Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Like I said,” Donghyuck huffs, “I hate him.”

It’s a Friday night and Donghyuck is sitting on the couch in Jeno and Jaemin’s apartment, feeling violated and betrayed by non-other than his best friend. Jeno invited him over so the three of them can have dinner together, then watch some shitty movie they can laugh at. When Donghyuck arrived Jaemin was nowhere to be found and Jeno was smiling at him in a way Donghyuck knew whatever he’s about to ask from him is going to make him want to crawl out of his skin. And he was absolutely right.

Jeno rolls his eyes. “I’m pretty sure Mark hates you too.”

“The fuck he hates me for,” exclaims Donghyuck angrily. “I didn’t do anything to him!”

“You buzzed half of his hair off in high school,” Jeno says, utterly unamused and probably already tired of Donghyuck.

“It was an accident!” Donghyuck cries. It really was an accident. Donghyuck actually thought Mark Lee was cute back in high school and wanted to impress him with his hairstyling talent. He was sure it’s going to turn out okay – he had experience since he cut people’s hair from school. He was way cheaper than a salon, and everyone loved him - up until to the point where he totally fucked Mark’s hair up accidentally, and nobody wanted to go to him anymore. It was his fifteen minutes of fame, but it lasted a year and ended tragically. “And he shaved one of my eyebrows off when I was drunk out of my mind as a way of revenge. Who’s the evil one, huh?” Donghyuck will never forgive him for that. Mark could wear beanies to hide his hair (or the lack of it in this case), but how the hell do you hide a shaved off eyebrow, huh? Donghyuck looked like an idiot for months. No way he’s helping that bitch.

“Mark needs a place to stay, and you have a spare bedroom. This is happening whether you like it or not,” Jeno says sternly. Donghyuck can tell his patience is running thin, and maybe he should be worried since Jeno can be very terrifying when he’s mad, but he simply can’t agree to something like this.

“You can’t force me,” huffs Donghyuck and crosses his arms over his chest.

Jeno’s eyes narrow dangerously. “I’ll tell Renjun you were the one who broke his MacBook.”

Donghyuck gasps loudly, feeling every bit of betrayed. “You wouldn’t dare.” Renjun will kill Donghyuck if he finds out. It’s not even a joke - Donghyuck is going to die if Jeno snitches on him. And to think Donghyuck thought his secret is safe with Jeno. That traitor.

Jeno raises his eyebrows, his lips pulled into a sinister like smile. “Watch me, baby.”

“Jeno,” Donghyuck whines out and clings to Jeno’s upper arm, using his best puppy eyes to somehow get out of the situation. It’s a shame Jeno is immune to it.

“Donghyuckie,” Jeno sighs and pats Donghyuck’s hair lovingly. “Mark won’t be able to find an apartment for only two months this time of the year, and you’ve been complaining about how lonely you are. It’s beneficial for the both of you.”

Donghyuck groans, burying his face into Jeno’s neck. “Can’t he just sleep on your couch? He’s been doing that for a week, anyway.”

“For two months?” Jeno asks, his mouth pulled into a grimace. “No.”

“But we hate each other,” Donghyuck complains, his tone pained. They really do. Donghyuck was glad when they finally graduated and chose very different career paths – Donghyuck chemical engineering and Mark law. He can count on one hand how many times he’s run into Mark the past two years – and this is how it should be. He doesn’t need any negativity in his life. He’s just trying to be happy. Please.

“This can be a good opportunity for you guys,” Jeno says, running his fingers through Donghyuck’s hair. “Maybe you will realize that you have more in common than you’ve thought,” Jeno reasons. “I genuinely think you guys could be good friends, if only you’d try.” Donghyuck doubts that.

Donghyuck lets out a pained sigh. “Okay, but I’m only doing this for you.” This is a very bad idea. Two months practically locked in with Mark Lee sounds terrible, and Donghyuck is sure Mark feels the same. Someone’s going to die before their time together ends, Donghyuck is positive.

“Thank you,” Jeno says happily, leaving a quick peck on Donghyuck’s cheek. He looks so pleased now. Donghyuck hates him.

“Whatever,” Donghyuck mutters sulkily, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand to annoy Jeno a little. He deserves it.

“You’re such a baby,” Jeno laughs amusedly, his eyes forming into crescents.

“Am not,” Donghyuck huffs. He’s about to get up from the couch and go home to sulk alone, but Jeno grabs him by the waist and pulls him back, tickling his sides. He knows how ticklish Donghyuck is, that evil bastard.

“Stop acting like you don’t love it when we call you that,” Jeno tuts with a grin as Donghyuck falls back on the couch and tries to get away from Jeno’s hands while tears form in his eyes from how hard he’s laughing.

“Sto-op,” he wheezes out, squirming. He does love the attention he’s not gonna lie, but his lungs are hurting from the too much giggling.

Jeno finally stops and lies on Donghyuck, hugging him tightly so he can’t escape anywhere. “Even Renjun thinks you are one. You’re always so pleased when he calls you baby,” he chuckles, always knowing how to fluster the confident Donghyuck Lee.

Donghyuck flushes a deep red, groaning, trying to push Jeno away from himself. Jeno doesn’t budge – those trips to the gym are paying off way too effectively. He’s always been stronger than Donghyuck but now he does as he pleases and Donghyuck doesn’t like it at all.

This is how Jaemin finds them, who chooses this moment to step through the front door with two bags in his hands. “Hey babies,” he calls out with a wide smile on his face. “I brought food!”

“I told you we’re eating together,” Jeno mutters to Donghyuck with a smile, then gets off him and the couch to go and take the bags away from Jaemin who’s toeing his shoes off. Jeno pecks Jaemin on the lips twice as a greeting and they giggle about something between themselves. Donghyuck can’t help but smile at them – they are so obviously in love. It’s blah, but also… cute. Must be nice.

“Hi baby,” Jaemin says as he walks up to Donghyuck, who’s now sitting up on the couch.

“Hey,” Donghyuck greets him, a little disheveled from Jeno’s earlier attack. Jaemin gives both of his cheeks a loud peck before pinching them. Donghyuck scowls at him unhappily. (Secretly pleased, he loves attention.)

“How was your organic chemistry test yesterday?” Jaemin asks, letting go of Donghyuck’s cheeks and pulling him up from the couch.

“I passed,” Donghyuck answers, shrugging his shoulders.

“That’s what matters,” Jaemin exclaims as they walk to the dining table in the corner of the living room. “You’re doing great baby,” he says, always so supportive.

Donghyuck beams at him as an answer, and the three of them sit down. “What are we eating?” Donghyuck asks excitedly. He was promised food by Jeno, and he came over without eating anything at home. He’s starving.

“Chinese,” Jaemin singsongs as he gets the four plastic containers out of the bag and puts one in front of Donghyuck.

“You’re the best, sweetie,” Jeno says with a lovey-dovey expression on his face. Donghyuck rolls his eyes at him.

“Whose the fourth one?” Donghyuck asks as the three of them start eating. It tastes really good and Donghyuck already feels half as much on edge as he did a moment ago.

“Renjun said he’ll drop by,” Jaemin explains with his mouth full.

Donghyuck glances at Jeno skeptically, who smiles back at him with a predatory glint in his eyes, confirming Donghyuck’s suspicion. He was really going to tell Renjun the whole MacBook thing if Donghyuck doesn’t agree. Donghyuck scowls at him angrily.

Now that he’s reminded of the whole living with Mark Lee thing, he realizes something. “Where is Mark anyway?” he mumbles.

“He’s out with his friends,” Jeno says with his eyebrows raised.

“He had a really hard week,” Jaemin chimes in. “Oh yeah, did you guys talk the whole Donghyuck living with Mark thing out?” Jaemin asks with an innocent smile, glancing between Donghyuck and Jeno.

“We absolutely did. Donghyuck agreed to it,” Jeno smirks, then takes a bite from his quickly disappearing food.

“That’s so nice of you, Hyuckie!” Jaemin exclaims and squeezes Donghyuck’s hand. He’s probably sporting a really pained expression because Jaemin hurriedly adds, “I’m sure you guys will be able to sort your misunderstanding out! Maybe you’ll even become friends.”

Donghyuck sighs. “I just hope it goes by quickly.” Thinking about it, and realizing this is actually happening, he’s not even sure he’ll survive this. He prays that it’s not going to be super awkward. He’s not the type to be in the first place, but with Mark, it’s different. He loses all his ability to ease the atmosphere when Mark’s around.

Jaemin sends a warm smile Donghyuck’s way as he rubs a hand up and down his back comfortingly, while Donghyuck keeps eating sulkily. “I’m sure it’s going to be fine, baby.”

He loves Jaemin so much, he’s a literal angel and he buys Donghyuck food. “Jaemin, I love you so much more than I love Jeno.”

“Shut the hell up, you ungrateful bitch,” Jeno hisses out jokingly as Jaemin laughs at them.

“No-o,” Donghyuck singsongs and stands up in a rush when Jeno does the same and sets off in his direction. “Don’t come closer,” he cries as he keeps backing away. Jeno just laughs at him and corners him against the front door, which opens in that exact moment and Donghyuck falls backwards. He squeezes his eyes shut and waits for the pain to come when his back hits the hard floor, but fortunately it never happens, because he collides into someone.

“Jesus, Donghyuck,” Renjun grunts from behind him, circling Donghyuck’s waist so he has a better grip on him, and they don’t fall backwards.

“It’s Jeno’s fault,” Donghyuck squeals out. Renjun’s hands slide off him as he steps away to suffocate Jeno, who just smiles at him dumbly, but before he can, Jaemin grabs his arm and pulls him back towards the table.

“Both of you, stop fooling around and finish your dinner,” Jaemin says sternly. “Renjun come and sit down.”

“Okay, mum” Donghyuck says, rolling his eyes. Jaemin just scowls at him.

Now the four of them settle down around the table to eat. Even if it’s a little lame to spend a Friday night in, it’s nice to be with his best friends. Between school and other stuff, it’s hard to meet up sometimes, but they still all take the time to meet up at least once a week. Being with them is wholesome, and it makes Donghyuck happy.

When they finish their food, they settle down on the couch to watch a movie as Donghyuck’s been promised. Jeno and Jaemin huddle up in the corner with a blanket, kissing from time to time when they think no one’s watching. Donghyuck and Renjun settle down on the other end, and Renjun immediately throws his arm over Donghyuck’s shoulders to pull them closer to each other. Donghyuck cuddles into him happily. Sometimes it’s hard to get Renjun to cuddle, so he’s not going to miss any opportunity.

Maybe halfway through the movie, Renjun whispers in his ear, “Jeno told me you agreed to live with Mark.”

Donghyuck just shrugs his shoulders and hides his face in Renjun’s neck, who surprisingly lets him. Donghyuck’s mouth pulls into a grin. “What’s up with you lately? You’re so touchy.”

Renjun lets out a chuckle, but it sounds a little strained. He starts playing with Donghyuck’s hair at his nape, probably to distract him. It’s kind of working. “It’s nothing.”

Donghyuck lets it go, even though he knows something is up. Renjun’s been acting weird for weeks now. Donghyuck might be a little too much sometimes, but he knows not to push, when he shouldn’t. Renjun will tell him when he’s ready.

Around midnight, when they’ve already finished the movie and just lounging in the living room, scattered around, the front door of the apartment cracks open with a loud bang. Jeno shoots up from where he’s been peacefully lying on the floor, his head on Jaemin’s lap. Donghyuck jumps at the noise, onto Renjun, who groans under his weight.

Then, a very drunk Mark Lee stumbles into the apartment, supported by Johnny Suh, his best friend. Mark has a wide grin on his face as he loudly laughs at literally nothing. Everyone just stares at them, stunned.

Johnny lets out a pained sigh before saying, “I’m so sorry but he got really drunk and I couldn’t deal with him anymore.” He turns away for a moment from the four of them to stop Mark from making funny faces at himself in the mirror. “He had a really hard week,” Johnny explains.

Mark shakily stumbles into the living room, then after looking around he zeros in on Donghyuck who is still sitting on Renjun. What does that bitch want from Donghyuck, looking at him like that?

“Is that Lee Donghyuck?” Mark asks, squinting his eyes.

“Yes?” Jeno asks, probably still too shocked at his childhood friend’s behavior to say more than necessary.

Donghyuck stands up from Renjun’s lap and stomps over until he’s standing in front of Mark. “What do you want?” he asks, already working himself up over nothing.

“You,” Mark starts, pointing an accusing finger at Donghyuck, but before he can continue, his angry expression morphs into something weird, and then he vomits on Donghyuck.

“Donghyuck, just come out of your room,” Jaemin pleads desperately.

“No,” Donghyuck bites out with his arms crossed, sulking like a child. Mark Lee (the one who vomited on him two days ago) is currently moving into his apartment. This is the worst thing that ever happened to Donghyuck, and he accidentally made an explosion in the organic chemistry lab last semester and immediately got failed.

“Please,” Jaemin whines, clinging to Donghyuck.

“Can’t you see I’m studying?” Donghyuck asks. There is an open textbook in front of him on his bed where they are sitting. Maybe it’s only there to mislead the others, but the thing is, he really should study.

“He feels so terrible about the whole thing, just give him a chance to apologize,” Jaemin says, not giving up. He hugs Donghyuck from behind and Donghyuck turns his head back a little, so he can look at Jaemin.

“Don’t wanna,” he huffs childishly.

The door of his room bangs open and Jeno charges inside. “That’s it Lee Donghyuck, I had enough,” he hisses out, going for Donghyuck to do God knows what. Jeno has no limits when it comes to him.

Donghyuck can’t help the shriek that escapes him. He clings to Jaemin and uses him as a human shield. “Jaemin save me from this monster!”

Jaemin lets out a pained sigh as he gets caught up between the two of them once again. “Can’t you guys act like normal human beings for one fucking time?” he asks, uncharacteristically annoyed, so much that it makes Jeno and Donghyuck stop their stupid fight. Donghyuck has it in him to at least be a little ashamed.

“I’ll go and talk to him,” Donghyuck mutters quietly. He lets go of Jaemin and gets up from the bed.

“Can’t you be a little nicer to him?” Donghyuck hears Jaemin whisper shout to Jeno as he exits his room to go and look for Mark. If Jeno would be nice to him, Donghyuck would think there’s something wrong with him. Being a bitch to one another is their love language.

Donghyuck’s acting like a child, he knows this, but once he gets petty it’s really hard for him to stop. Mark Lee vomited on him, and the fact in itself is pretty bad, but Donghyuck is also terrified of throwing up, so he almost went into a panic attack after. Mark started crying because he felt bad and would only stop when he passed out on the couch snuggled up to Johnny while Donghyuck was hyperventilating in the bedroom as Jeno, Jaemin and Renjun were trying to calm him down. It was very messy.

Donghyuck walks into the living room where Mark is nervously pacing in front of the tv, chewing on his lips. When he notices Donghyuck he stops, and his cheeks immediately become crimson red.

“Donghyuck,” he starts, his voice wavering a little, “I’m so sorry for… you know,” he says, looking moments away from crying. The thing is, Donghyuck is not a monster and Mark looks kind of cute with a blush on his face, so he’s obviously going to forgive him. Also, he never really knows what to do when someone cries around him, and it makes him insanely uncomfortable. He doesn’t want a repeat of Friday night.

“It’s okay, Mark,” he reassures him as kindly as he’s capable of when it comes to the other boy.

Mark scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “Thank you for letting me stay here. I had no chance of finding an apartment at this time of the semester. You kind of saved me,” he says with a small smile, looking at Donghyuck.

“It’s nothing,” Donghyuck mutters, even though it is very much not nothing. “We just have to figure out how to,” Donghyuck starts, trying to find the right words. “Exist next to each other.”

“You mean how to not end up killing each other by the end of the two month?” Mark asks with a playful smile, and wow, he has never smiled like that at Donghyuck before. Why does he look so cute today? Donghyuck is supposed to hate him. Ugly Mark, ugly Mark, ugly Mark.

“Yeah,” Donghyuck laughs out, relived that they are on the same page. “I know we’re not on the best terms, but maybe we can lie down some rules or something.”

Mark hums. “That’s actually a good idea.”

“My ideas are always good,” Donghyuck smirks. Mark just rolls his eyes at him.

“We could talk about it tonight when Jaemin and Jeno go home,” Mark says, walking towards the room next to Donghyuck’s, where he’s going to stay in. “I still have some things to unpack.”

“Yeah, you go do that,” Donghyuck says, and Mark disappears behind the closed door.

This actually went way easier than Donghyuck thought. Maybe if they set some ground rules, they can make it through the two month without any disaster.

Donghyuck goes back into his room where Jeno and Jaemin are currently making out on his bed.

Donghyuck groans loudly. “What the hell guys?”

Jeno and Jaemin lean away from each other, but instead of feeling shameful like they should they just laugh at him and pull him down to the bed so the three of them can cuddle.

“How did it go with Mark?” Jaemin asks as he starts playing with Donghyuck’s hair. Donghyuck can barely stop himself from purring at his soft touch.

“It was okay,” Donghyuck shrugs.

Jeno smirks at him. “It was way easier than you thought, right?”

Dumbass mind reader. “Shut up,” Donghyuck grumbles.

Jeno laughs and hugs Donghyuck from behind, burying his face in his neck. “I was right,” he singsongs annoyingly. Jaemin has to physically restrain Donghyuck from choking Jeno to death. Not like he has any chance, anyway. Jeno is huge.

When Jeno and Jaemin leave around six pm after the three of them finish watching the first season of Girl From Nowhere, Donghyuck and Mark settle down on the couch in the living room to talk. They have a bowl of popcorn between them acting like a safety barrier (or at least that’s what Donghyuck thinks it is) and he can’t stop stress eating from it.

“So,” Mark starts with an awkward laugh. “Any things a very bad roommate does in your opinion?”

“I really hate when the flat is messy, so please don’t leave a mess behind yourself. It makes me really pissy,” Donghyuck says, figuring it is better to be honest. His only coping mechanism against his messy life is keeping his living space clean. If even that is a mess he’ll end up jumping off from the balcony.

Mark nods enthusiastically. “Fair enough, I’ll do that.” He pops a popcorn into his mouth before saying, “I don’t like loud noises so if you listen to music please do it quietly.”

That sucks a bit, but compromising is key! Donghyuck, compromising is key! You’re an adult now, you can act like it. A real grown up with a real roommate!

“Okay,” Donghyuck mutters with a smile that’s maybe a little too forced. Mark doesn’t comment on it, but he must sense Donghyuck’s strained tone because it’s a little too obvious. “I usually have classes from eight am to three pm. How about you?”

“Same, actually. I don’t like taking my classes in the afternoon. Can’t focus.” Mark says with a smile. This is the reason why Donghyuck takes his classes in the morning, too. He can’t believe they actually have something in common. He can’t believe Jaemin and Jeno might be right. That can’t happen.

“Cool,” Donghyuck says. This way he doesn’t have to be extra quiet when he’s getting ready in the morning. Being quiet is something that’s very hard for him to achieve.

“Honestly,” Mark starts, his cheeks red. “I spend most of the time studying in my room, so we won’t have to interact too much. Maybe if we try to avoid any unnecessary communication we can make things work,” he mutters, his eyes widening immediately after. “I mean this with the best goodwill.”

Donghyuck can’t help but bark out a laugh at Mark’s sudden panic. “It’s okay Markie. I think that’s a good idea.”

Donghyuck’s life is actually just a boring circle of studying at school, then studying in his room, then annoying Jeno in some form, so avoiding each other won’t be too hard. It’s actually a rather good idea. After years of despising each other it would be hard to try and become friends and avoiding each other is the best option they have.  Now that they talked about this, Donghyuck feels much better about this whole thing. Maybe they can make this work.

Okay maybe they can’t make this work.

They’ve been living together for a week now, and things aren’t looking too well. Mark is very messy, incredibly so. He usually forgets to clean up after making food, leaving the kitchen like a battle field, never mops up the water in the bathroom after his shower and his shoes are always thrown in the middle of the lobby followed by his backpack. Even though he said he doesn’t like loud noises, sometimes he randomly starts playing his guitar at one am, making it impossible for Donghyuck to fall asleep, but when Donghyuck plays his music a little too loudly, he has a fit about how he can’t concentrate.

Since their schedules are lined up they get ready in the morning almost tripping over each other, fighting for the bathroom. They arrive back to the flat followed by each other in the afternoon, making their lunch at the same time and arguing about how Mark is terrible at making food and cleaning up after himself. There is a little calm when both of them study in their rooms, but when it is dinner and shower time it starts all over again.

Donghyuck couldn’t count on both of his hands how much they fought this past week, but it is very much emotionally draining and he’s way too tired. He ended up spending most nights at Jeno and Jaemin’s, but they never let him sleep over and always drive him back to his apartment when it gets too late.

This whole thing sucks. It doesn’t help that tomorrow is Monday again and Donghyuck is behind in three of his lectures because his lab classes take up most of his time and energy. He’s exhausted and he should sleep but his hedonistic little shitty brain can’t stop watching this Thai bl series, even though it’s terrible. It’s full of clichés, bad conversations, and lack of consent. Donghyuck hates it but he can’t stop.

YouTube is loading the current episode’s next clip when his door quietly clicks open, then closed after a moment. Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows and sits up to see if it’s a serial killer. At this point he would just laugh if there was actually a masked man with an axe standing next to his bed. It’s just Mark Lee, though that might be worse.

“What are you doing?” Donghyuck huffs out, annoyed. He’s trying to enjoy his time he should spend sleeping, thank you very much.

“Speak quietly,” Mark whisper shouts. He looks a little scared, for whatever reason. Mark runs a hand through his hair nervously, then whispers, “There’s someone in the kitchen.”

What? “What?”

“There is someone in the kitchen,” Mark repeats, his voice panicked. “I wanted to go to the bathroom, but I heard noises coming from there and I panicked,” he says, looking like he’s about to cry. He tiptoes to the bed then climbs under the sheets next to Donghyuck.

“What the hell Mark?” Donghyuck groans, trying to shove Mark off his bed, who clings to his arm tightly to prevent it.

“I swear,” he whispers. Donghyuck glances down at him and he genuinely looks terrified. At times like these, Donghyuck whishes he were a little meaner.

Donghyuck lets out a pained sigh and gets up from the bed, pulling Mark with himself since the other wouldn’t let go of him. He can’t believe he has to deal with shit like this at eleven pm on a Sunday night. Donghyuck walks to his dresser followed by Mark and opens the bottom drawer to get out his baseball bat he got from Jeno when he started living alone in the flat after the other moved out to live with Jaemin.

“Why do you have that?” Mark asks, his eyes widening. He’s so reactive, it’s kind of cute. What? No, not cute. Ugly Mark, ugly Mark, ugly Mark.

Donghyuck looks back at him with a smirk. “For emergencies like this. Let’s go and negotiate, Markie.”

“Don’t call me that,” Mark huffs out, but he still doesn’t let go of Donghyuck, who just chuckles at him. Mark Lee being scared of the noises in the dark apartment? What kind of comedy is this?

They tiptoe out of Donghyuck’s room to the kitchen. Actually, Donghyuck can also hear the noises and he panics a little because it is loud. What the hell does he supposed to do if they find someone in the kitchen? Bash their head in with the bat?

He chews on his lips nervously as he turns on the lights and he immediately whips his head to the open door, but instead of seeing someone robbing the kitchen, on the counter there is a ginger cat licking the back of his paw. On the floor there is a broken glass and some leftover food spilled over.

“Mr. Cupcake!” Donghyuck cries out, relived that he doesn’t have to get into a fight with a masked, scary person. He happily rushes to the cat to pat him, and the cutie immediately purrs at him. It’s been a while since he saw Mr. Cupcake. He missed his emotional support cat.

“Mr. Cupcake?” Mark asks, confused, but Donghyuck can hear that he’s beyond relived. Moments ago, he was on the verge of bawling his eyes out in fear and now there’s an amused smile on his face.

“Mrs. Hwang’s cat from the next apartment,” Donghyuck says as he picks the cat up from the counter. “How did you get in here, hm?” The cat meows in response and bops his head against Donghyuck’s hand, signaling for him to continue with the pats.

“I left the balcony door open to let in some air, he probably got in through there,” Mark says, patting the head of Mr. Cupcake, who purrs louder as a response. Mark’s mouth pulls into a wide smile. “Cute,” he mutters quietly.

“Do you want to hold him?” Donghyuck asks, already putting Mr. Cupcake into Mark’s arms without waiting for his answer. Everyone wants to hold Mr. Cupcake. Mark happily takes him into his arms.

“We should take him home,” Donghyuck says, glancing at the clock. Half past eleven, it’s not too late. “I know for a fact that Mrs. Hwang won’t be able to sleep until she knows Mr. Cupcake is safe and home.”

Mark looks up, amusement written all over his face. What is he so smug for? Minutes earlier he was ready to pee his pants. “Okay,” Mark says and starts walking towards the front door.

A few minutes later they are standing in front of Mrs. Hwang’s apartment with Mr. Cupcake, waiting for her to open the door.

“Donghyuck!” Mrs. Hwang says, opening the door a little wider at the sight of them. She looks worried, but when she sees Mr. Cupcakes her whole expression changes and her mouth pulls into a relieved smile. “Oh my, Mr. Cupcake, I was so worried about you,” she tuts. Mr. Cupcake jumps out of Mark’s arms and runs into the apartment.

Donghyuck is happy they brought back Mr. Cupcake to her now, and not in the morning. Mrs. Hwang always helps Donghyuck however she can in exam period and makes incredible tea, she deserves to sleep in peace. That woman deserves everything. Donghyuck and her became friends only after a month when Donghyuck and Jeno moved here back in their first semester. Donghyuck always makes sure to have time for a tea with her from time to time. Since he’s over a lot, Mr. Cupcake got kind of attached to him and sometimes spends time in Donghyuck’s apartment. Donghyuck loves both of them to death, they bring comfort into his all over the place life.

“I knew you were worried about him,” Donghyuck says with a smile.

“You’re such a lovely boy, Donghyuck, thank you for bringing him back! He likes to be in your apartment way too much,” she chuckles, pinching Donghyuck’s cheek.

“I love when he’s around,” Donghyuck says, his mouth pulling into a grin.

“And who this handsome boy might be?” Mrs. Hwang asks, turning towards Mark. She glances at Donghyuck for a moment, her expression smug, but Donghyuck doesn’t understand why.

“I’m Mark Lee,” Mark introduces himself with a polite smile.

“Well thank you, Mark! You boys are so lovely!” she says as she starts to close the door. “Oh and come by sometime for a tea Donghyuck! Bring your lovely boyfriend, Mark, too!” she laughs, then before Donghyuck could elaborate, she clicks the door shut. Well. That’s why she looked so smug - she thinks Mark is Donghyuck’s boyfriend. Talk about awkward situations you can have with your roommate who hates you.

When Donghyuck glances at Mark, he’s staring at the ground, his cheeks a deep red. Donghyuck can’t see his whole face, but he can tell he’s embarrassed which is a little ouch. Donghyuck is a boyfriend everyone wants, okay? Before Donghyuck can say anything, Mark sets off towards their front door.

“We should go, it’s really late.”

Donghyuck lets out a pained sigh. It’s going to be a long two months.

Donghyuck follows after Mark back to the apartment. Instead of disappearing behind his bedroom door, Mark immediately walks into the kitchen and starts sweeping up the broken glass, a little more aggressively than it is necessary. Donghyuck watches him awkwardly, then tries helping him to ease the atmosphere a little. Of course, it only backfires.

“Hey, let me help,” Donghyuck mutters, trying to get the broom out of Mark’s hands who just holds onto it tighter.

“I don’t need your help,” he bites out, looking at Donghyuck with an annoyed expression.

“Are you acting like this because she thinks you’re my boyfriend?” Donghyuck asks, getting upset himself. Mark doesn’t answer, just keeps sweeping the floor with a stormy expression. It’s obvious this is his problem. Fuck him, honestly. Is Donghyuck so awful that Mark is this upset because someone thinks they are together? “Fuck you, Mark,” Donghyuck hisses out, then storms into his bedroom. He has a shitty Thai bl to finish.

He ends up crying instead of watching the series, the exhaustion and the implication behind Mark’s behavior getting to him, and he only falls asleep when the sun is already coming up.

“Did you just pour an entire can of Red Bull into your coffee?” Mark asks, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

“Do these dark circles under my eyes say nothing to you about the state I’m in?” Donghyuck asks, tired and annoyed. He was up until three am, writing his lab report. He’s exhausted and it’s way too early to have any human interaction. Donghyuck can’t stop his eyes from wandering lower from Mark’s face to his bare chest, then his bare six pack. They guy is buff and it’s a problem.

Turns out Mark Lee likes to walk around without a shirt on. A lot. And even though Donghyuck was fighting against it, he’s very much affected. Donghyuck might not like Mark that much, but he has to admit that the guy is very hot. After the whole robbing but it’s a cat and Mrs. Hwang thinking they are boyfriends situation, it’s like Mark had a hundred and eighty degree turn and the shy, blushing boy is nowhere to be found. Instead, it’s like the devil made a home inside of him the past few days – he’s half naked all the time and smirks at Donghyuck more than he should. It hurts to admit, but Donghyuck gets way too flustered when that happens.

“Can I use the bathroom first?” Mark asks, ripping Donghyuck out of his thoughts. His eyebrows are raised, and his mouth pulls into a small smirk when Donghyuck’s eyes snap back to his face. He probably realized Donghyuck was staring at his very nicely defined muscles. Fuck. Him.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Donghyuck says, turning away to hide his blush. Mark lets out a chuckle but doesn’t say anything else, just walks into the bathroom and closes the door behind himself.

The morning goes on without any other incident and Donghyuck spends his day in a smelly organic chemistry lab, trying not to blow up anything while he’s making Grignard reactions. He succeeds, thankfully. In his lunch break he meets up with Renjun and they go to an Italian restaurant around campus, because Renjun’s been whining about wanting to eat good spaghetti for days. Renjun’s been acting weird for some time, but Donghyuck tries not to comment on it, because he knows Renjun’s only going to talk about it when he feels ready. Patience is not Donghyuck’s thing, but he can try for his best friend.

When he’s finished with his lab he goes to Jeno and Jaemin’s apartment. He tells them the reason is that he missed them, but they all know Donghyuck doesn’t want to spend time in his own apartment these days. They end up ordering pizza and continue watching Girl From Nowhere. When the clock hits 6 pm, they fucking kick him out.

“I’ve got no one left. I’m alone. Like I always were. Like I always will be,” whines Donghyuck loudly, lounging on the couch while Jeno is trying to pull him up.

“Stop being so fucking dramatic, I only said you can’t stay over tonight! We’re having a date night, and this isn’t an open relationship!” Jeno hisses, tugging on Donghyuck’s hand.

“I don’t know about that,” Donghyuck tuts, pouting his lips.

Jeno immediately goes red in the face. “Lee Donghyuck, I swear to God,” he groans, letting go of Donghyuck’s hand and walking to the kitchen to back hug Jaemin, whose packing some leftover pizza for Donghyuck. “Jaemin, you deal with him.”

Jaemin lets out a sigh before turning in the direction of the couch to look at Donghyuck. “Baby, you have your own apartment for a reason. You can’t spend every day here. We love you and we love when you’re around, but you need to sort your feelings out and try to get through these two month with Mark,” he says walking to the couch to give a sulky Donghyuck a peck on the cheek. “Now come, I’ll drive you home.”

Donghyuck goes without another fight after giving Jeno a goodbye hug. Jeno pats his head with a kind smile and hands him the pizza. At least he’ll have something to stress eat at home. Jaemin drives him home and sends him off with a hug and an I love you. If Donghyuck would be more emotional, he would probably cry everyday about how much he loves Jeno and Jaemin, but he’s a bad bitch so he doesn’t. Only sometimes. Maybe once or twice a month. Whatever.

When he opens the front door the first thing he sees is Mark sprawled out on the couch in the living room, watching something on the tv that sound suspiciously a lot like Buzzfeed Unsolved. Mark whips his head around, a surprised expression on his face at the sight of Donghyuck and pauses the video.

“Sorry, I thought you’re sleeping somewhere else,” Mark says, starting to get up, probably to go and continue the video in his room. They don’t really spend time in the living room, let alone together, since they’ve been trying to avoid each other as much as they can to prevent unnecessary fights.

“No it’s okay,” Donghyuck rushes out before Mark could fully get up. Mark freezes and looks at him with a curious expression. He’s shirtless. Again. “What are you watching?” Donghyuck asks, even though he’s fully aware, walking to the couch and sitting down next to Mark.

“Buzzfeed Unsolved,” Mark says with his eyebrows raised, probably surprised at Donghyuck’s behavior. “It’s a comfort thing.”

“I love Buzzfeed Unsolved,” Donghyuck mutters. “Can I watch it with you?” he asks, feeling a blush creep up his neck. He doesn’t really know what is happening to him, but he feels this pull to spend some time with Mark. They’ve been living together for almost two weeks now, but Donghyuck still knows close to nothing about Mark. He knows they agreed on trying to spend as little time together as they can, but it feels uncomfortable and awkward to live together with someone like this. If it takes Donghyuck to be the bigger person, he’ll try, even though he’s not good at acting like an adult.

“Yeah, you can,” Mark mutters with a small smile. The video starts again, and Ryan continues freaking out about Annabelle killing them, while Shane makes a joke about everything he can make a joke about. Donghyuck finds himself relaxing into the cushions and just enjoying the moment. School’s been really hard on Donghyuck lately and it’s nice to take a break once in a while. Even though Mark Lee is shirtless and sitting one inch away next to him and Donghyuck can feel the heat his bare skin radiates and Jesus.

Somewhere along the third episode Donghyuck falls asleep and only wakes up to Mark softly calling his name out.

“Donghyuck,” Mark says, and it’s like he’s whispering into Donghyuck’s ear. Donghyuck, still half asleep, shivers at the feeling, and Mark lets out a chuckle at his reaction.

“I’m up,” Donghyuck mutters sleepily. He raises his head, and it bumps into something. More specifically, Mark’s chin. Because now that Donghyuck is fully awake, he realizes that he’s lying on Mark’s bare chest. His eyes fly open and when he looks up he finds his face inches away from Mark’s, their noses almost bumping into each other’s. “I’m sorry,” Donghyuck rushes out, dread settling over him. He puts both his hands on Mark to push himself away, but it appears to be a bad decision because like this he’s directly feeling up Mark’s chest.

Instead of freaking out, Mark circles Donghyuck’s waist with his arm and pulls him back against himself. “Shh, it’s okay,” he mutters quietly. Donghyuck stares at him, still only inches away, feeling confused. Mark smirks at him and bumps his nose against Donghyuck’s. Donghyuck scrunches his nose, totally lost, and Mark just laughs at his reaction. “Is this okay?” he asks.

Donghyuck can feel his face heating up, a blush burning through him. “Yeah,” he whispers.

And then Mark fucking kisses him. He leans in and catches Donghyuck’s mouth in a bruising kiss. Donghyuck kisses back with just as much vigor, fighting for dominance for a while, but giving up when Mark rolls Donghyuck under himself on the couch and licks his mouth open. Mark bites Donghyuck’s lower lip, who lets out a satisfied sigh as Mark pulls away to kiss down Donghyuck’s neck. He pulls Donghyuck’s shirt down and starts sucking the thin skin into his mouth.

Donghyuck slips a hand into Mark’s hair and grabs it to pull him away from himself. “Don’t leave marks,” he pants out. Mark smirks at him, his eyes unfocused. He kisses Donghyuck again, their tongues tangling together messily. Donghyuck can feel salvia running down his chin and it should be disgusting, but somehow it makes everything hotter. He can feel himself getting hard in his jeans and when Mark’s hand slips down his body to palm him through the rough fabric, he can’t help but to let out a moan.

“Are you okay?” Mark asks, breathing heavily. Donghyuck nods his head. “I need you to answer, Donghyuck,” Mark says sternly, stopping his hand.

Donghyuck groans and presses his head into the soft cushion of the couch. “Yes, I’m okay,” he grumbles.

“Good,” Mark smirks, then starts unbuttoning Donghyuck’s jeans. “Can I jerk you off?” Mark asks casually.

“Yes, just get on with it already,” Donghyuck whines. Maybe he should think this through but with his dick hard and Mark offering to jerk him off, just thinking itself seems impossible.

Mark gets Donghyuck’s jeans and underwear down to his thighs and warps his hand around him. Mark’s hands are rough, and the slide is a little dry, but it feels good. Mark smears the precum down Donghyuck’s length and works him over in a steady rhythm until Donghyuck can’t do anything besides clinging to Mark’s upper arms and moaning his name over and over again. It doesn’t take too long for Donghyuck to come between them - he paints Mark’s hand and tummy white, some of his cum catching on his own shirt.

Mark sits back on the couch while Donghyuck just lies there, breathing heavily, overly spent. After a minute, Donghyuck sits up to return the favor, but before he can reach the edge of Mark’s pants, Mark stops his hand.

“But-,” Donghyuck starts, confused. He stares at Mark, who stares back at him with a smirk.

“Was it good?” Mark asks, sounding smug. Donghyuck dumbfoundedly nods his head as a response, not able to mutter out any words. “Good,” Mark says, then gets up and disappears behind the closed door of his bedroom.

What the fuck did just happen?

“Baby, could you stay in place for one fucking moment please?” Renjun hisses, grabbing Donghyuck’s chin between his thumb and index finger to keep him from moving his head around while he puts glitter on Donghyuck’s face. Donghyuck pouts his lips at him, to which Renjun lets out an annoyed huff.

It’s a Friday night and Donghyuck is at Renjun and Jisung’s place, getting ready for the party Chenle is hosting at his huge house. The dress code is wearing white and glitter, which is pretty cool in Donghyuck’s opinion. He looks hella hot in all white.

Renjun puts some more glitter on Donghyuck’s cheeks, then lets go of his chin. “Pretty,” he mutters, barely audible, and Donghyuck can feel his face heating up. “Jisung, it’s your turn!” Renjun shouts, and after a moment a half dressed Jisung emerges from his room, his white shirt still only half buttoned.

“We should hurry up,” Jisung grumbles.

Renjun raises his eyebrows as Jisung sits down in front of him to get his cheeks glittery, just like Donghyuck’s. “You’re the one who can’t get ready in time.”

“Shut up,” Jisung pouts, scrunching his nose. “Chenle texted me. He will come and pick us up in a while.”

“As he should,” Donghyuck says with a smirk, now sitting on the couch and sipping on his cider, as the three of them break out in a laugh. “I’m sure he wouldn’t if it was just Renjun and me,” he adds, wiggling his eyebrows. Jisung’s cheeks redden under the glitter.

Half an hour later they are sitting in Chenle’s car blasting the new Exo album. Donghyuck feels pleasantly bubbly from the cider he had earlier. He’s leaning against Renjun’s side in the backseat, while Chenle and Jisung are laughing about something and making heart eyes at each other in the front.

“You okay?” Renjun asks, patting Donghyuck’s thigh. Donghyuck hums in response. “You look hot,” Renjun mutters with a smile. “Are you trying to pull someone or what?”

Suddenly images of Mark Lee half nakedly hovering over him flash across Donghyuck’s mind. It happened two days ago - they didn’t talk about it, and Donghyuck doubts they ever will. The next morning Mark acted like nothing happened, and they went back to ignoring each other. Donghyuck can’t stop thinking about the whole thing, he’s very much affected, and it’s starting to become a problem since he can’t stay in the same room with Mark for five minutes without getting hard.

“At this point, I’m just trying to pull,” Donghyuck says, letting out a pained sigh. He just has to find someone hot to hook up with, and then he can forget all about Mark.

Like every one of his plans in life, this doesn’t work out either. When they arrive at Chenle’s Jeno and Jaemin take him to the kitchen to drink, and he only leaves after they are five shots and an energy drink vodka mix in. The three of them end up grinding on each other to the music in the living room, and Donghyuck gets another type of flashback, so he decides to remove himself from the scene, even though Jaemin is clinging to him extra hard, and only lets him go when Jeno starts making out with him.

After that he runs into Lucas Wong and they end up making out in the upstairs bathroom, but it feels wrong, somehow. Lucas is too tall, and his hand are too large, and he kisses softer than… than Mark Lee, fuck. Before things could escalate Lucas gets nauseous, and Donghyuck runs downstairs so he won’t hear him gagging into the toilet bowl. Having a panic attack while you’re drunk because the person you were making out with is vomiting is not a pretty party story.

He’s shouldering his way through the dancing people in the living room when he sees something. Or rather, someone with another someone. Renjun is dancing and making out on the dancefloor with Yangyang Liu. It doesn’t look like a random hookup at a party. It looks intimate and they are obviously comfortable with each other. They look like a couple. So, that’s why Renjun’s been acting weird lately.

Donghyuck doesn’t know how to feel about the whole thing because he’s drunk and sleepy, and he can’t stop thinking about Mark’s hand around his dick. He sees Chenle sitting on the couch, and he struts over to plop down next to him.

“Hey baby boy,” Chenle says, his hand sliding up and down Donghyuck’s back comfortingly. He glances at Donghyuck and asks, “You saw them, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck says, hiding his face in Chenle’s neck. “Did you know?”

“He wanted to tell you, but he wanted to wait for the perfect moment,” Chenle mutters. “Are you upset?”

Donghyuck shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know. I’m just sad he didn’t tell me.”

Donghyuck knows why Renjun didn’t tell him. He thinks Donghyuck still has a crush on him, which is nonsense. It was his first semester, Renjun was the prettiest boy in his year, and he made Donghyuck laugh. Of course he had a crush on him. At a disastrous party where Donghyuck confessed to Renjun they got into an ugly fight and Renjun left after telling Donghyuck to go and fuck himself. Donghyuck got really drunk, and he still doesn’t know how, but he ended up having a threesome with an equally drunk Jeno and Jaemin which… yeah. They don’t really like to talk about that. Even though it was good! But still. Renjun called him up the next day, they met, made up and agreed on staying friends. And now they are best friends - a happy end to a not so happy story.

“Chenle, can you take me home?” Donghyuck asks, his mood to party totally gone at this point in time.

“Of course,” Chenle says with a kind smile. “I’ll get the key, tell the others good-bye.”

Donghyuck finds Jeno, Jaemin and Jisung in the kitchen, drinking tequila.

“Donghyuck baby!” Jeno shouts, drawing attention to their little circle from the other random people around them. “What’s up?” he asks with a smile and glazed over eyes. He’s so drunk, Donghyuck would be smug if he wouldn’t feel like shit right now.

“I’m going home,” Donghyuck says, forcing a smile onto his face.

“What?” Jaemin asks, sounding concerned. “What happened?”

Donghyuck scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “Nothing, I’m just tired.”

Jeno raises one of his eyebrows. He clearly sees through Donghyuck’s bullshit, but fortunately he doesn’t comment on it. He’s going to wait until Donghyuck is hangover and miserable. “Chenle’s taking you home?” Donghyuck nods his head. “Good,” Jeno says and leaves a quick peck on Donghyuck’s forehead. “I’ll visit you tomorrow.”

Chenle appears next to them. “Ready to go?” he asks Donghyuck.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Donghyuck says, turning to Jaemin who hugs him tightly.

“Love you, baby,” Jaemin mutters so only Donghyuck can hear.

“I love you too,” Donghyuck mutters back with a smile.

Chenle has his arm around Jisung’s waist, who can’t stop blushing when three pair of eyes fix on them. “I’ll be right back,” Chenle says to Jisung, slapping his butt and pecking him on the mouth twice.

Jisung groans and pushes Chenle away from himself. “I hate you.” Chenle just laughs at him.

So… that also happened. Does that mean…? Jesus. Donghyuck is the only single person in the friends group.

The drive home is quick and Chenle keeps a comforting hand on Donghyuck’s thigh which is appreciated. Donghyuck is still drunk off his ass and it takes a lot of his effort to crawl his way to the lift, and then from the lift to the apartment door. He manages to unlock it after the third try and when he steps into the apartment, the first thing he sees from the lobby is Mark sitting on the couch and eating cereal while watching a random cartoon on the tv. The scene feels kind of familiar.

“Why are you still up?” Donghyuck asks, toeing his shoes off.

“Hello to you too,” Mark says, turning over to look at Donghyuck with his eyebrows raised. At least he has a shirt on.

Donghyuck, still drunk, bounces into the living room. “Hello,” he says to Mark with a grin.

Mark has an amused expression on his face, and he lets out a huff that suspiciously sounds like a laugh. “Are you drunk or something?” he asks.

Donghyuck shrugs his shoulders. “So, why are you still up?”

“I was at Johnny’s. Got back half an hour ago,” he says taking a spoonful from his cereal.

Donghyuck plops down on the other end of the couch. He stares at Mark, who refuses to look back at him, instead acts like he’s watching the cartoon playing on the tv while he eats his cereal.

“What?” Mark snaps after a while, tone strained, his attention now on Donghyuck. God, he looks so hot. Why is he so hot?

“I kind of… want to suck your dick right now,” Donghyuck mutters honestly, his brain to mouth filter disappearing every time he gets drunk. No one can blame him. Mark is hot, he’s right in front of him, and Donghyuck feels lonely as hell.

“What?” Mark asks dumbfoundedly, choking on his cereal. Donghyuck stands up and sits down on Mark’s lap who looks at him with wide eyes. “Donghyuck, what the hell are you doing?” he asks, trying hard to sound calm.

Donghyuck leans in and tries to kiss Mark, but the other turns his head to the side before their lips could touch. Donghyuck pouts at Mark sulkily and starts to play with the strands of hair at his nape while leaning down to leave a patch of kisses on Mark’s neck. Mark lets out a pained sigh before saying, “Donghyuck, you’re clearly drunk.”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes before leaning away to look at Mark. “Well, would you reconsider if I were sober?”

“Maybe,” Mark mutters, then puts the cereal bowl on the floor that’s still between them. He grips Donghyuck’s hips and stands both of them up from the couch. “Now, you go and sleep,” he says.

“Don’t wanna,” Donghyuck says grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Yes you wanna,” Mark chuckles and walks Donghyuck into his room with an arm around his waist. He makes Donghyuck sit down on his bed and change into his pajamas while he gets him a glass of water and some Advil from the kitchen. “Good night, Donghyuck,” he says with a smile before turning off the lights and closing the door of Donghyuck’s bedroom.

The next morning hurts like Dante’s eight circle of Hell. Donghyuck wakes up to his head pounding and his tummy churning. The only reason he doesn’t throw up is probably because he’s terrified of the act - it literally feels like something died in his mouth. The memories from last night flood his mind and shame burns through him like a wildfire when he gets to the part where he told Mark he wants to suck his dick. Drunk Donghyuck is a dangerous Donghyuck. How the hell does he supposed to look Mark in the eye now? He’s never drinking again. (Lie.)

He pops an Advil into his mouth and gulps it down with the glass of water Mark left for him last night. He desperately needs a shower and to wash out the fucking glitters from his eyes. Donghyuck hopes Mark is still sleeping and he doesn’t run into him in the hallway. He needs time to emotionally prepare himself for facing the enemy.

He tiptoes out of his room as quietly as possible and after he makes sure Mark isn’t in the hallway he rushes into the bathroom and clicks the door closed behind himself.  He gets undressed then steps into the shower and lets the hot water pound down his back. There’s nothing like a good shower after a shitty party.

Last night was a disaster. Starting with him getting extremely drunk, continuing with almost repeating a threesome with Jeno and Jaemin, Lucas nearly vomiting on him, the whole Renjun thing and ending with him telling Mark Lee he wants to suck his dick. Donghyuck wants to respectfully pass away now, thank you.

Does he feel petty about Mark saying no? Maybe. He knows he was drunk, but still. Okay, Mark was actually acting very responsible. Nevertheless, Donghyuck’s ego is bruised. Mark Lee is so utterly infuriating and Donghyuck can’t stop thinking about him. He wonders how it would feel like if Mark fuck-

“What the fuck?” Donghyuck screams, getting ripped out of his thoughts as two hands grab his hips from behind. When he said he wants to pass away, it was sarcastic.

“Stop screaming, it’s just me,” Mark’s voice sounds next to his ear. He sounds way too smug, the asshole.

“When did you get in here? You scared the shit out of me,” Donghyuck hisses out and turns around in Mark’s arms to lock eyes with him. Mark has a boyish grin in place.

Mark is naked and he’s in the shower with Donghyuck. This is the first time he sees Mark like this, since he didn’t let Donghyuck touch him the other night. Donghyuck might dislike him, but he has to admit, Mark Lee is insanely attractive - he looks like a Greek god, muscles sculpted to perfection. Also, he’s big. But like, why is he here? What. The. Fuck. “Mark, what the fuck?” Donghyuck groans out. Hiding his red cheeks behind his hands.

“You’re sober,” Mark says casually with an easy smile. What an explanation, honestly. He looks Donghyuck up and down and lets out a satisfied hum. Donghyuck can feel the heat creeping up his neck. Did Mark just check him out?

“Yeah?” Donghyuck asks, still utterly confused, and now also flustered.

“Exactly,” Mark mutters with a smirk, the water plastering his hair against his forehead.

Mark dives in and their mouths crash together, their tongues tangling as water is pouring down on both of them. It’s rough and intoxicating and everything Donghyuck desires. Mark’s hand slips down from Donghyuck’s hip to knead the soft flesh of his ass, and Donghyuck can’t help but moan into their kiss. Mark chuckles and leans away, only to suck and lick at the sensitive dip between Donghyuck’s neck and shoulder.

He shoves Donghyuck against the cold tile of the shower before saying, “I know you had other plans, but I really want to fuck you. Can I?” There’s a feral glint in his eyes as he’s staring at Donghyuck, waiting for his answer.

Donghyuck has to concentrate real hard not to come on the spot. Hate sex with Mark Lee? What kind of dream coming true is this?

“Yes,” he rushes out, circling his arms around Mark’s neck and pulling him in for a desperate kiss. They make out under the hot water and Donghyuck can feel himself getting hard as Mark’s own erection pokes into his hip. “Let’s do it in my room,” Donghyuck breathes out. He’s tired and hangover, he’s not going to fuck standing up in the shover.

Mark smirks at him and leans down to leave wet kisses on Donghyuck’s shoulder. “Good idea,” he murmurs into Donghyuck’s skin.

They get out of the shower and somewhat wipe themselves dry with towels. Donghyuck steps in front of Mark and takes his dick in his hand, to which Mark lets out a quiet moan. He grabs Donghyuck’s chin and licks his own mouth before he bites at Donghyuck’s lower lip.

“Fuck, I can’t wait to be inside of you,” Mark growls out, licking into Donghyuck’s mouth and kissing him roughly.

“Let’s get on with it, then,” Donghyuck pants out, just as desperate. He grabs Mark’s hand and starts pulling him towards the door. He cracks it open and is about to step out and drag Mark with himself into his room, when he hears something. Or more like someone.

“Donghyuck are you showering?” Jeno’s voice sounds loudly from the hallway. What the hell?

“Is that Jeno?” Mark asks, way too calm for the situation they are in. They are in the bathroom together, naked, and they are about to get caught. Jeno will never live it down if he finds out. Oh my god, Jeno can’t fucking find out. Why did he think it’s a good idea to let Jeno keep one of the keys to the apartment?

Donghyuck bangs the door closed and plasters himself against it, then slaps a hand across Mark’s mouth, who furrows his eyebrows at him.

“Shh,” Donghyuck hisses out with an annoyed expression.

“Rude,” Mark murmurs behind Donghyuck’s hand, then licks his palm. Donghyuck pulls his hand away with a disgusted face. Mark smirks at him, one of his eyebrows raised.

Donghyuck lets out a calming breath and tries to come up with a plan. Mark sidles up against him and circles Donghyuck’s waist with his arms. He starts trailing kisses down Donghyuck’s neck, which makes it incredibly difficult to think. Donghyuck’s hand slides into Mark’s hair and he grabs a handful to pull Mark’s face away from himself.

“Stop, I can’t think,” Donghyuck whines out as quietly as he can.

Mark rolls his eyes at him.

“Donghyuck?” Jeno shouts out, probably confused about how empty the apartment is. Donghyuck feels dread wash over him.

Mark, seeing how panicked Donghyuck is, lets out a pained sigh then says, “You go out first. Bring Jeno into your room and I’ll walk out after. Just tell him I went running or something.”

Donghyuck nods his head, wraps a towel around his waist, then steps out into the hallway and immediately closes the door behind himself. When he turns around he finds himself face to face with Jeno.

“Hi,” Donghyuck laughs out awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

Jeno furrows his eyebrows at him suspiciously, searching Donghyuck’s face. Donghyuck can feel a blush creep up his neck.

“Is that a hickey on your neck?” Jeno asks, his mouth pulling into a smirk.

Donghyuck slaps his hand on his neck to where Jeno is staring at. Fucking hell, Mark Lee you little vampire. “Oh, it’s probably from Lucas,” Donghyuck lies, his cheeks heating up.

Jeno looks surprised. “Lucas?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck laughs out uncomfortably and starts walking towards his room, grabbing Jeno’s hand and pulling him with himself. “I made out with him yesterday.”

“Oh,” Jeno says, sounding surprised, God knows what for. “Where is Mark, anyway?”

Donghyuck gulps nervously. “He went running.”

When they are inside the bedroom, Donghyuck closes the door behind them, so Mark can also exit the bathroom. He gets his sweatpants out from his dresser then drops the towel from his waist to the floor.

Jeno, sitting on his bed, lets out a pained groan behind him. “Donghyuck.”

“Stop acting like you’ve never seen me naked,” Donghyuck bites out, a tiny bit annoyed at the fact that Jeno cockblocked him, even though it was unintentional. He pulls the grey pants up his legs then falls back on the bed next to Jeno.

Jeno lies down next to him, cuddling up against Donghyuck. “What happened yesterday?” Jeno murmurs out, sliding a comforting hand into Donghyuck’s hair.

“I think you know,” Donghyuck bites out unkindly, turning away from Jeno. He’s one hundred percent sure Jeno knows about Renjun and Yangyang. He should have told Donghyuck.

Jeno lets out a sigh and sits up a little, supporting his weight on his elbow so he can lean over Donghyuck’s body and look at his face. “He begged, and I mean begged me to not tell you. I told him he should stop waiting for the perfect moment and just tell you.”

Donghyuck doesn’t say anything, just closes his eyes. It’s so unfair he can’t be mad at Jeno. Or Renjun. He can’t be mad at them, because it wouldn’t be right. Donghyuck turns back and with a sigh pulls Jeno down so they can continue cuddling. Jeno smiles at him.

“Does it bother you?” Jeno asks, sounding worried. He searches Donghyuck’s face with a concerned expression, probably trying to figure out how Donghyuck feels about the whole thing.

“I don’t like him like that anymore,” Donghyuck mutters, and he’s being honest. It doesn’t bother him that Renjun is with Yangyang, it bothers him that he didn’t tell Donghyuck about this.

“Good,” Jeno says, smiling at Donghyuck kindly. “Let him suffer a little, but don’t be cold for too long,” he says sternly.

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “Okay, dad.” Jeno just stares at him annoyedly.

They end up falling asleep, both of them sleepy and hangover, and only wake up much later to Jeno’s phone ringing. Jaemin sounds worried when he asks Jeno if he’s still alive since he literally disappeared from their apartment while Jaemin was still asleep. Jaemin also comes over, with food like the angel he is, and they inhale the take out while watching Netflix.

Jeno and Jaemin leave around four in the afternoon. Donghyuck sees them off at the front door, then clicks it closed and turns around. Mark is sitting on the couch, watching something on the tv, and there’s a stormy expression on his face. Maybe Donghyuck can help him with that.

“So,” Donghyuck starts, walking into the living room to stand in front of Mark, his mouth pulled into a smirk. “Can we continue what we started this morning?” Donghyuck purrs out suggestively, kneeling up on the couch next to Mark.

Mark looks up at him with an empty expression, then says, “No.”

What? “What?” Donghyuck asks, confused. Did he do something, or what? Mark seemed pretty into him this morning. “Why?”

Mark shrugs his shoulders. “Just. Not in the mood,” he says, his voice void of any emotions. He turns the tv off, stands up and walks into his room, closing the door behind himself with a bang, without saying another word.

Donghyuck stares at the closed door, feeling bewildered. What the hell?

In the next week Mark makes sure Donghyuck knows he hates him. He leaves a mess everywhere and plays his guitar at three in the morning as loudly as possible. Donghyuck has no clue what he did to deserve this treatment, but he must have done something for Mark to act like this towards him. He looks through Donghyuck like he doesn’t even exist. He doesn’t talk to him and doesn’t answer Donghyuck when he asks something. It makes Donghyuck want to choke him to death. Also, for whatever sick reason, it makes him insanely sexually frustrated.

His only comfort this past week was when he went over to Mrs. Hwang’s place to have a tea and gossip about the upstairs neighbors.

The Renjun situation doesn’t look that good either, but that is mainly Donghyuck’s fault. Renjun texted him more than once, but Donghyuck never really writes him back. Jeno tells him to quit it already, but Donghyuck is way too petty for his own good. He misses Renjun. Like, too much to be honest - Renjun is his best friend. Maybe it’s time for him to let this go and call him up.

Donghyuck lets out a frustrated sigh and continues writing his lab report. It’s two am and he’s still up, trying to finish it because he has to hand it in tomorrow before his next lab starts. Mark is playing the guitar again, and it makes it hard for Donghyuck to focus. He’s losing his mind here and he doesn’t need background music, thank you very much. Can’t Mark give him a break for once?

Fueled by sudden rage, he jumps up from his chair and rushes out of his room to charge into Mark’s.

“Can’t you at least play something else than Love Yourself? You’ve played it at least four times tonight, you basic ass bitch,” Donghyuck hisses out as he bangs the door open, glaring at Mark with a stormy expression.

Mark is sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall, only his bedside lamp lighting up his dark room. He’s shirtless and only wearing baseball shorts, of course. Mark doesn’t even stop playing the guitar, just stares back at Donghyuck with a blank face as his fingers glide over the strings. When he finishes playing the last chords of Love Yourself, he starts to play it all over again.

“Stop,” Donghyuck barks out angrily. Mark doesn’t even bother to look at him this time, only focuses on his guitar and keeps playing the song. Fuck. Him. Donghyuck stomps over to the bed. He stops in front of Mark and grabs a handful of his hair to jerk Mark’s head back so they can lock eyes with each other. Mark winces and looks angry for a moment, but then his features soften out and he smirks at Donghyuck.

Donghyuck is reminded how sexually frustrated and horny he’s been these past few days, because of Mark. Without really thinking it through, he kneels down on the cold floor in front of Mark and looks up at him through his eyelashes. When the momentary shock fades away and Mark realizes what is happening, his eyes darken, and a dangerous glint appears in them. He still doesn’t say anything, and it makes Donghyuck very, very angry.

He’ll make Mark feels so good, he can’t help but moan Donghyuck’s name out loud over and over again.

He grabs Mark’s knees and pushes them open, so he can settle between his legs. Without any finesse he hooks his fingers into Mark’s baseball shorts and stars tugging it off roughly. After a moment of struggling, Mark raises his ass off the bed, so Donghyuck can easily slide the shorts down his legs.

And Mark doesn’t have underwear on, either. Donghyuck shouldn’t even be surprised. Mark is only half hard, but that fact is going to change soon enough, anyway. Donghyuck takes him in his hand and starts jerking him off in a slow pace. Suddenly he feels nervous – he sucked dick exactly three times in his life, and he’s far away from being an expert. What if it’s going to be really bad and Mark’s going to tell everyone how terrible he is? No one’s going to want to hook up with him, and that would be tragical. Simply tragical.

There are fingers in his hair, softly combing through his locks. Donghyuck looks up at Mark with wide eyes, shock written all over his face. It feels a little too intimate for the two of them – it makes a dust of pink settle over Donghyuck’s cheeks.

Mark probably realizes he’s blushing, because his mouth pulls into a playful smirk. “Seeing you between my legs is so hot,” he rasps out, his voice deeper than usual.

Donghyuck might just pass out. Without further ado, he grips Mark’s hips firmly and leans over to take as much of his dick into his mouth as he can. His heart is beating rapidly in his chest as he bops his head up and down, going further and further down every time. Mark is breathing heavily above him, his hand in Donghyuck’s hair, gripping harshly. Mark’s moaning Donghyuck’s name loudly and a sudden satisfaction rusher over Donghyuck, which encourages him to swallow around Mark. He’s heavy in Donghyuck’s mouth, and the tip bumps against the back of his throat from time to time, making him breathe heavily through his nose to fight back his gag reflex.

It doesn’t take too long for Mark to come down Donghyuck’s throat with a loud groan. It tastes like shit, but Donghyuck swallows it with a grimace, anyway. In a sudden move, Mark grabs Donghyuck and pulls him into his lap to kiss him roughly. Him not caring about the taste is kind of… sexy.

“That was real nice,” Mark chuckles out breathily, his cheeks flushed.

Donghyuck raises his eyebrows. “So now that I sucked your dick you finally talk to me? Now that is real nice,” he huffs out, crossing his arms over his chest.

Mark hums and trails wet kisses down Donghyuck’s throat, to which Donghyuck lets out quiet, satisfied sounds. His hand settles over the tent in Donghyuck’s pants and he smiles into his skin. “You’re hard.”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, annoyed. “Of course I’m hard,” he hisses.

“Do you want me to finger you?” Mark asks, glancing up at Donghyuck through his eyelashes while he bites at his lower lip, looking as pretty as ever.

Donghyuck squeezes his eyes shut and takes a deep breath. It would be nice. So fucking nice if Mark would finger him, but he really needs to finish his lab report. Fuck his life, honestly.

“You can’t,” Donghyuck mutters disappointedly. “I still have to finish my lab rep for tomorrow.”

Mark runs his hands up and down Donghyuck’s sides, making him shiver. “I’ll jerk you off quickly, okay?” he asks with a smile.

Donghyuck nods his head. “Okay,” he mutters. He grabs Mark’s chin and tilts his head up so they can share a kiss. I mean, the least Mark can do is to return the favor, but still, it’s cute that he asked. Or maybe Donghyuck is just glad Mark is talking to him again. Which he shouldn’t be. Who cares if Mark doesn’t talk to him? Donghyuck, apparently. But he really shouldn’t. Fuck.

Mark jerks him off and Donghyuck comes embarrassingly quickly between them. He was sexually frustrated, pent up from school and Mark’s behavior, and the fact that he made Mark come made him insanely horny. No one should judge him, it’s basically not his fault.

They lie next to each other on the bed exhaustedly – Donghyuck doesn’t know how he’ll survive finishing his lab report and tomorrow’s lab. It’s going to hurt, he knows.

“You make a cute face when you come,” Mark mutters with a dumb grin on his face.

Donghyuck goes red in the face and groans into the sheets. “Shut up,” he whines, embarrassed, but weirdly, a little pleased with the compliment.

Mark hums and turns over to face Donghyuck. “Go, quickly finish that report so you can sleep,” Mark mutters softly.

Donghyuck rubs his cheek against the bed. He’s so tired. “Yeah, I really should,” he mutters back.

“God, I couldn’t fuck with chemistry. Like, no way,” Mark groans like even the word ‘chemistry’ physically pains him.

Donghyuck rolls his eyes and lets out a chuckle as he gets up from the bed. “Same goes for me and law. Jesus, I can’t even memorize my own ID number,” he says and the both of them laugh together.

“Good work and night, then,” Mark mutters with a soft smile, looking at Donghyuck while he’s lying down on the bed.

“Good night,” Donghyuck mutters back with a smile. It’s an honest one.

Donghyuck opens the front door, and there stands Renjun, looking as awkward as ever, his cheeks an adorable pink. He raises the plastic bag in his hand and glances at Donghyuck with a smile. “I brought food,” he mutters and steps inside the apartment.

Donghyuck called him up yesterday and invited him over to talk things out. After he whined for hours about how much he misses Renjun, Jeno physically forced him into calling him up. When Jaemin found them as Jeno was sitting on Donghyuck’s pelvis, pinning him down on the couch and pressing a phone to his ear while he had Donghyuck’s wrists in the other, he dropped the new wine glass set he just bought, and made Jeno and Donghyuck clean it up after the momentary shock and anger he experienced. Jaemin looked terrifying. It took them an hour to swipe up every fucking shard, and then they had to go and buy another set for Jaemin. Fair enough, though.

Donghyuck closes the door behind Renjun and turns around. Renjun and him stare at each other for a moment awkwardly, Donghyuck running his fingers through his hair, while Renjun bites at his lower lip nervously.

Donghyuck clears his throat before croaking out, “Let’s talk before we eat.”

Renjun nods his head and walks to the couch after putting the food down on the dining table. It’s Chinese – Renjun knows his way to Donghyuck’s heart. Both of them settle down and just sit next to each other silently. It’s weird, because when Donghyuck is around Renjun he usually can’t stay quiet, but now he has no clue how to start the conversation.

God, why is this so awkward? This is his best friend for fuck’s sake. It’s not like something unforgivable happened. Donghyuck has to put on his big boy pants for once. He’s too used to Jeno and Jaemin coddling him - it’s becoming a problem.

“Renjun I-,” he starts, letting out a sigh. “I’m really not mad at you, honestly. I just needed some time. Kinda hurt that you didn’t tell me,” Donghyuck mutters, glancing at Renjun, who is looking at him with a relived expression.

“God, baby, I’m so sorry,” Renjun sighs, grabbing Donghyuck’s hand and squeezing it. “I should have told you, but I was afraid I’d hurt you, because…,” he explains, halting to an end, visibly struggling to continue.

Donghyuck rolls his eyes and lets out a huff. “Because you think I still have a crush on you,” Donghyuck says, finishing Renjun’s train of thought. “You know Renjun, not everyone is attracted to you in this world. Sorry to break it to you,” he teases with a grin.

Renjun lets out a laugh, his cheeks pink. “Shut up,” he mutters with a smile. He grabs the back of Donghyuck’s neck and pulls him into a tight hug. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.

Donghyuck closes his eyes and buries his face in Renjun’s neck. “It’s okay. I missed you.”

“Missed you too, baby,” Renjun chuckles, letting go of Donghyuck.

“So,” Donghyuck starts with a smirk. “Tell me everything about Yangyang.”

They end up gossiping about Renjun’s relationship, while they eat the take out he brought for the two of them. Renjun talks about Yangyang with so much love that Donghyuck doesn’t know if he wants to throw up (no way), or stomp away to let jealousy suffocate him in peace. He’s happy for Renjun, so much, but he can’t stop thinking about how single he is. It would be nice to just have someone - someone who he can love and who loves him back.

After Donghyuck is thoroughly educated about how fantastic of a person Yangyang is, they put on Brooklyn 99 and cuddle on the couch. Donghyuck missed this.

“I’m going to fall off,” Donghyuck complains about the hundredth time. They are lying on the couch, Renjun inside and Donghyuck close to the edge. He literally has to catch himself from thumbling over every other minute.

“Stop being a baby,” Renjun says, circling Donghyuck’s waist and pulling him back against his chest.

“I’m not a baby,” Donghyuck huffs with a pout, even though Renjun can’t see it. He turns over in Renjun’s embrace and cuddles against the other boy.

“You are so one,” Renjun chuckles, running his palm up and down on Donghyuck’s back. It feels nice.

“Shut up,” Donghyuck grumbles, his cheeks heating up.

Renjun just laughs at him and hugs Donghyuck even tighter against himself. “Jaemin texted me earlier. He said we should go over and have a movie night, now that the two of us made up.”

Donghyuck hums. “We should.”

The front door opens and Mark steps inside with a huge smile on his face. He has classes until five pm on Wednesday, the poor thing.

“Hey Donghyuck,” he calls out. He closes the door and turns around with a grin. “I brought-,” he starts, but halts when he sees Renjun and Donghyuck cuddling on the couch. The smile gets whipped off his face and his expression morphs into something Donghyuck can’t quite understand. “Food,” he finishes, his tone strained.

“Oh, hi,” Donghyuck says, sitting up. Renjun still has his arms around his waist as he lies on the couch behind Donghyuck. “That’s nice of you, but we were just about to go over to Jaemin and Jeno’s,” he explains awkwardly. He feels bad about this, because it’s so nice of Mark to buy him food.

Mark lets out an unamused laugh as he stares at Renjun’s joined hands on Donghyuck’s stomach. When he lock eyes with Donghyuck, there’s a weird smile on his face. “Yeah, whatever,” he huffs out, walking into the kitchen, probably to put the food in the fridge.

“Fuck,” Donghyuck whispers, rubbing his hand down his face.

“So, this is Mark?” Renjun asks from behind him. Donghyuck nods as an answer. “He’s hot,” Renjun mutters suggestively. “And he bought you food.”

Donghyuck groans. “Shut the hell up! I’ll go get the popcorn and then we can go,” he says. He gets up from the couch and hurries into the kitchen to catch Mark and talk to him.

Mark is leaning against the counter, eating out of the plastic container rather aggressively. He looks angry and tired.

“Mark,” Donghyuck calls out. When Mark’s sharp eyes zero in on him he winces a little. “That’s so nice of you, I’ll eat the food when I come home tonight.”

Mark slaps the container down on the counter and some of the rice spill over onto the marble surface. “I couldn’t give two fucks about the fucking food,” he hisses out. He starts walking towards Donghyuck, who just stands still, shocked. “You little cheating bitch,” Mark chuckles nastily, pointing an accusing finger at Donghyuck. When he’s close enough to Donghyuck, he shoves him backwards and Donghyuck bumps against the fridge.

“What the fuck?” Donghyuck asks, confused and shocked over Mark’s sudden outburst. Wait, what the hell? “How am I a cheater exactly?” he laughs out nastily, getting worked up.

“I don’t know, ask your boyfriend who’s sitting on the couch in the living room,” Mark tuts out, a mean smile on his face.

Donghyuck can’t help but laugh in his face – so, Mark thinks Renjun and him are dating.

“Not to mention you also made out with that Lucas kid, whoever that is. You’re truly a nasty person,” Mark spits out, his expression feral.

“Mark, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?” Donghyuck exclaims, tired of listening to Mark shit talk him. He shoves Mark away from himself and gets into his face before saying, “Renjun is not my boyfriend, you dumbass, he’s together with Yangyang. Not that it’s any of your fucking business,” he hisses out. “And how the fuck do you know I made out with Lucas?”

“I overheard you and Jeno talking that day in front of the bathroom,” Mark says, his eyes wide. He looks shocked and embarrassed, probably realizing how fucking wrong he is. Serves him right.

Donghyuck lets out a nasty chuckle. “Just so you know, I made out with Lucas because I couldn’t stop thinking about you and it scared me. Honestly, Mark, fuck you big time.”

Donghyuck storms to the cupboard, gets the popcorn out and speed walks into the living room, leaving an astonished Mark in the kitchen.

“Renjun is already walking towards him with a worried expression. Mark and he were probably loud. “Everything okay?” he asks, searching Donghyuck’s face.

“Yeah,” Donghyuck answers, but he’s practically fuming. “Let’s just get the fuck out of here.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Renjun nods and grabs Donghyuck’s hand, leading them out of the apartment and away from Mark.

He spends the night sulking in the corner of Jeno and Jaemin’s couch while they watch a shitty horror movie. What the hell is wrong with Mark? He can’t just assume things and then blow up on Donghyuck without being aware of basic facts. Donghyuck hates him so much.  The worst part is, he thought that they will be finally able to get along now that Mark decided to talk to him. Of course, he had to go and ruin everything again. It’s all Mark’s fault.

“Baby,” Jeno whispers in his ear.

“What?” Donghyuck grunts out, not in the mood to put up with Jeno’s shit.

“Come with me,” Jeno says and gets up from the couch, pulling Donghyuck with himself. Renjun and Jaemin doesn’t even glance at them, just keep laughing at the movie amongst the two of them. Jeno leads them into the bedroom and closes the door with a quiet click.

They sit down on the bed. Donghyuck waits for Jeno to talk while he plays with his fingers aimlessly. God, he’s so exhausted. He wants to go home and cry, thank you.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Jeno asks, putting his hand on Donghyuck’s thigh.

Donghyuck only ponders over telling Jeno everything for a moment. “I’ve been hooking up with Mark.”

“What?” Jeno exclaims, shocked. Hah.

“Yeah. He also thought that I’m together with Renjun and called me a cheating bitch. Real nice,” Donghyuck sighs, rolling his eyes. Fuck Mark.

“Wait,” Jeno says, putting his hands up. “You and Mark. You’ve been hooking up?”

“Yes, Jeno,” Donghyuck hisses out, upset. “Am I too ugly to hook up with him or what?” he asks, unnecessary and nasty.

“Donghyuck,” Jeno says sternly, squinting his eyes. “You’re hot and you know it.”

Donghyuck puts his head on Jeno’s shoulder and lets out a pained sigh. “I have no clue what I’m doing. I don’t even like him.”

Jeno runs his finger through Donghyuck’s hair repeatedly. It feels nice. “You don’t have to like someone to be attracted to them.”

“I know, but he’s been acting so shitty. It’s fucking annoying that I still want him to fuck my brains out,” Donghyuck sighs dramatically.

Jeno lets out a groan. “Too much information, baby.”

“Sorry,” Donghyuck chuckles.

“God, if I knew this is what’s going to happen, I wouldn’t have pushed this whole living together thing,” Jeno mutters, sounding guilty.

“Hey,” Donghyuck mumbles, hugging Jeno. “It’s really not your fault.”

It’s not. This is all Donghyuck’s fault, to be honest. He doesn’t really know what his feelings are when it comes to Mark. He used to hate him, but now, he’s not too sure. He wants to kiss but also kill Mark at the same time – it’s confusing.

The night goes on with Donghyuck being a little less upset after his talk with Jeno. The cuddles and attention he gets from Jaemin, Renjun and Jeno are also helping - he’s way too spoilt by his friends.

When he gets home he prays that Mark is already asleep, but of course he’s not. He’s sitting at the dining table, chewing on his nails, looking nervous. When he sees Donghyuck step through the front door, he jumps up from the chair.

“Donghyuck,” he breathes out. “Fuck, I’m so sorry,” he says desperately, walking towards Donghyuck with a guilty expression on his face.

Donghyuck puts a hand up between them to stop Mark from getting closer to him. “Honestly Mark, I have no clue what is wrong with you, but leave me alone until you figure your shit out,” Donghyuck spits out and storms into his room. He can’t stop the tears from sliding down his cheeks that night.

It’s been a month since they’ve been living together and the best Donghyuck could sum up this time is calling it an emotional roller-coaster. After their fight, in the remaining of the week Mark tried to make it up to Donghyuck in any way he can. The annoying things he’s been doing for the past weeks disappear - he cleans up after himself in the kitchen, mops up the floor of the bathroom and doesn’t play his guitar after nine pm. Also, there are little nice things he does for Donghyuck – Mark goes out to buy coffee in the morning even before Donghyuck wakes up, buys him cake from the pastry nearby, folds his laundry and he’s been extra nice to Donghyuck. He’s obviously trying really hard and maybe Donghyuck should give in, but he finds some sick pleasure in watching Mark pedal for his forgiveness.

“So, will you forgive me?” Mark asks as he puts a piece of tiramisu in front of Donghyuck on the dining table.

Donghyuck takes a spoonful from the cake and hums in pleasure at the taste. “I don’t know, maybe,” he says, trying really hard not to sound too smug. He’s really enjoying this.

Mark groans and plops down on the chair next to Donghyuck’s. “I know I was wrong and I’m sorry. I’ve been literally apologizing to you non-stop for days,” he mumbles with a cute pout on his face, crossing his arms over his chest. Donghyuck lets out a chuckle and Mark squints his eyes into crescents. “You’re enjoying this, you little shit.”

Donghyuck full on beams at Mark. “Let’s stay playful together, Mark.”

Mark rolls his eyes. “Leave me alone with this TikTok shit,” he hisses.

“No,” Donghyuck grins and keeps eating his very delicious tiramisu.

Mark’s mouth pulls into a smile as he looks at Donghyuck. “You are truly insufferable.”

Donghyuck hums. That’s true, to be honest. “Can’t deny,” he sighs, and finishes up the cake. “I’m gonna go shower,” he announces, getting up from the dining table.

“Don’t I get an invite?” Mark purrs with a playful smirk.

Donghyuck glares at him. “You’re digging your grave.” Mark puts up his hands defensively, but the smirk is still in place on his handsome face.

Donghyuck quickly takes a shower and all he can think about while the water is beating down on his back is how he’s going to tease Mark when he gets out. When he’s finished he steps out, dries himself and puts a towel around his waist. He looks down and in front of him on the floor there’s a huge ass cockroach. Oh my God there’s a fucking cockroach near him.

“Mark,” he screams as he jumps up and down and rushes out of the bathroom to get away from that satanic creature.

Mark is already standing in the hallway, looking worried. “What happened?” he asks, sounding concerned. “Are you okay?”

“There’s a fucking cockroach in the bathroom,” Donghyuck cries out, clinging to Mark.

Mark gulps as dread washes over his face. “I’m… terrified of cockroaches.”

“Me too,” Donghyuck whispers. They lock eyes, both of them looking like they are moments away from a mental breakdown because of a fucking bug. Still, that thing is a satanic little creature that probably crawled up from the pits of Hell.

Mark takes a deep, calming breath. “Okay, let’s just catch it in a bowl and flush it down the toilet. It can’t stay inside.”

“You’re right,” Donghyuck nods his head. He really doesn’t want that thing to stay in the apartment so it’s better to just catch it and remove it forever.

“Okay, let’s do this,” gulps Mark.

Mark grabs Donghyuck’s hand, and they walk into the bathroom. The cockroach is nowhere. They search through the whole fucking bathroom and it’s nowhere to be found. And that can only mean one thing.

“Did you leave the bathroom door open when you ran out?” Mark whispers defeatedly.

“Fuck,” Donghyuck whimpers, gripping his own hair. “Yeah.”

“Then it’s somewhere in the house,” Mark whines out. Donghyuck could be mistaken, but there might be actual tears in Mark’s eyes.

Donghyuck remembers something and his eyes widen. “Jesus I left the door to my bedroom open.” That thing can be anywhere including Donghyuck’s room. No way he’s sleeping there. “No way I’m sleeping there. We’re sleeping in your room tonight, Mark.”

Mark looks a little lost. “We do?” he asks, tilting his head to the side. “We do,” he says, answering his own question. “I mean, I’m not complaining,” he smirks, finally coming to his senses.

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “It’s only because the cockroach, you dumbass. If you touch me I’ll kill you.”

“You mean because the cock roach?” Mark asks, proudly beaming at his own stupidness.

Donghyuck glances at him, unamused. “Shut up.”

They go over the whole apartment to try and find the bug, but it’s like the floor swallowed it up, which is sadly impossible. They settle in Mark’s room because that was the only place in the whole apartment that was closed when the attack happened. It’s way over eleven pm and they both have classes at eight am, so they decide to lie down on the bed and try to go to sleep. Mark offered to sleep on the floor, but Donghyuck doesn’t want to exile Mark out of his bed when he’s been so nice to Donghyuck these past few days.

This whole sharing a bed feels like some cheap ass fanfiction Donghyuck likes to read from time to time. They are lying down, facing each other, Mark near the wall and Donghyuck on the edge. Donghyuck gave up on putting space between the two of them, because the bed is way too small for that. He’s kind of afraid he’ll roll down in the middle of the night. Another problem is that they only have one blanket and it’s the middle of April – it’s cold at night.

“Are you comfortable?” Mark asks. Donghyuck hums and rubs his face into the pillow. Mark chuckles at him and Donghyuck sends him a smile. Mark’s stare slips down to Donghyuck’s lips, and it stays there for a moment before he realizes and snaps it up towards the ceiling, a hint of pink coloring his cheeks. God, Donghyuck is so gone for him.

He’s maybe (totally) making a mistake, but he physically can’t stay away from Mark. “Kiss me,” Donghyuck mumbles without shame as he stares at Mark.

“What?” Mark weeps out, visibly flustered.

“Did I fucking stutter?” Donghyuck asks impatiently with his eyebrows raised.

Mark is only shocked for a moment. “God, you drive me insane,” he snarls out, then grabs the back of Donghyuck’s neck and pulls him into a kiss.

It’s been more than a week since they last kissed and Donghyuck has to admit that he missed the feeling of Mark’s lips moving against his – it makes his head spin. The way their tongues tangle together is hurried and rough. Mark grabs Donghyuck’s hips firmly and pulls him against himself, not breaking the kiss even for a moment. Donghyuck sighs into the kiss as Mark bites at his lower lip. He breaks away to press kisses on the underside of Mark’s jaw, biting and sucking the skin from time to time. After Mark had enough he grabs Donghyuck’s chin and pulls his head to the side so he can trail kisses down his throat to the tender joint of Donghyuck’s neck and shoulder, where he sucks a bruise into Donghyuck’s skin. Donghyuck can already feel himself burning up from the inside and they haven’t really done anything yet.

Mark sits up and with zero grace and less than zero patience rips his shirt off himself and tosses it onto the floor. Donghyuck also pulls his shirt off and throws it next to Mark’s. Mark grabs the underside of Donghyuck’s knees and opens his legs so he can settle between them. Donghyuck willingly lets him, a blush burning through him at being so helplessly spread for Mark.

“What do you want?” Mark pants out. His pupils are blown wide and there’s a dangerous glint in his eyes as he’s staring down at Donghyuck, his body supported by his hands planted on the bed on either side of Donghyuck’s head.

There’s something that Donghyuck’s been wanting for a long, long time. “Please, fuck me,” he whimpers out and tries not to feel ashamed for being so blunt about it.

Mark’s lips quirk up into a smirk. “I’m gonna take you apart so nicely, you’re going to feel it for days.”

Donghyuck can’t stop the gasp that leaves his mouth. “Then get on with it,” he challenges with a matching smirk.

So Mark does.

The first thing they do is get fully undressed because Mark is apparently allergic to clothes. When they are both naked Donghyuck lies back on the bed and spreads his legs for Mark. Mark settles down between them, and just kind of stares at his lower part, looking mesmerized. It makes Donghyuck want to crawl out of his skin. It’s suddenly too hot in the room and Donghyuck can feel sweat slide down the side of his face.

Mark starts sucking kisses down his chest to his stomach where he lingers for a while, bruising Donghyuck up. Donghyuck grips onto Mark’s hair and gasps out every time Mark sucks a little too hard. When he reaches Donghyuck’s dick he gives it two pumps and a shiver runs through Donghyuck at the feeling of Mark’s rough, warm skin making contact with his sensitive hardness.

“Can I finger you?” Mark mumbles into Donghyuck’s hip, glancing up at him through his eyelashes, looking like Donghyuck’s wildest wet dreams.

“Please,” Donghyuck whimpers out, pushing his head back into the pillow.

“So polite,” Mark chuckles and gets the lube and a condom out of his bedside table.

It’s been a long time since Donghyuck did this with someone and he’s a little… nervous to be honest. “Can you-,” he starts, gulping. “Can you go slow? It’s been a long time.” he mutters out, heat creeping up his neck onto his cheeks.

Mark runs his hands up and down Donghyuck’s thighs comfortingly with a smile way too soft for the situation. “Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll make you feel good.”

Mark coats two of his fingers in lube and teasingly rubs them over Donghyuck’s entrance for a while, then slowly eases one of it inside of him, pumping it in and out. It feels okay but it’s not enough, so he voices this to Mark, who adds another finger and starts stretching him open. Donghyuck moans every time the tips of Mark’s fingers brush against the sweet spot inside of him, and Mark smirks triumphantly every time that happens. His other hand pumps Donghyuck’s hardness from time to time, but that tends to be too much, so Donghyuck stops him after the second or third movement of his hand before he comes and ruins the fun of Mark railing him.

“That’s enough,” he gasps out, grabbing Mark’s wrist and stopping him from sliding his fingers in and out of him. “Please, fuck me now.”

Mark glances at him with a fucked out expression, his dark, sweaty fringe falling into his eyes messily as his lips pull into a smirk. “Okay.”

Mark’s fingers tremble a little as he reaches for the condom and slides it down his dick. It’s fully hard and his tip is leaking a fucking river at this point – Donghyuck knows Mark must be as desperate as him.

“You ready?” Mark asks, hovering over Donghyuck.

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “Yes, Mark. Let’s get on with it, please,” he says with a teasing smile, sliding his hands up Mark’s arms and circling his neck to pull him into a quick kiss. “Fuck me,” he purrs into Mark’s mouth.

This is all it takes for Mark’s control to snap, and he slams into Donghyuck in one smooth move. All the air gets punched out of Donghyuck and he lets out a loud moan. Before he could apprehend that, yes, Mark Lee is really fucking him, Mark starts pounding into him with a force that makes Donghyuck slide upwards the bed, so Mark has to pull him downwards every now and then. Donghyuck’s jaw falls open and all he can do is moan and whimper Mark’s name out, while Mark takes him apart nicely, just like he promised. Mark knows what he’s doing. The way he angles his hips just right, so he pounds into that sweet little spot inside of Donghyuck, the way his hips move so sinfully, meeting Donghyuck’s own is making Donghyuck burn up from inside out. All Donghyuck is capable of doing is holding onto Mark’s back and leaving nail marks all over his skin, while Mark rocks his world.

“I’m close,” Donghyuck whimpers out, turning his head to the side and pressing it into the pillow as he jerks himself off in the rhythm of Mark’s thrusts.

Mark presses wet kisses onto the skin of his neck and works his way up to Donghyuck’s ear, where he bites into his lobe playfully. “Come for me, baby,” he whispers, no purrs, suggestively.

Now, all of Donghyuck’s friends call him baby, and he’s really used to it. He never looked at it as something sexual, but when Mark calls him that it sounds outright sinful, and it makes him want to submit in a weird fucking way. He loves it.

Moments later he’s screaming Mark’s name, pleasure ripping through him and his back arching off the bed, his thighs shaking with the effort as he rides out his orgasm while Mark is still thrusting in and out of him, chasing his own. It doesn’t take much for Mark to also come and after he’s done shaking he drops down onto Donghyuck’s exhausted body.

Donghyuck groans and tries to push Mark off himself. “Mark, no.”

Mark just chuckles at him but rolls off Donghyuck and lies down next to him on the bed. “This was nice,” he mutters, smiling at Donghyuck.

“Yeah,” Donghyuck mutters back, closing his eyes. It really was nice, and Donghyuck probably made a huge mistake, because there’s no way he’ll ever be able to not think about Mark fucking him.

“We should clean up,” Mark sighs, but makes no effort to actually clean up.

“Yeah,” Donghyuck mumbles out, already half asleep.

The last thing Donghyuck hears before falling into a dreamless sleep is Mark’s muffled laughter.

“I’m trying to watch Buzzfeed Unsolved.”

“And I’m trying to fuck you,” Mark purrs as he sucks the tender skin of the joint of Donghyuck’s neck and shoulder.

Thursdays are always long and tiring for Donghyuck so after he arrived home he fell back on the couch and put on YouTube. He only has two lectures on Fridays, anyway. He’s been watching Buzzfeed Unsolved for the past hour, until Mark distracted him – now his dick is half hard and trying to find out if ghost are real doesn’t sound that appealing anymore.

“Mark,” Donghyuck warns, squirming in place.

“What?” Mark asks, his breath warm on Donghyuck’s wet skin. “I thought we’re sharing our plans for the afternoon.”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes but can’t help the snort that escapes him. “You’re annoying.”

Donghyuck can feel Mark’s smirk as he mumbles against his skin, “You’ll still let me fuck you, right?”

It would feel nice to say, “No way, are you delusional?” but sadly, Donghyuck is really, really desperate for Mark’s dick and it’s a huge problem. They’ve been fooling around for the past few days whenever they had the time. (read: literally every chance they got) They never sleep together though – Sunday was a onetime thing. This whole situation is strictly no feelings attached, Donghyuck knows this, but he still finds himself wanting more sometimes. They still haven’t found the cockroach, but life has to go on – Donghyuck just hopes it’s dead somewhere and doesn’t crawl out from under his wardrobe one day.

Donghyuck grabs Mark’s chin and tilts his head upwards, so they can lock eyes. “Maybe I will,” he whispers then ducks down to lick Mark’s mouth open.

Mark’s hand slips to the edge of Donghyuck’s jeans, and he’s about to pop the button open when the intercom starts ringing. They rip apart and look at each other.

“Are you expecting someone?” Mark asks, sounding a little too disappointed.

Now the question is, does Donghyuck expect someone? Because he doesn’t really- oh, fuck yes. Chenle. Donghyuck can’t believe he’s cockblocking himself.

“I promised Chenle I would help him with math,” he explains apologetically, pressing a kiss on Mark’s lips before he runs and buzzes Chenle in. Mark looks beyond saddened that his plans for the afternoon has been ruined.

“Hi, baby boy,” Chenle calls with a huge smile when he opens the front door and steps into the apartment.

“Hi,” Donghyuck greets back with a matching smile. God, he really loves Chenle. They quickly hug each other and when they turn around Mark is staring at them with a weird expression on his face.

“Hello, you must be Mark,” Chenle says as he walks towards Mark to shake his hand. “I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced yet.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Mark mutters as he shakes Chenle’s hand, forcing a smile onto his face. “Hi, Chenle.”

Chenle beams at Mark and then his attention is back on Donghyuck. “Can we study at the dining table? Your desk is tiny.”

Donghyuck huffs out a breath. “Whatever you want, your honor.” Chenle lets out one of his signature dolphin laughs as he struts to the dining table and sits down on one of the chairs. Donghyuck follows him and sits next to him. Mark glances at them one last time, then leaves and closes his bedroom door behind himself. Weird.

In an hour Donghyuck explains the exponential, consistent and normal distribution to Chenle, and also shows him how to apply them to problems. He feels like his head is going to explode. Too much math – he hates math, he has no clue why he’s explaining it to someone that has to pass it.

“I have to pee,” Chenle whines, lying on the table while he’s trying hard to solve one of the problems alone.

“Then go pee,” Donghyuck sighs, also lying on the table and trying to solve the same problem as Chenle.

Chenle jumps up and runs in the direction of the bathroom with a relived smile on his face. Donghyuck hears a door open and when he looks up Mark is walking towards him with a teasing smile. He rounds the table and stands behind Donghyuck’s chair. He leans over Donghyuck to look at his attempt at solving the problem, with his body supported by his hands on the table on either side of Donghyuck so he’s hovering over him.

“Having fun?” Mark asks, his breath tickling the side of Donghyuck’s face.

Donghyuck hums. “Very much,” he says sarcastically.

Mark glances at him. “So, baby boy, huh?” he asks. The term Chenle used to describe him earlier has been probably bothering Mark for the past hour. Honestly, Donghyuck kind of finds this funny. Is Mark jealous at Chenle?

Donghyuck’s mouth pulls into a wide grin. “Why, do you also want to call me that?”

Mark tilts his head to the side with a smirk. “Maybe in another setting,” he purrs. His hand slips into Donghyuck’s hair and he tugs his head back a little, making Donghyuck’s jaw open around a soundless moan.

Someone clears his throat, and it makes Donghyuck’s mouth snap closed as he pushes Mark away from himself as dread washes over him. Mark trips over his own leg and slams into the wall, but then quickly rights himself, his cheeks red from embarrassment. Donghyuck can also feel his own cheeks heating up.

“Why did you two stop? Keep flirting,” Chenle teases, and when he sees the face Donghyuck is making, he lets out a loud laugh.

“Shut up,” Donghyuck hisses, feeling embarrassed that Chenle probably heard and saw the whole exchange between him and Mark.

Chenle’s devilish smile says that he still has some things to say, but he has mercy on Donghyuck for whatever reason, and changes the subject. “I haven’t even told this to Donghyuck yet, but next week on Friday I’m having a party,” he announces. “You should come too, Mark,” Chenle says with a smile. “I’m sure Donghyuck would bring you along, anyway,” he mutters, barely audible, but Donghyuck still hears it.

Donghyuck squints his eyes. “Okay,” he says loudly.

Mark glances weirdly at Donghyuck, but then sends a kind smile in Chenle’s way. “Thanks for the invitation.”

“It’s really nothing,” Chenle tuts, waving one of his hands, while he’s texting with the other. “Also, Jisung is here. Can you like, buzz him in?”

“You didn’t even tell me he was coming!” Donghyuck exclaims, getting up to quickly buzz Jisung in. Chenle uses this apartment like it’s his own damn home.

“Sorry,” Chenle beams and bounces to the couch to plaster himself on it. Donghyuck lets out an annoyed groan and falls back on the couch next to Chenle. Chenle cuddles up to him and presses a loud, wet kiss on his cheek. Mark watches the exchange with amusement written all over his face.

It doesn’t take long for Jisung to arrive. “Hi,” he calls in an adorable way only he can.

“Hi,” everyone says in unison.

Chenle gets up from the couch with a huge smile and walks to Jisung to press a quick kiss on his mouth. After he presses another and then another, Jisung pushes him away from himself with red cheeks.

“Not here, you dumbass,” Jisung hisses, flustered.

Chenle, Jisung and Donghyuck settle down around the dining table and do math for another hour. They catch up with each other after, since they are all very busy lately to meet up weekly. After the boys leave Donghyuck studies in his room, then gives up and lies down on his bed to watch YouTube, even though he should sleep so he doesn’t feel like a zombie tomorrow.

Around midnight there’s a knock on his door, then it clicks open and Mark pops his head through the gap with a smile. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Donghyuck greets back with a matching smile.

“Do you want to get boba with me?” Mark asks, his voice wavering a little, a slight pink appearing across his cheeks.

Donghyuck’s eyebrows raise on their own. “Now? It’s midnight,” he says, locking his phone and sitting up on the bed.

“There’s a twenty-four seven grocery around here that has boba drinks,” Mark mutters, scratching the back of his neck. “I can’t really sleep, and I heard that you are also awake, so I guess- yeah, you know what? Never mind, it was a bad idea,” he laughs awkwardly, his cheeks a deep red now.

“Hey,” Donghyuck calls, getting up from the bed and fully opening the door. “It’s not a bad idea,” he says fiercely, locking eyes with Mark. “I want to, let’s go.”

He truly, honestly wants to. Really. He doesn’t know why but lately he’s been feeling this weird pull towards Mark, and he wants to spend time with him. Not just fucking, but other things too. It’s weird and it’s scary, but he decided to go with the flow.

“Really?” Mark asks surprisedly, his voice a little high pitched.

“Yeah, you dumbass,” Donghyuck chuckles with a teasing grin. Mark’s mouth also pulls into a pretty smile. God, why is he so pretty?

I doesn’t take them too long to leave the apartment and the building. The grocery is thankfully only five minutes away from them – it’s really cold outside at this time of the night. Fortunately, it’s warmer inside the shop.

“So, what kind of boba do you want?” Mark asks, glancing at Donghyuck as they are standing in front of the fridge that has all kinds of boba tea in it.

Donghyuck hums, thinking through what to choose. “I’m gonna go with Taro Milk Tea,” he says after a moment, reaching for the boba tea and putting it in the basket in Mark’s hand.

“Good choice,” Mark beams with a grin. “I’m gonna drink the Green Milk one,” he says, getting one for himself, and putting it in the basket.

They pay for the teas at the front, then exit the shop, stepping into the cold, May night. It might be cold, but Donghyuck doesn’t really want to go home yet. “There’s a lake nearby,” Donghyuck tells Mark. “Do you want to go?”

Mark nods his head with a smile, even though the tip of his nose is red from the chilly temperature. The walk to the park where the lake is doesn’t take too long. They find a bench and sit down on it. They cuddle up against each other for warmth, and even through the layers of clothes, Donghyuck can feel Mark’s heart hammering in his chest, just like his own does. They pop the straw into their teas and start drinking them.

Mark lets out a satisfied hum. “I love boba,” he says with a huge smile.

Donghyuck chuckles at him. “Me too.”

“You know,” Mark starts, his cheek reddening. “You and your friends are really handsy,” he mutters, looking a little uncomfortable.

“Yeah, I guess,” Donghyuck says with a shrug of his shoulders. “We’ve always been like this. It’s just our show of affection, don’t read too much into it,” he warns, his mouth curling up into a teasing smile.

“I’m not reading into it,” Mark grumbles sulkily, trying to push Donghyuck off himself, but failing miserably, since Donghyuck just clings to him harder with a laugh.

They sit in silence for a while, sipping their boba teas as they watch the surface of the lake glow in the moonlight. Donghyuck glances at Mark when he lets out a cute sneeze, and his eyes kind of get stuck on him. He’s really beautiful – his eyes, that seems to shine even in the dark, his high cheekbones and sharp jawline, his adorable smile, and the way he scrunches his nose up. He’s beautiful and handsome and pretty and Donghyuck has it badly for him. Sweet baby Jesus. Donghyuck Lee has it bad for Mark Lee. What the hell is he supposed to do now? Confess? Honestly, that actually makes sense, but! But they supposedly hate each other. Or maybe they just did, because now when Donghyuck thinks about Mark, hate is the farthest thing on his mind. He likes Mark, fuck he really does.

As Donghyuck is looking at Mark, Mark’s mouth pulls into a huge grin around his straw out of nowhere. Donghyuck’s mouth also curls upwards at the sight of him. “What are you smiling about?” Donghyuck asks.

Mark’s cheeks redden a little as he turns his head to the side to look at Donghyuck. “I guess I just like spending time with you,” he whispers, his eyes shining.

Donghyuck can feel his heart trying to rapidly beat out of his chest at Mark’s confession. “I like spending time with you, too,” he whispers back. Without thinking he presses his lips against Mark’s and kisses him gently. Mark kisses back and their lips move against each other’s softly.

Donghyuck likes Mark so much.

Donghyuck has exactly two weeks and three days to confess to Mark, including today. He’s not getting anywhere with it, even though he’s pretty sure Mark also likes him. But if he doesn’t, it will be incredibly awkward if they still have to live together. Maybe he should wait? Or maybe he shouldn’t think about this when Mark is fucking him.

“Donghyuck, you okay?” Mark asks with a worried expression as he stops moving inside of Donghyuck.

“Yeah, sorry,” Donghyuck mumbles, blinking up at Mark. “I zoned out.”

Mark lets out a chuckle. “Yeah, I figured.” Mark picks up his pace again and Donghyuck tries to forget about confessing until he and Mark manage to come. He succeeds. (Mostly.)

Cuddling after sex is something new, but very welcomed. Donghyuck wasn’t aware, but apparently, he’s really into things like this. It just feels nice to be close to Mark non-sexually for a couple of minutes. It’s nothing too special, they just snuggle up until both of their heartbeats go back to normal and they come off their highs. It feels intimate in a way that makes Donghyuck’s cheeks heat up, but he doesn’t mind.

They are lying on Donghyuck’s bed, naked legs tangled and arms around each other. Donghyuck’s cheek is pressed against Mark’s chest, and he can hear the rhythmical thump of his heart. Mark is playing with his hair, and it makes Donghyuck incredibly sleepy.

“We should clean up,” Mark mutters against the top of Donghyuck’s head. Donghyuck hums in agreement but he doesn’t actually make any effort to get up. “Donghyuck,” Mark whines. He sits up and pulls Donghyuck with himself. “I’m going to be late, and Johnny is going to kill me.”

“Okay, okay,” Donghyuck groans and climbs out of the bed. “I’m going to shower,” he says, walking towards the door. He looks over his shoulder with one of his eyebrows raised. “You coming?”

Mark smirks at him. “Yes,” he says and gets up from the bed. When he reaches Donghyuck he grabs his waist and guides them into the bathroom where they quickly get under the hot water of the shower.

“Where are you going to eat with Johnny?” Donghyuck asks as he’s washing his hair with Mark’s vanilla scented shampoo.

“He wants to get Thai food,” Mark mumbles, his eyes closed as he’s just standing under the water.

Donghyuck chuckles at him and grabs his chin to pull him into a quick kiss. “Are you tired?” he asks against Mark’s lips.

Mark hums. “I was up late. I had a test today and I was way behind on the topics.”

“Poor baby,” Donghyuck mutters, circling Mark’s waist and pulling him against his chest. “You don’t have to come tonight if you’d rather sleep.”

“No,” Mark says determinedly. “I wanna go to Chenle’s party. Wanna go with you,” he says, nuzzling his face into Donghyuck’s wet neck and leaving a kiss there. His words leave a warm, fuzzy feeling in Donghyuck’s chest.

Donghyuck glances down to the floor and there’s something black there. His eyebrows furrow. “Something fell off the rack,” he mutters absentmindedly.

“I’ll pick it up,” Mark says and leans down. Donghyuck slaps his butt playfully. Mark is about to grab the black stuff when he lets out a scream and Donghyuck flinches at the volume. “What the fuck?” Mark shouts as he jumps against Donghyuck.

Donghyuck looks back down and… the black stuff is moving. “That fucking cockroach!” he screams, probably louder than Mark did. In his utter desperation and without really thinking it through he leans down, grabs the devilish creature in his bare hand, hops out of the shower, chucks it into the toilet and flushes it down in the span of one minute - and then he collapses onto the cold tile from the emotional trauma.

“Jesus fuck,” Mark wheezes out. He also gets out of the shower and grabs a towel. He squats down in front of Donghyuck and wraps the towel around him. “You okay?” he asks.

Donghyuck locks eyes with Mark and then he’s bursting out in a loud laugh, Mark following suit after a moment. Mark jumps on him and they spread out on the tile, while laughing their asses off.

“Oh my god,” Donghyuck coughs out, then sits up. “This was wild.”

“Very much,” Mark giggles, still lying on the floor.

“I’m gonna go and get ready,” Donghyuck sighs. He pats Mark’s bare thigh before saying, “You should too, Markie. You’re going to be late, and Johnny is going to kill you.”

With the skin of one’s teeth they get up from the bathroom floor and go into their separate rooms to get ready for the night. Tonight’s party’s theme is cat ears which is undeniably cute in Donghyuck’s opinion. He dresses up in all black and grabs one of the cat ears he got this afternoon.

Mark is already tying his shoes when Donghyuck steps out of his room. “You’re leaving?” he asks, walking towards Mark. Mark is also in all black. It was kind of planed to match.

“Yeah,” Mark says. He puts on his leather jacket and opens the front door. “I’ll text you when I finish at the restaurant. I’ll get a cab or something.”

“Okay,” Donghyuck says with a smile. “Here’s your cat ears,” he beams.

“Cute,” Mark mutters with a smile. He grabs the back of Donghyuck’s neck and pulls him into a kiss which lasts a little longer than Mark probably meant it to. “See you baby,” Mark whispers as he leans away from Donghyuck. He steps out of the apartment then shuts the door without another word.

Baby, huh? Donghyuck is going to faint.

He sits down at the dining table to eat from the cake they got from Mrs. Hwang since he still has some time before he has to get going. Maybe he should confess to Mark at the party. Yes! He will!

Okay, maybe he won’t confess tonight because he’s drunk off his ass and Mark isn’t even here yet. He was nervous when he arrived, so he got carried away with the vodka shots. Then Jaemin and Jeno found him, and he had to drink with them, then with Chenle, then with Renjun and Yangyang and then Jisung also finally arrived so they all drank together and yeah. It happens to the best of us. Now he’s on the dance floor sandwiched between Yangyang and Renjun, grinding like his life depends on it. Donghyuck honestly hopes he won’t have a threesome with them as well. Jaemin and Jeno are dancing next to them and Chenle and Jisung are probably making out somewhere.

“Your boyfriend is here,” Renjun shouts into his ear with a chuckle as he grinds his crotch up into Donghyuck’s ass.

Donghyuck doesn’t even bother to correct him, just whips around and yes, indeed Mark is here. He steps out from between Yangyang and Renjun and the two of them immediately start making out. Donghyuck checks his phone and yes he got a text from Mark twenty minutes ago, but he didn’t see it because he was too occupied with shaking his ass.

Donghyuck runs to him with a grin on his face and quite literally jumps onto Mark. “You’re here!” he giggles happily. He circles Mark’s neck with his arms to pull him closer and presses a kiss onto Mark’s lips.

“And you’re drunk,” Mark chuckles with a smile against Donghyuck’s lips. He’s so pretty with the black cat ears, although he looks more like a baby lion than a cat.

Donghyuck sighs. “Yes, I am.”

Mark laughs at him. “You’re so cute.”

Donghyuck can feel his cheeks heat up as he ducks his head down to nuzzle his face into Mark’s neck. “Drink with me,” Donghyuck mutters. He grabs Mark’s hand and pulls him into the kitchen where they have a vodka shot together. The liquid burns down Donghyuck’s throat and he shakes his head a little at the sensation.

“Do you know where Chenle is?” Mark asks, leaning against the counter. “I wanna say hi.”

Donghyuck hums in agreement. “How long do you wanna stay here?” he asks, licking his lower lip.

“Why?” Mark asks confusedly.

“I really want you to fuck me,” Donghyuck sighs dreamily, far too gone to filter what he’s saying.

“Jesus Donghyuck,” Mark laughs loudly, patting the top of Donghyuck’s head. “There’s no way we’re doing that tonight,” he says with a teasing grin.

“What? Why?” Donghyuck asks with a pout, and sulkily crosses his arms over his chest as he huffs out an annoyed breath. He’s being denied. That’s not something he likes to stomach.

“Because you’re drunk as hell, baby,” Mark explains. He’s too good for this world, honestly. He grabs Donghyuck’s hand to pull him closer to himself. “Maybe tomorrow,” he whispers, then leans away with a smirk. “Now, show me where Chenle is.”

Donghyuck lets out a resigned sigh. “Okay, I guess.”

Chenle is out on the patio with Jisung, Jeno, Jaemin and Renjun. They are deep in conversation, probably about something stupid. Whenever the six of them are together – including Donghyuck – they always end up talking about the weirdest things. For example, a recurring conversation between them is how they would survive a zombie apocalypse – although this might come in handy at one point in life. (Donghyuck really hopes it won’t.)

“Hello guys,” Mark greets with a smile.

“Bro,” Jeno calls excitedly.

“Hi Mark,” Chenle says with a huge smile as he gives Mark a hug. He looks Mark up and down and then turns towards the others. “Damn, this guy is cute.”

Donghyuck scowls at Chenle. “You have your own boyfriend, stop flirting with Mark.”

Chenle dolphin laughs at him and bounces to Donghyuck to give him a tight hug. “Chill, baby boy, no one’s going to take Mark away from you.”

“Whatever,” Donghyuck pouts out. “Mom, these people are hurting me,” he whines dramatically, then falls into Jaemin, who stumbles a little under Donghyuck’s weight.

“This is just our way of loving you,” Jeno snickers in.

“You especially, shut the hell up,” Donghyuck says, pointing an accusing finger at Jeno. Sadly, Jeno catches his hand and then squeezes. “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Donghyuck whines, trying to pull his hand away from Jeno’s iron grip.

Jaemin slaps Jeno’s hand, so he lets go of Donghyuck’s. “Stop being an asshole, Jeno,” he scolds.

“Sorry,” Jeno singsongs, hugging both Jaemin and Donghyuck at the same time.

“So much love,” Jisung says sarcastically from Chenle’s side. “But you’re scaring Mark.”

Donghyuck glances back and Mark does look a little scared. Honestly, their friends group can be kind of intimidating. He wiggles out of Jaemin and Jeno’s hold and struts over to Mark. He circles Mark’s waist with his arm to pull him closer to himself.

Renjun looks at them with his eyebrows raised. “Last time I was over at yours you were screaming at each other in the kitchen. Right now you look cozy as hell.”

“I guess we found a common ground,” Mark laughs awkwardly, getting so close to Donghyuck that almost all his weight are supported by him.

“I so told Donghyuck you would be friends,” Jeno chimes in as he cuddles up to Jaemin. He’s probably just as drunk as Donghyuck.

“And you totally survived this time together,” Jaemin adds encouragingly. “And you don’t even have to live together for the full two month, now that Mark’s apartment is ready and he can move back,” he says with an unknowing smile.

Jeno’s expression turns terrified and Mark stills on Donghyuck’s side.

“What?” Donghyuck asks confusedly, letting out a forced laugh.

“Well, now that the apartment is fixed, Mark can move back two weeks earlier,” Jaemin explains, his expression getting a little lost. “You didn’t- Oh, you didn’t,” he mutters as Jeno shakes his head at him manically.

The whole atmosphere turns insanely awkward all of a sudden.

Donghyuck’s arm slides off Mark’s waist. Mark turns to face him with wide eyes. “Donghyuck, I can explain,” he pleads desperately.

If Donghyuck understands right, Mark is moving out probably on this weekend, and he failed to inform Donghyuck about this very much important happening. He probably already got some of his stuff packed so he can get out of Donghyuck’s apartment as quickly as possible. The thing is, he had thousand chances to tell this to Donghyuck. Hell, you don’t even need a chance to inform someone about you fucking moving out. Donghyuck knew this was coming and this wouldn’t be a problem if Mark would have just told him. Turns out Donghyuck doesn’t even mean that much to him, it simply wasn’t important to Mark enough. So what, on Monday morning Donghyuck would have woken up to Mark gone without a word? Maybe he misread this whole thing and Mark doesn’t really feel the same way about Donghyuck.

Donghyuck lets out a nasty laugh. “Fuck off, Mark,” he hisses out, then whips around and barges into the house to hide in one of the rooms upstairs and cry his eyes out. Before his feet can touch the first stair though, Mark catches up to him and grabs Donghyuck’s upper arm to stop him from hurrying away from him.

“Please, Donghyuck,” he whines, and he honestly looks pathetic. “It’s really not what you think.”

And this is the moment when Donghyuck snaps. “What is it then, huh?” he asks, his tone as nasty as he can manage it to be. “I don’t care, you know. We had sex, we fooled around and that’s it. Now we can go back to ignoring each other,” he snarls out.

Mark looks like he’s been slapped in the face. “You wanna go back to ignoring each other?” he asks, his eyes searching Donghyuck’s face.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Donghyuck lies through his teeth. “I have enough friends already,” he says, then turns around and runs up the stairs and away from Mark.

He finds an empty room, bangs the door closed behind himself, then falls face first into the bed and immediately starts sobbing into the sheets. Maybe he shouldn’t have lived into his daydreams about Mark liking him back. Fuck that, because he sure acted like he did, but then he would have talked to Donghyuck about this whole thing. Mark just doesn’t care enough.

Donghyuck doesn’t know how much time passes before the door clicks open and Jeno lies down next to him on the bed. Donghyuck isn’t hysterically sobbing anymore, now the tears just slide down his cheeks silently.

“Oh, baby,” Jeno sighs, then pulls Donghyuck against his chest. “It’s going to be okay.”

“I like him,” Donghyuck whispers, like he’s telling a secret. “I like him so much.”

Donghyuck spends his Saturday morning at Chenle’s house, nursing his hangover and his broken heart. Chenle and Jisung tries so hard to make Donghyuck feel better and it’s just so cute that Donghyuck still manages to crack a smile or two even though he feels like shit, physically and emotionally as well. They watch Brooklyn 99 all morning, then Chenle drops Donghyuck off at his apartment around one in the afternoon.

Mark is gone. His room is totally empty, save for a note on the desk that says Thank you for letting me stay here. I’m sorry. -Mark. Fuck him so much. Of course Donghyuck breaks down and cries for half an hour, curled up on the striped down bed in Mark’s room, that’s not really his room anymore.

The weekend goes by in a blur of crying and stress eating and it’s awful. He tries to sleep it off, but he doesn’t succeed. Jaemin visits him on Sunday and brings homemade soup with himself, which is a life savior, and Donghyuck is very thankful, so much that he ends up crying while he’s eating it. On Monday Donghyuck has to try extra hard not to blow up the organic chemistry lab, and he accidentally spills acid on his hand – just wonderful. The only good thing that happens is Mr. Cupcake sneaking into his room and cuddling him while he was wallowing in self-pity.

He misses Mark more than he should, and it’s not getting any better. Donghyuck didn’t know heartbreak hurts this much. The worst thing is, he’s not sure if Mark is even a little bit affected by all of this.

It's Wednesday now, and Donghyuck has enough emotional energy to get on the subway and visit Jeno and Jaemin. He usually walks up to the second floor they live on, but this time he chooses the comfort of the lift.

Jeno opens the door for him with a soft, understanding smile after Donghyuck knocks on it. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Donghyuck mutters and steps into the apartment. “Jaemin?”

“He’s running some errands,” Jeno explains and glances up at the clock. “I don’t know when he’s going to be back.”

Donghyuck settles down on the couch while Jeno fixes them two teas and brings them into the living room. He puts the teas on the coffee table, then sits down next to Donghyuck.

“How are you doing?” Jeno asks carefully, his eyes searching.

“I feel like shit,” Donghyuck sighs honestly. “I miss him.”

Jeno looks at Donghyuck with a determined expression on his face. “Donghyuck, you should talk to Mark. I think there’s a huge ass misunderstanding between the two of you,” he says, grabbing Donghyuck’s hand to caress his knuckles comfortingly. “I don’t want you to suffer.”

“I don’t want to suffer either,” Donghyuck mutters. “But I’m afraid if I’ll talk to him, I’ll end up suffering even more,” he explains desperately.

“I know it’s scary,” Jeno says, his eyes soft. “You have to decide if you take this chance for Mark or not. Give yourself some space, but make sure you don’t run out of time,” Jeno sighs.

Donghyuck nods. “I just… need to think it through.”

“I understand,” Jeno says with a smile. “And no matter what, know that I’m here. All of us.”

“Thank you,” Donghyuck mutters, wiping a stray tear from his cheek.

“Now come here, you big baby,” Jeno chuckles. “Let’s cuddle and watch some shitty movie.”

 Donghyuck sits closer to Jeno, who envelopes him in a warm embrace. They end up watching a very bad crime movie, and it’s more for the laughs, than actual entertainment. Jaemin arrives later that evening with food for the three of them, and they settle around the dining room to eat together. After they are done, they call up Renjun who also comes over, and they end up binge watching Skins. Strictly the UK one.

Renjun and Donghyuck decide to sleep over, even though it’s the middle of the week and they all have school tomorrow. They make a huge makeshift bed on the living room floor, so all four of them can sleep together. Donghyuck gets a year worth of cuddles before he falls asleep between Renjun and Jeno, Jaemin somehow managing to hold his hand. He loves his best friends so much.

It takes three days for Donghyuck to be brave enough to ask for Mark’s address from Jeno. The thing is, he really likes Mark. He misses his silly jokes, and his allergy to clothes, how he leaves the kitchen like a warzone, their Buzzfeed Unsolved marathons, but most importantly, he misses the way he feels when he’s with Mark. He doesn’t want to lose that, and if it means that he has to be the bigger person and go to Mark’s place, then so it be.

Mark doesn’t live far, it’s ten minutes by subway – Donghyuck’s hands tremble for the whole ride. When he’s in front of the building he hesitates, but after a long moment, still rings up to Mark’s apartment.

“Hello?” Mark’s voice asks through the intercom, and Donghyuck could cry from even just hearing him.

Donghyuck takes a calming breath, before saying, “It’s Donghyuck. Can I come up?”

There’s no answer, but after a moment the door opens and the call ends. Donghyuck takes the lift up to the ninth floor where Mark lives, and when he steps out Mark is already waiting for him by the door.

He looks exhausted and sad, much like how Donghyuck does, according to the mirror in the lift. He’s obviously effected by this whole situation, just as much as Donghyuck.

“Hello,” Mark greets, his voice wavering a little. “Come in.”

Donghyuck has a hard time stopping his eyes from tearing up when Mark’s smell hits him full on as he steps into the apartment. Mark’s place is smaller than Donghyuck’s, but it’s cozy and warm and so much like him. He has an adorable, yellow couch, and they sit down on it, a little space between them.

“Do you need something? Water?” Mark asks, staring at his hands, probably trying to avoid looking at Donghyuck.

“No,” Donghyuck mumbles. “I came here to talk,” he explains, biting at his lower lip nervously.

Mark glances up at him, than back at his hands. “Okay,” he whispers. He lets out a sigh. “Before you say anything,,” he mutters, finally looking at Donghyuck. “I want to apologize. This is all my fucking fault, and I should have been the one to go over to your place, but I was afraid,” he explains, his cheeks a deep red. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, his eyes shining a little.

“Why is it your fault?” Donghyuck asks, waiting for an explanation.

“I didn’t tell you that my apartment is ready, because I wanted to stay with you for that remaining two weeks,” Mark says with an awkward laugh. “I was afraid that if I told you that, you would tell me that you don’t want me to stay,” he mutters, closing his eyes as he lets out a sigh.

“Why?” Donghyuck whispers, his heartrate picking up.

“Because I was afraid that you don’t like me the way I like you,” Mark explains, running his fingers through his hair nervously. Donghyuck has never seen him blush this hard before. “Not just like a friend, but more,” he adds, probably just to make sure Donghyuck understands.

And Donghyuck does understand. Mark Lee likes him. Mark Lee likes Donghyuck Lee. So basically Donghyuck suffered for nothing for days? What the fuck? “What the fuck?” he laughs relievedly, all the weight of the hurt he was feeling lifting off his shoulders.

Mark looks a little scared. “What? he asks, his tone high pitched.

“I like you too. I like you so much you dumbass,” Donghyuck laughs out of joy, then jumps onto Mark who falls back on the couch under Donghyuck’s weight.

Mark stares up at Donghyuck with a lost expression on his face. “What?” he asks again. He looks so pretty, all shining eyes and red cheeks.

Donghyuck smirks at him, and instead of answering, leans down to kiss Mark. Mark is shocked, but after a moment he kisses back and it’s frantic and needy, their lips hungrily moving against each other. God, Donghyuck missed him so much

“I said I like you,” Donghyuck whispers, pecking Mark’s lips before sitting up and pulling Mark with himself.

“You do?” Mark asks, a smile finally appearing on his pretty face.

“Yeah,” Donghyuck says with a huge grin. “And I really want you to be my boyfriend.”

“I really want you to be my boyfriend,” Mark says with a matching grin.

“Then it’s all settled, we are boyfriends,” Donghyuck states and leans in to kiss Mark again. They end up making out on the couch for half an hour, giggling into their kisses from time to time.

Later they order pizza and settle down in front of the couch to eat it while they watch Buzzfeed Unsolved. The universe is healing. It feels like Donghyuck is in a dream, but fortunately this is reality.

“I missed you,” Donghyuck mutters before taking a bite from his slice of pizza.

Mark glances at him, his eyes soft when they lock with Donghyuck’s. “I missed you too.”

“You know what,” Donghyuck says with his mouth full as he puts down the pizza onto the box. “We should make a pinky promise,” he says, holding up his little finger. Mark holds up his with a grin on his face. “We will always communicate from now on,” Donghyuck says, and their fingers tangle together.

Mark hums as they let go of each other. “You are really the cutest one out there, Donghyuck Lee.”

Mark Lee likes Donghyuck Lee, Donghyuck Lee likes Mark Lee, and they are officially boyfriends.