mark pulled his heavy suitcase across the road, towards where the bus that was supposed to take them to the mountains was park to embark all the students.

"jeno!" the canadian exclaimed when he saw his best friend placing his own suitcase in the boot of the huge bus.

"oh, mark!" the boy replied with a smile. "give me your suitcase, i'll put it next to mine!"

mark obliged, walking to his best friend and helping him to set the suitcase in the boot.

next to jeno was standing renjun and chenle who were both chatting in chinese.

"damn, i've waited for this for so long..." jeno stated once the suitcase was placed in the bus.

"i know." mark nodded.

"i really hope we'll have lots of fun and meet new interesting people." jeno said.

"don't forget you have a boyfriend." mark chuckled.

"how could i?" jeno raised a brow. "however, you haven't got any boy- "

"girlfriend." mark cut him.

"love interest." jeno corrected him. "but i hope you'll find one soon."

mark rolled his eyes as jeno got called by his boyfriend and chenle.

mark used this alone time to look around at all the people that would be accompanying them to this skiing trip.

there were students from all classes, mostly boys strangely, but there were still a few beautiful girls.

one of them had caught his eye right now.

she had her back facing mark, and she was bent forwards, surely because she was looking for something in her bag.

a pink-haired boy was standing next to her and talking to the boy mark had identified as jisung, chenle's soon-to-be crush.

mark's eyes stayed glued on the girl's body – and mostly booty.

however, a sense of déjà-vu hit him when the girl in question stood up after a while, revealing her short curly honey hair.

"don't tell me..." mark let out, looking at the 'girl' more in detail. this couldn't be the boy he had seen the other day...

mark's eyes widened on their own when the boy turned around completely, showing his angelic face to mark.

it was a boy. the same one.

and judging by the suitcase he was pulling; he was going to the mountains with them.

"j-jeno..." mark mumbled, backing away. "jeno!"

the so-called boy left his boyfriend's side and approached mark.

"what is it?" he asked with a brow raised seeing mark's state. "you look strange."

"do you remember the girly boy i told you about?" mark questioned.

"the one that had a beautiful booty?"

"yeah." mark nodded.

"what about him?"

"he's there." mark whispered.

"where?!" jeno screamed, looking around.

"shh!" mark hushed him. "not so loud!"

"sorry..." jeno rolled his eyes. "show him to me."

"just there, next to the pink-haired boy and jisung."

jeno squinted his eyes, trying to find a mop of pink hair in the crowd of loud students.

he eventually found it – and recognized jaemin – and saw jisung standing close to him.

and between the two boys stood donghyuck, in white baggy sweatpants and an oversize white hoodie.

"donghyuck?!" jeno let out, eying mark curiously.

"what?"

"you like donghyuck's body?" jeno asked.

"how do you know him?" mark's brows furrowed.

"yeah, he's friends with jisung." jeno replied. "he ate with us the other day, when you abandoned renjun, chenle and i. he's adorable by the way."

"how come you didn't tell me?" mark asked, slightly hurt.

"because i didn't think it was the boy you were swooning over." jeno stated, making mark flush red – jeno couldn't decipher if it was anger or embarrassment.

"i am not swooning over him!"

"but he has nice girly curves that you love." jeno specified.

"i thought he was a girl!" mark defended himself.

"but he's not." jeno crossed his arms over his chest. "anyway, you have my authorisation to date him. he's someone cute and good for you."

"what? no!" mark exclaimed, hitting jeno. "i'm not interested!"

"sure." jeno replied sarcastically before walking back to his boyfriend.

mark stayed on his own, his eyes looking back to where the girly boy was standing.

"donghyuck..." mark whispered.

✯

"h-hyuckie s-scared..."

"keep the mask on your eyes, baby. everything will be alright." jaemin whispered, caressing the boy's fluffy curls as he hugged him tight.

"w-when s-stop...?"

"you still have to hold on for a few hours, baby."

donghyuck was scared of bus rides.

why? for a very simple reason.

when he was three years old, donghyuck rode the bus with his parents to go to the beach.

but they never made it to the beach.

the bus they were in had an accident.

donghyuck's parents died because of this accident. donghyuck lived.

since then, buses had been a problem for him.

he hated taking those because of fear.

it both made him imagine the worst accidents that could happen, and made him remember his parents' tragic death.

being in a bus always stressed him.

and this made him slip into little space.

"fall asleep, hyuckie." jisung whispered, handing the boy his pacifier and helping him lie down on jaemin's and his laps.

the three boys had found a spot at the back of the bus.

donghyuck was placed between jaemin and jisung – well, lying down on them now – with a mask hiding his eyes for him not to see.

he had slipped into little space, making jisung and jaemin double their attention.

being in a bus with a little while there were so many students around was risky.

but they couldn't do anything else.

donghyuck eventually fell asleep, sucking on his pacifier while jaemin placed a cover above his body to have something to hide him if someone approached them.

he looked so peaceful like that. just like a baby enjoying his first nights in the outside world.

he was hugging lele the dolphin tight – it had become one of his favourite plushies.

"hey guys, is everything alright?!" a dolphin-voice interrupted jisung and jaemin's tranquillity.

jaemin immediately lifted the cover to place it over donghyuck's face to hide the paci he was sucking on.

"shh." jisung signalled chenle to speak lower. "donghyuck fell asleep."

"oh, sorry." chenle apologised, looking at the adorable boy's body who was curled on his two friends' laps.

jaemin pulled the cover away from his face a slight bit, allowing chenle, jisung and him to see the top of his face – but keeping his mouth hidden.

"he's so cute..." chenle stated, his eyes on the sleeping boy.

"he is, right?" jisung chuckled, looking at his little friend fondly.

"the cutest baby." jaemin approved.

✯

"boys and girls, i need your attention for a few minutes please!" one of the accompanying teachers said as she stood up in the middle of the alley.

the journey to their hotel hadn't ended yet, meaning they were still in the bus, inside the mountains.

but apparently, she had an important announcement to make.

jaemin placed his hand over the sleeping donghyuck's ear to make sure that he wasn't disturbed by the sudden noise caused by the teacher.

he had slept for the whole ride, and both jaemin and jisung were thankful for that.

"we'll reach the hotel in a bit less than half an hour." she declared. "keep in mind that this trip is not only a trip to discover the mountains as well as skiing or snowboarding, but also a get-to-know-each-other-trip. this means that..."

jaemin and jisung listened attentively – just like the other students – to the speech that surely had been prepared for a while by the teacher.

she wasn't speaking about things jaemin or jisung found very interesting. just how every student should make new friends and discover new horizons.

"now, a topic that will interest all of you, i'm sure... the rooming arrangements!" she clapped her hands once, making the people in the bus all start chatting excitedly. "as you know, the other teachers and i all want you to get together well, and that is why we decided to choose the rooming arrangements. let me warn you now, there is no change possible."

the chatting soon became a loud collective whine.

"we decided to put in a same room people of different classes, meaning that you won't be rooming with your fellow classmates." she said.

jaemin tensed. this meant that donghyuck could end up with anyone.

well, it was still possible for him to end up with jisung, and that would be very good.

"na jaemin, with lee jeno."

jaemin lifted his head once he heard his name.

he would be rooming with jeno. not bad. he seemed to be someone cool to hang around.

"what do we do if hyuck isn't paired with me?" jisung whisper-shouted to jaemin, looking at the teacher worriedly while she continued telling the rooming arrangements.

"i'll go talk to the teachers." jaemin nodded. "but don't worry, there's still a slight possibility that you- "

"zhong chenle with park jisung." the teacher's voice interrupted them.

both jisung and jaemin looked at each other with their eyes wide open.

now, they had a problem.

"fuck, what do we do?!" jisung asked, even though he was happy to know he'll be rooming with chenle.

"i don't know!" jaemin exclaimed. "let's just hope the teachers will agree for him to change."

"let's hope as well that he doesn't find himself alone with an asshole." jisung added.

"and lee donghyuck, with mark lee." the teacher said, finally placing her paper down to look at the bus of students.