"You look awful."
I cracked a half-smile. "You too."
He mirrored my expression. He cleared his throat. "So."
"So." I coughed. Then, "I broke up with Mark."
Ten cast me a ghost of a smirk. "I figured. He looks as terrible as you."
I rushed toward him, vision blurring. "Ten, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that I never told you. I was just - I was so convinced I was going to mess everything up."
"Hit that nail on the head."
I chuckled uneasily. "I was an idiot. I thought if I could keep my secrets separate, it'd protect everyone. Everything. But I realize now that I've just been an incredibly selfish bitch."
He scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. "You can say that again."
I dared a grin. "I'm an incredibly selfish bitch who just wanted both her best friend and boyfriend all to herself. And I lost both of them.
"But I don't want to lose my best friend. Ever. So, um -" I dug something out of my pocket and presented it to him - "here."
His eyes tried to bulge out of his skull. "Holy shit, Yingyue. How much is this?"
"A thousand." I shoved my hands in my pockets. "I calculated it out, and this doesn't even put a dent in my debt. But it's a start. I'm gonna pay it all back. The music, the tickets, the merch. And maybe that'll make it easier to tell everyone, even your managers, that we're friends with benefits."
Ten laughed, and I felt lighter than I had in a long time. "You won't have benefits if you can't mooch though."
"Bullshit." I smiled. "The benefit to having you as a friend is you, Ten. Everything about you."
"Fuck." He clutched at his chest. "If you're this sweet to me, I might have to forgive you someday."
"Consider me your personal sentimental greeting card generator."
"I might puke." He then looped his arm through mine. "Okay, so I don't hate you as much anymore. And the truth is, you'd have to do something a lot worse than fall for one of my brothers to stop being my friend. So I have a gift for you."
Ten led me down the hall and around the corner. And there, with his dreamcatcher eyes and shuffling feet, was Mark.
I gasped and Ten said, "Turns out, this idiot is in love with my idiot asshole of a best friend. And I'm pretty fond of both of you. Which is fucking stupid on my part, but I guess we're just a trio of idiots." He smacked my ass. "Go get 'em!"
Mark wrapped me in his arms. He spun me around, and he nearly tripped and dropped me. I laughed, tears in my eyes, as he spluttered, embarrassed.
"Um, Yingyue?" Mark scratched his ear. "We have one condition for you."
"Anything."
Ten opened the dance practice door, and all the NCT members stood there, smiling at us.
"We tell everyone everything," Ten said, wrapping his arm about my shoulders.
Mark snaked his arm about my waist, and all three of us smiled at each other.
"No more secrets," I said.
And Mark and Ten parroted, "No more secrets."
Even after everything - being friends with an idol had its benefits. Lots of benefits. Like a lifelong best friend, and a bunch of crackhead idiots to form friendships with.
;;
a/n: AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER. of course, there's at least 3 more ffs set in this universe, so their story technically isn't over quite yet, ya kno?
thanks for reading ❤️️