Everyone has a bad day and takes it out on Donghyuck, who's more fragile than he seems. Donghyuck likes to pretend he's not affected but Mark can see through his front.

Word Count: 2052

“DONGHYUCK!”

Mark watched the way the younger boy flinched at the sound of his name being screamed for the fourth time that day, a withering look on his face as he stared down at the shards of glass on the floor.

Donghyuck pressed his lips into a tight line, not bothering to look up at a glowering Taeyong who was standing in front of him. Most of the shattered cup lay between the two, but thousands of pieces had spread to the area around them. Donghyuck could see the tiny shimmering pieces a few feet away from where he stood and wondered how much it would hurt to get one of them stuck in his foot.

That would be another reason to get yelled at.

“Don’t. Move,” Taeyong commanded as he carefully stepped around all the pieces of glass, rushing off to get a broom and dust pan to clean the mess up before anyone could get injured.

Mark readjusted from his spot on the couch, eyes trained on his best friend. With Taeyong gone from his immediate presence, Donghyuck’s face contorted into one of confusion and hurt. He let out a heavy sigh, eyes wavering around the area until he noticed Mark. Mark’s expression had to have been one of pure pity, for Donghyuck straightened up significantly and recomposed himself.

Taeyong came rushing back into the room at that moment, sweeping up the shards of glass while muttering under his breath.

“What is wrong with you today? Why can’t you do anything right?”

The older male’s words stung. Donghyuck desperately wanted to refute, tell him that he was the one that dropped the glass, not him, but he didn’t want to fight anymore. He’d spent the entire day arguing back his innocence to deaf ears but it hadn’t done any good. The back-talk had only angered his hyungs further, labeling him as a disrespectful dongsaeng for the rest of the day.

He hadn’t even done anything wrong, he’d just been there when bad things had happened and for some reason everyone decided to blame him for their problems. He was the scapegoat due to his normally impish behavior and sure that was his fault, but everyone knew everything he did and said was harmless and in good nature.

Donghuck had been a perfectly behaved child the entire day, and yet the other members had been treating him like he was the most irritating person in the world. The only people that had yet to yell at him were Mark and Sicheng, and he was fairly sure that the only reason Sicheng hadn’t was because of his lack of ability to express himself. Sicheng had only given him a mean look, but Donghyuck had never seen the Chinese male look so scary before.

“I’m sorry,” Donghuck apologized, surprising Mark with how steady his voice was. For someone who had just looked like a kicked puppy, he was acting rather well.

“Just go to our room or something,” Taeyong ordered once he’d collected most of the glass, deeming it safe enough to walk through. He did another scan of the area as Donghyuck brushed past him, stalking off to their shared room to lay down and hopefully sleep through the rest of the night.

Donghyuck laid awake until far after he heard Taeyong come in and lay down.

Mark waited until all the other members had retreated to their rooms to sleep for the night before he got up and walked to Donghyuck and Taeyong’s room. He turned the door knob slowly to make sure that he softened the sound of the door opening and slipped into the darkness of the room.

The room smelled crisp and clean, like sanitizing wipes, combined with the overwhelming scent of lavender air freshener. Mark wouldn’t be able to live in the room without getting a headache every ten minutes, and he had no idea how Donghyuck could.

He stumbled over a few things on his was over to Donghyuck’s bed but made it without knocking anything over or stubbing his toes too badly. He was lucky that Taeyong kept the room as clean as humanly possible, at least for a clean-freak who roomed with a sixteen year old, or he would have probably tripped and died on his journey.

Mark felt his way to the head of the bed and sat down on the edge, wanting only to disturb his best friend just enough to wake him, if he wasn’t already awake. A rustle of sheets and a displeased sigh alerted him to the boys’ state of consciousness.

“What do you want now?”

The question was asked with a bitterness that Mark hadn’t expected to be directed towards him. He couldn’t see well since it was dark in the room, but from the lump he could make out and the distant voice, Mark assumed that he was laying with his back to him.

“Dude. We love you.”

Mark heard the yo