"haechan-ah," mark's deep voice woke the younger boy. his eyes opened and closed as he woke up and took in his surroundings. "mark hyung? i didn't sleep past the dance practice right?" the brunette automatically began to worry.

   mark shook his head fondly. "it's in twenty minutes. i came to wake you so that we could go together." he messed with donghyuck's hair.

   the said male felt himself blush but he ignored the warm feeling. "thanks, i'm almost ready," he got out of bed to slip on a hoodie and grab a black mask. he paused as he felt a set of eyes not leaving him for even a second. "do i have something on my face? is my hair weird? i look stupid, don't i?" he began to flood the elder with questions.

   mark shook his head as a goofy smile formed on his face. "no you're fine, i just thought you looked really cute."

   donghyuck blushed and looked down at the ground, not wanting to meet eyes with the elder. "we should get going before we're late, idiot," he tried to reply as his normal pestering self.

   the ravenette nodded in a agreement but he didn't move. "i actually have something for you," he pulled the soft teddy bear that he won from the arcade earlier from behing his back.

   haechan's heart swelled at the sudden gift. he wondered when mark had gone out to get it for him. was it while he was sleeping without a care in the world?   

   "i went to the mall with jeno, renjun, and jaemin earlier. we went to the arcade and once i saw this in the claw machine...," mark seemed to get shy as he lowered his voice, "it reminded me of you."

   the two met eyes as the words left mark's lips.

   donhyuck looked into mark's deep brown orbs with curiosity as the elder searched for a response to his confession in the other's eyes.

   "i reminded you of this teddy bear?" donghyuck asked, pointing to the small plushie in mark's hands. the canadian-korean nodded genuinely. "why?" donghyuck couldn't help but ask.

   mark played with the toy in his hands before answering. "when i was younger, i had a teddy bear. i took him with me everywhere, to school and even the super market," he confessed. 

   "back when you lived in canada?" donghyuck asked with wide eyes. "...yeah," mark replied.

   "he became my bestfriend," mark played with the hem of his shirt, "but when i got accepted in sm, i left him in canada to focus on debuting. even though some might say i was too old for a teddy bear, he was my greatest comfort."

   "he was there for me when i cried, he was there for me when i was scared in the late night, and he knew all of my secrets." mark looked up at the younger who was listening eagerly to the story.

   "there were so many nights where i missed his comfort," he paused squeezing the plushie softly. 

"then i met you."

   donghyuck smiled. his heart felt full with happiness as the elder continued with more to say.

   "you were there for me when i cried, you were there for me when i was scared in the late night, you knew all of my secrets. ...you," mark pushed his index finger into donghyuck's chest gently, causing the younger to giggle softly, 

"you became my teddy bear."

   donghyuck's giggles stopped as he processed the older's words. he stared at mark as the other stared back. his eyes were glossed over and his ears were pink. donghyuck could tell how personal all of this was and he was more than grateful that the elder was willing to share it with him.

   it was true that when mark joined sm and met donghyuck, they practically became joined at the hip. they were inseparable and definitely bestfriends. it was rare to see one without the other.

   there were hard days and long nights as they trained, hoping for a spot in the debut lineup. as new people would join and leave, they always stayed the same.

   donghyuck felt a lump fill in the back of his throat as the memories filled his head. he pushed back the urge to cry and sucked in a deep breath to calm himself.

"now it's my turn to be the teddy bear for you."

   mark handed donghyuck the teddy bear with a smile. the younger took the toy in his hands, holding it close.

   "i know you're having a hard time right now. i can tell that it isn't fully because of how tiring it is, there's something more to it. i don't want you to tell me what it is but it might be better off to tell it to someone at least," mark nodded his head towards the teddy bear.

   "we're both really busy people so i'll come to you as soon as possible whenever you call. but the few times that i can't, i hope you can find comfort and think of me instead when you look at it to feel better." mark finished.

   all the emotions of the past few weeks became too much to handle as the younger began crying. mark didn't hesitate to pull him into a hug and pat his back in a soothing matter.

   mark rocked them back and forth as the uncontrollable sobbing didn't cease. mark whispered soothing words into the brunettes ears as tears continued to fall. donghyuck felt so lost.

   he had been working as an idol for six years with his bestfriend already. when his feelings began to change for the elder, he didn't know how to process it. all the guilt and shame of lying to others and coming up with excuses as to he why he wasn't acting like himself had been a heavy weight on his shoulders.

   the days where he worked hard and wanted nothing but to sleep were always disturbed by his worried thoughts and troubled mind. he felt embarassed for thinking things about the ravenette and even disgusted with himself at times. 

was he really experiencing catching feelings or was it just a phase?

   his heavy stream of tears lessened when the elder began to sing quietly in his ear. he follwed the soft tone in his voice and the deepness of it. he allowed himself to be carried away in the music, forgetting everything that had been bothering him. 

   "all better?" mark asked. the younger realized that he had stopped crying for a while as he nodded shyly into the other's chest. 

   mark carefully pushed him back and wiped the remains of wet tears on his face. "when you need me, i'll be here." he said with a fond look in his eyes.

---

   the stillness of the room was quiet and should've made it easy to sleep. yet, the male laid on his bed, eyes open in a restless state.

   mark couldn't sleep. the images of his day flashed across his mind as he began to worry about the younger. he wasn't lying when he told donghyuck that he was worried about him and that he was the greastest comfort during his trainee days up until even now.

   he really hoped that he could be of help to donghyuck and give him a shoulder to lean on during the hard time that he was going through. 

   "mark-ah, your heart eyes are showing again," johnny teased playfully. "what- huh?" mark began to feel aware of his surroundings. nct 127 was shooting an ad for lous vuitton; their recent sponser. 

   it was donghyuck's turn to shoot solo shots and mark didn't realize how long he had been staring at the younger until johnny spoke up. johnny had always made fun on mark for the the way he looked at donghyuck.

   mark started doing it so much subconciously that johnny decided to start calling them the 'only-for-haechan-heart-eyes'. heart eyes for short. johnny didn't talk about it much infront of the others because of how red mark would get but he talked about it plenty when they were alone. 

   "yo, was i doing it again?" mark asked in english. johnny nodded with a laugh. "i swear, the way you look at him, you look so in love," johnny laughed more. mark faked a laugh, causing it to sound awkward. 

   "johnny-ssi, you're needed over here," a staff called for johnny. "gotta go," johnny waved simply. mark watched him walk off before he allowed his eyes to land on donghyuck again.

   his sunkissed tan skin glowed in the blinding lights surrounding him. mark admired how professional the younger was, coming up with countless poses so that the camera man could capture his beauty. 

   "perfect! let's get a couple shots from this side," the director ordered donghyuck to turn to a different direction.

   the cameras snapped away as mark continued to watch silently. the black jeans hugged the younger's thighs while the black t-shirt and chic bomber jacket complimented his skin and eyes.

   "now can you try to create some of these expressions?" the director pulled up a few pictures as example. "okay, i'll give it a shot," donghyuck agreed.

   "we have some props here. take this," a staff handed donghuck a satin, black, piece of fabric. "oh... those kinds of shots," donghyuck laughed with red cheeks. mark could tell that the younger was slightly embarrassed but he continued to be professional with it.

   he hesistantly bit down on the fabric, placing one hand in his pocket. his expression changed as he tilted his head back a bit and looked down with his eyes. the perfect mixutre of innocent and dirty.

   "fuck," mark muttered as his mouth went dry.

   "mark, are you okay? you look kind of tense or... i don't know, frusterated or something," yuta appeared behind him.

   "maybe tense because i'm sexually frusterated," he muttered to himself.

   yuta looked at him with concerned eyes and he realized that he hadn't responded yet. "oh, i'm fine. I was just thinking," he scratched the back of his neck.

   the elder was clearly unconvinced but he nodded and walked away heading towards jungwoo who was leaning against the wall on his phone. "no phones when we're shooting," yuta snatched the phone out of the younger's hands with a playful smirk.

   "yuta~," jungwoo complained. 

   mark smiled as he watched his hyungs bicker befor focusing back on the male who was still taking pictures.

   "lee donghyuck...," mark breathed as he dug his nails into the palm of his clenched fist, feeling his pants getting tighter, 

"what are you doing to me?"

-----

word count: 1765

thanks for reading! (though i know no one is probably going to read this.) the end of this chapter was a flashback of something that happened earlier in the story incase the italics confused anyone. mark was thinking back on it as he laid in his bed. these chapters are kind of short but they might get longer as the story continues. i didn't nessasarily cringe while re-reading but i didn't feel 100% satisfied with this chapter either. any bit of feed back would be very much appreciated :)

also beatbox tmrw!! super excited for it and the teaser mv is so pretty <3 

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾