Ten was walking down the corridor to where he was going to meet Taeyong. He felt nervous about what was to come, since it had been a long time since he was in a room alone with Taeyong. On his way he got a text from Johnny and Lucas in the group chat:

Ten Protection Squad

Johnny: Have you got there yet?

Lucas: GOOD LUCK HYUNG!

Ten: Thank you

Ten: and I’m walking down now

Johnny: Make sure you tell him what’s going on

Ten: I can’t just come out and say it

Lucas: Sure you can

Johnny: You have to tell him before things get worse

Ten: What if he breaks up with me?

Johnny: trust me, he’s not gonna break up with

Johnny: just be honest

Ten: Okay

Ten: I’m there now, so I’ll tell you to how it went

With the encouragement, Ten pushed open the door to the studio. Taeyong was not there yet, so he used that time to breath and recollect his thoughts. While he was trapped in his thoughts, Taeyong entered the studio; an awkward tension filled the room. To an outsider, it would look like they weren’t even friend, let alone boyfriends. Ten quietly greeted Taeyong.

“Hey,” he said while bowing. Taeyong was baffled by the action. Why was his own boyfriend bowing?

“Hey, how have you been?” Taeyong cursed himself for sounding formal, or at least what felt formal in his mind.

“I’m good, you?”

“I’m fine. I’ve missed you.” He wanted Ten to know how he felt without being too forward.

“Oh… I’ve missed you too.” A pregnant pause. “Should we get started?”

“Yeah, yeah sure.”

Both moved forward to sit, Ten choosing to sit opposite from Taeyong, which made the other’s heart clench. Clearing his throat, Taeyong started to lay out his ideas for the what could be included in their performance. Ten just bobbed his head along in agreement, not wanting to upset or annoy the other, carefully adding in his own contributions. During the session, Tae stayed focused on Ten’s face trying to lock eyes with him, but the other skilfully avoided contact. By the end, they had a solid routine planned and had started piecing the ideas together.

Ten immediately reached for his bag, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Startled, he turned to face Taeyong who still had his hand placed on Ten’s shoulder. “I-I...”

“Is everything okay hyung?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to say…” Ten raised an eyebrow, “Well done today” Taeyong cringing at how awkward he sounded.

“Oh well, thank you. You too.” Ten smiled. “Anyway, I should get going,” Ten reached for his bag again. He made it to the door when Taeyong called out for him again.

“I-I, uh. I was just wondering if you’d like to go out sometime? You know with Jaehyun and I,” Taeyong hoped his voice came out clear, he had never felt this nervous feeling around Ten since asking him to join the relationship.

Frozen in his spot, Ten didn’t know how to respond. Of course, he had wished to spend some alone time with them, but after waiting for so long, he had given up. Taeyong’s voice startled him back into reality, “you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Taeyong said sheepishly, “it’s just we missed you and wanted to spend some time with you.”

“No, I was just shocked that’s all. I thought you both would be busy, but I would love to.”

“Great, erm… Friday at 8pm sound good?”

“Oh yeah, sure. Where should I meet you?”

“Don’t worry about that, just dress casual in something comfy and we’ll come get you.”

“Okay, I’ll see you Friday.” Ten smiled.

“Yeah see you Friday.”

As Ten left the room, he couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face. Usually when the three went out, it was easy since they just looked like a group of friends to the public, and despite the odd fan asking for a picture or autograph, they were mostly left to their own devices. Over the past few years, they started doing one on one dates, but that all came to a stop with the success of NCT 127. Although excited, the further away he walked from the room, the more the nerves started to kick in until dread finally set. Scrambling to get out of the building, Ten grabbed his phone calling the first person who came to mind.

“Hello?”

“Tern…”

“Chittaphon? What’s up, is everything okay?”

“Tern, I don’t know what to do.” Ten’s voice was trembling. One would think Johnny or Lucas would be the first people he would call, but Ten always found talking to his younger sister soothing. His family knew of his uality and were very supportive, but when they heard of the arrangement Ten had gotten himself in, they were sceptical as to how it would work. More worried about how Ten would feel if things didn’t work as planned. Taeyong and Jaehyun meeting his parents when they went to Thailand helped calm their qualms, but that didn’t mean they weren’t keeping a close eye over their son.

When Ten started feeling excluded from the relationship, he confided in his sister because he knew, despite her young age, that she would give him useful advice and not jump into protective mode like his parent. Ten may not have been the youngest, but he was the family baby everyone cherished and wanted to protect. He kept Tern update on all things JaeTenYong, so she was automatically the first person he wanted to speak to.

Ten was headed back to the dorms trying to stop himself from having a panic attack with all the thoughts whirling around in his head. He tried to listen to Tern’s voice of reason, but things had been going so bad that he doubted Friday would bring any good.

“Chittaphon, you need to relax. You don’t even know what’s going to happen on Friday so just breath.” Tern reasoned. “For all you know they could have an elaborate plan to get you back. Don’t stress yourself out too much, you don’t want a repeat of what happened last time.”

“… you’re right, I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, just take a breather.”

“Yeah, I will. I’ve reached the dorm now, so I’ll speak to you later.”

“Speak to later.”

As soon as he entered the dorm, he was met with questioning gazes. Johnny and Lucas were waiting for him, and the further he stepped into the room, the more intense their gazes became. Tired of the silence, Johnny raised an eyebrow, “Well…”

Not knowing how to respond, Ten stayed silent. With a grunt, Lucas grabbed Ten by the arm dragging him into the room Ten had for himself, Johnny following closely behind. Lucas immediately shoved Ten on the bed to sit hovering over him while Johnny closed the door for privacy.

The three were in silence, “Don’t make me drag it out of you”

“We talked about this in the car remember. Patience,” Johnny reminded Lucas

Ten blinked owlishly before clearing his throat, “We j-just worked on the song and the routine…”

“and?” Lucas prompted, “What else happened?”

“He… he erm, he asked me out on a date with him and Jaehyun on Friday” Ten mumbled

“See! I told you he wasn’t going to dump you”

“Yeah, but there’s still time.” Ten whined, “They could be inviting me out to dump me away from the eyes of everyone else.” Johnny and Lucas scoffed. “Or they could be acting considerate by giving me one last date before letting me go.”

The duo had heard enough. They knew Ten was insecure, but they didn’t really know it was to this extent. Tears had started to gather in Ten’s eyes and it wasn’t long before they slowly made their way down his face. Johnny and Lucas both sat down on either side of Ten as his whimpers turned into sobs. They were lucky no one else was in the dorm, or it would have raised questions the three were not prepared to answer.

Ten fell asleep on Lucas’ shoulder amid his sobs, he was so emotionally drained, it was affecting him physically. He woke up to soft knocks on his bedroom door. Sleepily he checked his surroundings, confused as to when he went to bed, last thing he remembered was talking to Johnny and Lucas. The knocks on his door persisted, and he finally got up with a soft, “coming.”

Mark was standing on the other side of the door, he wanted to call Ten for dinner with the rest of the boys. All 18 members decided to eat together over pizza, choosing Ten’s dorm since Johnny didn’t want to wake him, feeling he needed the deserved rest. Mark volunteered to wake him, although Johnny and Lucas were hesitant, they agreed. Even though, as of recent, Mark barely spent any time with Ten, he noticed a change in the other’s behaviour and wanted to cheer him up. He wouldn’t push his hyung to tell him what was wrong, but he wanted to get his close relationship with him back. “I came to call you for dinner,” Mark smiled.

“Oh, thank you,” Ten grinned. “What are we having?”

“Pizza”

“Cool, just let grab my hoodie and I’ll meet you out there.”

Okay.”

Ten quickly went to grab the item not wanting to keep the others waiting. Mark was waiting for him when he exited the room. “I know we’ve not spent much time together lately, but I want you to know I’m always here for you hyung.”

Ten cooed, “Thank you Mark.” He hugged him, “I really appreciate it.”

The two swiftly went to join the others who had left a space for them. Mark clung onto Ten not wanting to separate from him, he was going to use the time to spend as much of it with Ten, even if he technically had to share it with the others. Taeyong and Jaehyun had left a space for Ten between them, as had Johnny and Lucas, but neither factored in Mark who had suddenly decided to act clingy.

“Hey babe, we saved you a space here,” Jaehyun grinned.

“No, I’m not letting hyung go,” Mark insisted.

“Well you two can sit beside us” Johnny chipped in, Lucas agreeing.

“How about the three of you shut it, and let Ten sit with his partners,” Taeyong growled.

Johnny was ready to fight back, so to avoid any problems Ten interrupted, “I can just sit on the floor in between you and Jae, then Mark can sit on my left with John and Xuxi on my right. How does that sound?”

Reluctantly the two elders agreed not wanting to cause any more trouble, but you could still see the tension there. “Wow I feel so loved,” Ten joked to make light of the situation. Luckily it worked as some of the members chuckled. Johnny and Taeyong were still glaring at each other but sharp look in Ten’s eyes made them stop and send a soft smile Ten’s way.

Johnny and Ten had been best friends since pre-debut and he always felt like Ten was just a small boy who needed protecting. He witnessed Ten falling in love with Jaeyong and begin heartbroken when he felt like hopeless. Johnny had been a part of all the good and bad with Ten. Seeing Ten broken hurt Johnny, especially when he couldn’t do anything to make it better. But with the case of Taeyong and Jaehyun, he was able to do something to keep Ten happy; if that ultimately meant keeping him away from them then he was prepared to do it.

Taeyong was frustrated and angry at Johnny, he had a feeling the older was trying to keep Ten away from them and his actions from earlier proved that. He didn’t know what the other’s intentions were, but so long as it interfered with him and Jaehyun getting back Ten (although they hadn’t lost him yet), he didn’t appreciate them. He could sense Ten trying to keep everyone happy with his compromise; although he wasn’t fully satisfied, he accepted because he didn’t want to make Ten upset and his heart warmed with the soft smile Ten gave them.

Dinner went smoothly after the tension left the air, everyone enjoying the food, sharing funny stories and just relaxing. Throughout, Taeyong had been running his fingers through Ten hair, as short as it was, and Jaehyun had a warm relaxing hand on his shoulder, softly kneading every so often. Johnny and Taeyong had calmed considerably and were even joking with one another, everything was going well. Ten just hoped Friday would go this smoothly as well.