mark slid under the covers of his and donghyuck's shared bed.
donghyuck was already fast asleep, a smile plastered on his face as he hugged the dolphin plushie tight.
mark took some time to look at the peaceful boy next to him.
he was curled up on his side of the bed, his head resting on the pillow with his cheek squished cutely against it. his hand was gripping tightly on the dolphin plushie.
at first, mark believed that sleeping with a plushie at 19 years old was childish, and that it was a shame.
but now that he had spent a full-day with donghyuck, teaching him how to ski, and that he had seen more of his personality, he understood well why donghyuck had a plushie, and he found that cute rather than shameful.
donghyuck was a very bubbly boy, and he was very caring.
mark could see how bad donghyuck felt for him, despite the fact mark explained countless of times that it didn't bother him.
also, he acted very cutely, always cheering on himself before doing something hard for him, and then proudly congratulating himself once he had done it.
"cute..." mark mumbled, recalling how donghyuck had fallen face first into the snow and had needed mark's help to wipe the icy snow away.
donghyuck was really making him soft because of his sweet behaviour.
because he had been living with donghyuck for a day now, he had time to observe him more closely.
donghyuck did had a beautiful body, with nice curves – mark would have immediately loved them on a girl.
and contrasting to his body, his personality was so cute and bubbly. a nice contrast if you asked mark.
mark was taken out of his thoughts by his phone ringing.
he picked it up of the bedside table and answered jeno's phonecall.
"hey." he said, placing the phone over his ear.
"sorry, i was with renjun until now." the boy answered immediately.
"chill, dude. no problem." mark chuckled. "how is he doing?"
"he's stressed because of his art contest, but other than that he's good. missing me more than chenle and you, though." jeno replied.
"of course." mark laughed.
"anyway, what were you doing?" jeno changed the subject.
mark's eyes glanced at the boy next to him, the same one he had been staring at for the past minutes.
he couldn't tell this to his best friend.
jeno would immediately assume that mark was gay for donghyuck – which was completely false. first, because mark wasn't gay, and second, because donghyuck was just a friend – a cute yet sexy one.
"i was watching tv." mark replied, switching the tv on at the same time.
"are there interesting things to watch?" jeno spoke, oblivious about mark's lie.
"no, not really." mark replied, zapping through the channels to find something good to watch.
"sad. i wanted to watch some quality programme." jeno declared. "yeah, goodnight jaem." he added.
mark understood that he was surely talking to jaemin who was about to go to bed.
"how was your ski day?" mark asked after a while.
"very good! jaemin took a bit of time to get comfortable on skis, but once he did, we enjoyed the slopes really well!" jeno said over the phone.
"jaemin, huh?" mark smirked. "don't forget you have a boyfriend."
"what the hell are you saying?" jeno snorted. "he's a friend. renjun is my boyfriend."
"i was just reminding you." mark chuckled.
"and you? how are things going with donghyuck?" it was jeno's time to smirk.
mark looked at the boy next to him who was turning around in his sleep, still holding his plushie close.
"he was upset that you all left him." mark declared.
"i think it was better that way. you spent the whole day together, just the two of you. just like a married- "
"don't you dare finish this sentence." mark warned. "i was forced to do this."
"but did you regret it?" mark could hear jeno smirk over the phone.
"no... i didn't." he said with a sigh.
"see." jeno chuckled. "so, how do you find him?"
"what is that question?" mark rolled his eyes.
"is he sympathetic and friendly? i don't even need to ask you about his looks because i know you find him hot."
"i don't find him hot!" mark whined. "he has the body of a sexy girl, but that's all. and, yeah, about his behaviour, he kind of childish, but that's cute."
"whipped." jeno stated.
mark and jeno continued talking over the phone for a while.
it was something they often did, not that they had lots of things to tell each other, but they liked interacting together, even to talk about nothing interesting.
at the moment, they were in the middle of a conversation on socks, and how it was impossible to find the two socks of the pair after putting them in the washing machine – something very not interesting, but funny to talk about with your best friend.
they would have continued talking about this if mark's attention hadn't been caught by donghyuck.
the childish boy had just sat up on the bed with a loud gasp, before tearing up and crying loudly.
mark was immediately alarmed by the situation, trying to understand what was wrong with donghyuck who seemed to have pulled himself out of a horrible nightmare.
"donghyuck?" he called, hoping he would be able to calm the boy down.
the honey-haired male slowly turned his head, finally meeting mark's curious orbs with his own. mark noticed donghyuck's cheeks were completely wet because of the number of tears that were falling from his eyes, and his bottom lip was quivering madly.
he didn't really know what to do at the moment.
should he take donghyuck in a hug and reassure him?
should he hand him back his plushie that was on the floor?
should he do nothing and wait?
he didn't really know what to expect either.
but one thing was sure, he didn't expect what was about to happen at all.
"d-daddy..."
mark's eyes widened as he saw donghyuck's face lighting up slightly after pronouncing this word.
"mark? is everything alright?" jeno asked over the phone.
"yeah, i'm going to sleep. see you tomorrow." he didn't even let the time for jeno to answer and hung up before putting his phone away.
"donghyuck? is everything alright?" mark asked carefully, trying to decipher donghyuck's body language.
"daddy... hyuckie nightmare..." donghyuck replied in a baby voice.
"donghyuck, i'm not your father." mark said, trying to reason the boy.
"father dead... but you daddy! daddy love and help hyuckie!" donghyuck continued crying.
mark almost choked on nothing as he heard donghyuck's words.
so, he was conscious that mark wasn't his father.
but did he know that 'daddy' was a naughty word, often used in the context of sex and kinks?
"hyuckie s-scared..." donghyuck whined again, approaching mark on the bed.
"h-huh, what are you doing?" mark asked, backing up a bit.
"d-daddy warm and protect hyuckie..." donghyuck replied, sniffling loudly as he glued his body against mark's.
"d-donghyuck?!" mark stuttered as donghyuck placed his head on his pillow and wrapped an arm around mark's torso.
"h-help hyuckie, daddy..." donghyuck continued sniffling and entangled his legs with mark's.
mark did't move for a few seconds, trying to understand why donghyuck had suddenly become so clingy and baby-like, and mostly, why he called him 'daddy'.
"D-DADDY!" donghyuck screamed before crying louder than before.
mark was sure that the neighbours would hear them if this kept going.
"shh, donghyuck!" mark tried silencing him. "what do you want? why are you acting like that?"
"daddy protect hyuckie from nightmares... daddy hug hyuckie..." the shaking boy replied between hiccups.
mark sighed, looking at donghyuck's teary orbs before giving in.
he didn't want the tanned male to start screaming again, and the position he was in was starting to hurt his body.
"here. you won't do more nightmares now." mark stated, wrapping his arms around donghyuck as donghyuck snuggled even closer to his bare torso.
"daddy..." donghyuck let out, inhaling the wonderful smell of mark's body.
"go to sleep. i'll protect you..." mark added, slowly rocking the younger between his arms to help him fall asleep.
this worked very well, because mark heard soft snores coming out of donghyuck's mouth a few seconds after.
mark tried peeling the boy's body off his, but it was a failure.
donghyuck was holding tight onto his body, as if he wanted mark to hold him tight all night long.
mark eventually had to forget the idea of sleeping far from him.
"what games are you playing...?" he mumbled, looking at the sleeping boy in his arms before closing his eyes as well and drifting to sleep almost instantly.