two days passed since the 'daddy' accident.
mark and donghyuck were still very awkward with each other, and it was very visible to their other friends who were getting closer.
chenle and jisung were basically glued by the hip, to the point chenle didn't even pay too much attention to jeno and mark.
and jaemin and jeno weren't better. the two boys would always steal glances at each other, blushing whenever they met eyes. mark kept saying that they liked each other, but jeno didn't want to believe it – he had a huang renjun for him already, what did he need more...?
"why are you two this awkward?" jaemin asked taking a sip of his coffee during breakfast.
"i don't know..." donghyuck whined. "one morning, i woke up and he was hugging me, and the next thing i know, we're awkward."
"he was hugging you?!" jaemin repeated.
"i already told you everything, jaemin." donghyuck rolled his eyes.
"yeah, yeah, but i'm still surprised."
donghyuck sighed loudly, placing his chin over the palm of his hand as he pouted cutely.
"i can't understand..." he said sadly. "we were getting closer..."
donghyuck felt so happy to know that he was getting along with mark.
he liked mark a lot; as a friend, but maybe something more.
this trip to the mountain had allowed him to develop stronger feelings for the boy who had taken care of him very well.
and it seemed to be the same for mark at first, but now, they were slowly getting apart...
"maybe something happened during the night." jaemin suggested. "can't you remember?"
donghyuck shook his head as no.
jaemin looked at their surroundings before leaning on the table to whisper to his best friend.
"did you slip in front of him?" he asked carefully. "because this could have scared him."
"i can't remember..." donghyuck sighed.
"i think this could explain lots of things." jaemin told, making donghyuck internally panic.
"he can't know!" donghyuck whined, tugging on his hair.
"hey, hey, hey, calm down." jaemin pulled his hand away and kissed his palm lightly. "we don't know if it really happened."
"and how could we know?" donghyuck raised a brow. "i'm not going to make a bigger fool of myself by asking him."
"i'm sure he would have told jeno if something weird happened." jaemin explained.
"so, you need to ask jeno?" donghyuck questioned.
"exactly."
✯
jaemin decided to put his plan into action after lunch, when they were all back to their hotel rooms to rest for a while before going ice skating together.
"what do you want to watch?" jeno asked, already lying on their shared bed with the remote control in hand.
"anything, really." jaemin replied, taking his coat off.
"great." jeno nodded before concentrating on the tv.
jaemin then plopped on his side of the bed, making jeno roll towards him because of the sudden movement of the bed.
the two boys found themselves side by side, their shoulders and thighs touching while they stared at each other in the eye.
"s-sorry." jaemin declared, not moving an inch.
"no problem." jeno replied, taking in every detail of the pink-haired boy's face.
he looked divinely beautiful under the artificial light of the neon above their heads.
pink strands of hair were hiding his forehead and slightly his chocolate orbs.
his long lashes were lightly caressing his cheekbones every time he blinked as his pink lips were getting moisturised by his tongue regularly.
"j-jen- "
"is donghyuck you boyfriend?" jeno cut jaemin as he got back to looking into his eyes.
jeno didn't even know why he had asked this question when he had a boyfriend and obviously wasn't interesting in finding one.
perhaps that he was starting to grow feelings for jaemin without losing his feelings for renjun.
but this was wrong. he couldn't do that to his boyfriend.
"what?" jaemin asked, surprised by the sudden interjection.
"you two seem close, and you're always babying him." jeno explained. "is it because he's your boyfriend?"
"no, no." jaemin shook his head. "he's just my friend. a very close one."
"oh..." jeno nodded, internally cheering, but not really knowing why.
"speaking of which..." jaemin started speaking again after a few seconds. "do you know why him and mark are this awkward?"
"didn't donghyuck tell you what happened the other night?" jeno asked.
"huh... no?"
"he woke up from a nightmare, and called mark 'daddy'. and he refused to sleep far from him, so mark had to cuddle him to sleep." jeno said in one go as jaemin's eyes widened more and more each second.
everything started to make sense in his mind.
the nightmare had made donghyuck slip into little space.
and this surely scared mark.
and this is why donghyuck woke up being hugged by mark.
but the 'daddy' part?
jaemin didn't know what this meant, but he recalled donghyuck claiming that he wanted to see 'daddy' before they went on the trip to the mountains.
maybe he wasn't talking about his father, but about mark.
but why call him 'daddy'?
"o-oh..." jaemin let out, trying not to sound obvious that he knew what was happening.
it was donghyuck's secret, and he couldn't spill it to everyone.
"do you know why he acted like this?" jeno asked. "it's weird."
jaemin gulped, trying to find a plausible answer.
"well... donghyuck is someone very sensitive... and... you know? he's quite... huh... childish...?"
"i noticed." jeno nodded. "but calling mark 'daddy' is far from being childish, if you see what i mean."
jaemin's brows furrowed as he lifted hishead to look at jeno in the eye.
that's when he acknowledged the position jeno and him were in, which was the same as minutes ago, when they admired each other silently.
"w-what...?" jaemin asked, his mind not coping with him because of the fact jeno was literally invading his private space.
"it's almost sexual..." jeno whispered, his face leaning closer on its own.
jaemin gasped, backing off and falling off the bed in a loud thud before standing up immediately.
"sexual?!" he repeated. "no, no! donghyuck is too innocent for that!"
"i was just giving my opinion." jeno shrugged. "but it could be a kink, you know?"
"impossible." jaemin replied. "he's too young for that."
"jaemin... he's 19." jeno spoke, not understanding why jaemin was getting this worked up over such a small thing. "lots of boys have had sex at 19."
"well, he hasn't." jaemin said. "and me neither."
"oh, really?" jeno raised a brow, checking jaemin out from head to toe.
the pinkette scolded himself for spilling such an important thing to jeno who may think that jaemin is a prude boy.
"i-i need to have a talk with hyuck." jaemin declared before leaving their room, not leaving any time for jeno to answer.
✯
"hyuck, this question is very important." jaemin declared, sitting in front of his best friend on the sofas of the lounge.
he had pulled donghyuck out of his and mark's shared room – where the two boys were silently minding their own businesses – and brought him somewhere they were sure to be alone.
"yeah, i hope so. have you seen the way you barged inside our room?" donghyuck scoffed.
"are you..." jaemin started, fidgeting with his fingers.
"am i what?" donghyuck raised a brow.
"are you sexually attracted to mark?"
"WHAT?!" donghyuck screamed in surprise. "why the hell are you asking me this?" he asked, his cheeks flushed bright red.
"are you, or not?" jaemin repeated.
"i don't know!" donghyuck replied. "maybe? perhaps? he's hot, and he takes care of me very well... i may like him, i don't know..."
"i'm not asking you if you like him, hyuck." jaemin rubbed his forehead with his palm. "i'm asking if you want to have sex with him."
donghyuck choked on his spit at the question.
he never really thought about it.
and he couldn't understand why jaemin could assume such things.
"why are you asking me this?" he asked again, making jaemin sigh.
"do you remember the morning you woke up cuddled in mark's embrace?" jaemin asked.
"yeah?"
"you had called him 'daddy' during the night." jaemin explained, making donghyuck's eyes open wide.
"i did WHAT?!"