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Just as Donghyuck wrapped his slender fingers around the burger, bringing it close to his face and taking a sweet whiff of the deliciously unhealthy smell, a hand grabbed his shoulder, causing him to look away from the burger, confused as to who was daring to interrupt his moment with his precious burger. The invisible hand tugged on him again, and this time he heard a voice alongside it, the words coming out muffled, but Donghyuck only shrugged it off, a whine escaping his mouth as he turned back to his treasure. 

Obviously, the non-existent human, or whatever the hell this thing was, wasn't going to let Donghyuck eat in peace, so it grabbed Donghyuck's nose this time. The hand pinched his nose so tightly, that even breathing from his mouth failed, and that might've been because of another invisible hand holding it close. Thrashing his arms around, Donghyuck jerked forwards, watching as the burger flew out of his grip, and as he landed on the ground, a fresh bit of air hit him, and Donghyuck fell off his bed, the sound of Jaehyun's annoying laughter echoing in the room. 

"Idiot." Jaehyun snickered, making sure to make a mental note to remember this incident, and perhaps bring it up in the future (because apparently, he was making a list of all the embarrassing things that had happened to Donghyuck for blackmail). "What were you dreaming of?"

"Something better than your face," Donghyuck grunted, pushing his weight on his feet and using his knees to help himself up. The dizziness from the sudden stand made Donghyuck trip back, and land back on his butt. Another round of laughter echoed around the room, this time with Donghyuck joined in.








Donghyuck didn't understand. He looked to his right and watched as Mark cheekily smiled, his front teeth popping up (and Donghyuck suddenly remembered the time the elder had braces, and when he used to cover his mouth to hide them -— a habit he still has — after he got ridiculed by Donghyuck, although he also had them). He watched as Mark raised his hand, his sleeve slipping down, and no Donghyuck was not staring at his arms for a few seconds, and he pinched Jungwoo's cheek. Just like that. With no hesitation or cringe.

Mark never did that with him, now that Donghyuck thought about it. To be very honest, Mark never even batted an eye at his pouts, or his hugs, or his kisses. He always let out a loud groan, forcing Donghyuck to move away from him, and then continued to talk about whatever they were conversing about. 

But he didn't mind. Donghyuck could care less about how Mark Lee reacted to his hugs or kisses. It's not as if Donghyuck's heart ached when he watched people push him away, and then proceed to do the same thing he did with someone else. That was a childish thing to get upset over, and Donghyuck was not childish, hell he was almost 20, he couldn't let this bother him.

Not as if it had been bothering him for years now.










A week later, and Donghyuck gave up his pride.








"So you're upset they push you away?" Jaemin asked, shuffling closer to Donghyuck on the practice room floor, his feet creating a loud squeaky noise when he dragged his shoes across the floor, which made the two cringe hard, "And you're asking me how to fix this?"

"Precisely." Donghyuck nodded, his eyes bouncing from the floor, to the ceiling, and then back to Jaemin, clearly showing how desperate he was to ask Jaemin (the guy who was always asking everyone else how to deal with his problems, which were always somehow related to cartoons.) Honestly, Donghyuck should've asked Renjun, or maybe even Jeno, since they were the ones everyone relied on to help solve their problems, a strange tradition they created after Jisung once broke down during a rehearsal and those two helped him. 

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