lee minhyung “mark”, air bender - airbending instructor and performer
although not initially, people often get surprised at this loud and confident boy being a descendent of an air nomad. he is always shy at first, sure - a little awkward and flustered and goofy , but he was loud and confident and not scared to say whatever. so his personality - although reflects his mother from the fire nation, he possesses the powers from his father; an air nomad. it’s not like he didn’t share traits and values with the air nomads; he was quick wirh fast reflexes, reflective, flexible, agile, and wise. he was kind hearted and open minded; accepting and tolerable. but; he’s very opinionated, he’ll say what he wants when needed. in that sense, he’s also stubborn and can be hot headed. he doesn’t agree with violence - but he doesn’t see violence as completely bad. like modern air acolytes but unlike more modern air nomads, mark is one of the few airbenders who makes an active effort to meditate everyday. his usual loud and goofy self becomes quiet for an hour everyday to try and become more attached to the spirit world. like many others, he has the desire to push himself - to try and excel at everything he does. he believes that connecting to the spirit world will only benefit him - will only allow him to become a stronger and better individual. meditating, for the most part, hasn’t shown him any reason to stop - him being particularly talented and successful with bending (so talented he managed to become an instructor at quite a young age) and with performing. despite his friendly persona, he does give off a vibe to not talk to him - partly due to be flustered and shy. partly, because of his mother’s heritage. his grandmother was a fire nation circus dancer and often times, had to put on a face to remind people not to mess with her. this just carried on throughout the family, his mother would joke - saying this facial expression is uncontrollable. however, this facial expression was particularly helpful when he goes to watch a bending match - no one dares steal his spot in the crowd or push him in an attempt to get a better view. but even if they do (by accident), mark always ends up apologising first.
“Okay, so as you all should know, SuperM has a song called ‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’” Mark spoke to the crowd, entrancing them. “This song is called ‘Love Song’, an old song of ours, and is about a particular person in my life.” The crowd screamed like crazy, but all Katie could do was smile and blush as she stared from behind the scenes. “It’s about being stuck under a small umbrella with someone you love and I actually wrote this with this special someone in mind.” The crowd continued their animalistic screaming while Katie bit her lip, now noticing how Mark was staring straight at her with a wide grin on his face.
They spoke about this with management – it was what Mark wanted, and Katie and him spent all week preparing for the potential consequences. The management practically was forced to obliged because they realized Mark’s relationship status has become of media attention and that this relationship was no way going to end. And to be fair; management likes her; she’s private and she’s sensible. His family loved her since the minute they met at a family reunion Mark brought her too – it literally took an hour before his mom asked him to propose. Honestly, the only thing preventing them from getting married is they both feel as if there is no need when they’re both quite young and they’re busy. There is no question if they love each other enough; it was only a question of time. Despite that, the nerves that came initially from the idea of releasing their relationship to the public has dissipated – because all that mattered was Mark and her. There was no way in hell they would let work come in between their relationship again.
“Oh my Gosh!” Johnny called, proudly smiling just like he did when Katie graduated on dean’s list. “Just get on with it!” He groaned teasingly.
Mark scoffed, before chuckling. “Can you guys promise to be nice about these news?” He asked cutely, his eyes going into aegyo mode. Katie’s heart melted as the audience shouted, presumably agreeing – while she definitely heard a few no’s, she didn’t care. “I’ve been dating this girl for exactly four years today.” The audience practically all gasped, and Katie couldn’t help but chuckle. Despite how quiet her voice may be compared to the stadium, Mark turned around – adjusting his ear piece and grinning like a child at Katie. “You all know her as an honorary NCT member, and she was initially, but now she’s also my girlfriend.”
Johnny did a fake gasp as if he didn’t know, while Haechan and Winwin jokingly whined in disgust. “BUT SHE’S ALSO MY BEST FRIEND!” Johnny exclaimed, making Katie snort.
“EXCUSE ME?” Haechan popped out of nowhere, ready to fight for his title as her best friend. While Johnny and Haechan playfully fight, Mark bit his lip nervously and observed the crowd.
“Please, please do not send her any hate.” He sighed, “She means the world to me and when she’s sad, I’m sad. She makes me so happy.” Katie’s heart melted at how sincere and genuine he sounded; she knows this isn’t his stage persona right now – from his more closed off stance and his posture. “I’m telling you guys because I love you guys, but it hurt to keep someone so important to me in the shadows.” Mark gave a mischievous look to where Katie was, making her confused – until she noticed Haechan and Johnny were no longer play-fighting, but had gathered the forces of Yuta and Jaehyun, who were now stealthily approaching her.
Her eyes quickly widened as she started backing-up, shaking her head as she tried to protest. This was not part of the deal. “Baby, please.” Mark pleaded into the microphone, making the audience go wild. “Please.” He started doing aegyo towards where Katie is; and the right side of the audience went crazy at the sight. Katie knew how much he hated aegyo so he must really want this.
So Katie stopped backing up, and Johnny effortlessly threw her over his shoulder like he did to Mark (he once threw them over each shoulder each – he was only able to hold it for a few seconds). Her head and upper body was hanging on Johnny’s back, and she looked up to see the rest of the boys laughing and grinning. She had the same reaction; just laughing and giggling. She was uncomfortable, sure, but she’s with people who mean the world to her.
When her feet touches the ground again, an arm was quick to slither around her waist and a kiss on her cheek. She smiled wildly at the gesture; wanting to kiss him on the lips but decided that was too affectionate for an audience full of people. “Angel, introduce yourself.” He smiled wildly. It wasn’t like nobody outside of their family and their friends knew of their relationship; some of Katie’s students call Mark ‘papa’ and Katie ‘mama’, but this announcement will be the first announcement to the general public. The second will be an organized instragram post from management.
“You owe me.” Katie teasingly whispered, making Mark press his forehead against hers, his arm still wrapped tightly around her waist. The world around her felt like it went silent – she didn’t care about the audience’s roars nor did she care about the rest of the boys who were reacting with teasing disgust. “Annyeonghaseyo, my name is Katie and I don’t know what else to say, so I’m gonna head off.” Katie managed to slip out of Mark’s grasp and did a modified version of the moonwalk off the stage, waving goodbye to the fans. While she was halfway to her escape, Mark ran up to her and kissed her on the lips.
“I love you.” He whispered on her lips, not knowing it was loud enough to be heard by the audience.
“I love you too.”
That night, #KatieLee became the most-trending hashtag.
While Mark scrolled through his phone, sleepless from the adrenaline running through his body from the concert while Katie had fallen asleep minutes before, he turned to smile at the love of his life. “Someday,” He sighed wistfully, “someday that’ll be true.”
The dorm bed has never felt more complete; their legs tangled as a reminder of their heartfelt conversation last night, full of pinky promises and soft whispers. Taeyong managed to get him the day off; explaining the health situation to the managers.
“Good morning angel.” He mumbled, kissing Katie’s forehead as her eyes started to flicker open. She hummed in response, nestling her head further into his jumper-clad chest. He sighed, holding her tighter in his arms – “I’m so, so, so, so in love with you.”
“Good,” She mumbled, still refusing to open her eyes. “Because I’m so, so, so, so, so, very much, in love with you.” Mark’s arm started stroking her back.
Mark smiled, “Let’s go on a date today?”
She smiled, nodding. “I’d love that.” She chuckled, “but I don’t have any other clothes here and I think I got beer spilled on my clothes.” She motioned to her clothes from last night on the floor as she wore only one of Mark’s oversized hoodies.
“Wear more of my clothes.” She rolled her eyes, playfully slapping his chest. “You look good in them. Better than me.”
