their late-night gaming session was now rudely interrupted by a knock on the door and all five of them immediately let out a groan, "jisung, answer the door." chenle told, eyes still not leaving the tv screen.

"no, i'm the youngest," jisung fought back, "jeno hyung, get the door."

as much as jeno loves the younger, of course, he loves the game more, "renjun hyung, you get it."

renjun makes a sound as if he's offended, his eyes too, are still darted on the flat screen. "jaemin, you love me right?" renjun asks, but did not even bothering to wait for his answer, "go get the door."

sighing, he threw the controller on the fluffy couch, "if this turns out to be the pizza delivery, i'm eating this all by myself." jaemin said, standing up while pointing at all of them as if he's scolding them.

all of them whined but couldn't even care less when they saw chenle started beating all of them all at once.

jaemin just sighed, mumbling curse words to whoever is behind this door, "this can't be the pizza delivery, isn't it?" he asked himself. there's no way their service was this fast when they literally just ordered five minutes ago.

opening the door, his frowned face, turned into a confused one when he saw the person standing in front of their door, "at twelve in the midnight?"

------

controllers have already been abandoned on the floor—some on the couch ever since the pizza delivery just arrived, and all of them started digging on the food once it's served in front of them.

"so what brought you here, haechan-ie?" renjun asks. twelve in the midnight and donghyuck is here in their dorm, literally a few blocks away from nct 127's dorm.

all of their eyes landed on the tanned male, as they wait for his answer.

"you guys have an encore stage tomorrow, you're supposed to be sleeping." jaemin scolds lightly, mouth full of pizza, "also, did you sneak out from your dorm?"

chenle looks at his hyung with squinted eyes as he adds, "i'm going to tell taeyong hyung about this if you di—"

"one question at a time, please?" donghyuck cuts the younger off, throwing his hands in the air, "yes, i did sneak out." just when all of them was about to argue, donghyuck immediately adds, "but i have my reasons okay? that's why i'm here."

"did you missed us?" jisung innocently asked.

donghyuck rubs his hands on his face, hesitating if he should tell this or not—but he's already here anyway, "yes, but also no," the tanned male went on, "so you see, it's about m-mark hyung..." the tanned male stuttered. 

all of them nods, hands busy with the food while their eyes and ears are on donghyuck. very random if you ask them, and the first question that came through their head is, "did they fought again?" but donghyuck's answer was the complete opposite of their question.

"he doesn't want my affection." haechan said as fast as he can and unintentionally pouts, all of them immediately coos at the sight, with jeno and jaemin pinching both of the tanned male's cheeks, "guys! this is serious!" donghyuck whines.

jeno looked at the younger with his cheeks puffed because of the pizza inside his mouth, "isn't that normal though?" jeno asks.

i mean, technically jeno's answer is right. they're used to mark always ignoring donghyuck's affection or skinship, so what's new here?  but donghyuck here couldn't help but to whine more because jeno's response isn't helping his situation right now, "i know that already jeno," donghyuck said with a fake cry, "but why does he always ignores my affection but does the exact opposite to other hyungs?"

all of them released "ohs" and "ahs" finally getting donghyuck's point here. but what confuses jaemin here the most is, why does it matter so much for donghyuck? well he always thought that donghyuck's just doing everything for fun yet he's here acting like he's... jealous? 

"answer me honestly, donghyuck." jaemin said without honorifics, causing donghyuck to sat properly on his seat. 

just when jaemin is about to speak, donghyuck takes the lead, "hey, i'm older than you." donghyuck playfully scolds but he only got a glare from the younger, "oh, sorry." donghyuck quickly adds, before taking a sip of his soda.

"as i was saying, my question is," jaemin continues, and all their eyes then landed on the tanned male, "do you like mark hyung?"

and there goes poor donghyuck, choking on his soda after hearing the younger's question. as half of the members busy being worried for the tanned male, renjun added another question. "you like mark hyung!?"

"you guys didn't know?!" aftering wiping down his mouth, he looked at the older with raised brows. he can't believe he haven't told them about this yet, "am i not obvious enough?"

all of their mouth fell open. so all this time, donghyuck's skinship with mark isn't about him teasing the older, rather it's him flirting with mark. all of them face palmed with the thought, how can they not notice that.

"and you're here because of what again?" the younger of the group asks, taking another bite.

jaemin playfully rolls his eyes, "to help donghyuck because he wants mark hyung's affection back? because he's jealous?"

"aha!"

chenle squeled while his index finger is raised, seems like he just got an idea, he looked at the tanned male with a wide smile, "seduce hi—"

"and that's not what we're going to do, chenle." renjun quickly cuts the younger chinese male, patting his shoulder.

jeno here, took off his glasses acting like he has something important to say. "got one," he started and all of their eyes then darted on the male, "make him jealous."

aftering hearing jeno's statement, all of them lets out disappointed noises, while donghyuck looks at them with confused eyes, "too cliché." renjun and jaemin said in unison.

"how about add some spice in to it..." jisung said, looking at the air while imagining a whole rainbow and butterflies around him.

"that's what i'm talking about!" chenle butts in again, clapping his hands, "make him jealous while seducing hi—"

"chenle, no!"

all of them then started attacking chenle with renjun zipping his mouth, jaemin playfully slapping his butt, jeno tickling his side while jisung panicks on his seat because of what chenle is going to say.

donghyuck looks to five of them with yet confused eyes. seems like asking for the dreamies help isn't that helpful at all, he thought.