the sun was out by lunch break and donghyuck couldn't have been more relieved. the past three days showed no signs of the rain stopping, but now the sun had finally come out. the ravenette rushed to his dorm room and grabbed the camera he would use. slipping on a light coat for good measure against the chilly breeze outside, donghyuck went to the school grounds and approached the art model. 

   the leaves had been turning shades of red, orange, and yellow when he first arrived at the school, but now they were turning brown and falling off, piling up on the dying grass under the extended branches. donghyuck wondered how it would look in the summer time, where there would be healthy green leaves.

   considering it was early november, the tree was in particularly good shape. it was only a third naked, and it still kept most of the color from mid fall. he stepped around the tree, eyeing the good angles. leaves crunched beneath his feet, and occasionally another leaf would slowly drift down and meet the others.

   as he examined the tree, something beige-ish and almost unnoticeable caught his eye. was that a rope?

   donghyuck balanced himself on his tip-toes, leaning forward and peering at it. it was hard to see since it was hanging from a higher branch, but he noticed it really was a rope. it was tied around a thick branch near the trunk of the tree with a loop at the end. the kind of knot was perfect for a tire swing.

   donghyuck decided to snap a quick picture of it though he wasn't sure why, and proceeded to finally start taking pictures for the project. 

   he and renjun had gotten on much better terms and now art was actually one of his favorite classes. while it had been rocky at the start, it felt like they were on the road to being quite close friends. donghyuck just hoped jaemin and jeno (but mostly jaemin) would never have to find out about it. 

   when he was satisfied with the pictures, he happily headed back in as the wind was picking up, and as he was exiting the dorm in which he had just put back the camera, he ran into someone he'd earlier decided that he was content with never seeing again.

   "oh my god, i'm sorry," he apologized quickly. then his eyes settled on the figure and he immediately took a step back. "oh it's you," donghyuck breathed. "don't sound so disappointed," daeshim laughed. donghyuck kept quiet, hoping that the whole ordeal would end sooner if he didn't speak. daeshim must've noticed as a small frown formed on his face, "you're not curious as to why i'm here in the junior's hall?"

   "it's none of my business," the younger replied, failing to make eye contact. "i was looking for you," daeshim explained, smile returning, "so it is your business." "you've found me," donghyuck faked a smile back, "is this the part where you beat me up and steal my lunch money?"

   "listen to me," daeshim growled, and suddenly donghyuck was caged against the wall, wrists gripped tightly on either side of his head. a small squeak escaped him from the unexpected impact. "don't take this as a joke. i'll have you regretting that you fucked up so badly, you'll be on your knees begging for another chance."

   even if donghyuck had a sly comeback, he was slowly losing oxygen and unable to speak. "you don't know what kind of person you're messing with donghyuck. help yourself out before you get in over your head," daeshim finished. with one last long glare, he released the boy and stepped back. donghyuck sunk to the floor, legs giving in, and chest heaving up and down. he didn't even have time to properly catch his breath before daeshim was gone. 

   was that the only purpose the bastard had come for?

   "donghyuck?" a familiar voice called. the ravenette looked around and eventually his eyes settled on doyoung. he let out a laugh and tried to get to his feet quickly. "hi doyoung," he said, clearing his throat when he noticed how weak it sounded.

   "are you okay? what just happened?" doyoung asked, face filled with concern and confusion. "i uh, tripped and fell," donghyuck lied. the older male shot him a look which clearly stated that he knew he was lying. "what the hell?" he asked, eyes widening as he grabbed donghyuck's hands.

   the younger hadn't even noticed the purple bruises forming on his wrists until then. "explain this," doyoung demanded.

   donghyuck avoided eye contact at all cost, trying to come up with an excuse to get him out of this situation. he needed one believable enough to fool doyoung as the last one clearly hadn't worked. with a sigh he said, "not now, please." he must've sounded desperate enough since doyoung looked in his eyes for a long time and released his hands, breathing out slowly. "let me take you to the nurse at least," he said.

   "thank you," donghyuck hummed as they began their walk to the nurse's office, genuinely grateful that doyoung let it slide this time. he could've given him a hug if it weren't for the fact that he didn't know how close they were yet. did people here like hugs? he suddenly thought. after thinking for a while, he realized he hadn't seen anyone particularly touchy here. it was a bit of a let down considering how much he loved skin ship.

   they arrived at the nurses office and doyoung knocked on the door. there were a few moments of silence which led to even more moments of silence. slowly, doyoung raised his arm and knocked again. once more, silence. 

   doyoung looked at donghyuck who only shrugged, unsure of what to do. doyoung cleared his throat, "miss park, it's kim doyoung from the senior grade and lee donghyuck, a junior. are you in?"

   when there was no response donghyuck spoke up, "maybe she's on break or something." doyoung furrowed his brows and checked the watch on his wrist. (while watches were prohibited from the dress code, considering his higher position in the student body, he got certain special priveleges.)

   "she's usually in at this time. that's bizarre," he said, letting his arm fall back to his side. that's when they both heard something that sounded like a slam.

   "what was that?" donghyuck asked as they both looked at eachother. "i'm not sure," doyoung stared into the direction that it came from. there was a minute where they both stood in the middle of the hallway, trying to not even breathe in case there was another sound like the first. then there it came again.

   "let's go check it out," donghyuck said, adrenaline pumping. "i don't think that's a good idea," doyoung argued. the sun kissed male looked at him with pleading eyes, "what if someone needs our help?"

   "what if we're invading someone's privacy?"

   "there can't be anything dangerous here, let's just go check it out it won't hurt."

   the taller male rolled his eyes and a smile broke out on donghyuck's face. he knew he won this one.

   they jogged in the direction of the earlier sound until they approached a classroom that mostly stayed empty, and two prominent voices could be heard. doyoung froze in his place and grabbed donghyuck's arm gently, holding him back. "i think we should stay out of this. it sounds like someone is fighting."

   "if you turn back now, i'll just carry on alone," donghyuck warned. the look of disapproval was prominent on doyoung face, but once again he gave in. the two stuck to the wall, hanging out by the doorway to hear as much as possible.

   the same noise from earlier came again, but now they could tell that it was the sound of a school desk being pushed over. 

   "i thought i told you to stay out of this!"

   "you know what you did was wrong, don't ignore it. admit it, things went further than you thought they would."

   "i want you to quit this job."

   "why should i quit when i've done nothing wrong?"

   "i want you out of my life! how many times do i need to repeat that?"

   donghyuck was fully absorbed in the conversation, it was clearly two of the teachers who were arguing. the first voice being a young woman, the second being an older man. both were very familiar, and donghyuck blamed skipping breakfast because he couldn't place a name on either of them.

   a tap on his shoulder made him turn around to face doyoung. "we should go," the older whispered. "wait," donghyuck pushed, "just a little longer." "donghyuck," doyoung said seriously, demanding his attention as he raised his voice. 

   luckily the two adults had gotten louder, so doyoung hadn't been heard, but in fear of getting caught, donghyuck gave in. the two slipped away from the door and descended quietly down the hallway until they were a good distance away.

   "who do you think that was?" donghyuck asked, mind buzzing from the recent event. "we're not going to play this game, forget all of that," doyoung ordered. "but obviously one of the teachers did something wrong. maybe we should be taking this a little more seriously," donghyuck said, referring the piece of the argument that they happened to overhear.

   doyoung stopped walking, checking down the hallway in all directions before grabbing donghyuck's shoulders and turning them towards him.

   "donghyuck, i like you a lot, alright? i think you're one of the best juniors we have. i know you're taking a couple of the senior classes too," that made donghyuck tense up. how many people knew about that?  "—you're an excellent guy, one of the few juniors that don't make me want to tear my hair out, but some secrets shouldn't be revealed. whatever we walked in on today, try to forget about it. it's for your own good."

   "but one of our teachers did something bad, maybe they shouldn't even have this job anymore. what if it puts us in danger or something?" he protested. "danger? donghyuck these teachers have been hand selected to ensure us a great future. something like that wouldn't be missed," doyoung explained.

   "okay, maybe there isn't anything dangerous, but do you really want to be taught and led by someone who seems to have kind of a rocky past? one bad enough to start a commotion with another teacher? as a student don't you think we have the right to know what it is too?"

   doyoung let out a frusterated sigh, "if there's one thing you need to know about this school is the less you know, the better. don't go digging up the past as long as you're here. listen to me, whatever you don't know is good for you."

   then doyoung started walking again, leaving donghyuck to make up his mind whether he would follow, or turn back and investigate further. 

   his feet stayed rooted in their place until he raised his left foot, and took a small step forward. carrying mixed emotions with him, he followed behind the senior, slwoly catching up to him.

   once they were level and walking at the same pace again, donghyuck was surprised to see doyoung humming with a pleasant expression on his face, as if they didn't just have a serious conversation where the taller indirectly stated that the school had a fucked up history, and that everyone was purposely ignoring it for the sake of their own protection.

   "what a shame that miss park wasn't in," doyoung said, the corner of his lips turning downwards. "y-yeah, for real."

   and then as if the wind was knocked out of him, it clicked.

   the female voice had been miss park.

---

   donghyuck balled his hand into a fist and then extended them to get more comfortable in the blue latex gloves he had just put on. "here," mark passed him a pair of science goggles which he next pulled over his head and adjusted onto his face.

   they were conducting an experiment on the affect of antibiotics on bacteria, and donghyuck was nervous since he had been lost in thought the entirety of the time that the teacher had been explaining it. he watched hopelessly as mark picked up the gram stain kit first, followed by the bacillus cereus, then the rodospirillum rubrum, and finally the antibiotic discs. he had no idea what they weren't meant to do with that.

   while the events with doyoung which included miss park and daeshim had taken place the day prior, the thoughts were still very much on his mind. it was making it very hard to concentrate. 

   "mark," donghyuck called softly, tugging on the older's shirt. "hmm?" he hummed, turning towards him. "uhm," he tried to word his next sentence as well as possible, "i kind of daydreamed through the explanation of this experiment on accident."

   the canadian lowered his goggles, letting them hang around his neck. he ran a hand through his blonde locks, "don't worry i can explain it to you." looking at all the materials, donghyuck wondered if they would have enough time to repeat the explanations and do the experiement by the end of class.

   "first," mark began, "before we start the experiment, we need to determine whether the bacteria is gram-positive or gram-negative. then we use the things here," he gestured to the table, "to try the effects of various antibiotics on them. of course, we also have to keep notes and fill out this work sheet," he pointed.

   "sounds simple enough, right?" he check on donghyuck. while donghyuck was usually well-prepared and easily good enough to lead mark as they did anything in class, this time he looked completely lost.

   "you know what, on second thought, if both of us try to do this the table might get too busy. why don't you just keep up with the notes and work sheet for today?"

   donghyuck nodded, feeling apologetic, but he figured he'd screw up the project anyway if he tried to help. he removed the gloves and goggles, setting them down neatly. mark began the project shortly after and donghyuck stayed dutiful towards his task. the guilt of forcing the older to do all the work was constantly eating at him as he just couldn't shake off the feeling.

   at one point he found himself just staring at mark, and when he turned to look at him questioningly, donghyuck mouth a very genuine "sorry".

   mark smiled, and that alone told him that it was alright. they continued.

-----

word count: 2439

had to insert a bit of markhyuck at the end

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾