyuck explained, tapping the first bullet point with the end of the pen that had been in his mouth more times than Renjun cared to think about. "I told you about what I said to Johnny-hyung that night and how I was acting, in the weeks leading up to it. I can see now that was all on me and, if I could go back and do it again, I would. In a heartbeat"

"And this one?" Renjun pointed at point three, complete with a few choice spelling errors that Hyuck had kindly laughed at him for.

"Personal growth is really vague," Donghyuck mused, studying Renjun's neat penmanship solemnly, "but I think it could also make a lot of sense. I haven't been acting as an idol should lately. I was acting like a child, and everyone was noticing. Johnny-hyung was just the one brave enough to call me out on it."

"I'm sure you weren't--" Donghyuck waved away the sympathetic excuse with a flick of his wrist.

"You don't understand, Renjun-ah. I've had a lot of time to think about things this week. For a while, I was so wrapped up in how unfair this all was that I didn't think about why. I can see now that things got that bad because I forgot what I was doing, and why I was doing it. I was letting people down, and I was selfish. That's unacceptable."

That was the most words Renjun thought he had heard come out of Donghyuck's mouth in one go in a very long time, and it was so much like the Donghyuck of his childhood that he couldn't help but grin. "Well, if that's not some serious personal growth, Hyuck, I don't know what is." Donghyuck tried to glare at him, but that faded to a smirk of his own and the younger boy shrugged. Neither of them could argue with that reasoning.