ᴀғғᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ-ʟᴇss | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ [ᴇᴅɪᴛɪɴɢ]

12

The pain in Donghyuck's back woke him up, his head spinning at the sudden movement and his eyes barely caught sight of Mark running out of the room. For a second, he forgot everything that had happened and nearly called out to the older. But then it all crashed down onto him and his gaze dropped to the ground, his face flushing at the memory of Mark holding him close to his chest. After everything that had happened, Mark had done that to him, and what was the meaning? Donghyuck was honestly tired of the mixed signals the older sent, so instead of dwelling on it for too long, he shrugged his shoulders to get rid of the thought.

He was snapped out of his jumbled up thoughts when Jaehyun spoke to him from his bed. "Donghyuck," he said, sitting up and leaned over to raise an eyebrow at the younger. "Why was Mark in your bed?"

Well, that was a question Donghyuck also wanted an answer to. He had assumed that Mark had gotten tired from all the travelling and had headed straight for bed, which is what the rest of the members also thought. But in reality, Mark had been bundled up in Donghyuck's bed with Donghyuck's sheets and had ended up falling asleep with his arms around Donghyuck.

To give Jaehyun an answer, all Donghyuck did was shrug his shoulders, not in the mood to speak to anyone, especially not in the morning. Kicking the blanket off himself, Donghyuck swung his legs over and rushed to the toilet, glad that it wasn't occupied by anyone else. He needed that time to think, or well to clear his head. Too much stress caused spots and that was one thing he wasn't looking forward to dealing with.

Donghyuck sleepily stripped his clothes, throwing them into the basket in the corner, which seemed to be full but- Donghyuck really wasn't in the mood for anything. With a sigh, he sunk into the bathtub, which he had filled up when he was struggling with his clothes. Donghyuck brought his knees to his chest and took a deep breath, his eyes fluttering close as he did so. It felt calming as if something had been taken off his shoulder. A burden of a sort had been lifted. But as much as Donghyuck wanted to just stop thinking and enjoy the comforting feel of the water brushing against his sides, his mind betrayed him and the image of Mark hugging him tightly appeared. A sudden spike of annoyance hit him when he realised that Mark had caught him crying yet again.

Donghyuck was not a crybaby and that was well known. He hated crying, not because he believed it made him any less of a boy or anything, but because he simply hated feeling sad to the point of crying, to know that it had all gotten that bad that he was forced to vent everything out through tears. It should never be that bad. And the fact that it was Mark's fourth time catching him cry in private, it annoyed Donghyuck even more.

The first time he had been caught crying was just before debut. The stress was over the roof, the ache in his body only seemed to worsen the more he practised and the dance moves suddenly forced the breath out of him. He was terrified. The only thoughts that flooded his mind every time he looked in the mirror were that- what if he was no longer good enough? What if the evaluators thought that his singing had faltered, or that his ego had grown after the news of debut being close?

It had gotten too much and Donghyuck was left crying in the corner of the resting room, his head tucked between his knees as self-doubt filled him, forcing him to give himself a second look and another glare. But then a hand had come over his, tugging him forward and into a warm embrace, one that somehow managed to fight away all of his thoughts. One that included a Mark Lee who was willing to share a bit of love and concern.

The second time was after the comments under the music video had gotten too much, his heart unable to tolerate another 'NCT Flop' comment and his eyes too blurry to read anymore. Sure, they didn't understand English that well, but he was smart enough to understand something like that. And twitter always had a google translating button. It hurt too much and Donghyuck buried himself under the pile of blankets on his bed. Taeyong had gone out to check on something, so Donghyuck was left alone in the room. Just when Donghyuck was about to sleep with unshed tears held up in his eyes, the door to his room opened. The phone in his clutches was peeled off and the blanket was pulled up for a moment. The bed dipped and another body pressed up against his, the comforting scent spreading around them.