At first, it had been hard for Renjun to enjoy Mark’s presence when all he had yearned for was Donghyuck.

“Is something wrong?” the elder asked him as he interlaced their hands – a normally comforting gesture that now made him even more uneasy. “You keep spacing out.”

“Mark-hyung. I’m going to be completely honest,” he started, dropping their hands, and looking up at him. “I still like someone else. I can’t do this with you. I’m sorry.”

“Then don’t,” Mark replied, sighing shortly after. “But I don’t want to see you hurting like this anymore, Renjun. Even if I can help a little, I want to.” Silence fell over the both of them where they stood in the park, neither moving. “What about a trial period?”

“A trial period?” he echoed, looking at the elder in curiosity.

“Yeah, until you have the guts to confess to your actual crush, you can practice confessing and everything that relates to dating with me,” Mark explained, a sad expression on his face since the both of them knew what the elder’s fate would be. “I’ll be your boyfriend-in-training until you can get yourself an actual boyfriend.”

“Hyung, this will hurt you more than it will hurt me,” he whispered, already feeling bad for just considering the offer.

“I don’t mind if I’m the one being hurt.”

That day, Huang Renjun had accepted a very stupid deal that he never fully stopped feeling guilty for.

And months later, life had decided to finally allow him to get over the bright sun that he loved so much.

“Are you serious?” his fake older boyfriend asked as they sat on the swings of the park they often went to. “Renjun, you’re not ing around here, right?”

“Why would I do that?” he spat out, his heart beating faster when Mark’s smile grew wider. “I really do love you, hyung. I don’t know how you did it but I somehow fell for you.”

“Renjun,” the elder started, covering Renjun’s smal