donghyuck found himself walking towards the basketball pitch of their school as soon as his classes of the day ended.

he hadn't seen mark since lunch, and he had an intuition that told him that mark was surely practicing – he was the team captain after all.

the tanned male walked across the different corridors of their school, following the signs indicating the sports' building.

he got there quite quickly, not expecting them to be this close to his classroom.

after a hint of hesitation, donghyuck pushed the door of the gymnasium open, immediately being greeted by the smell of sweat, which was justified, judging by the way a dozen of boys were running around, passing each other the ball to mark some points.

the honey-haired silently walked to the bleachers that were open for students to come and watch the trainings. there were already a few people there – mostly girls – some watching, and other doing their homework.

donghyuck took a seat on the first row, just in front of the resting bench, where the bottles of the basketball players were sitting, waiting to be drank.

he looked around the pitch, trying to search for his crush and his friends who were part of the basketball team.

donghyuck was quick to find mark, in the middle of the field, wearing a jersey with the number 02 printed on his back just under his surname.

jeno and chenle weren't far from him, wearing similar jerseys with numbers 23 and 22.

donghyuck wasn't very good in sports, and he had a very hard time understanding the rules of the different sports.

he didn't know much about basketball; he was only there to see mark play.

the only thing he knew was that the players had to throw the ball into the net.

and so, when he saw mark shooting the ball from the middle of the pitch and making it land perfectly in the net, he couldn't help but clap loudly, catching the attention of a few players, including the boy he was cheering for.

this made a bright smile appear on mark's face as he waved at the boy on the bleachers before going back to playing.

"did mark lee just wave at the boy over here?" a girl's voice said behind donghyuck.

"impossible." another replied. "he's not gay."

"he was surely making a sign to one of his teammates." a third voice added.

"or waving at us." a fourth voice suggested as the four girls giggled together.

donghyuck rolled his eyes at their not-so-pleasant comments before focusing back on the game.

he kept his eyes fixed on mark whether he had the ball or not – because even when he hadn't got it, he looked divinely hot, and the way he combed his sweaty hair back with hand was just too hot for donghyuck to handle.

the game ended after twenty minutes, and the coach invited the boys to have a drink before they started a shooting session.

the sweaty players all made their way to the bench with the water bottles in front of donghyuck.

the tanned male however, kept his eyes on one of the players who had stayed behind to chat with the coach.

"oh, hyuck!" chenle exclaimed, catching the boy's attention.

"hi chenle!" donghyuck waved at the boy. "hi jeno!"

"you're here for mark?" jeno asked after taking a sip of water.

a few players turned their head at this question to stare at the boy chenle and jeno were talking to.

"yeah..." donghyuck nodded shyly.

"well, you prince charming is coming." chenle chuckled, seeing mark jogging towards them.

mark picked his bottle of water on the bench and walked towards the bleachers, making the girls behind donghyuck giggle in excitement.

however, mark paid them no mind.

his eyes were fixed on the tanned male, and him only.

"hey." mark said, sitting next to donghyuck as he drank water from his bottle.

"hi." donghyuck replied shyly, hearing the girls behind him getting indignant at the sight of the mark lee talking with a boy.

"how was i?" mark asked.

"like, in general? or during the game?" donghyuck raised a brow.

"both." mark chuckled.

"amazing."

mark laughed loudly, using his free hand to ruffle the boy's honey hair.

"how is your leg?" donghyuck asked, pointing at the bandage mark on his shin.

they had come back from their school trip a week ago, meaning that mark had been injured a week and a half ago.

at first, he didn't go to the basketball training, and he stayed with renjun, jaemin, donghyuck and jisung while waiting for the basketball players.

but now, he judged that his leg had healed enough for him to start training again.

but donghyuck was still worried for him.

"it's doing better. look." mark pulled the bandage away, revealing the closed wound he had on the leg.

donghyuck glanced sadly at the wounded skin of his crush. it was all his fault...

"i'm sorry..." dongyuck whispered.

"are you apologising for this again?" mark raised a brow.

"it's my fault..."

"hyuck, this wound is very special for me, and i'll be happy to see this scar every day." mark explained.

"are you crazy?" donghyuck snorted.

"crazy for you, yeah." mark replied confidently, making donghyuck flush red in a millisecond.

mark chuckled at the boy's shy face before placing his bandage back in place.

"i'm going back to training." he declared. "take care, okay?" he added, dropping a kiss on donghyuck's cheek before jumping off the bleachers and running back to the pitch.

behind him, donghyuck had his heart beating madly in his chest, and his hand lifted up to caress the place mark had dropped a peck on.

god, he was in love...

✯

jaemin was wandering alone in the school's corridors.

he had been abandoned by everyone.

chenle, jeno and mark had their practice.

jisung had a dentist appointment.

donghyuck had claimed he had something important to do and he had disappeared right after.

and renjun... jaemin didn't know where he was.

renjun had gotten closer to jisung, donghyuck and him during this past week, but jaemin felt like he was more awkward around him.

it was as if renjun knew that jeno acted weird around jaemin, and that he didn't like jaemin for that.

but at the same time, he tried getting closer to jaemin, asking him personal questions and just acting like a friend.

but anyway, their relationship was weird, and there was something odd in renjun's behaviour.

"fuck!"

jaemin turned around after hearing a curse word being pronounced in chinese – chenle had taught him a few curse words in chinese during the trip to the mountains.

and jaemin did well, because renjun was standing in the middle of the corridor, a few canvases in his arms while he tried to pick up the two other canvases that had fallen on the floor – and were the cause of the curse word.

"need help?" jaemin asked, flashing the boy a smile as he bent and picked the canvases up for him.

"oh, jaemin!" the chinese male exclaimed. "thanks."

"no problem." jaemin replied. "what are you doing with all those things?"

"i need to bring them to the art classroom." renjun explained.

"on the 8th floor?!" jaemin gasped. "what an inhumane task for such a tiny boy."

renjun rolled his eyes, being used to jaemin's teasing about his height.

jaemin was a lot into teasing, and renjun's height was the main victim of this teasing.

"yeah, yeah." renjun grumbled, almost making the canvases in his hand fall down.

"i'll help you. give me that."

before renjun could protest, jaemin took all the canvases from renjun's grip and carried them effortlessly.

"b-but..."

"come with me. i don't know where the classroom is." jaemin invited renjun to follow him.

renjun jogged behind jaemin and followed him across the labyrinth of corridors without protesting more. he had a strong man to help him carry heavy things. he couldn't complain.

"huh... what are you doing, the stairs are over here?" renjun asked once the two boys had passed the stairs.

"we're not going to walk up 8 floors when there's a lift." jaemin explained.

"a LIFT?!" renjun exclaimed.

"yeah. have you never used it?"

"it's blocked by a code that only teachers know." renjun informed with a cough.

"good thing i know the code, then." jaemin said with a smirk, making renjun gulp.

renjun followed jaemin until the boy stopped in front of the lift.

"can you enter the code?" jaemin asked, motioning to his two hands that were holding the canvases.

"sure." renjun coughed. "what's the code?"

"3, 4, 7, 2." jaemin whispered.

with a shaking hand, renjun typed in the four numbers, making the metallic doors open.

"here we go." jaemin said, stepping in.

"w-wait, are you sure?" renjun asked.

"yeah. the lift is here, climb up. it will be quick."

"but what if we get caught?" renjun argued.

"don't worry, the teachers like me." jaemin flashed renjun another smile. "come on."

renjun didn't know what to say more, so he gave in and stepped inside the lift, making sure to stay very close to jaemin.

he let out a shaky breath as the doors closed, and the lift starting moving.

"everything alright?" jaemin asked, looking at a shaking renjun.

"y-yeah..." renjun replied, his hand lacing with jaemin's arm.

"you're scared of lifts?" jaemin's brows furrowed.

"just claustro- aghh!"

in the middle of renjun's answer, the lift stopped abruptly, making renjun scream.

and on top of that, the doors didn't open.

jaemin didn't need long to understand that they were stuck in the lift.

"w-what's happening?" renjun asked as jaemin tried pushing on the 8th floor button.

"i think the lift stopped."

"w-we're stuck?!" renjun exclaimed horrified.

"it's okay, don't worry, i just need to press the bell button and- renjun?"

jaemin turned around, seeing renjun curled up on the floor, sobbing loudly.

"hey, renjun." jaemin crouched down next to him. "it's okay, i'm going to call someone. don't worry." he tried reassuring the boy.

renjun didn't lift his head, he continued crying loudly like a big baby after waking up after his worst nightmare.

"renjun?" jaemin placed his hand on renjun's forehead, this time catching the boy's attention.

jaemin looked into his eyes, finding something familiar in the way his teary orbs were staring at him expectantly. but he couldn't really pinpoint what it was.

however, what escaped renjun's mouth right after that made jaemin understand.

"o-owner help j-junjun..."

jaemin's eyes widened as he gasped in realisation.

"renjun, are you a little?!"