ᴀғғᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ-ʟᴇss | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ [ᴇᴅɪᴛɪɴɢ]

20

Mark was not a fan of change. His body couldn't handle the change when he moved from Canada to South Korea and it showed from how pale he had become for a few weeks. He didn't like how people looked at him every time he messed up a single word in class, and neither did he like it when people questioned his nationality based on his appearance. But the change in his relationship with Donghyuck was another deal.

Mark wasn't a texter since he couldn't tell how people felt when sending messages, or the tone of their voice or how they really reacted. But for the past week the only thing Mark did in his free time was talk to Donghyuck over text. Technically, Donghyuck was the person doing most of the talking, showing Mark pictures of their outfits and sharing strange stories of how Renjun managed to drop juice on himself and spread it to Jaemin. However, Mark was still enjoying it all, sending emojis from time to time and spamming his keyboard with 'haha'.

"You shouldn't use your phone all day," Johnny said as he walked past him to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. Mark glanced up from his phone before turning back. "It's bad for your health, go touch some grass once in a while."

"Yes, dad. I will," Mark answered, snickering when Johnny threw the bottle cap his way. "I'm just taking a break."

"An hour's break?" The smirk on Johnny's face was annoying so Mark stretched his feet over the sofa to prevent him from sitting down. Johnny simply scoffed at the sight and sat on Mark's legs, cackling when Mark cried out in pain. "You talking to Donghyuck?"

Mark quickly replied to the picture Donghyuck sent of himself eating a cookie before turning back to Johnny. "Yeah, he was just talking about the cookies they got on their way home."

Johnny stayed quiet for a while as Mark giggled to himself. He raised his hand and placed it on Mark's leg, catching the younger's attention.

"You know, I'm asking but you don't have to say anything, do you like Donghyuck?" The way Johnny started was so stern that Mark had assumed he was in trouble, especially since Johnny only spoke like that when he was getting ready to scold him for something. Mark was going to laugh it off but then he sees how serious Johnny is.

"Donghyuck and I are close," Mark said, sitting up. He leaned against the sofa's armrest as Johnny's stare intensified. "To answer your question, yes, I think I have feelings for him."

Johnny opened his mouth to say something when Mark cut him off. "But, we both decided to not act on them yet. He said that if we jump into it face first we might realise that it all was just a spur of the moment kind of thing, you know? We just reconciled so the affection we felt for one another was so much we assumed it was something else."

"Do you?" Mark raised an eyebrow, confused. "Do you think your feelings are rooted from the burst of emotion you guys had a while back?"

Mark bit on the inside of his cheek. Donghyuck had said all of that when they were on call the other day and he simply hummed along to everything, but in reality he didn't agree with it at all. Mark was sure he could tell apart his feelings of friendship and love, if he couldn't it would be slightly concerning. But Donghyuck's voice sounded so sure, as if Donghyuck was speaking from experience, as if Donghyuck was the one who felt like that, so Mark stayed quiet. If Donghyuck felt as though he was rushing in too quickly then Mark wasn't going to hold him down.

"I—" Mark started but then the door to the entrance opened and the other members entered, complaining about how tired they were. "Welcome home."

"Save us, Mark!" Yuta cried, throwing himself onto Mark, who laughed as the older snuggled closer to him, kicking Johnny in the legs. "Jungwoo kept suggesting more places and the shopping was never going to end if his shoes didn't break."

"You guys went along with it all," Jungwoo shrugged his shoulders, happily showing Johnny the clothes he bought.

The members all started telling them about their day out and Mark tried to ignore the looks Johnny was sending his way. He knew the older was concerned about him and Donghyuck, but he preferred to keep it as something between himself and Donghyuck. Mark was already grateful that the other members weren't prejudiced about them, he didn't want to make them any more involved.

Mark was ready to wait for Donghyuck.

-

"I have 5 minutes," Donghyuck said, pressing his phone between his ear and shoulder. They had started practicing for the dream comeback already so he barely had any time to speak to Mark any more. There's silence on the other side of the call before Mark finally speaks up.

"Donghyuck." Mark's voice sounded serious, causing him to pause where he was unplugging his phone charger. "I miss you."

Donghyuck burst out laughing. "Mark Hyung! You sounded so serious I thought you were going to say something else."

"I did say something serious." Donghyuck could hear the pout in his voice. He was probably lying on his bed, being lazy and looking sad. Donghyuck felt his chest tighten at the thought as a smile came over his face. "Come over today?"

"I'll try," Donghyuck answered, hurrying to the entrance, elbowing Jaemin as he teased him about Mark. "Why don't you come over instead?"

"I have to leave the house?"

"Alright!" Renjun called out, grabbing Donghyuck's phone out of his hands. "You've completed your Lee Donghyuck quota, come back tomorrow for some more."

Before Donghyuck could say anything Renjun ended the call with Mark, looking smug when Donghyuck's eyes snapped wide open. "Renjun!" He yelled, pouncing towards him and snatching his phone away. "Why'd you do that?"

"Did you know that absence makes the heart grow fonder?" Donghyuck rolled his eyes, quickly typing up an apology to Mark, who replied immediately with a spam of emojis before saying he was going to sleep.

"Leave them alone," Jeno said from behind them, shuffling on his shoes. "They're in their honeymoon phase, after a while they'll get over it and go back to normal."

Donghyuck shoved Remun aside when he tried to say something and grabbed Chenle. "Chenle is the only one who's nice to me," Donghyuck said, pulling the younger one into a hug. There's a short silence before Chenle giggles.

"So Hyung, when's the wedding?"

-

The next chapters may not make sense, I promise I will fix it soon •́  ‿ ,•̀