23 guns | nct mafia

26

— chapter twenty six: minhyung —

waking up next to mark had become a normal thing now. and donghyuck loved it. he loved having the older around him, hearing his deep morning voice and his low chuckles whenever donghyuck tripped or stuttered because it was still so early.

it was one of the last days in the house, taeyong had told them a week prior that they would now be moving back to their original headquarters. and while donghyuck was anticipating it, he also didn't want to leave chenle and jisung behind. he had come to grown very attached to the two younger boys as they were always there to help him tease the members or jump around like children. he contemplated asking taeyong if he allow the two to move to the headquarters as well but he feared that taeyong would reject and find him weird so he didn't do it.

it was late already, tomorrow donghyuck had work so he wasn't going on a mission today. instead he leaned over the railing of the balcony, just staring into the night. it wasn't necessarily cold but whenever the wind blew donghyuck got goosebumps.

"what are you doing out here?" a voice asked from behind. donghyuck turned around to see mark who was just standing at the door frame, a black hoodie in his hand.

"nothing. just thinking." donghyuck hummed and gratefully took the hoodie mark handed him and put it on. he noticed mark's scent all over it and stated "it's one of yours."

"is it? well, i don't mind you wearing my stuff." mark replied and stood next to donghyuck to look into the garden.

the two were engulfed in a silence. it wasn't an awkward one, not at all. instead it felt more like the two just took their time to think about anything and nothing.

"are you excited to go back?" mark asked after a while. donghyuck had just now noticed how close they were and he scooted even closer, enjoying the warmth mark's bady was radiating.

"i guess..." donghyuck trailed off, "it's just there has been a few not so pleasant things going on back there when i lived there so i'm scared." he continued.

mark took his hand which was cold from touching the freezing metal of the railing and intertwined their fingers.

"i'll make sure that every unpleasant memory will be replaced with a very pleasant one." he whispered.

"thank you." donghyuck whispered back.

he didn't know why they were whispering but he was glad that they did because he was pretty sure his voice would've cracked if he had responded to mark in a normal voice.

"i mean it. thank you, mark." he whispered again. mark looked at him, a tender smile tugging at his lips.

"minhyung." he said quietly.

"what?" donghyuck hummed in confusion.

"call me minhyung. i don't mind it with you." mark repeated.

suddenly donghyuck's throat became very tight as he started to grasp the full meaning of mark's words.

"it's your real name, isn't it?" he asked, scared mark would get mad at him for questioning. but the older simply nodded his head and mumbled a 'yes'.