"hyuck! we're leaving to school!" jaemin announced, closing the windows of the house. "hurry up!"

"one second!" donghyuck's voice echoed through the house.

jaemin waited for a minute in front of the door by jisung's side.

donghyuck appeared with a bright smile on.

"i had forgotten my colouring pencils!" he said with a giggle.

"are you sure you have everything you need?" jisung asked. "your paci?"

"yes, it's in the box." donghyuck nodded.

"perfect then. let's go!" jaemin exclaimed, picking up his car keys and opening the front door for them to leave to school.

the journey to school was pleasant.

as usual, donghyuck was sat on the back, by the window, for him to look at the world around him.

jisung and jaemin were speaking about something donghyuck wasn't really interested in, so, the honey-haired boy listened to the music blasting from the car's speakers.

"did you give him his milk in the baby bottle today?" jaemin asked jisung in a low voice.

"yeah, he drank it all, don't worry."

"thank god. i completely forgot about it." jaemin thanked his childhood friend.

donghyuck was somehow complicated to take care of.

he needed a very precise routine for him to be in a good mood.

and this routine started by drinking a good amount of milk served in a baby bottle.

he often drank it while watching a cartoon, but he also loved whenever jisung or jaemin would feed him with it.

"me want one! me want one!" the baby voice of their mutual friend caught their attention as they were approaching school grounds.

jisung turned around to look at donghyuck who was excitedly pointing at a little girl on the street eating a bright blue cotton candy.

"he slipped?" jaemin asked, his eyes ever leaving the road.

"yeah." jisung nodded. "he wants cotton candy."

"we'll stop tonight to buy him one." jaemin informed.

"me want... why nana not stopping...?" the little pouted, looking at jisung with glossy eyes.

jisung smiled at his friend, holding his hand out for him to play with it. "we can't stop right now because we have school. but we'll stop to get you one in the afternoon, after school, okay?" jisung asked, making donghyuck nod quickly.

jisung faced the road again as donghyuck started singing along the song played by the car's radio.

jaemin had changed the music on purpose, playing a playlist that he had created with tons of cartoon musics. he knew that donghyuck loved those when he was in little space.

the ride lasted for a few minutes more until jaemin found a spot in the parking lot next to school. he parked the car and walked out before opening donghyuck's door – that he had locked with the child security.

"hyuckie." jaemin called the little. "look at me."

donghyuck looked at his friend in the eye, smiling brightly when jaemin cupped his cheeks.

"we're at school, now, so i need donghyuck to come back, okay?" he said calmy. "and hyuckie has to promise that he won't try coming out during the day at school, okay?"

donghyuck slowly nodded, his eyes fluttering close for a few seconds before they reopened on their own.

"we're at school?" he asked, looking around.

"we are." jisung nodded. "let's go?"

✯

mark walked on school grounds with jeno by his side.

as soon as he passed the glass doors, the captain of the basketball team looked around, checking all the girls he could find in the corridor.

the conversation him and jeno had had during the weekend was still fresh in his mind.

he couldn't believe that jeno had lost his virginity before he had.

"mark, you're obvious." jeno warned him when they reached their lockers.

"really?" mark turned around immediately, looking at jeno as if he did nothing.

"she caught you." jeno said with a head motion towards a girl that was wiggling her brows at mark.

the canadian turned around for a second before facing jeno again when he saw the girl looking at him.

"what do i do?! she's looking at me!" mark whisper-shouted.

"i don't know..." jeno shrugged. "i'm gay."

"what do you do when a boy looks at you then?!" mark asked on the same tone.

"i tell them that i'm not interested because i have a boyfriend." jeno replied nonchalantly.

"yeah but- "

"hello."

mark tensed, turning around to see the girl he had been checking out standing in front of him.

"h-huh..." he let out, trying to keep his eyes up on her face. "i have a boyfriend, sorry."

the girl raised a brow. "you have a boyfriend?" she repeated.

mark cursed at himself for saying such a stupid thing.

he didn't have a boyfriend, and he would never have one because he wasn't gay.

but this girl wasn't his type at all, so might as well explain that he wasn't interested.

"y-yeah." mark smiled fakely.

"may i know who?" she asked.

"jeno!" mark exclaimed, wrapping an arm around jeno's waist, and making the basketball player hold a laugh.

"this guy is dating huang renjun." the girl stated, looking at mark in the eye.

"h-huh..."

let's be honest, he didn't imagine she could know who was who's boyfriend at school.

and this meant that he was screwed.

"if you're not interested, just tell me." the girl said. "don't try inventing lame excuses. everyone knows you're not gay, mark lee." she added before leaving the two boys alone.

once she was far enough, jeno burst out laughing, catching the attention of half the corridor.

"i have a boyfriend..." jeno repeated before laughing harder. "incredible!"

next to him, mark rolled his eyes at his friend's stupidity.

he had done a mistake, looking at the girl's forms before looking at her face.

if he had started by her face, he would have understood that it was the college's whore who had already had sex with all the students willing to pay to lose their virginity.

"jeno, shut up." mark sighed.

"i need to tell renjun about this!" jeno laughed harder.

"jeno!" mark hit the boy's arm.

this didn't make him stop. "s-sorry, but... it's... i have no words..."

mark stayed silent, looking at his best friend making fun of him for a long minute.

he didn't try telling him to stop, because he knew very well that this would lead to more teasing.

so, he stayed silent until he had calmed down.

"can i talk without you bursting out laughing now?" he asked with a brow raised and his arms crossed over his chest.

"i'm not a hundred percent sure, but you can try." jeno told, holding himself.

"right. well, i didn't know it was her. if i knew, i wouldn't have looked at anything." mark explained.

"well, from now on, look at their face before checking out their butt." jeno said. "this will prevent unfortunate things to happen."

mark rolled his eyes.

"at least, she said something very interesting which is: everyone knows i'm not gay." mark said with a proud smile.

jeno scoffed. "but no one knows you as much as i do." he said. "and i know that you're gay."

"keep telling yourself that."