Slopes

t w e n t y s e v e n

<^>

Mark sighed as looked at the text message on his phone. Taeyong had tasked him with picking up Donghyuck from school which made no fucking sense to Mark because a) Mark didn't have a car to drive, and b) Lee Donghyuck was fully capable of bringing himself to practice on his own. Unfortunately for Mark, however, Taeyong had shut both those points down by letting Mark borrow his car and telling him that "Donghyuck was in detention and wouldn't be allowed to leave without a team member picking him up".

How Donghyuck of all people got into detention, Mark had no clue.

But, nonetheless, there he stood, leaning against Taeyong's car and waiting (im)patiently for Donghyuck to sneak out of detention and head towards him. Okay so maybe sneak out wasn't the best term, because the school knew he had to leave. But apparently, from what Mark could understand, the administration wouldn't let Donghyuck leave on his own in fear he was lying about practice and would just skip school. To compromise, Mark was sent as the fucking middle man as proof that hey! They had a meet tomorrow and Donghyuck had to be there for crunch-time practice.

This whole thing was getting on Mark's nerves. He now remembered why no one liked high schools.

Mark sighed and locked his phone, stuffing it back in his pocket as he heard chattering walking his way. He turned his head to find Donghyuck...and friends? One of them he vaguely recognized, some kid with faded pink hair– but that was it. The others were complete strangers to Mark. Which made sense considering he had never been to Donghyuck's school before.

And Donghyuck...god something about that uniform and the way it fitted Donghyuck's lean body did things to Mark's heart and head. Ugh, he should really stop thinking like that.

"Hey," he said, lifting his hand in greeting as the group of teens approached. Donghyuck smiled at him casually but that same pink haired kid began to squeal and shake Donghyuck's arm like a fucking child.

"LEE DONGHYUCK YOU DID NOT TELL ME YOU GOT HIM AS YOUR BOYTO–"

"Okaaayy! Jaemin! Shut the fuck up!" Donghyuck immediately turned to his friend, lifting his fist in warning. "Jeno, please control your boyfie." One of the other kids, a tall guy with black hair, sighed and pulled the pink haired kid off of Donghyuck's arm. "Sorry, Mark, let me introduce you to this gaggle of geese." Mark nodded, muttering something about enough time for introductions as he checked the time on his phone.

"This," Donghyuck started. "Is Na Jaemin. I think you've met him once, but that was a while ago and I know how shit your memory is so, yeah." He pointed to the very energetic pink haired kid, who smiled at him brightly with a little wave. There was a glint in his eye that made him seem almost manic but Mark chose to ignore it.

"This," Donghyuck continued as he pointed to the black haired kid. "Is his boyfriend, Lee Jeno. He's a little rat-man, but we love him anyway." Jeno rolled his eyes but said nothing as he flashed Mark a pained smile. Oh he liked this guy already.

"And finally we have Hayoon– who isn't supposed to be here right now," Donghyuck muttered the last part out through clenched teeth. The girl, who had been standing to the side in silence this entire time, frowned and crossed her arm over her chest.

"Hey, they said I could come in once a week, and today is that day so shut the fuck up Lee Donghyuck."

"Hey hey hey, no fighting alright." Jaemin put his arm between the two and sighed, giving an apologetic smile to Mark. "Apologies, they get like this quite often. I promise you they're friends. You must be Mark, Donghyuck has said a lot about you."