upstaged || markhyuck

26: right place.

mark was restless as he got in his car and pulled out of the school parking lot. he drove, the universe soundtrack playing over his speakers, chewing on his lip as his gaze was focused on the road. but his mind was somewhere else.

"well, fuck," he sighed out, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he stopped at a red light. he tapped repetitively until he had begun to annoy himself. "honestly, fuck you, lee donghyuck!"

shit, the window's open. mark's head jerked to the side, where the middle aged driver in the lane next to him was giving him a disapproving look.

mark mumbled an awkward apology, bowing his head, only to pull off late when the traffic lights turned green, the drivers behind him beeping impatiently. he managed to resist cursing loudly at the lot of them, too.

he drove to the basketball courts a few blocks from his house, pulling into the small parking lot as the sunset painted everything in warm orange.

mark got out of the car, looking around for his hyung, and walked towards the court where five guys were playing.

"hey, mark!" one yelled, a grin crossing his face.

"johnny-hyung," mark exclaimed, jogging over.

"man, you never come by anymore," the tall brunette complained.

"hey, i'm busy with the musical," mark said defensively. "plus none of you were here last time. sicheng, hi," he added, noting the presence of the dance teacher from the local studio.

"hello," sicheng said with a smile, waving back.

"how's the show going? are they good dancers?" mark asked, grinning back.

sicheng nodded, pushing the sleeve of his loose t-shirt back over his shoulders, his tightly-muscled lean arms on display. "sing good, dance good," he confirmed.

"hello, i'm here, too?" said jungwoo. "could you really forget this face?"

"yes," another boy deadpanned. a brown-haired boy stifled a laugh.

"shut up, yuta," jungwoo whined, hitting the ball out of his hands and running off with it.

"what happened to 'nakamoto jungwoo', huh?" yuta demanded, sprinting off after him and catching him in a headlock. "oh, hey, mark," he called over as jungwoo whined and struggled in the tough-love kind of embrace.

"taeyong's not here, by the way," johnny said, leaning on the railings by the edge of the pitch. he brushed a bit of dirt off his gray tank top before folding his buff arms over his chest.

"oh, why?" mark asked. he'd been hoping to speak to taeyong about--

"got a date," johnny answered.

"he's dating someone?"

"my reaction exactly!" yuta yelled from the other side of the court.

jungwoo had managed to get away from the japanese man's strong arms, but was now failing to stop him from getting the ball through the hoop time and time again.

"oh my god, yuta!" jungwoo whined. "just give me a chance, here!"

"it's not our fault your so bad at this," the brown-haired boy chuckled as he just stood there watching with his hands on his hips.

"go back to china," jungwoo whined.

sicheng jogged over and patted the ball out of yuta's hands, dribbling it away quickly.

"kun-ge!" he yelled with a grin, passing it to the brown-haired boy who ran forward.

"if you guys think you can-" yuta began, but kun was leaping up and tossing the ball through the hoop, making it look as easy as walking.

"kun-ge is best!" sicheng declared, doing a little pirrouete before running and hugging kun tightly.

yuta looked like he might kill a man.

"as you can see, they just can't decide what they're shipping," johnny drawled.

"what?" mark asked, exasperated and confused.

"you wanted to see taeyong?" the tall guy asked instead.

"it doesn't matter now," mark muttered, kicking the ground.

"hey, don't take it out on the ground," johnny said lightly, "the ground never did anything to you."

"maybe i should just go," mark said, turning to go back to his car.

"hey, mark," johnny piped up, catching mark's arm. "is something wrong?"

"no... yes," he said eventually, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"johnny, pass my jacket, i'm cold," jungwoo called.

"get it yourself- oh, for fuck's sake," johnny grunted as he looked up to see jungwoo's soft smile. he stomped over to his pick-up truck and grabbed jungwoo's oversized hoodie from the back, balling it up and chucking it at the boy.

"thank you, hyung!" jungwoo exclaimed, untangling the white hooded zip-up and putting it on.

"you were saying?" johnny said, his eye twitching a little as he leaned against the railing again.

"taeyong's dating someone?" he repeated from earlier.

"oh, yeah," johnny said with a shit-eating grin. "it was all under wraps for months but lately he can't stop talking about the guy. 'he's so cute and smol, his smile is the most adorable thing i've ever seen in my life, his accent is so cute, he makes me uwu-' blah, blah, blah," he mocked his friend, scowling once he was done.

"what's 'uwu'?" mark said.

"no idea," johnny drawled. "what's important is that taeyong is whipped for some dude and we have no clue who he is."

mark's brow furrowed. he thought that taeyong would have at least mentioned the fact that he liked someone. especially after getting mark to admit to liking donghyuck before. but then, mark had never asked that kind of stuff.

"whatcha thinking, mark?" johnny asked.

"doesn't matter," mark replied. he chewed on his lip for a second before turning and walking back to his car. "see you guys soon," he called over his shoulder.

"alright, bye!" johnny said, still a bit confused, the others calling their goodbyes.

mark waved to his hyungs as he drove off, repeatedly hitting at the radio until one of one started playing.

the string of events that had begun with the cast-list for universe being released ran through his mind. and maybe it was because he was on the inside of the situation, but everything seemed to be connected to donghyuck in some way.

the musical seemed to be the cause of the events that broke donghyuck's friendship group apart.

but mark sensed it wasn't over for him just yet. the universe seemed to have it way with putting him in the wrong place at the wrong time.

although, maybe it was the right place.

________________________

nct are feeding us well with vlives again woop woop praise jaehyun

watch out cos shits gon go down in the next chapter

thank u for 6k ily all 💚💚💚

taellipses out x