RIBS, NCT DREAM

TWENTY ONE

tw: homophobia

THE GAME WAS OVER. As expected, their school won. The game was important, but that certainly didn't mean their opponent was good. Not to boost his own ego, but Mark was an exceptional player.

(Mark would never admit this out loud but it had to do with a certain person in the crowd that he played to his fullest potential.)

After getting cleaned up, he sent the text to Hyuck, asking him to meet outside.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

IMESSAGE: HYUCK

mark:
hyuck!! i have something to tell u
meet me by the end of the parking lot?

hyuck:
yes u BASKETBALL LEGEND
U DID GREAT THIS GAME
MY CRUSH IS A GOD <33

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Mark blushed at the compliment. It made him very satisfied, knowing he succeeded at impressing Donghyuck.

"Bye guys, great game today!" Mark said goodbyes to his teammates as he left with Taeyong, getting goodbyes back.

Mark saw Jaehyun waiting outside the locker room, Jaehyun holding the flowers in his hand.

"For you," Jaehyun gave Mark the bouquet. "Wonderful game, both of you, as always." He kissed Taeyong on the cheek.

"Thanks baby," Taeyong smiled at his boyfriend then turned to Mark. "Good luck Mark," Taeyong said, "text me when you're done so we can go home together."

"Thanks hyung, you played well today!"

The two older boys stood by the front entrance of the school. Mark went through the front doors and made his way towards the parking lot. He smiled to himself, feeling giddy at the idea of finally being able to ask Donghyuck to be his.

As Mark made his way down the parking lot, he saw the outline of Donghyuck. He smiled wider, but then, he saw more than one outline. When he heard yelling, he dropped the flowers and jogged towards the group of people.

"You're wearing Mark's jersey? No fucking way," A girl laughed.

"You're finally wearing some boy clothes though! That's an improvement!" Another girl taunted him, "Although, you seem to be wearing a skirt today, freak." She tugged at his skirt.

"Did you steal the jersey or something?" This time, the voice was from a boy.

Mark walked closer, finally being able to see Donghyuck and 3 other people with him.

"Hey!" Mark yelled, "What the hell is going on?"

Everyone turned to face him. Donghyuck was crying, and Mark felt himself getting angry.

"Mark, the gay kid is wearing your jersey. Come on now, Donghyuck, give it back to him."

Mark was close enough to identify the 3 strangers. It was Hunter, his ex-best friend, with two other girls he didn't even recognize.

"He has it because I wanted him to have it." Mark said.

There was a moment of silence. Then, Hunter laughed, "Who would've thought? Mark Lee, a fucking gay. Although, I can't say I didn't expect it, since you always stood up for those people. It was only a matter of time since you'd turn into a freak like them."