•four seasons //johnmark//

•winter

Mark woke up to his phone ringing. Who would bother to call him at this hour? As his eyes opened, he saw Donghyuck running around the apartment. Knowing him, he probably lost something.

He reached over for his phone. The blue light felt like it was blinding him. As his vision cleared up, the name Johnny appeared.

Okay, Mark was not expecting that.

"Mark! I hope I didn't wake you"

"Totally not, everything okay?"

"Of course, I was just wondering if you need a ride to the school today. I'll be dropping Ten off later anyways and, he lives by you"

"Probably so, I think Donghyuck is going on a date beforehand"

"Ah, Taeil. Sounds good, I'll text once I'm on my way"

"Thank you, Johnny"

"Of course, see you soon"

Mark must have had a smile on his face because the minute Johnny hanged up, Donghyuck hopped onto the bed.

"Mark, I love you to pieces, but please don't fall for him," Donghyuck said, leaning to rest his head on Mark's shoulder.

"Hyuck, I'm not and, I won't," He responded, reaching over to pat his knee. "You also have no room to talk. You fell for Taeil the minute you saw him."

Donghyuck flushed, "No, it took a while."

"Oh yeah, a whole seven days."

"I take back my statement, I don't love you," Donghyuck announced, getting up from his spot. "On the topic of Taeil, he's picking me up for lunch."

Mark smiled, "Of course he is. Have fun, Hyuck."

Donghyuck gave him one last smile before closing the door. This gave Mark a couple of hours of silence before the game later that night. Tonight was the start of the playoffs and all the trainers were excited. It would be the first year the team had high expectations, and everyone wanted to go far.

It wasn't Mark's first time being apart of a playoff running team. His high school team went far each of his four years. Playoffs were where most of his training memories were made.

Back in Colorado, he took so many videos of his friends during games. His phone occasionally threw them into his memories. Most of them included Jisung and Chenle teasing each other over some random thing. Mark hadn't talked in those two in a while. After he graduated a year before them, they lost contact with each other. It hurt for a bit but, Mark learned that it was part of life.

Mark leaned over to the other side of the bed to check the time. Johnny would be there in five hours. If Mark still had that much time, he figured he might as well make the most of it.

Ever since middle school, Mark collected old albums and some current ones as well. He reached for one and carefully blew the dust off. He cherished the albums dearly but, he does admit that he forgets about them from time to time. But the minute the music starts playing, Mark feels so much relief.

-

Johnny arrived as promised. He and Ten were saying goodbye when Mark walked out. He awkwardly smiled at Ten as he passed by. It wasn't intended, Mark was just awkward to people he didn't know. Mark's mind immediately wanted to relive that brief contact over and over and make himself drown in it. But Johnny started to talk and, Mark made himself focus on him instead.

When they got to the training room, Johnny was immediately sent to work. That didn't surprise Mark though. He went off to find Yuta instead of watching Lewis tape athletes.

"Mark! You're doing timeouts with Johhny tonight," Yuta said, slinging his arm around Mark's shoulder.

Mark raised an eyebrow, "Seriously?"

Doyoung nodded, "Since Jaemin's out again, you get the responsibility."

Mark smiled but, he felt the nerves build in him. He'd never had a hard role during games. Usually, he just held the bottles, but now he had to juggle three things at once.

"You'll be fine, Johnny will make sure of it," Taeil said from his spot beside Yuta.

Mark nodded, he was fine with the fact that he was working timeouts. He just wasn't prepared to be next to Johnny the whole game.

-

"Just follow me," Johnny said once the whistle blew.

The sidelines were crowded beyond belief. Mark could almost feel the player's breaths on his neck. Mark was so close to Johnny too. Everything felt so crazy and dysfunctional.

"Mark, focus on me, okay?" Johnny said, almost sensing his nerves.

Mark nodded, glancing at Johnny once before turning back to the game. Mark honestly knew nothing about the sport. He could name a few positions and maybe some rules but, that was about it. Johnny was very into it though. He jumped at every touchdown made and yelled when a play didn't go their way. It was enjoyable for Mark to see Johnny so excited about something.

As the game went on, Mark finally came to a realization. No matter how hard Mark tried, he couldn't deny what had developed. Mark knew what he was feeling, and it terrified him. It was the one thing Donghyuck made him promise not to happen.

Mark was falling for Johnny, and there was nothing Mark could do about it.