Mark sighed as Sungchan and him dragged themselves out of the locker room. Practice went well today and he was pleased with it, but the soreness caught him too quickly—still it was worth the effort.
"You coming to eat with us?" Sungchan asked as they both walked up to their lockers.
"Not feeling like having lunch today, I'll pass." Mark responded as he looked at his phone, to see Jaemin's texts.
Nana —
From Nana | We're having lunch with Renjun and Chenle today, be nice!
From Nana | Please Mark!!!!
To Nana | Not having lunch if he's coming...
From Nana | Mark please.
To Nana | Don't make me do that Jaem
To Nana | I'm fine with you being friend with him but don't drag me into this!
To Nana | Y'know how I don't like him!
From Nana | Okay suits you then.
To Nana | Are you mad?
To Nana | Jaem?
To Nana | Yah Na Jaemin?
To Nana | Don't leave me on delivered...
Jaemin had been planning on making all of them eat lunch together, and he's been avoiding it—because he didn't really want to have a fight with Jaemin especially about someone they didn't specially know.
At this point of the day the halls were empty, so he just stood there in front of his locker after stuffing his practice bag inside and he waited for Sungchan who jogged back to him after few minutes.
"Are you sure you're not up for lunch, training was hectic you practically ran it like the military..." Sungchan said as he leaned on Mark's locker door.
Mark nodded slowly. "I know but Jaem finally convinced Huang and Zhong to eat with all of you."
Sungchan sighed loudly and Mark did the same, the both of them for two different reason. Mark knew Sungchan was close to Renjun's friend, the boy was practically glued to Sungchan most of the time but he never hung out with them because of course he was suspicious of Mark—well everyone in school was, after what happened between him, Jeno and Donghyuck during summer break before junior year.
"Don't be like that Mark, Chenle's super chill and Renjun's nice!"
"He's nowhere near nice, he is a brat..."
Sungchan rolled his eyes. "You're just saying that because he stood up for himself when Donghyuck was about to bully him, but you do realize that's the kind of behavior everyone's supposed to have around here. Donghyuck's the brat and you're just allowing him to act like that..."
Mark didn't answer. He didn't answer because he knew what Sungchan said was true, and this wasn't the first time one of his friends pointed that out. He felt ashamed of being called out on defending the tanned boy's behavior, but that was the only lasting thing that kept them linked to each other—he should probably let that go for his sake... and his friends' sakes too.
He sighed and Sungchan understood that as an apology, because it was one. Mark had never been good with apologies after his whole life shifted again that summer before junior year. But he was one lucky guy to have friends who understood him without so much as a sigh from him, and they did not usually blame him for his snappy attitude or his wordless answer. But he should really learn how to apologize properly because it wasn't fair for his friends.
Sungchan gave him a little nod accompanied by a soft smile before leaving him to go up to the junior floor, and fetch Jisung and Chenle. Mark watched him disappear at the next corner, and he turned around after a while to walk in the opposite direction to join the central garden.
He stuffed his hands in his varsity jacket and made his way in silence.
When he reached the garden, he walked far into deep into it and sat at his usual spot—under one of the big tree that was planted there, his back leaning on the hard trunk.
He closed his eyes slowly as he inhaled to clear his mind, because the whole two first month of school burned him out and he hated that because he never had burn out because of school before last year.
A sigh got past his lips while his thoughts trained to Huang Renjun. That boy wasn't normal at all if you really asked Mark. Renjun stood his ground in front of Donghyuck since the first day they met, he never wavered under Donghyuck's snarky comments and all the rumors that sparked that day when Jeno, Chenle and him were caught by Donghyuck in the cafeteria.
He had the gut to spits in Donghyuck's face AND in Mark's face a week later like he didn't care about their reputation around the whole school.
And Mark usually didn't care about nobody else that wasn't his friends, but he could see right through his little brother's act. He knew the rumors about Renjun weren't an accident... Mark knew because Jeno and Donghyuck did the same to him last year, voluntarily or involuntarily he didn't really care—he only knew that those rumors were benefiting one of them or the both of them.
And as much as Renjun was a awful little brat, Jaemin and Sungchan seemed to care a lot about him. Like an awfully lot.
The Canadian sighed again and let himself relax against the tree trunk. He needed to rest. He needed to breathe. He needed to get his shit together. He just needed to be the Mark Lee he previously was, not the one hated by the whole school, not the one disappointing his older brother and his parents constantly, not the one that fought with people because of how bad they were looking at him, not the one that always got Jisung and Jaemin to worry about him.
He just needed to be back to his old self and be happy. Happy, is something he stopped being and could hardly be for a short period of time.
The bell rang through the whole school. Lunch time. He hated that time of the day and loved it at the same time. He hated it because he couldn't escape the accusing gazes, even if they didn't hurt him as much as they used to hurt last year and he also liked it because that was the only time he could spend two hours with his friends.
He closed his eyes right after the bell finished ringing and he stayed lying there, in silence—hoping Jaemin wouldn't come to drag his ass in the cafeteria to have lunch.
Time passed by slowly his breath started to be even, and he almost fell asleep. Key word—almost—because as he was drifting away, he started to hear noises against the grass.
He started frowning instantly, because it couldn't be Jaemin. He knew how Jaemin's steps sounded, and his best friend would've been noisy as fuck the moment he stepped in the garden.
So Mark opened his eyes and looked straight ahead to see who was disrupting his moment of peace. He waited silently until he spotted a glimpse of two-toned hair, and he sighed loudly when Renjun ended up in front of him after a few seconds.
"What are you doing here?" Renjun asked him with a frown, clearly annoyed.
Mark scoffed at Renjun's audacity.
The Canadian raised a brow. "I should be the one asking you that question Huang. Shouldn't you be having lunch with my friends right now?" He said pointedly.
The two-tone haired Chinese rolled his eyes in annoyance before sitting in front of Mark—out of all the places he could sit, he had to sit right in front of him. Mark looked at him confusedly for a few seconds, thinking of a way to annoy the two-toned haired boy, before a smirk started making its way on his lips.
He analyzed silently the shorter boy and he started smirking more, as he finally realized what was happening.
"Are the rumors finally making their way up your head Huang?" Mark asked mockingly.
"I don't know what you're on about..." Renjun mumbled without looking at him.
Oh! Oh Mark knew he butted straight into it. He knew he was right, by the way Renjun's face twisted with ugliness at the mention of the rumors.
"You were acting so tough in front of everyone, so full of yourself!" Mark sing-songed, to annoy the Chinese boy. "But the rumors got to you, didn't they?" He smirked.
Renjun rolled his eyes at him before turning his back on him, and Mark couldn't help but smirk at how childish the two-tone haired boy was reacting—but he predicted it, especially after what he heard a week ago just before practice.
A week ago—
Mark yawned softly while getting up from his chair, after Mrs. Son finished explaining their next assignment. He grabbed his bag and made a bee line for the door without waiting for Jaemin, who was taking his time to pack up.
He sighed slowly after getting out of the classroom and stood by the door to actually wait for Jaemin, because he couldn't leave without him—Sungchan would kill him if he left without Jaemin.
So he stuffed his hands in his varsity jacket pockets and waited patiently Jaemin, who walked up to him tiredly with Renjun by his side. Which almost made Mark roll his eyes, but he refrained quickly as he saw Jaemin looking at him from the corner of his eye—and he knew how Jaemin could easily sense if he did something of that kind.
"Jaem come on, Jae hyung won't wait for me eternally," Mark pressed.
He wasn't even late, they usually had two hours before actually getting into the locker room and usually Mark spent that time out of the school permise, at the ice cream parlor with his friend—even if Sungchan and him didn't eat ice cream before practice, they enjoyed just being with Jaemin and Jisung who usually yapped about whatever happened to them during the day.
Jaemin rolled his eyes at him. The audacity! "We're not even late Mark, chill..." he mumbled.
Mark scoffed loudly which earned him a glare from Jaemin, and a chuckle from Renjun who seemed to enjoy pretty much seeing him pissed off. The Canadian rolled his eyes annoyingly at the both of them as Jaemin finally reached him.
"Well," Renjun started. "I'll head off first, Chenle's probably waiting for me." He said.
"We can go down together, Sungchan is probably with him right now."
The raven black haired boy growled with annoyance at Jaemin, who came to kick him in the shin which made him hiss in pain.
"Nah I'm good, I don't really want people to see me with him." Renjun said pointedly while eyeing Mark.
Mark rolled his eyes at him but like Renjun, he didn't want people to see them with each other—so Jaemin nodded with a pout as he hugged Renjun, who left right after leaving Mark and Jaemin alone.
"Really?" Jaemin asked while frowning deeply at him.
The raven black haired boy shrugged without answering, it wasn't like Renjun didn't express his dislike towards Mark too—they were even, so Mark didn't care.
Jaemin sighed softly as he grabbed Mark arm and dragged him towards the stairs. They walked down to the junior floor where they met with Sungchan and Jisung, who were standing with Renjun and Chenle—well Jisung was standing silently on the side, barely listening to what Chenle, Sungchan and Renjun were talking about, since he had his earphones on.
The raven black haired boy held in a sigh and stayed silent by Jaemin's side who dragged him towards Jisung who was looking rather uncomfortable. The younger boy smiled at them as he noticed them approaching, and Mark smiled too as Jisung walked up to them.
Sungchan nodded at them before slinging an arm around Chenle's shoulder and started walking. Mark frowned at the gesture and looked over at Jisung who just shrugged, while their dark brown haired friend started joining the stairs with Renjun and Chenle by his side.
"What the fuck?" Mark asked.
"Be nice." Jaemin mumbled under his breath. "He's probably just walking them to their car," he sighed.
Mark hoped. He truly hoped that Sungchan wasn't about to bring Huang Renjun to their hang out.
He sighed slowly before walking towards the stairs with Jaemin and Jisung. They got down the two other floors and made their way towards their lockers, which luckily were in the same row—as Sungchan was walking in front of them with the two chineses boy.
The Canadian lurked at them in silence, not listening to Jaemin and Jisung's conversation.
They walked in the middle of the crowd and Mark was so concentrated on his friend's back in front of him that he barely heard what was said not far from him—he barely heard it, but he still heard it.
"I can't believe Huang has the guts to parade around school, after almost breaking Lee-Lee couple!" One girl in junior year said loud enough while eyeing Renjun. "He's literally shameless... like how could you seduce a guy that already is in a relationship?"
Mark looked at the girl still talking before looking at Renjun, who froze midway and snapped his head violently in the girl's direction. The girl froze too as her eyes locked with Renjun's who walked up to her with a smirk on his face.
"Come again?" Renjun asked a brow raised defiently.
The Canadian could see the tremors in Renjun's hand. He didn't know if it was from anger or annoyance or something else, but he could see them.
"I—I—" the girl stuttered.
"I. Said. Come. Again." Renjun's spat. "Why the fuck are you stuttering now that I am in front of you bitch?" He asked menacingly.
Mark stood there watching like all of the other students standing in the hallway. A smirk grew on his lips as he watched the girl crumble in front of Renjun's piercing eyes—he liked the drama.
—
"You know. I could help you out with that matter," Mark said slowly.
Renjun didn't face him. "Don't talk to me Lee." He gritted out.
Mark smirk grew bigger as Renjun spoke. He knew who was behind all those rumors, and he wanted to play with that—and who was better fitted to help him annoy his brother? Huang Renjun himself.
Even if Jeno didn't spread the rumors, which he obviously did, it benefited him greatly, but Mark didn't know how, he just knew that Renjun was apart of that little mascarade without knowing—by the way he was reacting to the rumors.
"I know who actually started the rumors." Mark threw calmly without sitting up straight.
Renjun froze momentarily but it was so quick Mark would've missed it if he wasn't already looking at the two-tone haired boy. He clearly would've missed it, and wouldn't have known if Renjun was lying to him or not.
"I don't really care... it's not like they knew the truth."
"Oh so you don't care if it is my little brother who created that whole mess," Mark said mockingly.
The two-tone haired Chinese turned to him to glare at him. "Stop lying Lee, Jen would never do something like that."
Mark raised a brow while still smirking. "You think I'm lying? Well not that surprising coming from you,"
"Why wouldn't you?" Renjun scoffed. "You're always trying to set him up, what tells me it isn't you hum? You hate my guts and you would love to steal your brother's boyfriend, it would be convenient for you to have rumors about your brother cheating on his boyfriend with the new guy running around school, so you could go behind his back and steal him!"
Oh boy, Mark knew Renjun would say something like that because why wouldn't he? He only knew the version that Jeno spread around school, version that was actually false and that everyone believed—a version where Mark was the bad guy who wanted to steal his brother's boyfriend, a version where Mark was the villain.
"I wouldn't go that low," Mark said as he rolled his eyes. "But. Jeno's not the perfect guy you believe he is, and maybe you don't believe me—it is totally fine, but don't come crying in front of Jaemin and Sungchan when you find out about his true face." He just said while looking at Renjun straight in the eyes.
Renjun looked back at him and frowned deeply. It wasn't about helping Renjun, Mark absolutely didn't care about him, it was about pissing Jeno off like he did the whole year last year—and also avoid hearing Jaemin and Sungchan constantly talking about Renjun.
"If you want to be miserable the whole school year so be it, but don't search for my friends when everything goes downhill—because like I know Hyuck and Jeno, you will not finish the school year unscathed." Mark said as he yawned before getting up.
"What do you mean by that?" Renjun asked.
Mark smirked, because he knew that would pique on Renjun's curiosity. "Like I said I could free you from that whole mess since I know Jeno's the one behind all that mess and how to deal with it."
"And how?"
Renjun looked intently at him and Mark knew he took the bait. He was about to piss off Jeno so bad.
"Let's make a deal." Mark announced while still towering over the two-tone haired Chinese boy.
Renjun narrowed his eyes and looked at him attentively before bursting into a fit of laughter. Yeah. Mark knew he would get that kind of reaction from Renjun, of course he knew the Chinese boy would have reacted like that.
"You think I am dumb don't you Lee?"
"Well yeah I think you're dumb, but that is not the point here Huang. If you truly want to see Jeno's real face, let's fake date and you'll see within a matter of weeks how he will try and do everything to take you away from me, even though he has a boyfriend."
Mark looked down over at Renjun who raised a brow at his statement. Well maybe it wasn't the greatest of idea to call Renjun dumb, but he himself put that on himself and gave Mark an opportunity with that one.
"And what do you gain from doing all this? Because as far as I am aware, you hate me. So fake dating me wouldn't be a pain in your ass, like it's going to be to me?" Renjun asked after finally getting up from where he was sitting on the grass.
The Canadian smirked, because of course he needed something from that whole fake dating—and it was just to annoy the hell out of his brother, and rub into his face that like he took Donghyuck from Mark, Mark was going to take Renjun from him.
"Nothing that special, just seeing Jeno pissed off will do the trick for me." Mark said with a shrug. "I don't need anything from you, let's just do that until you finally open your eyes about him and then we're over—you don't owe me anything and I don't either." He declared solemnly.
*ੈ✧‧₊˚
Renjun looked at Mark silently after his statement. Fake dating hum? Honestly Renjun didn't know how to feel about that deal, because he was supposed to hate Mark to the core for what he's done to Jeno, he supposed to hate Mark for how bad he treated everyone around school—but the raven black haired boy seemed honest.
Not like Renjun would ever trust him really, but Mark knew Jeno and Donghyuck better than him. And Jaemin and Sungchan two of the nicest people he knew were siding with Mark, so he felt like he only was aware of half of the story.
Still even if he knew half of the story, it didn't justify Mark's violent behavior with everyone around school.
"Okay." Renjun finally answered after he sighed.
Mark's brows shot up before he smirked and Renjun rolled his eyes at him. Renjun really didn't know why he agreed, he just felt like there was more to this story than just Jeno and Mark fighting for Donghyuck, and as much as he worked to pretend the rumors didn't hurt him, he actually had trouble sleeping because of them and deeply wanted to know who started them.
He just hoped Mark was wrong and that Donghyuck was actually behind it without Jeno knowing, but with the way Mark seemed so confident about his affirmation he was actually scared to be disappointed in his friend.
"So it's settled then?" Mark asked while holding out his hand toward Renjun.
Renjun sighed deeply and looked around to be sure no one could see them, then shook Mark's hand who smiled wickedly at him.
"By the way wouldn't it be too suspicious for us to be dating with how much the other saw us hate on each other." Renjun asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Knew you would ask that question," Mark answered. "And before you ask, no I didn't not think of everything before hand—let's pretend we've been talking together in secret."
Renjun rolled his eyes at Mark, because how could the Canadian be stupid enough to not think his plan through. Like how could you ask someone you hate to fake date you, just to get on your little brother's nerve?
"Do you think our friends are that dumb? Because I can see the whole school believing in our lies, but Chenle knows me the best and I believe your friends know you the best too!" The two-tone haired boy said after running a hand through his hair. "Plus, talking in secret? I don't even have your number Lee..."
"Look at where we are Huang. We're in an empty garden, no one's around. I can handle the number thing, but they don't know we've been meeting here—we just have to mention the garden, and I am pretty sure you didn't mention my name when Zhong found you last time you came here. So he probably won't know what to say to you, and Jisung, Sungchan and Jaemin knew I was here last time because they were with me."
Okay. Why was Mark Lee so quick to answer and give a proper way out of everything Renjun pointed out?
Renjun sighed but agreed to Mark's plan nonetheless because he couldn't come up with something better, than what the raven black haired Canadian just said. So Mark nodded before turning his back on him and walking off silently, which made Renjun frown.
"Where are you going?" Renjun asked, not that he truly cared but still.
"Dunno, maybe start off our plan?" Mark shrugged.
"Wait—what?"
Mark turned towards him and raised a brow. "Do you want to wait for a sign or can we just hit it off, I don't have all day—and the sooner we start, the sooner it'll end."
Right. Mark was right and that actually made Renjun roll his eyes at him, before he walked up to him in silence.
They walked out of the garden side by side and made their way to the cafeteria in complete silence. They weren't close enough, but were still close enough for the students in the hallway to watch them with baffled expressions—and Renjun wasn't even surprised to see that the students were so surprised to see them with each other, with how much they were showing their dislike for each other.
Renjun draped his arms around his torso and looked over at Mark who was typing on his phone, while they got past the cafeteria doors. The great hall fell into silence, a loud silence. And to be honest, the Chinese boy had never heard the cafeteria so silent, since he started eating there.
They both made their way towards the trays for Mark to pick one, then they made their way towards the dishes area where Mark picked his dishes. Renjun stayed close to him and as the Canadian was about to pick a drink, he turned towards him.
"Do you want a drink?" The raven black haired boy asked.
The two-tone haired boy's eyebrows shot up in confusion, before he schooled his expression, plastering a smile on his lips. Good thing he was facing Mark, and no one else.
"Nah I'm fine, my tray is over there." Renjun declined the offer while pointing at the table where Jisung, Chenle, Sungchan and Jaemin were sitting.
Mark nodded at him before they made their way towards the table, where their friends were looking at them in utter confusion.
Renjun looked over at them and smiled as he noticed that Jaemin changed seat and sat with Sungchan and Chenle, so he grabbed his tray in front of the light pink haired boy and sat down beside Mark, who sat beside Jisung who was now sitting alone on the other side of the table.
After sitting down Mark prayed quickly before he and Renjun started eating in silence, not minding the eyes strained on them— the whole cafeteria stopped and everyone was staring, even their friends were baffled by the situation.
Renjun hummed softly after swallowing another bite of his food, then turned toward Mark who was eating peacefully—he didn't seem fazed but everything around him and ate his food peacefully.
"Excuse us?" Jaemin started after clearing his throat.
Mark didn't look up from his plate and Renjun almost kicked him under the table, before looking up at Jaemin, Sungchan and Chenle who completely stopped eating to look at Mark and him.
He raised a brow at them, even though he knew why they stopped eating and kept looking at them like they saw ghosts.
"Did something happen?" Jisung asked carefully beside Mark.
"Yeah did something serious happen out there." Chenle asked too after setting his chopsticks down.
"What are you talking about?" Renjun asked back.
"What do you mean « what are we talking about » Renjun?" Jaemin said in disbelief. "Did you two hit your head somewhere? Did Mark slip on his way to the garden? Is Mark threatening you in any way?" He asked with a concerned tone.
Renjun's eyebrows shot up before bursting into a fit of giggles seconds later, startling everyone at their table even Mark who choked on his drink. Jaemin really just asked him if Mark threatened him? He did hear right, yeah.
He couldn't stop giggling dumbly at the assumption, because if Jaemin really asked him that question it meant that Mark already threatened someone for them to do something for him. Was he scared? No absolutely not, because if Mark was as crazy as the whole school painted him to be, then Renjun was way worse than him, Donghyuck and Jeno put together.
"What's funny?" Mark said while frowning in confusion.
The two-tone haired boy shook his head softly before calming himself down. "Nothing, really." he said while facing Mark, before turning Chenle, Sungchan and Jaemin who seemed as confused as Mark and Jisung were. "Everything's fine guys. No need to worry about us, we just had a talk with each other nothing else. Not hitting, slipping or threatening was involved I promise!"
Sungchan frowned. "A talk? A talk about what?" He asked skeptically.
Renjun turned towards Mark who was looking at him and the Canadian boy just nodded swiftly, before Renjun faced his friends again.
"He'll tell you about it later." Renjun announced. "As for you Lele let's talk about it at home." He concluded.
Confusion was written over all his friends face, he could see it so he smiled at them again and went back eating in silence—encouraging the five other to do the same too.
Mark followed right after and so did the four others, without anymore question.
Renjun knew he had some explaining to do to Chenle, but it could wait a couple of hours because he himself didn't know what to do with that whole fake dating mess. And the only things that changed for the moment, was that people stopped talking and murmuring about him—he just had to wait to see Jeno's reaction and see how he takes the news and if Mark was right or not.
🖼️
Okay this wasn't supposed to take that long to write but like I said, I had to rewrite the whole chapter because I didn't like the previous draft I had of it. Anyway this one is badly written BUT, the action finally starts. We'll see some action, fights, arguments and ugly cries so stay tuned for Sunday!
©yaeshua