Slopes

t w e n t y t w o

<^>

Donghyuck sighs and puts his hands on his hips. "Why am I here again?"

"Because," Jaemin says, smiling brightly. "You and I need to relax before our exams today. Plus, Sungie was nice enough to buy us lunch."

Jisung, who was playing video games on his phone, looks up. "What!? I never agreed to that~"

"Aww, you're such a good dongsaeng Jisungie~"

"No! I didn't give consent!" The boy swats Donghyuck's hand away, glaring at his hyung. "This is child abuse."

Jaemin gasps and hops off from the swing he was sitting on. "Don't say that Sungie! I would never hit you." He pouts and pinches the boy's cheeks, making Donghyuck laugh.

"Jisung, don't you have exams too?"

The boy looks to the side. "Yeah but we already did ours." He grumbles.

"Shouldn't you be relieved then? You look gloomy about it." Jaemin says, leading his two friends away from the playground and towards a nearby cafè.

"Well," Jisung scratches the back of his neck. "We got our results back..."

Donghyuck groans. "Don't tell me you failed."

"I didn't fail!!"

"What was the mark point then?"

Jisung sighs, walking into the cafè with his shoulders slumped. "A 40% or lower is a fail."

Jaemin eyes his friend from where he stood in the order line. "And what was your grade?"

Jisung flushes in embarrassment. "...42% on average of all my exams."

"You need to get a tutor, and soon."

"No I don't! I still passed!"

"Barely!" Jaemin shoots back. "Now you're definitely paying Sungie."

"God you two are the worst. I hope you both fail your exams."

"Why you little–" Donghyuck grabs Jisung by the ear, pulling hard. The boy writhes around, screeching (not loud enough to draw attention though).

"Ow ow ow! Hyung~ stop~"

"You should care more about your grades. Life isn't all about video games."

Jaemin sneaks Jisung's wallet and quickly takes out his credit card, paying for the food. He puts the drinks and snacks on a tray and walks his two friends over to a booth. "When did you get so responsible Hyuck?"

"What do you mean? I've always been responsible!"

"No you haven't." Jaemin laughs, opening up his straw and stabbing it into the lid of his coffee cup. "I think you've forgotten how you were in middle school."

Jisung snickers, barely missing the slap from Donghyuck. "I forgot how much of an ass you were back then."

"Gee you two really know how to build my ego." Donghyuck says flatly, sipping his banana milk with a pout. "Damn," he mutters.

"What is it?" Jaemin looks at him, raising a brow as Donghyuck begins to unbutton his blazer. "Hey man I don't think this is the place to strip."

"I'm not stripping! It's just hot in here!"

Jisung sighs, speaking with his straw still in his mouth. "Hyung, I think that's just you. Your body gets too hot too easily."

Donghyuck frowns and folds his blazer next to him on the open seat. "Yeah well I don't like it any more than you do. But, I mean," He folds his arms over his chest, his banana milk now locked between them. "It's good practice for snowboarding. The last thing I want is to literally freeze up before a meet or something." Jaemin and Jisung just nod, continuing the conversation elsewhere.

<^>

Mark yawns, the coffee in his hand still quite hot. He sets his stuff down against his designated locker and opens it up, the smell of yesterday's practice lingering, making him gag. "Shit, I need to like...wipe this down or something." He mutters to himself, chucking his gym bag inside and grabbing his gear to change.

When he steps out from the changing room, he's surprised to see Donghyuck panting in the doorway, unclipping his boots. "I thought you weren't allowed to come to practice."

Donghyuck looks up. "Oh it's you." He stretches and leans his board against the window. "Yeah well, these don't seem like school hours, do they?"

"Yeah but aren't you tired? You've been doing exams all week." Mark reasons but Donghyuck only brushes him off.

"Nah, it's fine. The exams aren't hard when you're top of the class."

Mark raises a brow. "I never pegged you to be the studious type."

Donghyuck looks back at him, laughing. "Oh I'm not that type. I'm just really smart."

"I see...Are you done with practice?"

Donghyuck, who was opening his locker and grabbing his change of clothes, nods. "Yeah. I need to go home and tutor my friend..." He sulks at the thought of dealing with a whiney Jaemin.

"At this time of night?"

"A student never sleeps Mark Lee." He steps into the changing room, coming out only moments later. "Well, it's been nice Mark but I gotta go. See you next week." Donghyuck smiles and walks out of the resort, calling someone on the phone and immediately yelling 'Yeah I'm coming you asshole' into it.

Mark frowns. I thought I was promoted to hyung. He sighs. Seems I am still just Mark.

<^>

<Mark is so petty aifheifho>