"To the beach," Was the first thing Jungwoo had said as he marched into the room, a hand up in the air as he declared the fact that the entire group was going to have to follow him there for a vlog, and honestly, they weren't complaining. It was going to be nice to just take a day off and simply relax by the water, absorbing the heat from the sun and gaining more energy for their upcoming concerts — it was going to take a lot and they had to be prepared.

But there was one thing that was very difficult for Donghyuck. He had to keep his hands off Mark, as weird as it sounds. He was clearly failing to do so as he watched Mark skip down the path, his blonde hair bouncing with every jump and his eyes were squinted — he blames it on the sun but they all know it was because he stayed awake all night. Mark would occasionally turn around to look at Donghyuck and flash a smile at him as if they weren't avoiding each other — yes, Mark began to avoid him — for the past few days.

Normally, this wouldn't have affected Donghyuck as much as it did now. However, the reason it was making him so giddy (aside from the strange twist in his stomach every time he saw Mark smile) was because Mark was being affectionate with him. Shocking. He was picking Donghyuck up with his arms, spinning him around as their laughter echoed and they seemed surprised at how loud the younger two were. 

Donghyuck thought back to the live they had done before coming to the beach. It wasn't anything unusual, for the others at least, but when Mark placed his hands on Donghyuck's shoulder, hooked his chin over them, whispered jokes into the younger's ear as he read off the comments on the phone, Donghyuck couldn't help but feel his cheeks heat up.

The contrast between how Mark was acting with him before they came here — the cold shoulder and annoyed glares to wide smiles and giggly glances — was big. Donghyuck didn't know what made Mark do this, or just in general why he was doing this. Had someone told him about how he was upset with their behaviour? They wouldn't have, right? Donghyuck had made it very clear that he wanted them all to figure it out themselves so that they would be able to understand it more clearly — it didn't make much sense to Donghyuck let alone the other members, but they agreed to not tell the rest what was going on. 

As the live came to an end, Mark jumped up from his position by the bed and threw a hand over Donghyuck's, tugging him up onto his feet and continued to bounce up and down — he really was acting like a baby. Mark opened his mouth, and Donghyuck was honestly expecting another 'are you okay' but instead got a 'let’s go Fullsun!'

The simple nickname managed to lighten up Donghyuck's mood. Mark was known as one of the members that didn't like using nicknames (and it definitely wasn't because the other members could never think of a nickname which would suit him) so when 'fullsun' escaped Mark's tongue, Donghyuck felt as if all his problems disappeared.

The rest of the members had watched in shock as Donghyuck stuck by Mark's side when they walked to the beach. The younger had clung onto Mark and spoke to him as if they hadn't met in ages — which in some way was correct since when they ignored each other it meant they didn't talk about the exciting things that would happen to them.

On the beach, the older members eyed the two younger members as they ran around the beach, sand flying up and into eyes as they kicked their feet against it. They should've felt joy when they watched they play around like little kids, but the underlying annoyance that Mark was still oblivious to what was going on had overcome it all. It didn't take a genius to notice Donghyuck's problem, and the solution was so clear.

"I had to ask," Jaehyun said, peeling his eyes away from the duo as Donghyuck pushed Mark into the water despite his constant whining. "Why was Haechan avoiding us?"

The members who knew why, which was everyone else, glanced over at Jaehyun and shrugged, acting as if they didn't know anything as they promised. Jaehyun looked at them suspiciously, his eyes narrowed as he watched Sicheng cower behind Doyoung before he turned his attention back to Donghyuck and Mark — the duo had somehow managed to get into a more deeper side and looked like dots to Jaehyun. 

Jaehyun was always someone who accepted affection, always welcoming the hugs the members wanted and he was especially accepting when it came to Donghyuck. He allowed the younger to sometimes push their beds together in the dorm and then throw a leg over his. It made him feel warm, and he enjoyed the way sometimes Donghyuck would speak to him with slurred speech, mumbling about how Jisung had been sleeping on the floor and Donghyuck accidentally stepped on his face. But as everything has a good side to it, there was always  bad as well. 

Whenever Jaehyun had the chance to pick someone to either be in his group or simply when he was told to choose between Donghyuck and others, he would blatantly pick the other option. He never picked Donghyuck, and it hurt him like hell. Again, even though Donghyuck knew about this and had acknowledged it multiple times, he was being childish. He was treating the people he cared about with a cold attitude only because they didn't treat him the way he wanted them to. Jaemin had been reinforcing the idea that they had to learn a lesson, and that it was for the better good, but Donghyuck couldn't help but feel guilt whenever he saw the members force smiles whenever he gave them a hug. 

Maybe it was better when they didn't know.

"Let's go back now," Taeyong called out, waving at the two kids in the light blue sea. As they kicked their feet and swam over to the shore, their limbs collided with each other and they slipped in the water. The two exchanged looks before bursting into fits of laughter, unable to control themselves. But as they neared the shore and Donghyuck caught glimpse of the way the managers were looking at them with a fond look in their eyes, he realised what he had been doing. 

Donghyuck facepalmed and rushed over to Taeil, ignoring the calls Mark gave out to him and tucked himself under the older's arm. 

"I messed up," Donghyuck whined, covering his face with his hands as he accidentally locked eyes with Mark whilst saying that. Taeil glanced over at him and laughed awkwardly, not knowing how else to react to that. They had thought that maybe Donghyuck had given Mark the best friend pass and forgiven him for the way he treated Donghyuck, but clearly not. "I'll do my best from now on!"

Mark was confused. He had spent the entire morning with Donghyuck: cracking jokes, eating breakfast, playing with the sand and simply having fun with him. But as soon as they reached the hotel — actually before that when they had just emerged from the water — Donghyuck had returned to his old sulky self from the day before. He began to ignore Mark again, avoided eye contact and made sure to prevent any conversation from starting up. 

"Why is Hyuck avoiding me again?" Mark asked Jaehyun, who shrugged and shot him an annoyed look, almost as if he was jealous Mark had gotten treated so nicely by Donghyuck in the morning. 

"I don't know," Jaehyun replied, eyeing Donghyuck as he placed his head onto Sicheng's shoulder and snuggled closer to him. "He hasn't stopped avoiding me at any point."

The two shared a confused glance and then turned back to Donghyuck. 

"But what I don't understand is," Mark continued, leaning closer to Jaehyun so that the other members wouldn't hear them. "He didn't avoid Jungwoo hyung or the dreamies at all."

Jaehyun nodded and then jerked his head back, confused as to why Donghyuck had shot a glare at their intimacy. It didn't make much sense but he was going to try his best to make sure that it did. The bus finally arrived at the venue of the concert and the members internally groaned, a little guilty about the fact that they were already too tired to perform perfectly.

"Let's do this!" Johnny cheered across the dressing room at the other members, who sleepily nodded along to what he said, not bothered to contribute anything to whatever Johnny was saying. Their head dropped low and they tried their best to not fall asleep. The members all kept their heads low and waited for the concert to begin.

Jaehyun, on the other hand, had other plans. He was tired of getting ignored and wanted to get to the bottom of this issue. He silently waited for the makeup artist to finish up with him before he got up and strode over to Donghyuck.

"Haechan, can we talk?"

The other members in the room all watched them leave from the corner of their eyes, anticipation growing in them as they fidgeted with their clothes. Well, it was everyone except for Mark. The rest had sighed in relief when they realised that this meant the two 'perfect roommates' were finally going to return to normal and stop being upset with each other.

"What's wrong?" Jaehyun asked immediately, choosing to not waste any time in getting the question out of his system. The door hadn't even closed but it wasn't as if they had all day to be discussing the matter.

"What do you mean, what's wrong?" Donghyuck countered. He knew exactly what was wrong — it was intentional after all — but he wanted a clearer question, something that would tell Donghyuck that his behaviour didn't go unnoticed and the older had genuinely realised he was acting up.

"Why have you been so distant?" Jaehyun finally asked, brushing a hand through his hair, knowing that his stylist would most probably kill him for that, but still kept his eyes fixed on Donghyuck.

"Because hyung," Donghyuck took a deep breath and explained why he was so annoyed at him, and the rest of the members. Jaehyun's eyes slowly widened and he nodded along to what Donghyuck was saying. He had never known that Donghyuck had taken the things he had said to him to heart since Donghyuck would always laugh along and then change the topic. Oh.

"We're all so sorry," Jaehyun apologised, reaching forwards and pulling Donghyuck into a hug. The younger instantly fit into his arms and they both let out a sigh of content. It had been a while since they had last hugged, and to say that Jaehyun hadn't missed it would be a lie.

"It's alright," Donghyuck smiled into Jaehyun's shoulder and then pulled away, looking up at Jaehyun to reassure him that everything was fine now with a large smile.

"We're going up now," Yuta said as the other members exited the room, gesturing for the two to join them. The group all climbed up the stage and took their places, all revealing themselves one after the other. 

On the stage, Mark kept on turning to Donghyuck and catching his eyes. He smiled at Donghyuck, which caused him to smile back, without even saying any words. Although Donghyuck was annoyed at him, he couldn't stop himself from smiling back at Mark or laughing along with the things he said, even when he had no idea what he was saying.

It was just something between them, and they couldn't explain it. Their friendship was too strong, and maybe that's why Mark unknowingly took advantage of it.