Chapter Text
The members of Mars had gathered in the living room of their shared apartment. Thame and Pepper stood in the front, on each side of a large whiteboard, markers in hand.
Thame lifted his pen and wrote down the first word “Comeback” in big bold letters. He then turned to look at his members in front of him. Dylan was lying on the couch, headphones over his ears and his eyes on his laptop screen. Nano was sitting on the floor, leaning against the sofa and Jun was spread across multiple beanbags staring at some imaginary shapes in the ceiling. Out of the three of them, only Nano seemed to be listening.
“First, we need an idea for the song,” Thame said, and Pepper wrote it on the whiteboard, the two of them working as a perfectly synchronized team.
“Dylan?” Four pairs of eyes turned automatically to look in Dylan’s direction, who was too caught up in what he was doing to even notice.
A silence enveloped them and when it finally broke it wasn’t Dylan who spoke.
“Give him some time. Dylan’s been struggling to write recently,” Jun said, turning to look at Thame only quickly before directing his eyes back on Dylan’s face.
“Thanks, Jun, but I think I got a song for us,” Dylan answered, finally lifting his eyes off the screen to look at Jun. There was a soft smile on Jun’s face and Dylan could stop the corners of his mouth from turning up too.
“Awh, how come you answer when Jun speaks, but not when I do?” Thame sulked, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting his lips, which must have been something he picked up from Po.
“Jun’s voice is louder,” Dylan answered quickly attempting to explain his own actions. This remark only earned him a wider smile from Jun who found Dylan to be adorable when getting flustered.
“Do you want to hear the song?” Dylan continued wanting to concentrate on something else than himself and Jun. This seemed to ease Thame’s annoyance as he quickly walked over to look at the screen over Dylan’s shoulder.
“It’s a love song?” Thame asked after reading through only the first three lines of the lyrics.
“Yeah.” Dylan felt a bit awkward even though all their previous songs were love songs too. His face flushed slightly when Thame started to read the lyrics out loud to the others. Jun was staring at him with a stupid smile on his face, which made Dylan want to disappear.
“I guess something inspiring happened this morning.” Nano turned to look behind him and winked at Dylan. His body tensed the weird emphasis on the word “inspiring” making Dylan’s mind visit possibilities he didn’t even want to imagine.
On the other hand, Jun just laughed, and Dylan really had to fight the urge to get up and kick Jun. What kind of a boyfriend laughed when their partner felt uncomfortable?
“What happened this morning?” Thame asked, completely lost to the conversation going on in front of him.
“Nothing. I’ll just play the demo now,” Dylan dismissed Thame completely and quickly pressed the play button on his computer. The sound stopped anyone from questioning him further.
Everyone else listened to the song with high concentration, except for Jun. He was mouthing words at Dylan, but Dylan’s bad lip-reading skills made understanding difficult. If he had to guess it was something about him being amazing or about feeling proud.
Jun even showed him a few sneaky finger hearts, which made Dylan do quick glances around the room to make sure that no one else noticed what they were doing.
Dylan met Pepper’s gaze across the room, but he only gave Dylan a small smile and thumbs up, pretending to not have seen the whole exchange that had unfolded in front of him.
“That’s incredible!” Nano started cheering and clapping his hands together right after the song ended. Then he stopped abruptly and turned to look at Jun.
“Do you agree?” Nano asked, the question clearly only meant for Jun.
“Yeah, it was amazing” Thame answered instead, talking over Jun, who had just opened his mouth to speak.
Pepper, who was still standing by the whiteboard started to write down the steps that they would have to take next, with an amused smile playing on his lips.
“I’m sure Jun liked it especially much,” Nano tried again after failing to get a satisfying answer the first time around.
Jun opened his mouth again to answer, but this time it was Dylan who cut him off.
“Nano, come with me for a second.” Dylan stood up and pushed his laptop into Thame’s hands before walking off. He didn’t wait for Nano to catch up and headed directly into his room. When Nano got there, he pushed the door shut behind him.
“What’s with the remarks?” Dylan asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Oih! Let me be excited, okay?!” Nano answered exasperated- Flailing his arms around like a baby bird learning to fly.
“Excited? About what?” Dylan was now even more confused. His previously raised brows furrowed down, turning his eyes into narrow slits.
“You and Jun of course! I’ve been shipping you for so long. Let me be happy that my couple is finally real.” Nano sounded cheery. He walked closer to Dylan and gently pumped him with his shoulder.
“Wait… Me and Jun?” Dylan stared at Nano in shock. How could Nano know when the relationship only started today?
“You got it all wrong!” He tried denying it, but the look in Nano’s eyes told him that there was no point in pretending.
“Don’t lie to me!” Nano yelled in obvious frustration, shaking his finger in front of Dylan’s face. Then he continued: “I saw you in the kitchen this morning.”
Dylan’s face instantly flushed to a deep shade of red, and he found himself unable to answer. He dropped Nano’s gaze, looking at his own feet instead.
“Besides I can still see the teeth marks on your shoulder,” Nano added laughing.
Nano reached his hand out, but Dylan was faster, quickly pulling his neckline up to cover himself.
“Please don’t tell anyone,” Dylan’s tone was close to pleading, his voice quiet and slightly quivering.
“Fine, I’ll keep my mouth shut,” Nano giggled, gently poking Dylan’s shoulder where the bite mark was. Then he turned around and walked to the door. Nano’s hand was resting on the door handle as he turned to look at Dylan over his shoulder.
“Just a little advice. If you don’t want anyone to find out, you probably should not make out in the kitchen:” Dylan's head shot up, meeting Nano’s gaze. Nano’s face was shining, a mischievous grin plastered on his face, making his eyes shine in genuine amusement.
Then Nano walked away, closing the door behind him.
Dylan stood there for a moment unable to move. He was mortified; his mind stuck on the idea of Nano standing there watching. His cheeks were burning, and he had to stay there for a while to be able to compose himself.
When Dylan finally returned to the living room he was wearing a sweatshirt with a high neckline.