ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇʟᴘᴇʀs ʜᴇʟᴘᴇʀ | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ

ғɪᴠᴇ

Donghyuck was nine when he first met Jaemin. The two happened to become seatmates, and Donghyuck extroverted personality immediately clicked with Jaemin's. They soon got known as the annoying duo that made sure to mess around in class. Although they both had the best grades in their class, they were the ones who got most in trouble.

When they managed to finally somehow get into year 6, Donghyuck finally mustered up his confidence to ask Jaemin out. It was awkward, embarrassing, and most probably the most stupid thing Donghyuck had ever done.

He had kicked Jaemin out of his house and decorated it with all of his favourite things. Bought a bunch of things with the little allowance he had, and then spent the rest of the time cooking Jaemin's favourite dishes. Once he was finished, Donghyuck called Jaemin, who had been wandering around the streets trying to waste time, back inside and showed him around.

Since Jaemin's mum had been working night shift that day, Donghyuck decided to call his dad up and tell him that he was staying over at Jaemin's, like he always did when it got too late. Jaemin had reacted in a more pleasant way than what Donghyuck had expected. He stared at the plushies with shock, and then turned around to hug Donghyuck. He was the only one who remembered his birthday.

"Jaemin, I need to tell you something." Donghyuck had said, shuffling around on the sofa the two were sprawled out on, both thanking the fact that they didn't have school the next day.

"What's up Hyuck?" Jaemin asked, raising his head and accidentally knocking noses. Donghyuck looked down at Jaemin, who had been tucked under his arms in a tight hug, and took a deep breath. They had been friends for more than 3 years, so that should've been enough to develop big feelings for his best friend.

"I like you." Donghyuck answered, looking away and trying to focus on the screen which played some old sappy movie the two secretly wanted to watch but complained about. "Like, a lot. I like you a lot. And in the romantic way."

Donghyuck thought that Jaemin might've softly rejected him, since he already knew Jaemin was also into guys so wouldn't have had a disgusted reaction. But what he got was something he didn't think would happen, at all.

"I like you too." Jaemin said, bringing his hand to Donghyuck's cheek and placing a kiss on his cheek. Donghyuck normally wouldn't have gotten flustered by that action, since Jaemin's always been affectionate, but after finding out that he also had feelings for him, it caused a lot more impact.

It was only once Donghyuck reached high school when everything started to fall apart. His dad started having issues with his health, and the stress from work wasn't helping either. Unlike other irresponsible single dad's, Donghyuck's dad made sure to stay sober all the time, and gave Donghyuck as much love as he could.

But of course, that wasn't enough. The day Donghyuck returned home to see a piece of mail on the entrance floor with large red writing on it, he knew that meant bad news. Donghyuck picked it with his shaky hands, knowing that something bad would be coming from it, and then opening it, too impatient to wait for his dad to come home.

The letter was one stating that Donghyuck's dad was too deep in debt and if he didn't pay back soon, the house would be taken away from them.

Donghyuck didn't understand how taking the only bit of shelter they had would force them to somehow generate more money, but that didn't matter at the time. Instead, Donghyuck rushed to his phone, texting his dad everything that happened, and then calling Jaemin for help.

Of course like always, Jaemin arrived at his house within a few minutes and enveloped Donghyuck into a big hug, patting his head whilst telling him that it was going to be okay. That night, Donghyuck's dad, who reached home pretty late, told Jaemin that his mum was calling him, so he stepped out to talk to her.