#nct headcanons

Johnny: It’s really muggy outside today….

Doyoung: If all of our mugs are out on the front porch when I step outside, I’m going to hurt you.

Johnny: *sips coffee from a bowl*

♡ 2.6k, fluff  =^._.^= ∫

• you first met Mark on a Nature Republic photo shoot where your friend was a hair stylist 
  
• she called you frantically because the SM staff caught multiple employees from each department posting on their personal social media stories the location and whereabouts of the members and dismissed them from the site
• they were shooting at an island in the middle of nowhere which you were conveniently writing a thesis on different landscapes of South Korea 
• you had no experience of styling other people and only did it for yourself but you knew you couldn’t leave your friend deserted so you came to help in any way that you could
• half of the staff were fired on the spot so they immediately pushed you towards the members to prepare them for their next shoot after threatening legal action if you decided to act as stupidly as the other stylists did 
• you saw your friend quickly adjusting the collar of theHawaiian shirt that was roughly put on Jaehyun and she gave you an apologetic look and mouthed a ‘thank you’
• you were assigned at styling Mark’s hair, which you were scared of because you had never styled a man’s hair before never mind a celebrity but you squared your shoulders and hoped for the best
• he was already used to the chaos but he was slightly concerned at how well you would perform considering that your eyebrows were furrowed and had sweat rolling down your temples as you scrunched the ends of his hair with mousse to create beachy waves
• every stylist that he met was always either professional and stoic or overly friendly to try and get with the members romantically but he tried to suppress his laughter when he saw your distressed face under your medical mask
• in such a stressful and hectic situation, he would never talk to the staff to help them focus but he couldn’t help but strike up a conversation with you
• you looked younger than him too so he felt more comfortable
• “first time?” he asked with a smile on his face as he looked up at you
• your hands stopped in the middle of combing the fluffy mousse through his hair and your face dropped slightly, “you could tell?”
• Mark covered his laugh with his hand as he didn’t want to discourage you but couldn’t help but chuckle at the cute expression on your face 
• “yeah,” he answered but then realized that it came out meaner than he had intended
• “but you’re doing a great job! Keep going!” He tried to encourage you by motioning with his hands to continue
• you patted his hair into place for finishing touches but you pouted under your mask when you realized, “how would you know? You can’t even see it” 
• there were no mirrors in sight except for the hand mirrors that stylists held on their belt
• he choked on his saliva out of embarrassment and rubbed his hand awkwardly on the back of his neck
• “well let’s see then!” He exclaimed and you begrudgingly gave him the hand mirror to see 
• you were bracing yourself in case he thought you made his hair into a bird’s nest and demanded you to be fired on the spot but he let a “wahh” escape his mouth as he admired the hairstyle 
• “this actually looks great!” He said a little too excitedly 
• “we were both expecting it to look bad then, huh?” You joked but really you were relieved that he thought it didn’t look atrocious 
• Mark shook his head to deny but you held his shoulders in place to not disrupt his hair 
• his face went pink and you realized that you just touched a client, a very influential client 
• you lifted your hands off of him quickly and stepped back so that he could stand up from his chair and go in front of the cameras to prepare for the shoot
• “thank you” he said and you both exchanged bows before awkwardly getting back to work 
• you stayed on the set with your friend for the rest of the day until the sun went down and the sky turned a bright pink from the previous ocean blue 
• luckily, that was the last hair and clothes change that NCT needed and everyone started to pack up after the photographer and managers shouted “thank you for your work” and everyone bowed and clapped to each other 
• while each member started to load into their vans to get back to the city for their next schedule, Mark ran up to you and asked if you were apart of the SM staff or were for hire from another beauty boutique
• “oh, I just came last minute,” you said 
• “I’m not actually licensed for this I came to help”
• he let out a disappointed “oh” and decided not to take your number down since it was unprofessional and knew that after the fiasco today that there could be anyone around to expose him if he did 
• “good night, see you around,” he said in hopes that he would see you again
• you doubted that he would see you around but you repeated what he said and waved at him as he ran into the van 
• the other members were confused as to why he ran off to greet you and were ready to tease him since they noticed that you were his type physically 
• but he knew that they were about to so he lied and said that he forgot to take a bracelet from you and pretended to fall asleep so that they couldn’t question him further
• you thought about that was a once in a lifetime experience until 2 weeks later the campaign was a hit and everyone was fawning over Mark specifically since he looked like boyfriend material in a white button up shirt and blue jeans with messy beach hair 
• your friend called to tell you that she recommended you as a freelance hair stylist after they asked her who did Mark’s hair 
• as a broke college student living in another country you took the offer but felt guilty getting an amazing job with no credentials so you got licensed at a beauty school within 2 months 
• the next time you saw Mark was on the Punch music video set 
• he had everything on except makeup and hair 
• you were taken aback at how different he looked with the leather pieces, chain jewelry, and overall bad boy vibes
• he was sitting in front of the dressing room vanities and his face lit up when he saw you stand behind him with your cart of hair products and tools 
• usually he’d stay still in his chair but this time he turned around to face you, “hey! I thought you said you weren’t even licensed?”
• “I decided to after getting offered a job” you smiled 
• he turned around and looked at you through the mirror’s reflection, “or did you come back because of me?” 
• you coughed through your mask and felt the heat creep from your neck all the way to your cheeks and temples
• Mark smiled to himself when he saw your bright red face and was even more excited for the music video shoot knowing that the stylist he thought was cute would be doing his hair on a regular basis and could see him act cool on stage
• to not let you out of his sights again, Mark pulled his phone off of the vanity table in front of him and went straight to his Instagram search page, “can I have your Insta by the way?” 
• you were combing the translucent gel through his hair when you tilted your head out of curiosity of why he would want your socials 
• “I send what kind of hairstyles and concepts I’d like to try to stylists on here,” he said 
• in actuality Mark wasn’t one of the idols that really cared of how his stylists dressed him like Johnny or Jaehyun but he wanted an excuse so that his interest in you was too obvious
• “oh sure,” you spelled out your Instagram handle and you saw him follow you right away
• for the rest of the shoot for the two days that it took place, Mark would admire you every time you came up to him between scenes to wipe the sweat off his forehead and to spray his hair with setting mist 
• although you were a fan of the group, you didn’t want to make them uncomfortable so you invested all of your focus on making them look their best
• Mark appreciated that; you weren’t completely cold and professional but you also didn’t cross any boundaries by asking him about his personal life or interviewing him like some new stylists did 
• when you got home you decided to look at Mark’s profile and saw that he was only following his family, friends from Vancouver, idols friends, and a few celebrities that he looked up to 
• you were the only staff member that he was following other than his managers
• but you didn’t think for a second Mark liked you
• even though during promotions he would text you on his time off about your day and ask you about yourself 
• “because I don’t want to be to formal” was his excuse to his unofficial game of 21 questions 
• even though after promotions when he was on his break, he’d ask you to go shopping with him “to get some inspiration from uh hair stuff” 
• at one point he was bold enough to ask you to go to a cafe because he said he felt like you two were friends at one point
• behind the scenes, Johnny caught on quickly at how Mark was on his phone more often when he’d usually just use it to play mobile games or listen to music 
• “I don’t think you left the bracelet with the pretty stylist,” Johnny would tease Mark one day when he saw him re-reading your texts and smiling to himself 
• “you left your heart,” he’d say and slap himself on the knee from laughing too hard at his own joke
• “can you get out of my room?” Mark would retort in embarrassment but it was worse for him from there
• Johnny told both floors that Mark had a big fat crush on the young stylist and was flirting with them 24/7 
• Mark wasn’t really the type to get in his feelings 
• sure he’d find different celebrities or employees that he’d work with attractive but he knew it was for business or that they’d just be really good friends in the industry 
• but you felt like home 
• like he could imagine that if he was back in Vancouver that you two would meet at a library or something and he’d ask you for a coffee after you asked him to watch your bag to go to the washroom 
• that was what he’d imagine before he went to sleep at night anyways 
• half of the time he’d stay up thinking about asking you out officially and keeping your relationship as a secret and the other half of the time he’d kick his blankets scolding himself for even thinking that because it would put both of your careers on the line and he didn’t want you to feel the burden of dating in secret
• you also had feelings for Mark but thought that he was just friendly and flirty 
• even if he did have feelings for you, you thought that it would be best to just stay as friends because you didn’t want to get in the way of his career
• one day Mark couldn’t take it anymore and went to the convenient store by himself instead of riding bikes with Haechan and Renjun like he originally planned to 
• they noticed that he didn’t get embarrassed or annoyed at the teasing anymore and just kept to himself so they followed him to the store and found him outside on a bench with a beer in his hand
• both of them sat beside him and Haechan grabbed the beer and took a swig, “just tell her” 
• Mark placed his elbows on his knees and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, “I don’t want to ruin it for us… Or for her”
• Renjun placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly, “if you both have strong feelings for each other then it’ll always work out in the end” 
• Mark shook his head although he appreciated the support, “what if the stress gets us to break up? What if I make it awkward for her at work?” 
• Haechan stopped him and told him sternly, “I see the way you two look at each other and I know that she’d accept if you asked. If the press or pressure causes you to break up then at least you tried.” 
• Renjun added on more gently, “do you just want to continue suffering forever? What if she’s waiting for you too?” 
• Mark didn’t want to think about it any longer and as a lightweight, the 2 cans of beer in his system were already giving him courage
• if he had another night to think about it, he’d probably never confess to you so he decided in his tipsy state to confess right then 
• with urgency, he told you to meet you at Hangang River right away 
• “thank you guys,” he said while standing up too quickly 
• he stumbled a little bit before starting to walk towards the meeting place, “I can do it!”
• “you can do it!” Renjun laughed while holding up too fists to show his support
• Haechan on the other hand held up his phone and started to record Mark walking clumsily towards the river, “don’t mess up loser!” 
• you were finishing up on your readings when you got Mark’s text 
• it sounded like he was going to confess but you shook the thought out of your head at the thought of a global star asking you out 
• “probably wants to de-stress with a friend,” you thought before putting on a hoodie and jeans before walking to Hangang
• when you arrived you could smell a mixture of beer and mint in his breath
• His face was flushed pink which was a result of the alcohol and the 2.2km he had just walked
• “why did you call me out all of a sudden?” You asked 
• “will you go out with me?” He said a little bit too loudly
• you quickly looked around to make sure that no one was within a kilometre near you too and asked in a hushed voice, “what?”
• “I like you!” He nearly shouted, not aware of his volume due to the nervousness of the chance of rejection
• “I tried not to like you ever since I met you but I can’t get you out of my head,” he avoided your gaze and couldn’t believe how cheesy he sounded
• Mark continued regardless, “I know that we have to date in secret if you do like me but I promise to protect you and I won’t regret my decision if anything happens. So uh-”
• “yes,” you grinned. “I’ll go out with you”
• he was surprised at how you accepted with ease, “oh wow I wasn’t expecting this. Thank you for listening to me talk on haha, I don’t even know what to say I-”
• to stop his blabbering you held onto his arms to steady yourself for when you went on your tippy toes to peck him on the lips
• “that’s not fair” he pouted
• “what’s not fair?”
• “that’s it?” He murmured under his breath 
• “then get some more” you teased
• his hands cupped the sides of your face and bent his neck down to reach your height
• your hand wrapped around his waist to pull him into a hug while his warm lips pressed onto yours