YUKHEI

on friday, jungwoo nudges his side during lunch while ten is off on a tangent about how yuta probably doesn't even deserve his boyfriend. "hey, let's go on a walk after school," the older grins. and yukhei, foolish, nods. the bell rings, and they leave their conversation at that.

yukhei makes his way towards his next class and spots mark in the hallway. his brother approaches him. "hey, don't forget that you're taking me home after practice ends at 3:25," mark reminds him. "coach has something after school, so we're ending then instead of 4:00." yukhei nods absentmindedly, focusing on jungwoo as he cuts through the crowd and enters his own classroom.

"3:25," yukhei repeats, flashing mark a grin. "got it."

he walks into his class and takes a seat beside johnny, who nods at him, then continues doing the bellwork on the board. yukhei sighs, opens his binder, and begins to work.

class is long and tedious, especially because it's friday and all yukhei wants to do is walk jungwoo home—hopefully before the rain starts to pour. he yawns, tuning out whatever his teacher is droning on about, and peers out the window at the gray clouds in the sky that almost look black—a sure sign that rain is coming.

the bell rings suddenly, and yukhei hurriedly gathers all his supplies and shoves them into his messy abyss of a backpack, shouldering the bag and walking to his final class.

arithmetic is tiring, to say the least, but the teacher seems to sense her students' dismay and decides to pass out a worksheet. yukhei plugs his earbuds in, plays his study playlist, and gets to work.

it takes nearly the entire period for yukhei to finish his worksheet, but when he does, he files it away in his binder and puts the binder in his backpack. he suddenly finds himself bored and occupies himself by typing up a list of things he needs to do in the notes section of his phone.

1. study for standardized tests.
2. work out a pickup schedule for mark with ten.
3. get yuta to let us meet his stupid boyfriend.
4. take jungwoo out?

with his last thought typed, the bell rings. perfect timing, he thinks.

he meets jungwoo outside and checks his phone. it's 3:10. he doesn't know why, but he's much too excited for this, considering it's just a walk from the school to yukhei's house.

"hey," jungwoo says, staring up at the clouds for a moment. they've turned black, meaning it's going to start raining any minute now, and so the walk to yukhei's house turns into a fast jog. they make light conversation on the way.

"you keepin' up?" yukhei teases, looking back at jungwoo.

"shut it!" jungwoo shouts, running faster so that he can catch up to yukhei. "come on, it's starting to rain!"

and so, as they break into a sprint, the rain starts to fall lightly. for a few incredible moments, they run just ahead of the rain as it falls, but unfortunately, it moves forward to cover them. yukhei and jungwoo run hand in hand to yukhei's house, their hoodies stained with raindrops.

"there, you're safe," jungwoo says, grinning like a madman on yukhei's porch. he looks up and yukhei, and the younger doesn't even realize what's happening until jungwoo's lips are on his cheek. jungwoo pulls away quickly and shoots him a smile. "bye."

yukhei stands, baffled, and watches as jungwoo steps off the porch and sprints across the street and up a few blocks until he reaches his own house.

yukhei, in a state of something akin to a trance, turns the doorknob and walks inside.

"hey," none other than lee donghyuck says from yukhei's own couch. "...where's mark?"

"at practice," yukhei shrugs. "why?"

donghyuck sits straight up like something awful has happened. he checks his phone, and yukhei does the same.

it's 3:50, so really, yukhei should drive out to the school and pick up mark soon, but then a thought dawns on him a few moments before donghyuck voices it aloud.

"xuxi, mark's practice ended at 3:25. he's been standing out in the rain waiting for nearly half an hour."

yukhei's eyes widen, and he scrolls down to see a spam of texts from mark.

(28m) bub: where are you it's sprinkling and i'm cold 

(24m) bub: xuxi

(23m) bub: come on it's pouring don't tell me you forgot about me

(17m) bub: yukhei i swear to god

(14m) bub: forget it. i'm walking.

the doorknob turns, and the front door behind him pushes open. mark walks inside, looking like he's two seconds away from dropping dead.

the first thing that yukhei notices is the fact that mark is wearing nothing but his basketball jersey, which is soaked, just like the rest of him. a scowl rests on his face, and tears are in his eyes, and oh—oh, no, he's got a bloody lip and his eyes aren't focusing.

"what happened to you?" xuxi asks quietly. mark pushes past him, and donghyuck flies off the couch and wraps his arms around him.

"what happened?!" donghyuck asks softly, yet sternly. mark gulps.

"i got hit in the head during practice, so i think i have a concussion, but then these guys walked up to me while i was walking home and tried to jump me—" mark cuts himself off with a sniffle. "i got away, but one of them punched me in the mouth, and... voila."

"mark, i am so sorry, it completely slipped my—"

"save it," mark cuts him off, tone flat. donghyuck leads mark into his room to warm him up, and yukhei is left alone in the living room, feeling guilty.

he touches his cheek. the one that jungwoo kissed. he feels different. he feels wrong.

this isn't what dad wants for you, his mind tells him for a fleeting second before he pushes that thought into the depths of his consciousness. i don't care what dad wants for me.

he takes a seat on the couch and stares at his hands, at the vines that wind up his wrist. he heaves a sigh, and one last intrusive thought pushes its way to the front of his mind.

why can't i stop hurting the people i love?

—

xodaniel