"deep breaths." jaemin mumbled to himself before breathing in and out slowly. "keep cool. everything is going to be fine."

just as he spoke those words, jaemin looked at the wooden door that he was standing in front of. he would need to knock and eventually get inside, but for that, he needed courage and determination – he had the latter, but sadly, he wasn't the bravest person out there.

he couldn't bear seeing his best friend in this state anymore.

because of all the hate he received from the fans, and the lack of attention from super m, donghyuck's persona was getting duller and duller. the boy didn't eat much, and he barely talked anymore. even his friends weren't able to put that much of a smile on his face. and jaemin wanted all of this to end; and if donghyuck didn't want to act, jaemin would.

"okay, let's go. three... two... one..."

the boy lifted his hand, knocking firmly on the door a few times and waiting for an answer.

after a few seconds, the door opened, making air disappear from jaemin's lungs.

he wasn't particularly a fan of kpop or super m, but he had to admit standing in front of a super m member was quite impressive.

"h-hello..." he mumbled shyly, recognising baekhyun.

"hello. can i ask you who you are?"

"i-i... i'm donghyuck's best friend, jaemin. and i was here because i- woww!"

before jaemin could finish his sentence, the boy was pulled by the wrist inside the super m dorm as the front door was slammed behind his back.

"did you come alone? is someone waiting for you? did someone follow you here?!" baekhyun questioned immediately, not leaving the time for jaemin to answer.

"huh... i'm here alone and no one was following me nor waiting for me."

"good. i'm sorry, we need to be extra careful with fans." the idol explained.

"yeah, i know how they can be." jaemin nodded.

"so." baekhyun coughed. "why are you at the super m dorm?"

"well, i wished i would be able to have a talk with mark and... and eventually to scream at you for ignoring donghyuck and making his life miserable..." he whispered the last part, but not low enough for baekhyun not to hear.

"i'll bring you to mark's room." baekhyun assured. "and about the ignoring part, our ceo took all of our phones from us so that we couldn't contact him again. and they have the control of the social media accounts on which they post things to make it seem like we are active and unaffected by the sudden events."

"oh..." jaemin let out, utterly surprised by what baekhyun had just told him.

"yeah." the idol shrigged. "now, follow me, i'll bring you to mark's room."

jaemin did as he was told, walking behind baekhyun as the boy headed to a corridor and faced a door on which he knocked.

"someone's here to see you, mark!"

the answer came almost immediately. "if it's the manager, you can tell him to fuck off."

baekhyun sighed. "you can go inside. take all the time you need."

"thank you."

jaemin heaved out a sigh before pushing on the handle and opening the door.

"it's not the manager." he declared before closing the door behind his back.

mark – who was previously lying on his bed – sat up suddenly, looking at donghyuck with widened eyes and his mouth agape.

"j-jaemin!"

"yes, it's me." the younger crossed his arms over his chest.

"look, i swear i didn't want any of this to happen! and i've tried to reach donghyuck, but the manager took our phones, and he's around very often to prevent you from approaching donghyuck. oh, and they took the full control of our social media networks, so we basically have control over nothing, while the whole world thinks we do. and yeah, now they want to make it seem like donghyuck is a player and a raper and that he did all of that to be famous and destroy super m because he doesn't like us, but it's not true, and i'm trying to convince the manager, but he doesn't want to listen to be because they all are too focused on money and earnings." mark rapped in a matter of seconds before jaemin could interrupt him.

jaemin looked at the boy his best friend had fallen for in the eye.

"i know, baekhyun told me." he replied simply.

"oh..." mark panted. "are you... mad at me?"

"why would i be?"

"because you said that if i hurt your best friend, i would have troubles..." mark whispered, recalling jaemin's menacing speech about his best friend. "and... yeah..."

"i came here with the idea to put you in trouble, not going to lie." jaemin started. "i lowkey wanted to scream at you and to scold you for everything you've been doing, and for how bad your actions are hurting donghyuck. but i kind of changed my mind when i realised what was really happening."

"w-what was really happening...?" mark repeated, his heartbeat accelerating in fear.

"that you basically have control over nothing." jaemin explained.

"oh, i don't." mark approved, nodding his head energetically.

"i know. i'm sure you wouldn't have announced a public concert in the namsan park after what happened. and yet, it has been announced."

"yeah..." mark sighed. "next week we'll hold an open concert there, and they will make out a fake story to explain what happened with donghyuck... trust me when i say i don't want to do it, but... i don't have the choice."

jaemin placed a comforting hand on mark's shoulder. "i trust you, mark. donghyuck told me so much good things about you and everything you did to him. you really make him happy, and this is all a very confusing mess. but we'll manager to arrange it, won't we?"

"i hope so, but i don't really know how." mark sighed again.

the room fell in the silence for a minute as both jaemin and mark went deep in thought.

this open concert in namsan park was in five days, and it would be the end of all this mess, because an explanation will be given. but as relieving as all of this may seem, this concert would surely make donghyuck seem like an asshole, even more than he seemed to be at the moment. and they needed to find a solution for that.

"i have an idea, but i'm not sure you'll like it." jaemin declared, side glancing at his best friend's boyfriend.

"can things really be worse than how they are now?" mark asked sarcastically.

"well..." jaemin shrugged.

"tell me your idea."

"it's very risky." the younger boy informed.

"i couldn't care less." mark replied immediately. "i'm ready to risk my whole life if it means i get to be with donghyuck again."

"okay then."

♪

"here, have my ice cream, hyuck. i'm not going to eat it." jisung declared, pushing his cup of ice cream in front of donghyuck.

"mmh, thanks." the tanned male answered, looking at the sweet treat uninterestedly.

in order to lift donghyuck's mood, the boys had decided to bring him to the mall.

donghyuck was usually the most excited when a trip to the mall was announced, and he never missed an opportunity to buy new clothes or try new fits.

but today, it didn't seem like donghyuck had realised they were at the mall.

the super m concert at namsan park was in three days, and it seemed like the closer they got to that date, the less lively donghyuck became.

all of his friends were getting super worried at that point, especially jaemin who didn't want to leave his best friend for a single second in fear of something bad happening to him.

him and mark had planned something that could make things better, but their plan was very risky, and jaemin wasn't sure mark would manage to do such a thing. he genuinely hoped he would, but he was aware that he couldn't blame the canadian idol if he didn't manage to follow the plan.

"hyuck! i gave you my ice cream so that you could eat it! not for you to stare at it until it's completely melted!" jisung whined as he noticed the precious treat he had offered to his sad friend melting miserably because of the heat.

"yeah... i'm sorry..." donghyuck replied, no ounce of emotion in his voice before he pulled the cup with the melted ice cream towards himself.

shotaro kept his eyes on donghyuck as the boy brought a spoonful of liquid ice cream to his lips. the tanned male that was usually a ray of sunshine, naturally glowing and making happiness take over a whole room could now be compared to a cloud on a storm day; dark and threatening to explode and empty itself of its water.

the japanese male hated seeing his friend in such a state. donghyuck was the bubbly person that had made this whole group of friends stick together. if it hadn't been for the tanned male coming to talk to him the day he had arrived in korea, shotaro would still not know how to speak korean, and he would still be the lonely otter he was when he used to be in japan.

donghyuck had helped him so much, and he had introduced him to his group of friends who had accepted him immediately. and in a matter of weeks, shotaro was at ease, speaking with each of them, and he was finally proud to tell his parents that he had made friends for life.

and so, seeing the honey-haired male that had given him so much in such a state only made him feel miserable as well.

"excuse me." shotaro mumbled in his mother tongue as he stood up and ran away from the table, catching the attention of all the boys around the table, except for donghyuck who was still staring in the void.

among the six boys that had noticed shotaro's sudden outburst, sungchan seemed to be the most worried.

him and shotaro had immediately clicked after donghyuck had introduced the japanese male to his friends, and sungchan had always found him adorably cute. he had taken a liking in teasing him endlessly, because he liked it very much when shotaro tried hard to argue with him and to scold him.

and recently, sungchan had noticed that his dearest friend was duller than usual, not really paying attention to sungchan's critics or mocking and not reacting at what sungchan did or said to irk him. this had already started worrying the younger male, but now that shotaro had run away in the middle of an afternoon at the mall with all of their friends, sungchan was getting genuinely troubled.

"i think you should go and find him." jeno declared, nudging sungchan's shoulder.

"b-but, donghyuck?" sungchan whispered, glancing at donghyuck whose eyes had started to produce tears that were cascading his cheeks silently.

"we'll deal with him, don't worry." jeno assured. "but now, shotaro needs you, so go and find him."

sungchan didn't wait a second more to stand up and run in the direction shotaro disappeared.

the korean male sighed when he noticed that the corridor he was in lead to the bathroom, meaning that he would find shotaro pretty quick.

"shotaro?" sungchan called for his friend as he peeked inside the men's bathroom.

he froze when he heard muffled sobs coming from one of the cubicles.

was shotaro crying? why would he cry? what was wrong?

sungchan knocked on the only closed door inside the bathroom, trying to stay strong despite hearing his precious friend having a break down.

"sho? it's me..." he spoke in a low voice.

the door opened and sungchan was pulled inside, his chest immediately colliding with what he presumed to be shotaro's face as the older male gripped his shirt tightly.

"shotaro, what's happening? why are you crying...?" sungchan asked, his arms naturally wrapping around shotaro's body to embrace him.

"i-i don't k-know what t-to do for d-donghyuck..." shortaro said between sobs, his voice partly muffled because his head was buried in sungchan's chest. "h-he did so m-much for me... a-and i want t-to help b-but... but i d-don't know how..."

sungchan sighed, relieved that shotaro's outburst hadn't been caused by something severe or really problematic. the poor boy was just worried for his friend's sanity as much as the others were.

"you're already helping so much, sho." sungchan spoke, rubbing his dearest friend's back. "your sole presence helps him a lot."

"b-but i'm n-not doing anything..." the japanese male continued crying.

"shotaro, look at me."

the boy pulled his face from sungchan's chest before looking up at his giant friend. to make sure shotaro wouldn't try to avoid looking in his eyes, sungchan even cupped the boy's cheeks with his large palms, using his thumbs to wipe the tears that kept escaping shotaro's eyes.

"donghyuck needs to see his friends and to know they are here for him." sungchan explained. "and you are here for him. he's living something really hard at the moment, but things will get better, i'm sure of this. he may not be as bubbly as he was before for the moment, but all of this will come to an end, and the donghyuck we all know will be back, okay?"

shotaro hummed, occasionally sniffling.

"now, please, don't doubt yourself." sungchan continued. "you're an amazing friend, and donghyuck knows so. he wouldn't have befrieneded you if you weren't someone precious and amazing."

"b-but... you always say t-that i'm annoying and... a-and bratty..." the japanese's face contorted in sadness again.

"i do, but it's not true." sungchan was quick to say, his heart clenching at the sight of a saddened shotaro.

"b-but why...?"

the korean male sighed, his eyes looking elsewhere.

he knew he was selfish. god, he was the most selfish and awful man on this planet... badmouthing shotaro and making him believe that he was annoying and bratty... how could he keep doing that when he was aware that these words may be hurtful for his friend? how stupid was he to keep doing that when he knew that at some point, shotaro would start hating both sungchan and himself because of it?

sungchan needed to tell shotaro the truth, even if he had tried denying it for the past years. shotaro was too precious and important for him, and he was going to lose him if he didn't tell him everything, he was aware of it.

he just needed to gather enough courage to open his mouth and voice out his real thoughts. and it seemed like standing in a bathroom stall, so close to shotaro while the older boy looked up at him with pained eyes was enough to make him man up.

"i keep telling you that because... because i'm scared that you'll abandon me one day and find someone else to be with..." sungchan explained.

"h-huh?"

"i thought that if i made you believe that you were annoying and bratty, you wouldn't go see other boys and find yourself someone. i thought that if i kept repeating those words to you, you would stay by my side, because i claimed to be the only one who could bear you." the boy continued his explanation, his cheeks reddening in shame.

shotaro blinked confusedly, his eyes trying to decipher what sungchan was feeling.

"i... i'm so selfish and stupid..." the younger sighed. "i never meant anything i told you, sho, you have to believe me... you are the most precious boy on this planet, and you're adorable and cute... and i can't get enough of you, and those times you speak to yourself in japanese, or when you laugh at the stupid things chenle and jisung would do, or even when you stay glued to my side because jaemin has jeno and renjun and chenle has jisung. you are an amazing friend and 'annoying' and 'bratty' are the last adjectives someone could use to describe you. but i did use them, for one simple reason... i am a coward, and i was too scared that if you realsied how amazing you were, you'd run away to someone way better than me..."

shotaro stared at sungchan, his eyes widened and his mouth agape as his heartbeat accelerated inside his rib cage.

he couldn't believe everything sungchan had told him. all these years, he had tried his best to be neither annoying nor bratty for sungchan to appreciate his company, and he had always been so sad whenever sungchan would say he was bratty or annoying.

and now what? sungchan only said that because he feared shotaro would run away from him?!

well, jokes on him, but shotaro would have never ran away from the pure perfection that was jung sungchan.

"i love you." shotaro spoke in japanese.

sungchan gulped. "does that mean that you hate me?" he asked. "i'm so sorry shotaro, i know i'm an asshole, and i absolutely cannot blame you for hating me, because yeah, i'm so mean and awful and- "

"it means i love you." shotaro cut sungchan's words by placing his pointer finger on his lips.

the younger male's eyes widened, a whole zoo tickling the pit of his stomach.

"y-you do?!" he asked bewildered.

"yes, i do." shotaro nodded.

"f-for real?!"

"oh my god!" shotaro rolled his eyes, deciding to go one step further in order to make things easier for sungchan.

the japanese male got on his tippy toes as he wrapped his arms around sungchan's neck, pulling himself up so that he could plant a kiss on sungchan's lips.

the younger hummed in the kiss, his arms wrapping tigheter around shotaro so that he could lift him up.

the two boys kissed for a while, their lips dancing in synch as their eyelids closed to enjoy the moment fully. it felt magical, and parting away to breathe made both of them groan.

"well... it wasn't the most romantic place for a confession, but at least, it was a successful confession..." sungchan giggled, his arms still wrapped around shotaro's waist.

"oh, shut up!" the japanese male flushed red.

"are you mine, now?"

"well, if you want me to be." shotaro smiled.

"of course, i want you to be." sungchan nodded, immediately leaning forwards and pecking shotaro's lips again. "so, now that you're done crying, let's go back to the others, and hopefully, they'll have managed to lift donghyuck's mood up a bit."

"sure."

and so, the two boys exited the mall's bathroom hand in hand, and with butterflies flying everywhere in their chests.

♪

mark was in a similar position as jaemin was a few days ago when he had decided to go to the super m dorm. however, even if the canadian male was standing in front of a closed door, mumbling motivating speeches to himself while gathering the courage to knock, he wasn't in front of his dorm. oh no, he was in front of a way more terrifying door; lee sooman's office door.

and if all of this wasn't frightening enough, he was about to knock on the door without an appointment, and it was well-known in the building that lee sooman hated when someone came to see him without an appointment.

but anyway, now that he was standing there, he couldn't back away. not when he had told jaemin that he would try his best to make their plan work.

and so, after ten long minutes of standing in front of lee sooman's door and debating whether he should knock, enter directly or just kill himself on the spot, a picture of donghyuck smiling flashed in his mind, and that's when mark knew what he needed to do.

taking one last deep breath, mark placed his hand on the handle, and pushed with all of his strength to open the door, decided to have a talk with the ceo and to make things right again.

however, the door was locked.

"you're not even knocking?"

the canadian male jumped in surprise at the voice that spoke next to him.

turning around, he almost choked on his saliva at the sight of his ceo leaning against the wall in the corridor by his side.

"m-mister lee..." mark stuttered.

"do you have an appointment?" the ceo asked, raising a brow.

"n-no, but i was hoping i could- "

"then why have you been standing in front of my door for the past five minutes, if not more?"

"w-well..."

mark stared at his boss as the man approached the door and unlocked it before entering the office. the canadian male followed him, waiting for a few seconds so that lee sooman could take a seat on his ridiculously huge white armchair.

"are you ready for tomorrow's concert?" the ceo asked, looking at mark.

"not really."

"too bad, you should be." lee sooman snorted. "i'm not going to postpone it or anything."

"actually, i have something to say about this concert..." mark fidgeted with his fingers, every ounce of confidence leaving his body.

the ceo rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

"sure, go on. but i'm warning you, say it quick because i have to see baekhyun next and he has an appointment."

mark gulped, trying to seek the courage to voice his ultimatum out.

it was hard, harder than he imagined it would be actually.

"if you haven't spoken in ten seconds you're getting out of this office and i won't hear from you anymore until the concert." the ceo stated, utterly serious. "ten..."

the canadian male cursed inside his head.

he needed to speak. he needed to say what he had to say.

and he had to do it quickly.

"six..."

there was no time for doubts, regrets or remorses right now.

if he didn't open his mouth right now, he would regret it later.

"four..."

it was either he spoke or he lost his donghyuck. forever.

"two- "

one last deep breath, and mark spoke. "it's either you tell the whole truth at the concert tomorrow or i'm leaving super m and sm entertainment!"