"i'm not feeling too good, is it alright if i'm dismissed and go to the nurse?" jaemin asked, making sure to look as distressed as possible. "why of course jaemin ah," the teacher said which jaemin knew would happen. he was teacher's pet after all. "thank you," he faked a weak smile and stood up, gathering his books. "just make sure to turn in that essay i asked for at the beginning of our next class," the teacher reminded him.

   he groaned and clutched his head, pretending to trip over his feet. the teacher gasped but it wasn't quite enough. to add a little more and appear the slightest bit more convincing, he dropped a few books and sunk to the floor after them. "jaemin!" ms. shin shrieked. she ran to his side and helped him up, "never mind about that homework, i want you back to full health monday morning. here," she hurried over to her desk and wrote a quick note, "give this to one of you teachers and ask them to pass it around to your other teachers. i don't want you worrying about any assignments when you're like this," she said, shoving the note in jaemin's hand. it read:

   it's important for na jaemin to focus on regaining his health right now. please dismiss or excuse him if he doesn't turn in his assignments. from, professor shin haeun.

   "i'll do my assignments anyways, i would hate to not turn it in when everyone else is, but thank you miss," jaemin said dramatically gathering his things and standing up. "oh no don't worry about doing them at all. if any teacher gives you trouble about it just let me know, alright?" she asked.

   he nodded and stumbled to the door, but just as his fingers brushed the doorknob she spoke again. "are you sure i shouldn't send someone with you? is there anyone who'd like to escort jaemin to the infirmary—," she was interrupted. "no no! that's not necessary i'll be fine," he said frantically, adding a sudden groan and rushing to open the door before she could delay him anymore.

   as he escaped ms. shin's class for the ninth time that semester, he looked at the shocked faces of his classmates and sent them all a wink. tumultuous chatter broke out as the door closed behind him and he heard ms. shin call everyone's attention back to her.

   feeling proud of himself and happy that he had no homework to worry about over the weekend, jaemin walked happily to the library and slipped inside quietly. a few students lingered about, most likely in their free period. he made his way to the computer science section; the most deserted and unused part of the library, and traced his finger along the book case. 

   he came to a brief halt as his finger landed on a big book titled, algorithms to live by: the computer science of human decisions.

   just before he pulled the book out, there was laughter and squealing coming from someone a few aisles down. jaemin sucked in a breath and took a few steps back. he would wait for them to pass. a couple minutes went by, but they showed no signs of leaving. "what are they so noisy for? i thought this was a library," he grumbled quietly. with a slightly annoyed sigh, he walked closer to the noise until there was nothing but a bookshelf separating them. that's when he recognized that there were in fact two voices rather than just one.

   he crouched down a bit and parted a few books out of the way. he covered his mouth before he could let the sound get out and blow his cover as he took in the sight before him with a grimace.

   renjun and yangyang had their hands all over eachother, lips locked only to break apart and let out a happy laugh every few moments.

   after the incident between renjun, jeno, and himself, he was sure he'd made it so that renjun would come to his senses and stop liking boys. whenever he was purposely mean to the older, it was to remind him that he had the power to tell everyone at any time which would evidently make his school life a living hell. as he watched yangyang pepper kisses along his neck, he realised that maybe it had all been for nothing.

   the sight was revolting and he had to hold back the urge to gag. clumsily, he knocked down a book, immediately alerting the other two of his presence. before he could get caught, he dashed back to the aisle he had originally come from and hoped yangyang and renjun would piss off rather than investigate on who their intruder had been.

   moments passed and when no one came to find him, nor did he hear them continuing their... activities, he decided to complete what he'd gone to the library for originally and get the hell out of there.

   back to the big book he'd found earlier, he retrieved it from the shelf and opened it to the page he'd marked before. surely enough, the money he'd placed in there that morning had vanished, and in its place sat a plastic bag full of white powder.

---

   donghyuck walked into the study hall, eyes scanning the occupied tables for a certain blonde. then, there he was. round rimmed glasses on along with his blazer hanging on the back of his chair. his tie was loosely pulled down as it usually was, and his hand ran through his golden locks, leaving his hair looking ruffled as he set his arm back down on the table.

   the ravenette straightened out his clothes, ignoring the sleepiness that had been with him all day and the headache he had from only getting a couple hours of sleep the night prior, and he cleared his throat, walking over and pulling out a seat across from mark. "hey," mark said, acknowledging his presence. "hey," donghyuck matched his smile, piling his studying supplies onto the table.

   once he'd taken a seat, he looked up at mark, "thanks again for helping me out. i really do appreciate it." the older male shrugged, "that's what friends are for, right?" the word 'friends' stung a bit, but donghyuck ignored it and simply smiled in return. then, mark led them to open their textbooks and go over the material.

   "how confident are you for the test?" mark asked, looking through the book at the amount they needed to cover. donghyuck let out an awkward chuckle, "i think that confidence may be nonexistent." the canadian nodded, "don't worry, we'll work quickly but efficiently. i'm not letting you fail this exam."

   then the studying began. they started off by reading from their textbook and walking through what each sentence meant. mark helped donghyuck keep notes on the important vocabulary and assisted on pronunciation as well as grammar. things were going considerably smoothly. 

   "wait a minute," mark said, closing the book when he noticed donghyuck had a habit in his english speech. "repeat after me," mark said in english. donghyuck nodded and waiting for him to speak. "alright the first word; 'ask'," he waited before donghyuck softly repeated the word, looking partially confused as to where this was going. "but what you keep pronouncing the word as," mark continued in english though slowly, "is 'axe'." "axe?" donghyuck repeated, a puzzled expression covering his face  now. 

   mark couldn't help the way his lips curved upwards as he tried as hard as he could to suppress the grin that was threatening to show. "mhm," he said, averting his eyes to the table. "it's a common mistake for english speakers when it's not their first language, but for the physical english exam, it might help a bit to have a few advantages in pronunciation," he now explained in korean.

   a look of desperation came across donghyuck's face as he let out a tired sigh, "i hate english," he mumbled, "at this rate i'll never catch up." "hey don't worry about it," mark reassured him, pulling off his glasses and setting them on the table. "your school before didn't give you the same lessons that they teach here so it's not your fault anyway. all we can do is our best and hope that the results with come out well and show off our effort."

   donghyuck seemed a bit more encouraged but continued to look at their spread out books and notes glumly. "if i fail i'll buy you lunch or something because i really do appreciate you taking your time to help me out and i'd hate if it were all a waste," he finally said, looking up once more. "first of all, it's not a waste, and secondly if you pass," mark began, "i'll take you out to lunch."

   they both made eye contact and flushed unnecessarily, turning to look in different directions. 

   the blonde fixed his composure and cleared his throat, checking his watch. "we've been working for a while, do you wanna take a break?" "that sounds great," donghyuck beamed. "i could use some fresh air actually."

   they left their things scattered on the library table and mark led them to the third floor. "what are we doing here?" donghyuck asked, following him regardless. "i don't really feel like running into other people, so i thought a secluded area might be better... is it okay?" mark asked. donghyuck nodded and ignored the butterflies in his stomach. he soon recognized the place that mark had once taken him to before, and before he knew it, they had both climbed up the ladder and were now on the empty roof.

   "how'd you find this place anyways?" donghyuck inquired, swinging his legs over the ledge as he had done the prior time as well. "actually," mark smiled a bit, sitting down next to the ravenette, "it was kind of on accident. i was skipping class one day since i'd forgotten to do my assignment." donghyuck looked surprised, "you skipping class? i've only seen you late to class once and you had a good reason behind it. i can't imagine you skipping entirely." mark laughed. 

   "well i was in freshman year back then and had only been to school for a couple of weeks. since the school year starts in summer and i'd joined after winter break, i was the new kid and got too many stares. a lot of people didn't even know i spoke korean and talked about me while i was directly standing next to them, so with all the unwanted attention that i was receiving, something as small as forgetting an assignment felt like a big deal at the time. i guess i just decided to run away from my problems one day and wandered through the halls looking for a place to hide and wait out the period when i found this place."

   "it's weird imaging you as the new kid," donghyuck said softly, staring off at the sunset as a warm glow settled around them. "oh yeah?" mark asked, watching donghyuck carefully. "how so?" "i'm not sure," donghyuck said quietly, seemingly entranced in the view. "you're like 'the mark lee' you know? there's not a day when i don't hear someone mention you, and you're the best basketball player at school. you take being the team leader seriously too, i think that's why everyone says your name with so much respect."

   mark grew aware that the younger was unintentionally rambling as his thoughts ran free, attention somewhere else. he didn't stop him though, only listening and wondering how he so easily kept mark's full attention without even trying.

   "you seem to do everything right around here. you're popular, talented, and smart. not to mention just an overall good person. you're helping me study for no reason for fucks sake," donghyuck let out the smallest yet emotionless laugh. for a moment, mark thought that donghyuck had snapped back into reality and would stop talking, but all he did was take a sharp breath and start talking again.

   "i've never met anyone like you. it's almost... annoying," he said, face scrunching in what looked like frustration. mark had to hold back his laugh but his smile spread across his lips without a hint of secrecy. 

   "why would someone like you even spend time with me?" the younger said, continuing. his words merged together, and his speaking grew slower. "sometimes it doesn't feel real, you know? sometimes you don't feel real. i'm glad you're real though."

   "i'm glad you're real too," mark whispered softly. 

   donghyuck turned his head to look at him as if just realizing that he was there. if he noticed the incredibly fond expression on mark's face, he didn't mention it. and rather than turning a light shade of pink which mark expected, he simply looked down at the cement roof and the small distance between his and mark's hands.

   a childish smile played at his lips as he took his index and middle finger, and pretended that his hand was walking over to mark's. he tapped mark's hand and whispered, "psst." then he took his hand and interlocked their fingers, looking proud and satisfied with himself as mark's calloused hands from exercise and basketball, met donghyuck's fragile and soft ones.

   finally he looked up at mark again and yawned, blinking blankly. he used his free hand to beckon the older male over until mark had scooted close by his side. donghyuck leaned in and cupped a hand by mark's ear, saying softly but definitely loud enough for mark to hear;

   "i think i like you."

   without warning, he collapsed on mark's chest, causing them both to fall back. luckily, mark caught donghyuck in time and protected his own head so that he wouldn't get hurt. for a moment he was alarmed before realising that the younger had only fallen asleep. 

   heart pounding in his chest, mark pulled donghyuck closer to him and rubbed his knuckles rhythmically with the pad of his thumb. he sighed and closed his eyes, wishing only that donghyuck would've stayed up a little longer, so he could tell him that he liked him too.

-----

word count: 2369

school's a bitch and so is sm

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾