— chapter nine: i would suggest shutting the fuck up —
"come on now, you know it won't fit." donghyuck groaned. mark shrugged and told him "you don't know before you try."
"ugh, fine." donghyuck scoffed and aggressively took the shirt out of mark's hand.
the two were currently alone in the training hall where mark wanted to teach him a bit more martial arts. well 'want' was a bit of an exaggeration. it was more like donghyuck was so bored he decided to annoy mark all day until the older male couldn't take it anymore. this was proven also a reason why mark was so pissed. donghyuck could see it at his jaw clenching and frequent eye rolls.
"so are you going to put it on or not?" mark asked, obviously not having any of donghyuck's teasing today.
"okay, okay, chill! where can i change?" the younger asked. mark snorted and looked at him amused.
"here? where else would you go?" he questioned, holding in his chuckle. donghyuck wasn't really amused and said coldly "i'm not going to change in front of you."
"oh my god! you can't be serious." mark rolled his eyes once again "we're both men, now put it on or i'll do it for you." he said.
donghyuck saw that he didn't have much of a choice so he just sighed and stripped out of his comfortable hoodie. the actual reason why he was uncomfortable changing in front of mark, or anyone at that, was that he felt uncomfortable with his stomach. it wasn't as toned as jeno's or mark's and he felt ashamed of it. in his mind he knew that it was ridiculous, he wasn't fat at all, but in his embarrassment he also wasn't as muscular as he wished to be. even though he did try some workouts before, he found them to be not much fun so he stopped working out.
back to reality donghyuck had now stripped from his hoodie and tried to put the shirt on as fast as possible. he noticed mark's stares nonetheless which made him even more embarrassed. the older male was probably judging his body right now. once the shirt was on donghyuck stretched around a bit and to his surprise the shirt fight. yes, it was tight but it fit.
"it looks... good." mark said, eyeing donghyuck up and down. the latter huffed and said sarcastically "sure it does." mark opened his mouth to reply but closed it again, obviously discarding whatever he wanted to say.
"what ever, let's just go." he said instead and waved for the younger to follow him. donghyuck did and they once again stood in the boxing ring. at first, mark made sure that donghyuck still knew the basics which he still did, much to his own surprise. the movement slightly hurt in his stomach but kun had assured him, sports would be fine since his wound was healing just fine in the few weeks that had passed.
"i see you still remember. very good." mark complimented him.
"of course i do. what did you expect?" donghyuck sassed.
"jesus, just take the compliment." mark groaned and rolled his eyes for the nth time.
"okay, thank you." donghyuck replied.
"now we're going to focus on your stand. you're movements are alright but your stand is way to fragile. it's import to be on both your feet in a steady stance. or else your enemy can easily push or punch you and you will fall back. i suggest putting one foot a bit before the other. it'll help you keep your balance as well as help you when you need to kick your enemy." mark explained.
donghyuck positioned himself just like the other told him. one foot before the other, his fist raised in case mark was going to attack him but the older male just looked at him. donghyuck glared back into his eyes. he could spot dark bags under mark's eyes but the eyes himself did not look tired. actually they had more of a teasing look in them or that's at least what donghyuck thought.
"so are you going to attack or not?" he whispered. he saw the corner of mark's mouth twitching and the next thing he knew was that he was laying on the floor.
"ouch." he groaned and looked up at mark who stared down at him.
"you didn't position your leg correctly. a wider stance would've prevented you from falling at least." mark said, smirking. donghyuck internally rolled his eyes. of course mark told him after he already fell.
"show me again." he grumbled and tried to copy mark's stature as close as possible. mark groaned and then commented in annoyance "you're still not doing it right."
"then how am i supposed to know?" donghyuck snapped. mark scoffed and went behind donghyuck. with one of his legs he pushed one of donghyuck's legs further and also corrected his arm position. donghyuck tried to ignore the goosebumps that went down his spine as he could feel mark's hot breath tickling the skin of his neck.
"this is how it's supposed to be." mark said and stepped back from donghyuck. the latter took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. why the hell was their proximity affecting him so much? he told himself to not overthink it and prepared himself for another attack from mark.
this time he could block mark's punch and even dodged the man's kick. he proudly jumped up and down when realised but one look from mark made him stop.
the two kept on training. mark went from teaching him the right stand to a more aggressive way of attacking. the goal was that donghyuck could hold mark on the floor which was easier said than done.
"for your sake i'll be worse than i actually am." mark informed him.
"of course, you will. because i'm so bad and can't deal with your actual fighting." donghyuck said sarcastically.
"shut up or i'll punch you so hard, you won't speak for the next week." mark growled. donghyuck snorted and replied sassily "no you won't. you know you can't or else you would've already done it."
mark aggressively gripped the tight material of donghyuck's collar and pulled him close. the younger gasped amd tried to grt away but mark wouldn't let him.
"you might think you have all the power here because you are 'under protection' but let me tell you, i can break your leg, make it look like an accident and you're under kun's care for another two weeks. is that what you want? if not then i would suggest shutting the fuck up." mark whispered.
donghyuck gulped, not only at mark's words but also at their proximity. he could feel mark's chest lift up and down steadily, he could feel mark's breath fanning over his jaw, he could feel his fingers on his jaw and cheeks and hecould smell mark's deodorant but what scared him the most was how incredibly attractive mark looked. he couldn't think anything else than how bad he wanted to kiss mark, to taste the man's lips. and that scared the shit out of him.
"do you understand?" mark growled, making him flinch.
"yeah.. yeah, i do." donghyuck replied and mark let him go.
"good, now try to bring me down and pin me to the floor." mark instructed. donghyuck felt a heat rise in his cheeks at these words but once again told himself to ignore it. he tried a double punch, a swift kick following and to his surprise mark fell down. he stared at the older male in surprise who was glaring up at him.
"aren't you forgetting something, donghyuck?" mark asked.
"i- what?" donghyuck questioned perplexed.
"pin. me. down." mark instructed through his teeth.
"right!" donghyuck exclaimed. he felt extremely stupid for forgetting this part. careful he hovered over mark, sitting down on the man's stomach. to say he felt awkward would be an understatement.
"oh for fucks sake!" mark cursed and took donghyuck's hips in his hands to position them correctly over his lower stomach area.
"where you're sitting right now is my core. i take most of body strength out of it, so you sitting on it will at least hold the lower half of my body down." mark explained
"got it!" donghyuck said and tried to get up. he wanted to get out of this situation as fast as possible. but mark's hands stopped him.
"to pin my upper body down, the arms are extremely important. take my arms and pin them to the floor." mark continued his introduction.
donghyuck groaned but did what he was told. he was now hovering over mark, their noses almost touching. he could see mark's mouth switching slightly, almost forming a smirk.
"not that hard now, is it?" he asked teasingly. donghyuck rolled his eyes and let mark go. the latter quickly stood up and donghyuck took a short moment to calm his tacing heart.
"now do it again, this time pinning me down instantly." mark ordered. donghyuck raised his eyebrows and sceptically asked "is this really part of martial arts?"
"not really but i guess it couldn't hurt knowing the basic fighting techniques. seems like you might need them again soon." mark shrugged. donghyuck sighed but stood up as well, repositioning himself in front of mark.
"go!" mark shouted and donghyuck did his double punch. the kick followed instantly and mark was once again laying on the floor. this time donghyuck knew what to do so he swiftly positioned himself and sat down on mark's lower stomach area. as soon as he felt mark's body under his he took the man's arms and pinned them down just like mark had showed him.
"i see you learn quickly." mark commented, looking up at the other.
"or maybe you're just not as good as you think." donghyuck shrugged and let go if mark's arms. that turned out to be a mistake as mark rolled them over, now he had donghyuck pinned down.
"calm down, you're not all that good. be glad i'm going easy on you or else you would beg me to stop." he whispered. donghyuck gulped due to their proximity. while donghyuck had kept his distance while pinning mark down, the other didn't seem to care about it. their noses were touching and their breaths mixed in the hot air between them.
"what would happen if you didn't go easy on me?" donghyuck asked. it was a rhetorical question but donghyuck liked to tease.
"then you would still be laying under me, just unconscious." mark whispered.
"you seem to like the thought of me laying under you." donghyuck commented. he had no idea how or why these words left his mouth but he stopped thinking ever since mark was hovering over him.
"shut up." mark growled.
"whoa, we're not interrupting something, are we?" a voice asked loudly. donghyuck and mark turned their heads to johnny who grinned in amusement.
mark cleared his throat and instantly got off donghyuck. johnny climbed into the boxing ring and helped donghyuck up, all while still eyeing the two suspiciously.
"i was just teaching him some fighting techniques." mark said. donghyuck thought he sounded like a little child, defending himself for some trouble he caused.
"mhm, sure you were." johnny nodded, his voice dripping in sarcasm. obviously he was not buying what mark told him.
"he's right. i annoyed him so much that he took me down here and showed me some tricks." donghyuck explained. he somehow had the desire to defend mark even though there was nothing they had done wrong.
johnny gave him a quick, testing look before shrugging.
"whatever, now you two quickly shower. dinner is ready." he informed them and then left. mark and donghyuck were quick to follow.
recently donghyuck, jeno and renjun all were allowed to eat with the other nct members since taeyong obviously grew tired of having them eat alone all the time. so breakfast became a good chance to get to know about the other members, even though donghyuck had to admit he was mostly staying with jungwoo and his two friends as they were the ones he knew the most. jeno had apparently befriended doyoung, the man who was with them when the failed deal happened. renjun meanwhile found liking in talking with kun in chinese as well as hanging out with jaemin, the guard of his and jeno. the latter didn't seem to like seeing renjun with someone else but didn't say anything against it. donghyuck guessed it was because renjun and jeno were not official so the younger couldn't say anything.
it hurt donghyuck to see jeno's longing looks at renjun who seemed to be oblivious to them. he made a mental note to himself to talk some bravery into jeno so that the man could finally ask renjun to be his boyfriend because then there would be no need to get jealous.