ᴀғғᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ-ʟᴇss | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ [ᴇᴅɪᴛɪɴɢ]

5

Yuta sighed for the nth time as he watched Donghyuck carefully take a seat beside him on the sofa. Normally, Donghyuck would jump onto the sofa, probably throw his hands over Yuta and make him spill his drink — and then Yuta would push him off and kick him in the backside. But this time, instead of whining about how affection-starved he was, Donghyuck sat by himself, a hand to his cheek and his eyes closed slowly. 

Yuta stared at Donghyuck as he tried to sleep, which he was failing to do so since the seats were highly uncomfortable and barely had any soft spots. They were all gathered in the lobby, on their way to their next location. Donghyuck, who had now lost his balance and nearly fallen off the seat, was clearly the most exhausted. It made sense, however, since the boy had just gotten back from his injury and already performed in Japan, only to then get pushed into Superhuman practice and then sent off on a tour. Not only did he manage to get through that, he also discovered the fact that he had a fear of heights — surprisingly, yes — and he learnt new choreography for the side tracks they never thought they'd perform.

With a sigh, Yuta reached over from his seat, giving Donghyuck a small tap on his shoulder and said, "Haechannie, come here."

After a few moments passed by and Donghyuck didn't respond, Yuta realised that the younger had fallen asleep, which was strange since he was in such an uncomfortable position. Yuta frowned, and then leaned forwards and grabbed Donghyuck's head with gentle hands, making sure he didn't get hurt. He pulled the younger down until his head reached his lap and let out a sigh. 

Donghyuck remained asleep as Yuta brushed his hands through his hair, softly tugging them behind his ear. The other members had never seen Yuta like this. Sure, he was caring and always made sure to keep the spirits of the group up, but he had never initiated skinship with Donghyuck, yet alone let him sleep on his lap. Truth be told, Yuta didn't do that with many people: only Sicheng, Taeyong and Mark. But then again that was because he would get annoyed at the others easily, though his love for them was great. 

Donghyuck shifted in his sleep and his closed eyes strained. With a worried look, Yuta leaned down to check what was wrong with him. He narrowed his eyes as Donghyuck let out a whimper, and then realised that it was because his knee was poking into the younger's ear. With a chuckle, Yuta raised Donghyuck's head a little and placed his sweater beneath him. A smile appeared on his face as he continued to stare at Donghyuck. It had been a while since he had last properly hung out with him, and whenever they did, it would be in silence and no one would speak for that particular period of time. 

Yuta missed Donghyuck, shockingly.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked from across the room as he eyed Yuta — only because he had a suspiciously creepy smile on his face, and kept patting Donghyuck's cheeks. Not because he was jealous, of course not.

"I'm admiring him," Yuta randomly answered, and Mark raised his eyebrows at this. He wasn't weirded out by the confession, since it was Yuta he was talking to, but still it seemed unusual.

A small giggle was heard from beneath Yuta, and he snapped his head down to see Donghyuck smiling like an idiot with his lips pursed. Yuta immediately jerked backwards, pushing Donghyuck off his lap and rolled his eyes as the younger cackled loudly. The stares they received by strangers was nothing compared to how embarrassed he felt: getting caught by Donghyuck.

"You were awake," Yuta groaned, rolling his eyes again and then huffed out a breath. Donghyuck continued to laugh and soon Yuta found himself laughing alongside him. It felt nice being the cause of Donghyuck's sweet laughter.

"Of course I was, no one falls asleep that quickly," Donghyuck sat back onto the chair and tucked his legs under his chin. He placed his hands over his knees and rubbed his head over them. Within a few seconds, Donghyuck's smile was long gone and his eyes were shut closed again. Yuta glanced over at Mark, who was also staring at Donghyuck before he turned back to the younger.

"No one falls asleep that quickly," Yuta mocked, tilting his head to the side and spoke in a high-pitched voice. He waited for Donghyuck's joke, but when he heard nothing, he let out a sigh. He reached over again, gently cupping Donghyuck’s head and brought it down to his lap. As he caressed the younger's hair, brushing through the tangled parts and the rough edges, Yuta began to click things together.

Something was up. Donghyuck was upset, or sad, or annoyed. Yuta couldn’t tell. He was known as the member who could immediately know when someone was hurt by their actions or if they were simply sad over something they considered small. But with Donghyuck, the boy who covered up all his problems with a smile, Yuta was clueless. It had been such a long time since he last heard Donghyuck utter the words “Yuta hyung”, in a cute voice, and then whine about how he wasn’t affectionate enough with him. It had been so long, and now Yuta understood what the problem was. Or at least he thought he knew.

“Haechannie,” Yuta whispered, leaning forwards so that the younger, who he thinks may be awake, would be the only one to hear him. “Why don’t you hang out with me anymore?”

Mark's head snapped up from Donghyuck’s face and his eyes landed on Yuta, who chose to ignore him and continue whispering his concerns to Donghyuck. Feeling a little awkward, Mark quickly plugged in his earphones and stuffed them into his ear. He blasted his music in an attempt to block out any noise, and it worked.

"I miss playing around with you," Yuta confessed, sighing as he realised he finally said what he wanted to say. He never thought he would be saying something like this to Donghyuck, since he was so used to being so distant with the younger. "Although you're annoying, and I feel like beating you up every now and then," Yuta paused, closing his eyes as he let out a sigh and said, "I enjoyed it."

Donghyuck turned around in Yuta's lap, so that his back was facing Yuta's stomach, and he made eye contact with Mark, who looked at him with confusion — the music was really loud. Yuta leaned down and blew air over Donghyuck's face, hoping to receive an action — even a whine or a huff would do — but got nothing. 

"Not all the members are into cuddling," Yuta stated and Donghyuck wanted to laugh. He would know that the best, since he had experienced their rejection everyday. What would Yuta know? He only spent his time chasing Sicheng and occasionally forcing Taeyong to slip under the covers and help him fall asleep. "You're the only member who chooses to willingly come to me and help me sleep."

Yuta thought back to the time when he was laying in bed, his body aching as his eyes were glued to the ceiling. The stress for the performance at their comeback stage was forcing him awake, and he couldn't bring himself to ask anyone to sleep with him — he's too old for that. But then a few minutes later (once everyone had left for their rooms and Yuta heard 'goodnight' get passed around before the lights switched off), Donghyuck creaked open the door to his room and snuck in, trying not to wake anyone up. 

It was strange when Donghyuck peeked over the covers to find Yuta staring back at him. He flinched at first before climbing in without hesitation. Yuta felt the younger tuck himself under his arms and curl his legs in. As Donghyuck made Yuta wrap himself around him, the older of the two felt sleep overcome him a lot quicker than he had expected it to come. The warmth the younger gave off, and the steady breathing he heard calmed his nerves down, followed by a small hand rubbing his back to soothe his back pain; all of it helped him sleep. 

But then as Yuta thought more about the past, he remembered how he had reacted to it all in the morning. When he woke up with his legs tangled around Donghyuck's, and Sicheng's eyes boring into his, Yuta had shoved Donghyuck off the bed, yelling a small excuse for why the younger was in his bed. He grimaced as he remembered the way Donghyuck looked up at him with a hurt expression before morphing it into a more pleased one, happy to have made the hyungs annoyed — it was clear he wasn't.

"Stop running away from us, please," Yuta whispered and brought his hand to Donghyuck's cheek, softly brushing away the hair that fell into his eye. "I miss you. We're sorry."

Donghyuck finally looked away from Mark, who had already gone back to scrolling on his phone, and stared at Yuta. He didn't expect Yuta to say the things he said, since they always had this playful atmosphere around them, the facade of the jokers never leaving them and heart-to-heart conversations never took place. He missed Yuta's presence, the older brother who went along with his jokes — yet still rejected him with harsh tugs and glares that could kill. The things Yuta did, they hurt.

Nonetheless, Donghyuck threw away his thoughts and smiled up at the older. He knew Yuta was sad, and he was the cause. The least he could do was get rid of that. "I'm always here for you, hyung."