taeyong stood in the doorway of mark's room, his arms crossed over his chest and his foot tapping the floor while he glared at the two younger boys that were now sitting on the bed, their heads lowered.

as soon as the boy had barged in on them kissing, mark and donghyuck had jumped off each other, both sitting on each end of the bed with red cheeks and slightly panting.

"t-taeyong,h-huh..." mark stuttered, not really knowing how to start.

"yes?" the idol replied sternly.

"y-your charger is h-here." mark gulped, pointing at the wire that was on his bedside table.

"i don't care about my charger, right now." taeyong declared.

"oh..."

mark shut his mouth and got back to staring at his hands. on his side, donghyuck was redder than he had ever been, not even daring to breathe because of both embarrassment and nervousness. at that point, he wasn't sure if his heart was beating so fast because he had just been kissed by mark, or if it was because taeyong had caught them.

"donghyuck." taeyong spoke after a while, making the younger boy lift his head slowly. "would you mind leaving us alone for a second?"

the tanned male didn't waste a second to nod and run out of mark's room into his own, not forgetting to slam the connecting door between his and mark's room in the way. mark's eyes followed the younger on his way out of the room, and they even lingered on the door separating them after donghyuck had slammed the door shut.

"mark lee." taeyong growled, making the younger idol face him immediately.

"y-yeah?" mark squeaked.

"what do you have to say?" taeyong raised a brow.

"w-well... h-huh... i-i... i'm g-guessing d-donghyuck and i... h-huh... we... w-we kinda l-like each other a-and... y-yeah?"

mark stopped talking nonsense as he saw taeyong's glare intensifying with each of his words.

he somehow knew he had messed up, but mark couldn't help to wonder why. why was it a problem that him and donghyuck had kissed and taeyong had seen them? taeyong couldn't be a homophobe, because he hadn't objected when donghyuck and lucas had been announced as a couple, and he was always very respectful of it. so, why was it a problem when it was mark?

"i-i though y-you said you didn't m-mind d-donghyuck and i being- "

"i don't mind." taeyong cut mark's sentence. "i really don't."

"t-then, why are you- "

"i'm not angry at you two for kissing or for having feelings for each other or whatever." taeyong cut him again. "don't stress about that. i'm happier than anything for that, actually. it's great that in the mess he found himself in, donghyuck managed to find someone that made him happy and feel better."

the canadian male's body immediately relaxed at those words. he felt kind of stupid for doubting taeyong and thinking he would have a problem with whatever their relationship was.

"wow, you scared me..." mark breathed out of relief. "i thought that- "

"i am angry at you for being a careless boy!" taeyong exclaimed, taking quick steps towards mark and pulling his ear.

"ouch!" mark exclaimed at taeyong tugged on the piece of flesh.

"do you see that?" taeyong asked, turning mark's head so that it was facing the door.

"yeah! yeah!" mark yelped in pain.

"what the hell do you see?"

"a door! a door!" mark replied. "i see a door, let go of my ear!"

taeyong sighed, releasing his grip on mark's ear as the younger rubbed the red flesh.

"now, tell me why that door wasn't locked if you two were about to have some funny time!" the older member asked, crossing his arms over his chest again.

"we weren't about to have some funny time!" mark denied, his cheeks flushing red.

"try explaining that to the sasseng that comes here unannounced." taeyong scoffed. "you've been taught to always lock your door, and i know we don't really have this policy applied, but you need to respect it when you're alone with donghyuck."

lowering his head again, mark nodded slowly, realising the mistake he had made.

taeyong let out another sigh, taking a sit on the bed by mark's side.

"look, i'm sorry i scolded you like that and everything, but you have to understand that you did something wrong..." the older boy explained.

"yeah, i'm aware now. i guess i didn't think about it before..." mark replied.

"i'm happy that you and donghyuck are together or whatever, but please don't forget that to others, donghyuck is still lucas' boyfriend, and i can't imagine how bad thigns could be if someone came to learn that donghyuck and lucas' relationship was all an act and that he was your boyfriend instead."taeyong continued.

"yeah, that would be very bad..."

"you guys are lucky that i'm the one who walked in on you two. i believe the others wouldn't have made a fuss about it, but if it had been the manager or even a sasseng, you two would have been in big trouble."

mark couldn't not agree with taeyong.

he was already imagining the disaster that could have happened if his manager had walked in on them. he would have surely pulled them away from each other before cursing at them. donghyuck would also have received special mean treatment because he would be blamed on everything that happened, and messing up with things even more.

and worse, if a sasseng had seen them, this all could have led to pictures of them all over the internet, people considering donghyuck for a cheater and mark for an asshole, and then lots of hate comments would have been directed to them, thus making the group lose its fame.

thank god it had been taeyong.

"i'm sorry for my mistake." mark apologised. "i promise i'll be more careful in the future."

"i hope you will." taeyong patted mark's shoulder. "and i'm sorry too for yelling at you."

"no, it's normal. i hadn't realised the problem before, but you kind of opened my eyes on the problem, so thanks for that." mark smiled sincerely.

"good then." taeyong smiled back. "by the way, i think i kind of scared donghyuck, so you'll have to tell him i meant no harm."

mark chuckled. "yeah, i will."

taeyong smiled at his younger member, pulling him in a side hug.

"so, you guys are together?" he asked with a smirk.

"i'm not entirely sure..." mark frowned.

"how can you not be?" taeyong laughed. "didn't you ask him to be your boyfriend?"

"no, i didn't yet." mark shook his head.

"how come you two were involved in a make out session then?" taeyong raised a teasing brow.

"it wasn't a make out session!" mark squeaked, hitting taeyong's arm lightly. "it was just a sweet loving kiss, nothing extravagant."

"well, then, how come you two were involved in a 'sweet loving kiss'?"

mark let his thoughts wander to a few minutes before, mentally reviving the wonderful scene him and donghyuck had lived.

he recalled donghyuck looking ravishingly beautiful wearing only mark's lucky charm sweater, and mark telling him how gorgeous he looked with it. then donghyuck's words on how he was confused because of how mark treated him, and finally, mark admitting that he wanted to be donghyuck's boyfriend. but could this be considered the question? and could the fact donghyuck respond to the kiss shyly be considered as a positive answer?

"woah, okay, sorry i asked." taeyong laughed loudly.

"what?" mark asked confusedly, seeing his older member laughing his ass off.

"you look like a lovestruck teenage girl, some drool even fell on your trousers." taeyong pointed at a wet splotch on mark's trousers.

"oh, shit." mark wiped his mouth and his trousers.

"you know what? just go and ask him to be your boyfriend, and live your boyfriend life peacefully in secret." taeyong continued. "make sure to be careful and not to get caught. i won't tell anything to anyone, but you guys can consider telling the others if you want to stress a bit less about being caught. i'm sure they wouldn't mind it."

"i'll try asking him out then. and if he says yes, we'll see how we deal with it." mark replied, making taeyong nod.

"well, it's getting late, and we have a concert tomorrow." taeyong declared before standing up and stretching his body. "now, give me my charger because my phone is dead and this was the original purpose of my visit."

"sure, there it it." mark handed taeyong the white wire that his member had lent him a while ago.

"thanks. good night." taeyong waved at mark as he walked towards the door. "and good luck with donghyuck."

"thanks." mark flushed red. "good night."

taeyong was out of the room in a matter of seconds, and so, mark hurriedly walked to the door separating both his and donghyuck rooms, lifting his hand to push the handle, but freezing before he could open it.

what was he going to say to the boy?

they had just kissed, and he had just admitted that he wanted to be donghyuck's boyfriend, but taeyogn had kind of ruined the moment, and mark had no idea how to continue their previous conversation after that.

should he start telling donghyuck that he meant everything he said?

or maybe telling him that he had feelings for him immediately?

or he could simple do as if nothing had happened and not mention it?

and what if he simply kissed donghyuck again? that could be great.

mark decided himself to enter after taking in a long inspiration.

however, when he pushed the handle down to open the door, he was rather surprised to realise that the door had been locked.

blinking in confusion, mark knocked on the door twice.

there was some ruffling on the other side of the door, and soon, mark heard donghyuck unlocking the door before it opened.

"y-yes?" the tanned male asked.

mark panicked slightly when he saw how red the boy's eyes were.

had donghyuck been crying? why would he cry?

was it because taeyong had barged in on them kissing?

was it because mark was a bad kisser?

was it because he didn't want mark to kiss him?

"donghyuck, you cried?" mark asked worriedly.

"i'm okay." donghyuck wiped his face with his sweater paw before coughing. "i'm going to bed."

"oh, okay." mark blinked, rather surprised that donghyuck didn't ask any question about the kiss or taeyong's presence in the room. "do you want to watch tv with me before going to sleep, like last night?"

"mark." donghyuck spoke, his voice a bit too serious in mark's opinion.

"y-yes?" the idol answered.

"we shouldn't be doing any of this. good night."

and before mark could even realise the words that slipped past donghyuck's plump lips, the door was shut close and locked again.

and while mark's heart broke at the sudden rejection, all of his senses went numb, preventing him to hear donghyuck breaking down into sobs on the other side of the door.

♪

"hey..."

"donghyuck!" the idol exclaimed, a grin appearing on his face at the sight of the gorgeous tanned male by his side. it had been a while since donghyuck had come to him, and he honestly missed being with the fanboy.

"it's me..." the boy replied shyly.

"so, you didn't forget about my existence?" the idol teased, ruffling donghyuck's honey curls.

"you're still my bias, so, of course not." donghyuck chuckled slightly, making lucas' grin widen.

"glad to know that." the giant wrapped an arm around donghyuck's shoulders as both boys walked side by side in the streets of new orleans.

super m had left atlanta around a week and a half ago, and they had made a stop by miami to visit and have a concert before going to new orleans where they currently were for one more day.

donghyuck had finally gotten used to being on tour and being dragged across the united states for concerts and quick visits. he had taken a liking to it by now, even if he missed both korea and his friends.

he had started realising how lucky he was to be on tour with his favourite kpop boyband, and how this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. not every fan had the opportunity to live such a thing, and even if all of this had happened messily, donghyuck was somehow thankful for it.

in this context, being famous could have its perks, and donghyuck admitted that it sometimes was great.

♪

"so? have you managed talking to him yet?"

"no, still not..." mark sighed, looking from afar at the honey-haired male who was currently taking a picture of himself and lucas reflecting in the giant mirrored bean in chicago.

two weeks had passed since that kiss donghyuck and mark had shared on mark's bed in atlanta. fourteen awful days during which mark had tried approaching donghyuck, only to be ignored by the younger male with this sole explanation: we shouldn't be doing any of this.

mark had done everything in his power to approach and intent talking to the fanboy, but it had never worked. donghyuck had always managed to stay far away from the idol, whether it was while they visited miami, new orleans, houston and now chicago, or even in the concerts of each of those cities.

"shit, i think i frightened him really bad for him not to approach you anymore..." taeyong declared, looking sadly at donghyuck.

"i think you just opened his eyes on how dangerous this whole thing was. i mean, he's supposed to be with lucas, and this whole lie is more believable with him being glued to lucas' side each time we go out." mark shrugged, his heart breaking at his own words and the sight he was witnessing.

donghyuck had jumped on lucas' back, his arms tightly wrapped around lucas' neck while the older had one of his hands under his thighs to hold him up and the other gripping on the phone that was on camera mode.

they looked like a happy couple, having a lovely date in chicago, and it destroyed mark on the inside.

"i don't know what to do anymore..." mark sighed, looking away.

"me neither." taeyong imitated him.

"he's not happy." ten stated, poking his head between mark and taeyong, making them jump in surpise.

"shit, you scared us!" taeyong hit ten's head.

"what did you say?" mark looked at his older member.

"donghyuck is not happy with the way things are at the moment. he's forcing himself to hang out with lucas." ten clarified, sounding dead serious.

"yeah, looks like it." mark scoffed, glancing at donghyuck for a second only to find him smiling brightly at something lucas had said.

"he's pretending in front of others, but he breaks down every night in his bedroom." ten explained, making mark and taeyong frown.

"how come you'd know that?" mark asked.

"because, in the same way taeyong is your love counsellor, i'm donghyuck's. and i'm here for him every night when he's crying his ass out because he's trying to force himself to stop liking you not to compromise our career."

both taeyong and mark stared at ten with their jaws hitting the floor.

"what did you just say?" taeyong asked.

"i'm saying that donghyuck likes mark back, and that ignoring him is as heart breaking for donghyuck than it is for mark, but he's doing it for us." ten interpreted his own words. "now, mark lee, open your ears and listen very carefully to what i'm about to say."

mark hummed, nodding his head while looking into ten's eyes with his heartbeat pumping faster than any other heart had before.

"donghyuck is the most perfect and caring boy to exist on this planet, and i won't let him slip away from your fingers. so, go and tell him your fucking feelings before it's too late."