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. 

But then Donghyuck thought about how they would react. He knew his 'problem' was childish (still not admitting the fact that he hated it when the older members pushed him away and decided to keep it on a neutral level of disappointment or sadness? He still wasn't entirely sure), and that's why he knew that if he was to tell them, they'd talk sense into him, tell him it's nothing to get upset for, and then leave him alone. However, that was not the type of comforting Donghyuck wanted. It was confusing, and he didn’t exactly know what he should have done. There were only two options, actually. One was to tell the hyungs how he felt, most probably get embarrassed after they laugh at him and shrug it off, making the sick feeling in his stomach worse, and the other was to—

e

"Ignore them." Jaemin cut his thoughts, causing him to snap his head up in confusion. "Don't hug them, don't kiss them, don't touch them, and only talk to them when necessary."

"But," Donghyuck paused, wondering what could go wrong if he was to do that. As he thought about it, the pros overcame the cons (which weren't many), and a more successful result was portrayed in his head, where the older members might finally end up accepting his affection. "Alright, fine. I won't do any of that-", and his heart hurt when saying that, "And instead be—"

"Affection-less!" Jaemin finished for him, he threw his hands up and smiled brightly at Donghyuck. The warmth from his smile made its way to Donghyuck's heart, and now the idea didn't seem that bad.

At least Donghyuck hoped so.

It was going to be easy, Donghyuck thought. All he had to do was not touch them, or speak to them. He could do this. He used to do this when he was tired, or exhausted and not up for social interaction, choosing to bury himself in the comfort of his bed, and spend the whole day there before getting up for practice, where he put on a mask and danced along, not even bothering to spare a look at the members. If he had done it before, he could do it again.

And so, Donghyuck opened his eyes and left Dreamland, his vision focused on the ceiling, and his arms started to ache. Practice had run late yesterday, since Jaemin and Donghyuck spent most of it just lazying around, using their phones and poking each other, much to the other members' dismay, and that lead to them leaving for their dorms at around 3 am. 

Donghyuck wouldn't have felt this tired, as he normally slept at that time because of his terrible sleep routine. But when he came home at night, sneaking in so that he wouldn't disturb the other members, and quietly made his way to the kitchen, hoping he could slip in a snack, Donghyuck found Mark sitting there, sipping on some coffee and scrolling through his phone in the dim light. 

A sudden wave of happiness washed over Donghyuck, and a large smiled etched on his face. Mark had stayed up waiting for Donghyuck, and he couldn't be happier. And just as he was going to go talk to him, Jaemin's words echoed in his ear.

Ignore them.

Don't hug them.

Don't kiss them.

Don't touch them,

And only talk to them when necessary.

Chewing down on his lip, Donghyuck had stepped into the kitchen, his light steps still making enough sound to make Mark jump in his seat, startled by the new presence, but relaxing as soon as he laid his eyes on Donghyuck. Their eyes met each other, and before Mark could open his mouth to say something, Donghyuck broke it off, hurrying to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water alongside the bowl of food Taeyong must've kept in there for him.

Mark watched with confusion as Donghyuck rushed past him, not even bothering to greet him, before disappearing in the hallway. The sound of a door clicking close was heard, and Mark blinked in surprise.

(Donghyuck felt bad. 

He felt bad as he munched on his food, sending side glances at Jaehyun, who was sound asleep and snoring quite loudly. The image of Mark staring at him, slightly hurt by the way Donghyuck had treated him, was engraved in his mind. He felt bad for ignoring Mark, a little 'hi' couldn't have hurt, could it?, And he felt bad because Mark had stayed up till 3 for him, knowing well that he had a longer schedule whilst Donghyuck didn't. He felt bad because Donghyuck never did this, ignoring people and not even showing any signs of regret on his face. 

Mark must feel so angry or hurt, at the way Donghyuck rushed past him, not a single word shared between them. And then Donghyuck couldn't sleep until the sun rose.)

Finally getting out of bed, Donghyuck threw his blanket to the side, a whine almost escaped his mouth as the cold air hit him, reminding him that it was still winter and that he had to wrap himself up to stay warm. Stuffing his feet into socks, and slipping his arms into a hoodie, barely managing to get his head through the large hood, Donghyuck stumbled out of his room, stretching his arms out to get rid of the ache. 

As he left his room, rubbing his eyes tiredly, and following the trail of voices, Donghyuck let out a yawn, his mind still worrying about Mark.

“Ah, Donghyuck, come here,” Yuta said, waving at the brunette who just entered the room, and then gesturing towards the sofa. Donghyuck wobbled over to the members, glancing around to check if Mark was there — he wasn’t — before sighing out of relief? Annoyance? Worry?

"Taeyong's gonna make breakfast," Taeil informed, watching as Donghyuck dropped onto the sofa, sinking into the cushions and his eyes fluttered closed.

It was his first day in trying to stay away from being too affectionate, and he was only a few minutes in and the urge to go and hug Taeil was there. Jungwoo entered the room, flashing a smile at Donghyuck, although his eyes were closed, and then fell on top of Taeil, muttering something along the lines of, 'Good morning the most beautiful person in the world'. Cringe, but Donghyuck still smiled, and so did Taeil.

"What's up?" Yuta asked, elbowing Donghyuck and forcing him to open his eyes. "You're really quiet, is there anything bothering you?"

"No, just tired." And to support his words, Donghyuck smiled weakly, before closing his eyes again and letting out a sigh. He missed the worried look Yuta sent the other two across the room.

"Breakfast's ready," Taeyong said, gesturing for them all to come into the kitchen, and the stupid bright orange apron he was wearing hurt Donghyuck's eyes. As he got up to join the rest in the kitchen, where the table was, Taeyong stopped him with a hand, pointing a finger to the corridor. "Can you wake Mark up?"

As much as Donghyuck didn't want to, he still swallowed down his disagreement and said, "Of course hyung", thriving off the small hug Taeyong gave him because of the answer.

Dragging his feet across the floor, Donghyuck held his head low, thinking about how to approach Mark. He could do it the normal way he does, pulling the blanket off the elder and then laughing at the whines he lets out. Or, he could just do it the way he expected Mark would like it best (since when did he become a people pleaser?), tapping his shoulder and calmly asking him to wake up.

Donghyuck opened the door to Mark's room, poking his head in and staring at the large bump on the bed and the legs hanging out of the sheets. He almost wanted to laugh at how cute the scene was.

"Mark Hyung?" Donghyuck called out, hoping that the big distance he created between them — him standing literally across the room, holding the door closely to himself — would be able to help the feeling he had inside him (he still didn't know whether or not he was angry or sad towards the members for always denying his affection). "Wake up."

It only took a few calls, his voice getting louder and louder each time, before Mark let out a loud groan, rolling over in bed, and yawning into the air. Donghyuck watched as Mark jumped into a sitting position, before smiling at the younger, his eyes squinting to check who it was (and Donghyuck swears he saw the smile drop).

"I'm awake, I'm awake," Mark mumbled, throwing his legs off the bed and stumbling out, trailing behind Donghyuck, but taking a turn at one point to go to the bathroom. 

Well that was wasn't too hard, now was it?

"Haechanie, sit with me," Jungwoo said softly, patting the seat next to him, whilst holding Taeil's arm in the other. Donghyuck chuckled at the way Taeil tried to pull his arm away but then giving in to the pout Jungwoo gave him. 

"Hey." Donghyuck greeted, sitting down and his heart warmed up when Jungwoo reached to his right and gave him a short hug. He always gave him hugs, or kisses, whenever he had the chance to. Jungwoo was one of the members he always went to for affection, and the Dreamies (because as much as they teased Donghyuck and beat him up, they always hugged him and repaid the immense amount of weird brotherly love he gave them).

"Eat up." Jungwoo chirped, putting more food into his plate once he realised Donghyuck couldn't reach the food on the side. 

The table was quiet for the rest of the morning, eyes were wandering around, landing on Donghyuck, who was unusually silent through it all, eating his food slowly and glueing his eyes to his plate. Before anyone could comment on his behaviour, Donghyuck stood up, almost pushing the chair to the ground and hurried over to the sink, placing his plate there and then turning to Taeyong.

"I'm going to practice, thanks for the food Hyung, bye-bye." And with that he rushed out of the dorm, trying his best to not get happy over the chorus of replies he got. They didn't mean anything special. They didn't, they didn't, they didn't—

Why did they mean so much to Donghyuck?

The drive to the company was quick, only a few turns since their dorm wasn't far from the building, and Donghyuck walked through the halls, with a speed he never knew he had. He felt bad for leaving abruptly during their breakfast since he’s never done anything like that before. But he knew he had to start somewhere, and if that somewhere meant acting rude and disrespectful just to prove a point, Donghyuck had to go for it despite the consequences.

He opened the door to the practice room with a bang, startling Jisung, who just happened to be standing right next to it, and Donghyuck turned to Jaemin, who looked up at him with a large smile.

"How was your first day as affection-less?" Jaemin asked, and Donghyuck felt like slapping him for talking about their plan so loudly. Jeno and Renjun froze halfway through their fight for the last snack bar, and the younger two also stopped playing around with the music system. They all stared at Donghyuck with confusion, before turning to Jaemin.

"What do you mean by that?" Jeno asked, and honestly, he didn't seem intimidating at all, not with the large bunny paws he was wearing after he lost a bet with Jisung, but his gaze was still sharp. "Hyuck, what does he mean?"

"I—" Donghyuck sighed, he might as well tell them what he was doing. There was no point in hiding it from them, although they'd probably scold him for doing such a thing, they couldn't exactly force him to not be normal, could they? 

"Haechannie’s on a mission to not give the hyungs any affection, at least not until they give it to him unconditionally," Jaemin answered forrom him, and Jeno face palmed immediately, Renjun following him soon after.

"Why don't you just tell them you want them to be like that with you?" Jeno grabbed Donghyuck's shoulder and brought him to the ground with the rest of them. He shrugged his arms, making a face before turning to Jaemin, hoping he could help him. "No, listen Hyuck, it's not gonna end up well. You should just talk your feelings out instead, you know?"

"But—"

"The hyungs need to learn it the harsh way Jeno." Jaemin interrupted, shaking his head at Jeno's groan of frustration. "They need to understand that it's not alright to be acting so cold towards him all the time."

"He could just—" Jisung stopped suddenly and made a gesture towards Jeno indicating for him to stop too, and then rushed towards the music system which played a song that forced them to jump to their feet, following the beat (and if some random person was to see this they'd probably assume they were robots following a command, but in all honesty it was because one of their managers had walked in, and their harsh glare was enough to get them onto their feet).

Halfway through practice, Donghyuck's phone rang, snapping him out of his thoughts, and he put his bottle of water down, wiping his hand down his leg before picking up the call.

"Hello?" He said without checking who had called him.

"Hey, Haechan, Doyoung was asking what you wanted to eat for dinner?" Taeil answered him, and why the hell was Doyoung asking him what he wanted for dinner. He never—they all never asked him what he wanted for food, and made plans on their own. So why were they asking today? Was it because of the way Donghyuck left the dorm in the morning? Had they caught on to the fact that Donghyuck was upset? Then maybe they should suffer a while longer in the dark and should ask him directly rather than try to please him into forgiving them.

"Ah, sorry Hyung, I'll be staying at the dream dorm tonight," Donghyuck replied, and looked over to Renjun, who nodded enthusiastically (even though he was going to ignore him the second they entered the dorm). "But thanks for asking, bye."

As soon as Taeil muttered his bye, Donghyuck ended the call, and a sigh left his mouth before he dropped onto the floor. Jeno scoffed before sliding down next to him.

"This is why you should—"

"Just let me be Jeno."