mark quickly wore his trousers before dashing out of the hotel room him and donghyuck had crashed at for the night.

why had donghyuck run away like that when all mark had said was 'we need to talk'?

in fact, they really needed to talk.

mark wanted to know more about donghyuck, and all those things he had said the night before.

the 18-year-old could remember bits of their conversation, but he wasn't even sure he recalled everything perfectly. and he wasn't sure that what had been said was entirely true either. both him and donghyuck were so drunk yesterday...

"donghyuck?!" mark yelled when he got into the lobby, looking around for a mop of pink hair.

the people around stared at him weirdly. i mean, who wouldn't when facing a messy teenager, with his trousers unbuttoned and his shirt inside out while he screamed 'donghyuck'?

seeing no donghyuck around, mark ran to the front desk, slamming both hands on the wooden counter.

"have you seen a teenager, pink hair, tanned skin, moles everywhere, goes by the name donghyuck?"he asked quickly, making the receptionist take a few steps back.

"no." she replied, keeping her distances.

"fuck..." mark muttered, turning around and finding a couple walking hand in hand.

"have you seen donghyuck?" he asked them, startling the lady. "he's a bit shorter than me, with pink hair, and he's beautiful. have you seen him?"

"n-no, sorry..." the man replied, eying mark strangely.

"fuck, fuck, fuck..." mark groaned, walking to the doors of the hotel.

"DONGHYUCK?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" he screamed, catching two whole street's attention. the city became silent for a few seconds while everybody processed what was happening.

mark looked at his surroundings, ignoring the chattering of the people around, mumbling things like 'this boy is crazy' or 'call the police'. mark was in too much of a distress right now.

where could donghyuck have gone?

why had he left him with tears in his eyes?

mark wanted answers.

"DONGHYUCK!!!" he screamed again, falling to his knees on the dirty pavement as he started crying.

he looked more miserable than he had never had, lying in the middle of the street while he bawled his eyes out.

it seemed like the whole world was against him.

his head was killing him, and he felt nauseous once again, but not because of alcohol this time, it was simply because of stress and fear. the fear of never seeing the boy he had helplessly fallen in love with... his donghyuck... his baby doll...

🎀

"mister mark lee. 18 years old. goes to college here and lives with his mother and sister. what do you have to say about all of this...?"

mark stared as the police officer through his teary eyes.

his unusual behaviour had been reported to the police, and so, he was fetched in front of the hotel by a police car, and brought to a police station. he was now seated on a chair facing a police officer after having pissed on a plastic goblet. and the best part was that he was now handcuffed to the chair.

"i-i... w-where is donghyuck...?" he mumbled, tears escaping his eyes.

"look, kid." the policeman sighed. "i can help you find your donghyuck. but first, i need an explanation on why you reek of alcohol, drugs and vomit, and also why you were causing a scene at the hotel a while ago."

mark swallowed the lump in his throat as he nodded slowly.

"yesterday night, me and my friends went to the club, because it's the last day we could party before school starts again. i brought donghyuck with me." mark explained. "then, it was a typical club party... we drank a lot, and we eventually got drunk. and when it was time to go back home, donghyuck and i were too tired to go back all the way to my house, so... we stayed at an hotel. and when i woke up this morning, he left me and disappeared... and i don't know where he went..." mark started crying loudly again.

"okay, well..." the officer typed everything in his computer. "this makes sense, i guess." he added. "now, tell me more about donghyuck."

"he's a boy, with faded pink hair, and tanned skin, and moles everywhere. he's the most beautiful person to exist." mark explained dreamily.

"could you give me other details about him? like... how he was dressed, for example?" the officer asked.

"he was wearing black ripped jeans, and... and one of my shirts too." mark told. "he's a bit shorter than me, and younger too. he's only 17. and... and he's amazing, and so pretty... just like a doll... he's just perfect, you know...?" mark stared at nothing while his heart warmed up at thoughts of the beautiful doll. "b-but now... he's alone in the wild..." mark continued, going back to crying. "we need to find him! he'll lose himself! he doesn't know the city like i do! something bad could happen to him! oh my god! he's going to die because of me..."

the officer stared at mark with furrowed brows, seriously wondering what was going on inside his head. anyway, he had a job to do, so might as well do it.

"okay, give me the boy's full name." the officer said.

"d-donghyuck." mark sniffled.

"donghyuck what? what's his surname?"

mark blinked. what was donghyuck's surname? he had absolutely no clue...

"what is donghyuck's surname?" the officer repeated.

"i-i... i d-don't know..." mark sobbed.

"okay, well... he's your friend, right?"

"no- well, yes, he is but..." mark sighed. "but i love him you know?"

"okay, so..." the policeman looked at his computer. "can you at least tell me where he lives? we could try sending someone at his house to see if he's there."

mark realised this was useless once again. "h-he lives with me... at my house..."

the policeman frowned, clicking on mark's address.

"the only people reported as living in your house are jane lee, mark lee, and maria lee." he explained. "is donghyuck one of those?"

"n-no..." mark hiccuped.

"and don't you have his number or something we could use to try and reach him?" the policeman continued asking.

"h-he doesn't have a phone..." mark explained. "he d-doesn't need one... he's always with m-me..." he told, new tears escaping his tired eyes as he started sobbing once again.

the police officer looked at mark pitifully.

it seemed like the boy was on drugs or something. yeah, he was surely having hallucinations because he wasn't in his right mind.

this was the only valid explanation on why he was crying over an imaginary friend.

"excuse me."

the officer lifted his head, seeing one of his colleagues at the door.

"we have the results for the drug tests." she said.

"what do they say?" the officer asked, already expecting to get a long list of drugs present in the boy's metabolism.

"no drugs." she replied. "he's clean. and he has some alcohol in his urine, but not in his blood anymore. so, he's not drunk either."

"w-well... thanks." the officer replied perplex as his co-worker left.

the policeman gave a last glance to the miserable teenager crying cuffed to the chair.

it seemed that he had huge psychologic problems, and this was nothing any policeman could cure.

so, what was there left to do...? right, nothing. just bringing him back home, and advising his mother to buy him psychologist sessions.

"mark, we're done for now. my colleague will bring you back to your house." the officer stated.

"b-but donghyuck?" mark sniffled. "have you found him?"

"i haven't, but i'm sure if you search deep enough in your mind, you'll be able to find him." he explained.

🎀

"damn, it hurts!" taeyong whined as he sat at his desk to prepare his schoolbag for the next morning.

it was now evening, and taeyong had decided he would order his room and make sure everything was ready for the next day.

he could have done it before, but his butt hurt too much to move, so, since jaehyun had left, he had been lying on his stomach on his sofa while watching cartoons on tv and thinking about the person he had spent the night with, having divinely good sex. he really wondered who that could be, and who could treat him with this much care and cautiousness... this was how taeyong dreamt of being treated... if only he could find them again...

anyway, now, it was getting late, and sore butt or not, he needed to order his messy room and prepare his stuff for school.

so, that's what he was doing right now, making sure the right copybooks were in his bag, and checking that nothing was missing inside his pencil case.

when this was done, he moved to cleaning his desk. he threw all the draft papers he found there, making sure they weren't important before crumpling them in a ball and throwing them into the bin at the other side of the room as if he was a basket player – sadly, he wasn't, so, more than half of the drafts ended up on the floor, next to the bin.

taeyogn also found clothes on his desk. a shirt he had worn a few days ago. a pair of bokers that had a hole in them. some socks that – judging by the smell – had already been worn too. and finally, a sweater that taeyong didn't remember owning – he wondered for a quick second if it couldn't be the property of the person he had had the best night ever with, but he shrugged it off, because there was no way they could have left this sweater there.

taeyong examined the piece of clothing, finding it a bit too big for him – or perfect if he wanted an oversize fit. from there, it looked like it was clean, and the fabric wasn't even that crumpled.

anyway, taeyong still approached the item from his nose to smell it and decide whether he would need to put it in the dirty laundry basket or in his cupboard.

as soon as his nose touched the fabric, taeyong was met with a familiar intoxicating scent. the sweater smelled manly, but don't get him wrong. it wasn't man's perfume. it simply smelled like men, and not any man... it smelled like jaehyun.

taeyong could recognize jaehyun's smell among ten thousand other smells... his smell was so distinct from others. it was musky, but with much sweeter undertones... it was a mesmerizing scent that taeyoung could never get enough of.

"mmh..." taeyong hummed as he inhaled the delicious odour that emitted from the sweater. and he didn't need to think twice, taeyong was quick to pull the fabric over his head, and let himself being hugged by the softness of the material while he was in a jaehyun-smelling paradise.

after this quick smelling break, taeyong finished ordering his desk, smiling proudly at his job.

last thing now, he still needed to get inside the bin all of the draft papers he had missed during his basketball shots.

his mind kept wandering to the mysterious person that had made him feel so good last night.

something felt weird about it, because the more he thought about this person and the way they had treated him, the more he was actually starting to feel a fuzzy feeling in his stomach at the thought of them meeting again and replaying last night's events. this couldn't mean he was starting to develop feelings for someone he didn't even know, or could it?

anyway, taeyong ignored his lovesick mind, bending forwards to collect the dozens of crumpled papers form the floor and placing them into the bin, making sure that none of them fell outside this time.

however, as he was throwing them in there, he noticed something that looked like hair inside his bin, and more particularly blonde hair.

with a frown, taeyong dug his hand inside the trashcan and pulled out this mysterious mop of hair. taeyong stared confusedly at the blonde wig he held, wondering how this could have ended up in here when he had never even had a hippie wig.

but then, flashes of the night prior clouded his mind – here goes his heart once again...

they were not that clear, and taeyong couldn't really recreate the whole scene, but there was enough for him to remember he had made out with someone with similar blonde hair.

and yeah, they were also enough for him to remember pulling this wig away to reveal a short-haired brunet that he still couldn't identify. at that point, he realised that long or short hair, this person had treated him so well that it didn't matter anymore, they were who taeyong wanted. he didn't care anymore about their height, their age, their preferences... it was them. them. them. and only them.

the scenes in his mind started to get clearer as taeyong's heart beat in excitation. was he about to know with whom he had spent the night?

the boy even leaned back on his bed, closing his eyes to make sure to get fully immersed in last night's events.

taeyong could remember limbs entangling in the sheets, and sweaty bodies rubbing together.

the simple thought of it was arousing.

he recalled his body shaking of pleasure, as the person above him did wonders to him.

he recalled catching a glance of the photo frame on his wall, the one with jaehyun, a picture both of them had taken when taeyong had brought him to his first concert ever.

he recalled himself moaning loudly and making uncoherent sounds.

and he recalled himself breathing out jaehyun's name as he came.

wait-

"JAEHYUN?!" taeyong gasped loudly as he sat up, feeling his butt hurting at the sudden move.

taeyong couldn't believe it.

what the hell? how could he moan jaehyun's name while having sex with someone?

how could he have spent such a good night with someone if he had spent the night moaning another person's name?

and how had he been able to look at the picture of jaehyun and himself while having sex? did that mean he had had sex in his bedroom?

but anyway, why had he looked at this picture WHILE having sex?

taeyong hit his temples with his hands, forcing himself to remember further.

his memories of the night before came back.

he saw the sweaty bodies again.

he saw the frame on his wall.

and soon, the face of the person that had made him feel truly loved came into view.

"OH, MY FUCK, JAEHYUN?!" taeyong yelled, his whole-body flushing. "THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE!!" he exclaimed, pulling into his hair.

yeah, this made no sense.

how could he have had sex with jaehyun?

taeong was straight. there was no way he would have done it with a boy.

and jaehyun and him were friends. nothing ambiguous.

but his memories were much clearer now...

it was jaehyun that had approached him in the bar wearing that wig... but it was taeyogn that had initiated the first kiss.

it was jaehyun that had responded to the kiss... but it was taeyong that had brought everything a step further by gluing their bodies.

it was jaehyun that had brought taeyong back home safely... but it was taeyong that had insisted for him to stay.

it was jaehyun who had tired putting him to bed... but it was taeyong who had pulled the wig away and ignited a fire in both their bodies.

it was jaehyun who had made love to him, making sure that everything was perfect, and that taeyong felt loved... but it was taeyong that had loved every second of it to the point he couldn't stop thinking about it now.

it was jaehyun who had taken care of him and listened to his rant in the morning... but it was taeyong who had fallen for this perfect person... and that perfect person was none other than jung jaehyun.

"oh, my fucking god..." taeyong swore. "i need to call ten. he'll know what to do. yeah. definitely."

taeyong dialled the boy's number, letting out a huge sigh of relief when his friend answered the phone.

"what do you need? my head is hurting like hell..." ten groaned on the other side of the line.

"look ten, this is very important and... please, don't think i'm weird, and don't hate me or jaehyun for this but..." taeyong rambled.

"oh my god you made out with jaehyun?!" ten exclaimed, making taeyong frown.

"h-huh... yeah. how do you even know that?"

"god damn, mark is good!" ten muttered. "it's nothing don't worry. so, what? how was making out?"

"well..." taeyong bit his lip. "i mean... it was great, but that's not what i wanted to tell you..."

"what do you want to tell me then?"

"huh... well... jaehyun and i... we kinda... like... you know...?" taeyong mumbled nervously.

"no, i don't know." ten sighed, and taeyong could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "and speak louder, i can't hear you."

"jaehyun and i had sex." taeyong said in one go, his eyes closing while waiting for ten's reply.

"you guys had WHAT?!" ten yelled, making taeyong wince.

"sex..." taeyong whispered.

"oh my god, this is so much better than i expected." ten laughed.

taeyong groaned. "this is not funny, like, at all." he said. "the worst part is that i liked it. i loved how he took care of me, i love how he was gentle but rough at the same time, i loved how he was always asking me if it was too much, and i loved when- "

taeyong's brows furrowed for a nick of time.

the person he had had sex with had told him that he had been in love with him for long.

he had told him that taeyong was worth waiting.

he had told him that he would like to be with taeyong forever.

did this mean that jaehyun loved him?

oh my god, yes, it did.

"so... you know that he loves you now?" ten asked.

"you knew?!" taeyong asked, surprised.

"everybody knew. you were the only oblivious one. it was clear that jaehyun was in love with you. anyone could see it by looking at how he treated you like you were the most precious thing in his life."ten explained.

then taeyong thought about it.

it is true that jaehyun had never treated him like he treated the others.

it is true that jaehyun had always made him feel special.

it is true that jaehyun had always been his comfort zone.

and he had never realised that...

"i was such a dick to him..." taeyong mumbled.

"yeah, well... now you know... so, if you don't return his feelings, just try being nice, because the way you act often hurts him. particularly when you change girlfriend every week or have sex with random girls." ten told. "i'm not asking you to stop. i just think you shouldn't talk openly about that when jaehyun is around..."

taeyong stared at the frame on the wall, his heartbeat accelerating as he looked at jaehyun smiling while one of his arms was wrapped around taeyong's shoulders.

the thing is, taeyong didn't want to have sex with anyone now.

yesterday's sex had been so amazing... the whole night had been so amazing.

he had felt truly loved. and this was what he wanted to feel.

he had fallen for it, even before knowing this was jaehyun.

"i-i... i don't want to be with random girls anymore..." taeyong gulped.

"what do you mean?" ten asked.

"yesterday was so intense, i... t-this is what i want... jaehyun makes me feel the way i've always wanted to feel..." taeyong admitted.

"so, you fell in love with him?" ten gasped in ralisation.

"i'm straight ten... i-i... i like girls... i can't fall in love with him..." taeyong stated, not realising that tears had started rolling down his cheeks.

"look sometimes you don't fall in love for the gender... sometimes you fall in love for the person... and that's what happened to you" ten explained wisely. "you don't like boys, but you like jaehyun."

"b-but he's a boy..." taeyong sniffed.

"no, he's jaehyun." ten assured.

"he's a boy, ten." taeyong choked on a sob. "and i don't like boys. i'm not bisexual."

ten scoffed. "i know you're not. your pansexual. it's very different."

"what does that even mean?"

"it means that you don't like jaehun because he's a boy. and if he was a girl, you wouldn't have liked him because he was a girl" ten explained, pausing for a second. "you just like who he is. you like his insides, his soul. not his gender. and that's being pansexual."

taeyong thought about it for a while.

everything started to make sense in his mind.

it was as if he had been enlightened.

as if ten was the voice of wisdom, and that he gave taeyong a completely different perspective for him to judge everything differently.

and this seemed to be the right way to judge things. taeyong was sure of that.

"s-so... i like jaehyun."