"what are you guys doing here?" mark asked, shocked to see them here when they should already have been inside a random club.

"we were getting out of the 'high' nightclub because the ambiance was shit, and we saw your motorbike passing with two people on it." yuta explained.

"and we followed you until there." sicheng finished.

mark looked at them an eyebrow raised.

why would they do that?

"is he your boyfriend?" taeyong asked, pointing to donghyuck who was still on the bolide with his helmet on.

"huh..." mark's eyes wandered between his boyfriend and his friends.

he looked at taeil in distress, and the oldest boy nodded.

"he is." mark said, helping donghyuck down.

"aww! how romantic! you two were having a date..." johnny cooed.

"yeah..." mark laughed nervously.

"take his helmet off! he might be dying under that!" taeyong scolded mark as the biker wasn't making any move to help his boyfriend get rid of the big helmet.

giving a quick glance to taeil, mark panicked.

"huh..."

he unbuckled the strap under donghyuck's chin and placed his hands on each side of the helmet to pull it off.

however, he prevented himself to do so.

"a-are you sure?" he asked shakily. "like, you want to see who it is?"

"we already know he's donghyuck, mark." taeyong rolled his eyes.

"but like... you want to see his face?"

jaehyun snorted. "what? he is disfigured?"

"what? no!" mark furrowed his brows.

"then move your ass and take that helmet off!" doyoung hurried mark.

mark sighed, placing his hands on the helmet again.

"just a little reminder... i had told you you wouldn't like that..."

"stop saying nonsense, mark!" sicheng argued.

mark took a deep breath – even if that wasn't needed – and pulled donghyuck's helmet in one go, revealing his face to his friends.

"well... this is my boyfriend... donghyuck." he said, rearranging his messy hair.

donghyuck smiled shyly, trying to avoid looking at the six boys who had their eyes widened and mouths agape.

"tell us this is a big fucking joke, mark." jaehyun spoke first.

mark shook his head, passing an arm around donghyuck's waist. "he's the boy i was talking about."

"do you realise it's a kid?!" jaehyun spat. "well, more than a kid, it's the one form the library!"

"h-he's not a k-kid..." mark tried sounding determined. "he's 16."

"16?!" the five other boys exclaimed.

"he's not even legal! his parents could call the police on you!" taeyong yelled.

"and he's a fucking nerd." jaehyun added.

taeil ran to the two lovebirds and embraced them in a back hug, placing his chin on their shoulders.

"16 or not, aren't they so cute together?" he asked with a smile.

"that's not cute!" johnny spat. "mark could be his father!"

"stop exaggerating! we're only three years apart." mark rolled his eyes.

"and that's enough for you to be accused of misappropriation of minors!" johnny continued.

"he's too young for you, mark." doyoung pointed out.

mark felt more than angry.

well, he didn't expect them to react better, but it was really pissing him off.

and they were speaking as if donghyuck wasn't here when he could clearly hear everything they said.

"stop with that age gap!" mark yelled. "yuta and sicheng are together despite their two years age gap! and it's the same for you two!" he said, pointing at taeyong and jaehyun.

"don't try changing the subject." jaehyun warned.

"just open your eyes!" mark continued yelling, approaching his friends and leaving donghyuck next to taeil. "you guys never seem bothered by the age gaps! so why are you hating our relationship this much?! donghyuck may be younger than me, but he gave his consent to be my boyfriend. i didn't force him to do anything! he decided on his own that he would be with me!"

jaehyun gripped mark's collar, lifting him from the ground. "it's you who should open your eyes. he's a damn kid! he can't take decisions on his own!" he told.

"I'M SORRY?!" mark screamed to jaehyun's face. "taeil was 15 when we started living together in the dorms! donghyuck is 16, which is one year older than that! if we could take decisions at that time, i can't see why he wouldn't be able to take some!"

"he's a nerd, a goody-two-shoes! everything he does, his parents monitor him!"

taeyong prevented jaehyun from strangling mark by putting his hand on jaehyun's shoulder. jaehyun pushed mark away as if the boy was burning hot.

"you're all blinded by hate and rage." mark told. "why can't you be happy for me?"

"your shit is affecting all of us, mark." johnny told.

"i found my happiness. you told me to find something to tame me... well, here is that thing." mark pointed at donghyuck. "my boyfriend of two months, lee donghyuck. i love him more than anything and i don't want any of you to get in the way of our relationship! having his parents hating me and torturing him is already enough! i don't need your hate to be added to that!"

"a boyfriend isn't something that can help you this way, mark." yuta spoke.

"are you fucking blind?! haven't you noticed how much jaehyun's bad temper got better when he and taeyong got together?!" mark yelled. "and yuta's habit to finish every alcohol bottle?! do you think he would still be alive if it wasn't for sicheng preventing him to do those things?!"

the boys stayed silent.

jaehyun would gladly have jumped on mark and beat the shit out of him just to prove him wrong, but taeyong had his hand around jaehyun's arm to prevent him from doing anything bad.

the facts were here.

mark was right.

from the beginning to the end.

"i don't see why i couldn't be tamed by my boyfriend. he's making me happy in a way nobody did before." mark said, more calmly. "you are my friends. you are supposed to be happy for me and support me in my decisions. not badmouth my boyfriend when he's standing just there."

a few boys gave a glance to donghyuck who was crying silently, head hung low in taeil's embrace.

"i love a nerd, and what if i do? nothing can get in the way of love." mark finished.

he turned around, walking to his boyfriend and pulling it from taeil's arms after thanking him.

he wiped his tears away and kissed him fully on the lips before giving one last glance to his friends who were silently thinking.

"let's go back to your house, baby." mark said, quickly putting his and donghyuck's helmets and starting his engine, disappearing in the night.