"you guys have another interview tomorrow morning with jaejae, and then the comeback live in the evening," mark's manger turned around from the passenger's seat. "got it," mark said, stepping out of the car.

   jeno, chenle, and jisung got out of the car behind him. jeno started waking next to the ravenette while chenle and jisung walked together slowly in the back. "why didn't you tell me who it was for?" jeno asked.

   "who what was fo—, oh, that," mark shook his head in disbelief. ever since donghyuck had said that mark bought him a teddy bear, jeno kept sending him strange looks and mark knew that he was waiting for the right time to ask him. "it wasn't a big deal," mark shrugged.

   jeno looked unconvinced, "why did you get one specifically for haechan?" mark took off his hat and readjusted it to stall. "he's a teddy bear," he answered stiffly. he could feel jeno's eyes on him, watching his every move. "when i asked you who it was for in the past, you told me it was for a special friend. why were you so secretive about it? why didn't you just say it was for haechan?" jeno asked all at once.

   mark chuckled, "what is this, an interview?" jeno frowned at how mark obviously avoided answering all the questions. before he had a chance to say anything else, the elevator arrived and mark called to chenle and jisung, "the elevator is here guys, hurry up."

   luckily, through the elevator ride, chenle and jisung were constantly bickering and it would be inappropriate to continue talking about the teddy bear, so jeno kept quiet. "see you tomorrow guys, i'm heading off to bed."

   the other guys waved while jeno sent mark one last look. the canadian sighed, feeling somewhat more relaxed now that jeno had no reason to follow him around and ask him about the plushie. mark ruffled his hair and entered the bedroom that he was sharing with donghyuck. it was empty so he figured that the other car consisting of jaemin, renjun, and donghyuck, was yet to come.

   mark changed into some more comfortable clothes and laid on his bed. he was scrolling through twitter on his phone when a post caught his attention. 'mark and haechan hugging in public' the post read. mark furrowed his brows and looked closer. indeed, he and donghyuck were practically hugging as mark had his arm wrapped around donghyuck's waist and donghyuck's face was burried in his chest.

   after looking at their surroundings, mark realized that it was when the sasaengs attacked them after eating at the restaurant. just thinking back on what happened made him angry, as he tried to remember the feeling of donghyuck rubbing the back of mark's hand with his thumb in the car to calm him down.

   he decided to read the comments to see what nctzens and netzens were saying about it. just as he began looking through the comments, the door opened and renjun entered with donghyuck's arms wrapped around him. mark stiffened at the sight.

   "can you tell him to stop trying to kiss me?" renjun whined. "haechan, stop," mark said flatly. donghyuck looked up in surprise while renjun wore the same expression. mark cringed, realizing how harsh his tone had sounded and how cold his eyes must've been. 

   even though he wanted to feel sorry for startling renjun in the way he did, he just couldn't. a nasty voice in his head told him that renjun deserved it for allowing donghyuck to kiss him and hug him. if he really wanted donghyuck off of him, he could've tried harder, the voice spoke to him. knowing how ridiculous he was being, he shook his head to clear it from those thoughts.

   renjun and donghyuck exchanged 'goodbye's before donghyuck closed the door and threw himself on his bed. he burried his face into a pillow, "someone's in a grumpy mood," he muttered. "i know, i'm sorry," mark wanted to say. instead, he couldn't swallow his pride and simply rolled his eyes without answering.

   he knew he shouldn't, but over the past couple of weeks, whenever someone was touchy with donghyuck or donghyuck was touchy with them, he would get aggrivated. it was something that always happened so he wasn't quiet sure why he was feeling that way.

   "it's called jealousy, mark," johnny's words from a few night before rung in his head. he had gotten overwhelmed with the feeling and called johnny to confide in when the older told him that. he had brushed it off easily, but thinking about it now, he wasn't so sure that it wasn't true. out the corner of his eye, he could easily see donghyuck staring at something on his glowing device with airpods in. he was bopping his head to whatever was playing and mark couldn't help but smile.

   donghyuck suddenly looked up and met mark's stare. they just looked at eachother for a moment before mark smiled and donghyuck returned it, going back to his phone. mark sighed and leaned back, using his arm as a pillow behind his head.

   the more he thought about johnny's words, the more it made sense. not only would it explain the anger that he felt, but it also explained why he had felt the urge to kiss donghyuck on multiple occasions. it was ridiculous, all those feelings could only mean one thing— that he liked donghyuck, more than a friend. that was impossible. they were bestfriends, the best of friends. 

   he peered at donghyuck again and noticed how he smiled at his screen with the light illuminating his face in the dimly lit bedroom. he pretty tan skin and legs called out to mark as they always did. he watched the plump pink lips form a smile over and over again. 

   "i'm going to bed now, should i turn off the lights?" donghyuck asked. mark glanced at the phone and realized half an hour had passed. he had been staring at donghyuck for half an hour without even realizing it. "uh, yeah," he said nervously. luckily, donghyuck didn't notice the uneasy waver in mark's voice and got up to turn off the light without another word.

   donghyuck fell asleep quickly that night, but mark didn't. his thoughts about the sunkissed male kept him awake for another hour before he finally fell asleep.

---

   "ohhh, so sexy!" jaemin said, the others exploding with laughter. "he's weird," jeno admitted to jae jae who already knew very well that it was true. the chemistry that jaemin and jae jae shared was unique, but it was nice for jaemin to see someone radiating the same behavior as he.

   "well," jae jae spoke up to chang the topic. "that was a lot of fun, but recently i realized that even though i've been meeting you all once a year at this point, we've never talked about something that's been trending these days. do any of you have guesses?" donghyuck raised his hand, "is it bono bono?" the members laughed and he felt pleased with himself once again. 

   "i'm afraid not," she chuckled. "jisung-ssi, do you have any guesses?" jisung combed his sideburns with his fingers as he usually did when he was unsure. "i'm not sure, but is it... mbti?" "that's correct," she beamed.

   jisung nodded in satisfaction. "now, i've heard here that one of you don't believe in mbti. renjun-ssi, am i right?" she asked. "yeah," renjun agreed. "i just don't think i need a test to tell me what kind of person i am," he said. "honestly, that's not a bad mindset," mark said, patting renjun's head, unintentionally sending donghyuck goosebumps.

   "i also heard that two of you share the same mbti," jae jae mentioned. chenle made a stressed expression, "jisung's always copying me." jisung turned around in his seat and looked at chenle, "i'm not. it was just a coincidence." "don't fight right now, guys," jeno laughed, easing the tension. 

   jae jae changed the topic to keep the maknae's from arguing. "you guys have an enfp and infj in your group. did you know that those are potential soulmates, mark-sii and haechan-ssi?" she asked. donghyuck and mark looked at eachother is surprise, "oh, i didn't know that," donghyuck said quietly. 

   "in order to learn more about mbti's together, we're going to play a series of games." jae jae announced. "should the two people in last place do a penalty?" chenle suggested. "i like that," jaemin said. everyone else agreed as well. "alright, at the end of the game, i'll ask the director to choose a penalty," jae jae decided.

   with that, jae jae swiftly explained the rules of the game that they were to play. jisung was a little slow on understanding, but once everyone got it, they began. the game was simple, all they had to do was complete a series of tasks and they would be timed. the two with the slowest time would do the penalty in the end.

   donghyuck was doing perfectly fine on his turn until he got to the part where he was to do ten elephant spins, and flick the bottle cap to the line near the end of the table. after spinning, he was so dizzy that he flicked the bottle cap off the table, having to start that challenge again. without wasting a second, he did so, but couldn't complete the task until three tries later.

   once he completed the entire thing, he groaned. he didn't even want to hear the score. he already knew how horrible it would be. "thanks hyung," chenle teased. donghyuck rolled his eyes, begining to imagine what kind of punishment he might have to do.

   after everyone finished, jae jae announced the scores. "that leaves jisung in first place and mark and haechan in last place!" jisung's jaw dropped in shock with mark and donghyuck began complaining. "i think this is my first time coming in first place on a variety show," jisung gasped. chenle and jaemin clapped as they found it hilarious and doubled over in laughter.

   "let's hear the punishments," jeno reminded everyone. "we tweeted to the channel viewers and asked them what kind of penalty they'd like to see," the director explained how they made the decision. "oh, nice. i love getting the viewers involved," jae jae said. 

   the director asked for a drumroll before he declared what the punishment was. "and the most commented penalty is...," he paused for dramatic effect. "the pepero game!"

   donghyuck's heart raced in his chest as his face heated up. he didn't dare look in mark's direction, worried about turning as red as a tomato. the dreamies cheered and applauded the result, completely satisfied with it. 

   before donghyuck even had time to process what was happening, he was standing face to face with mark, a pepero stick in between his lips. everyone watched intently as he locked eyes with mark and mark slowly leaned in, biting onto the other end of the stick. it had begun. there was no going back now. just take a small bite! donghyuck tried to tell himself to keep from hyperventilating. 

   the members were talking around them, but neither of them could hear. both lost in eachother's eyes, and the sound of their beating hearts drowning everything else out. 

   donghyuck nibbled on the stick, keeping his composure. if he was going to go in gay panic, he definitely didn't want to do it infront a bunch of staff that he didn't know and a recording camera. mark took another bite, looking at him as if to say, "i'll stop when you want me to."

   donghyuck ignored his concerned stare and took a bigger bite than he had so far. he regretted the action as soon as he felt the space between them shrink. mark smirked when he saw donghyuck's panicked expression. mark took one more bite, leaving barely a centimeter between them. if he moved in the slightest, their lips could've crashed together. 

   time slowed down for donghyuck, the room falling silent as everyone watched their close proximity in concentration. everyone seemed to be holding their breath just as he was. the feeling of his heart pounding against his rib cage in his chest made him worry that everyone could hear exactly how loud it was and how fast it was beating.

   despite everything happening around him, all he could see was mark's brown orbs. honey pools blinding him from the outside world. anything, but him. he felt mark's breath hit his lips and he could imagine that it was the same for the older.

   a thick tension built around them. mark was tempted, so tempted to press his lips against donghyuck's pink and plush ones. the feeling of them being so close was driving him insane. it was like he was being tortured. imagine having a billion dollars right in front of you, yet so far out of reach. the frustration was exactly what he felt. except in his case, a kiss with donghyuck was worth so much more than a billion dollars.

   the younger almost found himself closing his eyes and leaning in until reality hit, and gosh, did it hit like a truck. 

   donghyuck pulled away, gasping as he covered his mouth with one hand. his cheeks burned red while he watched mark's expression turn from confident and playful, to surprise and... disappointment. no it couldn't be, because that would have to mean that mark li-

   his thought process was cut off as mark spoke. "i won," he smirked, staring him straight in the eye. donghyuck's heart raced even faster than before which he didn't know was even possible. 

"you what?"

"i won."

-----

word count: 2282

wow, that was a long ass ride

sorry for the poorly written chapter. ik this one was kind of shitty so i apologize

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾