"You know, I never hated you, I was just scared that you hated me."
"I could never hate you, I just don't know what to do around you. I guess that, I dunno, I get nervous around you..."
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Renjun Fencing AU coming soon!
My favorite part of the day has finally arrived...fencing practice! I arrive in the gym, followed by Minnie. I see my three coaches standing in the center of the gym holding clipboards, waiting for everyone to arrive. I didn't bring my gear with me today as the coaches sent a text to the team chat letting us know not to bring our gear today. After a few minutes, both teams arrive waiting for the instructions for today.
"Good afternoon, I hope that everyone had a good academic day today at school," Coach Irene starts. Everyone nods their heads.
"Well, today, we're going to do something different," she continues. "You guys may be wondering why we asked you not to bring your gear in today. Well we have our first competition coming up, and we need to do everything in order to prepare you. Now we have been practicing and playing around with strategy for the past couple days, but today, we're gonna be hitting the pools!" Everyone looks around in confusion.
"I'm sorry Coach, the swimming pools?" Mark asks.
"Yes sir," Coach Dejun adds. "Swimming really helps to train your muscles, but also helps with core strength, and expanding your lungs as well. Fencing takes a lot of stamina, and sometimes, it can be hard to breathe with a mask on after a long and hard bout. Swimming will help you learn to control your breathing while still staying active." We all nod our heads in agreement.
"Well what are you waiting for? Bring your bathing suits with you and head over to the swimming pool locker rooms to get changed."
Everyone heads back to the locker rooms to grab their stuff, and we make our way over to the swimming facilities. As we're walking down the hall, I see Renjun walking behind everyone else, not really joining in on conversations. I decide to wait for him so I can walk with him.
"Hey Renjun," I say. He looks at me and hums in response. We don't really say anything to each other until Renjun breaks the silence.
"I saw the fight that you had with Lia today in the cafeteria."
"Well, I-I wouldn't necessarily call it a fight. More l-like me telling her off for doing something wrong," I stutter. Wait, why am I stuttering???? I hear him lightly chuckle at my response. We finally reach the swimming facilities, so we split off to go get changed.
As I'm getting changed into my bathing suit, I can hear Minnie and Aera having a conversation with Julia about Mark and how they've known each other for a really long time. "Yeah, he's kind of stupid sometimes, but I still love him," Julia laughs. My mind goes back to earlier this afternoon when Mark lifted my chin up so that I could face him. I smile at the thought of Mark trying to comfort me, but then push that thought aside. After I'm finished with changing, I walk out to the pool area with the rest of the girls.
Bathing suit:
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The boys are already in the pool getting warmed up when I walk out. I can feel them staring at me, which makes me slightly uncomfortable, but I decide to ignore it. I head to my lane which is in between Jeno and Mark.
Our task was to swim about 75 laps. I surprised myself today, learning that I was a pretty decent and pretty fast swimmer. I was one of the first ones to finish, followed by Mark. "Hey, look who decided to be super speedy in swimming today huh," Mark says as he gives me a high five. We start talking and laughing about some other things as we wait for the other fencers to finish. I was so immersed in our conversation that I didn't see Renjun looking at me the entire time.
Renjun POV:
I had just finished swimming the 75 laps with Jeno when I saw Aria and Mark talking and laughing by the side of the pool. I felt that weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I didn't like it at all. As I continued to stare at them, Jeno was looking at me with one eyebrow raised. "Now I wonder what Renjun could be thinking about," he says with a bit of a smirk on his face. "Oh shut up," I say while splashing him in the face. "You definitely like her don't you hyung," he asks. "Does she even remember who you are?" "I don't think so," I say. "I mean we only ever met once before this at a fencing competition 3 years ago." Jeno shakes his head in understanding. "Well, I think you should confess to her, but try to get closer to her first." I know I could never do that, as I would get too shy. "Seriously, shut up," I say before splashing him in the face again. "THAT'S IT!" Jeno screams starting a water fight with me. This catches the attention of the rest of the team, eventually having everyone join in the fun.
After our practice today, I head to the showers to get washed up before heading home. After cleaning up, I hear Mark talking to Haechan about something. I can't help myself and eavesdrop on the conversation.
"I saw you and Aria talking after swimming 75 laps," Haechan says.
"Dude, literally shut up, that doesn't mean anything," Mark says as he puts his wet bathing suit into a plastic bag.
"Uhh, it might! I mean, I think you like her, and who knows, maybe your feelings are mutual!"
"I guess I do like her though, but I think she likes someone else," Mark says. WAIT, SHE LIKES ANOTHER GUY?? Hmm, now I'm curious about this whole thing. I try to forget about the conversation that I just overheard, so I grab my stuff and head out the door. As I'm about to step outside, I see Aria talking to Julia about the upcoming fencing match. She sees me and smiles while waving goodbye to me. I'm not sure why, but just seeing her smiling at me pisses me off especially since she was hanging out with Mark earlier. I may her no mind and make my way to my car.
