24 hours

   mark watched the minute hand on his watch tick slowly. in exactly one day, he would finally be able to see donghyuck in person after three long months. words couldn't explain how much he wanted to hug and kiss his boyfriend. words couldn't express how much he wanted to hold him. 

   it didn't help that something was definitely up. everytime mark mentioned donghyuck, the members would tense up as if they were bracing themselves for something. on top of that, johnny started confiscating mark's phone to the point where johnny had it more often than mark did. while it would be easy for him to try to figure out what was going on through social media, at the same time he trusted the members, knowing that if there was something he needed to know, they would inform him.

   now, one minutes had passed. that marked twenty three hours and fifty nine minutes. mark layed on his bed with one arm behind his head, the other above his face as he continued staring at his watch as if the time would pass faster. watching the second hand constantly ticking was somewhat distracting. the only downside was that the time seemed to move slower instead.

   he let out a tired sigh, removing the watch from his wrist and setting it on the bedside table next to him. while he usually enjoyed world tours, this was his first time being on one without donghyuck. it was weird to have the younger not constantly by his side and mark figured that he would never get used to it. seeing fans and performing was his passion, but he would drop all of it in a second for donghyuck without a doubt.

   "i need to sleep," he told himself. the plane back to seoul was the next day and then he would go straight to the company for a press meeting. only later after all the schedules finished and the announcement of nct going on a break would mark finally be able to see donghyuck again.

   resting his head on his pillow, he closed his eyes hoping to drift off to sleep. he also wanted to send donghyuck a good night message but johnny had taken his phone again. it's for the better i guess, mark told himself, eventually falling asleep.

19 hours

   "haechan, have you seen my toothpaste?" jeno asked. donghyuck looked up from where he was squatting on the floor and shrugged. "just steal one from the bathroom cabinet," he suggested, hoping that it was complimentary. jeno nodded and walked off, leaving donghyuck to finish packing his suitcase. 

   he almost had everything, he just needed to magically fit in all the souvenirs that he bought. donghyuck sat down on the floor, legs spread out as he bit his bottom lip, eyeing the heap of shopping bags. now he understoof why kun kept telling him to make sure he didn't buy more than he could carry, because he really didn't know how all of it would fit. a knock at the door pulled him out of his thoughts.

   "you don't have toothpaste in there?" donghyuck asked when the door opened. "huh?" a voice that he wasn't expecting spoke. donghyuck looked up and met eyes with sungchan who had just let himself inside. "oh, sorry. i thought you were jeno," donghyuck apologized. sungchan shook his head as if to say that it was alright and layed down on donghyuck's bed. the purple haired male was used to sungchan coming in his room and lying down on his bed at random times. apparently donghyuck's presense engergized him. 

   "i can't wait to be back in korea," he mumbled. "i miss kimchi jiggae," donghyuck added, removing some things to make space in his luggage. "i miss taro hyung," sungchan sighed. "aww," donghyuck cooed, his heart clenched as he thought of a certain someone who he missed too, "that's cute." 

   when sungchan didn't say anything else, he decided to continue. "you'll see him soon. i know it's been a while and the two of you have been together practically conjoined at the hip since debut, but it's been three months and it'll all be over before you even realize it. until then... you'll just have to wait," he said. when he finished, he wasn't sure if he meant to say that to sungchan or to himself, but it applied either way.

   "thanks hyung?" sungchan said in more of a question type way. maybe he wasn't sure who those words were directed to either. "yeah, no problem."

12 hours

   mark lowered his suitcase from the storage above him as he finally got to stretch his legs. "that was a long flight," johnny said next to him. "it was only five hours," ten reminded him. "still long," johnny retorted.

   the canadian chuckled at their banter and held on to his suitcase, dragging it behind him as he walked through the narrow aisle of the plane. "thank you," the two flight attendants near the exit bowed. mark lowered his head politely and stepped past them meeting taeyong and doyoung at the designated spot. soon chenle and yang yang appeared and eventually the rest. when everyone (including the managers and other staff that rode the plane with them) was gathered, taeyong counted heads once and once more before declaring that it was safe to move on.

   the group went through passport control, then baggage claim, and finally customs. when all of it was done, most of the members were hungry and tired but they didn't have time to stop for food. on the way out of the airport, they walked past a crowd of fans who had waited for their arrival. mark tried his best to wave and smile without showing how truly exhausted he was. after all, most of the fans there had been waiting since morning and such.

   mark made eye contact with the fans, completing their hearts and taking their phone for quick selfies or videos. just as he was handing a fan girl her phone back, a certain sign caught his attention. mark and haechan strongest duo; it wrote. he smiled, wishing he could take a picture of it while knowing damn well that that was impossible without causing suspicion.

   outside the airport, they piled into cars, heading for the company. despite having just gotten there, it felt good to be back in korea. mark was already getting excited, knowing that he would see donghyuck soon.

   they landed in incheon which meant that the car ride would last until they reached seoul. it was an hour and a half in total and the mangers promised there to be food at the company waiting for them. in mark's car, he shared his space with three managers, xiaojun, and chenle. the two chinese males sat in the second row talking amongst themselves in the language that mark failed to understand.

   alone, he sat in the last row along with some luggage. for once he was relieved to be sitting away from the others. although he wasn't completely by himself, that was as much solitude as he was going to get. he attempted using his bluetooth headphones, but after seeing that he had forgotten to charge them, he pulled out wired headphones instead and quickly conneted them.

   when music began playing in his ears, he leaned back and tried to sleep, but eventually gave up after a few minutes. his mind was too awake to shut down. he was thinking about everything he would do the second he was with donghyuck again. he imagined how pretty his boyfriend would look when he was right infront of him rather than behind another screen. at that exact moment, donghyuck's only solo song and ost began playing through his headphones and he almost lost his mind.

   he wanted to drown in his voice, in his scent. he wanted to get lost in his eyes and never escape from his taste. he wanted to touch and hold him and never let go. he wanted all his senses to be so covered in donghyuck that they would never seperate again.

   unfortunately, at his current state, that was clearly impossible. his finger nails dug into the palm of his hand as he clenched his fist. i should've never added this song, he thought to himself, finger hovering over the button that would allow him to stop listening and remove the song from his playlist. it was torture to hear donghyuck around him without him being there. yet, instead of stopping the song like he had planned, he looped it.

   "the things you make me do," he mumbled to himself, turing towards the window at an attempt to enjoy the rest of the ride.

6 hours

   donghyuck's unit was the first to arrive at the dorms. they would only be there for a bit to set down their things before they went back to the company and began preparing for the press confrence. donghyuck let out a tired sigh, setting his suitcase down at the foot of his bed. "finally home," he said to himself before launching onto the bed and burrowing his face in a pillow.

   the room seemed so empty without jaehyun to keep him company, but he would see him again that night. knowing that mark's room was down the hall was incredibly tempting and he used every bit of self will in him not to go to it and burry himself in mark's bed.

   he heard that in preparation for their grand return after three months, staff had cleaned their bedsheets and other necessary things, so unfortunately, mark's fragrance was definitely gone. still, there was a closet full of his clothes that seemed plenty nice and inviting.

   a sound came from the front door alerting him that people were coming in. kun's voice rang loud and clear as he made an announcement, "i know you all are tired but we inly have a few schedules left and the cars will be here soon so don't get too comfy." "mhmm," donghyuck said in reply, positive that kun could even hear it.

   he had been dreading hendery and kun coming back from the wayv dorms because that meant less time until he had to start working again. the only good part about finishing the day was that one; he could finally see mark again, and two; all of nct would be taking a month and a half long break. it was perfect for the winter holidays coming up and he couldn't be more relieved that he didn't have to go to the company everyday or get his hair and makeup done consistently.

   the only thing he planned on wearing for the next few days was basketball shorts and graphic michael jackson tees. well— that and whatever the fuck mark wanted him to wear.

   "alright! time to go," kun called from the living room. donghyuck groaned, standing up and noticing the headache and slight dizzyness that came with it. after passing out, the memebers told him to not take his health as a joke so kun helped him get pills prescribed for times like these.

   he popped a few pills, swallowing it down with water before walking out of the bedroom. mark's room was in the opposite direction of where he was supposed to be going, but he couldn't help it. the urge to go got the best of him. 

   his fingers reached the cold doorknob before his mind could catch up. memories of events flashed through his mind as the knob dipped down with pressure. when the handle had gone down enough, he slowly pushed the door open, deciding to peek his head inside only for a minute. the room felt cold and lifeless without mark in it.

   the bed where they laid together, slept together, made love to eachother.. it was empty and neatly made. it didn't look nearly as tempting without mark in it.

   the desk where mark usually busied himself writing song lyrics was clean and empty aside from a few scattered notes. donghyuck padded towards it, looking at the bookself that lined the walls. note books one after another filled the shelf, holding countless memories of mark's rawest emotions. donghyuck remembered asking mark why he had so many notebooks when many of them weren't even completed. "each notebook has a different purpose and a different thought process, a different idea... if i don't finish the idea or can't come up with a conclusion, i don't finish the pages. there's simply nothing to write," mark had explained.

   some may have called mark messy or disorganized for starting so many things that never had a clear ending, but donghyuck admired it. he himself had always been smart in a more entertaining way. but to him, mark was a genious. the more time he spent with him, the more complex he realized his mind was.

   his fingers trailed the spine of the books on the bookshelf, each one labled with a simple white sticker and messy handwriting written with a black marker. he stopped when he noticed that one of them was titled L.DH which just so happened to be his intials.

   although he was sure that he wasn't allowed to check without mark there, something told him that with such a distance between them for the three months, mark would understand why he felt the need to see it. his dragged his finger to the top, reaching to pull it off the shelf when—

   "haechan, the others are waiting," kun said from the other side of the door. "coming, hyung," donghyuck replied, sliding the book back into place.

maybe some other time

3 hours

   taeyong neatly stacked the papers together before rasing his head again. "that's everything. any questions?" they had just gone over the final details for the press conference as well as things to look out for. while taeyong would be doing his job as the leader to try and answer most of the questions, he would look at the others and give them a chance to answer if they wanted to first.

   "no questions," ten answered for everyone. "alright," taeyong looked at the watch on his wrist, "there are five minutes before we have to go out, so use this time to eat a light snack or drink some water. the bathrooms are over there," he pointed down the hall. everyone nodded and began doing whatever they wanted before the five minutes were up.

   mark didn't really like press confrences in general as he had to sit in a room politely with a bunch of reporters, interviewers, and cameras that often crossed the line. on top of that, wearing a suit for a straight hour and taking notes wasn't much fun either. he was just pulling out his phone to check the time when he recieved a text message;

good luck with the press conference

   he showed a genuine smile seeing that it was from donghyuck and texted back; good luck with yours in an hour

   while each of the promoting units in nct had press confrences, each one was at a different hour. mark's team was the second and donghyuck's was the last. he was almost done with his schedules though, and he couldn't be happier for that.

   also, mark made a promise to johnny and really hadn't been on any apps aside from his text messages and his music app. knowing johnny, he simply listened to him, believing that whatever he told mark to do was the best for him. sure, there seemed to be news he was missing that everyone else was well aware of, but if that was how it was meant to be, he would allow it to happen.

   "time to go guys," taeyong re-entered the room from the hallway where he had been speaking with the managers. 

   the members lined up to go out into the press confrence room and on cue, stepped outside. the were greeted wuth flashing lights, the soubds of multiple camera shutters, and some applause before standing by their chairs on stage. "two, one.. to the world this is nct, hello we are nct," taeyong led the introduction before signalling that they could sit down. —and that was the start of the long meeting.

-----

word count: 2702

damn. i updated without waiting 2 weeks this time

thank u for all the love on this book. u guys are crazy

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾