NCT Imagines (Requests closed)

Panic (Mark)

"Let's break up."

"What?" Y/N asked in bewilderment.

Mark looked pained as he said, "I'm sorry."

His words had caught her so off guard that it was difficult to grasp her next words. "But why?" She finally managed to say.

Mark glanced away. "You should go," he said quickly. "I've got work." With that, he shut the door before she could reason with him.

Y/N stood in front of his apartment door for a while, trying to understand what had just transpired between them. When Mark's harsh words finally sink in tears stung her eyes. She rang his doorbell but he didn't open the door. She rang it a couple of times more but got the same result. He didn't even pick up his phone when she called. Her tears had dried up by that time. So she kicked his door, swore at him and made her way to the elevator.

Once she was out of the building, she kept a lookout for a cab since the bus stop was too far to walk to. I should make him pay for the fare. Mark had asked her to come to his place in the evening. She had been so excited to see him... before he shut the doors in her face. Tears started to form again but she quickly blinked them away as she saw a vacant taxi coming her way.

She hailed the taxi over. But as she opened the door to get in, someone caught her wrist. Mark stood there panting and out of breath. "Thank God you're still here," he said breathlessly.

"Let go," Y/N bit out, trying to free her arm.

"Wait, wait! Let me explain."

"What the hell, Mark?" Y/N placed a hand on her hip. "Now you want to talk? Where were you when I was trying to get an explanation earlier?"

"I'm so sorry," he breathed. "Please, don't go. I'm so, so sorry."

"Are you getting in or not, lady?" The cab driver asked with a hint of irritation.

Y/N eyed the desperation on Mark's face and sighed. "Sorry for the trouble, sir," she shut the door.

There was only silence between them as they ascended the elevator. Silence still followed as they reached the door to his apartment.  Mark placed his hand on the door handle without moving it. "I never meant to break up with you," he said quietly. "I just..." he dragged his other hand down his face. "God, why am I such an idiot," he muttered to himself.

"What is this about?" Y/N asked.

Mark opened the door and gestured for her to go in, "after you."

Y/N walked inside the dark house hesitantly. The lights came on. "Happy birthday!" They all shouted, startling Y/N.

"What the-?"

Jeno popped a confetti canon, making confetti rain down on her. She looked back at Mark who only smiled nervously, "surprise," he said. She turned back to the house which had been transformed to accommodate this surprise birthday party. Balloons floated across the floor and giant round ones and heart-shaped ones were tethered to a block. Streamers decorated the walls, along with a happy birthday sign. The best part was the huge poster stuck below the sign. It had several pictures of her with the boys with little notes underneath that she would read later.

Then she was pulled forward. The seven boys gathered around as they placed a cake in front of her. It was beautiful. "You guys..." she looked up at them. Just a couple of minutes ago she was crying over her supposed breakup and now she was crying because of the touching efforts of her friends. She wanted to confront Mark but not in front of everyone, especially when they put this all together for her. She wanted to thoroughly appreciate their efforts.

They told her to stop crying and blow out the candles already. "I'm hungry," Haechan added.

Once she had fed everyone a morsel of the cake, and they got busy with different things she turned to Mark. "Well? Where's your explanation?"

Mark looked away, embarrassed. "About that..."

Half an hour ago.

"How about now?" Renjun asked from his place up the step ladder.

"A little lower," Jaemin guided him with the happy birthday sign. "Yeah, perfect."

As Renjun stuck the other end of the sign and began to descend the ladder, his foot slipped. In his moment of panic, he grabbed the corner of the poster with the pictures and brought it down with him. "Crap," he said as he observed the aftermath of his fall. The poster was torn in half.

Mark hurried over and helped him up. "You okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine... but look at this," Renjun replied, picking up the torn half.

Just as the other boys closed in to see the commotion the doorbell rang. "Y/N's here," Mark announced, panicking.

Haechan turned to Mark, "you distract her while we fix it."

"How're we going to fix it?" Jisung picked up the torn poster. "Even if we do, it'll look bad."

"The pictures are unscathed, at least," Chenle pointed out. "We can stick them on another chart paper and write the messages while Mark distracts Y/N."

"Good idea," Haechan agreed. Then they all looked towards Mark who shook his head.

"What am I going to say?!"

"Just say anything!" Haechan said, pushing him towards the door.

Mark opened the doors to find Y/N waiting there. She looked lovely, especially when she smiled at him. "Aren't you gonna ask me to come in?"

Mark still did not know how to distract her. Damn Haechan for putting him in this spot. "Let's break up." What? What the hell was that?

Y/N's smile dropped as confusion took over. He hated that this was because of him. Y/N echoed his thoughts but he only apologized to her and went back inside, not able to bear the hurt seeping out of her any longer.

"Hurry up," he told the boys sullenly. They hadn't even finished sticking the pictures.

"Where's Y/N?" Chenle asked. He was sitting on the floor, fixing the poster.

The bell rang a few times but Mark stood still. "Well?" Renjun prodded.

"I messed up," Mark admitted. "So you guys need to hurry up before things get out of hand." He heard a thud on the door and then heard her yell something incomprehensible. Then there was silence. They all started at Mark, curiosity on their faces, but they chose not to inquire further.

"Alright, we're done," Jaemin announced as he stuck the poster on the wall.

Mark rushed out but he didn't find Y/N there. He panicked further. The elevator was taking too long so he rushed down the stairs and caught her just in time.

"Seriously?" Y/N raised an eyebrow. "You couldn't come up with anything else? How about 'let's go for a walk'? Or 'let's go for some ice cream?"

"I couldn't think of anything..."

"You know what it feels like to be dumped on your birthday?"

"I'm so sorry." He pressed his lips together. "But... I got an awesome gift for you to make up for it."

Y/N sighed. "If you do this one more time, Mark, I swear it won't end well for you." She let him hug her, ignoring the 'ooooo's of the guys.

xxx

Thanks, @nsm_ssm for requesting this!

Hope y'all liked it!