"damn, i have the worst headache..." jaehyun groaned as he placed his head on mark's shoulder while their group of friends were having lunch at the canteen.

"not surprising." mark swallowed the food he had in his mouth. "you seemed pretty wasted yesterday..."

"yeah, i drank a bit too much..." jaehyun sighed.

"yesterday?" taeyong raised a brow, not recalling doing anything special the night before.

"you hung out without us?" yuta added, as surprised as taeyong.

"we wanted to hang out, between lonely boys." mark explained.

"why lonely?" doyoung asked.

"we're the only two people in this group without a lover or anything." jaehyun mumbled, his eyes closed as he rested.

"i don't have a lover." jungwoo scoffed.

"yet." mark said. "lucas and you are getting closer."

"i don't- "

"you're basically so gay for the club's bartender." jaehyun opened one eye to look at yuta who was about to talk.

"not false." yuta nodded, going back to eating his food.

"i do not have a lover. i could have come with you."

both mark and jaehyun lifted their heads to look at taeyong in the eye.

the boy had just spoken, and he was now smiling brightly at them.

"i thought you had a girlfriend." mark asked with a brow raised.

"me? no, i don't." taeyong shook his head.

"i saw you visiting a girl's mouth with your tongue yesterday." mark continued further.

"who? seulgi? nah, we were just playing." taeyong rolled his eyes.

"very fun game..." jaehyun snorted, keeping his voice low.

"anyway, you could have invited me too." taeyong crossed his arms over his chest. "i want to go to the club too."

"yeah, well, you wouldn't have liked it." mark told, trying to make the boy understand that they weren't in a heterosexual club.

"come on... i always have fun in clubs!" taeyong exclaimed.

"not in gay ones." jaehyun cut the conversation short, setting place to a silence.

taeyong's eyes had widened at the sudden reveal, and all the boys around the table exchanged stares.

"well, well, well. tension is in the air..." johnny whistled, breaking the ice.

"shut it." ten lightly slapped the back of johnny's hand.

"you were in a gay club?" taeyong spoke after a while, his eyes widened. "why?"

"to find someone to spend a pleasant night with. why else?" jaehyun argued with an eye-roll.

"why weren't you in a regular club then?" taeyong's brows furrowed.

"because i prefer men." jaehyun continued.

"and? there are lots of men in heterosexual clubs."

"yeah, but they're not gay." jaehyun deadpanned.

"i don't see the problems. i'm sure you would have found one who would have agreed to do it with a boy just for a one-night stand." taeyong shrugged. "and this way i would have been able to come with you."

"you don't understand that we're not all searching for one-night stands. some of us are actually trying to find someone to settle with." jaehyun stated, his tone getting harsher and his voice getting louder.

"jaehyun..." mark tried calming his friend.

"are you criticizing me?" taeyong scoffed, his voice getting harsher as well.

"i'm just spitting facts." jaehyun growled.

"then make sure they're accurate. if i only find one-night stands, it's because no one wants to settle with me. if only i could, i would try to settle with someone. it's just that nobody wants me that way."taeyong spat.

jaehyun let out a laugh at the words that left his crush' mouth. "well, open your eyes. and then maybe you'll realise that some people would actually love settling with you." he told before standing up. "mark, come with me. i need to ask something to the student office."

without trying to worsen things, mark nodded, standing up as well and taking his tray to follow jaehyun who had already left.

around the table, the group of friends were all bewildered at what had just happened. taeyong seemed to be shocked too.

"oof... this was even wilder than a cat fight." johnny breathed out.

"stop it with your snarky remarks, will you?" ten rolled his eyes.

"but no joke, it was wild." yuta nodded. "you're right, yong?"

the boys all turned towards taeyong who seemed to be in an existential crisis.

"who the hell would want to settle with me?" he asked himself out loud.

🎀

"jaehyun!" mark exclaimed as he ran towards the tall figure crossing the hallway at a high speed. "slow down!"

"sorry." the boy sighed as he allowed mark to catch up with him.

"thanks." mark panted. "what was that?"

"nothing... sometimes i just want to knock some sense into him." jaehyun told. "or even just kiss him to shut him up and voice out all of my feelings. but let's be real, this will never happen."

"come on, it can happen! you just have to- "

"pleae, mark." jaehyun cut him. "i don't want to talk about him anymore."

"but- "

"no. no taeyong. not for the moment." jaehyun said sternly.

"okay..." mark nodded, understanding how hard it could be for his friend to deal with this matter.

the two boys continued crossing the hallway, until jaehyun stopped abruptly.

"oh my! i completely forgot to ask you!" he exclaimed, almost scaring mark at his enthusiasm.

"huh... yeah?" mark raised a brow.

"how was it with your boy from last night?!" jaehyun yelled, making half of the people in the corridor turn towards them.

"h-huh..." mark looked nervously at the people that was staring at him. "did you have to yell it like that?"

"no, sorry." jaehyun coughed. "but i want to know!! so, did you finally lose your virginity?!"

"no!" mark whisper-shouted, his cheeks flushed. "why are you so obsessed with that?!"

"come on! he looked so cute, and charming too. i bet he would have been the perfect bottom for you!"jaehyun continued spitting nonsense.

mark's cheeks became crimson at jaehyun's words.

inevitably, the boy couldn't help himself, and he imagined the doll-boy under him, in a bed while the two of them were passionately enlaced.

as soon as he realised what he was thinking about, he slapped his own cheek to make these images disappear of his mind.

"it's absolutely not like that!" mark squeaked. "i won't have sex with donghyuck!"

"ooh! donghyuck! that's his name? pretty name for a pretty boy..." jaehyun wiggled his brows. "and this would be a hot name to moan while having- "

"will you ever stop?!" mark cut jaehyun's speech as his mind decided to imagine that scene happening, making him flush even redder than he already was.

"come on, i'm joking." jaehyun rolled his eyes with a laugh. "anyway, did you get his number or anything? maybe you could see each other again and get to know each other before... you know?"

"yeah, sure." mark sighed. "we'll get to know each other."

"perfect then. and make sure to introduce him to me when you'll decide to go one step further."jaehyun teased with a wink.

mark glared at him, hitting his shoulder.

but despite acting like an angry moose, mark was actually asking himself if him and donghyuck would get closer. and also, if one day, he will have the opportunity to introduce him to his friends...

🎀

"mom! i'm back!" mark yelled, kicking his shoes as soon as he stepped inside his house.

the weather was quite cold inside, and he was happy to finally get inside, where the heater had been warming up the room.

"hello markie!" she exclaimed, hopping to her son to peck his cheek.

mark didn't argue when she used this nickname neither did he question her bubbly behaviour.

however, when she took a few steps back, mark noticed that she was wearing a silk shirt, one that she wore only for special occasions. and she also noticed the reddish shade on her eyes – the same one donghyuck had been applying on his eyes the first day mark and him met.

"mom?" he asked, quite surprised. "why are you dressed-up?"

"well..." his mother smiled widely. "jaesun and his son are coming to have dinner with us, so that you can finally meet each other!"