𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 | markhyuck

19 ❥ lend a hand

—

" we need to talk. "

—

mark opened the door, then sat back down, shifting on his bed uncomfortably after scooting all the way back towards the headboard.

he watched as the rest of the members followed suit after taeyong, filing in one by one as they each found a place to settle down in the bedroom.

taeyong sat down crisscross apple sauce in front of mark, his expression unreadable. it looked like a mix between worry and confusion. either way, mark didn't like where this was going.

johnny closed the door after him, being the last person to come in. he sighed deeply and leaned with his back against the wall.

all the attention was now on mark, and he felt both guilt and embarrassment fill up his insides. he had a gut feeling that this could go either really well, or really, really bad.

"look," taeyong started, placing a comforting hand on mark's knee. "we don't know what's going on with you and donghyuck right now, but whatever it is, you guys need to confront each other about it as soon as possible."

taeil cleared his throat, raising his hand to speak as if he were in a very serious and important business meeting. "did you two fight again?"

the atmosphere in the room was unbearable for mark, who felt like he was being choked by it. the tension in the air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

mark, feigning silence, shook his head in disagreement.

"ah, okay," taeil sighed in relief, chuckling lightly. "for a second, we were all very nervous that this was gonna turn into 2017 all over again."

"but really, what did happen?" jaehyun asked. his voice was low and calm, but his worried facial expression said otherwise.

mark repositioned his knees up to his chest. "nothing.." he mumbled.

doyoung rolled his eyes. "mark we all know that's a lie."

"i— i don't wanna talk about it."

johnny frowned. it was a rare look for him to sport, and mark knew that very well. it made his stomach churn with even more guilt than it already had before. "mark, we already tried contacting donghyuck. he won't respond."

"please, mark, tell us what's wrong," taeyong pleaded, "whatever it is, we're willing to lend a hand."

it had occurred to the canadian that there was no use in trying to avoid the topic, but he kept his answer short and vague.

"something personal happened."

all seven of the guys seemed to pick up on it very well, contributing small sounds of understanding. this made mark screech inwardly.

seriously— does everybody know?

"oh. does this have to do with you two liking each other?" jungwoo asked, making nearly everyone jump up at the bluntness of his question.

mark felt the building heat rise up to his cheeks. he lowered his gaze, anxiously picking at the lint of his bedsheets.

oh no. they're going to find out.

"yeah, mark. does it?" yuta queried in an unintentionally (maybe intentionally, who knows) accusing tone. it reminded mark of the bossy little girls with their hair tied up in pigtails that he met in preschool who got mad if he didn't want to play with them.

instead of properly answering the question, mark bit his lip and said nothing.

taeyong rubbed the nape of his neck ashamedly, "we sincerely apologize if this feels like an invasion of privacy, mark—"

"no!" mark interjected, putting taeyong's apology to a halt. "you- you don't need to be sorry. i really appreciate you all for coming here, it's just— i can't really find the right words to say at the moment."

johnny walked over to where mark was on the bed and slung his arm around the younger's shoulder, ruffling his hair in the brotherly way that mark was used to. "no worries, little man. probably overwhelming with the fact that all of us are in here with you, but you can come talk to us individually when the time is right."

"y-yeah.. thank you, johnny hyung."

the members took that as their signal to leave, getting up one by one to give mark a few words of reassurance before heading out.

mark nodded in response to everything, but he felt something tugging at him from the inside.

he had finally found the right words to say.

i'll ask someone later.

—

later that evening, taeyong and jaehyun heard a knock on their bedroom door.

"come in!" taeyong chimed.

to their surprise, it was mark.

"ah, what's the matter?" jaehyun asked, immediately scooting over so that mark could sit in between the two of them.

"guys, what do you think would happen to me and donghyuck..

if we did like each other back?"

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YAYAYAYYY aren't i on quite the uploading streak 😎
you can expect maybe one or two more chapters out today :)))
i'm so relieVEDDD i finally got back into the flow of writing 😭😭🤚
hope you guys are enjoying the story!! <3