Donghyuck sighed with contentment and snuggled closer to the warm body next to him. It was probably around two in the morning and he was worn out.

His whole body ached, even parts he didn't know could ache. Despite the slight discomfort, Donghyuck was happy and he wouldn't have it any other way.

'Well, I would change the fact that I have school in five hours.'

He nuzzled his nose into the crook of Mark's neck and squeezed him tighter, "Mark, can we skip school?"

He felt Mark's silent laugh before the older spoke.

"You're such a brat. I do work, you know. It's bad enough that I'm sleeping with a student, missing work unless I'm deathly ill is out of the question"

Donghyuck grumbled much to Mark's amusement apparently. They had been like this the whole night.

Just cuddling, occasionally making out which led to other things, and enjoying each other's company. It was something Donghyuck hoped would happen every night, though he knew realistically that things wouldn't be happy all of the time.  

So he was soaking up every little second, every little movement, every sigh, laugh, and yawn.

He was memorizing the feel of Mark's body against his and how smooth his skin was. Donghyuck wanted to memorize every little detail and lock it away for days when he couldn't enjoy this to the fullest.  

"Hey, Mark"

"Hm?"

"How do you afford all of this on a school nurse's salary?"

It was a question that had been on the back of Donghyuck's mind for a while. He just never found the right time to ask after Mark shot him down the first time. It still might not be the right time, but he was half-asleep and curious.

A little bit of shuffling and Mark was facing him with a raised brow, "What's this all of the sudden?"

Donghyuck readjusted his hold on the man and shrugged as best as he could while laying on his side.

"I was just curious. You don't have to answer, if you don't want to"

Mark closed his eyes and after a few minutes Donghyuck could have sworn that he fell asleep, but it wasn't long before Mark was speaking.

"You already know that I'm Canadian, right?"

"Yeah, but what does that-"

Mark gave him a stern look that made him stop speaking midsentence,

"My mom was a model and my dad was some big shot executive for a fashion company in Canada. That's how they met. They got married and a couple of years after had me. I only spent the first few years of my life there before my dad got this big job offer here in the States and made us all move. They were constantly busy, but they tried their hardest to spend time with me. Anyway, as you can imagine, they racked up quite a bit of money.  My mom got cancer about 3 years ago and the doctors said that she had about a year left"

He took in a deep breath before continuing, "Six months in and her health deteriorated. Then one night she was just gone. My dad didn't last long afterwards. Both of them left everything they had to me. Before they passed, I was working at a hospital as a doctor, so I had a good income to begin with. After they were both gone, I decided to take time off from the real world. I travelled a lot. When I got back, Johnny was offering me a job at the school. I had nothing better to do, so now we're here"

Donghyuck was silent for a few minutes, digesting the information overload that Mark had just presented him.

It was the most Mark had said about himself in the span of a couple of minutes and it answered a lot of Donghyuck's questions.

"I'm sorry about your parents. That must have been hard losing both of them"

Donghyuck watched Mark close his eyes and nod before he snuggled closer to Donghyuck.

"It was hard. Even though they were always busy, I loved them a lot. Besides Johnny and Jaehyun, they were the only ones I could talk to and they were both really understanding and supportive"

Donghyuck smiled at the warmth in Mark's voice as he talked about his parents. He talked about his mom, how she was so kind and cheerful, and how his dad would always brag about him.

Donghyuck loved hearing all of these stories and the fact that Mark was comfortable enough to share them with him.

The only thing that Donghyuck regretted was that he would never be able to meet the two people Mark held closest to his heart.

~

A few hours later and both of them were dressed and getting into Mark's car to head to the high school.

Mark was exhausted. Last night was amazing and Mark wouldn't have changed a thing. He hadn't planned on opening up so easily though, but it just felt right and it was so nice letting Donghyuck in.

They had both fell asleep in the middle of a story about his mom and dad.

He couldn't even remember which one it was, but he remembered how much he loved the way his body fit with Donghyuck's.

He loved the feel of being consistently warm, because he could have sworn that Donghyuck was a heater in disguise.

He loved the sound of Donghyuck's laugh as he listened to it with his ear to the boy's chest. Everything about last night was right.

Mark drove in silence, because both of them just didn't have the energy to hold a conversation. Mark would have been slightly worried about Donghyuck being so quiet but the small smile told him that he didn't have anything to worry about.

When they finally pulled into the school parking lot, Mark headed towards his parking spot.

They had decided to come extra early, so that no one would see them come together in Mark's car. As Mark pulled into his spot, the loss of a couple of more hours of sleep became pointless.

"Just fucking great"

Mark's cussing must have startled Donghyuck, because the boy perked right up in his seat with a confused, "What?"

"Nothing. Just go to the school ahead of me. I've got something to do real quick. Come see me after 6th period, okay?"

"Is everything okay?"

Mark grabbed Donghyuck's hand and looked him in the eyes, "Everything is fine, okay? Don't worry about it. I'll see you in a few hours"

Mark watched him nod and get out of the car. Donghyuck kept looking back, so Mark pretended to be on the phone until he saw Donghyuck go into the school.

Mark shut off his car and slowly got out, preparing himself for the argument that he was sure would happen. Johnny got out of his vehicle at the same time and was heading in Mark's direction.

"Mark"

"Johnny"

Johnny gave him a stern look, trying to convey the seriousness of the situation. Mark just snorted.

Johnny stepped to the side of him and Mark felt a firm grip on his arm before he was steered towards the school building,

"Let's have a talk in my office"

When they got into the building, Johnny dropped his grip and picked up his pace, forcing Mark to almost run to keep up.

They reached Johnny's office within a few minutes, Mark slightly out of breath and glaring at the taller.

Mark spun around to face Johnny when the door was closed, "Jesus fucking christ. Was that necessary?"

"Don't even start with me, Mark. What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you want to go to jail?!"

At the sound of Johnny's raised voice, Mark's eyes widened in surprise. Johnny was never the one to lose composure.

Mark's surprise didn't last long, though. It was replaced with anger and defensiveness.

"What the fuck? All I did was give the kid a ride to school. It's not like I was fucking him outside on top of the hood of my car"

Mark watched Johnny pinch the bridge of his nose before striding over to his desk to lean up against it. Mark knew this would happen, it was just a matter of when it would happen.

"Is he the one that's been making you happy for the past few months? God damnit, Mark. He's a student"

"You think I don't know that? Do you think I've got some weird ass fetish for teenage boys? The answer to your question is yes. Yes, he's the reason I've been happy for the past few months. I hadn't planned any of this"

By the time he stopped speaking, he was pacing back and forth in the office as Johnny watched him.

He was a bundle of emotions. Anger, defeat, fear, and most of all, relief.

Relief because finally he doesn't have to tiptoe, he doesn't have to continue to hide the one thing that has made him happy in years from someone who has known him for so long.

"Have you two had sex? Be honest with me. You can lose your job and go to jail. I could lose my job, because of this. I deserve the truth"

Mark sighed in defeat. He collapsed into one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"Yeah. Last night was the first time. He turned nineteen yesterday"

"You couldn't have waited until he was done with school, at least? We could both lose our jobs. I know you don't care, but I love this job"

"Who has to know? I mean, this was one time. It won't happen again. I swear on my life"

Johnny went around and sat down in his office chair, putting his elbows on the desk and clasping his hands together,

"What were you thinking coming so early in the morning with him? What were you thinking bringing him in the morning in the first place? In the afternoon, it's a different story. We can make up some sort of excuse, but the morning is too damn suspicious"

Mark sat up straight and looked at Johnny with a grimace, "I know. Damn it, I fucking know. I just wasn't thinking. I've just been so fucking happy for the past few months and it was clouding my judgment. Hell, everything about that boy clouds my judgment. I was being selfish and putting your job in danger. I'm sorry"

Johnny nodded as Mark spoke and gave him a small smile, "I forgive you. We'll figure something out. I'm glad you're happy, though. It's a nice change. You know, Jaehyun is going to want to meet him"

"Of course he would want to meet him. That's punishment enough for me"

Johnny chuckled at Mark's theatrics and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, "He's not that bad. I'm sure Donghyuck would have an…interesting time"

Mark snorted and stood up from the chair he was occupying so he could head to his own office,

"Not that bad? You shouldn't lie. Interesting is putting it nicely"

"Mark"

"Yeah?"

"It wouldn't do either of you any good if you get thrown into jail. No more car rides, promise me"

Mark gave one last sigh and nodded his head, "Yeah, no more car rides. I'm sorry for being such a shitty friend"

"It's fine. We'll figure this out"

With that he left Johnny's office and headed to his own, his mind swirling with how he was going to solve everything without getting any of them in trouble.