"what the hell happened here?" taeyong entered nct's living room fuming red at what he saw.

donghyuck was laying on his back on a couch, his head leaning back and jungwoo over him, holding a reddish tissue over his nose. mark was on a chair nearby, showing no emotions, as always.

"ouch! jungwoo stop pressing this much!" donghyuck whined, his voice being muffled by the tissue.

"can i have an explanation?" taeyong stomped his feet making jungwoo turn around to face his leader and donghyuck sit up, holding the bloody tissue on his nose.

"well, i showed donghyuck the fighting zone and i asked him to show me some of his taekwondo skills. then mark arrived and claimed that they would fight. he didn't really want, but i kind of... pleaded him to do so? and then they fought and here we are!" jungwoo explained in a hurry, not forgetting to smile at the end.

taeyong drifted his eyes on mark who was not even impressed. "what do you have to say?" the leader groaned.

"when he said he was practicing taekwondo, i expected him to be way better than that." mark scoffed.

"excuse me blondie. i didn't think we would fight for real." donghyuck answered sassily.

"you want another punch?" mark rose to his feet, raising his hand. "my name is mark, stupid. and where do you think we are? in a playground? we fight for real here!"

taeyong got even redder. he gripped mark by his collar and pulled him towards his office, leaving jungwoo dealing with donghyuck's bloody nose.

he pushed mark inside, entered after and slammed the door behind his back.

"what game are you playing mark?!"

"what do you mean 'what game'? i'm not doing anything."

"we are supposed to protect him! NOTHING ELSE!" taeyong roared.

"MIGHT AS WELL TEACH HIM HOW TO FIGHT THEN!" mark screamed higher.

taeyong rubbed his temples, staying silent for a few seconds.

"mark, no. he's not from that world. we can't!"

mark scoffed. "not from that world" he mocked taeyong, "he's living with us now. what if he is kidnapped? what if he finds himself alone? they'll catch him taeyong. we can't let that happen, and you know it as well as i do!"

"i still think this is a bad idea." taeyong sighed after thinking about the pros and the cons. "and we can't tell him 'we're going to train you because you'll eventually be kidnapped'. this is not possible."

"then let's teach him without him knowing that." mark stated.

"wow, thank you mark, i hadn't thought about that!" taeyong joked. "we're a gang, not a childcare!"

"why is he here then?" mark asked obviously pissed.

"we already agreed not to talk about that!" taeyong yelled.

"what can we do then?"

taeyong thought for a second.

"you know what? since it was your idea, you'll take care of him. you'll teach him how to fight without him noticing." the leader smiled at mark.

"no. first, i'm not a teacher, and then, i don't like kids." mark groaned, eyes darkening.

"don't look at me this way mark. i'm not impressed. the boy is one year younger, so it won't be a big deal. final decision. our discussion is closed." taeyong finished.

mark directed towards the door, but taeyong was still in front of him.

"let me go. you're stressing me. i need to smoke." he said pushing taeyong and leaving the room.

"and stop smoking for fuck's sake!" taeyong screamed at mark who just rolled his eyes.

XXXXXXXXXX

"donghyuck i'm about to-" renjun stopped mid-sentence when he saw the state his best friend was into. "what happened?"

"blondie hit my pretty face." donghyuck whined taking out the tissue from his nose to see if he was still bleeding.

"oh. want me to beat his ass?"

jungwoo laughed at renjun's question. "i'm sorry, but i'm afraid nobody can 'beat mark's ass'. mark is our best element, and he is pitiles. so, you'll be dead even before being able to punch him."

"too bad." renjun sighed. "then i was going to say that, since it's the holidays, mom said we could go to our beach house for five days! she told me to invite my boyfriends and some of my friends. you're coming?"

donghuck jumped to his feet, completely forgetting about his aching body and his bleeding nose. "of course, i'm coming! it's going to be lit!"

"so cool! we're leaving tomorrow! oh, and i invited chenle and jisung as well!"

"we're going to have so much fun! but, did taeyong agree for jaemin, jeno, chenle and jisung?" donghyuck asked.

"actually, i didn't ask him yet... during dinner maybe?"

dinner time. finally.

the dreamies, renjun and donghyuck were at the end of the long table, eating their food happily, interacting with the others and savouring the good dinner kun had prepared.

at the end of the meal and as it was their turn, dream (as well and donghyuck and renjun) cleaned the table while taeyong washed the dishes.

when the table was cleaned and everything done, the six boys stood behind taeyong, who was finishing the washing, looking like a family of ducks behind their mother.

the older turned around and got startled, dropping the soapy sponge on the floor.

"what do you want guys?" he asked taking it up and putting it next to the sink.

jeno took the lead. "renjun invited us to spend five days with him and his parents at their beach house, and we wanted to know if you were okay with it? we would go there tomorrow."

taeyong nodded his head.

"wait" chenle interrupted, "for real!"

taeyong nodded again, making the boys let out screams of joy.

and then, taeyong thought more, and regretted saying this.

"actually..." he started, making the boys go silent again. "i'm sorry, but you can all go, except donghyuck."

"wHaT?!"