upstaged || markhyuck

64: strangers to lovers.

doyoung rolled his eyes at the totally inept use of swearing by the other fifteen year old.

"why do you have this?" another asked, "are you gay?"

"this is so fucking lame..."

"excuse me," a new voice had said, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

jung jaehyun.

everyone knew jung jaehyun.

doyoung remembered standing there frozen as jaehyun raised an eyebrow at the boy who had snatched up the vogue magazine.

"that's not yours, is it?" jaehyun asked in surprise.

"n-no!" he shoved the mag back at doyoung, who hid it in his bag. but everyone knew about it now, so it was pointless.

"well, you're in my way," jaehyun said simply, and the boy quickly moved so jaehyun could walk over to his desk.

everyone knew jaehyun, respected him, even. he was the first freshman to make the soccer team in years, and his calm and kind attitude had girls talking about him behind his back and trying to ask him out. in freshman year.

doyoung remembered silently sinking into his own seat, wondering why jaehyun had even bothered stepping in. doyoung wasn't popular, or liked? hell, barely anyone knew who he was.

but when he looked back and saw jaehyun shoot him a brief smile, he was even more perplexed.

but not as perplexed as when, some weeks later, jaehyun had approached him and asked if they could work together on their first paired art project.

they'd become friends after that, when kun met sicheng and the two started spending more time together. meanwhile, doyoung and jaehyun found themselves confiding in each other more that they'd ever done with anyone else. when doyoung came to terms with his bisexuality, jaehyun was the first to know. when jaehyun had his own struggles with homosexuality, he went to doyoung first. and doyoung kept his secret. doyoung's parents finally divorced, and he cried into jaehyun's chest that night.

when the two were approaching senior year and thinking about what they planned to do after they graduated, their original unspoken pact was to go to college together. the nearest college offered both science and arts courses, and doyoung was already set on going into art and fashion design. but jaehyun shocked everyone by taking a photography elective in senior year and became the unofficial photographer for the soccer team, which he subsequently lost interest in playing for.

and when jaehyun announced his decision to take a gap year and pursue photography work, doyoung was secretly heart broken. one night after a booze-filled birthday party of seo johnny, doyoung kissed jaehyun. he buried that moment deep in his heart and took it away to college with him whilst jaehyun stayed home.

of course, soon doyoung couldn't take it anymore and moved back into his mom's house. his smile of relief was mirrored in jaehyun's when he told him he'd be moving back. the two were practically inseparable after that. best friends, and now lovers.

"what are you thinking about?" jaehyun asked him, bringing his thoughts back to the present.

they were lying beside each other, tangled in each other's limbs and their breathing synchronised. doyoung smiled and turned to look at jaehyun.

"high school," he admitted.

jaehyun's brow furrowed. "what about it?"

"how we met," doyoung said simply.

jaehyun broke out into a grin. "i can't believe i defended you over a vogue mag," he chuckled.

doyoung hit his arm. "god, don't remind me again," he groaned, "it's so embarrassing."

"it made me notice you, at least," jaehyun said with a shrug, resting his chin on doyoung's shoulder. "i probably wouldn't have asked to do that art project with you otherwise."

"so we have a vogue magazine to thank for our relationship," doyoung drawled.

jaehyun laughed, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "who knows? i'm just glad we're together."

"we might never have kissed if you hadn't come out to your family," doyoung mused.

"yeah," jaehyun murmured, "but i still remember our first kiss."

"you never mentioned anything about it!" doyoung spluttered. "have you got any idea how long i've been carrying that around for?"

jaehyun quickly kissed him, slowly and deeply. "probably about as long as i have," he said quietly.

doyoung gave a heavy sigh.

"at least we're together now, though, right?" jaehyun said, tightening his arms around doyoung's waist.

the black haired guy shook his head but smiled. "yeah. what time is it?" he wondered.

jaehyun reached for his phone and let out a tiny gasp.

"what?"

he showed doyoung his phone screen, and the time suddenly changed from 23:59 to 00:00.

"it's christmas," he whispered.

"merry christmas, jae," doyoung said.

"merry christmas, young-ie," he murmured back, tossing his phone onto the bedside table and kissing doyoung. "you're my boyfriend, right?"

doyoung slapped him. "what else do you suppose i am?"

jaehyun giggled joyfully and hugged his boyfriend, kissing him like they were the only two people left in the world.

_____________________

apologies this took so long, guys

i finally gave my group presentation on thursday and i was nErVoUs bUt at least it's over lmao i needed yesterday just to rest from all the work i've been doing lately

speaking of being nervous, i am excited to announce my new oneshot that is coming out soon! it is called "nervous" and is an nct ship. no one's been able to guess the ship yet hehe

this dojae chapter was honestly very self indulgent and enjoyable for me to write, but the usual squad will be back in the next chapter lol

also, i am thinking about doing a couple more special chapters before the end of this book (i can make it last longer :')) so which ship/character would you be interested in a special chapter for?

e.g. noren (again), daehwi/jaehwi, taeten(?) or maybe another ship that has featured in the book so far. please let me know!

thanks for all the support, it's a dream of mine to see this book reach 100k reads so hopefully we can make that happen! love you all so much uwu

taellipses out x