never not | markhyuck

ten ♣

   three months had passed, and donghyuck had learned to adjust to the boarding school. he would walk to homeroom class with mark on mondays, thursdays, and fridays, and have math classes and science classes together on tuesdays and fridays. he had art with renjun on wednesdays and fridays, and english with jaemin on mondays as well as thursdays. last but not least, donghyuck shared geography and history with jeno on wednesdays. it was a lot to memorize at first, but donghyuck quickly got the hang of it. 

   today was friday, which meant he had a lot of classes with mark, and dance practice after class with jaemin. the sun kissed male buttoned up his shirt in the mirror before taking a double take. he would be with the seniors, maybe it wouldn't hurt to unbutton one or two of them.

   his tan skin and collar bones were revealed, and he took a step back, still looking at himself in the mirror. he looked like himself, yet at the same time, he didn't. it was new and... refreshing? the small feeling of satisfaction made him undo one last button and untuck his shirt, letting it hang loosely.

   "you ready, hyuck?" mark asked, drying his hair with a towel and stepping into the bathroom that donghyuck was occupying. his eyes scanned the male's undone shirt buttons and accidentally stared longer than intended. "you uh," mark's gaze flickered up to the younger's eyes as he licked his bottom lip subtly, "you changed your look a bit."

   donghyuck nodded, feeling self conscious. "is it weird?" he asked. mark shook his head, tossing the towel he had been using in the laundry basket and ruffling his hair with a hand, he took one last stare at donghyuck and swallowed hard, "i think it's nice."

   "you're gonna be late if you don't get going soon," yangyang stuck his head in the bathroom, tapping his wrist watch. "yeah, you're right," mark agreed, looking over his shoulder and thanking the chinese male. "i'll just grab my books," donghyuck squeezed past mark and into the bedroom area.

   the two set off to class shortly after and walked together through the fairly busy hallways. what donghyuck had quickly picked up on was the way that everyone seemed to know or like mark. whenever they walked together, they could hardly go five minutes without someone smiling and waving at mark or patting him on the back. the shorter male would've thought it was nice if the expression on mark's face hadn't been so unreadable. was that pleasure or something else?

   he brushed off his curiosity and focused on getting to class when someone else greeted mark in a friendly matter. donghyuck looked towards the floor as he always did, unintentionally playing with his fingers to keep himself busy. he waited for the person to walk away, but when he noticed that they didn't and that mark had stopped walking beside him, he stopped in his place and tuned in.

   "i'm actually on my way to class right now," mark said, lips slightly down turned, "shouldn't you be too?" the other senior threw his head back with a laugh, "well some of the guys on the team and i wanted to do a small practice this morning so i got an excuse pass from the teacher. just this one move please? we've all been trying to remember the steps all morning."

   mark tilted his head down, hair covering his eyes. he was obviously weighing his options. "sorry hyuck, is it alright if i help out some of the boys and meet you in class later?" "o-oh," donghyuck was slightly surprised to be brought into the conversation, "sure, i'll meet you later," he nodded, hugging his books to his chest just a little more.

   the elder shot him one last apologetic look before his friend and teammate dragged him away in the direction of the gymnasium. now, alone, donghyuck felt the frequent stares that followed him as he walked. even though no one said it to his face, everyone knew that people were calling him 'the junior that likes mark'. in which way they meant the word 'like', he had no idea. it bothered him nonetheless. he didn't like titles, and he didn't like being talked about either.