The sun rays peeked through the sheer curtains by the window and bathed the sleeping pair, who were entangled together, in its wintry light.

    Mark opened a bleary eye, squinting at the bright light, slowly growing more and more conscious of the brown head that was resting upon his chest. His stomach did an uncomfortable flip upon seeing how Donghyuck’s head was so peacefully rested against his jackhammering heart, tickling his nose slightly, with his arms carelessly slung across his back. Mark stiffened considerably, noticing the manner in which their limbs had entangled with one another throughout the night, unconsciously seeking out each other’s warmth under the sheets. Mark withdrew his dead arm from under Donghyuck’s warm body immediately, the sudden lack of contact prompting the younger one awake.

    Donghyuck jolted with a start, surprise in his eyes apparent as they flickered quickly to make contact with Mark’s. He swore under his breath and immediately put a distance between them, covering his reddening face with the sheets.

“Sorry.” came a small voice under the protection of the three layers of blankets from Mark’s view. Mark chuckled slightly, amused by Donghyuck’s embarrassment. He dismissed his apology with a twinkling laugh and responded with a, “Good morning? Did you have a good sleep?”

A derisive snort came from under the blankets, followed by a stray pillow flying in the air, heading for Mark’s face. He caught it effortlessly, smiling at the fact that Donghyuck should be feeling slightly better if he could muster the energy to hit Mark with a pillow. He crawled over to where Donghyuck hid himself on the bed, yanking the covers down to reveal his beet-red face.

“Come on dude, it’s cool alright? You can just pretend I was the teddy bear you hug every night,” he joked recklessly, forgetting the real reason why said teddy bear was not on the bed that night, instead, chucked away under the it to collect dust.

At the mention of the soft toy, Donghyuck’s mind immediately began replaying the events of the previous day and all the colour drained from his face. He looked away, willing himself to fight back the emotions that were beginning to rise, and swallow the lump that was forming in his throat. Upon realizing his mistake, Mark blanched and immediately clapped a hand over his careless mouth, outwardly cursing himself.

“Oh ! Sorry, I’m so sorry, I ed up man, that was hella insensitive. I’m really sorry,” he blabbed, wringing his hands a little and scrutinising the younger’s face, for fear that he fall into that dark place again.

The latter took a deep breath, and exhaled loudly, as though expelling any thoughts and sadness associated to Jeno away in one breath. He looked up at Mark, his face resolute and emptied of emotion.

“Forget it. No need to apologize, none of this is your fault,” he replied as he got up to dust the bed and straighten the sheets.

“Are you...alright?” Mark enquired uncertainly, afraid of his reaction.

“Yup,” came the firm response followed by an unnecessarily loud thump as the pillow dusted the sheets, “I’m heartbroken, and would really love to throw myself on a bed of nails right now, but other than that, I’m great,” he chirped, followed by another loud thump, resulting in a few feathers from the pillow floating in the air.

Mark shook his head slightly at Donghyuck’s facade, and felt the need to be responsible in making him feel less ty. Only… he had no idea how to do that. Didn’t he go through the same thing before? Someone had unceremoniously left, leaving him to reel in his pain and loneliness for the next year or so, before he gave himself a reality check, and began to live again. No one had approached to pull him out of the gutter at that time. He had no idea how to do the same for Donghyuck. But at least, he was going to try.

***

The chilly November air whipped their faces as the car zoomed across the highway, making an unruly mess of their already-ruffled hair. Donghyuck closed his eyes, and felt the air caress his cheeks, feeling the weight of his emotions leaving his body bit by bit, the further they drove down into the city.

“Aren’t you cold?” Mark half-hollered across the whirling of the wind.

“No, I like it this way! Keep the windows open,” Donghyuck hollered back, never once tearing his eyes off the buildings and skyscrapers they drove past.

“You’re crazy,” Mark yelled as he could feel his face freeze as the minutes passed by. He gritted his teeth and told himself to put up with the cold, as long as it made Donghyuck feel better, seeing that the latter was perking up a little as time passed by.

Mark never really had any cause to drive down into the heart of the city, given he would have much rather stayed in the warmth and comfort of his home. Besides, he had no one, really, to go and explore the town with, after three years of being independent. But now, he could feel himself growing warmer with this emotion he couldn't quite place, but he was pretty sure was associated to the glowing male beside him, who made his heart stop every time he poked his head out of the window to get a better look at the next oncoming skyscraper.

“Would you stop doing that! You’re going to get yourself killed!” Mark yelled the tenth time Donghyuck poked his head out as another car whizzed by.

“I can’t help it, I can’t see properly,” came the muffled response, unheeding to Mark’s protests.

“That’s the CN tower, that’s about all you can ing see!” He hollered back. Donghyuck made no movement to indicate that he heard him, and continued sticking his head out of the car window in that potentially suicidal manner.

He rolled his eyes, and made a sharp turn into the exit on the highway on his left.

“I’ll make sure you see the real things then.”

***

“Woah.” breathed Donghyuck for about the 1000th time that night.

“Woah.”

Mark cast a glance at him sideways, his lips settling into a satisfied smile as he warmed his freezing hands with his cup of coffee. Donghyuck had been absolutely enthralled by the view the moment they stepped into Humber Bay Arch. The monumental bridge overlooked the peaceful waters of the river, with the glow of the sunset making it quite a breathtaking sight. Donghyuck leaned across the railing and closed his eyes, his long lashes casting shadows on his cheekbones as his glowing face bathed in the golden rays of the sunset.

“Earth to Mark Lee.”

Mark snapped out of his daze with a jolt, just realizing that he had been staring at Donghyuck a little too long. Donghyuck sniggered; Mark could feel his cheeks warming with embarrassment. To cover up for it, he offered Donghyuck a sip from his coffee cup, which the latter gladly accepted.

“Let’s walk further down to the middle shall we, we can get a better view of the sunset there,” Mark suggested. Donghyuck nodded in agreement and fell into step beside Mark, hugging his coat tightly around himself. The November breeze was getting more chilly as dark fell, and both could feel the temperatures dropping drastically by the minute.

“Damn it, I should have brought gloves,” Donghyuck lamented as he rubbed his frozen hands together and blew on them, in a fruitless attempt to warm them up.

Mark looked at his gloved hands, and quickly glanced at Donghyuck’s bare ones. He swore the whole world could hear the inner war raging in his head: Do I take his hand or not? Impulsively, he reached out to grab one of Donghyuck’s hands, to slip on one of his gloves on it. Donghyuck, a little taken aback by the gesture, muttered a shy ‘thanks’, not really meeting his eyes.

“Show me your hand.”

“Huh?” Donghyuck’s brows furrowed at the sudden request. Complying, he raised his ungloved hand, palm facing the sky, near Mark’s face. Mark looked at the slender fingers and slowly wrapped his own around them, earning a startled look from Donghyuck. Mark lowered their interlaced fingers into his coat pocket, warming them, with a nervous yet pleased smile. He could feel Donghyuck tense up with the sudden contact, unsure how to react to it. Mark let out chuckle and lightly bumped his shoulder with his.

“Loosen up, I’m doing both of us a favour,” he joked lightly, as he proceeded on, Donghyuck’s now warm hand in his coat pocket, and the other hanging limply at his side.

***

The view was spectacular at night. The lights from the surrounding buildings cast reflections on the river, making it look like a strangely glittering jewel in the dark. Donghyuck rested his chin on his gloved hand as he felt the breeze caress his cheek, the other hand still being incubated by Mark’s hand and coat pocket. They were standing side by side at the railings, neither speaking a word, content with the comfortable silence. He cocked his head towards the older male and cast him a smile.

“Do you always come here when you have free time?” he asked the older, who seemed to be as hypnotized by the view as he was.

“Nope. I never rea