"You will come though right?" Donghyuck asked, knowing what the answer would be, but still looked up at Mark expectantly. He wanted to hear the two words, 'of course', because they would definitely calm his nerves and worries, but he knew Mark wouldn't be able to say them.

Instead of replying, Mark pulled his chin away from his guitar, looking a little surprised by the sudden question, but then quickly replaced it with a warm smile, relaying the answer he couldn't say, through it. The small smile on Mark's face was enough to make Donghyuck feel all giddy, but the underlying fear and worry remained. Mark wouldn't be able to be there for their concert, and that should be okay.

But it really wasn't.

Donghyuck held the microphone to his mouth, the cold metal ghosting over his warm lips, and a shudder ran through his body. His eyes darted from the sea of green, quickly stopping when he saw a small yet blurry (although his eyesight was perfectly fine — or maybe Mark's bad eyes were getting to him somehow) figure sitting by a certain area. As much as he wished it would be Mark, the boy who was thousands of miles away from him at the moment, he knew it was some trainees who were much younger than him, waving their lightsticks and following the beat of the song.

The sounds of the fans screaming didn't seem loud for Donghyuck, since his mind was elsewhere. It was kind of selfish, Donghyuck thought, having his mind wander off to some other place, whilst he was supposed to be having the time of his life here, singing along and dancing to songs he'd probably never be able to perform to ever again soon. But he couldn't help it. He couldn't help the other selfish and horrible thoughts he had either, the ones where he wished SuperM didn't exist. 

He wasn't jealous (he was), but he just wanted Mark to be there, right here, sitting in the crowd, most probably wearing that ugly neon green sweater he had bought a few weeks back — in hope to be more brightly dressed — and maybe even that stupid white hat Donghyuck had gotten for him that had a some weird muffins drawn on it. Honestly, he didn't care how ridiculous Mark could've dressed for the occasion, he just wanted him there with him.

But of course, not everything is possible.

Donghyuck finished his line, the lights dimmed and the audience erupted into screams. He felt someone tug him and he followed them into the changing rooms. His shirt was over his head, and another one was getting wrapped around him. He didn't even have enough time to understand what was happening, before Jeno was right in front of him. 

"Hyuck." Jeno said, his voice sounding a little harsh, and Donghyuck immediately straightened his back, worried and confused about what he wanted to talk about. "Where is your mind?"

"Huh?" Donghyuck spluttered, taking his hands away (which he only now realised were enveloped by Jeno's) and trying to step back, in order to gain more space. But just as he did that, Jaemin appeared behind him and wrapped his arms around Donghyuck, forcing him into a backhug, and keeping him on that spot.

"We know you're sad that Mark Hyung couldn't come." Jaemin whispered, his hot breath fanning over Donghyuck's ear, and the shorter squirmed under his grip, hoping he could win this battle of strength, but after a few moments gave up, dropping his head low and sighing loudly. "But come on, it's our last day and we need to stay strong."

The hug lasted a couple of seconds, before some staff rushed in, shooing the kids back up the stage and everything clicked in place. The song started and the dance moves just took over Donghyuck's body. The smile on his face widened as he watched the fans go crazy after Jeno practically tore his shirt off, and then when the song came to an end, indicating they had to go and change their clothes for the second time. It was tiresome, but Donghyuck was basically an expert at it now, since he had been at many concerts (thanks to the neo city tour), and he always had the easiest clothes to slip in. 

Pulling the oversized white dress shirt over his head, and very messily tucking in the bottom, a tap was felt on his shoulder. Donghyuck turned around in surprise, and a screen got shoved into his face by a sniffling Jisung. 

Donghyuck held the phone in his hand, watching as the screen turned from a blank screen to Mark's eye, before the elder pulled away quickly, red with embarrassment and words getting mixed up as he rambled. The video wasn't long, only two minutes, but it was enough to make Donghyuck's knees weak and eyes glossy. The others had apparently seen it already, and Donghyuck was the last one. Mark kept apologising about how he wasn't able to make it, and Donghyuck really wanted to tell him that he doesn't need to apologize, because it wasn't his fault, it was the management's for messing with their schedules and planning a tour for Superm alongside Dream's concerts.

"You okay?" Renjun asked, patting his back as they made their way up the stairs to the stage. 

"Of course." Donghyuck snorted, raising his chin and looking at Renjun with bright eyes. "I'm great!"

He really wasn't, but he just had to hold a smile for an hour more. 

It was gonna be easy.

It wasn't easy, in fact, far from it. 

The fans were constantly yelling cheers, melting Donghyuck's heart more and more, bit by bit, one by one. It hurt. They were all so happy seeing the dreamies together, holding each other and running across the small stage with happiness. But it hurt, because there was one other member that deserved to be there with them, speaking the loudest, and constantly going off about his English translations. 

Mark was missing.

"Dream concert is like a prize to me." Donghyuck spoke into the microphone, his hands shaking, so his turned to Chenle, snaking his way around the younger's shoulder and sending him a look to stop him from shuffling away. "While having many promotions, there were times when it was hard, but many people helped me."

Donghyuck saw from the corner of his eye when Renjun turned to him, a small chuckle escaping his mouth but the glassy eyes couldn't go unnoticed. Jisung was already wiping his eyes, and Jeno had a large smile forcing his cheeks up to stop any tears. 

"And above everything," He sniffled, "I miss Mark Hyung even more today."

Shuffling into the dorm, Donghyuck avoided the looks the hyungs gave him, wanting nothing more but to be alone, because wow he never knew a concert could make him that emotional, but it did. Dream always made him like that. The only times he cried in public was when Dream got their first win, when Mark was graduating, and when he was reminded that the concert he was at might even be his last one with his best friend's. 

He wasn't going to cry when Mark was graduating. Honestly, he hadn't thought much about it, since three years had gone past and nothing had changed, but right there in that moment, when he thought about how he could never do any of the things he did with Mark and the Dreamies together on stage, his heart ached. And when Donghyuck looked to his right, catching a glimpse of Mark bring down on the inner part of his cheek, trying to hold back the years that were already halfway down his cheeks, he choked up. And then the waterfalls began.

The phone besides him began to ring, and he hurriedly picked it up, tapping the green button and holding it to his ear. 

"Hello?" Donghyuck cleared his throat, feeling a lump go down and he shook his head, trying to get rid of his thoughts.

"Hyuck—uhm, are you crying?" Mark's voice rang into his mind, and he quickly wiped away the tears forming in his eyes. They were puffy enough and he was pretty sure Jaemin was going to tease him because of the pictures the fans managed to get. 

"No." Donghyuck lied, but the sigh Mark let out right after his answer made it clear that the older of the two was not convinced. 

"What did I say about you telling us how you feel?" Mark muttered, and Donghyuck climbed into his bed, kicking off his clothes and making a point to take a shower first thing in the morning. Choosing to ignore what Mark said, he pulled that blanket up to his nose, freezing because somehow it was still cold inside a heated house. "Hyuck, Donghyuck, Haechan, Fullsun, Haechannie, baby, ba—"

An embarrassing squeak escaped Donghyuck's mouth and he slapped a hand over himself, eyes widening as Mark paused by the sound. A silence took over, before Mark burst into laughter, his voice coming out broken up but it was loud enough to make Donghyuck pull the phone away from his ear, because as much as he loved that noise, it was too god damn loud. 

"Did you just squeal when I called you baby?" Mark asked between pants, and Donghyuck only covered his face with a blanket, though it made no difference since Mark could not see his face, but it was a reaction he needed to give. 

"...no." Donghyuck mumbled, and Mark began to laugh loudly again, yet this time a smile crept up Donghyuck's face.

"Oh yeah! By the way, how was the dream show? I haven't seen the videos yet." Mark said, changing the subject to the one thing Donghyuck didn't want to talk about right now. 

"It was...good." Donghyuck replied, playing with the corner of the blanket and mindlessly blinking into the dark room, the empty bed across his glaring back as the thoughts he had tried so hard to forget rushed back in. "We all cried backstage, except for Jaemin, he kept hitting us and telling us to cheer up."

"As expected." Mark chuckled, and Donghyuck found himself doing the same. 

It was quite funny, since Jaemin was looking at them with such a serious expression, and telling them such comforting things, yet his own eyes were stinging with unshed tears. He always did try his best to be a pillar of the group, even when he didn't have to.

"What about you?" Donghyuck quickly said, shaking his head, already feeling a headache form. "How was the concert you guys did? Was it better than the ones we did?"

"Of course not." Mark said, and the sound of sheets rustling were heard, and Donghyuck guessed he must've only woken up. The damn time difference always messed up their sleeping routines. Mark never woke up before 10am, yet here (or there) he was awake at 8am. Donghyuck already had a horrible sleep routine, sleeping at 5am, only to get up a 9am because he just couldn't sleep for any longer. The time differences were taking a bigger toll on Mark, if anything.

"It was fun." Mark continued, "Have you watched any clips?"

"How should I respond to this...or would you rather see my hands clap?"

"Oh my god." Mark grumbled, and Donghyuck almost fell off his bed because of how much he was laughing. He had been scrolling through Instagram, with his volume on high, when suddenly that video appeared, and Mark growling into the microphone was the only thing being heard in the practice room. The dreamies had immediately jumped up to check what it was, and doubled over after realising that it was Mark. "It wasn't bad...was it?"

"No no!" Donghyuck quickly got back into the comfortable position he was in, the smile still lingered on his face as he spoke, "It was good, really good, it was just really unexpected. Who knew Mark Lee could growl like that."

"Shut up!" Mark whined, and Donghyuck then proceeded to laugh, imitating the things Mark said during that concert. 

Without knowing, a few more hours passed before it was nearly one, and Donghyuck wondered if Johnny wasn't entering the room so that he could speak to Mark in peace, or if Johnny was simply busy. Throughout their conversation, Mark kept trying to bring it back to the concert, asking Donghyuck questions about how he was feeling, but the younger kept avoiding them, knowing that if he went into too much detail, he would just keep spilling his feelings. 

"Donghyuck." Mark said after a moment's silence, his voice sounding stern, and Donghyuck could imagine him with a frown on that pretty face of his. "Why do you keep changing the subject? Are you sure you're okay? You know you can tell me how you feel."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Donghyuck giggled, but it came out more like a nervous laugh, urging Mark to continue his questioning.

"Did something happen at the concert? Did the kids say anything? Did the managers say anything? Donghyuck, you know I'm always here right? You can always—"

"I'm sad." Donghyuck confessed, and he was shocked at how only two words could portray the mess of his feelings at that moment so well. "I'm sad because you weren't at our concert. I'm sad because we're going to be graduating soon, and after the dream show tour, it's all over. I'm sad because the company isn't telling us what's going to happen to Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun, they said the three would get added to U, but we all know that units dead. I'm sad because Jisung is gonna have to watch us leave and we'll all get so busy, and hanging out with each other, even between us two, is so difficult. I'm sad because normally it's people who are friends from other groups that tend to struggle this way, but here we are, in the same god damn group but unable to meet up in peace!"

Donghyuck was panting by the end, and he had shut his eyes close, forcing the tears to stay in, because damn when did he get so emotional. He wasn't the type to cry easily, although this clearly wasn't an easy matter, but still, he wouldn't have cried. Dream really did wonders to him.

"Donghyuck." Mark finally said, "Graduating won't be easy, but we don't know, they might end up making you guys a fixed unit because of how everyone's reacting! And Jisung...Jisung will understand, and he'll get over it soon I'm sure he will. None of this will be easy, especially for the other three, since you're already in a fixed unit, but you know, we just gotta be there for them. We just gotta support them and make sure that they, you know, know that we're here for them. Yeah?"

"Yeah." Donghyuck breathed out, managing to calm himself as Mark spoke softly to him. Even though Mark wouldn't say much, only the same things the others would say, or even just a small, 'uhm yeah Hyuck don't worry—uh everything will be fine, yeah?', it would be enough to make Donghyuck smile and feel warm. Mark was good with words when talking in interviews, but when it came to heart to heart conversations, he struggled, but it always helped Donghyuck in the end. After all, he was Mark. He could always help Donghyuck.

"Anyways, it's getting late for you Hyuckie." Mark cleared his throat, and the nicknames he had made for Donghyuck were slipping off his tongue one by one. "Make sure to sleep as soon as the call ends, and wake up late, you've tired yourself out enough, okay?"

"Okay okay." Donghyuck chuckled, holding a hand to his face and yawned.

"And remember, you can always talk to me. I can listen, even if I can't give you any good advice." Mark said, and Donghyuck smiled. Little did Mark know that his awkward responses were enough to make Donghyuck relaxed. "Night Haechannie."

"Night Markie."

-

So I was thinking of something...and I wanted to ask if I should write a nomin fic that's a sequel to this? Because I got this idea, and wanted to check if it would be...good?