ᴀғғᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ-ʟᴇss | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ [ᴇᴅɪᴛɪɴɢ]

18

Donghyuck was crazy, Mark thought when the younger proceeded to pat his butt for the tenth time that concert. Donghyuck was truly crazy, because Mark wasn't given any second to calm down before Donghyuck had started to bother him again. At first, Mark had assumed it was an accident, that Donghyuck had been rushing past him and in the excitement, accidentally brushed his hand against Mark's butt. However, it clearly wasn't when Mark snapped his head in Donghyuck's direction the fourth time and caught the younger snickering at his reaction. 

Mark kept glancing around at the cameras the fans had pointed towards them and stiffen whenever Donghyuck came close to him. It was a little strange getting so much attention from Donghyuck after many months of avoiding. Mark didn't know whether or not to feel thankful or embarrassed. The fans were enjoying it, seen by the way they would scream and cover their mouths in happiness. Mark, on the other hand, was flustered. 

But, at the end of it, he was happy. Glad to know that his relationship with Donghyuck had gotten better, probably stronger than it had been before.

It had come as a surprise to the members when Mark had willingly chosen to sit next to Donghyuck for their flight back to Korea. They weren't surprised, however, when Mark turned his head around with a pout on his face and asked for them to change seats with him because Donghyuck's snoring and incapability to remain on his own seat was far too distracting. (No one switched with him and Mark was forced to watch Spiderman with Donghyuck's hands randomly slapping his face one in a while).

After the Night-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Mentioned, as Mark named it, the two had shown no signs of wanting to talk about it. Mark was concerned for the first few days that went by whenever Donghyuck would call to talk to him alone, but then after a while he realised that Donghyuck was probably never going to bring it up again. Maybe he didn't want to talk about it? Maybe he didn't want to kiss Mark and so pretended to act as if it never happened. If that was what he wanted, Mark was more than willing to brush it under the rug. (But in all honesty, he didn't want to).

One thing that had changed, however, since that night, was that Donghyuck was teasing Mark more out of the usual. It was common to see the younger clinging onto someone's arm, majority of the time it was Taeil, and try to get a head pat out of them, but it wasn't common to see Donghyuck do that to Mark.

"You're cute," Donghyuck said once on a stage for one of their music show performances. The staff were calling out instructions and fans were staring up at them with big eyes whilst Donghyuck was there, his chin a few inches away from Mark's shoulder as he called the older cute. Mark bit his tongue to suppress his smile. "Now call me cute."

Mark feigned annoyance and rolled his eyes before muttering a small, "you're cute as well". Without waiting to see a reaction, Mark spun on his heels and began to make conversation with Jaehyun, who looked mildly amused at the exchange of words between the youngest two. He could hear Donghyuck cheer behind him with Johnny.

Shaking his head, Mark grinned widely as Jaehyun spoke about something that he didn't care about.

-

In the midst of hurrying into the changing rooms, Johnny managed to grab Donghyuck's arm and held him by the railing of clothes. 

"So," Johnny said quietly, trying to act as though he was helping the younger take his casual clothes out. "Any updates?"

Donghyuck stifled a laugh at the eagerness in Johnny's voice. "Nothing's changed." At the stern look that took over Johnny's face immediately after his answer, Donghyuck nervously shrugged his shoulders. "I don't want to force something into his face if he isn't even interested."

"Do I need to remind you who initiated an almost kiss that night?" Johnny frowned.

"You weren't even there," Donghyuck scoffed, peeling his jacket off himself. "Maybe I was just seeing things, maybe I was just really tired and thought that he was going to kiss me when he wasn't."

Johnny opened his mouth to reply when Mark suddenly popped his head over the clothes, a surprised look on his face when he saw the two. 

"I thought I heard voices, are we playing hide and seek?" Mark asked, blinking at the two in confusion. 

"No, go away," Johnny smacked Mark's hand and glared at him. "Don't you know it's bad manners when interrupting someone."

Mark raised a confused eyebrow at the two, but then quickly put his hands up and shook his head. "I don't care, just get ready cause we're leaving soon."

"Kids these days," Johnny jokingly rolled his eyes and turned to Donghyuck, who was smiling at the back of Mark's head. "What were we talking about?"

"I don't remember," Donghyuck lied and grabbed Johnny's hands. "But anyways, let's hurry up, I'm tired and want to sleep."

Johnny nodded his head and the two rushed around the dressing room, joining the others who were already changed.

-

"So," Jungwoo whispered, casually elbowing Mark once they took a seat in the van. Donghyuck was right beside him, but he seemed distracted by the music playing in his earphones. "How are things with you know who?"

"You could just say his name," Mark chuckled and then paused, thinking. "Well, they're the same as they were a few days ago." At the annoyed glare Jungwoo gave him, he continued, "We've started talking a lot more?"

"How boring," Jungwoo sighed, slumping in his seat, the excitement in his face suddenly disappeared. "I thought you had finally come to your senses and realised you liked Donghyuck in more than a platonic way."

When Mark didn't respond, Jungwoo hummed and plugged his earphones in, easily nodding off to sleep. 

As Jungwoo fell asleep and relaxed in his own world, Mark sat frozen in the middle seat, his mind spinning from the number of thoughts in his head. Did he like Donghyuck? Well, of course he did. Donghyuck was his best friend, they were closer than a lot of the other members and always had fun together. Mark had lost count of the number of times he accidentally called someone else by Donghyuck's name because of how he was stuck in his head. 

But that was all platonic, right? 

Mark thought back to the time he almost kissed Donghyuck. Why had he done that? Was it because of the mood? Was it because it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time? Or was it because he liked Donghyuck? Mark didn't know. His heart was beating far too loudly when he pulled Donghyuck close, all the sense in his mind had gone out of his brain. 

However, what did Donghyuck think about it all? Did he even feel anything? What if it had all been Mark's imagination? Maybe Donghyuck didn't find it weird to kiss the members? Mark narrowed his eyes at the thought and grunted, catching Donghyuck's attention. 

"You okay?" He asked, tilting his head over to see Mark's expression. Donghyuck didn't seem like the type of guy to go around kissing people randomly, right? A sudden memory of Donghyuck accidentally kissing Jaemin appeared and Mark almost scowled. 

Shaking the thought of out his head, he turned to Donghyuck with a soft smile. "I'm fine, no worries."

"Can I sleep like this?" Donghyuck suddenly blurted, leaning into Mark's shoulder, the top of his hair tickling Mark's neck. "I'm a bit tired and I won't drool."

"Promise?" Mark teased, earning a pinch into his stomach by Donghyuck. "Go on, it's not as if I had a choice."

"Thanks," Donghyuck mumbled, squeezing his arm through Mark's. Warm, Mark thought, smiling down at Donghyuck. It always felt warm around Donghyuck. It was as if Mark never felt cold around him, or uncomfortable. He was comforting in a way. Did Donghyuck also feel this way? Did his heartbeat fasten this way? Did his cheeks heat up at the thought of Mark? Did he fight the urge to catch Mark's lips with his own? 

Mark's mouth parted in surprise as his eyes trailed over the younger boy. Maybe Jungwoo was right. Maybe he did like Donghyuck. 

Well, Mark sighed. I'm definitely not straight.