Donghyuck eventually got to hang out with Mark and Yeri a couple days later, and he was surprised to discover that he actually really enjoyed Yeri's company.
When he got out of his own head and was able to see past his jealously and possessiveness for Mark, he and Yeri actually got along quite well. They both had the same bratty spirit and affinity for jokes and pranks, which they bonded over quickly. Yeri recounted the ways she had tricked Mark when they were little kids, and Donghyuck also proudly relayed his own instances where he had teased Mark. Mark himself had blushed red all the way up to his ears during the entire conversation, but it was clear that he was just relieved that the two of them were getting along, even if it was at his own expense.
Donghyuck found himself feeling surprised again when Yeri invited him to hang out alone at her house. He had furrowed his eyebrows suspiciously when he had seen the text, debating for a long time whether to accept or decline, but eventually he decided there was no real harm in getting know her one on one. He showed up at her house right on time, smiling sheepishly and shyly greeting her parents as he was ushered inside and given a tour of her house.
"And this is my new bedroom! Pretty sweet, right?" She chirped, standing proudly in the middle of her freshly decorated room. It looked like a stereotypical teenage girl room, with an aesthetic bedspread that complimented the wall color and little plants on the windowsill, as well as the various scattered posters on the wall that somehow tied the whole ambiance together. Donghyuck glanced around while humming approvingly, nodding at her.
"Pretty cool, Yeri. Your new house is super nice."
"Thanks!" She grinned, sitting down on her bed and gently patting the space next to her. Donghyuck hesitated, looking at Yeri skeptically, but she just rolled her eyes and patted the mattress with more insistence.
"Come sit. It would be rude of me to force you to keep standing there awkwardly."
Donghyuck slowly sank down onto the mattress next to her, looking at her curiously. Yeri caught the look on his face and gave him a sheepish smile of her own.
"I know it must've been pretty random and confusing when I suddenly invited you over," she started. Donghyuck nodded a little. "Sorry if it weirded you out at all. I just thought you were super cool when we were hanging out with Mark, and I wanted to try and find an opportunity to get close to you without him."
"Oh..." Donghyuck murmured, feeling shy as he scratched at the back of his neck, "thanks. I think you're really cool too."
"I'm glad you think so," she beamed, "I really don't want our friendship to rely so heavily on Mark, you know? I want us to become friends even apart from him."
Donghyuck's heart swelled. He couldn't believe that he had judged her so harshly after first meeting her. Not many girls ever wanted to be just friends with him, they always approached him with the intention of trying to date him, so he felt excited at the prospect of being able to have a new friend like her that would diversify his existing friend group. "I totally get it. I would love for us to be friends too, separate from Mark and all."
"I'm so happy you feel the same!" She said warmly, pure joy etched into her face. "So... I know I literally just said I wanted us to be friends without Mark being involved, but I would love for you to tell me about how he's been these past few years. If you don't mind of course."
"Oh..." Donghyuck mumbled, suddenly flushing at the thought of having to talk about Mark. What if he slipped up and accidentally revealed his feelings for him? "Sure, I guess. What do you want to know?"
"Like, everything practically," Yeri giggled. "Was he able to transition here okay? Did he struggle at all with going to a new school? How has his personality changed from when we were eight? What kind of things does he like to do? What kind of girl does he like?"
Donghyuck's blood ran a little colder the longer he listened to her. Suddenly he had a bad feeling about this whole thing, hesitance washing over him, but he cleared his throat and prepared to answer all her questions anyways.
"Well... I guess he had a bit of a hard time coming here, but he was young enough that me and him went to the same elementary school for a while. I tried to help him a lot, I think I was able to help him integrate a little more smoothly."
Yeri looked up at him with her eyes sparkling happily, urging him to continue.
"Uh... he used to be a little short tempered, but he's gotten better with that as he's gotten older," he continued, smiling fondly as the memories returned to him, "he used to be kind of mean to me, to be honest, especially very early on in our friendship. And I was no better, I was constantly pushing his boundaries and testing his limits until he snapped, just because I could. But we really only had each other, and we cared about each other so much, so we promised never to separate even if we fought really bad. That's partly why we know each other so well, because we had to spend a long time clashing and fighting until we finally figured each other out and learned how to work so well together."
"So that's why he calls you his soulmate," Yeri teased lightheartedly, "that used to be me. But I feel like you deserve the title a little bit more."
Donghyuck flushed, clearing his throat before he continued.
"Let's see... he likes playing the guitar, and he likes dancing too. He likes to write a little bit sometimes, but he never shows me any of it because he's embarrassed. As for his taste in girls..." Donghyuck trailed off a little bit, glancing over at Yeri hesitantly, "uh, I can't really figure out what his ideal type is. His crushes and girlfriends were all kind of random, I can't tell what they all had in common."
"Well. I guess that means pretty much anyone has a chance with him then," Yeri joked. Donghyuck's eyes widened a little in alarm.
"Mark sounds like he grew up to be a really cool guy. I'm really happy he had someone like you all these years," Yeri said sincerely. Donghyuck shyly waved her away, smiling awkwardly.
"Please, I didn't do much. He was the one taking care of me most of the time. It's hard not to like Mark, he makes loving him really easy."
It came out just a tad too honest for Donghyuck's liking, and for a split second he worried that he might have given himself away. Thankfully, though, Yeri didn't pick up on any of it, and just nodded vehemently in agreement.
"No, totally. He's so lovable," she smiled, before wiggling her eyebrows and leaning forward towards Donghyuck conspiratorially.
"And just between you and me... Mark grew up to be really hot," Yeri giggled, looking up with a mischievous look on her face.
Donghyuck's stomach dropped. He sat still, silently, for a beat too long, before he finally managed to choke out an awkward fake laugh.
"Yeah, well... I guess so, sure."
"Do you know if he's dating anyone? Does he have someone he likes?" Yeri pressed, leaning forward expectantly. Donghyuck just stared at her dumbly, his heart hammering in his chest from dread.
"Uh... I don't- I don't know if he has someone he likes. He's single right now," he mumbled, wringing his hands in his lap. Yeri smiled brightly.
"Do you think I should go for it?" She asked, her eyes glinting excitedly. Donghyuck broke out into a cold sweat, trying desperately to conceal the growing panic on his face.
"Like... like you want to try to ask Mark out?"
"Yeah maybe, or I could just try to flirt with him and see if he takes the hint. I'm really scared of rejection, so I probably won't ask him out directly," Yeri joked lightheartedly.
Donghyuck cleared his throat, glancing off to the side nervously. "He's... he's really bad with taking hints or understanding that someone is flirting with him, so that probably won't work."
Yeri's eyebrows raised at that, looking at Donghyuck curiously. "Really? How do you know?"
Fuck.
"Uh..." he sputtered, trying not to look as nervous as he felt, "I've been friends with him a long time, you know, so I've watched all his girlfriends come and go and stuff... so I know how he flirts, I guess... hah."
"Oh," Yeri hummed thoughtfully, totally believing it. Donghyuck felt his shoulders sag a little in relief.
"This is like a really huge favor to ask, considering we don't really know each other that well yet, but... do you think you'd be willing to help me out, then?" Yeri pleaded, and Donghyuck's eyes widened as he stared down at her, "You know a lot more about Mark since I haven't seen him in so long, and I could really use the extra help in knowing how to get him to like me back. What do you say, hm? Please?"
Donghyuck's heart had officially dropped down and out of his ass at that point. He felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room, and it got harder and harder to breathe the longer he stared at the hopeful look on Yeri's face.
God damn it. Why did she have to be so nice and likable? Donghyuck wished he was able to just hate her and pray for her downfall in his head like he had done with Mark's other past girlfriends.
"Um..." was all he mumbled, quite intelligently. His hesitance must've been visible on his face, because Yeri pouted and backed off a little.
"I get that it's kind of awkward, and you know I don't want our entire friendship to center around Mark or anything," Yeri started softly. Guilt swelled up even more in Donghyuck's chest. "But I really want to give it a chance, you know? And you're probably the one person that knows Mark better than anyone else, I only trust you when it comes to this."
Donghyuck sat still as a statue, his eyes scanning across Yeri's face. It would be too awkward if he said no, right? What excuse could he possibly use to say no without having to completely give his crush on Mark away? In his mind, it didn't really seem like there was a way he could get out of this.
"I..." he started, clearing his throat a little and glancing away, "uh... sure, I can try to help you out a little... I guess."
"Really?" Yeri's entire face lit up with joy, and Donghyuck felt a gnawing pit in his stomach. "Thank you so much! You're the best, I'm so happy that we became friends."
Yeri then lunged forward and wrapped Donghyuck in a tight hug, her arms draped around his shoulders. All he could do was just hug her back weakly, squeezing his eyes shut as regret quickly coursed through him.
"Yeah," He mumbled half heartedly, "...friends, of course."
┈ ୨ 🧸 ୧ ┈
"Not gonna lie," Jaemin said, looking up at Donghyuck over the top of the book he was holding, "you kind of 100% did this to yourself."
Donghyuck groaned, flopping back on Renjun's bedspread miserably. "Well, what the hell was I supposed to say?"
"You should've said no, dumbass," Renjun scoffed, turning in his desk chair to face Donghyuck, "you should've been honest with her and told her that you can't play matchmaker with her and Mark."
"But then what? What if that revealed my crush on Mark to her, and then she went off and told him and then Mark got weirded out and rejected me, which would then force me to have to change my name and move to a remote island to live out the rest of my life as a nameless fisherman?"
All three of his friends looked up at him and stared. Jeno, who had been previously doodling in one of his notebooks, snorted and rolled his eyes.
"You're such a drama queen," he sighed, putting down his pencil and leveling Donghyuck with an amused look, "Yeri would never do that. She's way too nice for that, she probably would've totally understood if you told her the truth."
Donghyuck turned and narrowed his eyes at Jeno suspiciously. "You've spoken to the girl a total of one time. How would you know that she wouldn't tell Mark?"
Jeno flushed a little, turning his gaze back down to his notebook. "Well... I mean... from what you've told us she seems nice..."
Renjun raised his eyebrows questioningly. Jaemin looked at Jeno with a smirk playing at his lips.
"In any case," Renjun interjected, swiftly moving the conversation forward, "Jeno has a point, I don't think Yeri is the type of person that would do that. And now you've landed yourself in a terrible situation because of your irrational fear that Mark will somehow never want to speak to you again if your feelings for him are anything other than platonic."
"As if he didn't put up with your angsty teenager phase," Jaemin added, "you were a real bitch when you were fourteen, especially towards Mark. If he didn't drop your ass after all the things you said to him back then, I doubt there's anything that could make him want to stop being friends with you."
"Please don't remind me of fourteen year old Donghyuck. I like to pretend that he never existed." Donghyuck groaned, burying his face into the pillow beneath him. "Even if my decision was stupid—"
"It was," Jaemin cut in, grinning. Donghyuck shot him a glare.
"Okay, even though it was stupid, there's no way for me to take it back now. So how the hell do I get out of this?"
"Sabotage!" Jaemin cheered. Jeno turned and smacked him on the arm.
"He can't sabotage her," Renjun scoffed, "but he can just kind of half ass it, I guess. Or he could try to set her up with someone else."
Jeno coughed loudly. The three of them all turned to look at him questioningly.
"Uh... I can do it," he mumbled, his face turning red as they all stared at him, "like, you could try to set her up with me. I'll be the distraction."
"Why so eager, hmm Jeno?" Jaemin teased, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Jeno turned even redder, if possible.
"Just... I'm good at flirting with girls. I have a lot of practice," he murmured, avoiding looking anyone in the eyes, "I'm just trying to be a good friend."
"Uh huh..." Renjun trailed off, looking amused, "well, what do you say, Hyuck? You think this could work?"
Donghyuck bit into his thumbnail and shrugged. "We'll never know unless we try. It's worth a shot, I guess."