Archive of Our Own ^beta

Holy shit, why the hell was there so much noise outside? It was the weekend!

He grabbed the pillow under his head and put it over his face to muffle the sound a bit, but damn, his whole body ached at that stupid movement.

In fact, the body ache was the least of his problems compared to how exhausted he felt, way worse than during his toughest workweeks. He felt drained.

This definitely wasn’t normal. Shit, had he gotten sick? God, he hoped not. That would cause way too many problems for—

“Hae, get up or we’ll miss the flight, dumbass!” Jungwoo yelled and at the same time he felt something hit him, probably a pillow.

Wait...

Did he just call him Haechan?

He shot up. What the hell was Jungwoo doing in his house and in his room? And what flight was he talking about?

His eyes widened more than they ever had in his life.

This wasn’t his room. Not even close. It looked like a hotel room, and there was Jungwoo at the foot of “his” bed holding two suitcases...

And worst of all, Minhyung wasn’t lying next to him.

What the actual fuck was going on?!

“Haechan!” Jungwoo yelled again, clearly irritated. “Did you even hear what I said?”

His heart started pounding so hard it echoed in his ears. He didn’t understand what was happening and he was scared. Really scared.

Shit, it was so weird to hear someone call him Haechan. It had been a long time since anyone had used that name.

“W-What are you talking about? Where are we?”

Jungwoo’s face completely changed in the blink of an eye. Now he looked seriously worried.

“Shit, I think I need to call Taeyong” he said as he walked closer and placed a hand on his forehead. “Did you hit your head that hard yesterday? I told you there was no need to keep up the performance!”

Performance.

Oh my God, was this real? Was this actually happening?

This had to be a dream. Some strange nightmare. Something.

“Hae…” Jungwoo now looked desperate. “Do you even remember who I am?”

Okay, he had no idea what was going on, but he couldn’t make things worse than they already were. He needed to calm Jungwoo down. Somehow.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, Jesus. You didn’t even let me answer before going full drama queen mode” he replied jokingly, hoping Jungwoo would buy it. “It’s just… I didn’t sleep at all and my brain isn’t working. I can’t even tell what’s real and what’s not yet.”

He let out a fake laugh to lighten the mood, and apparently, it worked because Jungwoo relaxed and... ouch! Did he seriously just hit him?!

Okay, he was definitely not dreaming, and the anxiety was starting to take over.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again, idiot!” Jungwoo said, smacking him again, his arm was going to be purple if this kept up. “I know you’re tired. You haven’t even recovered from last week’s flu and you didn’t rest. Just... just think that once we’re back in Korea, you and Mark have a full day off, okay? So get ready fast before the managers kill us.”

They weren’t in Korea?! And they had managers… fuck, this was real. This wasn’t some sick joke…

Though right now, only one thing mattered, way more than anything else.

“Where’s Min?” Jungwoo looked at him strangely. “Mark,” he corrected himself. Apparently, that’s what they called him here. “Where’s Mark?”

“Like you don’t know he’s with Johnny. And why do you wanna know? Don’t go fighting now, we’re surrounded by fans and we need to look good for the airport. Please, Hae, don’t do this.”

Um… what?

Minhyung and he couldn’t possibly have a bad relationship. That made zero sense.

“I just want to talk to him. We’re not going to fight, I swear.”

Jungwoo rolled his eyes and that made him feel even worse. This… this couldn’t be. He and Minhyung couldn’t hate each other, not no matter where the hell they were.

His throat tightened. He didn’t like this at all. He wanted to go home right now, to wake up in Minhyung’s arms like every other day of his life.

“Yeah right, and my name’s not Kim Jungwoo,” he muttered sarcastically, making Donghyuck feel even worse. “You two are seriously weird. I don’t get why—”

Suddenly, a knock at the door cut him off, and Jungwoo didn’t hesitate to open it.

Meanwhile, Donghyuck was barely holding onto the last bit of his sanity. This was too much.

“Well, I guess you manifested it. Come in, Mark.”

Mark.

His heart sped up again, this time so much that he feared it would explode.

Holy shit, this Mark looked just like Minhyung, his Minhyung, even with the long blond hair… he looked exactly like him.

“Hyuck…”

Tears welled up in his eyes at the sound of his voice, at hearing that nickname. God, he was so emotional.

“Okay, I don’t know what the hell is going on between you two, but you have like twenty minutes to get ready. We leave in under forty. Please, I’m begging you, don’t make a scene and don’t make me call Taeyong.”

They both nodded quickly, neither able to speak, which was probably obvious.

Jungwoo stared at them for a few more seconds, then finally left with his suitcase.

The second the door closed, Donghyuck moved on instinct. In the blink of an eye, he was out of bed and holding Minhyung in his arms. A few tears escaped as he felt Minhyung clutch his lower back and bury his head into his neck, so deep that the brush of his nose against his skin tickled.

No, he didn’t just look like Minhyung. He was Minhyung. His other half. The reason his heart beat.

“Baby,” Minhyung whispered, making Donghyuck cry even more, “is it you? Please tell me it’s you. God… I’m scared.”

He pulled Minhyung tighter against him and kissed behind his ear, just like he always did. He had to give his partner some comfort, even in this strange nightmare.

“Min, it’s me,” he answered, his voice shaking. “Holy shit, what the hell happened to us? This… this is terrifying. Do you even know what we are here?”

Minhyung pulled back, his face only inches away, their noses almost touching. His partner cupped his face, trying to calm him down. His hand was shaking like crazy.

“We’re idols, Hyuck. Idols!” Mark’s face was full of despair, even worse than Jungwoo’s earlier. “This… this is insane. What are we supposed to do? How did we even get here?”

A sharp pain hit his stomach. None of this made sense. There were too many unknowns… He really didn’t like this. Why? Why them?!

“I don’t know, I don’t know, honey. I have no idea. I’m just as terrified, especially since it seems like we’re not even together here.” Minhyung gasped. He was shocked. “But we have to play along. We have no idea what’s going on and we need to stay safe, just in case.”

Minhyung’s hand slid from his cheek to his chin and pulled gently, closing the distance between them. Their lips brushed. They breathed the same air.

For some reason, that small touch calmed him a bit. Minhyung was like an antidote to him.

“I don’t know how we’re going to do this, but we’re going back home, okay? Somehow. One way or another. And this will all just be a weird dream or something… We have to go back, baby. We have to go back to her.”

His breath caught in his throat.

Her.

She was alone. They’d left her alone. Or had they? Maybe they’d switched places with this world’s Minhyung and Donghyuck? Were they with her? Would they even be able to take care of her? Could they even stand each other?

“Baby, please breathe.”

He took a deep breath, he hadn’t even noticed he was spiraling.

“Sorry, sorry. I just thought of her and—and shit, I feel so awful and nervous and guilty and—and—”

Minhyung rubbed his thumb over his lips, calming him again.

“It’s okay. Just follow my breathing.” He did so immediately. He had to calm down. He couldn’t let panic win.

“This... this is too much, and I’m losing it too, Hyuck. Shit, I want to scream and cry and break down,” he said with a twisted smile. “But we can’t panic. You said it yourself. We don’t know what the hell’s going on and we have to go along with it. For our safety and…”

He couldn’t take it anymore. He kissed Minhyung, because he needed it, they both needed it so bad. This was all too crazy and the day had barely started. He needed reassurance, and Minhyung was the only person in the world who could give him that.

The kiss was desperate, a little rough, like it might be their last. And honestly, it kind of felt that way.

Knocking echoed through the room again. Fucking hell.

“Guys!” It was Jungwoo again. “Please tell me you’re still alive in there!”

Minhyung let out a heavy sigh. He didn’t want to pull away, but they didn’t have a choice, not when they were tangled up in this strange situation.

“We’re okay, Jungwoo!” he yelled back.

“You better be! Hurry up, you’ve got five minutes before we leave!”

Minhyung and he exchanged weary looks. This was definitely going to be harder than expected.

“We can do this, honey. We always have.” He said quietly while grabbing his suitcase, checking what else was missing.

“You’re right, baby. We can.”

Yeah… He really hoped so.

It had been a long time since he had slept so peacefully. The touch of the sheets against his skin felt like a dream, it was so warm he didn’t want to move even a millimeter and risk breaking the magic. Besides, he felt calm content, even. Maybe it was because of the chest beneath him...

Wait.

Mark's eyes flew open. Something was wrong.

Oh.

Well, more than something was wrong.

This was definitely not the hotel room he was staying in, and it sure as hell wasn’t his house either.

Where... wait, a chest under his head?

He jumped out of bed at the speed of light. Holy shit. There was a man in bed with him and he had been lying on his chest for who knows how long.

Okay... now it was getting scary.

Mark approached the other man, hesitant. He was completely covered up to his ears, which made it impossible to tell who it was. And honestly? He looked pretty peaceful sleeping...

He didn’t really need to uncover him to figure out who the hell it was, right? There were more important things.

Ugh, who was he kidding.

He counted to five slowly. He had to mentally prepare himself for this somehow.

Please let Johnny not be playing a horrible prank on him. Please let Johnny not be playing a really horrible prank. Please let—

Mark couldn’t help but scream. Not when it was him lying in that bed.

“Mark, stop yelling, it’s ear—” Haechan’s eyes flew open. He looked totally confused. “Where the hell are we? And what the fuck are we doing here together?”

Why wasn’t Haechan wearing a shirt and his, his… oh God.

What the actual fuck was going on?

“I don’t know!” It wasn’t his intention to sound that desperate, but it was beyond his control. “I seriously don’t understand anything.”

It was hard to tear his eyes away from Haechan, from his chest covered in hickeys, and that was making him even more nervous than he already was.

He glanced around, looking for any kind of distraction, anything that could help erase that image of Haechan from his brain.

There was no way to recognize the room they were in, but it looked comfortable. Decorated almost perfectly. Not too many furniture pieces. It was neat... if he ignored the clothes scattered on the floor around the bed.

He should also probably ignore the fact that he wasn’t wearing pants...

Fuck. This made less and less sense, and he felt absolutely incapable of reacting in any kind of proper way, if there was a proper way.

“On a scale of one to ten, what are the chances we’ve been kidnapped?”

Mark almost slammed his head against the wall. Haechan couldn’t have asked that so seriously.

“How the hell would we be?! That makes no sense. We were surrounded by so many people, and you’re telling me we got kidnapped and didn’t even realize it? And then woke up like this?”

Haechan’s gaze dropped from his face down to his body, stopping at his very bare thighs.

“Look up, idiot!” he hissed. Haechan was not helping lighten the mood.

“I don’t know, Mark, it just seemed like the most logical option! Maybe some saesang finally fulfilled her weird fantasy with us, anything’s possible” he said, standing up and revealing his bare torso. “Why don’t you come up with a logical explanation if you hate mine so much?”

Mark sighed. His head was starting to ache.

He glanced around the room again, hoping to spot a clue, but found nothing. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

“We should probably leave the room and see if we can figure out where we are, then call our managers or something...”

He should make Haechan put a shirt on, right? That was clearly the logical thing to do.

“That’s not a bad idea, but we don’t even have our phones, Mark. We don’t have anything that’s actually ours.”

Haechan gave him an annoyed look and went to pick up clothes from the floor, then threw something at his face.

“Put some pants on, exhibitionist,” he said while throwing on a t-shirt, which was inside out, but Mark sure as hell wasn’t going to point it out, “what if there are cameras outside waiting to catch this very humiliating moment?”

Okay, Haechan might have had a point.

Mark got dressed quickly and walked toward the door. He wasn’t going to lie to himself, he was scared to open it. He couldn’t even imagine what direction this situation was about to go in, and the uncertainty was eating him alive.

He gave himself a moment to breathe. He couldn’t let this beat him.

“Mark, if you don’t open that door right now, I swear I’ll kick your ass.”

Ugh... of course Haechan had to ruin the moment.

“Don’t be so fucking annoying, Haechan! I’m not in the mood for your bullshit today,” he snapped.

“Then why don’t yo—”

He flung the door open a little too forcefully, creating a loud bang, totally the opposite of what he should’ve done, but he didn’t care. He needed to escape this strange tension somehow.

Predictably, Haechan shoved past him to be the first out of the room and... just stood there. Frozen in the hallway. Mark’s heart started pounding. He had never felt his body shake like this. The truth was, he wasn’t as strong as he thought.

He took a few steps and... oh God.

Now he understood why Haechan reacted like that. This had to be a dream. Or maybe he was drugged. Maybe he had smoked something with Johnny and was having some terrible hallucination.

Any explanation made sense in his head because there was no way that giant framed picture, where he and Haechan stood at an altar, dressed in white and kissing was real.

He lowered his gaze to his hands, praying he wouldn’t find a fucking wedding ring confirming what he saw.

Of course it was there. And the worst part? It was beautiful, too beautiful. He was about to lose it. For real.

“Mark, please tell me that thing I’m looking at isn’t real.”

God, no. Please let there not be something worse than what they’d already seen. He followed Haechan’s gaze and swore his heart stopped completely.

No. No fucking way. He had to be really drugged, or hallucinating, or losing his mind, or-or... or...

The dining room, where Haechan was pointing, was full of candles and flowers. But the most horrifying thing was the sign that read: "Happy 8th Anniversary."

Eighth anniversary.

Eighth.

Fucking. Anniversary.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the room was covered in pictures of them together and in most of them, they were kissing.

Would it be really bad if he started throwing up right now or...?

“Ouch!” he yelped as Haechan kicked him. He immediately kicked back, knocking Haechan to the floor. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“God, that hurt, meaning this is really happening,” Haechan groaned, rubbing his leg. “Mark, I don’t know what the hell is going on or what the fuck we took, but—”

“But that says we’re married,” Mark cut him off, needing to get the words out of his brain. “And in a fucking eight-year relationship, Haechan. Eight. Fucking. Years!”

Donghyuck covered his face. He didn’t look okay. Honestly, Mark didn’t feel okay either.

When would this end? He’d rather survive a full day of nonstop rehearsals with two hours of sleep and a single protein bar in his stomach than deal with this.

Anything would be better than this.

“I don’t know how the fuck we’re going to do it, but we’re getting out of here, Mark. We’ll sacrifice whatever we have to, but you and I are not going to pretend we’re together.”

Ha. Was that a joke?

“As if I want to be with you. Don’t be ridiculous, Haechan.”

“Your thighs and the way you were clinging to me just a moment ago say otherwise, you know.”

Son of a fucking bitch.

He was about to leap at him and kill him, rage was boiling inside with no filter, but they were interrupted by something worse. Something they hadn’t expected at all.

Now Mark really felt like he was going to faint. He was not ready for this. Not even close.

A cry. A toddler’s cry echoed through the house. The worst part? It was coming from inside.

Which meant only one thing...

“Daddy!” the sound of tiny footsteps pounded across the floor until a little girl appeared between them. She couldn’t have been more than three years old. “Daddy! Nightmare! Bad monster!”

Great. Not only were Haechan and he in an eight-year relationship that led to marriage, they were also parents.

Fuck. They had a child together.

Would now be a good time to just die. Wouldn’t it?

He knew this was going to be hard, damn, that was one of the reasons he had quit long before getting too far but, double damn, he truly hadn’t grasped just how complicated this would be.

Leaving with barely any sleep, feeling sick and exhausted, getting scolded by managers for everything, and then having to endure being recorded nonstop from distances that should probably be illegal, all while faking a big smile, this job wasn’t made for the weak.

And right now, he felt like the weakest person alive.

Shit, they were just finishing check-in, was it really necessary for the fans to film and photograph them like that? He was pretty sure that wasn’t even allowed; it was a restricted area.

The craziest part was watching his bandmates, his longtime friends in this universe, or whatever, react so naturally.

How did they stay so calm? Did this seriously not bother them at all?

He looked for Minhyung, and their eyes locked in that silent scream of shared despair they’d been holding up for a while now, one only they could hear, telepathy through glances. Neither of them had a clue what to do, but they weren’t about to stick too close to each other in public either.

They knew absolutely nothing about the band they were supposedly in or how the fans perceived their… friendship (if there even was one), so they had to act as normal as possible.

It was so damn hard, he had never wanted to jump into his husband's arms more than in that moment.

The camera flashes sparked again, and it took everything in him not to show how irritated he was. He couldn’t keep doing the deep breathing and counting to ten thing every time. That was going to look suspicious too.

So he glanced back at Minhyung, trying to distract himself, and something made his breath catch.

Minhyung was looking at a mother and daughter sitting far away… and the little girl was holding a unicorn plushie. That unicorn was exactly like the one their daughter adored and took everywhere with her.

The pang in his chest was so sharp it knocked the air out of him, he missed his baby girl so much. He wanted her beside him, to hear her laugh again.

Was he being dramatic? Maybe. But he was a first-time father, thrown into a completely different world with his husband, leaving their daughter alone, and he had no idea how she was doing. No one could blame him for feeling like this.

No one.

“Haechan,” Doyoung called him. The mother and daughter were gone, and so were his bandmates.

“We have to go.”

Oh. Right.

Zoning out in public probably wasn’t the smartest move. Thank God he never became an idol, he would've destroyed his career in two seconds flat.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” he rushed to catch up. He looked for Minhyung and spotted Jaehyun leading him along.

Well, at least one of them was handling this disaster decently.

“You okay? You look… off,” Doyoung whispered. “Is this about the fights with Mark? I’m getting worried, Haechan. Not everything can be about stress.”

Oh, shit.

“I’m fine. Just feeling a little sick,” he said, half-truth. “It’ll probably pass. Maybe if I sleep through the flight I’ll feel better.”

Doyoung didn’t look convinced; his expression said he still wanted to know about Minhyung and him.

Well… time to improvise.

“Mi-Mark and I are fine. We made a truce. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

Their managers called them just in time to stop the conversation, and he felt a wave of relief. Crisis mostly averted.

Honestly, he didn’t understand a single thing people were talking about, and had even less desire to try. So when they finally boarded the plane, it was the most comforting moment of the day.

Donghyuck was going to sit with Minhyung no matter what people thought of them in this world or how weird it looked. He couldn’t handle being apart from him any longer.

He needed his husband, and they would figure this whole mess out together, like they always did.

Hopefully.

Luckily, Minhyung had already found them a spot (or read his mind) and secured it for the two of them. Some of their bandmates seemed surprised.

Sitting next to Minhyung and holding hands in secret brought back a wave of nostalgia. It reminded him of the early days, when their love had been an open secret...

“Are you sure you two are sitting together?” Taeyong asked, clearly concerned.

He was honestly sick of how people reacted whenever they were near each other. Was their relationship that controversial?

“We’re on a truce,” he said quickly, didn’t want to contradict what he’d just told Doyoung.

“Truce?!”

He didn’t even know who yelled that in the background, but he wanted to punch them for being so dramatic.

“Guys, leave them alone. Mark and Haechan aren’t kids. They know what they’re doing,” Doyoung came to their defense. That helped ease the tension a bit.

At least they could finally be left alone. That lifted a huge weight off his shoulders.

He didn’t know how much longer he could take this. He needed to get back home with his husband, to their daughter as soon as possible.

He squeezed Minhyung’s hand. Even if he wasn’t showing it, Donghyuck knew he was mentally breaking down. They had to ground themselves in this reality, somehow. They were strong.

Minhyung rested his head on Donghyuck’s shoulder, and a wave of panic rushed through him, but when he looked around and saw no one paying attention, he allowed himself to do something risky.

He brought their hidden, intertwined hands up to his lips and kissed Minhyung’s knuckles gently. Minhyung trembled under his touch, and that only made Donghyuck want to keep going.

Yeah, maybe it wasn’t the right thing to do, not in this alternate universe where they were famous and apparently hated each other, but he didn’t care.

This was for him, and for the love of his life. That was all the logic he needed.

It hurt a little not to feel Minhyung’s wedding ring when he kissed his fingers, but instead of bringing him down, it only made him more determined.

They had to stop when the flight attendants came around with their usual blah-blah, and Donghyuck could only think 'We need to talk'.

Time passed agonizingly slow when you least wanted it to, didn’t it?

Eventually, once everyone thought they were asleep and finally left them alone, their moment arrived.

“I looked into it and… we made it, Hyuck. We’re members of NCT here.”

He had suspected it, expected it even, but it still felt unreal.

Minhyung and he met when they were very young, during their trainee days, because yes, they had also dreamed of becoming idols. They only spent about two years training before quitting at the same time, their parents had decided it was too much pressure to endure at such a young age, so they left. Did it hurt to give up on their dream? Of course. But at least they ended up together and fulfilled other big dreams, like building a family.

But now… they were back. Living out their first dream. All the “what ifs” had suddenly come true.

A shiver ran down his spine. This was beyond insane.

“And we’re successful. We made it big together. That’s… that’s intense.”

He couldn’t even form a coherent thought, he was so overwhelmed.

Not gonna lie, he’d often imagined what life would’ve been like if they hadn’t quit. Especially when he saw the group they could’ve been part of on TV or heard them on the radio. But this? This didn’t compare.

“But we don’t get along,” Minhyung said softly.

Yeah. That part was true.

What was the point of achieving all that success if, in this world, he hated the person who held his heart?

Donghyuck couldn’t imagine life without Minhyung, without his love or their daughter. This might’ve been the biggest thing that ever happened to them, but he wouldn’t trade their life for anything.

He wouldn’t trade Minhyung for anything.

“I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but we have to find a way to adapt, baby,” he said quietly, leaning into Minhyung, afraid others might hear. “I’m not going to pretend we hate each other, but we can’t be glued together like always either.”

Suddenly Minhyung clung to him, wrapping his arm tightly around his.

“I don’t like that. We’re one body, they can’t separate us,” he pouted, childishly.

Donghyuck smiled, truly smiled. Minhyung was always affectionate, always touching him somehow. This was going to be hard on both of them… but definitely harder for Minhyung.

“Here we’re called Mark and Haechan. It sounds weird, but we’ll get used to it,” he rushed out, not wanting to forget. “We’ll help each other when we don’t understand something… and somehow, we’ll figure out how to sleep together. We’ll make it work.”

“Good, because I was already planning ways to sneak into your bed. You’re not taking that away from me,” Minhyung grinned, and that grin was everything, Minhyung always made him genuinely happy.

“Plus, we can use that ‘truce’ you came up with. It’s the perfect excuse.”

Shit, it really was. Thank God he was good at coming up with fast lies.

He rested his head on Minhyung’s and took a deep breath.

“Can we pray for our baby girl? I feel so guilty… it’s the only way I can quiet the alarms in my head.”

Oh, he needed that.

“Yes. I need to protect her somehow.”

Minhyung took his hand and crossed himself. Donghyuck followed.

All they wanted was for their baby to be safe. He was screaming his prayers to God inside, begging that their little girl would be okay.

Mark's head might’ve been pounding from everything that was happening and he could barely think, but that didn’t stop him from staring at the little girl in Haechan’s arms.

In fact, staring was all he could do.

She looked like a doll, one of those toy babies that seemed too realistic. Her eyes were huge, and her smile was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

And to think she was their daughter... somehow.

When she first appeared, he hadn’t been able to react. The shock of seeing her had frozen him completely, until now. Haechan had moved fast, picked her up in his arms, calmed her down, and taken care of her as if it wasn’t the craziest thing that had ever happened to them.

Actually, he was standing right in front of him feeding her, and Mark couldn’t understand how he was so calm about all of this.

Holy crap. She wasn’t just his daughter, she was Haechan’s too. They were a married couple!

There was no way he was the only one losing his mind over this… right?

“Daddy” the little girl sang from somewhere in the background. Shit. They didn’t even know her name, her age, her weight, allergies, likes... nothing! “Daddy” she repeated.

Panic surged through him from head to toe. How were they supposed to take care of a child they didn’t even know? He had never been fully responsible for a kid before, and he definitely didn’t feel capable of keeping her safe and healthy.

Shit, this was too much.

“Daddy, please don’t ignore your daughter.”

His chest nearly exploded at hearing that.

Had Haechan just called him “Daddy”? Was he insane? And why the hell was his body reacting to it?!

“Don’t you ever call me that again in your fucking life, Haechan” he snapped without thinking.

“Daddy! Bad words, no!” the little girl scolded, pointing at him with her finger. He nearly died from how adorable it was.

“I’m sorry, pumpkin. I won’t say it again, okay?”

“I’m not a pumpkin! I’m a princess, Daddy” she said, this time sounding genuinely offended.

Great. Five seconds of interacting with her, and he was already screwing everything up. This was going to be his end, definitely.

“Forgive Daddy, princess” Haechan replied, staring straight at him. Mark’s body started to tremble. “He’s a little distracted today.”

Shit. He was enjoying this. It was obvious on his face just how much he liked seeing Mark like this. Haechan knew. He knew what kind of reaction he caused in him... ugh, he hated him, no, he despised him with every fiber of his being.

“What did you want, my princess?” he asked, completely ignoring Haechan. Mark wasn’t going to give him everything so easily, he had to show a little strength or something.

He could break down in the bathroom later. Right now, he had to pretend to be the strongest person in the world.

“Wanna play?” her little face lit up with the question, killing his poor heart a little more. “With Fluffy!” she lifted her unicorn to show him. He assumed that was Fluffy.

He smiled. It was really impossible to say no when she was this cute, tiny, and sweet.

“Go ahead and play with her, Mark. That’ll give me time to look around the house. Maybe I’ll find something useful” Haechan said.

It was strange hearing him so calm and with zero intention of hurting him, but the situation called for them to be more patient with each other. Besides, it wasn’t a bad idea, they really needed to at least know the little girl’s name.

“All right, princess. Let’s play together.”

She clapped excitedly, making both him and Haechan laugh. It was honestly inevitable.

Haechan stood up and gently handed her over, making Mark’s arms tremble. He was genuinely afraid of hurting her. He didn’t feel like he had the delicacy required to take care of a child, and he didn’t think he was attentive enough to keep her from getting hurt.

Sure, he was Dream’s leader and did his best to take care of everyone, but Haechan had younger siblings, he knew how to take care of kids. That put Mark at a huge disadvantage.

He took a deep breath. He was a man of steel. This wasn’t going to defeat him.

“Play in the living room and put all the cushions around you. If you need help, call me. I’ll be turning the whole house upside down” Haechan announced, turning toward what was apparently their bedroom.

“If you need help,” he said... Ha. Haechan didn’t trust him either. Now he had even more reason to prove he was strong.

He took the little girl to the living room not because Haechan told him to, but because it really did seem like the safest place to play. There, he noticed a drawer full of toys next to the TV.

Perfect. Everything was going his way.

Playing with the baby wasn’t hard. In fact, it was the most fun he’d had in months.

They had taken out all the toys, so they were completely surrounded. He wasn’t quite sure what they were supposed to be playing since he was still struggling to decode baby talk, but he was giving it his all. She laughed at everything he did, funny or not, and that was more than enough for him.

His mission now was clear: become the favorite dad, no matter what.

“Daddy! Kill the monster!” she yelled, running toward him and hiding behind his back.

“I’ll protect you, princess. Dad can handle this,” he replied without thinking, fully immersed in his role.

Their enemy was none other than a giant teddy bear, which he had already “killed” about five times, but somehow kept coming back.

He grabbed her magic wand, one that lit up and made sounds, and pretended to cast a spell on the poor bear, then subtly kicked it, finally “defeating” it. The little girl squealed in delight, then threw her arms around his neck.

“Daddy Min is a hero!” she shouted, making Mark blush. He had never felt so important in his life, and he was an idol. “Daddy Yuck, Daddy Min is a hero!”

Daddy Yuck.

He turned to where she was looking and saw Haechan leaning against the wall, arms crossed, smiling. For some reason, it looked like he’d been watching them for a while.

“That’s right, Daddy Min is your hero, Haeun” Haechan replied, walking toward them and gently lifting her from Mark’s arms.

Haeun? What was he talking about...?

Oh.

“Haeun,” he repeated softly, still shocked to finally know her name.

“Lee Haeun. She’s two and a half, and we finally managed to adopt her about three months ago,” Haechan said with a wide grin, so wide that it was contagious. “Our daughter.”

He shouldn’t feel this warmth growing in his chest, because this wasn’t his world or his reality or whatever it was. So technically, she wasn’t really his daughter, and being a parent with Haechan didn’t sound like the best idea ever either. But it still excited him in a way he couldn’t explain.

It was like a dream. A beautiful one. And it scared him a little.

“What else did you find out?” he asked, needing to know more.

“We got married two years ago. I’m a kindergarten teacher and you’re a writer,” Haechan said, and Mark’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected that. “We have a whole library of your books. You published a new one about a month ago, actually.”

Oh wow.

Was this really the life he would’ve had if he weren’t an idol? He’d always thought he’d end up studying something related to writing, but to hear he had actually made it? That was insane.

“We really do have a completely different life here, huh?”

“Yeah. From what I saw on our phones, we’re living a super domestic life... and it looks like we’re a really... sweet, healthy couple.”

That twisted something in his stomach. Never, even in his worst nightmares, had he imagined hearing something so disgusting come out of Haechan’s mouth.

“I still don’t understand how or why we’re here, though. Nothing I found gave me a clue, and I have even less of an idea how to get back,” Haechan continued. “We’ll have to work together to figure it out, I guess.”

Ugh... that sounded complicated.

The longer it took to figure out how to reverse this and return to their normal lives, the longer he’d have to live with Haechan, and he hated that.

“I’ll try to behave better around you because we have Haeun and we need to take good care of her for as long as we’re responsible for her,” he said, standing up so they were face to face. “But I swear to you, Haechan, I’m not going to play house with you, and I’m definitely not going to create some kind of truce that only ends up benefiting you, got it? The moment we go back to our reality, everything goes back to fucking normal between us.”

He was hoping to see Haechan’s eyes dim, to watch him look down at the floor. He was dying to see some kind of remorse in him, but of course, that never happened. It never did.

In fact, it was the opposite. His eyes sparkled with madness and his grin was so big it was terrifying.

“I’m not interested in playing house with you, Mark Lee. But trust me, I’ll have you begging for the opposite.”

Oh? So that’s how it was going to be?

“Not if I beat you to it,” he said, forcing a big smile on his face, trying to match Haechan’s confidence.

“We’ll see about that, Daddy.”

Ah... they hadn’t even started, and he was already hopelessly losing. What an idiot.

It was hard to believe his body was actually functioning with how exhausted he felt. With each passing day, he became more and more convinced that he would’ve been the worst idol in history with how hard it was for him to even react.

Minhyung and he had snuck away for a bit to take a thirty-minute nap in a car, curled up together in the middle of their schedules because today was far more intense than their usual days.

Between recording for Dream’s new album and some important 127 activities like fansigns and variety shows, they had barely had time to think about how they could ever go back.

He had no idea how Minhyung and he were managing to keep up with their bandmates. Their trainee years felt like they’d happened a century ago, so it was surprising to see that they still could, and were actually good at what they did. In fact, Donghyuck felt a little bit proud of that.

Minhyung and he had never forgotten their love for music and dance. Over the years, they had kept those things as hobbies, but it was nothing compared to what they were doing now.

Watching their bodies somehow magically know the choreography steps even when they had no freaking clue what song was playing in the background. Watching Minhyung record his parts of the songs with so much passion, listening to himself and genuinely sounding good… It was a kind of happiness he had never experienced before, and he loved it. So much.

And that’s not even mentioning how his heart raced whenever he saw all those people who supported, loved, and followed them everywhere. It gave him a kind of unstoppable energy.

Maybe making all these sacrifices wasn’t so bad, right? A beautiful madness like this was a once in a lifetime thing.

Although… not everything was sunshine and rainbows when he thought about their little Haeun all day, every single day without pause. He had to admit it was kind of masochistic the way they always ended up talking about how much they missed her whenever they had a moment alone, but it was hard not to.

It was better to let the guilt out than to keep it buried inside, right?

He pulled Minhyung’s body closer to his. Was it risky for them to be sleeping like this in a public place? Absolutely. But he couldn’t care less. In fact, Minhyung and he were doing a terrible job pretending they weren’t a married couple, they had even startled some of the staff.

It was hard not to act like they always did when literally every single activity they did was together, practically glued to each other, and they spent hours traveling side by side too.

What did the universe expect from them? They were lucky they hadn’t kissed in front of everyone yet . They still had some awareness of the situation they were in.

Honestly, he had no idea how their bandmates hadn’t made any cheeky comments when they found out the two of them were going to nap together... They were really bad at this.

“Hi, baby” Minhyung whispered against his neck. “Didn’t you sleep? I don’t think you’ll survive if you didn’t rest at all,” he said with a pout that melted him.

Donghyuck immediately leaned in to give a quick kiss to those lips he adored. They hadn’t kissed all day.

“I did sleep. I woke up a few minutes ago,” he said, hugging Minhyung even tighter, loving how it felt like there was no space left between them. “And while I waited for you to wake up, I did a little research about us.”

Minhyung’s eyes widened, and then he quickly shifted positions, making Donghyuck burst into laughter.

“Tell me right now! We have…” he paused for two seconds to check his phone, “like two minutes before one of our managers shows up.”

“We’re a popular ship! In K-pop in general, actually.”

Minhyung’s face was a masterpiece, he made so many different expressions in a single second it was impossible to describe.

“Seriously?! Oh my God, we’re an enemies to lovers!”

The laugh he let out was so loud he was sure people had heard him from meters away. That, he really didn’t expect.

“We are!” he followed with the same excitement. “And I watched videos of us and oh, honey, the sexual tension between us is palpable. It’s so obvious something’s going on.”

Minhyung let out a tiny squeal of excitement, and it was the most beautiful thing Donghyuck had ever seen.

“It doesn’t even look like just fan service, right?” Donghyuck shook his head fast. “I told you there’s no way we hate each other! God, I have so many ideas for stories now, you have no idea what's going through my mind!”

Donghyuck loved it when Minhyung came up with new stories and shared them with him, especially when he asked for his opinions and made him feel part of the creative process. He loved it when Minhyung made him a part of his creativity.

“It was obvious, from the way people react when they see us like this. I’m sure everyone has some idea we like each other or something, that’s why they won’t leave us alone.”

This was a recurring topic between them, the curiosity about why they were supposedly mortal enemies consumed them, and they kept throwing theories around constantly.

From what they’d seen, it’s not that they got along horribly, but they had a long streak of endless arguments and awkward moments… which gave them a better idea of what was really going on between them there.

In the end, they were meant to be together in every universe that existed.

“Do you think there are fanfics about us?”

They asked at the exact same time, which sent them into another round of loud laughter. It was ridiculous how well they knew each other, how connected they were.

“Of course there are... We should read one together. This is the only chance we’ll ever get to do something like this, oh Jesus, this is amazing.”

He couldn’t agree more with his husband, this was the most fun thing that had ever happened in their lives.

“At tomorrow’s fansign we should go crazy with the fan service. If we’re stuck living this life for a while, I need to make sure our fans go insane and come up with thousands of theories about us. I’ve been mentally preparing for this my whole life.”

“We’ll probably give one of our bandmates an aneurysm and the staff will have to hold an emergency meeting to ask if we’re okay mentally, but honestly, this is a once in a lifetime thing and we don’t have to follow the rules… We can have a little fun.”

The truth was, the best part of all this was living it with Minhyung. If he were going through this alone, he definitely wouldn’t be enjoying this crazy ride of doing fan service and getting in trouble risking their image. It was only fun because they were doing it together, because they kept motivating each other.

“Let’s shake the world, darling,” he whispered in his ear, “because if we were sent to a different universe, it clearly wasn’t so we could behave…”

Minhyung pressed his lips to his in a soft kiss, full of tenderness, love, peace.

“I love living every moment by your side, my other half.”

The fact that his heart still sped up every time Minhyung said those kinds of things, even after all this time, said a lot about the kind of relationship they had, how deeply they loved each other.

They’d probably have to wipe out humanity to be separated.

“I love it too, babe. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Minhyung’s smile was more than enough for Donghyuck. Who cared about the lack of sleep, poor diet, or being overworked if he could see his husband this happy just from being by his side?

He had already won, long before anything or anyone else ever mattered.

It was more than obvious that parenthood wasn’t easy, he’d heard enough stories to be sure of it, but now that he was living it firsthand, he truly understood how complicated it was.

They’d been sleeping terribly for the past few nights. Maybe it was because they weren’t prepared to be parents and could barely process what was happening to them, but they’d been sleeping in Haeun’s room just to make sure nothing happened to her while she slept.

They were practically sleeping on the floor, right next to the little girl’s bed. They simply didn’t trust each other, so the logical idea was for both of them to stay and watch over her.

Could they have made a better decision? Probably. But at least they weren’t fighting in front of the child.

In fact, he still didn’t understand how they were coexisting so well… it scared him a little.

They had divided up the house chores fairly well, and both of them took care of Haeun as best they could while avoiding unnecessary interaction with each other.

At times, they were each doing their own thing at opposite ends of the house… the only time they truly spent together was at night when they watched over Haeun and ended up sleeping much closer than they should.

“I think we should go out today, we can’t stay cooped up in this house until the universe decides to return us to normal” Haechan said, making Mark turn to look at him. “We can’t keep Haeun trapped here, she should be enjoying the sun and summer.”

He looked at the little girl beside him. They were putting the toys away together since lunch was almost ready and they needed to clean up the mess from playing.

A small pang of guilt pricked his chest, unfortunately, Haechan was right. They couldn’t keep her indoors all day. They needed to give her beautiful childhood memories.

“Sounds good. Yesterday when I went out for groceries, I saw a park nearby. We could take her there" he said, looking directly at Haechan, waiting for his approval.

“Alright, we could go after lunch” he nodded in response. “I hope there’s a lot of playground equipment.”

He smiled at that. When he was a kid, he loved going to the park, it had the most fun games in the world for little Mark. It would be nice to take Haeun there.

“And other kids too, so she can play with them.”

That was Haechan’s moment to smile, and it made him feel a little strange.

It was so weird having this kind of conversation with him, this kind of interaction. They had spent all their time together since their trainee days, but nothing compared to this.

He never would’ve imagined something like this, never.

Lunch was quite peaceful, focused on Haeun. She kept talking nonstop while the two of them tried to decipher what she was saying. These moments were truly unique, everything revolved around their baby girl.

Once they finished eating, they went to get ready. Haechan said he would dress Haeun, so Mark went to the closet to find something to wear.

It was kind of torturous to open that closet, not because the clothes were bad or anything, but because they had so many matching outfits that it made his stomach turn.

Did they really have to be so damn disgusting? Was it necessary to torture him like this?

He grabbed a shirt, hopefully his, a pair of pants, and shut the closet. He didn’t want to keep looking. He knew he’d find more gross stuff, and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with it.

“Mark, if you’re done, go pack Haeun’s bag” Haechan said as he entered without knocking.

And just his luck, he was in the middle of putting his pants on.

“Nice ass, Lee.”

Mark rolled his eyes as he hurried to get dressed. He had to pretend that nothing Haechan did affected him. He wasn’t going to lose this hellishly silent war they were fighting.

“Why do we need a bag?” He ignored the previous comment entirely.

“What do you mean why? Kids get dirty, Mark! We need a change of clothes, a jacket just in case, some food and water, a stuffed animal she wants to bring, maybe some band aids also just in case…”

This is what he meant when he said Haechan was way more prepared than he was to take care of Haeun. Mark wouldn’t have thought of even two of those things, and hadn’t even thought to bring a bag in the first place.

“Daddy, look!” he heard Haeun shout as she came twirling into the room. “Do you like it?”

She was wearing a purple dress that flowed with every spin and a matching headband in her hair, which was pulled back into a low ponytail. She looked absolutely adorable.

“Wow, you’re as beautiful as a princess, sweetie. I love your dress” he said as he crouched to her level to get a better look at her. “Do you want to help me pack so we can go out with me and… and Dad?”

It was so hard for him to say that. He was never going to get used to this.

“Why don’t you call me daddy? That’s pretty unfair, you know. I put in a lot of effort calling you that just to be treated this way.”

Oh god.

Seriously, he wasn’t made to endure this, he wasn’t strong enough.

“Yes! Let’s go! Let’s take Fluffy!” The good thing was that Haeun liked his idea and took his hand to go find the bag. Apparently, they used it often.

Everything was easier with Haeun around. She indirectly forced them to lower their tension, and with her sweetness, they quickly forgot why they even started fighting in the first place.

He never got tired of saying it, she was so sweet and precious. He loved hearing her speak in her made-up language, seeing her smile, holding her in his arms and feeling her love… He knew this wasn’t forever, he was well aware she wasn’t really his, that this was more of a punishment than anything, but...

It felt so good, even if he was just packing a bag with his supposedly daughter and had to remove half the things she stuffed in there because they were unnecessary, ending up doing double the work.

He wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t like it, but he also wasn’t about to admit it out loud, especially not with Haechan around, and especially not when Haechan loved twisting everything to make it work in his favor.

Haechan couldn’t win. Not in this situation. Definitely not.

Deciding to walk to the park since it wasn’t far and the weather was nice to enjoy the sun didn’t seem like a bad idea. In fact, it was great, except...

He didn’t know what was weirder, walking down the street without anyone recognizing him, able to blend in, or the fact that he and Haechan were walking with Haeun between them, bouncing and singing like it was the most normal thing in the world.

He didn’t even want to think about how people probably saw them, a happy family... Wait. Oh god, now he wanted to throw up.

“Let’s play!” Haeun shouted excitedly upon reaching the park. “Seesaw! Let’s go!”

Haechan and he looked at each other for a few seconds. That was a fairly dangerous toy for her to get on alone.

“Who do you want to ride with, princess?” he asked sweetly, trying to hide the growing nervousness.

“With Daddy Min and Daddy Yuck!”

Ah… of course. Why didn’t he see that coming?

This was a bad idea. They had to play together like they were a real family, like he and Haechan were an actual couple.

The nausea returned. It was getting harder and harder to survive this.

It was pretty ridiculous seeing themselves like this, basically playing with Haechan just because a little girl they couldn’t say no to asked them to. Running back and forth with her, taking her to every ride she wanted to go on, buying three cotton candies just because she asked, and even smiling at each other whenever they heard her laugh.

Though it was even more ridiculous taking pictures of Haechan and Haeun on the carousel, with Fluffy in their arms like it was a living being, fully aware that not long ago, the roles had been reversed.

This was wrong, even if it was to make their not daughter happy, it was terrifying.

How were they supposed to go back to their normal life after this? Go back to being idols, dedicating their lives solely to art, hating each other freely while keeping fresh in their minds the memories of supposedly being happy together, carrying the name of a daughter that wasn’t theirs tattooed in their hearts.

No, this had been a huge mistake. He couldn’t go back and pretend nothing happened. He couldn’t keep living this for more days, it was hurting him in ways he couldn’t even describe.

In fact, he just wanted to go back in time, to before this happened, and forget everything. That would be so much easier than facing what was coming next.

He took a second to breathe deeply, this was affecting him too much, and that wasn’t okay.

When he opened his eyes, he saw something he really wished he hadn’t recognized.

Looks of disgust, toward them.

Maybe in this universe they weren’t famous and could enjoy a privacy they had lost at a very young age, but here they were a gay couple with a daughter, and apparently, homophobia existed in every universe.

His chest burned from the anxiety that suddenly struck. Maybe it was best if they left already.

“Haechan, we should go home” he said quietly, trying to sound as normal as possible. “It’s getting late.”

Haechan looked around, as if to confirm whether what he said was true.

“You’re right, though I’m not sure it’ll be easy to convince Haeun, she still seems full of energy.”

He looked at their baby, who was dancing, and sighed. It was going to be hard to get her to leave the park.

“Princess, how about we—” Haechan couldn’t finish his sentence, he was interrupted, but not by Mark. In fact, it was a stranger’s comment.

“Disgusting. I can’t believe you’re terrorizing a public space like this” said an older woman in front of them. She seemed to be with her grandchildren.

“Excuse me?” he asked, surprised. He couldn’t believe this was happening.

“How dare you do this in public?! There are children here! You’re so irresponsible!” another man shouted, maybe the woman’s husband. He wasn’t sure.

His heart started racing fast. He didn’t like this at all. Shit, he should’ve hurried up in telling Haechan they needed to leave.

He slowly approached Haeun to pick her up, just in case, this didn’t look like it would end well.

“We’re not doing anything wrong, sir. We just came out for a walk” he said calmly before Haechan could even react. He needed to keep the situation peaceful, for everyone’s sake.

“Nothing wrong? You know you’re an abomination, right? Doing what you’re doing in front of kids is monstrous. Don’t act like it’s not.”

Mark felt his heart pounding in his throat. This was really bad, way too bad, and he had zero idea how to get out of it.

“Two men should never be together, much less raise a child. You’re both sick.”

That hurt. Even if it shouldn’t, it still did.

“Poor girl. How’s she supposed to grow up well, being raised by two mentally ill people? She’s not safe in your hands. You’re going to corrupt her…”

The woman tried to get closer to them, specifically to him, since he was holding Haeun, but Haechan stepped between them, and he looked furious.

Well, so much for keeping the peace.

“Don’t you dare get near my husband and daughter,” Mark’s whole body trembled, he had never heard Haechan that angry before. “You’re the sick one for thinking that way about us, about our baby girl. What the hell is wrong with you?! We just came to enjoy a family moment, and you’re the one horrifying a children’s space by creating an unnecessary drama.”

He stepped up to Haechan, placing a hand on his back. He couldn’t let him get too riled up, they were still in a public place, damn it.

“Don’t you talk to my wife like that!” the man got up and stood in front of Haechan, and that didn’t sit well with him. In fact, Haeun didn’t like it either as she started crying.

“Leave us alone!” he finally snapped. “We didn’t do anything to you, and now our baby is crying because of you, your grandkids too. Focus on things that actually matter.”

The man turned to look at his grandkids, and sure enough, they were crying too, which gave Mark the tiniest bit of satisfaction.

“Come on, Hae, let’s not cause a bigger scene” he whispered so only Haechan could hear. He didn’t want to be in this any longer, especially not with Haeun crying so scared.

Haechan turned to look at him, and his expression completely changed. He looked worried, for his baby.

And maybe… not just for his baby.

He quickly grabbed their things and took Mark’s free hand. He grabbed his hand, to then turn around and leave that shitty situation behind.

Fuck. He shouldn’t be panicking from this. They had just gone through a seriously shitty moment.

Holy shit, the situation was only getting worse for him.

His body hit the stall door with a bit of force, and the truth was he liked it a lot. In fact, he would've moaned in pleasure against his husband's mouth if he hadn't beaten him to it.

And that turned him on more than it should’ve.

What better way to spend their 10 minute break than disappearing to grope and kiss each other like maniacs in a bathroom? Exactly, nothing. It was like they were reliving the early days of their relationship again, only with a rebellion they hadn’t even needed back then.

Filming content for Dream wasn’t nearly as important as satisfying the filthiest needs of their relationship, and the fact that they were on a set? Completely irrelevant.

Honestly, neither of them gave a damn about that “idol image” crap anymore. Hadn’t that already been made perfectly clear?

Their mouths moved like they hadn’t kissed in years, it was messy, loud, wet, with teeth, and a rawness that they didn’t usually show but was absolutely necessary this time.

Their bodies moved to a unique rhythm too, grinding fervently, joined by curious hands that didn’t leave an inch untouched.

Donghyuck grabbed Minhyung by the ass and pulled him closer, sparking such a strong wave of pleasure for both that it made them sigh mid kiss.

“Fuck, I’d drop to my knees and suck you dry if I could” he whispered against Minhyung lips when they pulled apart briefly, earning a sharp tug on his hair in response.

Finding a good excuse for when they had to walk out of that stall was becoming harder and harder.

“Oh yeah?” His husband’s smile was borderline wicked, and that drove him insane, he loved it. “I was actually imagining a different scene… one where I’m the one pinned to the door.”

Oh.

Oh dear God.

Donghyuck reacted quickly, he couldn't just stand there after something like that, and shoved Minhyung against the door, reversing their roles.

They both moaned at the same time. The situation was devouring them.

“Is this what you had in mind, love?” he whispered in his ear while grabbing one of Minhyung legs and wrapping it around his waist.

“Actually, I imagined it with my face pressed against the door but… I like this better” the last part came out in a whisper, and it completely shut down his conscience.

It was inevitable, their lips met again, even hungrier than before.

The fact they were in a public place, at risk of being caught at any moment, combined with the fact they were public figures who were supposed to hate each other, turned them on in a way that was downright indescribable.

It was like mashing all their wildest sexual fantasies into one single, glorious moment.

It had been a long time since they’d had something like this. Their couple life had been a bit stagnant since they brought Haeun home, and truth be told, he missed this, this kind of heat and filth. He didn’t even care if it led nowhere, if it was all empty promises, it was what they needed, and he was going to give it everything.

“We should be so damn loud they’re forced to come stop us… but can’t” Minhyung whispered, kissing his neck between words.

He moved his hips slightly, simulating a small thrust that made his husband’s body tremble violently.

“And so everyone remembers forever how you scream my name? I’d love that, honey” he whispered back.

Minhyung sought out his lips again, and from the look in his eyes, Donghyuck could tell he was seconds away from devouring him completely, and he was more than ready for it… if only they hadn’t been interrupted by a phone ringing.

Unfortunately, it was his. Worse, it was Jeno calling.

He pulled away from Minhyung with a pout, their little fun escape had officially ended.

He picked up without hesitation. If there was one thing he’d learned in this temporary idol life, it was that it was better to report to the members before the staff about anything he did or planned.

“Haechan, where the hell are you?! I’ve been looking for you for like five minutes, we’re about to start and the staff is already looking at me weird for pacing around like a fool” Jeno said in a low murmur, like he didn’t want anyone else hearing him.

“I’m almost there, give me 2 minutes. I’m kinda dumb and got lost a bit” he replied playfully. Supposedly, he had gone to grab something from their car, and poor Jeno believed him.

Apparently, Minhyung was amused by how shamelessly he was lying, because he started peppering kisses on his neck, trying not to laugh.

“Fine” Jeno sounded a bit fed up with him, which he found funny. “By the way, have you seen Mark? I know, weird that I’m asking you, but since you guys supposedly get along better now…”

Uh oh... too bad, he had no fucking clue where Mark actually was.

“Oh, no… wasn’t he with Chenle? Ask him. Anyway, I gotta go so I can get there faster.”

As soon as he hung up, Minhyung let out the loudest laugh he’d ever heard from him, and Donghyuck joined in. It was so stupid and ridiculous that it was genuinely funny.

“At least it was good while it lasted, right?” Minhyung said through laughter, trying to calm down.

“Speak for yourself, I still got a hard-on. I don’t know how I’m gonna walk out of this shitty stall unnoticed.”

More laughter, lots of it. His body finally relaxed, everything really was easier with Minhyung by his side.

“I’d love to help you with that, but maybe I can sneak over to your place tonight and we finish this, sound good?” he said while adjusting Donghyuck's clothes, he probably looked a whole mess.

“That sounds perfect, sweetie. But I need you focused on what we’re filming, and faking it well in front of the guys, okay? I don’t want to catch you daydreaming about how I’m gonna fuck you tonight.”

Minhyung kissed his lips sweetly, then gave him one more kiss on the tip of his nose.

“Can’t promise that.”

Another laugh. He hadn’t expected that response, but he loved it.

They did their best to fix up and look “decent”, but separately, because if they stayed glued together, they’d never leave that bathroom.

God, he wished they had more time.

Donghyuck left first, since Jeno was waiting. Minhyung would follow later. Right now he had no idea how he was going to keep playing these games for the content with all this in his head. His team might have to lose, what a shame.

Jeno practically jumped on him when he saw him, which felt a little dramatic considering he hadn’t been gone that long, but he played along.

“How the hell do you sneak off so easily all the time? I don’t get it. I wish I could do that.”

Oh, so apparently he did this a lot.

“You know what they say, a magician never reveals his secrets” he joked, hoping that would be enough.

Interacting with the others always felt weird. He was constantly on edge, afraid he’d mess up. Even in dumb conversations, he had to watch what he said.

He didn’t care much about his idol image, but messing up in front of the members? That was dangerous. That was the only reason he put effort into “staying in character”, for them.

“He’s a born liar, Jeno. That’s why he gets away with everything,” Jaemin added, an—

He... he was holding his phone with the screen lit up, playing a video of little girls dressed as princesses.

Guilt hit him like a truck. It was a miracle he didn’t collapse from the pain that consumed his whole body in seconds. He missed her. It was getting harder not to see her, not to hear her voice, not to get her slobbery kisses on his cheek.

He took a deep breath. There was nothing he could do but pray and wait to go back to normal. Just wait… and wait…

“Haechan? Did I say something wrong?”

Jaemin called his name, and he forced a smile, he was fine, of course. Lying constantly was exhausting. It drained his soul.

“Oh yeah, just… a bit tired.”

He knew they didn’t believe him, it was obvious. Using the same excuse all the time was suspicious, but luckily, none of them seemed eager to push, and he silently thanked them for that.

He had to get back on track. The cameras would start rolling again soon, and there he really couldn’t look off.

Minhyung appeared suddenly with Renjun, Chenle, and Jisung, almost as if he’d heard his heart breaking.

Donghyuck subtly moved closer to his husband in the least suspicious way possible. He couldn't be far from him, never. Especially not when the bathroom images were still so vividly replaying in his mind.

Ah, Minhyung…

“It’s so weird seeing you two getting along,” Chenle commented out of nowhere, pointing at them. “But I like it.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, pretending he didn’t get it. God, this was good.

“What do you mean, what? You know what he means, hyung!” Jisung added.

Oh, they were desperate to know something about them… interesting.

“You’re the weird one for bringing this up out of nowhere,” Minhyung replied, and Donghyuck had to work hard not to laugh. He loved when he played along like that. “We’re just acting like responsible adults, that’s all.”

“Oh, come on, you must be hiding something. No way you just patched things up like that.”

Bingo! Jaemin really wanted to know the truth. That made it all more fun.

“Not just that, you’re doing way more fanservice too, like it’s nothing. You guys are definitely hiding something from us” Chenle accused this time.

Oh, he never imagined this would affect the others too.A smug, evil smile took over his face. He was loving every second of this.

“You’re just seeing things that aren’t there, guys. We’re just giving it our best.”

Nothing hotter than hearing his husband lie so boldly, even when no one believed them.

Ah… he should’ve kept him in the bathroom longer.

“We’ll get the truth out of you eventually,” Jeno said. His tone wasn’t scary, but Jaemin’s evil grin was.

“They probably got secretly married,” Renjun said out of nowhere, making everyone laugh. “Who knows what else they’re doing behind our backs.”

“Obviously, yeah, that’s the most logical option” Donghyuck added to the joke. “Though actually, we have an even bigger secret, who is our little daughter Haeun. It’s best to keep her away from you so you don’t scare her with your ugliness.” He said it jokingly, though… it wasn’t that much of a joke.

“Donghyuck!”

A wave of “ooh” followed Minhyung calling him by his real name.

“Anyway, whatever you two do in secret doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re good with each other, it was about time you made peace. I’ve been hoping for this for a long time,” Renjun said.

The comment froze him. It had nothing to do with the jokes from before, it carried a strange kind of sincerity, one that hit a bit too deep.

“Guys! We’re starting again!”

Oh, well, no more time to talk.

He looked at Minhyung, then at Renjun, who still hadn’t taken his eyes off them. It gave him chills.

Yeah… something weird was going on there. Maybe he knew something no one else did.

Right?

If things had been tense between Haechan and him before, that was nothing compared to how they were now.

The small incident at the park had created a very strange situation between them. Before, they avoided each other because they couldn’t stand one another… now they avoided each other for something far more difficult to put into words.

Mark couldn’t spend more than three minutes near Haechan without hearing his voice saying “my husband” echo in his head. The situation was so bad that he had even dreamed about it more than once.

What happened had been disastrous, unnecessary, and even a little ridiculous, but damn, the two of them were even more ridiculous for making it a bigger deal than it needed to be.

Why couldn’t they just ignore it and pretend it never happened like they always did? No, ever since they were there, things were different, and he didn’t like it at all.

Haechan didn’t look at him the same way anymore, his snide comments didn’t hit the same, and he didn’t even pick fights with him anymore… and that made Mark feel completely lost, 100% displaced.

It was ridiculous how they went all-in to maintain this farce of a “happy family” that no one expected them to uphold anyway, nor were they under pressure to do so, especially when they hated each other and had even made a solemn promise not to pretend.

Ha, apparently they were both serial liars.

The most ridiculous part of it all? They still spent their nights almost glued to each other, lying on the floor of Haeun’s room, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

They were the biggest disaster of the century, and there was no way to hide it anymore.

Haeun’s voice brought him back to reality, she was babbling some song he couldn’t recognize to Haechan, and he was looking at her as if she were the only person left standing in the universe.

And… oh… now Haechan joined in with Haeun, apparently, he did recognize the song.

His insides twisted in a weird way, stopping him from continuing his dishwashing task as he stared at the two of them.

The worst part of everything he was going through wasn’t all the stuff he mentioned before, it was this.

The affection he had for Haeun. That terrified him. The thought of never seeing her again made him feel horribly sick.

Or...

Well, it also made him feel incredibly uneasy to notice how Haechan looked at her, smiled at her, and cared for her so gently, how sincerely and devotedly he loved her.

That... that was a different kind of pain, one that took his breath away and left him unable to think, one that consumed him more and more, and he really hoped it wouldn’t, because he had no way to escape it.

The rest of the day, he spent a bit too much inside his head, thinking and overthinking, trying to make sense of his own feelings, and failing completely.

It was hard. Really hard.

He looked at the stuffed animal in his arms, Fluffy, and hugged it tightly. His (not) daughter had supposedly left it for him to help it fall asleep, but she didn’t need to know that he was actually using it to unload a bit of his emotional baggage. Not at all.

“Mark, you’re not talking to Fluffy, are you?”

Goddammit Lee Donghyuck, he cursed silently. This was not the moment to be caught in such a ridiculous situation.

“No, I was just following the princess’s orders. She wanted me to lull it to sleep,” he lied. That wasn’t exactly what she had asked, but Haechan didn’t need to know that.

“Sure, if you say so,” Haechan said sarcastically, which irritated Mark a little. “Can you go check on Haeun? She doesn’t want to sleep, and I don’t know what else to do.”

Wait… was Haechan entrusting him with Haeun?

He felt a bubbly rush of emotion in his chest, Mark didn’t usually do these kinds of things with their baby.

He quickly got up and headed toward the girl’s room, still holding Fluffy in his arms. It couldn’t be that hard to get a toddler under 3 years old to go to bed, right?

As soon as he opened the door, he found Haeun lying in bed hidden under the sheets, like she was trying to hide from him. So, he decided to play along.

“Oh no, where did my princess go?!” he said in the most exaggerated voice possible, hearing a giggle in response.

Suddenly, Haeun jumped out from under the covers yelling “Boo!” and he gave the performance of a lifetime, even throwing himself to the floor in 'fear'.

“Haeun! Why do you scare Daddy like that?” The little one burst into laughter again, this time uncontrollably, making him smile.

“Daddy, Fluffy!”

He walked over to place the unicorn on the bed and received a hug and a kiss, followed by a “sorry Daddy” as a gift.

Ah… his chest shouldn’t tighten like this. Everything was so unfair.

“It’s okay, baby girl. It’s nothing,” he said as he tucked in Haeun and Fluffy. “But it’s time to sleep, and Daddy Yuck told me you weren’t listening. What’s going on?”

God, please don’t let Haechan find out he just accidentally called him Daddy...

“I want Daddy Min and Daddy Yuck here! All three, and Fluffy.”

His heart nearly burst out of his chest hearing that. He couldn’t handle this level of cuteness. His parents had made him way too soft, he was definitely not cut out for this.

“So should I call Daddy Yuck so we can all be together?” Haeun nodded enthusiastically. “Alright, I’ll be right back.”

He rushed to find Haechan in the other room, grabbed his wrist, and dragged him along without explaining a thing.

“Mark, didn’t I ask you to handle this on your own?” Haechan sounded pretty irritated.

Once they were in Haeun’s room again, he made them both sit at the foot of her bed, waiting to see what she would say.

“We’re all here now, princess. What do you want us to do? Read you a story?” he asked sweetly.

“I already asked her that, Mark. She said no,” Haechan snapped, but Mark ignored him. Right now, the only thing that mattered was what Haeun wanted.

The little girl was staring at them with her big, sparkling eyes. She looked like she was analyzing them, thinking hard about what to ask.

“Daddies, hug!” she finally declared in that sweet voice that melted his soul.

Haechan and he looked at each other confused, but neither refused the request. They moved closer to hug her (and Fluffy too, obviously) with much affection.

“No!” she shouted, laughing, confusing them even more. “Daddies, hug!”

Okay, he was way too lost to understand what was happening.

Haeun, noticing neither of them reacted, repeated her request in a frustrated tone. They were doing something wrong, and he didn’t know what.

Wait…

“Do you want us to hug each other?” he asked nervously, and to his horror, Haeun started clapping excitedly. They had finally understood her.

The world completely hated him, didn’t it?

He took a deep breath. It was just a hug. It wasn’t the end of the world to hug Haechan. They had hugged a thousand times in front of fans and cameras… though it did feel like the end of the world.

“Come here, Mark. Our daughter is desperate to see we still love each other.”

He hated Haechan’s smug tone and devilish smile, how he delighted in his suffering, but at least, for a few seconds, it felt a little like normal again.

Ugh. He had no reason to miss this, and that only made things feel even weirder.

The hug was simple. Haechan’s hands went straight to his neck before resting his head on his shoulder, while Mark’s hands gripped his waist with some strength.

Everything was getting weirder. It wasn’t the same acting this way for thousands of people as it was for a two-year-old and her comfort toy.

Haeun clapped again while babbling incomprehensible words, but she seemed happy, and that was enough for him.

That little girl was an angel, the purest, most beautiful being to walk the galaxy.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Okay, no. Actually, Haeun was a demon. Why the hell was she asking for that?! She was a baby!

“Should I give Daddy a kiss on the cheek?” he asked, faking calmness and patience he didn’t have.

“Nope,” she sang, causing Mark to start panicking.

Nothing about this felt fun anymore.

A wave of nerves ran through him from head to toe. It was incredibly stupid how his body reacted just from, from… ah, he didn’t even want to justify himself anymore.

“It’s just a quick kiss, Mark. She doesn’t need to see more than that.”

He looked at Haechan, and to his surprise, his arrogant smile was gone. He actually looked a little worried.

Wasn’t this the perfect opportunity for Haechan to tease him? It was weird seeing him react this way. He was the one who got nervous over everything, not Haechan.

“Enjoy it. It’s the only time you’ll get to touch my lips like this,” Mark said playfully. It was rare for their roles to reverse, he had to make the most of it.

He leaned in so close their noses bumped.

“Yeah, you don’t actually believe that, Mark.”

He ignored him completely. He was too focused on proving he wasn’t as weak as he looked, so he took control and grabbed Haechan’s chin, pressing their lips together.

The kiss was intense, even though it only lasted a second and there was no movement. But...

There was something. Something intense in that kiss. Maybe it was his sudden confidence, or that Haechan quickly went back to his usual devilish self, but it made Mark feel something new.

His heart clenched so hard from just a simple touch of lips that it scared him a little. This couldn’t be normal, right?

“Now me!” Haeun said excitedly once they separated. It took them both a moment to react, but they eventually did as she asked. “Now, good night Daddy Min and Daddy Yuck! I love you lots.”

His eyes welled up with tears hearing that. Whatever was happening inside him was getting out of control. He didn’t feel capable of holding it together much longer.

“I love you too, princess, so much” he whispered, kissing her forehead and hiding the lump in his throat. Haechan followed his lead and saw Haeun’s eyes slowly closing.

Oh...

She was really holding on just for that, for both of them to give her love. A sad smile escaped his lips. This was as beautiful as it was painful.

“If you want, lie down. I’ll clean up what’s left so we can all sleep,” he said to Haechan without looking back. He couldn’t stay in that room with the two of them any longer.

Just a little more. He just needed to hold on a little longer, and everything would go back to normal. Everything would go back to its place and… and this would remain just a beautiful dream in his memory.

Yes, he just had to endure.

The stares on them were intense, especially on their joined hands, and not just from the members, no, from the staff too.

They really, really knew that they had to try harder to hide their relationship, but both of them were so nervous, they needed each other more than ever.

A festival, they were going to perform at a festival with both subunits. It was something big. Huge, actually.

He had spent so much of his youth imagining this: performing in front of a massive crowd screaming his name with excitement... he never thought it would actually happen, or that he’d have the chance to live it with Minhyung. But here they were.

They had practiced so much, hell, they had barely slept to rehearse together in their free moments. This might be just another festival to everyone else, but for them, it was everything.

Their first official performance as idols, in front of a huge crowd, with tons of choreography and songs to remember because they were in two groups. It was strange, exciting, and absolutely terrifying. Donghyuck felt like if he even separated from Minhyung for two seconds, he would faint from how loud the insecurities in his head would become.

"I think I'm going to die," he whispered to Minhyung, resting his head on the other’s shoulder, the closeness between them never seemed enough.

"Don't even think about it. You’re not leaving me a widower raising Haeun alone" Minhyung joked with a small laugh. One was more dramatic than the other. "I'm dying of nerves too, but... just think about the amazing stories we’ll have for our daughter in the future, love. She’s going to love this."

Their princess... oh, of course she’d love this.

"I can’t wait to turn this crazy situation we're living into a fantasy story and tell it to her every night. I could even tell it to my students... I’ll brainwash every kid I meet with our love."

Minhyung leaned in like he was about to kiss him, but stopped halfway. Suddenly, all the stares on them became even more intense, burning against their skin.

They had to behave. They couldn’t ruin the perfect idol image their versions in this world had.

“Hurry up, boys, you’re up next” their manager announced, making Donghyuck’s skin crawl.

With all the caution in the world, he placed a small kiss on his husband's shoulder, doing his best to make it look natural, for Minhyung’s sake and his own, if it helped at all.

"I love you," he mouthed, making sure the movement of his lips was clear enough for Minhyung to understand. "We’ve got this. Just like always."

Minhyung stayed quiet for a few seconds, just staring at him. He could tell he was fighting not to kiss him, the way his eyes kept flickering from his lips to the rest of his face, his body subtly leaning in then pulling away.

He looked so ethereal, shit, Minhyung was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen in his entire life. He was so in love with him…

"I don’t even have to wish you luck. I know you’re going to be amazing," Minhyung finally answered, his less visible hand sneaking to Donghyuck’s waist and giving a gentle squeeze. "And I love you too. Madly."

This time, it was Donghyuck’s turn to fight the urge, the powerful desire to kiss him with so much passion and love that everyone in the room would feel like they were intruding on something far too intimate.

The staff’s call snapped them out of it, pulling them out of their bubble and back into “reality.” It was time to get serious, for real.

The moments before their performance went by in a blur. Final touch ups, a pre-stage photo, mic setups, the emotional pep talk, and then finally, standing at the edge of the stage, waiting for their turn.

He had goosebumps. None of it felt real, like something out of a dream, and seeing Minhyung’s face glowing with excitement from across the stage was more than enough.

And then their turn came and… everything felt three times better.

Being on stage was overwhelming, but in a good way. The lights were only on them, the screams were only for them... all these people had been waiting, dreaming of seeing them. It was insane.

The first song they performed wasn’t hard for Donghyuck because of its difficulty, but because he was trying so hard not to burst into tears from the emotion, and the song wasn’t even emotional. He felt kind of ridiculous for getting carried away, but it was worth it.

It was truly an indescribable feeling, so unique. His body couldn’t hold all the happiness, it was spilling out of his skin.

This... this felt like the biggest moment of his life. But—

Locking eyes with Minhyung mid performance and seeing that beautiful, wide smile, realizing he was also holding back tears... that, that was the biggest thing in his life.

He felt more in love than ever before. Seeing his husband like this, shining like a real star... made him want to love him for eternity.

The adrenaline, the excitement, and the nerves made everything go by faster than he wanted. Suddenly, their Dream performance was over, and they were wrapping up.

Oh... he didn’t want to leave the stage. He wanted to stay longer. He felt like he could stay another six hours if possible.

Inevitably, his eyes welled up with tears again. Everything was too much, and all he wanted was to imprint every detail of this memory into his mind so he could relive it over and over.

When it came time to bow, he broke formation to look for Minhyung, because he needed to feel him close. He took his hand and got a squeeze in return.

They bowed together and, when they straightened up, instinctively looked into each other’s eyes, making everything around them fade.

This was what life was about, wasn’t it? Living it only by Minhyung’s side. Achieving every dream together.

He smiled, genuinely, and slowly let go of his hand, hurrying off stage as naturally as possible... but only thinking about how he was going to hold Minhyung in his arms as soon as he could.

The staff and their members' congratulations felt a bit surreal, but warm. The adrenaline was so high, he could barely register what was happening around him.

Unfortunately, that cloud of euphoria slowly faded as he removed his stage outfit and wiped off his makeup at the end of the event. But that didn’t matter, because now came his favorite part...

Being alone with Minhyung.

Somehow, he managed to convince their managers to let them ride in the same car back to what was technically “his” apartment, without raising too many questions. He was even surprised their members just looked at them weird and said nothing.

Maybe they’d done such a terrible job pretending not to be a married couple that their behavior seemed normal now. Maybe.

The ride back was probably the hardest thing in his life, because even though the managers didn’t question much, they were still watching them like hawks, killing Donghyuck’s fantasy of kissing Minhyung the moment he could.

They actually held up pretty well. They even found a way to secretly intertwine their fingers, just like they did on the plane that first day or back when they were still scared of being seen in public during the early stages of their relationship.

As expected, the moment they reached the apartment, they ended up all over each other, kissing like never before, so close not even air could fit between them.

Donghyuck could only smile. It felt like their spark was only burning brighter with time, and that made him so proud, especially after so many years together...

"I can’t believe we did it, we did it together" Minhyung said when they finally pulled away, his eyes sparkling. "They were screaming for us, baby. They... we..."

"I still feel the moment on my skin." Without thinking, he pulled his husband even closer. "It was something magical. I never... never thought we could have something like this, that something like this could even be real."

Minhyung cupped his face in his hands and gently caressed his cheeks with his fingertips, making Donghyuck tremble.

"Do you understand how big this is, love? We did it. We fulfilled the dreams of little Minhyung and little Donghyuck. We don’t have to fantasize or regret anymore, we lived it."

Tears escaped Minhyung’s eyes, and Donghyuck let his own fall, finally allowing himself to cry freely.

"Of course I understand, baby" he said, turning his head to kiss Minhyung’s palm. "And I don’t think I’ll ever stop being grateful for this. But seeing you shine on that stage, seeing stars in your eyes... that’s what made everything worth it. That’s when I knew everything made sense."

Minhyung let out a small sob, and Donghyuck started peppering soft kisses across his face.

"God," his husband whispered, "and when I saw you up there, glowing like never before, all I could think was that if this were our life, I’d risk everything to be with you, even this fame and glamour."

His heart pounded like never before. Minhyung’s effect on him never faded.

"We’re going to end up together in every universe and every situation, baby," he declared with a wide smile. "Even if in this life it costs us everything, we’ll still end up married, holding our baby in our arms... we’re destined to be together. That’s how it is."

Minhyung kissed him again, sweetly, with a desire that went beyond the physical. Maybe it reached the level of uniting their souls, maybe.

"I love you, I love you like crazy, Donghyuck. I’m so happy to have you."

This time it was his turn to kiss Minhyung back, returning the same love and devotion he had just received.

"I love you so much more, my life. I hope I keep fulfilling my dreams by your side, until the day my heart stops beating."

And the night went on like that, with love confessions like they were teenagers again, with a passion they thought they’d left behind years ago, but clearly hadn’t.

Eventually, they ended up lying next to each other, Minhyung’s bare back against his chest, their hearts beating in sync.

It was where he was meant to be, where he wanted to be. His safe place for all eternity.

He left a kiss on the nape of Minhyung’s neck and closed his eyes, a huge smile still on his face. He was ready for whatever God had in store for them tomorrow, more than ever.

Mark wanted to cry. In fact, he wasn’t doing a very good job holding back his tears, guilt was consuming him entirely.

He hid his face in his hands and exhaled hard. He didn’t want to look broken when he left the room.

He had been playing with Haeun, like they did every day, when he accidentally knocked her over, causing her to hit her head and get a small cut on her forehead.

He felt terrible hearing her heartbreaking cries and seeing the area she had hurt. It was the the most terrible thing he’d ever done in his life.

The worst part? He couldn’t react. He just stood there, staring at her, heart in his throat and soul on the floor.

Of course, Haechan had reacted perfectly, he ran over, took her from Mark’s arms to check on her, and then carried her off to clean her face while trying to soothe her. And him… he just stayed frozen, watching them go, feeling like the worst person in the world.

He was so overwhelmed by the feeling that he locked himself in “his” room to calm down.

It was hell.

“Mark…”

Triple hell.

All the effort he had made to keep his tears in was wasted, because the second he saw Haechan poke his head through the door, it was enough to break him.

He felt like an idiot. Why was he crying like this? Had all that effort to seem strong been for nothing?

Haechan entered the room slowly, and as expected, Haeun was nestled tight in his arms and chest.

Oh… she was holding a little ice pack to her forehead, and Mark could still see the traces of tears on her face.

Great. Now he felt even worse.

Haechan sat on the bed next to him, but Mark didn’t feel like lifting his head. No. He didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing he’d won.

He felt tiny hands on his face before getting a slobbery kiss on the nose, it was Haeun.

“I’m okay, daddy,” the little girl whispered, like she was telling a secret.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, princess. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry,” he said while hugging her and kissing her forehead, right where the cut was.

His tears came down harder, completely unstoppable now, but what he didn’t expect was to feel a hand trying to wipe them from his face… and it wasn’t Haeun’s tiny hand.

He turned to Haechan and saw something he’d never seen before… his body trembled at the intensity in that gaze, at the air thick with closeness and intimacy.

“It was an accident, Mark. You didn’t do it on purpose, and she’s okay. Don’t cry anymore, please.”

“Please!” Haeun echoed, “Because Daddy Yuck and I get sad.”

God, he could hear his heart pounding in his ears. He couldn’t pretend anymore that he didn’t feel these things, that they didn’t affect him. Fuck, he was so completely screwed.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said, though his eyes stayed locked on Haechan. “Daddy won’t cry anymore. I promise, okay? I’ll do anything to make up for hurting you.”

The little girl nodded, then tried to hug them both at once, or at least tried, since her arms were too short.

At the same time, Haechan’s fingers brushed his face one last time, though it didn’t feel like he was wiping away tears. It felt more intimate than that.

“Love you lots, daddies” she said with a big smile, breaking Mark just a little more.

God, he was sure even Haechan was falling apart right next to him.

It was going to be hard… really hard.

His promise had been a bit of a lie, because the guilt didn’t go away completely, and he didn’t know what else to do to prove to Haeun that he didn’t hurt her on purpose, even though she had already forgiven him.

Honestly, he still felt like crying every time he looked at Haechan. It wasn’t fair.

Suddenly… suddenly everything hit him at once. He cared so much about Haeun, Mark could almost say he loved her. And it hurt to have hurt her… but what would hurt even more was not seeing her again, not getting to live this moment again. And… and then there was Haechan.

This was going to end, and he didn’t want to go back to the beginning, back to before everything happened. No, he wanted to stay here, with a little baby who wasn’t his but called him “daddy” with stars in her eyes, and a ring on his finger that bound him to Haechan forever.

His life was going to feel so empty and sad after this. The universe was so unfair, why let him taste heaven just to rip it away in the cruelest way?

His heart twisted again. Maybe he was the idiot, for getting so attached, for confusing his feelings toward Haechan and letting them grow into something more.

He looked at Haeun next to him. The guilt was so heavy he ended up lying beside her to help her fall asleep, and now he just admired her peacefully sleeping form as she hugged Fluffy.

“I hope your real parents give you the whole universe, princess, because you deserve it” he whispered softly, brushing her hair. “I love you so much… and I’m going to miss you so much too. Like crazy.”

“I’m going to miss her too,” Haechan’s voice startled him, he thought they were alone. “I think a part of my heart is going to stay here with her forever. I don’t want to leave her. I feel horrible just thinking about it.”

Haechan and he made the same face at the same time. Suddenly they were in sync again, just like in the park…

“The dumbest part of all this is that she’ll never know we were here… but we’ll remember it for the rest of our lives.”

A bittersweet silence filled the room, and it wasn’t just on his side, he could see how much this was affecting Haechan too, that he wasn’t the only one falling apart over it.

“We should let her sleep and talk somewhere else, yeah?”

His chest filled with panic at those words. He knew Haechan meant for another reason, but he couldn’t figure out what the hell it was and it sent chills down his spine.

Fuck, he wasn’t in a place to handle Haechan mocking him. Not today.

“Okay,” he said as he turned to look at his little princess one last time.

He gently stroked her face with his fingers, trying to memorize every detail: her face, the softness of her skin, her sweet scent, and left a kiss on her cheek.

For some reason, this felt like the end.

He got up and let Haechan step up to her, watching him interact with Haeun. It wasn’t that different from what he’d done. Haechan also caressed her face and gave her kisses, but before leaving, he whispered something in her ear Mark couldn’t hear, and he wished he had.

Was it wrong to want to keep this version of Haechan in his memory forever?

“Let’s go, hyung.”

Oh… that was new. Haechan never called him that.

He followed without thinking too much, not that he had any other choice. To his surprise, out of all the places in the house, they ended up in what was supposedly their room, the one they’d barely stepped into.

He gave the room a quick glance. It had a different vibe from the rest of the house... maybe it was the fact that it was filled with love and desire, a longing to keep two souls bound together forever. Maybe.

“Mark,” Haechan called, pulling him back to reality.

“I’m not in the mood for you to mock me, not today at least,” he said quietly, avoiding Haechan’s eyes for some reason, his own were welling up again.

Ah, he was worse than ever.

“I’m not going to do that, Mark. Not when I saw how much it affected you.” Haechan stepped closer, forcing Mark to look him in the eyes.

“So I just made you pity me” he blurted out without thinking, quickly regretting it.

“No, not pity. I know you have a good heart, and I’ve seen how much you love Haeun. You treat her with so much care… I knew you’d torture yourself over it, even if it was just an accident.”

His lungs froze. He hadn’t expected to hear that from Haechan.

“I’m nothing compared to you, you know that?” A tear slipped out. “I didn’t even react.”

“You can’t say that when you treat her like she’s the most important person in the universe.” For some reason, Haechan stepped even closer. “Mark, you have no idea how you look when you’re with her… it’s like you were made for this.”

God, this was too much.

“You say that like you’re not perfect with her too. You…”

“Hyung,” Haechan interrupted him, “You really don’t get it, do you? How much of a father you look like to me… how you shattered my whole world just by holding her, and doomed me forever the second you called her princess.”

Mark’s eyes widened… had he heard that right?

“What?” he whispered, unable to react.

Haechan took his chin in his hand, making their noses bump, almost replaying that moment from the other day.

"What i mean is that the dream future I always imagined and fantasized about having a family... now I can only picture it with you by my side, and that is entirely and exclusively your fault."

He sealed the insane confession with a desperate kiss, filled with a desire neither of them realized they had, but now needed to satisfy at all costs.

Fuck, they really were in sync. Haechan felt the same way, he dreamed the same dreams.

Mark’s hands went to Haechan's hair, gripping it tightly, he needed to show this wasn’t just a moment. It was real. His heart beat the same as Haechan’s.

“Thank god you admitted it, because I had no idea how to tell you that I’m dying to make this our reality one day,” he rushed out in the only moment their lips parted, and apparently, that only fueled the fire in Haechan.

Their lips crashed again, hungrier and more desperate. Their bodies collided with such force they ended up falling onto the bed, Mark landing on top of Haechan.

They smiled at the same time, and it made him laugh. It was so ridiculous, all that time fighting each other only to end up like this…

He kissed him again, letting his hands roam across his body, desperate to feel skin against skin, to sink into his bones and feel the burning warmth of his heart in his own chest.

“There’s no going back, hyung,” Haechan whispered against his lips. “If we do this, we can’t go back to before.”

His voice trembled, and he looked scared… Haechan was afraid this was all just a lie.

Mark pressed a soft kiss to his nose and blindly reached for his hand, intertwining their fingers.

“I haven’t even wanted to go back to the beginning for a long time,” he confessed, feeling lighter than before. “I just want… I want to have you. Only you.”

Once more, their lips met, but this time, Haechan pulled him closer, pressing him flush against his body, finally feeling the other’s racing heartbeat against his own chest.

Little by little, kisses wandered across skin, clothes disappeared along the way, and they spent the whole night making love, calling each other’s names with a desperation that sealed a bond that might last forever.

In the end, everyone was right. Destiny wanted them together, and they couldn’t fight it anymore.

"Daddy Min! Daddy Yuck! Wake up, it’s good morning time!"

He heard his little princess sing, and oh, he had missed her so much he was already starting to halluci—

He shot up, eyes flying open, dragging Minhyung up with him.

Dear God. 

They were back, and Haeun was really standing at the edge of their bed with Fluffy in her arms.

Their baby... their actual baby was there, singing a morning song and looking at them as if they were the coolest thing in the world, her world.

Minhyung quickly jumped out of bed and picked Haeun up in his arms, exposing a few marks on his skin that… well, it looked like the other version of them had enjoyed their time here just fine.

Donghyuck couldn’t help but smile, almost like a lunatic. They really were destined to be together through every moment and every circumstance, uh?

Minhyung laid Haeun down between them and pulled the covers over the three of them, bringing Donghyuck a sense of absolute peace.

He was home. The love of his life, their baby girl, and himself, back together. His heart finally felt whole.

He pressed a soft kiss to Haeun’s cheek, and when she offered Fluffy to him, he gave the plushie a kiss too.

"Good morning, baby. I missed you so much. Daddy and I missed you so, so much..." His voice broke with the words.

Fulfilling one of his biggest teenage dreams didn’t erase the fact that he had spent days and days hurting, not being able to see his daughter, constantly worrying about her.

Minhyung placed a kiss on Haeun’s belly, making her burst into loud laughter.

Oh… he had really missed that sound.

"Good morning, my princess, and Fluffy," Minhyung greeted her this time, "And good morning to you too, my prince."

Donghyuck’s cheeks flushed at the nickname. It had been a long time since Minhyung called him that.

He reached for his husband’s hand and brought it to his lips, kissing his knuckles and feeling the ring he had missed so much brush against his skin.

"Good morning to you too, my prince" he echoed, playing along.

"Let’s go eat breakfast! Fluffy’s hungry!"

He chuckled at his daughter’s words. It probably wasn’t even 8 a.m. yet, way too early for Fluffy to be starving. but he had missed her so much that there was no way he’d say no.

"Alright. Tell Fluffy we’ll go eat, but only if we brush our teeth first," Minhyung replied.

Haeun jumped up and tried to climb out of bed in a hurry, still clinging to Fluffy, making Donghyuck laugh again.

God, he had missed her terribly.

He rushed to help her down, her little legs were too short for such a wild energy.

"Be right back, daddies!"

He knew she was too little to actually reach her toothbrush or brush her teeth on her own, but he’d give her a few minutes to try… and that way, he’d have a moment alone with Minhyung.

Their lips met in a short kiss, their usual morning greeting. He had missed that too.

"Our crazy era of forbidden love is over," Minhyung said against his lips. "Sadly, no more sneaking around and making out in music show bathrooms."

Donghyuck faked a pout.

"Don’t say that, I’ll get depressed," Minhyung laughed at the silly remark. "We’re going to have to get really creative if we want to recreate those scenes."

Their lips met again, two, four more times.

"It’ll be interesting. And fun… but I wouldn’t trade this for anything."

"Of course not. This is our place, honey."

They leaned in again for another kiss, but a small squeaky voice cut through the moment:

"Daddy!"

Right. Haeun hadn’t managed to solve her big toothbrush challenge on her own.

"Let’s keep fantasizing later, our daughter needs us… or maybe it’s the other way around."

Yes, achieving their dreams was fun. But this? This was something far bigger than being idols.

The simplicity of their warm home, the rhythm of married life, a life revolving around their princess. Nothing compared to this...

The place where their hearts belonged.

And God, he was so happy to finally be back to normal, and he meant that from the very bottom of his heart.

The sound of an alarm, no, two alarms blaring at once, shocked him awake. Ugh, it had been a while since he’d heard such an annoying noise...

He tried to ignore it, focusing instead on the warmth of the sheets around him and how Donghyuck’s arms were wrapped tightly around his waist, their bodies pressed together with absolutely no space in between.

Wait…

His eyes flew open. That alarm could only mean one thing, and the view around him confirmed it.

“We’re back…” he muttered to himself, completely in shock.

How? Why?

A sharp pain bloomed in his chest. He hadn’t expected this, not now.

“Hyung” he heard Haechan whisper into his ear, sending a shiver down his spine.

Oh…

They were back to reality. But they were still together. In fact, the way they were lying wasn’t much different from how they’d fallen asleep.

Mark turned to face Haechan, and just like that, all his anxiety faded. He was still looking at him the same way as yesterday. It was real…

“We’re back” he repeated quietly, though it probably wasn’t the best idea to try talking over the blaring alarms.

Haechan winced. Mark could see, and feel that it hurt, that he hadn’t expected it either.

“We finally get to be together and the universe decides it’s time for us to go back to work? That’s not fair.” He let out a short laugh, Mark couldn’t agree more. “It could’ve given us a few more days and then maybe we co—”

He didn’t even have to ask why he stopped mid-sentence, he already knew. They weren’t going to see Haeun again. Their time playing “happy family” had come to an end.

He pulled himself even closer to Donghyuck, if that was even possible, and pressed a soft kiss to his jaw.

“I think I’m going to be eternally depressed. I’m going to miss her so much.”

“Don’t even start. I’m already grieving,” Haechan whispered, placing a kiss on his forehead. “Maybe we should buy ourselves a Fluffy to ease the misery.”

“That’s a brilliant idea,” he replied, kissing his jaw again.“I love the way your sexy mind works.”

“So you think I’m sexy?”

Mark rolled his eyes at the playful tone in Haechan’s voice. Things might be different now, but clearly Haechan was still going to twist everything he said in his favor.

And now… now Mark could admit that he loved that about him.

“Maybe.”

Haechan kissed him, and just like that, Mark felt warm, loved, confident.

One of the alarms was still going off. Someone might even have been calling them, but neither of them cared at all. This moment was for them. They were going to enjoy every millisecond of it.

The kiss was soft, gentle, giving him hope, making him believe they could actually reach that future together. That maybe they could make that alternate world their reality.

“Are we sure we can really do this here?” he asked, just to silence the doubts in his own mind. “We’re idols. We don’t have the freedom or—”

“We’re still Mark and Donghyuck. Our lifestyle won’t stop us.”

His heart sped up. They really were on the same page, weird, but also beautiful.

“Eight years of dating, two years of marriage, and our own daughter… that doesn’t sound so bad after all, huh?”

Haechan cupped his face again and kissed him, and they kept going like that, ignoring the alarms, ignoring the world.

Fate had given them the push they needed. They couldn’t just go on like nothing happened, of course not.

They’d figure out how to return to normal later, that would be a problem for the Mark and Haechan of fifteen minutes from now.

But at least they’d face it together this time.