'ten
haechan knocked on his neighbour's door with a smile, the early morning making him feel refreshed.
he had been standing there for at least a minute or two before the door finally opened, and mark stepped forward with squinting eyes and messy bed hair. he cleared his throat as he scratched the back of his neck, and the younger boy couldn't stop staring.
"haechan?" mark questioned, looking around. "what are you doing here so early? it's saturday."
"it's ten," he replied, smiling as mark paused.
"that's not the point."
"anyway," haechan laughed, shyly pulling out a book from behind him, "i don't know if your grandpa told you but i came to visit a few days ago..."
"yeah, i had left for school by then," mark nodded, his eyes adjusting to the light. "you know, my grandpa... he doesn't really like people, but he's really fond of you for some reason."
haechan smiled to himself and looked down at his shoes, before continuing. "well... i needed to give you this."
he handed mark the book over, and the latter raised his eyebrows. "what's this?"
"my own book," haechan said. "it's in tribute to the library. they're for free, and i just thought that if i went around every once in a while giving these out, then everyone would remember the library and... yeah."
he stopped himself as he realised he began to ramble about the library again, and mark noticed. he looked up at the boy and gave a small smile.
"thanks, i'll look through this," mark raised the book in gratitude, and haechan nodded.
"cool... oh, and don't judge," haechan quickly pointed out, making mark chuckle.
"i'll try not to."
he received a death glare in response, which the two laughed at, before haechan waved and walked off. mark leaned against his door frame, watching the boy as he headed straight towards his lawn and into his own house.
haechan wasn't usually so talkative, and it surprised mark. it was weird not having the boy be flustered and embarrassed around him, especially since he accidentally found out about his sexuality.
he didn't realise how this simple encounter would foreshadow so many complications.
♔
"mark, what's this?"
"huh?" he looked up at his dad, who walked into his room holding haechan's book.
"oh, that's just something my friend gave to me," he replied with a shrug, turning his attention back to his laptop.
"is this from that boy who lives across us?" he inquired, and mark nodded.
"yeah, it's hyuck's."
mark then froze up at his own words. haechan's nickname really caught onto him.
"why did he give it to you?" his dad asked.
"i don't know, in tribute to the library," he responded, looking up. "why? did you read the book?"
"no, but isn't this a bit... i don't know how to put it," his dad sighed, shaking his head, "... girly?"
"honey," mark's mum called in a warning tone from the kitchen as his dad chuckled.
"i'm only joking! it's just weird though," he counteracted. "why is he so obsessed with the library? shouldn't teenage boys his age be excited for a new mall near him? aren't you excited?"
"yeah," mark muttered reluctantly, not knowing what to say. his father had always been like this; he acted superior to haechan's family because he believed they were too 'old-fashioned'.
"well, there's no point in reading this then," his dad finally said, taking the book and throwing it in the bin. mark couldn't help but watch with furrowed eyebrows, but he didn't say anything as his dad joked, "problem solved."
he then walked out of the room, and mark pursed his lips. maybe his dad was right; maybe the book was a bit weird and pointless,
but surely if something felt this wrong, it couldn't be the right thing to do.