"good game everyone! congratulations!" the captain of the school's basketball team congratulated his fellow players.

"congratulations to you, captain!" one of the players returned the praise.

"thanks, chenle!" mark smiled. "now, everyone, enjoy your weekend and rest well!"

mark walked to the changing rooms with the rest of his team.

it had been a tough game.

in the end, they had won, but their opponents had played very well, making the game very difficult for them.

"are you doing something after?" a voice spoke, catching the captain's attention when he was entering the changing rooms.

"just going back home i guess." mark shrugged. "what about you, jeno?"

"renjun and i are eating at the restaurant. he invited chenle too. i'd be happy to have you with us." jeno explained, taking off his basketball jersey.

"i don't want to bother you during your date." mark replied, doing the same.

"i told you chenle was there too." jeno rolled his eyes. "anyway, you have a few minutes to think about an answer, i'm going to have a shower."

jeno grabbed his towel and a half-empty bottle of shower gel and headed towards the showers, leaving mark alone.

the rest of the team was there as well, getting changed and talking loudly about the game.

mark pulled his phone out of his locker, unlocking it to see if he had received any notifications.

he had received a message from him mom, who was wishing him luck for his match.

she was, with mark's father, in canada, where mark had spent his early years.

the basketball player smiled before answering the text message with a smile despite knowing that she was surely sleeping because of the jet lag.

mark then checked his other notifications, searching for anyone who would ask him togo out right after his game. but there were none.

the captain of the basketball team sighed and placed his phone back in his bad. he pulled a fresh set of clothes out of his locker and started undressing to head to the showers.

he walked there, hoping to meet jeno on his way there.

"jen." he called, catching the attention of the boy.

"so? what's your answer, captain?" jeno asked with a smile.

"i'll go with you. it's been long since we hung out the four of us."

✯

"hello guys!" renjun exclaimed, seeing the three boys approaching him. "congratulations on the game. you played like gods. mostly jeno." he added, wiggling his brows at the second older player.

jeno rolled his eyes, wrapping his arms around renjun and pulling the boy closer to kiss him on the lips.

they had been together for a few months now.

nobody really knows how it happened, but it did.

one day, jeno got locked up with renjun inside a classroom, and the next day, they were together officially.

people asked them how it happened, but none of them would share their story.

"can't you wait to be in a bedroom to act like that?" mark asked, looking nervously around as the two boys kissed passionately.

"just because you're scared of coming out doesn't mean gays can't kiss at school." chenle defended the two lovers.

"i'm not scared of coming out!" mark snapped.

"yes, you are." chenle nodded.

"i'm just not gay." mark sighed. "i'm straight."

the three boys standing next to mark rolled their eyes collectively.

all three of them were gay and had done their coming out at school.

basically, everyone knew that they weren't interested in females, and none of them was bullied for that.

and mark claimed to be straight.

they all knew that he wasn't interested in females.

he was just in gay denial, which was strange because neither him nor his family was homophobic.

"i feel like we're having the same conversation over and over again." jeno sighed.

"because we are." mark nodded. "you guys won't accept that i don't like dicks."

"anyway!" chenle interrupted this boring and nonsense conversation. "weren't we supposed to go to the restaurant?"

"excellent remark, chenle." renjun patted his chinese friend's shoulder.

"let's go then!" chenle started walkingaway from the stadium, followed closely by renjun with whom he started speaking in chinese.

mark and jeno followed them, leaving a bit of distance between the two groups because they couldn't understand whatever they were talking about in their native language.

"so, you're not gay?" jeno asked, wanting to dig further in the conversation.

"no, i'm not." mark confirmed. "i don't know why you're assuming things like that."

jeno shrugged, trying to remember why the group of friends had started to doubt mark's heterosexuality.

perhaps was it the fact that once, he had called a boy cute?

jeno couldn't even remember.

"well... it's perhaps the fact that you're 20 and never had any love relationship with a girl." jeno stated, making mark look at him.

"this doesn't mean anything. chenle never had a girlfriend as well." mark defended himself.

"but chenle is gay." jeno pointed out.

mark rolled his eyes to the back of his head as he continued walking, not bothering to answer.

he didn't even know what to say, anyway.

"you know, you could be sexually frustrated." jeno spoke again, making mark choke on his saliva.

"what the hell, jeno?!" mark yelled.

"you haven't had any kind of sexual encounter ever! and you could have since so many girls want to have you! that's perhaps because your body knows it likes dicks." jeno explained making mark frown.

"how in the world can you give me lessons on sex?" mark asked, slightly irritated. "you never did anything either!"

jeno's eyes fell onto renjun's back, his eyes slowly going down and falling onto his boyfriend's butt.

"well..."

"don't tell me..." mark gasped. "you had sex with renjun?!" he whisper-shouted.

"i didn't say anything." jeno raised both his hands in the air.

mark's eyes focused on the tiny figure of jeno's boyfriend for a few seconds before he noticed a detail he hadn't seen before: renjun was slightly limping, sign of a crazy night.

"oh my god, jeno..." mark exclaimed. "you fucked him... in the ass..."

"we didn't fuck. we made love. and it's very different." jeno explained. "and of course, in his ass, where did you want me to put my dick?!"

"stop, i don't want to talk about that." mark closed his eyes and used his hands to block his ears. "it's disgusting."

jeno snorted, not caring about his best friend's stubbornness.

"we'll see if it's still disgusting when you'll find yourself a boyfriend." he told.

"this will never happen." mark spat.

"sure." jeno nodded.