roommates | nct ot23 (markhyuck centric)

chapter thirty-eight

yangyang chewed on his bottom lip as he anxiously made his way back to his cabin after walking sungchan and shotaro back to their cabin (he used some lousy excuse just so he didn't have to be alone with ten and kun).

"just pretend like you don't care." winwin's words circled around yangyang's mind. "I know it's hard, but you just have to."

yangyang took a deep breath, shaking off his nerves before he entered his cabin, slowly and quietly closing the door behind him.

and as he turned back around to face the inside of the cabin, there they were.

ten and kun; standing anxiously, both on opposite ends of the room from each other, acting as if it was illegal to be within 6 feet of each other.

there was pin-drop silence as yangyang took heavy steps towards the living room. but then he suddenly halted when he reached the steps that led down onto the main ground (so, like, idk if it makes sense, but basically the cabin is dipped into the ground at least two feet since the main door is elevated thanks to the porch).

he hesitated before stepping down the two steps, his feet landing against the fluffy, white rug that took up basically most of the living room area.

then came the awkward silence (caw caw caw).

yangyang fidgeted with his fingernails as he stared down at the white rug that was suddenly oh-so interesting.

he was rocking back and forth on his feet, wanting nothing more than to squirm and slam something into the wall to break the uncomfortable silence. but, unfortunately, he very well couldn't do that.

"oh, ffs-!" ten mumbled, his voice louder than he intended, but maybe that was because there were literal crickets in the room right now, so his voice just happened to sound loud even if it wasn't.

both kun and yangyang jumped, started by ten's sudden voice that broke the silence. on top of that, they were kind of scared by the annoyance and frustration that his voice held.

"before you say anything," ten looked at yangyang, his voice softening. "we're both sorry." ten gestured to both him and kun. "we really didn't mean for that to play out like it did.." ten's face flushed a soft hue of red, probably because he recanted the events from earlier.

"we also hope we didn't make you too uncomfortable..." kun noted as he finally joined the conversation.

yangyang took in a deep breath as he forced himself to fake a small but sweet smile (and, boy, was his acting good! like, someone get this man an oscar award because he hid his real emotions so well! like, I wish I could do that  bro- 😭💀 anygay-).

'just pretend like you don't care.' yangyang mentally reminded himself, repeating winwin's words as he mustered up the courage to speak.

"don't worry about it." yangyang spoke up as he shook his head softly. "I wasn't necessarily uncomfortable. just...taken aback, I suppose." the youngest of the three stated as he faked a casual tone, but he wanted nothing more than to breakdown into tears right then and there thanks to his mind overthinking.

the dreaded, overwhelming feeling of dejection and fear loomed over him like a sad, rainy cloud in a completely clear sky.

he was the only gloomy one, raining on the others' parade while everyone else around him seemed to be completely fine. perfect, even. they didn't have a single drop of rain or a giant, gray cloud ruin their ray of sunshine.

"are you sure..?" ten questioned as he eyed the younger with concern all over his face.

yangyang snapped out of his thoughts, smile widening ever so slightly.

"yeah! I don't mind whatever you two have between you, and I don't care about the pda. I was just shocked and embarrassed in the moment, that's all." yangyang shrugged nonchalantly as he came up with a quick excuse to his behavior.

honestly, he scared himself quite a bit because of how well of a performance he was putting up. it was so well executed that even he almost believed the lie, and maybe that's what he should want.

maybe---just maybe---the more he told himself that he didn't care, the more he'd believe the lie and stop feeling so...down, for a lack of better words.

"we don't have anything between us..." kun muttered quietly, both him and ten blushing profusely as their eyes met.

"that's not what I saw earlier." and there he was, back from his grave. the same teasing, annoying, but loveable yangyang that both ten and kun grew to know and love.

if only kun and ten could see through the younger's well-played façade.

both the older males shot wide-eyed glares at yangyang, the blush on their cheeks growing to spread all over their face and ears.

yangyang only shrugged and winked at the two before running off to their room.

"yah, liu yangyang!" ten screeched as he darted after the boy, chasing him down and tickling the hell out of him.

yangyang squealed loudly as he pleaded for ten to stop, his laughter lighting up the entire cabin with happiness and joy.

kun sighed as he walked into the bedroom, shaking his head softly as he held a fond smile on his lips, his eyes expressing nothing but love and happiness as he stared at his two favorite people.

maybe if yangyang wasn't so caught up in his own paranoid thoughts, he'd see that the answers to all his questions were merely right in front of him, waiting for him to realize how easy the solution to his problem was.

all he needed to do was look closer at the said problem with a different point of view.

---

small kun x ten x yangyang chapter for you all :]
I am so far liking how the ships are progressing, I suppose.

also, happy new year!!! lets start off the new year on a good foot for once, yeah? 😭💀
2024, here I come, I guess 😭