<^>

Mark frowned to himself, watching his teammates laugh and joke with each other. They had all gone out to celebrate their win at their latest meet, and Mark was begrudgingly dragged along by a very excited Taeil. Currently, he was sitting next to an equally bored Donghyuck, who had been staring at his phone the entire evening.

Mark leaned closer to him, still looking at his hyungs. "How many drinks do you think it'll take Ten to go through before he's knocked-out drunk?"

Donghyuck snorted, still not looking up from his screen. "Please, give him like two more and he'll be out like a light."

"Bet?"

"15,000 won." Donghyuck placed the money on the table.

He smiled. "Oh, you were ready. Fine. I give him four drinks," Mark laughed, crossing his arms over his chest after placing the same amount. He put his cup over the bills so as not to move them, and waited patiently.

His patience did not last long however, and he was once again very bored.

"This is ungodly boring," he said, turning back to the boy beside him. Donghyuck was still on his phone, doing god knows what and Mark –getting no response– peered over the boy's shoulder. Donghyuck turned the phone toward him and offered an earphone, a performance video of Twice's song 'Scientist' playing.

"I didn't peg you for a Twice stan."

Donghyuck shrugged, finally looking Mark in the eyes. "Jaemin sent me this video then threatened to revoke my uncle privileges if I didn't watch it."

"You have weird friends," Mark noted.

"Yes. Unfortunately I'm stuck with that needy mole until further notice." He let out a huff of air as Nayeon appeared on the screen with her smile. "But I like Twice, so it's okay." Mark hummed and watched the video intently, his and Donghyuck shoulders knocking together and the proximity and he had to place a hand on the boy's thigh to balance himself.

"I love Dahyun's voice. I wish they would let her sing more."

"Me too. She doesn't need screen time, screen time needs her." Mark laughed at this and nodded in agreement. He made Donghyuck tilt the phone a bit more, fingers brushing.

"Your hand is in the way."

"Oh well excuse me, Mark. Apologies, I'm right-handed."

"Yeah, you should be."

Donghyuck paused the video and gave the college student a stare, his face holding nothing but irritation. "I can't stand you." Mark covered his mouth, smiling widely. "No, don't you dare say–"

"It's a good thing you're sitting then."

"I– I hate you so much." Donghyuck shoved his shoulder gently, only making Mark grip his thigh harder so as to not fall onto Jungwoo who was sitting next to him. He simply laughed and ignored Donghyuck's sigh of frustration.

This was going to be a long night.

<^>

Mark lost the bet in the end, and ended up paying his 15,000 won to an extremely proud Donghyuck. But Mark didn't really mind all that much. If he was being completely honest, the more time he spent with Donghyuck, the more Mark was endearing of the boy. Sure, he was a total brat 90% of the time, and Mark would always feel exasperated at the younger boy's antics, but he was no longer truly annoyed by Donghyuck. If Mark was the same person when the two of them first met, he would have walked out on the boy a long time ago– but now he found himself excited to see Donghyuck again. He realized he looked forward to their little hangouts or midnight practices a lot more nowadays than before.

He'd never been a big fan of friends, his old classmates being acquaintances at most– but Donghyuck? Donghyuck was a friend Mark was extremely grateful for. He didn't know what is was, because Mark was certain in any other circumstance he would be hating Donghyuck with a passion; maybe it was the way the boy always did his best to include Mark into conversations, or maybe it was the way that Donghyuck was hyper-aware of Mark's moods, and always acted accordingly. Maybe it was the way he clinged to Mark at any chance he got, no matter what was happening. Maybe it was the way that Donghyuck spoke to him, only using hyung when they were alone, as if it was their special secret. Maybe it was just Donghyuck as a whole, but something about their relationship had changed– and it had changed for the better. Mark couldn't explain it, and part of him didn't want to, instead just wanting to enjoy whatever it was their friendship had become.

As grateful as Mark was for Donghyuck as a friend however, something about that word seemed off. He wasn't sure what, but Donghyuck didn't seem like just a friend to him; not anymore. But what else would Mark call him? He didn't know. He was worried if he found the right word for Donghyuck, it would only confuse Mark more. He decided to just enjoy whatever was going on, and not question it too much.

That didn't last long. It never does.

Donghyuck was currently changing in the team locker rooms, his uniform unbuttoned at the top and his tie hanging over the door of his locker, when Mark walked in with sweat all over his forehead.

He sat on the bench, breathing hard. "You're here late," he commented, giving Donghyuck a once-over before gulping and turning away.

Donghyuck, who now had his shirt halfway down his back, sighed. "Yeah. I promised Hayoon I would bring her the notes from class and help with some of her homework."

"Jaemin wasn't there?" Mark asked, taking a swig from his water bottle.

"No. He was off frolicking with Jeno. Something about their second month anniversary. Skipped the entire school day for it," he answered, hanging his shirt over the door on top of his tie. Mark made the mistake of looking back at the boy and almost choked– he had abs? That somehow didn't make sense in Mark's mind. Donghyuck seemed like the guy who would do quite literally anything else than build muscle.

"You work out?" Shit. He didn't mean to say that out loud. Too late.

Donghyuck raised an eyebrow and had the fucking aucadity to lift the corner of his mouth in a smirk. "Well, since you're so curious, hyung, yeah, I do." He turned to face the older fully, which did something to Mark's heart that he didn't want to think about.

He was thinking about it.

He should stop thinking about it.

But Donghyuck was really hot. Like– feelings aside, the guy was just objectively attractive. His skin was perfectly tan, and his build was lean but muscular. Mark may be stupid but he wasn't blind– the dude was good-looking.

He internally sighed. This whole Donghyuck-on-my-mind-24/7 was getting to be a bit much, and Mark had no idea what to do about it.

Meanewhile Donghyuck was internally panicking, and badly– because what the fuck was that? Mark was staring at him for a solid, like, minute straight. Not just staring at him– at his body. And it creeped the shit out of Donghyuck. Because having your older, good-looking friend stare at you as if you were their last meal was one of the weirdest situations the poor boy had ever been in and he had no idea what to do about it. Did he move to put on his change of clothes and make it awkward, or should he just let Mark...soak him in? Oh god that sounded horrible, but Donghyuck had no other way to describe it.

"Uh...hyung?" Oh god maybe he shouldn't have said that– Mark always got this 'look' on his face when Donghyuck called him hyung and it was concerning. His eyes would soften in a weird way and he would smile really gently. Donghyuck wasn't sure what it was about.

"Yeah?" Mark blinked and made eye contact with the shirtless boy in front of him. Fuck, did he zone out? Well shit. "What is it?"

"You good?"

"Yeah?"

Donghyuck nodded slowly, deciding to turn back around and slip his shirt on. "Right well, I'm gonna just finish changing..."

Mark stood abruptly. "Okay cool, nice, uh huh. I'm gonna uhm– I'm gonna head back out to practice. Yeah. See you uhm, see you in a bit." Donghyuck nodded but said nothing more as the older boy left.

'What the fuck was that?'

<^>

"So he was looking at you?"

"Not just at me, Jaem, my fucking abs!" Donghyuck sputtered, stirring his drink around helplessly with the straw.

"Can't say I blame him, Hyuck. You're really hot. Like, if I hadn't known you since we were six and if I didn't have Jeno, I would totally date you." Jaemin smiled cockily, his teeth showing as he snickered at his friend's face.

"Gee, thanks for the ego boost. That makes me feel 100% better."

Jaemin rolled his eyes. "Don't stress over it, he was probably just admiring the beauty that is your muscles. I know I would."

"That's because you're really weird."

"By the sounds of it, so is Mark," Jaemin said with a smirk. Donghyuck groaned because his friend was right– Mark was really weird. He was pretty quiet, didn't talk too much to anyone beside Donghyuck, Yuta, and Johnny, and was generally so stuck in his thoughts that when he spoke it came out choppy. Maybe that was his shit Korean skills though. Donghyuck only groaned harder when he realized just how much he liked Mark's weirdness. How he liked that the boy would light up when he called him 'hyung', or when he would share whatever he was doing on his phone with him. How he liked it when Mark's full attention was only ever on Donghyuck, as if the rest of the world didn't matter. As if it was only them.

"This is not a silly goofy mood."

"Is it ever?" Jaemin asked, now looking at his phone as he let Donghyuck slam his head against the table in frustration.

"With Mark? No, apparently not." Donghyuck was getting quite tired of his thoughts. Mark this– Mark that. It was really starting to push his buttons, because whenever he thought of the boy, it made him all fuzzy. He didn't like feeling fuzzy.

"I hate this."

"Cool."

Donghyuck shot his friend a glare. "I hate you more. Hoe."

Jaemin smiled at his phone screen. "Boohoo, I'm so sad."

"Bitch."

"Only for you."

"Oh my god."

<^>

<Character development– can you believe it? That's right guys, 25 chapters in and the romance part is finally in the limelight. We've all been waiting for this one, Playmates>