Mark feels like Yuta is underrated and that he needs more attention. He is also the singer's most dedicated and best fanboy, so when followers are 'stolen' from his ultimate bias because his label is incompetent with their marketing techniques, Mark...
The past couple of years had simultaneously dragged on and passed way too quickly. He's certainly not had a moment to breathe. Since his debut, he's been on a world tour, released 3 full length albums, 5 mini albums, 2 singles (not including his debut single) and has sold 4 million physical copies of his albums in total. It felt like he had promotions, a collaboration, albums signings, a concert or an interview everyday. His schedule was never empty, he always had something to do and he was exhausted.
No one could have predicted that Mark would become so successful, at least Mark never expected it- he'd had almost no training and was basically learning as he went. Pledis pushed him harder with every success, which was fine, Mark liked creating content for his almost scarily dedicated fanbase but he was so close to just collapsing from the lack of sleep. He needed a holiday.
Another achievement was hitting 14 million followers on instagram, unfortunately Yuta was not among them, despite Mark never failing to tag him in every single one of his posts.
Yuta had 4.7 million followers now, which was still not enough in Mark's opinion. If he could give his followers to Yuta, then he would. Mark occasionally sent messages to Yuta, anything from talking about his day to a stupid meme he saw on the internet. He never got a response. It was okay though, because Yuta had recently dyed his hair red and wore it in a man bun-
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@nakamotoyutaofficial
Do you like my new hair? Or should I change it back? <3
Liked by markleeofficial and 1,375,000 others.
Comments:
@markleeofficial PLEASE NEVER CHANGE YOUR HAIR YOU LOOK SO PERFECT - PLEASE I AM CRYING AND I'M JUST ABOUT TO GO DO A PHOTOSHOOT-
—> 369, 521 likes
This time, Mark refused to delete his comment as so many people had seen it already. More Yumark dating rumours spread, hundreds of articles and posts dedicate to finding if they were involved with each other- pity they'd never find anything. Years into his obsession with the Japanese idol that took his heart, they'd never interacted more than Yuta liking one of his Instagram posts. Mark wished that there was something for Korea Dispatch to invade and expose.
Seventeen had debuted fairly recently (approaching their first year anniversary soon), also launching into near immediate popularity with their also insane budget. Surprisingly, the group consisted of 13 members and that always managed to shock Mark- their dorms must be insane. Seungkwan could only confirm that.
Ever since Vernon (finally) asked Seungkwan out 8 months ago in frankly the most awkward proposal Mark had ever heard of, he seemed to have forgot what it was like to have a hopeless crush. Now, all it seemed that Seungkwan could talk about was how much he loved Vernon and how he thinks some of the other members in his group should date.
Mark had even created a list to help him remember. According to Seungkwan:
Seungcheol should stop being a coward and ask Jeonghan to marry him. Apparently, they should skip straight to marriage because they've been acting like the group's parents for ages and just need to make it official. Soonyoung needs to ask Jihoon on a date. They wear matching outfits and spend hours alone in a studio together every day, there was no way Jihoon didn't like him back. Joshua needs to ask Seokmin to be his boyfriend. He just does. They would be perfect together."Can't he see how Seokmin looks at him?" Same goes for Junhao. Chan was too straight and too much of a baby to have a boyfriend- At least Mingyu and Wonwoo were already dating; they have been since predebut.
Mark was very jealous of what Seungkwan had, but was mainly just happy for his friend. So, whenever Seungkwan gushed about the tiniest little thing Vernon did, Mark smiled and got excited for his friend. At the very least, Seungkwan had stopped talking about how they got together because Mark was sure he could recite it backwards (to be fair to Seungkwan, it was so clumsy and awkward but it was also undeniably genuine, perfectly summarising their relationship). Mark enjoyed hanging out with Seungkwan, they made time for each other even if they were both insanely busy - to the point where Mark wasn't sure how he did it, he never even saw the other members in Pledis.
The next week
That afternoon, Mark left his crummy apartment - the same one he'd had since university even though he'd long since graduated, but couldn't seem to let go of - to go to the stylist to prepare for the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMAs). He'd attended last year, winning best new artist but this time he was nominated for Album of the Year. However, Yuta was nominated for best vocal performance, meaning he would be at the awards show so Mark needed to look his best. He was just so proud of Yuta he could cry, especially because he'd been manifesting this sort of interaction between them for years and so had their fans.
After hours of styling and makeup, with only one reapply because Mark cried at the thought of possibly meeting Yuta in person, Mark was riding in the back of a limousine, ready to walk the red carpet. Fortunately, Mark didn't have to perform this year, because if he did, he would probably have tripped and fallen on his face from the nerves. He was not ready to embarrass himself in front of Yuta like that.
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@markleeofficial
I'm so excited for tonight's award show, I hope everyone watches the broadcast! :3
Will I see you there? @nakamotoyutaofficial <3
Liked by nakamotoyutaoffical and 4,793,256 others
How. Is. It. That. The. Second. Time. That. Yuta. Has. Ever. Liked. One. Of. Mark's. Posts. It's. When. They're. About. To. See. Each. Other? This just wasn't fair. His fans seemed to share the same sentiment, flooding his comment section, screaming about Yumark being 'real' and asking if he's okay. He wasn't okay. What was he supposed to do now? He was definitely going to embarrass himself - if it wasn't by tripping, it was going to be because he turned completely red and fainted.
Mark checked that his shoelaces for the fourth time. Deciding that there was nothing more he could do to prevent fate, he stepped onto the red carpet, waving and adjusting to the bright lights of the paparazzi.
Author's note:
Stan Seventeen. Yes, I am pushing my Verkwan agenda.
