*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

Donghyuck

Mark nudged me, having noticed my deepening glare.

"Hyuck. Chill." He smiled, amused by the scene in front of us.

I tried to smooth out the harsh feelings on my face, but struggled, "They're frolicking Mark." I gritted my teeth, trying to get him to see my point.

He only chuckled, watching the screen.

Jungwoo, having finished his session with the stylist, the one that was also really good friends with Ji, moved to stand on my other side.

He glanced over at Mark and me before letting out an exaggerated gasp. We both turned to face him in confusion.

"Did someone give Hyuck the wrong contact lenses?" He asked dramatically.

I frowned in response, not following his words. I wasn't even wearing contact lenses.

"His eyes are green with jealousy." He finished and both him and Mark sniggered at his words. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not jealous." I muttered, grumpily, not appreciating them making fun of me.

"Oh, Hyuck." Johnny, sighed, just as dramatically, swooping into our conversation from behind me.

I ignored the look he exchanged with the other two as the director told off Ji and Minwoo for frolicking on the stage. I only gritted my teeth as he gestured for her to follow him. She jogged to the main stage with a bright smile on her face.

And then Taeyong was there. He greeted her with a hug and the smile on her face never faltered once.

"Why is she such good friends with everyone?" I complained to Mark.

Mark rolled his eyes in the same manner that Ji did when ever I teased her. "Hyuck, that's exactly what you love about her." He pointed out, I hummed, not wanting him to know he's right. "You're stalking her right now. That's so weird, but look, she's heading this way. At least make it seem like you haven't been watching her for the past god knows how long."

The door opened at that very moment, and I snapped my head to see if it was Ji. It wasn't. It was her stylist friend, James.

He instantly met eyes with me, a knowing grin on his face. I hated that everyone wore the same shit-eating expression around me, as though they were all in on some big secret. Why was everyone so obsessed with my relationship?

"Donghyuck," I figured he called me that because of his friendship with Ji, I'd barely had one non-professional conversation with this man and yet he seemed to know more about my relationship than I did.

I raised my eyebrows, waiting for what he could possibly want to say.

"She's here to say hi." He finished, knowing that I knew exactly who he was talking about.

I ignored their sniggers and I ignored Jungwoo's whisper of 'he's down bad' and I ignored Mark's agreement. I'd barely had any time to spend with Ji so I wasn't going to waste these moments.

I knew it was much to early to make her think about permanent living situations. I couldn't ask her to uproot her entire life for me, which is why, being able to see her here was all the more special to me.

"Hey, handsome." She drawled, the moment I stepped foot outside the door. I gave the hallway a once over before giving her a slightly elongated kiss. I pulled away, savouring the flush that dusted her cheeks.

"Hey, gorgeous." I replied, to which she giggled. "I saw you frolicking on stage with Kim Minwoo." I muttered, unable to help the involuntary lowering of my voice.

She scoffed, "Hyuck. He was just showing me the stage. You of all people should know it's nothing deep. He's not like that. Though I have to say..." She trailed off, an unfinished thought dancing in her smirk.

Oh how I loved her teasing.

Her hands ventured south, coming to rest on my hips, dangerously close to two sensitive areas. I felt a cold surface against my back.

Since when was I against the wall?

Her smile dropped as she whispered in my ear, "It's just so hot, seeing you all jealous like this."

My jaw tensed, my breathing became very uneven in this tension between us. When did her Korean become so fluent? Why was it so attractive?

Instantly, a bright smile appeared on her face as she pulled away, leaving some distance in between us. "So, what did you think?"

I blinked, trying hard to mask my confusion.

Obviously it wasn't enough, because she giggled an explanation, "Matty taught me a couple of phrases. He said you might like them."

I wracked my brain for a couple of seconds trying to remember who he was.

"Mark's brother?" I asked, realising that he was her cousin. Somehow that fact had never clicked in my mind before.

She bit her lip to hide her ever-growing grin. "He didn't mention it would have this effect on you though." She said.

"You don't even know half of it." I murmured, mostly to myself.

Her eyes flickered downwards for a second before looking back at mine, her cheeks darkened into a rosy colour.

Shit. Maybe she did know half of it.

"James said you only had a couple of minutes to spare. I'll let you go back in there and continue getting ready. We've already held up the rehearsal enough." She coughed slightly, looking awkwardly at the corridor which was very much empty.

I warmed at her flustered state, grateful that I wasn't wearing my almost skin-tight stage outfit right now.

She patted my butt, turning around to walk back to the . "I'll see you in a bit, yeah?"

I nodded, "Don't feel like you have to stick around for the whole rehearsal. I know it can be boring."

She shrugged, "Don't worry, I've got friends."

"Yeah, guy friends." I replied, mind drifting to a worst case scenario, not intending to actually say that out loud.

She narrowed her eyes, almost disbelieving, "You don't think of me like that... do you?"

I immediately backtracked feeling bad. I had to stop letting my feelings make me say things I instantly regretted. "No. I would never, I'm just worried that you'd rather be with them."

She turned back to face me and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. "Hyuck. You know that you are my number one favourite person. There's no one who can replace you."

I leant my head against hers, savouring this moment.

After all, who knew when we'd next have this much time together again.

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

Jiyoung

It's so fucking unreal!" Sofia squealed, dancing around her room, Matthew watched her wearily.

"Her energy is non-stop." He muttered, even though she wouldn't understand what he was saying. They had met for the first time earlier today, and although I had warned him that she would be hyper, he hadn't been prepared at all.

Sofia had come to pick me up from the rehearsal, and now us three and Jisoo were preparing for their opening night here.

I nodded, sympathetically, after all it was only his first time meeting Sofia.

Both him and my sister had come to our apartment since it was much closer to the venue than where they lived, besides it meant that Jisoo would drive us.

"I think we need some prosecco!" Sofia, temporarily halted her excitement, to make her announcement.

Matthew shrugged, "Prosecco is always fun. I'm down."

Jisoo, on the other hand, shook her head, "I can't. I'm driving."

"We have lemonade, or cordial." I suggested.

She thought about it while Sofia bounded out of her room to get the bottle and some glasses.

"I'll have elderflower."

I followed Sofia out the room to get it.

"So did their manager send you the tickets?" Sofia asked, unwrapping the foil from the lid, while I rooted through our cupboard.

"Yep, I received them this morning. We are definitely going!" I cheered, pouring out some cordial into Jisoo's flute.

Sofia squealed once she had located the champagne flutes we had decided were a necessary purchase.

I gently picked up two more, leaving Sofia to carry the remaining glass and the bottle itself.

When we re-entered, Jisoo and Matty had seated themselves on the bed. They both cheered at our full hands, instantly standing up to grab the glasses.

Sofia popped the bottle very smoothly and poured it out.

"Cheers to my little brother, and Jiyoung's boyfriend." Matthew announced, solemnly, glanicng over at me. I shook my head disapprovingly, and Sofia and Jisoo chuckled lightly.

All of us were in high spirits as we cheers-ed and sipped our drinks.

"So what time do we actually need to go?" Jisoo asked, as the biggest stickler for timings.

"The doors open at five thirty, I think." I answered, pulling my phone out of my pocket to check the details Manager Hwang had sent me. "Yeah." I affirmed, having skimmed through the email. "The concert starts at 7:30. She also said we could pick up extra lightsticks from booth C alongside any other merch they can spare us."

Sofia, of course, already had her lightstick prepped and ready to go. Jisoo and Matty had never invested in ones, and mine was one of the first edition ones and I highly doubted it still worked properly so I had decided to pick up a new one since the offer was there.

The next hour passed quickly and soon we were urging Sofia to do all her last minute rituals, like lining up every single NCT photocard she owned and blasting Baby Don't Like It.

"Okay, okay, I'm done." She stated, fussing with the positioning of Yuta.

"Good." Matty sighed, looking extremely exhausted, "We go?"

"Yes." I answered on her behalf, pulling her into the hallway to slip our shoes on, "We go."

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

Jiyoung

We navigated our way to our seats. The best in the house apparently. Or so Mark had said.

I supposed the VIP area had to be the best in the arena, or else they wouldn't be VIP.

We had super comfy chairs, an unrestricted view of the stage and a private area complete with a bar.

There were some other people situated in the room who had quickly introduced themselves. There was Paul, the slightly intimidating security guard, who had introduced himself and not spoken since; Mimi was our bartender and attendant for the concert; and two Canadian producers who were friends of SM.

They introduced themselves and we settled into a pleasant conversation while we waited for the concert to start.

Thanks to my sister's organisation, we had arrived with plenty of time to spare. She had already mapped out where we needed to go to collect our light sticks and how to pair them to the arena's system.

After that, we had met up with our guide who showed us to our seats and had promised to stick around to help us with anything. She had been the one to point out that we had our own toilets and thus wouldn't have to brave the ridiculously long queues.

I had just finished messaging Hyuck who currently had twenty minutes to be on stage for the opening song. He hadn't let me look at their previous set lists so it would be a complete surprise as to what they opened with and even what songs played, and even Sofia had agreed it was more impactful if I didn't know anything.

Matty got up to get a drink by for the bar, claiming he was too sober to see Mark dry humping the stage. Sofia had rolled her eyes and was about to start lecturing him on NCT's stage artistry, but he had stood up and walked off before she could fully begin.

"So," she turned to me, "how are you actually feeling?"

I shrugged, "I'm not sure. I'm weirdly nervous for some reason, as though I'm the one going on stage."

She chuckled, "But you're also excited, right?"

"Of course." I quickly affirmed, I was absolutely buzzing to see Hyuck and Mark live. It had been a hot minute since I'd last seen them perform, and I'd never given Hyuck enough scrutiny when I'd seen him perform before.

I said so to Sofia.

"Cut him some slack. He's gonna be terrified going up on stage knowing you'll be watching him like a hawk."

Matty chose this moment to return: "Yeah, knock back this and you'll enjoy every hip thrust and dry hump."

He was holding two glasses of miscellaneous drink.

"What are those?"

"Long Island iced tea." He replied with a grin. "Cheers." He reached out his glass to the one he had just handed to me.

I clinked my glass with his and took a sip from the drink. It was a lot better than I had been expecting.

"I've got good taste, hmm?" He raised his eyebrows, daring me to contradict.

"Yeah, it's not too bad."

He returned back to his seat and I noticed that the audience had succumbed to a weird feverish energy.

"What's the time?" I murmured to Sofia.

She pulled out her phone, showing me the display.

19:27

There was three minutes until the concert began. Assuming they were on time.

I quickly messaged my mother to let her know that her favourite nephew was about to perform. Her only reply was a reminder to send her all the videos later. And to show her which one was mine. Which I assumed to mean send some videos of Hyuck too.

And then the lights dimmed completely. I felt myself gripped with the rush of excitement that was currently washing over the whole audience.

Sofia leaned her arm across the rest to grip me, conveying her excitement levels were the same as mine.

The excitement that thrummed through me was unconveyable as the heavy bass blasted through the speakers.

I would definitely be deaf tomorrow.

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

Jiyoung

By the time they reached their first talking section (A/N: I cannot for the life of me remember what those parts are called) I felt slightly lightheaded.

A consequence of both the alcohol and the excitement of seeing them perform live, knowing Hyuck was there.

Currently Mark was talking. Since we were in his hometown, he had the honours of opening.

"-And I'm super excited not only to be performing in my hometown in front of all you guys, but also knowing that my family are here-" he had to pause as the fans screamed.

We also whooped and stood up pretending that he could see us, as we moved to the front of the balcony.

A couple of fans turned to look at us, making Sofia cheer louder and wave at them.

"I feel famous." She yelled at me, over the loudness of everything.

I giggled, "You are now!"

"So thank you guys," Mark continued, once the majority of the noise had died down, "for taking the time to come see us. It means the world to all of us."

Cue more screams. Though I couldn't really make fun of the fans, since we weren't any better than them.

The next person to talk was Taeyong. We joined in the screaming while he spoke.

Hyuck was second to last.

When he raised his microphone, Sofia squeezed my arm and Jisoo nudged my arm.

I couldn't help but grin though as the fans screamed before he even spoke. Contrary to a question Sofia had asked me before, it didn't make me jealous whatsoever to know all those were obsessed with him and possibly even delusionally in love with him. I was happy to know that he was loved, and in a slightly selfish way, I was more happy that despite all his fans, he had chosen me.

"Hello czenie." He began, his English just as cute as I remembered it to be.

I already knew his pre-rehearsed speech as he had read it to me this morning, lying half on top of me, practicing his intonation and pronunciation.

"I am so excited to be here! It is very special to perform in the place that our Mark grew up and calls home. I hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am and please look forward to the rest of the concert!" He finished with high energy, anticipating and receiving the emergent inducing screams of fans.

I couldn't hide the beam on my face as he completed his words naturally and without mistake. Those had been his biggest concerns - sounding over rehearsed or too incomprehensible.

He had wanted me to change more of his words, but I had left them as they were, I had explained to him that they sounded more authentic when they came from him. Fans could tell when he hadn't written his own words.

Johnny concluded the section with some more fluent words, before they moved into position for the next song.

Sofia shook me, "What begins with F and rhymes with duck?" She was speaking in a tone crossed between a squeal and a shout in order to be heard over the crowd.

"It's fire truck!" She answered before I could, in excitement.

I grinned at her enthusiasm for what could be considered one of their worst styling eras.

"Oh that reminds me, you so need to ask James what was going on in their styling world at that point."

"I don't think he even worked there at that point." I tried to explain over the screams at their iconic introduction.

My words were lost as she turned to join in the fan chant, leaving me to soak up the crazy crazy atmosphere and watch my boyfriend dry hump the stage for thousands of people.

He and I would be having words later.

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

A/N: another chapter and blimey I promise the end is actually no where in sight currently so oops

I'm working really hard to try and update but for now we have a slight distraction which comes in the form of the Fourth Wing. Yes I succumbed to the pressures of booktok and decided to read and omg I love it so much and the main character is sexy asf and the sexual tension is so delightfully tasty so I highly recommend for the more thirsty minded of us.

Furthermore: haechan and felix reels??? That wrecked me for a long time and honestly I've still not recovered from it. I never knew how much I needed Haechan dancing to s-class before then.

I love you and I'm moving into my second year uni accom next week so idk if I'll have much time to write but I'll make it happen through sheer will <3

~ cj