Hybrid - NCT dream ( HRJ; LDH)

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Donghyuck woke up with a pounding headache, covering his eyes in a desperate try to lessen his agony. Figuring that it wouldn't go away on its own anytime soon, the tan male got up to get some painkillers from his bathroom.

Seeing his own reflection made him flinch, and he didn't waste any more time before jumping under the shower to wash off his smudged makeup. Memories of the previous night played in his head, and he guessed that his friends were also feeling as crappy as him that morning.

During their rehearsal the previous evening, the group finally received the set date for their first show. This news required celebration, thus the majority of the actors went out to drink after their practice was over.

Donghyuck, having a high alcohol tolerance, was able to not end up like some of his seniors, but still got pretty drunk. Having to accept drinks from everyone as the youngest, he had probably drank the most alcohol out of everyone.

Not having any rehearsals and practices for the whole weekend allowed the group to let themselves go. Even Donghyuck's favourite hyung, who couldn't drink, joined them at the party.

The tan male ended up clinging to the previously mentioned man, hugging and kissing his cheeks all night. That was his drunk habit, but even when he was sober he'd often show affection to the shorter male. Their group would always smile whenever a loud "Taaaeeiiiilll hyuuuung~" resonated trough the theatre, finding their youngest cute.

Donghyuck remembers calling a cab and coming home, meaning that he was not completely wasted after all. Stepping out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his torso and one on his head, he quickly got dressed before throwing his tired body on the bed. Trying to find a comfort position and drift back to sleep, since it was barely 10am, he felt a little tug on his wrist.

Lifting the arm he could make out the skin patch covering his tattoo starting to come off, and it stuck to his bedsheets. When did he change it the last time? Hyuck didn't remember, but he didn't want to waste any more of his sleep, so he peeled it off.

Seeing the bright red fish with sparkling blue fins made him immediately think of Renjun. The image of his best friend shouldn't have made him feel warm and smiley like that, but it did. Hearing the Chinese's voice made him realize just how long they haven't seen each other and how much he had missed the shorter male.

His sleep being forgotten, Hyuck could only stare at the small tattoo adorning his wrist, missing his soulmate. Pulling his phone from underneath the pillow, he tapped on the messaging app, and started looking for his contact.

Having not spoken in a month, Renjun's contact had been pushed way further down the list of conversations than the tan male would like it. Before finding the familiar picture of his soulmate, Donghyuck stumbled across a conversation still bolded out, showing that it wasn't read yet.

His frown deepened when the small icon on the side of the group chat showed that it was muted. Did he mute their chat again? But how come he doesn't remember? Or could it be that he hasn't unmuted it since then? Without thinking his finger touched the chat, and his phone got flooded with several hundreds of messages.

It took Hyuck a few minutes to scroll all the way up to the messages he had actually read, and start catching up. An unconscious smile spread on his lips as he saw the two bickering in the chat about some games.

Donghyuck found out that Renjun had started working, and felt bad for not keeping up with his life. Seol was an intern at her mom's company, and by the way she described it, it seemed like she enjoyed it there.

He also couldn't miss the daily messages directed to him, be it a "how are you, how was your day?", "how's the musical going?" or just a simple "what's up Hyuck?". Seeing as these messages were sent every day by one of the two, despite getting no answer, made him feel bad.

A frown appeared on his face once again, when he came across a slightly unnerving conversation from the previous week. He didn't know what it was about it, but something felt very wrong.

...Jjun...

Hey, I'm grocery store with mom...is everything ok?

...

Sh*t! Are you alone at home?

Yeah

Okay, we're almost done here, I'll be back in 15 mins

Jjun... I... it's bad

Damn! Okay, listen here! Sis is at home so get over to my place and I'll come as fast as possible. I promised you I'd stick by your side all the time to make sure you're okay, right? So please, just go over to my room and try to not think too much, hmm?

I'm here, your sister let me inside...

Good... will you be okay for a bit?...

I... I'll try...

Where is that idiot when he's needed!?

...please don't...

That's it, I'm calling you and you better pick up the phone!

Donghyuck didn't know what was going on, but Seol didn't sound like her usual self and it made him concerned. She never complained about her problems and always tried to be strong, but this was nothing like that.

Remembering the look she gave him when he yelled at her, her trembling hands when he told her never to appear in front of him made his heart drop. He wanted to talk to her and apologize, but then the amount of information he received needed to be processed first.

He took time for himself, but ended up having so much fun that he completely forgot about the two for weeks. Thinking about it, he hasn't seen or spoken to Seol for nearly two months. Could the fact that he missed Renjun more be because they finished their bond?

Scrolling through the rest of the messages it was as if nothing happened. The two planned to go on a trip, and even left the date and place for him he he wanted to join. Hyuck felt bad for thinking that his friends forgot about him.

Looking at his other wrist it felt like the first time that he removed his skin patch, expecting to see a bright red fish. His breath hitched and panic started flooding his body when instead of the scarlet red tattoo only a barely recognisable reddish blotch was seen. To anyone who didn't know what it was, it would have looked like a red mark after scratching that spot or being hit there.

The words of Seol's doctor came back to him. How the unfinished bonds fade if there's no contact for a while, and then disappear as if the bonding didn't happen at all. Hyuck can't deny that the thought of letting it disappear crossed his mind more than once, but he hoped to talk it out first before deciding.

But now it was almost gone, and he was terrified of losing this connection between them. Not to mention Renjun's reaction and disappointment in him for letting it come to this point. The fear made him jump up immediately, packing a few necessary things and getting dressed up before making his way outside. He told his mom how he'd be going camping with Renjun and Seol before entering his car, and heading wherever the navigation told him to.