Archive of Our Own ^beta

Donghyuck and Mark meet like this: 

On a hot summer day, one where the queues for ice cream are too long to endure and public beaches are way too crowded to find a spot to tan, Donghyuck is fighting villains. More like, getting his ass kicked by villains. (Turns out, there’s only so much a college student with a bow and arrow can do by himself.) 

Donghyuck has never been a quitter, though. So instead of doing the sensible thing and using the comms that he had sneaked off Jaehyun’s table (totally Jaehyun’s fault for being careless with them, if you asked Donghyuck), and ask for back up, he lets himself be fueled by pride and spite. 

I don’t need the stupid Avengers to come save me, he thinks. I can totally do this by myself. And well, he can’t. Duh. 

Not only is he surrounded by weird space creatures that look like they came straight out of a horror anime, he is also running out of arrows. Totally not superhero-like of him.

Until, thud. A beam, and then: a man/boy/alien?

Standing in the middle of the circle, the knocked out creatures on the floor in front of him like trophies at his feet, stands his saviour: in all his spandex glory and handsome face, sending him the best-slash-worst-over-the-shoulder-superhero-glance Donghyuck has ever seen. 

He opens his mouth, about to say something. Donghyuck watches him in awe: what is it going to be? Surely he was going to say something super awesome and cool, right?

“Come with me if you want to be awesome.”

Donghyuck cringes. 

👽🏹 

“I’m Hawkeye, by the way,” Donghyuck tells him later on over smoothies. “I’m something like an Avenger.”

The man/boy/alien is studying the smoothie with critical eyes, as he takes yet another sip of his blueberry drink. He spares Donghyuck a glance, before returning his focus to the transparent cup, shaking it lightly to make the thick liquid shake.

“You’re not Hawkeye,” he says absently. “I’ve seen Hawkeye around. He’s older. He has a dog.”

Donghyuck tsks. “How do you know I don’t have a dog?”

He could totally get a dog if he wanted to. He just doesn’t need one. Besides, he crashes Jaehyun’s place often enough that Lucky might as well be under their shared custody. 

“Hawkeye’s uniform is different,” the guy argues again. “Yours is more purple.”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “Isn’t mine way cooler, though?”

👽🏹 

Turns out the guy is an alien, after all. (“Technically, I’m Kree,” he says but Donghyuck is not one for technicalities. The most important part is that he’s from space, which: sexy.)

“They call me Marvel Boy,” the guy proclaims proudly.

It fits him.

👽🏹 

They stick together, like barely grown adult superheroe sidekicks tend to do. Donghyuck doesn’t hate it: Marvel Boy is funny, his fascination for Earth music is just as endearing as it is ridiculous, and he seems to have a fondness for Donghyuck (for whatever reason). Plus, he has an enormous alien ship that kind of works as their superhero base. So that’s convenient.

“My Kree name is actually Noh-Varr,” Marvel Boy tells him one day, when it’s just the two of them. This time Marvel Boy chose a Mango smoothie, which he does not seem to like as much as the berry ones he’s had before, as he keeps scrunching his nose after each sip. 

“Noh-Varr,” Donghyuck repeats after him. He hums. “You need a human name, then.”

Marvel Boy (or Noh-Varr, apparently) raises his brows and looks at him expectantly.

“A human name?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck answers, already going through possible names in his head. Something mundane maybe, not too confusing to the other. John? Already taken by Iron Man. Tom? Donghyuck winces. That doesn’t really fit him, either. Marvel Boy… Maybe something related to that…

He grins. 

“Mark.”

Marvel Boy looks at him in surprise. 

“Mark?”

The more he hears it, the more he realizes it suits the other.

“Yep.”

“Mark,” Marvel Boy tries the name out slowly, dragging the syllable out. “Mark. I like it.”

Donghyuck beamed, satisfied. Maybe he can convince Jaehyun to convince Johnny to get Mark an ID, as well. 

👽🏹 

“Mark,” Johnny raises his eyebrows, lounging in his desk chair like a teenager going through puberty. He’s chewing on a piece of candy, the bag still in his hand, not even offering the bag to the younger.  “Mark what?” 

“Oh,” Donghyuck pauses, not having thought of a surname for the other before. “Uh. Lee.”

“Mark Lee?” Johnny gives him a flat look, still not offering Donghyuck any of the candy he’s obnoxiously ripping apart with his teeth. “Really?”

Donghyuck crosses his arms over his chest, chin held high. He’s not gonna let himself be intimidated by the other man, billionaire or not. Especially not one so rude.

“Really.”

Johnny huffs, finally puts away the bag of candies and begins typing on his computer. “You’re so lucky I owed Jaehyun a favor.”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes.

“Whatever.”

👽🏹 

“Mark Lee.”

Mark’s eyes sparkle even more brightly than usual as he’s staring at the brand new ID in his hands. There’s a picture of him in the corner, one that Donghyuck himself had taken a few days prior, and his birthdate (real) and birthname (fake). He doesn’t know what strings Johnny had to pull to get it here so fast, but money sure opened all doors.

“Hello, my name is Mark Lee,” Mark says in a higher voice, while looking at an probably imaginary person. “Nice to meet you.”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, but can’t exactly hide his smile.

Mark gives the ID one more glance, before turning his whole attention on Donghyuck.

“Thank you, Hyuck.”

The sincerity in his voice makes Donghyuck falter, as the two of them rarely are that serious, if ever. 

“It’s just an ID,” Donghyuck says. “Nothing crazy.”

He hadn’t even done the job of getting the card; just annoyed both Jaehyun and Johnny into doing the work for him.

“No,” Mark insists, still staring so deeply into his eyes that he gets goosebumps. “You’re giving me a home. No one has ever done that for me.”

He’s still looking at him, his gaze so earnest and genuine that Donghyuck has to look away. He rubs his neck, hoping that he is not blushing.

“Whatever.”

He can still feel Mark’s gaze on him, so he just says the first thing that comes to mind.

“Let’s get smoothies.”

👽🏹

Somewhere along the way, they get a team. 

There’s a wizard (though Renjun says it’s more complicated than that), a shapeshifter whose superhero name resembles the Hulk but has actually nothing to do with him (“Seriously, whose brilliant idea was that?” A punch in the shoulder had shut him up immediately though, because Jeno’s arms were huge), and an incarnated teenage version of Loki (this Donghyuck had just accepted with no complaints, simply because Jaemin both irritated and scared him). 

With Chenle (Renjun’s twin, whose power being superspeed is super simple compared to the other) and Jisung (who somehow could possess the knowledge of others) being the latest additions to the team, it seems complete.

Avengers who? The Young Avengers were way better. 

(“Is like, everyone on your team gay?”

“Yes, Jaehyun. Why? Wanna join? You fit the criteria.”

“Except I don’t wanna be on a team with you .”

“Oh, fuck you. I’m a delight.”

“You’re like nine.”

“I’m twenty!”)

So yeah, the team is great. 

Mark is still his favorite, though. Not that he needs to know that.

👽🏹

 
“Marvel Boy,” Johnny says in his authoritative voice. “Do not engage in the fight.”

“Copy that,” Mark says to absolutely no one’s surprise. “We’ll continue evacuating the area.”

“You’re a nerd,” Donghyuck says as soon as Mark stops pressing the button. “We’re totally engaging in the fight.”

Mark furrows his brows. “Iron Man said not –”

“Well, Iron Man is a rich loser,” Donghyuck declares while counting the remaining arrows in his quiver. “We’re going.”

“Hyuck, you’re rich,” Renjun reminds him, which is unnecessary and goes therefore ignored. “But I’m in.”

Renjun is floating in the air, his red magic surrounding his lithe figure like the tacky cloak he insists on wearing. His boyfriend is hovering slightly behind him, Kree wings flapping in a manner that reminds him of Flappy Bird. 

Donghyuck is so jealous. While Renjun and Jeno are gonna fly to the city center where the real action is, he’s gonna have to powerwalk there like a total loser .

He’s about to complain or whine, when suddenly there are arms around him and he’s being lifted into the air.

“Need a ride?”

The look Mark sends him is both exasperated and fond at the same time, as if he can’t believe he’s actually going along with this.

Donghyuck does not blush, because he’s a suave and cool dude, but he comes very close.

“I can’t believe I’m the only one on this team who doesn’t have superpowers,” he mumbles, but wraps his arms around Mark’s neck nonetheless. 

“That’s because you’re a loser,” Jaemin’s voice snickers from behind them, the trickster having just teleported there.

Donghyuck’s head snaps towards the other in a second.

“I am the backbone of this team,” he snarks, but before he can get an answer, Mark is already speeding away.

He can still hear Jaemin cackling in the distance, and if he lets himself be distracted from that it’s only because of Mark’s arms. Have they always been so muscular? Do they have gyms in space?

“Mark,” he starts as soon as they get to a stop, but abandons his questions when he sees an arrow whizzing past him.

Jaehyun.

“Never mind,” he says instead, jumping down and grabbing his bow from his back. “Don’t let the Avengers see you.”

And then he’s off.

👽🏹 

“You like me,” Mark states so bluntly that Donghyuck chokes on air. 

He’s thankful they’re by themselves right now, the rest of the team having gone out to do whatever it is they’re doing when they’re not currently saving the world or whatever. 

“I – what. No.”

Mark frowns. 

“You made me a playlist,” he argues, as if that proves anything.

“That’s because your music taste is shit.”

“We practically live together,” Mark says. “You stay here almost everyday.” 

“That’s for the benefit of the team,” he snarls, trying to remember when he last time went back to his own place. “What if there’s an emergency?”

“Oh, please,” Mark laughs. “Just admit it, you like me.”

“What makes you think that I would like you? You have no proof.”

“You gave me your surname,” Mark reminds him, which – yeah.

“I did that out of convenience!” In his defense, it truly had been the first surname he had thought of, sue him for being practical.

“Or because you liked the idea of me being your husband.”

Donghyuck gasps, because Mark is being way too smug for his liking.

“You want to marry me so bad, it actually makes you look stupid!”

Mark laughs at that, throwing his head back and all, looking annoyingly endearing with is rosy cheeks and white hair, and his squinting eyes and his –

He huffs, and turns around, except he can’t, because suddenly there are arms around him holding him in place.

“Kiss me?

Mark looks at him, eyes still sparkling with amusement, but at the same time he looks serious and hopeful. How could Donghyuck ever refuse him?

He raises his right hand, testing the waters by slowly tracing the line of his eyebrows, moving down to his cheekbones, his smooth jawline, red lips that are slightly parted in anticipation.

With a smile appearing on his face, he raises his other hand so he can cup Mark’s entire face in his palms, pulling the other close to him at last.

As soon as their lips touch, there’s a tingling sensation all over his body, blood rushing through his veins at full speed, his heart pounding like thump thump thump thump –

He doesn’t know when Mark’s hands found their way to his waist, but suddenly he’s being pulled even closer to the other. This close, he can feel the other’s body heat. Mark kisses him back passionately, tilting his head right for better access. Their kisses are slow, and careful, as if the moment between them is so precious and fragile it needs to be preserved.

When they pull apart, Donghyuck doesn’t know how much time has passed, he’s this close to being out of breath. He stares at Mark in wonder, hands still around his face.

There’s silence for a while, nobody speaking a word, but it’s comfortable. 

Eventually, Mark hums.

“Smoothies?”

And well, Donghyuck has never said no to those.

“Smoothies.”