"and... great one guys. okay we'll keep practicing for a while. let's just have a quick break." the choreographer announced, allowing the seven members of nct dream to breathe for a second and drink refreshing water.

they were training hard for their new album, glitch mode, which was supposed to be released at the end of march. they only had two months and a half left to train, which was a short period of time.

"oh god... this choreo is so hard..." donghyuck whined, leaning against the wall while taking sips of water.

"we've done harder." jisung shrugged.

"shut up you dancer. no everyone has the talent you have." donghyuck pointed an accusing finger at his groupmate, making the other six boys laugh – well, actually five, because chenle was standing further away, in front of the mirror.

jisung looked at his friend for a while, smiling when he saw the boy revising a certain part of the choreography over and over again. but after a few tries, jisung noticed that chenle's neutral expression had been replaced by a frown, and that this one soon morphed into sadness when he failed to do the moves correctly.

just as he was about to step in to help, chenle ran out of the practice room. jisung followed him immediately until both of them were in the bathrooms.

"chenle, hey, what's happening?" jisung asked worriedly.

the chinese male turned around, facing jisung before gluing his face to the taller's chest and sobbing loudly.

"i-i'll n-never m-make i-it..." chenle mumbled, his voice muffled by jisung's broad chest. "i-it's t-too hard..."

jisung – who had been frozen since chenle jumped onto him – allowed his hands to wrap slowly around chenle's body, rubbing a comforting hand on his nape while holding him close.

"shh, don't cry, chenle..." he whispered. "what nonsense are you saying?"

"i-i c-can't d-dance..." the older continued crying loudly, his fists gripping on jisung's shirt.

"of course, you can chenle, you're amazing at dancing." jisung replied immediately, meaning each of his words.

"i-i c-can't d-do the c-choreography..." chenle protested. "a-and the c-comeback is i-in two months..."

jisung sighed, holding chenle tighter against him, hoping that the embrace would help him calm down. "hey, chenle, don't be so harsh on yourself. you know the choreography..."

"n-not t-that p-part..." he shook his head against jisung's chest, his tears leaving wet lines on the other's shirt, but jisung couldn't care less.

"chenle, look at me."

the chinese male shook his head again, keeping his face hidden in jisung's chest. but the younger boy was stronger, and he was the one to step back, cupping chenle's cheeks with his hands and tilting his head upwards to that they were looking at each other.

he found it heart-breaking to stare into chenle's teary eyes.

now, it wasn't the first time he stared at crying orbs. jisung had had to deal with people pleading for their life dozens of times. he had shoot crying people way too much for his own liking. and neither time had he wanted to wipe their tears away and reassure them that nothing bad would happen. he was always indifferent to their sadness, he always had, and he would always be. but it was different for chenle.

his eyes were so deep and the rivers of tears that had just escaped from there had made them so shiny... they weren't looking at jisung with the usual pity or fear the others had. they were looking up to him, as if jisung would be the one that would save him from this hell, and god, jisung wanted to be the one to save him right now. he would to anything to make it possible...

"you are amazing, chenle." jisung spoke after long seconds of staring at chenle's mesmerizing eyes – he had almost forgotten he needed to talk and help chenle feeling better because of how lost he had found himself in the deepness of his irises. "you are just very stressed right now, because the comeback is approaching, but it's normal. we're all like that. but you shouldn't think so low of yourself, because trust me, chenle, you're an amazing and talented idol."

"b-but... t-the c-choreo..." chenle mumbled, forcing to lower his head, but thankfully, jisung's hands prevented him to do so without putting much effort into the act.

"chenle." jisung spoke sternly, making the older boy look up at him. "who of you and i debuted barely two months after entering into sm?"

chenle's lips quivered as he tried preventing himself from going back to sobbing uglily in front of jisung – that boy was still his crush, and he needed to stay presentable if he wanted to have a slight change with him...

"m-me..." he said in a low voice, his eyes looking down.

"eyes up." jisung commanded, making chenle look back up into jisung's eyes. "have you ever wondered how that was possible? most idols train for years before being able to debut. it took me three years to debut after being accepted in the smrookies group. but you debuted after only two months of training... why?"

chenle bit his lip to prevent it from trembling. jisung's gaze on him was so intense, it made chenle's heart beat faster than ever.

"i-i guess i w-was good..." the sad male whispered.

"exactly." jisung nodded. "you were an amazing singer, and dancer, and you knew how to stand on a stage and perform in front of hundreds of people."

jisung almost melted as chenle looked up at him with eyes holding so much admiration and care. his eyes were so different from all the eyes of those he had killed. they were so much better...

"well, chenle, let me tell you something that you tend to forget." jisung continued speaking, his eyes never looking away from chenle's. "you still are an amazing singer and dancer, and you're so good at performing in front of all those nctzens. so, now, we're going back to this training room, and you're going to show me how amazing you are at dancing, and how this choreography is nothing impossible for you; because i know that you'll dance to it perfectly."

and that's all it took for chenle to go back to the training room and dance confidently under jisung's proud eyes, this time never missing a step.

⇄

jisung pushed the door of the dorm open, kicking his shoes off as soon as he entered and heading straight to the kitchen to grab an ice pack to put on his swollen eye.

he was at the park, where his godfather had managed to kidnap another dark danger member. long story short, he had managed to free himself while jisung was interrogating him, and this had resulted into a fight. so, jisung had had to stab him with his knife to end this chaotic situation, which had resulted in his hands being covered in blood, and his eye to have a nasty bruise because of a punch his rival had thrown him.

"jisung?!"

the mafia leader jumped as he was about to open the freezer, turning around in an instant as he reached for his blade. however, he noticed chenle standing in the middle of the kitchen with an apron tied around his waist and dough on his fingers, making him place the blade back hidden in the waistband of his jeans.

"chenle, you scared me..." the mafia leader exhaled, turning around again to grab an ice pack in the freezer.

"sorry." the chinese male giggled, shaking his hands to get rid of the dough and then facing jisung. "oh my god, your eye!" he exclaimed when he noticed the bruise that was starting to form on the boy's eye.

"yeah... it's nothing." jisung shrugged it off, wincing as he placed the ice pack right on top of it.

"nothing?!" chenle gasped. "come here, let me see."

jisung sighed, approaching his friend and pulling the ice pack away so that chenle could look at it.

the chinese male went on his tippy toes, furrowing his brows as he inspected the reddish bruise closely.

"how did you even get a black eye?" he asked with a frown, now looking at jisung.

"sassengs." jisung said simply. this honestly was the easier explanation. every idol knew that these people were ready to do anything to get close to their idols, and so, it was very likely for idols to get hurt by them if they stepped too close to these hysteric fans.

"again?! jisung, it's the third time in three weeks!"

the younger smiled at his friend sheepishly.

these past weeks hadn't been the calmest in the mafia. with dark danger attacking every now and then and trying to gain more influence than death park, jisung had to go see and help his members almost every day, and this often led to injuries. of course, they were minor injuries for jisung, bruises, small cuts and nothing severe. but when jisung got back to the dorms he knew that his friends would question him on why he was bruised from head to toe.

"jisung, this needs to stop. we need to tell the managers that they're getting uncontrollable..." chenle explained.

"it's okay. it's just a black eye, don't worry." jisung assured him.

"yeah but- "

"what were you making? cookies?" jisung cut chenle's words, changing the subject.

"yes! chocolate chip cookies! do you want to help me?" the chinese male asked happily, immediately forgetting about their previous conversation.

"i'll go wash my hands and change into more comfortable clothes, and then i'll be back, alright?"jisung asked, pressing the ice pack against his eye.

"sure, i'll wait for you!"

and so, jisung walked to his room with a sigh, placing the bloody blade back behind his desk and heading to the bathroom to clean himself from the filthy blood he had on himself.

⇄

"chenle, everything alright?"

the chinese male lifted his head, meeting eyes with a worried jeno.

"mmh." he nodded simply, looking back down at his phone and typing furiously on it.

jeno shrugged it off, turning around and heading towards the changing rooms where he was going to get dressed for the interview nct dream was about to have.

he crossed paths with jisung there, making him stop the boy who had just dressed and would surely now go and see a make-up artist.

"oh, jisung!" jeno called, making the younger turn around.

"yes, hyung?" the maknae replied.

"do you know what's going on with chenle?" the older questioned, knowing that jisung was the closest to chenle in nct dream, and that he would surely know if something was wrong.

"something's going wrong with him?" jisung asked, sounding more worried than he intended to.

jeno shrugged. "i don't know, he told me he was alright, but he seemed stressed about something on his phone."

"oh, i'll ask him about it, thanks for telling me, hyung." jisung smiled.

"no problem." jeno smiled back, patting jisung's shoulder lovingly.

the younger member headed straight to the lounge where chenle was sitting at, his eyes focused on his phone as he nibbled at the skin of his finger with his teeth.

jisung didn't need to be a mafia leader and to have had a formation on people's behaviour to understand that these gestures conveyed nervousness.

"hey, lele." jisung declared, sitting down by chenle's side, making the younger boy jump on his spot and then switch his phone off immediately.

"h-hi." chenle stuttered, giving jisung a small smile.

"what's going on?" the younger asked.

"nothing. everything's perfectly fine." chenle tried sounding as confident as possible, but this didn't fool a mafia leader. "why are you asking?"

"you look nervous." jisung informed.

"noooo, i'm not." chenle laughed nervously, looking at the people standing around the room with them.

"you would tell me if something was wrong, right?" jisung asked.

chenle looked into jisung's eyes, gulping immediately.

how could he stare deep into jisung's orbs and lie to his face? he wasn't sure he would be able to do so. he wasn't a liar. he usually expressed his feelings out loud, and he was a sucker for attention whenever he was nervous, because he wanted people to baby him and to whisper in his ear that everything would be alright.

but this time, everything was a bit different. how could he tell jisung about the message his mother had just sent him when jisung didn't even know about chenle's situation with the mafia.

"y-yeah..." chenle mumbled so low jisung barely heard him.

but jisung knew better than bugging chenle with that, so he guessed reassuring him was the only solution right now.

"okay, well, don't worry too much for today. if it's what's stressing you so much, you should relax, because it's just a quick interview, and mark will do most of the talking, so you don't have to worry."jisung assured, placing a comforting hand on chenle's shoulder, feeling the boy trembling – which weirded him out a bit, why would chenle be in this state right now? "and if something's going wrong, you can always come to me, okay? i'll always be there to help and protect you, you know?"

the chinese male looked into jisung's eyes, melting at the amount of care that was hidden deep into them.

he was dead worried for the interview, but now that jisung was close to him and had given him his little comforting speech, he felt so much better...

"jisung! make-up!" jaemin exclaimed, entering the lounge.

"yes, hyung! i'm coming!" he yelled back before giving chenle one last smile and a pat on the shoulder and leaving to the make-up rooms.

chenle let out a long sigh as soon as jisung left the room, and he opened his phone again, reading for the hundredth time the message is mother had sent him.

mr hu said that you needed to be more careful during your interview.

⇄

"please stay in line and wait for your turn!" one of the security guards announced as nctzens lined up by the tables on which the members of nct dream were sitting.

a whole week had passed since the interview, and chenle was still safe and sound. apparently, death park hadn't decided to attack.

so now, chenle was peacefully sitting between jisung and donghyuck at a fansign, waiting for the fans to pass by him to sign their albums and talk with them.

the event lasted long, and even though chenle loved interacting with his fans, he was kind of getting tired of it, and he badly wanted to lay down on a bed and sleep or watch tv. but the life of an idol wasn't always simple... sometimes, you needed to stay up late for events, and you also needed to practice very hard and smile a lot despite everything that happened... chenle found it super tiring – jisung did too, but he had other reasons.

chenle let out a cute yawn as the fan that was standing in front of him stepped aside, walking to donghyuck. the next fan in line was still talking to jisung with a bright smile and tears in her eyes. a pinch of jealousy hit chenle when he noticed the charming smile jisung was giving her. he looked so handsome, and so much boyfriend material... oh, what chenle would give to have jisung looking at him that way...

the chinese boy was so caught up in his staring session that he didn't notice the few fans that were standing a few meters away from the table, giggling excitedly as they jumped around. and he mostly didn't notice when one of them accidentally threw her album in the air, right in his direction.

yeah, his eyes were still on jisung, and he was in another dimension, imagining jisung as prince charming, saving him from his parents that kept chenle locked in a-

"CHENLE!!"

hearing his name, chenle turned around, facing the fans that had called him, and widening his eyes at the sight of an undetermined object getting closer to his face with each millisecond.

the boy did the only thing he could think about at the moment: staying frozen on his seat and closing his eyes shut the harder he could, waiting for the impact.

but it never came...

he opened an eye slowly, seeing the album centimetres away from his face, and when he opened his second eye, he noticed that the album had been stopped in his trajectory by a hand that had caught it before it could hurt chenle severely.

turning his head to the side, chenle's heart skipped a beat when he saw his saviour was jisung, and that the youngest members was looking at him with a small smile.

jisung handed back the album to the fan, warning her to be more careful next time before leaning to the side and placing his hand on chenle's thigh to whisper in in his ear.

"i told you that i'd always be here to protect you, didn't i?"

and this left chenle with red cheeks and a fast-beating heart.

⇄

jisung groaned loudly, using his pillow to hit his head repeatedly.

it was the middle of the night, he had just come back from a quick meeting with the heads of each branch of the mafia, and as weird as it sounded, he couldn't sleep.

why? he had something mind. and that something was actually someone.

zhong chenle.

jisung couldn't stop thinking about him. his cute fluffy black hair, his charming smile, his melodious voice, his mesmerising eyes... they were haunting him.

it was so weird for jisung who had been taught all his life to be emotionless to feel so much things. the problem is, because he had been immune to emotions since he was young, he couldn't even put a name on what he felt.

anyway, he knew that this was bad.

recently, jisung had found himself looking forwards to seeing the older chinese boy, and he would get lost in the deepness of his eyes way too much.

honestly, the feeling was pleasing, jisung enjoyed really much when his heartbeat accelerated for something else than the adrenaline of killing someone or fighting for his life. chenle was always the cause of it these days, whenever he would hug and touch jisung, or simply smile at him. it was making jisung go mad.

if jisung wanted to keep chenle safe before, he wanted it twice as more now, and this was unconsciously starting to stress him out. chenle was slowly pulling jisung away from the mafia world, because let's be honest, jisung would rather spend a whole day with chenle, hanging out at the aquarium just like they had planned to do the next day rather than killing people or running after dark danger.

and this was problematic because jisung was still the leader of death park, and his carelessness could be the cause of his death.

"god, chenle... what are you doing to me...?"