"Can we talk to you, Mark?" Chanyeol awkwardly stood by Mark's bedroom, Baekhyun behind him with his head low.

"Yeah, of course," Mark quickly answered, sitting up in his bed and tried to hide the pile of dirty clothes by kicking it under his bed. The action didn't go unnoticed by the two but they didn't pay much attention to it, worrying blinding their eyes. "What's wrong?"

"It's about..." Baekhyun took a deep breath and leaned against Mark's table - and he probably would've warned his uncle that the table was broken from one side if the worried expression on his face didn't scare Mark. "It's about Donghyuck."

"Donghyuck?" Mark echoed and the two shared a look. "What about him?"

"He," Baekhyun seemed to choke up on his words and held a hand to his head, trying to calm himself down. Chanyeol didn't look any better. "He comes home with bruises, cuts, scratches - says he fell down the stairs, got hurt in class, accidentally got pushed to the floor. Mark, I know he's lying, we all do. He- he doesn't tell us what's really going on." Baekhyun takes a break and gestures for Chanyeol to continue. He does, but with a small voice, hurt.

"Donghyuck is getting bullied by someone," Chanyeol finally said and Mark freezed up. They didn't know it was his fault, did they? To be honest, if they did, by now Mark would have more bruises and broken bones than Donghyuck ever did. So maybe they didn't know?

"Do you know who it is?" Baekhyun urged, looking at Mark with expectant eyes. He almost slips up, tells them that it was him who started it all with a stupid insult that led to all of this. That it was his friends who were dragging Donghyuck to the hidden areas of the schools, tainting his skin and pulling his hair. But how could he? He would end up exposing all of his friends and then they would leave him. Not only that, his parents would find out what he did to Donghyuck and that would be the end of him. He couldn't.

"No," Mark replied and their shoulders slumped down, eyes drained of hope and Mark felt the guilt build up inside him. He could tell them? No. No, he couldn't. The truth carried too much for him to lose, although the lies seemed to be much more of a burden. The weight on his chest was heavy and he could barely breathe with it, but as long as everyone around him liked him, he didn't care.

"Alright," Baekhyun sighed and took his weight off Mark's broken table, the frown on his face deepening as he eyed Mark's nervous movement. "Alright, thanks. Sorry for bothering you, Mark."

"No, no, you didn't bother me," Mark nods at them as they exit his room, making their way back downstairs, where Donghyuck and his parents had been. Once they were out of sight, Mark pulled his phone out and messaged Donghyuck - only now realising that the last time they had texted was when Donghyuck was asking him for his location.

"You messaged?" Donghyuck poked his head through the crack in his door and Mark nodded begrudgingly, making a gesture for him to enter. "Why? Do you need a favour? Or help?"

It was weird how Donghyuck was so quick to ask Mark if he needed anything. He felt bad that that was the first thing the younger had assumed, but then again it made sense. The only times Mark had ever spoken to him were when it benefited him and him alone.

"Are you going to tell your parents about what goes on in school?" Mark asked immediately, no hesitation nor shame evident in his voice. Donghyuck didn't seem surprised. His expression remained calm and he let out a deep sigh, tired of this act.

"I haven't up till now, what makes you think I will in the future?" Donghyuck raised an eyebrow and made a move to exit the room, the action of his arm raising to hold the handle door exposed a part of his side, a purple patch glared back at Mark and he internally winced at the sight.

"Your parents were asking about your injuries," Mark quickly said in order to stop the younger from leaving. He needed a proper answer. Maybe one day Donghyuck would have enough and would tell his parents everything. The veil would be dropped, the secret would be out. Mark's reputation would be gone

"Mark hyung," Donghyuck spoke in a stern tone, the way his lips were always pulled down into a permanent frown around Mark bothered him and his unusually quiet front hid away his emotions. It was strange. Not long ago, before they found out about their engagement, Donghyuck would tell Mark everything - from how many biscuits he ate to the time his parents yelled at him for getting his clothes dirty (it was Mark's fault but they never knew that). "They won't find out. You have nothing to worry about."

The sound of his footsteps resonated in the hallway and his voice soon joined in with the four downstairs. Mark lowered his gaze from his closed door and looked down at his lap. His phone buzzed and a notification popped up. It was Yerim. Mark stared at it for a moment, debating whether or not he should go downstairs or talk to her. Seconds passed before he picked his phone up and called her up. Even if he was to go downstairs, was there anyone waiting for him?

-

Yerim wasn't the type of girl to get angry over small things. Sure, she was a little high maintenance and moody, but she knew when and where to respect people. Mark liked that about her. When he met his parents, she bowed down, introduced herself as Mark's classmate (he had told her that his parents weren't fond of the idea of dating in highschool and surprisingly, she believed it). His parents had praised her many times after she left, bringing a smile to his face, but then they reminded Mark about who he should really pay attention to. Donghyuck. His fiance.

"You have a lot of childhood pictures with this kid in your living room," Yerim whispered to Mark when they sat next to each other in chemistry, not even bothering to take notes and instead just doodled on the page and played games. "Who is that?"

"Childhood pictures?" Mark paused for a second and he squinted in an attempt to remember. Yerim giggled at his face and nudged his shoulder.

"You know, the ones next to the TV. The kid looks cute," Yerim quickly said before looking down at her page of rambles when their teacher shot them a look.

Mark knew what she was talking about. There were pictures of him and Donghyuck as little kids walking down a hill, hand in hand. Another one was of Donghyuck sitting on top of him, practically strangling him but he seemed to be enjoying the tickles he was getting. Mark would've told Yerim who it was, but that was the problem. She didn't like Donghyuck. If she found out that Donghyuck was someone that Mark was close with when he was younger then she would leave him. He couldn't tell her.

"Now I'm definitely not telling you," Mark huffed, tilting his face away from her when she pouted. Yerim poked his cheek and whined quietly. "It doesn't matter anyways, I don't talk to that kid anymore."

"Mark," Yerim chuckled at his answer and then placed her hand over his arm, a comforting gesture that Mark still couldn't handle well. "I was just asking. Don't worry, I'm not going to cheat on you or anything."

Yerim rolled her eyes fondly when Mark continued to refuse to look at her so she pinched his stomach, earning a squeak from him. The teacher seemed to have enough of them and turned to Mark, the corners of his mouth slowly raising when he watched the two gulp in fear.

"Mark Lee," Mr Moon said in a sweet tone with underlying anger. "Please exit my room and sit on the ground outside. Make sure your hands are up otherwise your detention will last longer than 10 minutes."

Mark groaned at this and begrudgingly got up, playfully shoving Yermi to the side when she mocked him. The rest of the class laughed when he tripped over his shoelaces, even the teacher did and his cheeks heated up faster than they ever had before. Finally getting out of that embarrassment, Mark kneeled down and raised his arms besides the door. He wasn't afraid of getting detentions - his parents never really got the calls anyways (it was Donghyuck) - but it was still a little nerve-wracking when the teachers stared at him with an unreadable expression. It sort of made him feel shameful. He didn't like getting in trouble.

A sigh left his mouth as his knees already began to ache only five minutes in so he glanced around. A few hushed voices could be heard from the corner of the hallway and Mark craned his neck to catch a glimpse of who it was. The curiosity in him beat his reasonable thinking and he slowly put his weight onto his feet, crawling away at a fast speed. The voices got louder by the second and Mark stopped as he reached a place where he could watch with ease. With a smile on his face, Mark looked over the corner and the smile dropped quickly than it formed.

Donghyuck stood by his locker, his back pressed against it as someone slightly taller loomed over him. Mark's eyebrows furrowed when he saw this and he wondered if it was someone hurting him again. The stranger raised his hand and placed it next to Donghyuck's face, barely touching his cheek. The shorter shivered at the tiny bit of contact and Mark couldn't help but narrow his eyes. They seemed different from all the people Donghyuck ever came across. They were never this intimate.

"So what do you say?" The boy that had caged Donghyuck between his arms said, his blonde hair contrasting against his red face. Donghyuck blinked up at him with wide eyes, confusion and surprise filling his cute features and a soft grin graced his lips. Mark felt a smile creep up his face but he pushed away that feeling as quickly as he could and paid closer attention to the two by the lockers.

"It's only been two weeks," Donghyuck replied, sounding a lot more confident that what his face was showing, his heated up ears, the shy grin. "Let's see if you can wait any longer, Na Jaemin."

Who? Mark was about to interfere, ask what was going on when a sound from behind him caused him to yelp.

"Mark Lee!" Mr Moon yelled from down the hallway. "I thought I asked you to stay right here!"

Donghyuck and the boy, Jaemin, snapped their heads in Mark's direction, shock plastering over their faces before they scrambled to hide from the teacher.

"Technically," Mark swallowed down the fear that he felt when Donghyuck's eyes fell upon him and forced himself to turn around. "You told me to keep my hands up, not remain seated outside."

He could hear his classmates cracking up at his horrible joke and Mr Moon had had enough to do with him. With a red piece of paper in his hand, Mark made his way to detention. And as much as he was worried about losing marks in his grades, his mind was more concerned about the blonde and brunette he had seen earlier.

They were too intimate.

-

I'm a sucker for Nahyuck, what can I say?