Work Text:
"you look cold, take my jacket."
... ✺ ...
wanna one were at show champion, performing boomerang and i promise you for the thousandth time (that's what it felt like, anyway.) everyone was exhausted, though they refused to let it show.
after finishing the fifth run-through of i promise you, they were finally able to hear the words they'd been wanting to hear for the past hour.
"right, that's a wrap! we'll call you back later!" one of the staff shouted, before heading backstage. after celebrating and waving to the fans, the wanna one members disappeared into their dressing room.
... ✺ ...
"how long do we have till they call us back?"
"like, half an hour at best." jisung answered, purposely ignoring daniel and sungwoon screaming the dressing room down.
"wake me in half an hour then!" like daehwi, most of the members chose to sleep (because, really, when were they ever gonna get the time?) or fuck around on their phones. jisung watched over all of his fellow members with a calm smile, counting up the nine of them-
nine?
whilst the others were doing their thing, enjoying the rare moments of freedom, jisung watched as jihoon stood by the door, pacing back and forth.
"is everything alright, jihoon?" he asked, mildly concerned.
turning around, jihoon offered up a tired smile, "i'm fine hyung. just wondering if it's ok for me to step out for a bit."
"oh, that's it?" jisung laughed softly, concern fading slightly, "go ahead, just be back on time, alright?"
"'kay!" with that, jihoon disappeared out the door. for a moment, jisung questioned in his head where exactly his dongsaeng was planning to go but that quickly died when woojin started practicing his parrot sounds once again.
"yah, park woojin, we aren't having this conversation again!"
... ✺ ...
a little further down from the wanna one dressing room was nct 127's room. all the members had finished performing a good hour or so ago, now waiting to be called back with the other groups.
the room was, as you might've expected, in utter chaos.
taeil and donghyuck were attempting to outsing each other in one corner of the room, doyoung and taeyong were facetiming the nct u members, winwin, jaehyun and johnny were going over the black on black choreography and yuta was asleep. in the midst of the chaos however, mark sat in the corner, clearly lost in thought.
"hey, mark?" taeyong abandoned the facetiming session to join his dongsaeng, "everything alright?"
"hm?" mark waved his hand nonchalantly, "i'm fine, just kind of tired."
"you should go outside dude, get some fresh air!" johnny shouted, getting a noncommital nod from winwin.
"...should i?" the canadian looked at taeyong for approval, making the elder laugh awkwardly.
"you don't need to ask me, go ahead." he shrugged, patting mark on the shoulder, "just be back in time for stage."
"if you see any sasaengs, run!" donghyuck piped up, sending mark a wink.
"i'll be back then!" mark called before running out the door.
... ✺ ...
'stepping out for a bit' somehow managed to lead jihoon outside the studio. it wasn't his plan but hey, it worked for him.
sighing, he unconsciously wrapped his arms around himself. it was way too cold for him to be outside, especially in this temperature (he vaguely remembered minhyun say it was 1°C earlier but his memory was foggy.) still, it beat staying inside with everyone else. jihoon wasn't bitter at any of them or anything like that, the thought of being stuck inside around everyone after recording for so long just seemed like a nuisance to him. everyone of them became exhausted with each other and the idol life every once in a while, he supposed.
taking a breath, jihoon could see his own breath in the air. was it really that cold? jesus. he could already feel a cold coming on and, most probably, an half an hour scolding session via his manager. sweet, he chuckled to himself.
jihoon closed his eyes, taking in the silence around him; everything seemed calm for once-
"uh, is anyone out here?" ok, maybe not.
... ✺ ...
running out the dressing room, mark took in a sigh of relief. really, he just needed some peace and quiet to think to himself about stuff. it wasn't anything against his members or the staff, but after having to spend day after day in dressing rooms with all 4 units? mark was over it, honestly.
he didn't exactly know his way backstage, awkwardly trailing around the set in the hopes of finding some kind of direction. he walked down every hall, only finding even more dressing rooms, with all of them managing to be even louder than the next (it honestly sounded like someone was being murdered in both wanna one's and gugudan's rooms but he didn't give it much thought.)
mark had been walking around for a good 10 minutes now; it got to the point where he just muttered "fuck it" to himself before pushing the next door he could find, praying for the best.
almost immediately after opening the door, mark was hit with a gust of wind and cold air. he'd found his way, at least. pulling on his jacket, he stepped out and found himself calling, "uh, is anyone out here?" he didn't expect to get a response or to see anyone out there.
especially not park jihoon, of all people.
... ✺ ...
"hm?" jihoon spared mark a surprised glance before breaking out into a smile.
"h-hey."
"hey," jihoon waved stiffly, "mark lee, right?"
"oh shut up." mark laughed, shoving his same age friend in the side. truth be told, the duo hadn't seen each other since jihoon left SM; neither had the time to talk which was sad, especially with how close they once were. still, even now nothing felt different or off between them. mark still felt that fluttering feeling in his stomach when he saw the wink boy; jihoon also found himself wanting to take mark in his arms like he used to.
too bad it was too cold for that.
shivering, jihoon wrapped his arms around himself again. was not bringing a coat with him a stupid thing? yes, most definitely. would he probably end up doing it again? of course. this is jihoon we're talking about here.
"you didn't bring a coat?" mark asked, edging closer to the wanna one member.
"nope," jihoon internally cursed himself, "i forgot it. it'll be fine though."
"are you dumb? of course it won't." before he could get in any protest, jihoon found himself suddenly being wrapped in mark's coat.
"wh-"
"see? don't you feel warmer now?"
"yeah but," jihoon gestured over to mark, "aren't you cold now?"
grinning, mark responded with a blunt, "just seeing you warms me up."
what followed next was jihoon's aggressive sighing and lackluster attempts at hitting mark for his dumb comment, with said boy laughing all the while. it felt a lot like old times in the training rooms: mark would often use pick up lines on jihoon because it would make the other boy laugh and, really, he adored his laugh. no matter how cheesey and cringe the comment was, they would both find themselves in hysterics by the end of it and then, of course, lying on the floor together when everyone else had gone.
it happened so long ago and yet, both boys remembered those times so vividly.
"...i missed you, y'know." jihoon finally spoke up, taking mark's hands in his. the wanna one member didn't fail to note how freezing the other's hands were, making him instantly attempt to warm them up.
"i missed you too, jihoon." he smiled, gaze both so joyful and yet melancholic, "even now, i still think you're the prettiest person i've ever seen."
"hey, shush..." jihoon stumbled out, blushing as he mumbled, "you already know you're the prettiest to me..."
removing his hands from jihoon's little warming session, mark intertwined their hands once again. two sets of eyes met again for the first time in a while but for a moment, it really did feel like nothing had changed.
"mark?" jihoon started up, voice more cautious than before.
"mhm?"
"can i kiss you?" he hadn't heard that one in a while.
mark nodded, instantly being met with soft (and honestly, kinda cold) lips against his. the kiss wasn't short, though it didn't last a long time either. they hadn't been like this in years and yet, as soon as they began, things just fell into place; mark had chosen to take the lead, drawing out a small whimper from jihoon's end. as they separated, both found themselves breathless.
"well...that warmed me up." jihoon joked, ducking away from mark's hand.
"same here." as usual, mark sported his dorky grin, "jihoon, i think-"
before he could finish his sentence, the back door opened; instantly, both boys let go of each other's hands, turning to the source of noise.
"hey, i found the kids!" to their surprise, it was taeyong, shortly followed up by jisung. both leaders looked exhausted but nonetheless relived to see their respective members.
"mark, we're on stage in 10!" taeyong's joy was instantly replaced with pure stress, before his gaze settled on jihoon, "oh, do you two know each other?"
"mhm, i guess so." jihoon shrugged as nonchalantly as he could, making mark chuckle.
"oh, our mark has friends..." taeyong mumbled to himself proudly, "we really have to go now though!"
as mark was being led back inside by the nct leader, jihoon quite suddenly remembered he was still wearing the other boy's coat.
"wait, mark!" he called out, attracting said person's attention, "your jacket-"
"it's fine, keep it!" he shouted back, "i'll get it back next time i see you!"
next time?
oh.
taeyong and mark disappeared inside again, not to be seen by jihoon for the rest of the day. jisung shot him a curious look, attempting to find the words to say to his dongsaeng. there was a lot he wanted to ask but he settled on the simplest of questions.
"have you met mark before or..." he trailed off, unsure of what else to say.
"something like that." jihoon smiled to himself.
sighing softly (perhaps in understanding), jisung guided the younger back inside, complaining about the coldness. it made him laugh, for he couldn't feel anything but warmth flowing through him. whether it was the coat or something more, he couldn't say.
their managers were pissed off when they returned. they'd really thought jihoon had bolted from the building (which really, he could've.) the shouting went over his head though; there were better things for him to think about, after all, like how the hell he was going to return the coat to its owner.
he made a mental note to get mark lee's number out of daniel as soon as possible.
whether it was to return the coat or for ulterior purpose, well...that was for jihoon to know.