𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐍𝐨𝐰 || 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐨

Chapter 8 : Stubborn

The following week, Mark feels a bit nervous —not that he’s going to admit it— because he has been giving to his old-enemy or whatever they’re now more time than he ever thought he would. Mark passed the afternoon from yesterday looking for old stuff from his volleyball team where he explained easy stuff for different positions.

So when Jeno comes in, Mark’s voice sounds a bit high pitched from his excited state and startles his teammate.

Clearing his throat to save future embarrassments, Mark says again, “So, casually, yesterday I was checking stuff from my old team and found a few tips for good serves.”

Jeno drops his belongings on the floor as he locks eyes with Mark. “How lucky I am huh? I’m glad casually you found it,” He draws ‘casually’ a bit too much for Mark’s liking.

“Yeah,” Mark murmurs. “Casually.”

He’s starting to hate that word.

“So, what did you get me?” Jeno asks, playfully. Arms crossed over his bluish t-shirt, wrinkling the Adidas logo.

Mark bents down and rummages his sport bag, putting aside his showering stuff and pulls out his grey laptop.

“Oh shit, you’re even going to make it fancy,”

“Shut up.” Mark grunts, placing it on a bench and sitting cross-legged on the floor as he looks for the document. From the corner of his eye Mark notices Jeno taking a seat an arm-length away from him, but enough to have a good view of the screen.

Mark passes the slides while explaining the content.

“I think that if you nail those, we can go for a flying serve with steps, how that sounds?”

“It sounds like my neck breaking on the floor.”

Mark blinks and then laughs, craning his neck and catching Jeno's sheepish smile. It must be weird for him too to try to ease the atmosphere and get along with someone that he sort of hated for three years and he has to work with now.

As much as Mark would like to say ‘have faith in me, I’ll help you’ he’s not quite sure Jeno can believe him just yet and Mark doesn’t blame him. This sudden kind of friendship was forced but as time goes by, Mark doesn’t feel that irritating feeling whenever he sees his teammate.

“Let’s try it,” Mark gets up, raising his arms and stretching then over his head.

“No promises of a good performance,” Jeno tries to play it cool but Mark notices him looking a bit nervous.

Mark has observed that Jeno likes to play around too much but sometimes he uses it to hide his insecurities.

“Don’t worry, actually I need to practice my serves too,” Mark lies.

Jeno looks at him sideways and Mark knows he has been caught but Jeno doesn’t say anything.

They practicing together become a routine. Initially it was uncomfortable but as weeks passed by they grew comfortable with each other. Mark would busy himself with his phone until Jeno showed up and then their practice would begin —even their warm ups have become the same ones.

“Set it hi—“

“High,” Jeno finishes for him and rolls his eyes. “You’re so stubborn with showing your strength. You’re putting too much pressure on your bad knee.”

Mark flushes, hand coming up to scratch his nape. “So you noticed. Most people think I just slip.”

Jeno is pretty much offended. “I’m not most people.”

And yeah, he’s not. Jeno has been making his way through Mark’s daily life as if he always belonged there. Jeno is actually very witty, he comes up with the most absurd but brilliant ideas. Mark finds himself staying longer after their practice sessions just for the sake of enjoying the other’s company.

One night, Mark realizes they’ve been there longer than planned when Jaemin calls him demanding where the fuck was he —literal words. Jeno had to cover his upcoming laugh when he heard Jaemin whining like a baby because Jeno was stealing his best friend from him.

“Why don’t you try tips? You still have to jump but the pressure will be lower.”

“Tips,” Mark repeats with bitterness. “Of course you would recommend it. It pissed me off to no end. You did them on purpose in high school, didn’t you?”

Jeno shrugs as he smirks. “Maybe?”

Mark groans. “I seriously hated you for that.”

“You don’t hate me anymore?”

The tips of Mark’s ears redden. It’s not like they’re now the best friends ever, but they somehow buried their enmity somewhere along with a bunch of Kit-Kat’s wrappings —much to their coach’s despair.

So he goes for an almost inaudible, “Shut up.”

A/n : The ice is breaking :)