Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The alarm rang and Dylan turned it off with a well-directed slap of his hand. He kept his eyes closed, attempting to fall back asleep to continue the amazing dream he had. It had all felt so real. It was almost like he could still taste the sweet strawberries on his tongue and feel the imprints of hands on his skin.

The longer he thought about the dream he had, the more alive his mind seemed to become. Thinking about it didn’t affect only his mind but his body too, forcing him to finally push the thoughts away from his head.

Grudgingly Dylan got up and headed to the shower, hoping that the cool water would clear his mind. Usually, his dreams would leave him alone but this time the memory of it only seemed to grow stronger. All the details were returning to him and Dylan wondered if his tired brain was creating them just to please him further.

He wore a pair of shorts and a loose-fitting T-shirt, the neckline hanging low enough to reveal his left shoulder. Dylan didn’t bother drying his hair and let the droplets of water fall off from the longer strands, making his neck and shoulders wet.

He made his way to the kitchen and headed directly towards the coffee machine desperately needing something to truly wake him up from the dream haze he was still stuck in.

He stood there listening to the sounds the machine was making, completely unaware of the world around him.

Suddenly there was a pair of strong arms around Dylan's waist and a chin resting gently in the curve of his shoulder.

“Good morning Dyl,” the voice spoke softly, the words tickling Dylan’s ear. Dylan’s body tensed and a burning heat spread quickly all over his face.

“You smell really good,” Jun whispered again and now buried his face in Dylan’s bare shoulder. Jun took a long breath in, inhaling the smell of soap mixing with Dylan’s natural scent. It smelt delicious. Almost like Dylan was a desert that Jun could not wait to consume.

Jun’s lips touched the sensitive skin on the side of Dylan’s neck which made Dylan’s body automatically lean closer to the touch. His entire body pressed against Jun’s like they were two pieces of a puzzle that matched perfectly together.

Dylan must have fallen back asleep after his alarm rang and this was just the continuation of the dream he’d had before. So, he just let himself enjoy it, the fuzziness in his mind allowing him to lose contact with reality.

And then suddenly his mind was snapped back to the current moment, his mind finally waking up. Jun’s teeth sank into Dylan’s shoulder which made Dylan gasp involuntarily. He could feel Jun’s sharp canines dig in and Jun’s tongue lick the skin left in between.

This was not a dream and neither were the things that happened yesterday. It was like Dylan finally woke up from the trance he had fallen in and got back the control of his body and voice.

“Good morning to you too,” his voice shook a little as he spoke, but it was nothing compared to the way his hands were shaking as he reached out to grab his cup of coffee. He blew a few breaths into the cup and then took a careful small sip.

Dylan turned his head slightly and lifted the cup higher offering a drink for Jun too. Jun wasn’t a fan of black coffee, but everything tasted good when offered by Dylan.

“You should let go before the others see us,” Dylan said but made no effort to move. Jun only smiled and left another small kiss on Dylan’s neck, his lips feeling warmer with the residue of coffee on them.

“Would it be so scandalous of me to give my boyfriend a good morning hug,” Jun asked, and Dylan didn’t have to even look at him to know that Jun was once again wearing his signature smirk.

“Boyfriend huh? I don’t remember agreeing,” Dylan answered refusing to back down in front of Jun. He didn’t want to show how truly of kilter Jun had thrown him with his choice of words.

“I took the liberty of making the decision.” Jun spun Dylan around in his arms with a swift movement which Dylan seemed completely unable to resist (not that he was really trying either). Jun smiled at Dylan the same way he had done yesterday and Dylan found himself hoping that no one else would ever be allowed to see this side of Jun.

“I figured that you would not mind,” Jun leaned lower, forcing Dylan to make eye contact with him. Dylan wanted to show his spunk and fight back but he could not help but smile.

“Boyfriend sounds good,” Dylan finally said and leaned in to give Jun a small kiss. Dylan could visibly see how the pupils in Jun’s eyes grew larger and his gaze locked directly to Dylan’s mouth. He enjoyed the way he had control over Jun.

“If you hurt me, I will kill you. You know that, right?” Dylan said with a soft sweet voice, still smiling. Jun only laughed.

“You know that I would not dare,” Jun answered sincerely.

“I’ll make sure that you never want to leave,” Jun then added but some of the sincerity had been replaced by a small cunning smile which Dylan barely had time to see before the mouth connected again with his own.

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.

Chapter Text

Po was standing in the middle of a large warehouse, looking at the world around him through the lens of his camera. The members of Mars were all spread around the area, all doing their own things while waiting for Po to finish setting up.

Thame was walking in small circles, his head bent down, fully immersed in reading through his script. Po filmed a short clip of him, zooming in the concentrated look on his face. He found it adorable how Thame seemed to unconsciously mouth the words out loud while reading.

Nano had propped his phone up against the wall and was filming clips of their new choreography. Po filmed him too, sometimes struggling to follow Nano’s energetic movements.

Pepper stood right by Po, meticulously reviewing the details to ensure they hadn’t forgotten anything. Po chatted with Pepper and even filmed a short interview with him for their behind-the-scenes footage. Pepper was really a natural in front of the camera, his MC background making him a smooth talker.

Then Po started pointing his camera around the room again, hoping to catch a shot of Dylan or Jun. But it seemed like both had just disappeared. Po could not help but wonder if maybe Jun had gone somewhere to take a nap. But where was Dylan?

Po finally found him standing in the far-end corner of the warehouse. He was leaning against the wall, watching something from his phone.

Suddenly another person walked into the frame, smiling, and holding two drinks. Po zoomed in on Jun’s face capturing the unusually gentle smile.

Surprisingly, Dylan smiled too, taking a sip out of the drink that Jun was still holding for him. They stood close to each other, their heads leaning together as they both watched Dylan’s phone.

“They are quite sweet, aren’t they?” Po quickly snapped back to reality leaving behind the odd romance film-like scene. He could not wrap his head around the picture of Jun and Dylan being together without arguing.

“Yeah,” he answered turning to look at Pepper who was smiling widely looking at Jun and Dylan.

“How long has that been going on?” Po asked, unable to mask the curiosity in his voice.

“A couple of weeks,” Pepper answered laughing. now turning to look at Po.

“It seemed to happen overnight,” he admitted when the confused look still lingered on Po’s face.

“At first, I was a bit worried, but they seem to fit together pretty well.” Pepper sounded thoughtful, thinking about the changes he had seen in his friends during recent weeks.

“Yeah, I mean at least I have never seen either of them smile like that,” Po agreed, playing back the video, he had just captured.

Pepper leaned in to see it too and could not help but laugh a little.

“If I knew that this was all it took to make them more tolerable, I would have made them get together a long time ago,” Pepper remarked, and Po could not help but laugh too.

As if woken up by the sound of Po’s laugh Thame snapped his head up asking: “What are you laughing about?”

“Nothing much, let’s start filming,” Po answered still laughing and giving a meaningful look in Pepper’s direction.

Pepper’s voice boomed around the warehouse, calling for his members. Nano ja Thame arrived quickly but Jun and Dylan seemed to take their time. The sound of their bickering echoed in the walls as they finally made their way to the center of the room.

“Jun stop, “Dylan was whispering in frustration attempting to swat away Jun’s hand from his waist for the sixth time. Jun didn’t pay much mind, only tightening his grip to make sure Dylan could not slip away.

Once they were all together again Po started explaining the first scenes they were filming and the positions he had planned. Jun’s fingers slipped under the hem of Dylan’s shirt, making Dylan unable to concentrate. Po’s words escaped him before his mind truly had the time to process any of them.

“You two should concentrate before I make you stand on different sides of the room.” Pepper’s whisper suddenly came from next to Jun, spooking Dylan who had not noticed him arrive.

“Oh Pepper, don’t be so harsh. You know what the honeymoon stage is like,” Jun said deserving a loud smack on his upper arm from Dylan.

Po continued speaking, only turning his eyes to be able to observe the situation. Nano wasn’t listening anymore either as all of his willpower was going towards attempting not to laugh.

“You shouldn’t say that,” Dylan whispered exasperated, only for Jun to hear.

“Oh come on, they all know already,” Jun answered, speaking louder than necessary.

Dylan opened his mouth to protest but Pepper was nodding his head and smiling.

“Since when?” Dylan only asked, turning his face towards Jun’s shoulder to hide his reddening face.

“The beginning. You have not been discreet to be exact. You’ll probably feel better if I don’t tell you what I have seen,” Pepper said clearly making fun of them now.

Jun only grinned, looking especially smug like this was something to be proud of. Dylan wasn’t mad but he still bit Jun’s shoulder in retaliation. Jun yelped in pain and now it was Dylan’s turn to laugh.

Dylan laughed even harder when Pepper managed at last to push himself in between Dylan and Jun, giving them both a tired look. On the other side, Jun was pouting his lips and Dylan only showed him his tongue before finally turning back to listen to Po's explanation.

Chapter Text

The members of Mars were all gathered again, huddling around Po’s computer, watching the finalized version of their newest music video. Po, who had stepped aside to give them more space, waited nearby, trying to read the expressions on their faces.

Thame’s face was filled with concentration. Only his eyes moved as his gaze darted around the screen, trying to catch all the details on the first watch. Pepper wasn’t much different from Thame, but at least he was smiling, which offered Po a slight sense of reassurance.

Jun was smiling too, but his eyes were not on the computer screen. Po followed Jun’s gaze down to Jun’s and Dylan’s interlocked hands. Dylan was squeezing Jun’s hand, his grip looking uncomfortably tight. With his free hand, Dylan fiddled with the bracelet around Jun’s wrist, spinning the chain between his fingers.

Dylan’s face also displayed deep concentration. His head nodded slightly to the rhythm of the music, a small smile gradually appearing at the corners of his lips. Pleasing Dylan was especially important for Po because he knew the significance this song held for him.

Nano crouched near the screen, his face showing subtitles of its own. If nothing else, Po could be sure that Nano was enjoying what he saw. In moments like this, Po always felt grateful to Nano for being so excited about the things he created.

The video ended, and before the music had time to stop, a cacophony of praise erupted. It was mainly Nano speaking excitedly while Pepper and Thame desperately tried to interject their own feedback between his comments. Po could hear all sorts of superlatives describing him as nothing less than the next award-winning director.

“My boyfriend is so talented,” Jun whispered, leaning closer to Dylan. The words were barely audible over the rest of the noise, but somehow Thame caught them, stopping mid-sentence.

“Your boyfriend?” Thame suddenly asked, making the rest of the room fall silent, shocked by the loudness of his voice.

“Yeah, my boyfriend.” Jun turned to give Dylan a kiss, which Dylan, to Thame’s surprise, didn’t even try to dodge. Dylan just smiled, a soft blush spreading on his face.

“You and Dylan? Since when?” Thame’s tone changed completely, his pitch suddenly half an octave higher.

“Almost a month now.” This time, it was Dylan who answered, mirroring the confusion evident on Thame’s face.

“Huh? A month?” Thame turned his head around to see all five pairs of eyes fixed on him.

“Why is no one else shocked?” he then asked, his confusion increasing.

“We’re more shocked that you didn’t know about this,” Nano replied, looking at Thame as if he must have been blind or just simply just stupid.

“You’ve been so busy recently that you haven’t seen them much.” Pepper attempted to give Thame a way out.

“Po knows too,” Jun said, refusing to let Pepper help Thame escape. He was pouring more fuel onto the fire, wanting to see Thame struggle a little longer.

Thame turned to look at Po, who was only smiling awkwardly, knowing there was nothing he could do to save Thame from his friends.

“They were all over each other during the music video filming,” Po admitted, aware that he was only making it worse. But even he couldn’t quite understand how Thame had missed it.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Thame asked, pouting his lips. He felt slightly betrayed that his friends and boyfriend had kept it a secret from him.

“I thought you knew,” Po replied, sounding apologetic. He moved closer to Thame and gently held his hand, knowing that physical contact always made Thame forgive faster.

“I didn’t even know they liked each other,” Thame admitted, turning back to look at Jun and Dylan with an accusatory gaze. This statement only made Dylan’s brows furrow deeper.

“You were literally there when I wrote songs about Jun,” Dylan said, unable to believe what Thame was saying. He had always thought Thame was the only person who knew how he felt about Jun.

“They were about Jun?” Thame asked, slowly starting to understand that he had missed a lot. He was racking his brain to find any evidence of Dylan’s feelings for Jun in the songs they had made.

“Don’t be so hard on him. He didn’t even realize he himself had a crush on Po,” Jun said, laughing as he gently wrapped his arms around Dylan’s waist to pull him into a hug. In this sense, Dylan was like Thame, relaxing in the embrace of his loved one.

Thame’s ears burned, and he started to feel embarrassed as the pieces began to click into place in his mind.

How his own jealousy had mirrored on Dylan’s face when Po and Jun had spent time together.

The now obvious stories told in Dylan’s songs and the clearly personal sources of emotions that Thame had never questioned before.

 The gentle touches and soft smiles he had observed but not paid much attention to.

Thame opened his mouth to say something, but he had run out of arguments, so instead, he just lowered his head and let the heat spread from his ears to the rest of his face.

“It’s time for all of you to pay up! This means I won.” Jun gloated, leaning his chin in the crook of Dylan’s neck. He was smiling, his happiness not faltering even when Dylan kicked him in the shin.

“What did you win?” Thame asked, feeling like he was left in the dark again.

“We had a bet about whether or not you knew,” Nano answered looking unusually sour. He dug a bill from his pocket and put it in Jun’s open hand.

Jun received two more bills; one from Pepper and one from Po. Both smiled at Thame seemingly finding losing more amusing than upsetting.

Dylan also found a bill in his pocket, but before he could pull it out, Jun grabbed his wrist.

“What kind of boyfriend would I be if I took money from you? You can pay another way,” Jun grinned, offering his cheek to Dylan.

“You know,” Thame said, not wanting to see where the situation was heading.

“I think I preferred not knowing,” he finished, turning around and dragging Po along as he walked away.  The sounds of laughter followed them as they made their way down the hallway.