Work Text:
“i’ll miss him, i guess...”
“jisungie, i know you’ll miss him and that's okay.”
jisung huffs at that and renjun doesn't miss the way his lips tremble. the boy’s hands are clenched into shaking fists and he continues to face the floor. renjun looks at the younger boy, waiting for the inevitable. jisung never cries out loud unlike chenle whose loud sobs are unfortunately common to renjun. he always shields his face, trying to stifle his cries but his shuddering body always gives it away. although it pains renjun to see the boy cry, he knows, a bit too well, that it's better than jisung holding in his emotions. soon enough, he hears the first signal and then sees the second - a choked sob and jisung's fingertips turning white due to his tightening grip on his knees.
jisung rarely ever cries like this which is why renjun remembers every single detail of these moments. these are the times when he is reminded of how young jisung really is, how innocent he is and most importantly, how much he wishes to protect him. renjun sighs and moves closer to the young boy.
“it's okay, jisungie. just let it out, i'll be right here for you.” renjun places his hand on jisung's back, patting it. the boy scoots closer to renjun, a silent request for a hug. renjun holds him in silence, rocking him slowly as his tears soak into his shirt. after awhile, the tears stop and renjun feels the younger’s body completely relax against him. he moves to place jisung's head on his lap, gently to avoid waking the boy. he wipes the younger's cheeks, rubbing his tear streaks away.
“is he okay, gege?” chenle's head pokes into the room. renjun makes a shushing motion before patting the space next to him. chenle walks over and leans against renjun - shoulder to shoulder - when he sits down. he runs his fingers through jisung's hair and places his head on renjun's shoulder. “he'll be fine, lele. we'll all be okay, mark hyung will still come around.”
“i know that but it won't be the same without him. he won't be on stage with us anymore and he won't be there to make our vlives awkward.” renjun chuckles lightly at that and ruffles chenle’s hair. they sit in a comfortable silence until not one, not two but all four dreamies walk into the room.
“hey i didn't know we were having a cuddle party!” jaemin feigns an offended expression while renjun rolls his eyes at the boy. “be quiet! the baby is sleeping.” almost as if they were on cue, the four boys collectively cooed at jisung. donghyuck tried to pinch the boy's cheeks, only for his hand to get swatted away by renjun.
but suddenly, mark let out a confused “oh?” when he noticed jisung's puffy eyes. he raised his eyebrows at renjun, silently asking for an explanation. the chinese boy sighs at that, knowing that it would get way too emotional and he would eventually cry too.
“he'll miss you. all of us will, hyung…” a look of realisation dawns on mark's face. he knew that sooner or later, the dreamies would decide to talk - or well, cry - it out. his heart drops at the fact that jisung cried over his graduation from nct dream. he’s been trying to come to terms with the fact that he truly is graduating for the past few weeks but it's been everything except easy.
he basically watched all six of them, especially chenle and jisung, grow up from their childhood years into the teenagers they are now. he knows he will definitely still be seeing them but it’ll be different. he can't be there to mediate them when they get too excited during vlives, he can't be there to help them out just before a performance and most importantly, he won't be there to lead the ‘yo dream’ chant. his heart clenches at these thoughts.
“babe? are you okay?” donghyuck nudges his shoulder and the other dreamies stare at him curiously. “i-i'm fine, it's just...i'll miss all of you too. i'll miss all your smiles, hugs and heck, maybe even your insults. i just want you to know that i love all six of you and that we'll be okay even when we're apart.”
when he ends his sentence, he immediately looks up, trying to hold back his tears. his dark lashes brim with tears and they spill down his face the moment he feels donghyuck embrace his waist. he holds onto donghyuck tightly, trying to calm himself down before facing the kids.
mark moves towards renjun with donghyuck still holding onto his waist and the other two follow suit. renjun is already sniffling when they all go in for a cuddle. although it was a slightly awkward position due to the 177 cm park jisung sleeping on his lap, they all didn't have a single complaint.
“i'm proud of you for graduating, hyung. thank you for taking care of us. all of us love you too.” jaemin cracks a warm smile contrasting with his teary eyes. the other four do the same, giving mark a warm feeling in his chest. but renjun's eyes widen when jisung starts to shuffle and his eyelids crack open.
“woah what's going on? why are all of you crying?” jisung looks at all of them with his sleep-ridden eyes. “it's nothing, jisungie. don't worry, baby.” renjun chuckles as jisung whines over the nickname.
as the kids go off to their separate rooms, mark’s chest feels heavy once again. but it only lasts for a short while before chenle and jaemin runs over to pinch his cheeks, letting out peals of laughter as mark chases them down. after settling down and giving each of them a hug ( “oh my, mark is showing affection, i'm so proud”), mark and donghyuck get ready to go back to the nct 127 dorms.
earlier in the day, mark had intended to ask the manager to let him go to the dreamies’ dorm for a little while but the manager had already prepared for it, knowing that mark would want to spend time with them. although he wished he could allow mark and donghyuck to sleep over in the nct dream dorm, nct 127 had schedules the next day.
by the time mark and donghyuck got back to the dorms, it was nearly midnight and all the hyungs were already asleep due to the rare schedule-free day. they quickly washed up and laid down on their shared bed, eyes slightly drooping but wanting to talk to each other.
donghyuck lays on top of mark, his head on mark's chest as the latter absentmindedly plays with his hair. mark holds donghyuck's face gently before pecking him all over his face. on his rosy cheeks, his adorable nose, the eyelids that hid the sparkly eyes he loved so much and most importantly, his soft heart-shaped lips. donghyuck giggles at the action before chasing after the peck for a deeper kiss.
“hey baby boy?” donghyuck hums at that, a sign to show that he was still awake.
“i'll miss you, you know? even though we'll see each other every night, i wish i could spend every second of the day with you. i love you, hyuckie."
donghyuck mumbles ,“i love you too, markie.” , too shy to lift his head.
“also one last thing, baby? hug the dreamies and tell them i’ll miss them everyday for me, okay?”
“sure, markie. i promise to do that every time i get to see them. the kids will miss you and so will i. i have to admit it's difficult to get over this but we'll be fine, right?”
“don't worry, hyuckie. we'll be okay."