three months had passed, and donghyuck had learned to adjust to the boarding school. he would walk to homeroom class with mark on mondays, thursdays, and fridays, and have math classes and science classes together on tuesdays and fridays. he had art with renjun on wednesdays and fridays, and english with jaemin on mondays as well as thursdays. last but not least, donghyuck shared geography and history with jeno on wednesdays. it was a lot to memorize at first, but donghyuck quickly got the hang of it. 

   today was friday, which meant he had a lot of classes with mark, and dance practice after class with jaemin. the sun kissed male buttoned up his shirt in the mirror before taking a double take. he would be with the seniors, maybe it wouldn't hurt to unbutton one or two of them.

   his tan skin and collar bones were revealed, and he took a step back, still looking at himself in the mirror. he looked like himself, yet at the same time, he didn't. it was new and... refreshing? the small feeling of satisfaction made him undo one last button and untuck his shirt, letting it hang loosely.

   "you ready, hyuck?" mark asked, drying his hair with a towel and stepping into the bathroom that donghyuck was occupying. his eyes scanned the male's undone shirt buttons and accidentally stared longer than intended. "you uh," mark's gaze flickered up to the younger's eyes as he licked his bottom lip subtly, "you changed your look a bit."

   donghyuck nodded, feeling self conscious. "is it weird?" he asked. mark shook his head, tossing the towel he had been using in the laundry basket and ruffling his hair with a hand, he took one last stare at donghyuck and swallowed hard, "i think it's nice."

   "you're gonna be late if you don't get going soon," yangyang stuck his head in the bathroom, tapping his wrist watch. "yeah, you're right," mark agreed, looking over his shoulder and thanking the chinese male. "i'll just grab my books," donghyuck squeezed past mark and into the bedroom area.

   the two set off to class shortly after and walked together through the fairly busy hallways. what donghyuck had quickly picked up on was the way that everyone seemed to know or like mark. whenever they walked together, they could hardly go five minutes without someone smiling and waving at mark or patting him on the back. the shorter male would've thought it was nice if the expression on mark's face hadn't been so unreadable. was that pleasure or something else?

   he brushed off his curiosity and focused on getting to class when someone else greeted mark in a friendly matter. donghyuck looked towards the floor as he always did, unintentionally playing with his fingers to keep himself busy. he waited for the person to walk away, but when he noticed that they didn't and that mark had stopped walking beside him, he stopped in his place and tuned in.

   "i'm actually on my way to class right now," mark said, lips slightly down turned, "shouldn't you be too?" the other senior threw his head back with a laugh, "well some of the guys on the team and i wanted to do a small practice this morning so i got an excuse pass from the teacher. just this one move please? we've all been trying to remember the steps all morning."

   mark tilted his head down, hair covering his eyes. he was obviously weighing his options. "sorry hyuck, is it alright if i help out some of the boys and meet you in class later?" "o-oh," donghyuck was slightly surprised to be brought into the conversation, "sure, i'll meet you later," he nodded, hugging his books to his chest just a little more.

   the elder shot him one last apologetic look before his friend and teammate dragged him away in the direction of the gymnasium. now, alone, donghyuck felt the frequent stares that followed him as he walked. even though no one said it to his face, everyone knew that people were calling him 'the junior that likes mark'. in which way they meant the word 'like', he had no idea. it bothered him nonetheless. he didn't like titles, and he didn't like being talked about either. 

   everywhere he went, he would hear subtle whispers with the name they liked to call him. it was impossible for jaemin and jeno, as well as mark to not know about it at this point.

   ignoring the stares as well as he could, he speedily made his way to class. there was one part on the way to class that donghyuck didn't like. it was a long hallway with no windows, and the door on the far end was where class took place. the hallway was almost always empty because no one really wanted to be there unless they had class. walking down it by himself, made the trip feel longer. 

   his finger tips nearly brushed the door knob when someone called out to him, causing his heart to drop in the pit of his stomach. 

   "hey fag, come over here."

   the ravenette froze in place, hand still extended, and books still being held on to tightly. he wanted to convince himself that the guy hadn't been talking to him, but he couldn't ignore the reality that was quickly settling. as much as he wanted to ignore him, he could tell that the person was a senior just by the tone of his voice. even with doyoung on his side, he still had science and math classes with other seniors. the thought of the one that had just spoken to him being in one of his classes made him turn around on his heel to face them.

   "were you talking to me?" donghyuck asked, forcing himself to look up. "do you see anyone else here?" the student chuckled. the younger shook his head, nerves kicking in. "do i know you?" he asked, voice barely audible. "no, but you're about to," he said, walking closer to donghyuck. "i'm daeshim, a senior." the name sounded familiar, but donghyuck couldn't recall where he would've heard his name before. 

   "i'm in your math class. you made quite the scene on your first day," he smiled almost maliciously. "oh," donghyuck replied. a group of students ran by on the opposite side of the hall, laughing and shouting. a few seconds later the bell rang, signalling the start of class. as soon as the hollow rings of the bell stopped, a long silence spread over them. 

   moments passed until daeshim took another step forward, causing donghyuck to step back. the action repeated again and again, until donghyuck felt the heel of his foot meet the wall behind him. he let out a small gasp of surprise and the space between them was so small that donghyuck could feel daeshim's body heat radiating off of him. 

   "listen close because i'm only going to say it once," daeshim said, voice low and demanding. the ravenette nodded his head, unable to meet the older's gaze. "being gay isn't accepted here. fuck off or your life will become a living hell."

   his words made donghyuck tremble and his heartbeat pick up. "i-i'm not gay!" he said desperately. there was no doubt in his mind that daeshim really could make his life hell, and that was the last thing he wanted. 

   the taller chuckled, stepping back and straightening out his clothes. "don't cross that line, lee donghyuck." the said male watched as the other walked away and slipped into the classroom undetected. meanwhile, he remained in the hallway, trying to stop the shaking and processing everything that happened. 

   "'the junior that likes mark'," donghyuck mumbled to himself, swallowing the lump in his throat. 

   "so that's what they meant."

---

   donghyuck set his things down and immediately tried to get comfortable. he enjoyed art class a lot which surprised him as soon as he came to the realization that it was true. "hi donghyuck," a familiar voice said, sliding in the seat next to him. "renjun," he said back, startled to see the chinese male. 

   the two didn't interact much since the day they drew together outside, so the smooth interaction that they shared now was quite unexpected. neither got to say another word as the teacher stepped in, clapping her hands and declaring silence. she was wearing an apron tied around her waist with her hair in a bun. "today," she began, lifting a large plastic container off the ground and placing it on one of the two large picnic tables she had set up in the front of the classroom. 

   the teacher grabbed another container from within the original one and held it up, "we are going to begin our art research on clay and molding still figures." she gave a few examples of still figures that were possible candidates of replicating before mentioning something that donghyuck could already see the end to. 

   "in my art class, i want everyone to not only learn different ways to express themselves, but to also understand the points of views of others. therefore, i want everyone to group up into pairs and mold the same thing using clay. just make sure to replicate your model however you see it as an individual, rather than something that you think everyone will understand."

   a tap on donghyuck's shoulder signalled that his suspicion had been right. "do you want to team up?" renjun asked, looking excited. there was a brief moment where donghyuck wanted to decline, but he thought about it. there wasn't a definite that he'd find a partner and there was honestly nothing wrong with renjun. he just couldn't stand the thought of hurting jaemin or jeno by being caught together with him. when he seriously thought it over, the chances of getting caught during their twice a week art classes were highly unlikely, so he decided to give him a chance.

   "sure, sounds fun," donghyuck showed a genuine smile, glad to see that renjun only looked happier.

   the teacher explained a few more details about the project and explained that they were only to plan the molds out during the remaining time of that class. the real art would begin next week.

   "what do you think?" renjun asked after the two of them had moved to the back corner of the room, far from the chaos near the center. they wanted a more peaceful environment to decide what their model would be. renjun sat across the table from him, sketching something lightly onto a sheet of paper. "i'm not sure," donghyuck hummed, eyes looking out the window. the rain had started after lunch and the sudden dark sky seemed to bring down donghyuck's mood with it. no matter how distracted he tried to keep himself, the scene from the hallway in the morning couldn't get out of his head.

   the sun kissed male rest his arms on the desk and laid his head down, still looking towards the gloomy weather outside. the pond along with the big willow tree standing proudly behind it was well in his sight of vision. there were no ducks today. if i were a duck, i wouldn't want to be out there either, donghyuck thought to himself with a small sigh.

   "pretty," renjun suddenly said softly. donghyuck couldn't help the way his cheeks heated up and he jerked his head upwards. the brief eye contact they shared gave away how renjun hadn't realized he'd said his thought out loud.

   he blinked rapidly and stuttered, "i-i meant the tree outside- not you, in case you were wonder- well you are pretty, but i meant the," donghyuck interrupted him. "it's okay, i got it," he chuckled, hiding the slight discomfort in his own voice. 

   donghyuck's gaze returned back to the window. "we could use the tree as a model?" renjun frowned, "there's a lot of detail in that. if we do the tree we're going to need to make sure we catch even the smallest parts." the younger shook his head, "this is just from our point of view, so it doesn't matter if you see it with hundreds of leaves, or one. it's up to you, really."

   a simple rhythm of tapping came from renjun's pencil as he thought.

   tap. tap. tap.

   tap. tap. t—

   "let's do the tree then."

---

   donghyuck hopped around awkwardly as he tried to put on one shoe. just as his foot slid in comfortably, there was a knock on the door. the door swung open before donghyuck could say anything, and in strolled jaemin. "why's the locker room so empty today?" he asked immediately, looking around.

   "i'm not sure," donghyuck shrugged. "also i'm almost rea-, wait. why are you still in school uniform?" "ah right," jaemin smiled, running his hand through his brown locks. "no dance practice today, there's an upcoming music event and a lot of the members volunteered to help set up." "oh," donghyuck said. "if i'd known i would've gone too. what a shame," he began untying his laces. 

   jaemin walked around as donghyuck undressed and put back on the stricter uniform. "what are you up to now? you have a free afternoon," jaemin mentioned as they left the locker room together. donghyuck thought for a moment before saying, "i think i'll go ahead and finish off some homework and then do a bit of studying for english. it's been such a pain in the ass recently."

   "boring," jaemin whined.

   donghyuck stuck his tongue out at him, and they entered the dorm room together. "hey yangyang," jaemin waved, donghyuck following after him. "you're heading out?" the shorter male asked, taking notice in the way yangyang was dressed in regular teenager attire. 

   "yeah, my family flew in to catch up with old friends in the area for the weekend, so i got special permission to go out today. i'll most likely be pretty busy until monday actually," he paused and visibly winced. "i'm going to have so many assignments to do," he said, groaning.

   "good luck with that," jaemin laughed. "what are the plans for today?" jaemin and donghyuck hovered around the youngest as he seemed most interesting at the time. "a big family dinner. my mom said she was going to cook and invite her friends. it should be fun," he said, zipping up a backpack. "i'll be back sunday night, so i can tell you guys about it then, if you want," he offered. 

   jaemin and donghyuck shared a look before nodding. "sounds like a plan," donghyuck said. they exchanged small hugs before yangyang walked out, waving. "see you guys in a few days."

   as soon as the chinese male was gone, jaemin sighed and sunk into his bed. "i wanna go out and have fun too," he said, voice muffled by his pillow. donghyuck giggled from where he stood, gathering his study material. "since i'm doing most of my homework today, we could go out tommorow if you want," he suggested. "you, me, jeno, and mark too if possible."

   jaemin sat up instantly, "that's exactly what i need, what we need," he grinned. donghyuck felt the corners of his lips twitch up while he could already see the gears turning in jaemin's head. "i know you're new around here, so i'll plan everything out and make sure jeno and mark come too. for now, you go study while i take care of everything."

   donghyuck raised a brow at him, "i just have to be ready?" "yep," jaemin relaxed on his bed again. "it'll be a lot of fun, and a stress reliever from school. trust me."

   "what ever you say," donghyuck smiled teasingly before heading for the library. 

   maybe a day out with friends was exactly what he needed right now.

-----

word count: 2636

hmm... so i published that draft i mentioned-

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾