donghyuck winced as mark and him entered side by side in the club.

the doll boy felt attacked at the same time by the loud music, the flashy lights and the horrible smell of sweat, drugs and alcohol lingering in the air.

"stay close to me, i don't want to lose you!" mark exclaimed so that donghyuck could hear him despite the loud music.

donghyuck nodded, sliding one of his hands down mark's arms to intertwine his fingers with mark's.

the older boy looked back at him before glancing down at their hands, the sight warming his heart.

"that way you won't lose me!" donghyuck justified his action, as if he had done something wrong, or at least not usual – actually, he was far from imagining that mark had wanted to intertwine their hands when they entered the club, but he hadn't done so because he was too scared of donghyuck's possible rejection.

mark pulled donghyuck across the bar, turning around every now and then to make sure the boy wasn't uncomfortable there, and that no one was trying approaching him.

eventually, they passed by the bar where they found yuta admiring the bartender.

"yuta!" mark exclaimed.

"oh, mark! donghyuck!" yuta exclaimed, wrapping both boys in a quick hug. "i'm glad you guys came! and woah, you look hot donghyuck!"

"thanks..." donghyuck smiled, doing a swirl to show his outfit.

mark had lent him a pair of ripped jeans that he had paired with simple white sneakers and one of mark's oversized shirts that he had tied in a knot above his bellybutton.

mark looked around while donghyuck showed his outfit to make sure no one was checking out what was his – well, technically, donghyuck wasn't his, but mark was just trying to protect him.

"gorgeous, donghyuck!" yuta whistled while passing a hand through his mid-long red hair.

"hey!" mark slapped yuta's arm.

"chill, i'm not stealing him. i'm loyal to sicheng." yuta rolled his eyes before giving a glance to the bartender. "anyway, the others are waiting for you. mark, go buy some drinks for donghyuck and you. i'll bring donghyuck to the boys."

"i can bring him- "

"go and buy some drinks, mark." yuta pushed him. "come with me, hyuck?"

"sure." the doll nodded with a smile.

mark stared at him. "stay safe, okay? i'll be back right away."

mark looked worriedly as donghyuck got dragged away from him by yuta.

not that he didn't trust yuta, but he knew that inside the club, yuta was a totally different person.

mark shrugged it off as he approached the bar.

"what can i get for you?" yuta's crush appeared in front of him.

"huh... a moscow mule and an aperol spritz." mark said.

"coming right up!"

mark looked at sicheng's back while the boy prepared the two cocktails ordered by mark.

he didn't quite understand how yuta had ended up being this obsessed by sicheng when they had never exchanged other words than orders at the bar.

sicheng was in their school, but yuta had never tried approaching him. he was only watching him from afar, and imagining himself and sicheng's perfect love story while nothing was happening.

"here." sicheng placed the two glasses in front of mark.

"great. how much are they?" mark asked, pulling his wallet out.

"i don't want cash." sicheng informed, leaning over the bar to get closer to mark.

"huh... well, by card then..." mark's brows furrowed.

"i don't want that either." sicheng shook his head.

"well, how can i pay you, then?"

"by giving me your friend's number?"

mark almost choked on his saliva at sicheng's words.

"w-which friend?" he asked nervously, hoping sicheng wasn't talking about someone other than yuta – or the japanese would be devastaded. and heck, he really hoped that sicheng wasn't talking about donghyuck, because if he was, mark would be ready to just punch him in the face.

"the handsome one. with red hair." sicheng told. "he's always looking at me. here, and at school too."

mark let out a sigh of relief as he pulled his phone out.

"his name is yuta." he informed. "here." he added showing sicheng yuta's contact number.

"thank you so much." the bartender said while copying the number on his phone.

"i don't know when you finish your shift, but i'm sure he'd be happy if you could join us tonight." mark told.

"really?"

"yeah. he's quite... obsessed?" mark shrugged. "he'd love it if you could actually talk to him for something else than ordering drinks."

"i can ask my boss to finish early." sicheng nodded.

"great then. we're usually staying over there." mark pointed at a corner of the nightclub. "find us here whenever you're done with your work."

"thanks a lot, i will." sicheng smiled happily.

"no problem." mark smiled back, taking the two brewages he had ordered and walking towards his friends.

"mark! here you are!" ten exclaimed as soon as he saw mark approaching with two drinks in hand.

"yeah, i am." he replied. "here, hyuck." mark handed donghyuck the spritz.

"thanks!" donghyuck immediately drank the orange bitter liquid.

"woah, slow it down a bit, you're going to get drunk." johnny pulled the drink from donghyuck's hand.

"come on john, let him get drunk!" taeyong rolled his eyes. "tonight, is the last party night before going back to school. we need to celebrate!"

🎀

"god, my feet are hurting..." mark declared, plopping on the dirty couch, almost sitting on jaehyun – his mind was clouded by alcohol, making his aim way worse than usual.

"everybody's feet are hurting mark." doyoung rolled his eyes, glancing at his boyfriend who was currently dancing drunkenly next to donghyuck on the dancefloor.

they had been in there for around two hours, and most of them were completely drunk by now, not being disturbed anymore by the flashing lights, or the nasty smell.

"taeyong is so drunk right now..." ten declared, looking at their friend swaying from left to right with each step he took. "at that point he could finish the night with anyone with long hair..."

doyoung chuckled at that. "true..." he said, his eyes glancing at taeyong before looking in ten's direction.

the two boys held their eye-contact for long seconds as if they were silently communicating.

"oh, no... don't tell me..." doyoung gasped.

"10,000 won one of us can end up making out with him." ten smirked, looking at the three other boys sitting next to him – doyoung, jaehyun and mark.

"we don't even have long hair!" doyoung rolled his eyes.

"i heard they had some at the bar. they kept it after the hippie-themed party of last thursday." mark informed; his eyes glued on donghyuck who was dancing drunkenly next to his friends.

"great. so, who's making out with taeyong?" ten asked.

"neither you, nor me." doyoung told. "we both have boyfriends who could kill us if we did that."

"jaehyun doesn't." mark declared, catching the attention of the three boys.

"huh?!" jaehyun woke up from his trance.

"jaehyun is bulkier than taeyong. that won't work." ten explained.

"but as you said before, taeyong is really drunk..."

mark, doyoung and ten's eyes fell on taeyong's figure, looking at how he was holding onto everyone around to stay in a standing position.

he did seem very drunk... but still...

"50,000 won jaehyun can end up making out with taeyong." mark smirked.

"it's on!" ten declared immediately.

"i didn't agree for this!" jaehyun protested.

"but you didn't disagree either." mark elbowed him. "and we all know you'd love to do that."

"it's taking advantage of him." jaehyun continued.

"it's making him realise he's not as straight as he thinks he is." doyoung informed. "plus, you're drunk as well, meaning you don't know what you are doing. so, no one is to blame. just the alcohol."

jaehyun sighed, giving a last glance at his crush. "okay, i'm going."

"yesss!!!" both doyoung and ten exclaimed.

🎀

mark woke up with a pounding headache and his stomach feeling funny, and if that wasn't enough, he realised he had no idea where he was when he opened his eyes.

he was in a bedroom, his body tangled with another tanned one, and both were still wearing their clothes, which was a relief for mark.

after a few minutes of observation, mark realised he was in a hotel, surely because he hadn't had the courage to go back all the way to his house from the club.

"oh, fuck." mark exclaimed as he felt he was about to throw up.

the 18-year-old was quick to jump out of the bed and run to the bathroom to empty the content of his stomach in the toilet bowl.

mark coughed loudly, another wave of nausea hitting him as he let out everything that needed to get out of his body.

during the intense seconds he spent bent over the toilet as he vomited, flashes of the night before appeared through his mind and made him remember some parts of his night.

mark coughed one last time before flushing the toilet and rinsing his mouth.

he hated hangovers – who didn't anyway?

the boy walked back towards the bedroom as he recalled how yuta had been pinning sicheng to a wall while both of them were making out the night before. he definitely didn't need to recall that. he was sure way more important things had happened and were worth remembering.

stepping into the bedroom, mark caught a glimpse of donghyuck waking up, and this was enough to make him remember what had happened just before both of them had fallen asleep.

he could hear donghyuck's drunken voice replaying in his mind, as if he was reviving the scene of the night before.

don't call me beautiful! she is going to come back again!

she's a bad witch!

she transformed me into a doll because she was jealous i attracted boys and she didn't!

she didn't want me to ever find love!

because of her, i have no one. no one loves me.

i go from child to child.

and their parents throw me away when they realise the freak i am.

i will never find love.

and all of this because i'm beautiful.

mark gasped, feeling as if he had completely sobered by now.

his eyes fell on donghyuck's figure again. the boy was now fully awake.

"d-donghyuck..." mark whispered, approaching the puffy-eyed-boy lying on the bed – his eyes were still red because of his long crying session of the night before. "donghyuck, we need to talk."

and just as mark said that, donghyuck's eyes widened, and he left the room in a snap of fingers, new tears rolling down his cheeks.