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mark tiptoed his way to the soccer training field, trying not to catch the attention of all the players of the team.

he had a plan in mind, and he was determined to make it work.

"hello mark."

the boy jumped in surprised at the low voice.

turning around, mark smiled shyly as he noticed chunho standing there in a soccer attire.

"hi..." he mumbled.

"what are you doing here?" chunho asked.

"i... i wanted to watch soccer practice." mark explained.

"oh, that's great." chunho chuckled. "coming to see handsome muscular boys."

mark didn't answer.

instead, his eyes diverted from chunho to the field, where he noticed a familiar male standing in front of the coach with his head hanging low.

donghyuck was standing there, and judging by the way the coach was screaming at him, it meant nothing good.

"let's go? i'll introduce you to my fellow teammates." chunho placed an arm around mark's shoulders as they started walking towards the other boys of the team.

mark was soon introduced to the different members of the team after a warning from chunho that mark was completely innocent and that donghyuck had corrupted him.

chunho seemed to have a lot of influence in there, because as soon as he asked the others to respect mark, the canadian was immediately greeted sympathetically by the group of soccer players.

once he had said hello to everybody, mark was invited to sit down at the very bottom of the bleachers with the soccer players.

mark's eyes immediately fell on donghyuck who was leaving the field to go right to the changing rooms, but he never looked in mark's direction. his eyes were fixed on the ground.

"why is donghyuck leaving?" mark asked innocently, turning his head to the side as chunho was unlocking his phone – mark caught a glimpse of it, seeing the numbers 9, 4 and 8 being pressed before the phone unlocked.

"he was fired from the team." chunho explained simply.

"what?! why?" mark's eyes widened.

"don't you know? he beat up three boys yesterday for absolutely no reason." one player declared, making mark almost choke on his saliva.

donghyuck had been removed from the team?

for real now?

not just from his captain duties, but from the whole soccer team.

and for what? for beating the three guys that had beaten mark.

the canadian almost snapped at the soccer team.

he couldn't let them say shit about his donghyuck.

donghyuck had beaten those guys up because they had hurt mark.

he hadn't acted without a reason.

he wasn't like that.

but the whole soccer team was just a bunch of assholes who had no knowledge.

and mark had to bear with it for the moment if he wanted his plan to work.

"oh, i didn't know..." he replied, his hand rubbing the back of his head, onto the spot he had been injured the day before.

"it's better that way anyway." a player declared. "he was tarnishing the whole team's reputation with his actions."

mark sighed. he really hoped he would be done with his plan quickly, because he couldn't bear listening to them badmouthing the boy that he had fallen in love with...

＃

soccer practice was boring.

well, at least it was for mark who was just seated on the bench next to all the players' phones, mindlessly watching the soccer team shooting the ball inside the goal.

it wasn't as interesting as it was before, now that donghyuck wasn't in the team anymore.

mark enjoyed making an appearance during soccer practice to cheer on the players and watch them playing a bit. but it seemed like mark was only there for donghyuck...

with a sigh, mark looked down at the two phones in his hands.

chunho had asked him to keep his phone safe while he practiced and mark had kindly accepted.

and now that he thought about it, he would surely able to finish his plan earlier than expected.

mark placed chunho's phone on his lap, the numbers for the code appearing on the screen.

with a quick glance up to make sure no one was looking at him, mark tried to remember the combination.

he had seen the three last digits a few minutes ago, and those were 9, 4 and 8. so, mark needed to find the first digit and he would have the phone opened for him to search.

pressing the 0 first, mark sighed when he noticed the message '2 tries left' appearing.

so, 0, 9, 4, 8 wasn't the combination.

and what about 1, 9, 4, 8?

mark almost let out a scream of joy when chunho's lock screen appeared – it was a picture of a soccer player taken while he was scoring a goal. mark huffed at the picture. chunho was really obsessed with soccer... it wouldn't surprise him if the numbers 1, 9, 4 and 8 had something to do with soccer too.

one he had access to all the softwares of the phone, mark started by something easy to see: pictures.

checking that no one was looking at him, mark opened the application, sliding his finger across the screen to see if he found pictures of him and donghyuck there.

"mark!"

the canadian was startled by the sudden interjection, making him lock the phone immediately and look up at the boy who was approaching. of course, it was chunho.

"h-hi..." mark smiled, placing his phone over chunho's to make it seem like he was looking at his phone and not chunho's.

"we have a small break. i'm so glad." the boy explained, taking a sit next to mark. "can i have my phone?"

"sure." mark handed him the device.

mark tried staying as calm as possible, knowing that he had been searching in chunho's phone.

this was so not like him.

mark was usually someone fair and respectful. he was the kind of boy to despise cheaters and liars.

never in his whole life he had imagine he would be one day to find evidence in a guy's phone.

"oh, guys!" chunho suddenly exclaimed. "korea's playing against myanmar next week. we're so going to beat them!"

"no, for real?!" another player asked, approaching them.

"yeah, check that."

the canadian boy sighed as chunho handed his phone to the other boy so that he could read the article. after a few minutes of debate on some soccer game mark didn't care about, the coach called them back to training.

mark held his hand proudly, expecting for chunho to place his phone there, but instead, the boy who had chunho's phone in the hand placed it on the bench, a meter away from mark.

"ughh..." mark groaned, his eyes glancing at the device that was way too far from him.

he wouldn't be able to take it, it would be too visible.

he needed to think now to find a new solution and search deeply into chunho's phone for proofs that he had been the one denouncing them.

＃

"donghyuck...?" chenle asked slowly, approaching the boy that was sitting on the floor in the middle of the school's corridor.

"what?" the tanned male replied, not moving an inch.

"you look... huh..."

"ugly? depressed? both?" donghyuck questioned. "well, the answer is both. and so fucking much more."

chenle sighed, sliding down against the wall until he was sitting by donghyuck's side.

"why are you in the middle of the corridor right now?" chenle asked.

"i just got fired for the soccer team." donghyuck sighed.

"what?!"

"yeah, but i'm not really mad. like, i feel like i did the good choice." donghyuck shrugged,making chenle frown.

"the good choice?"

"i got fired because i beat three guys up yesterday..." donghyuck explained.

"oh, so that's why your nose is..."

"yeah." donghyuck nodded, wincing as he touched his nose. "but i deserved that."

"why did you even beat them up? i know you're capable of doing so, but you never act without a reason."

"they had hit mark. he was barely conscious when i got there. but all they were thinking about was to hit him mercilessly and to insult him." donghyuck sighed, rage evident in his voice. "so, yeah, who cares about the soccer team when three guys almost sent mark to the hospital."

chenle hummed before staying silent for a few seconds.

"you still like him, don't you?" he asked with a brow raised.

"i've never stopped." donghyuck told. "i mean, how can you not like him?"

"go talk with him then. maybe he still feels the same." chenle suggested, resting his head on donghyuck's shoulder.

"he doesn't. i'm sure of that." donghyuck assured, his own words breaking his heart.

＃

"chunho, i'm so sorry..." mark mumbled, interrupting the player that was about to shoot.

"it's okay mark, what is it?" he asked with a smile.

"so... my mother said i should call her so she can pick me up, but my phone's dead so... i was wondering if i could borrow yours to quickly call my mother?" he said, using his best puppy eyes to make chunho fall for his charms. he had thought about his plan for the past half an hour before actually coming there to ask.

"sure, no problem."

"thank- "

"but there is one condition."

mark stopped smiling for a second, wondering what chunho would be adding now.

"y-yes...?"

"you put your phone number in, so that i can have it." chunho finished with a smile.

mark almost rolled his eyes to the back of his head – just like donghyuck would have done. "okay, i will." he told before walking away.

"hey mark!"

the canadian turned around, looking at the player that had spoken.

"yes?"

"you need his password." he told with a finger raised in the air.

"o-oh, yeah..." mark nodded sheepishly. great, he had almost busted himself.

"so... let's see... if i tell you it's the year the south korean soccer team joined the international soccer federation... do you have a date in mind?" the same player asked, marking chunho snort.

"stop bothering him." he told.

"huh..." mark blinked a few times.

"say a date, we'll see how close you are haha." the boy laughed.

"19... 1948?" mark asked timidly, making chunho, the boy that had asked the question and a few other players gasp.

"oh my god..." chunho let out.

"what? did i get it right?" mark asked, secretly loving the way they were all impressed by him.

"y-yeah..." the player nodded. "chunho, you better keep that one, he's made for you."

mark chuckled as he walked away, taking chuno's phone from the bench and heading to the changing rooms, where he would be able to 'pass a phone call' without the annoying noise of the whistle disturbing him.

as soon as he got there, mark noticed a familiar jersey on the floor.

mark carefully picked it up, the heart whelming scent of donghyuck invading his nostrils and making his heart feel all giddy on the inside.

judging by the fact the jersey had been thrown to the floor, donghyuck would surely never wear it again. plus, he had just been fired from the team...

so, it wouldn't be forbidden for mark to take it, would it?

mark would love to have donghyuck's jersey as a souvenir, and also, as a large shirt he would be able to cuddle in at home when he'll miss being in donghyuck's embrace.

getting out of his trance but still keeping the jersey in his hand, mark unlocked the device and opened the gallery application, searching if he found a picture of him and donghyuck.

and he did very well, because he was soon surprised to catch a glimpse of him and donghyuck kissing passionately, the younger standing between mark's spread-out legs as the older was sat on the infirmary bed.

as wrong as having this picture was, it had been so well-taken, and mark almost wanted to send it to himself and print it out to frame it.

mark pulled his own phone out, taking a picture of chunho's phone with the picture in it for proof.

he then searched the recording app.

he recalled that an audio had been played during the half-time of his basketball match. so, it necessarily meant that chunho also had a recording of donghyuck's conversation.

the canadian frowned as he noticed one of the audios were called 'soon to be ex-captain' making him believe that this was the right audio, referring to donghyuck. but at the same time, he wondered if this was really it, because the audio that had been played during the match had lasted around a minute. and this one lasted more than seven minutes.

checking his surroundings quickly, mark played the audio, recognising donghyuck's voice immediately.

soon, the words that had broken mark during the game came again, and mark couldn't help but tighten his grip on the soccer jersey he had in his hand.

the words were raw, harsh, and humiliating for mark.

the boy didn't even manage to listen to them until the end. he cut the recording before donghyuck could come to the end of his monologue on how he played mark.

mark then opened the contact app and created himself a profile as chunho had asked.

he took this opportunity to send himself by message a copy of the recording as well as the pictures of him and donghyuck, not forgetting to delete the messages on chunho's phone right after.

once that was done, mark smiled contently, walking back to the field with a lighter heart – was it because he had found out who was responsible for his misery or because he was now the owner of donghyuck's jersey? he didn't really know...

but what he was sure of was that things wouldn't keep being that way.

as much of an asshole as donghyuck was for playing mark, he didn't deserve to be kicked out of the team.

and as much of a great player as chunho was, he didn't deserve to be a team captain with this mentality.

justice had to be made, and what better solution for that than telling the coach directly and showing him proof of his sayings...?

＃

"lee donghyuck."

the tanned make lifted his head immediately as a voice he knew too well called him name.

"coach...?" donghyuck raised a brow, meeting eyes with the person that had kicked him out of the soccer team a few days ago.

"donghyuck, please come with me into my office."

the former soccer captain gulped.

why would his coach want to see him, inside of his office, after firing him from the soccer team for his behaviour?

"huh... sure." he nodded, following the man who never seemed to leave his joggers. "but, huh... can i know why exactly?"

"we need to have a talk."