Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 19

"Missed you too, hyung." Jaehyun released him reluctantly, and Donghyuck stepped back to look up at the man smiling affectionately down at him. "I was starting to think I'd never find you." His eyes momentarily flicked to the house behind them, the one Jaehyun had just vacated, and, when he returned his gaze to his brother, he noticed that Jaehyun's ears had gone red. "I'm guessing this isn't your dorm."

"Not exactly," Jaehyun admitted, as the blood rose in his cheeks to match the tips of his ears. He glanced over his shoulder, before indicating Donghyuck's car with a wave of his hand. "Grab your stuff and I'll explain on the way inside." Finally remembering that they were both wasting money and battery life on a phone call they no longer needed, Jaehyun disconnected his device as Donghyuck collected his bag and locked the car quickly. Then Jaehyun wrapped an arm around his shoulders, steering him towards the large house that he'd driven past too many times to count that afternoon already.

"What does that say?" Donghyuck asked, before Jaehyun had the chance to launch into any sort of explanation, pointing up at the large sign above the door. From this angle, as they approached the house head-on, he could see that the sign was actually built into the eaves of the house. It looked to be made of smooth stone, like marble, and the lettering carved into it was unlike anything he'd ever seen before, outside of images he could vaguely recall seeing in some of his old world history textbooks. There were three characters in total, each carved to span the height and width of at least half an average-sized human, and they loomed imposingly over the whole street, lit from below by three tiny spotlights as the evening closed in around them.

"They're Greek letters," Jaehyun explained, pointing to the one on the far left with his free hand as he spoke. "That's the symbol alpha, which is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. The other two," his finger tracked across accordingly, "are the symbols for the letters beta and eta." He glanced down at Donghyuck, whose mouth hung open slightly as he stared up at the foreign text in fascination.

"What does it mean?" he asked. Jaehyun laughed softly, his fingers tightening their grip on Dongyuck's shoulder as they approached the door to the house. Again, Jaehyun pulled it open with his free hand, not releasing his brother even as they had to twist sideways slightly to make it through the doorway together.

"It's the name of my college fraternity. Alpha Beta Eta." Here, just inside the doorway, Jaehyun paused, allowing Donghyuck to get a good look at the vast interior that sprawled out in front of them. He blinked up at what looked to be a cast-iron chandelier, dangling at least eight feet above their heads, as Jaehyun continued to speak. "I've--well, I haven't been exactly lying, since mom has never actually asked, but I don't live in the dorms anymore. I haven't since my second semester last year."

At its most basic, Donghyuck knew what a college fraternity was. He'd seen his fair share of American movie releases, so he understood the concept. However, he struggled to reconcile that image, which was often painted as one of chaotic young adult rebellion, with excess drinking and partying, with the mild-mannered man at his hip. The Jaehyun he knew, in both realities, had never seemed the type to get involved in something like this, or at least Donghyuck didn't think he was.

"You said you had five roommates," was the only thing Donghyuck could think to interject, taking in the three massive sofas situated in this first entryway alone. From the outside, he wasn't sure how many people could comfortably fit into this house, but he suspected that number was much closer to fifty than five.

"Ah." Jaehyun nodded in understanding, reaching around Donghyuck to take his overnight bag from him, before grabbing his hand. "That's easier to simply show you." Donghyuck allowed the man to pull him through several vast hallways, all leading deeper towards the rear of the house. As they walked, they passed dozens of closed doors on either side of each hallway, each boasting a small, metal plaque with several names embossed on it, and Donghyuck was inclined to adjust his estimated capacity up once again.