April, 15th, 2020

Once Donghyuck was in the safety of his bed, Taeyong returned back to the unknown room and saw that Jaehyun had made himself comfortable on the small couch in the corner of the room. Chen Le was sitting next to Jaehyun, gripping onto his arm in the way an afraid child would while Doyoung and Kun were standing off to the side. They seemed to be protective over the two, yet Taeyong didn't see the need to be; Jaehyun seemed like he could hold his own and Chen Le would learn that he shouldn't rely on people to solve his own problems. 

Taeyong took a seat next to Mark, who was sitting on the floor. Jeno was on his other side, eyes curious as he stared at the four in front of them — curious to see how their small, complicated family clicked and how Donghyuck fitted into the mix. 

"I assume you are here for more than just Donghyuck, right?" One of Taeyong's members, Johnny, asked, tilting his head to the side. All of Taeyong's members had the same look of curiosity in their eyes — it was the same look they had given Donghyuck when he had walked through the door like he owned the place. In some ways, Jaehyun reminded Taeyong of his younger brother. 

"That's right." Jaehyun said, not bothering to elaborate. Chen Le whispered something into Jaehyun's ear and the male frowned, eyebrows pulling together. "Operation Octavia?" Jaehyun murmured and Doyoung studied their Captain. 

"You know it? Donghyuck also recognized the name." Doyoung said and Jaehyun glanced at the black haired male. He sighed and Chen Le hid his face in Jaehyun's shoulder like it would protect him of what Jaehyun was about to say. 

"Operation Octavia was a huge plan that a very, very wealthy and important man had. Donghyuck was merely sixteen when he heard about it which was around the same time he had gotten kidnapped. Ever since then, the person behind it all has been getting his minions to follow Donghyuck around and find his weak links; they want to kill him." Jaehyun explained and Kun's face contorted. 

"But, why Donghyuck? In what way is he connected to this?" Kun demanded and Jaehyun looked up at the ceiling, hands beginning to shake. 

"Because Donghyuck refused to join their side and ..." Jaehyun shuddered. "The person behind the attack and kidnapping had a son and that son wanted Donghyuck to ... e-er marry him? And when he didn't ... he — oh god, he  him." Jaehyun whispered, stealing a glance at Doyoung's shell-shocked face. 

"Jaemin was there for him. Donghyuck opened up to him and it was the secondest fastest time he's opened up to someone." Jaehyun said and Chen Le lifted his head. 

"Who was the first, hyung?" Chen Le asked and Jaehyun chuckled, locking eyes with Mark across the room.

"Him." Jaehyun said, nodding at Mark. All eyes went onto Mark, who's mouth had fallen open in shock once again. "Of course, Donghyuck was with Mark before any of the kidnapping and stuff happened, but I've never seen Donghyuck so happy and free before. It was like his ty past didn't matter and ... I was grateful for that because Donghyuck deserves so much better than this ty life.

He deserves to be happy and not have to constantly look behind his shoulder. He shouldn't have trust issues and for heaven's sake, Jaemin shouldn't have died right in front of him. We never found his body either. Donghyuck never even got to say a proper goodbye to Nana." Jaehyun muttered and Doyoung sunk to the floor, folding his legs beneath him. Kun followed soon after, legs too tired to hold themselves up. 

"So, Operation Octavia is what exactly? What is the main purpose of it?" Jeno asked and Jaehyun spared a glance at Jeno. 

"Operation Octavia is a plan to basically take over the world. To kill all those they deem as weak and in some ways, they are succeeding: they've managed to break out some of the most dangerous serial killers out of captivity and all of these serial killer have a bone to pick with Donghyuck." Jaehyun stated and a tall boy gasped. 

"They want to kill him?" Yukhei asked and Jaehyun nodded. "B-But, Donghyuck is so ... nice!" Yukhei protested and Chen Le snickered from where he was seated next to Jaehyun. 

"Are you kidding me? Donghyuck's a devil in an angel's body. He's almost as bad as Ten!" Chen Le laughed and Jaehyun smiled softly. 

"Yep, Jaemin and Donghyuck were a handful to raise." Jaehyun chuckled and Jungwoo stared at Jaehyun in shock.

"You raised them both?" He whispered. "But, you're so young!" He exclaimed and Jaehyun laughed again, amused at the awe covering the male's features. 

"Yeah, it was hard at times, but I raised them because I had ty parents. Me and Nana ran away from home when I was thirteen and he was ten. He was such a small child when we met Donghyuck. Small, broken yet he had this fire in him — he was one of the most realest people I've seen in my life. He didn't mess around. 

When we met, he was alone and was being picked on by other boys that were around about my age. It was amazing to see him stand up for himself and he already had the skills to be a professional boxer; knocked some kid out and while he was running away, he bumped into Jaemin. Jaemin and Donghyuck bickered for a while and when I asked him where he learned to punch like that, he said he learned it from his Yongie-hyung." Jaehyun said, his gaze sliding to Taeyong. 

"I guess that was you. He's never actually really told me why exactly he dislikes you so much." Jaehyun said and Taeyong frowns. 

"He hates me." He muttered and Jaehyun shook his head with a chuckle.

"Trust me, he doesn't hate you. If he did, you'd be dead by now and not even your other gang members would've stopped him. He's stubborn like that. He dislikes you, sure, but he doesn't hate you." Jaehyun stated and watched Taeyong's frown get deeper, a crease forming between his eyebrows and Jaehyun shuddered visibly. 

"Don't frown so much. You look like Hyuck and it's ing creepy." Jaehyun shuddered again and Mark giggled behind his hand. There was rushed footsteps and Donghyuck burst into the room, eyes blown wide and red, hair a rat's nest. 

"I — I saw — I saw J-Jaemin!" Donghyuck spluttered and Jaehyun blinked at him. 

"That's impossible, Hyuck. Jaemin's dead — you saw him covered in blood." Jaehyun reminded the younger, but Donghyuck shook his head. 

"I saw Jaemin, hyung. He was — he was there! I know it! And anyways, we never actually recovered his body, so he very well might be alive!" Donghyuck said and Jaehyun's eyebrows pulled together. 

"Donghyuck, you're tired. Go back to sleep." Jaehyun said and Donghyuck stared at him for a moment before his face fell. 

"You don't believe me?" He whispered and Jaehyun sighed. 

"Would you believe me if I said that?" Donghyuck pondered that before he sighed like Jaehyun and shook his head. "Listen, Hyuck, just go back to bed and get some rest." Jaehyun said. Donghyuck nodded to himself and turned back around, trotting back to where he had been resting. 

"Er, so ... that happened." Johnny muttered and Jaehyun sighed, averting his attention onto the leader of NCT only to see him pale and squirming. He narrowed his eyes at Taeyong.

"Yeah, it did." He mused, eyes fixated on Taeyong. 

What are you hiding? 

~~~~~~~~~~

"Shouldn't we tell them?" Mark demanded and Taeyong shook his head, shaking away his doubts on keeping their secret. 

"No, Donghyuck already doesn't trust us, Mark, and knowing that his best friend's alive after he thought he was dead isn't the best way to earn his trust." Taeyong reminded Mark, who frowned. 

"I don't like lying to him, Yong, and neither do the others." Mark said and Taeyong sighed. 

"I know, neither do I." Taeyong said and then added; "But, he can't know. He never can know that Jaemin's alive and apart of NCT." Taeyong stated firmly, watching Mark's face twist downwards.

~~~~~~~~~~

April, 16th, 2020

Donghyuck was sitting alone on the garden outside; the one at the very back of the garden, laying out on the grass and soaking up the sun. It was at that time when some people decided to come up to him and sit right next to him that he finally peeled his eyes open and regarded the six males lazily. 

Donghyuck groaned. "What do you guys want?" He said, blinking at the sun once before he decided that being polite wasn't worth going blind and closed his eyes again. Jisung stared at Donghyuck. 

"What was it like being Taeyong's brother?" Jisung asked, curious and Donghyuck almost laughed aloud at the stupid question. Who would even think of asking something like that when they were literally in a gang with the male? It was almost like asking him what it was like being Taeyong's partners in crime. Instead, he snorted. 

"." He settled for and someone shifted next to him, waiting for him to elaborate, but he never did. The other six weren't really expecting anything less. 

"Okay," Jeno muttered. "How about what it was like dating Mark-hyung?" At that, Donghyuck froze in his spot, his muscles locking up almost defensively. 

"Why do you ask?" Donghyuck warily asked and Johnny laughed. 

"Because we've always known Mark as a brother with absolutely no idea how to romatically convey any feelings let alone have any." Johnny chuckled and Donghyuck relaxed at that, a small smirk tugging at his lips. "We just wondered how it'd be like." Johnny said and Donghyuck laughed to himself for a moment. 

"Honestly?" Someone hummed. "It was honestly the best year of my ing life." Donghyuck said, his lips pulling up into a huge smile as images of Mark and him in the past flashed through his mind. "He made me feel seen and ... and I never had been up until then — but Mark was different; he was everything I never realised I wanted in life." Donghyuck said and Renjun inhaled while Chen Le clapped giddily beside him. Yuta just stared at the younger in thought.

"What was he like as a boyfriend?" Chen Le asked, interested in Donghyuck's previous love life. He had never really shared anything personal about himself and now he was just spilling things. 

"Awkward." Donghyuck said, which caused the five gang members to giggle in agreement. "But, he was sweet. He'd bring me flowers everyday; put one in my locker. Jaemin would always ask who they were from and when I never answered, he would stick his tongue out like the five year old he was." Donghyuck said in amusement and even with his eyes closed, the others knew he would've been rolling his eyes. 

"Sometimes we would go on dates and he would open the door for me when we got out the car. I used to call him a gentlemen and he'd respond with a cheesy 'It's because I love you'." Donghyuck's smile grew wider at the thought of Mark's smile and the way his voice rang in his ears. "One day, we ran into Ten-hyung and Mark was sweating bullets and he was so flustered — it was the cutest thing I'd ever seen in my life ~"

"No, it wasn't. That was just plain embarrassing." A familiar voice said, sinking down next to Jeno. The six male's turned to Mark in slight surprise as they hadn't heard him come. Mark watched as Donghyuck laughed. 

"Whatever you say, Markie-Poo." Donghyuck said and Mark's ears went pink at the nickname he hadn't heard in years. "You looked like a pubescent teenager when he was caught watching  on his computer." Donghyuck chuckled and Mark's cheeks sprinkled with pink. 

"Yah! I'm older than you — have some respect." Mark protested and saw Donghyuck's smile falter for a moment before he replaced it with a smile just as bright as the last. 

"Mmn, you never do learn do you, Markie-Poo. You know you can never win against me." Donghyuck said and the others watched in amusement as Mark pouted. He was about to retort when Doyoung descended the stairs and approached the group. Donghyuck's eyes peeled open and he laughed at Doyoung's angry stomp before flinging himself to his feet. 

"And that's my cue to leave!" Donghyuck chirped, slinking through a path just a couple feet away from where the group was sitting, avoiding Doyoung's wrath. Doyoung cursed him loudly and turned around to retreat, but not before they heard Donghyuck's tinkling laughter. Doyoung ground his teeth together as he slammed the door to the garden shut.

Jisung turned to Mark. "So, Mark-hyung, we've asked Donghyuck, so now we have to ask you. How was dating the badass Lee Donghyuck?" Jisung asked, shuffling closer as if they were all sharing a huge secret. Mark rolled his eyes, but his fond smile gave away how he was feeling. 

"Dating Donghyuck was amazing. He was ... challenging at times and would always beat the  out of people if they so much as looked at him the wrong way. I had no idea we would take the paths we're on now." Mark recalled, giggling. Chen Le blinked at Mark. 

"Why'd you break it off?" Chen Le asked and Mark sighed, lowering his gaze to the ground.

"He broke it off with me; I never knew the real reason, but he said it had something to do with protecting me as that was when people had found out we had been dating. And they weren't as excepting as people are now." Mark said, making Renjun nod. 

"Yeah, it was like that too when I started dating my current love. He was my first and is the love of my ing life." Renjun sighed dreamily and Chen Le gaped at him. 

"You have a boyfriend? Who?" Chen Le whispered and Renjun smirked at him. 

"I have two." He said, holding up two with his hand and Chen Le stared at him in shock, mouth hanging open. "Y-You're alright with that, right ..?" Renjun asked, curiously, but Mark could see the slight fear and hesitance in his eyes. Chen Le's mouth snapped shut. 

"Of course!" He exclaimed. "I was shocked that was all because you've got two boyfriends and I can't even get ing one!" Chen Le moaned. "And then I find out that even Donghyuck — my stupid, plainly annoying and frankly irritating hyung — has had a boyfriend and he looks like that." Chen Le waved at Mark as if saying 'really?'

Jeno laughed loudly, amused at the youngers whining. "You're funny!" Jeno laughed and Chen Le grew confused, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. 

"I am ..?" He trailed off and Jeno nodded. 

"Yeah, you are." He said and Chen Le flushed from the praise. Johnny cooed at the younger. 

"Anyways what's the name of your boyfriends?" Chen Le asked and Renjun opened his mouth to answer when Donghyuck appeared out of thin air, dragging alomg a male with pink hair, eyes filled with flames — he was angry. Jeno and the others — except Chen Le — got to their feet, eyes widening. 

"Explain what the  is going on and why my ing supposedly dead best friend is sitting in your garden playing with flowers?!?" Donghyuck shouted and Mark gulped at Donghyuck face growing even more lived than before. 

They were so screwed.

Double update because I love this fanfic with all my heart! ❤❤❤