Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 16

After a week or so, Renjun had started taking up residence in the corner of the drama studio whenever Jaemin and Donghyuck were there, muttering something about how incredibly sad it was to eat lunch on his own when they had questioned him on it. He never said anything, and he always had a novel or a textbook in his lap while the rest of the room loudly talked over each other, but Donghyuck caught him watching them several times when he'd looked over. Renjun denied it when asked, but the younger boy suspected he was a lot more interested in what was happening around him than he would admit.

It wasn't the normal Donghyuck was used to, but it surprised him how quickly he fell into the familiarity of a routine, and he actually found himself relaxing and allowing himself to enjoy the ride at times. He continued to experience twinges of guilt whenever he dwelled on all the loved ones he hadn't seen in over a month--people who he still missed like a hole in his heart--but he knew he was just making the best of the situation. If he enjoyed aspects of it now and then, he hoped they wouldn't judge him for it if they knew.

--

"You look tired." Jaemin greeted him with finger-guns as Donghyuck slid onto the bench next to him, fingers already groping around in his backpack for his lunch. Nudging Jaemin's sandwich aside to make room for his elbows, he slumped down onto the tabletop and sighed.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jaemin-ah," he muttered. Jaemin didn't respond to that, instead shoving a snack pack under Donghyuck's nose. He was half tempted to turn it down, just to spite Jaemin for his suggestion that he looked anything less than spectacular, but the dark circles he'd seen in the mirror that morning were testament to the fact that Jaemin wasn't far off the mark. "I had an English essay due this morning. I barely slept."

"I thought you finished it by eleven," Renjun said accusingly, as he dropped his bag down on the floor next to Donghyuck's and claimed the seat opposite. "You told me when I called you at midnight that it was done." He waggled a finger disparagingly in Donghyuck's face and frowned down at him. "This doesn't look like it was finished early."

"I wanted it to be perfect." Letting his eyes droop, Donghyuck shifted to lean against Jaemin, deciding that the tabletop was entirely too cold to allow him to nap through lunch like he wanted to. Jaemin accommodated him without complaint, supporting him with an outstretched arm behind his back, and continued to pile food into his mouth with his free hand.

"You really don't have to torture yourself like this, Hyuck. One bad grade isn't going to kill anyone." He didn't have to see Renjun to picture the disapproving look on his face. He'd been forced to admit to both of them why he was so keen to maintain good grades, when he'd fallen asleep at lunch two days in a row the previous week.

Renjun had made the salient point that he hadn't had to do school work like this for years and it was never going to be as easy as it would have been for the other Hyuck, but he hadn't listened. They didn't like it, and Renjun had stepped up his daily check-in calls and homework exchange programme to compensate, but he had insisted. Hence why he currently felt like he was ready to face plant into Jaemin's lap.

"You need a break," Renjun continued, when Donghyuck didn't argue with him. The tone of his voice suggested that he had won some sort of victory over Donghyuck's stubbornness, and Hyuck didn't have the energy to crack an eyelid and inform him that his compliance was mainly because he was half-asleep. "You're coming to the game tonight, right?"

He did react to that, blinking slowly as his eyes focused on Renjun's slightly blurry face. "Yeah," he said. "That's why I stayed up so late and started the math assignment after I was done with Shakespeare. I'm not missing it."

He had missed the soccer game the previous week, the last friendly game of the season, and Renjun had made him promise to come to this one. It was the first time this year that the school would turn out en-masse for a sporting event, Renjun had explained, and he wanted the three of them to show some school spirit--and to spend a couple of hours ogling Jeno, but he hadn't actually said that part out loud.