Work Text:
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You have received a SOS from one and only, Zhong Chenle.
If you guys ever received this message one day, don’t be surprised! There is no other reason than Chenle —who usually has so many ideas and solutions for every problem there is in this world stored neatly inside his head (his wang-meori that he is so proud of; because big head = big brain = smarter brain!)— has already became so desperate to get help from other people. But of course it won’t happen until he goes all out first, tries anything that he can to solve the problem he is facing right now.
What kind of problem if you ask? Because if you see it, he’s now in the middle of comeback promotion of Glitch Mode, with other six members that he loves and cherishes so much, back to perform on the stage and even had the chance to perform in front of the fans once again after a while. Supposedly, there shouldn’t be any problem, if only... his “parents” don’t act like child and quickly make up with each other.
Aaaaand before you think that the “parents” Chenle meant here is the Mr and Mrs Zhong back in Shanghai, Chenle will clarify quickly that they’re not who they meant. Both Mr and Mrs Zhong are healthy and get along well (Chenle even just done from a video call with them now). What Chenle meant is... his other parents... or the two who claimed themselves as his anyway... Not that Chenle rejects it (nor he’d outrightly accept in front of them).... The two whom Chenle sometimes refers in his head as his “work parents”.
Yes, you heard that right. Work and also with quoted form. “Work parents”, or.. if to be explained further, Mark and Haechan. Chenle doesn’t know himself when it started, but he thinks he has seen one of the fan post commenting the photo of the three of them together, saying something about Chenle looking like a son who took photo in the middle of his parents. Moreover, he hangs a lot with one of them or both of them, with the amount of visits they have to Chenle’s house—sometimes for Daegal, sometimes to just lounge around and DATE on Chenle’s couch (without a shame smh), sometimes for Chenle (only 0,99% of times Chenle can assure), the idea kinda sticks from then on. Not to mention Mark’s nagging can sometimes rival his (real) mom and teasing Haechan feels like teasing his (real) father...
Okay, back to the main topic.
The thing is, Mark and Haechan are obviously having problems that Chenle doesn’t know WHAT. But judging from the way Mark keeps throwing desperate glances to Haechan’s directions and try to gauge his reactions with praises, but Haechan is not responding AT ALL, Chenle can guess that probably the problem this time comes from Mark’s side. Or maybe Haechan’s side, or both has their own portion of wrong doings but only too stubborn to hold out an olive branch first (so typical of them).
Chenle is also sure the other members has noticed, but they don’t really want to directly interfere. If we look back, Mark and Haechan often engages in cold war like this, which later will solve on it’s own and he next thing they know, they’re back at being lovey-dovey without a care to the other people inside the room. And whatever it is, doesn’t impact their activities at all (because Jeno would not be kept silent if it really does). They keep their nice act in front of the camera, interacting not too much nor too little to be suspicious, before back at ignoring each other backstage.
Chenle wants to also play dumb just like the others, but he can feel that this is unlike the usual. He doesn’t know how to properly explain it; be it the shifted air between them… he just KNOWS. And also the fact that… they are his “work parents”… Chenle just wants them to make up quickly, he hates to say it but he rather suffers from their unforgivable public display of affections rather than this…. He hates it when his (real) parents fight.. and this also applies to his “work parents”…
His “work parents”… ☹️
Breathe and blink if you want to send Chenle a virtual hug and online support.
— (Chenle says thank you) —
So, from now on, Chenle has made it his problem to solve the cold war going on betweenn Mark and Haechan. He has racked his brain for a solution, and he decided to.. go to the one person closest to both Mark and Haechan other than him; none other but Hwang Renjun. Chenle’s eyes go around the room to scan the other’s presence, and finally found his main target for the day lounging around alone at the corner of the room, focusing on something on the phone. Chenle reaches for a bottle of haneul-bori provided in the changing room (as a bribe) and gets up from his seat. Renjun, who seems to have his own sense when someone walks up to him with hidden intentions, eyes Chenle with worried glaze as he walks closer.
“Gege,” calls Chenle, trying to sound as natural as he can as he gives the bottle of haneul-bori. But hearing their mother tongue language be used, Renjun’s eyebrows shoot up higher with suspicion.
“If you’re here because the manager-hyung asked you to ask me to have a live broadcast with you, only to be your baby-sitter so you won’t spoil too much about the upcoming repackage, then my answer is no. I want to go back to the dorm immediately after this to continue my netflix-binge,” Renjun says first without waiting for Chenle, which makes Chenle sulks because he thinks his tendency to spoil something is not that bad now, compared to before! He learnt his lesson after the incident where he accidentally spoiled their new song, “Never Goodbye”, through bubble. Even though it wasn’t fully his fault because he already edited the photo, but as expected, the combination of technology and desperate curious fans is not something he should’ve underestimated. Because of that, Chenle feels a bit sulky because he was being out-smarted by the fans.
“No, Ge. I don’t want to talk about that,” denies Chenle, and he can sees how relief floods Renjun’s face fast. His shoulders relax, before he focuses on his phone again, “Good, then. So, why?”
“Perhaps.. Do you know anything about Mark & Haechan?” Chenle finally drops the bomb question, lowering his volume as he says the name of the two main characters of his mission this time. And as soon as the names came out of his mouth, Renjun’s form stiffens before relaxing again—like trying to not look so obvious. Gotcha, Chenle cheers inside. Renjun definitely knows something.
“Hmmm? Mark and Haechan? There is something happened between them two? I didn’t realize,”
“Ge! Don’t lie. I know you know something! There’s no way Haechan-ge didn’t tell you... and that’s also why Mark-ge asked you to accompany him for a late night walk a few days ago? He only does that when he has something to discuss and it’s usually related to his love life!”
“Eum... I was the one who asked him to that time! Yeah... It was to talk about my problem!” Renjun quickly replies, before taking a glance at his watch. “Ah, it’s already half past six. I’m going to go first, I need to stop by the supermarket to fill the dorm’s fridge before going back. I already told the manager-hyung. Bye!”
“Ge, you just went to get groceries like.. two days ago. I accompanied you,” Chenle states as a matter-of-factly.
“There is.. There is something I haven’t buy! And I really need to buy it,” says Renjun again, quickly standing up and grabbing his bag on one of the chairs. Without saying anything more, he runs out of the room without any glances back. Leaving Chenle too stunned to speak as he process everything.
“But you said you already bought everything two days ago!!!!!!!!!” Chenle shouts to no one. His frustration only adds because he didn’t know that it’ll be harder than he has expected. Chenle sighs.
Plan to dig some information from Renjun : FAILED.
Few days passed and Chenle finds himself visiting the dreamies dorm. There’s no special reason, it’s one of their off days and he’s walking Daegal around without any direction up until he ended up in the neighborhood where the dreamies live. Unsurprisingly, Jaemin (being the homebody that he is), is the one who opens the door for him, and when he finally gets in, he finds Jeno in the living room with a movie being played on the television. “The others are out with Haechan,” Jeno replies when Chenle asks about the silent athmosphere of the dorm (because silence and dreamies combined just NEVER get along).
Chenle just about to bid goodbye when he suddenly remembers his important mission. He can try to dig up information from Jeno or Jaemin. Even though the two of them has never been Mark or Haechan’s first go-to person when they have problems, but the two of them are really observant about the couple since the four of them has known each other way before Chenle and Renjun came into the picture. They definitely will know what to do in this kind of situation.
So, Chenle did ask. And all the first reaction he got are Jaemin stopping in between drinking his water and Jeno playing with the toppings on top of his convenience store pizza. They look at each other for a while before they finally face Chenle.
“Don’t think too much about them,” Jeno starts first, “They’ll make up when they want to. Seeing from experience, if we try to interfere, it’ll only prolong the fight because their ego get even bigger,”
Jaemin nods as if he’s agreeing before adding, “They’re always like that. They only need time to get their anger died down, because if they face each other while still angry, they both can explode at the same time and hurt each other. Even though, like you, I also think this time it has been going for a bit too long than usual…”
Nah! What did Chenle say once again! Finally there is someone who is on the same page as him and probably he can recruit as accomplice—
“…but they’ll solve it on their own, sooner or later. I’m sure they will, they always do. They’re mature enough already,”
Chenle takes back what he said just now. Mission abort, mission abort. How could he is the only who seems invested in this problem between both of his “work parents”? How is he the only one who sees the seriousness of all this? Is it him —as their “son”—feeling responsible to bring his “work parents” together again?
Not going to lie, Chenle misses hanging out with the both of them again. Now, it’s only one of them and everytime Chenle suggested something about going to eat together, they always bailed out with thousands of excuse whenever Chenle mentioned the other’s name. Chenle misses sitting at the back seat of a rental car, watching the two of them bickering about which way is faster to get to their destination. Chenle misses being in the middle of them and having his attention contested. Chenle missed showing them new things, because their reactions are always fun to see. Chenle missed snuggling to Haechan’s side and seeing the fondness in Mark’s eyes at the sight of the two of them—because Mark never gets jealous when it comes to Chenle, it’s as if he knows that Chenle is “their” son despite Chenle claiming the other way. Chenle misses teasing Mark with Haechan, only to see the older’s face flustered red until Haechan will offer kisses for consolation and Chenle will pretend to gag.
He misses his (work) parents and why no one is on his side to help him?! Chenle is so frustrated he (is close) to crying now.
Not that he’s going to cry for real, but WHO KNOWS. It’s his “work parents” they’re talking about here!!! They’re… important!!
“Learn to let go and they shall appear, be it in their original form or another better form,” is an advice told by Chenle’s (real) mom years ago when he grew frustrated while searching for his lost things. He almost forgot about that up until a help comes in the form of Park Jisung who’s curently sitting next to him, suddenly saying something under his breath, “It’s really weird seeing Mark hyung and Haechan hyung fight like this.. Is there any way to bring them back together...” Aaand, that’s all it takes for Chenle’s attention to shift from his phone to Jisung.
It makes Chenle feels a bit guilty. Because truthfully before, he never considers the option of asking Jisung and asking him on his important mission. Because Chenle thinks, what did Jisung even knows about love, Jisung is younger than him and Chenle knows Jisung never has any experience on having girl or boyfriends before. But, he should’ve known not to underestimate his friend. There’s a reason why they have “Chenji’s This and That” together, (other than creating chaos on their way) they always have the best chemistry when it comes to something. So, really, what’s the best partner for this other than Jisung?
A deal is made, and now it’s “Chenji’s This and That : Chenle’s “Work Parents” Trap” (Call Chenle uncreative, but at least it’s a reference to Parent’s Trap and both finds it fitting).
They start their mission with the most basic thing that everyone does when they’re in need of solution : searching it up on Google. One day, they tried to make promises to go somewhere together without Mark and Haechan knew, where they planned to leave Mark and Haechan alone so they can finally sit down and talk with each other. Too bad, the plan has to be spoiled because Haechan accidentally heard one of the 127 hyungs saying something about Mark also planning to go out and also to the same place where Haechan was planning to meet Chenle.
One day, they tried to lock Mark and Haechan inside a storage room in dreamies dorm while they were doing one of their meetings. Chenle even bought five pairs of earbuds just in case this plan will end up with Mark and Haechan’s seven minutes in LITERAL heaven. But instead of successful, the other dreamies has to put in their money together to fix the storage door because Mark kicked it open forcefully (sigh).
One day, they finally succeeded on making Mark and Haechan sat in front of each other without throwing plates on each other. They finally talked, and thankfully that conversation was indeed going civil— no broken doors, no cancelled plans, there’s no victims in this situation, and.. as Chenle observed after, Mark and Haechan seemed to look closer than before. But, still not 100% back to how it was before and Chenle is not satisfied. He’s always been an “all or nothing” kind of guy, so he never settles for less.
Chenle is relaxing on his favorite couch at home with Daegal sleeping soundly next to him while his eyes suddenly catch an article about how to keep the love burning in a long-term relationship (don’t ask him why that kind of article suddenly appears on his phone!), and he was intrigued by one of the ways being recommended by the writer of the article; “remember the way you two started and the path you two have walked together until now”.
A new idea pops inside his head.
Fast forward a few days later, Chenle is walking side by side with Mark through the streets of Apgujeong Rodeo to search for dinner. And it seems like everyone decides to eat out at Sinsadong today, seeing how every restaurants are filled to the brim so they are facing some difficulties searching for place to eat. Or when seats are available, neither Mark or Chenle are in the mood of eating that for the night (which is good for Chenle’s plan, because he already prepared something)
When they finally turn into a calmer alley, Chenle walks closer to Mark. “Hyung, I have a question,” Chenle starts, which Mark replies with a low hum— an approval to go forward.
“How did you and Haechan hyung meet each other for the first time?” Chenle asks cautiously, as he watches for Mark’s reaction.
“What’s with the sudden question?”
Chenle only shrugs, “It’s just.. you guys have always been a legend, you know, at least for those in the same company as us. I’m just curious because I wasn’t there from the start like the others,”
Chenle sees one side of Mark’s lips are turned upwards (yes!! his plan is going well!! Chenle cheers inside). Mark lets out a small giggle, “Well.. just like what everyone said. We met each other on 2013 for the first time. And since then, i don’t know but it feels like there’s some kind of magnet that always brings us together. Getting paired for evaluation together, going to the same school, being introduced as trainees under the same project group...”
“Is it true, though, when people said you almost got out of SM because of him?’
This time, Mark laughs loud. His gaze turns unfocused as if he’s now watching clips from a movie that is playing his memories with Haechan inside his head. Damn, Chenle envies that look. That ‘thinking-about-the-love-of-your-life’ look. Not everyone is lucky enough to find theirs so early in their life. “Looking back, I was really stupid back then. But, for real. I have experience living in New York, in Vancouver, then I moved to Korea. It’s my first time seeing someone like him,”
“Then, what makes you change your mind, though?”
Mark turns silent, even stopping in his tracks as if his body is surprised when being faced with a question like that. After a while, he finally starts, “I don’t.. I don’t know where to start honestly. When I think about him, I think about time at the same time. It may be obvious since we’ve been seeing each other since when we were so young. Since the very first time, he is the only one I was with the whole time. He is the friend who has been through all these things so when I’m with him I can be the plain, next-door-kind of boy Lee Minhyung who doesn’t have any limitations. I can talk to him about everything, even things very close to my heart. It’s not as common as you think for someone to have a friend who stays by your side each and every year, but that just happens so naturally for us. I took it for granted once and I regret it a lot,”
“I thought he’ll always be beside me, but then he got hurt and I needed to go through a portion of tour without him. And it was hard, harder than I thought it would be. And then you know, that time when he said he cannot be by my side forever.. Damn that woke me UP, like a bucket of cold water poured right on top my head,”
Chenle somberly smiles, “And then he asked you, how would you live without him. Yeah, I remember,”
“Exactly! It’s unfair you know, to ask me right after he said things as gruesome as that,” Mark grunts, “I don’t know exactly when, but along the way, there are lots of things that made me realize that. yes, I want to be right beside him. For as long as I can,”
They are deep inside the conversation until without realizing, they arrive in front of a restaurant in one of Apgujeong’s corner. Chenle breaks the silence first between them, “Hyung, do you want to eat here? We already looked around almost to all area, though.. I’m hungry,”
Mark, who is clearly still deep inside his thoughts because of Chenle’s question, says yes without any resistance. And even not realizing when Chenle said his name to the waiter who tends to them, even not realizing when the waiter confirms about “reservations for four people” and lead them to one of the private room at the end of the corridor.
When the door finally opens, a surprised gasp is the one that brings Mark aware of his surroundings. As he raises his head, his eyes meet with Haechan’s ones, which are widened because he’s just as surprised as Mark is. Jisung, who sits right in front of Haechan, can only throws him an awkward smiles, before raising from his chair and goes to stand next to Chenle. When the waiter finally excuses himself to let them choose the menu, that’s when Chenle gives Mark a slow push on his lower back to take the seat right in front of Haechan.
“Hyung, like you two probably guessed, this is my and Jisung’s doing, again,” Chenle says, and before Mark or Haechan can have time to say anything, he immediately continues. “Because I know there’s a problem between the two of you. And I really hope that you two can solve it quickly because—”
Chenle takes a deep breath, calm down calm down Zhong Chenle! “..because you two are so precious to me. When I see the two of you, it feels like seeing those relationships our parents have. And seeing you two fight, it hurts me all the same. So, please.. Talk it out, okay? Like adults do,”
“Me and Chenle are going to leave you two alone,” Jisung takes over when Chenle looks too overwhelmed with emotions to be able to continue. “We’ll give you guys privacy. And if there’s anything I want to add… you two are also precious hyungs to me. I still remember when you two comforted me a lot during trainee days, and up until now too. So, yeah, there is that,” Jisung finally bids them goodbye when Chenle doesn’t say anything, pulling Chenle into a side hug as he leads them both out of restaurant, and without being asked, reserved a taxi to take them both to Chenle’s house.
Four hours later, after a big portion of delivered tteokbokki shared between him and Jisung, followed with a nap because he’s just so (emotionally) tired after whatever happened today, Chenle is woken up by Jisung who is shaking his body ecstatically while pointing something on his phone screen. When finally both of Chenle’s eyes are adjusting to the low lights and able to see clearly what Jisung is showing, his smile blooms.
There, posted in Mark’s official instagram story (but shared in close friends 😛) is a video of two people holding hands—definitely him and Haechan—as they take a stroll hand-in-hand. And as the story ends and it moves to another post (now public! We love it!), it’s a shot of someone from behind (Donghyuck, no doubt!). There are no captions, but Chenle just can feel the world has finally shifted back to it’s axis, once again.
Chenle pulls Jisung into a hug in reflex gleefully, a celebration of an operation succesfully well done by the two of them. Chenle is back to having both set of his parents (real and “workparents”) back.
Chenji’s This and That : Chenle’s “Work Parents” Trap edition : SUCCESS!
(It’s a shame they cannot really shoot it to share with the fans though. Because if they could, Chenle totally would! But at least, through this story, now you know there’s an unreleased episode of Chenji’s This and That somewhere.
And please, keep it a secret between us! — Chenle).