<^>

Mark sighed as looked at the text message on his phone. Taeyong had tasked him with picking up Donghyuck from school which made no fucking sense to Mark because a) Mark didn't have a car to drive, and b) Lee Donghyuck was fully capable of bringing himself to practice on his own. Unfortunately for Mark, however, Taeyong had shut both those points down by letting Mark borrow his car and telling him that "Donghyuck was in detention and wouldn't be allowed to leave without a team member picking him up".

How Donghyuck of all people got into detention, Mark had no clue.

But, nonetheless, there he stood, leaning against Taeyong's car and waiting (im)patiently for Donghyuck to sneak out of detention and head towards him. Okay so maybe sneak out wasn't the best term, because the school knew he had to leave. But apparently, from what Mark could understand, the administration wouldn't let Donghyuck leave on his own in fear he was lying about practice and would just skip school. To compromise, Mark was sent as the fucking middle man as proof that hey! They had a meet tomorrow and Donghyuck had to be there for crunch-time practice.

This whole thing was getting on Mark's nerves. He now remembered why no one liked high schools.

Mark sighed and locked his phone, stuffing it back in his pocket as he heard chattering walking his way. He turned his head to find Donghyuck...and friends? One of them he vaguely recognized, some kid with faded pink hair– but that was it. The others were complete strangers to Mark. Which made sense considering he had never been to Donghyuck's school before.

And Donghyuck...god something about that uniform and the way it fitted Donghyuck's lean body did things to Mark's heart and head. Ugh, he should really stop thinking like that.

"Hey," he said, lifting his hand in greeting as the group of teens approached. Donghyuck smiled at him casually but that same pink haired kid began to squeal and shake Donghyuck's arm like a fucking child.

"LEE DONGHYUCK YOU DID NOT TELL ME YOU GOT HIM AS YOUR BOYTO–"

"Okaaayy! Jaemin! Shut the fuck up!" Donghyuck immediately turned to his friend, lifting his fist in warning. "Jeno, please control your boyfie." One of the other kids, a tall guy with black hair, sighed and pulled the pink haired kid off of Donghyuck's arm. "Sorry, Mark, let me introduce you to this gaggle of geese." Mark nodded, muttering something about enough time for introductions as he checked the time on his phone.

"This," Donghyuck started. "Is Na Jaemin. I think you've met him once, but that was a while ago and I know how shit your memory is so, yeah." He pointed to the very energetic pink haired kid, who smiled at him brightly with a little wave. There was a glint in his eye that made him seem almost manic but Mark chose to ignore it.

"This," Donghyuck continued as he pointed to the black haired kid. "Is his boyfriend, Lee Jeno. He's a little rat-man, but we love him anyway." Jeno rolled his eyes but said nothing as he flashed Mark a pained smile. Oh he liked this guy already.

"And finally we have Hayoon– who isn't supposed to be here right now," Donghyuck muttered the last part out through clenched teeth. The girl, who had been standing to the side in silence this entire time, frowned and crossed her arm over her chest.

"Hey, they said I could come in once a week, and today is that day so shut the fuck up Lee Donghyuck."

"Hey hey hey, no fighting alright." Jaemin put his arm between the two and sighed, giving an apologetic smile to Mark. "Apologies, they get like this quite often. I promise you they're friends. You must be Mark, Donghyuck has said a lot about you."

Mark smiled back at Jaemin and bowed his head. "All good things I hope."

Jeno tried to cover a snort but failed. "To be honest he mostly complains."

Mark was trying his best to be civil but he felt his eyebrow twitch at the comment. Oh screw being in love, Donghyuck was going to eat shit in the car ride out of here. "I shouldn't have had my hopes up." Jeno laughed loudly this time but Donghyuck was quick to swat his arm.

"Shut up, both of you." He frowned at Mark but was met with an amused smirk that made Donghyuck's insides churn with a mixture of embarrassment and anger. If he didn't know any better, he'd guess his ears were bright red.

He sighed and detangled himself from the mess that was Na Jaemin and walked over to Mark. The older man smiled at him, swinging the car keys around his fingers. "Ready to go?"

'This cocky motherfuck–'

"Yeah. Let's get out of here. Can't wait to leave these losers in the dust," Donghyuck said, not even needing to turn around to know the others had a dumbfounded look on their faces. He quickly clambered into the passenger seat of the car, escaping Hayoon's wrath.

"Screw you Donghyuck! You just lost Dewy privileges for the week!" The girl called after him, and Donghyuck's jaw hit the floor.

"You can't do that! I'm his first uncle!" He called back from inside the car. He gestured hurriedly for Mark to get in as well, irritated that the college student was taking his sweet fucking time.

After waving goodbye to his friends, Donghyuck settled into the seat, finally able to relax.

"Who's Dewy?"

"Hayoon's kid. Long story," Donghyuck replied, his head tilted back and his eyes closed. He was glad to be out of school after such a long day. He had two tests today which was ridiculous, and on top of that his history teacher mistook one of his classmates for him which landed Donghyuck in the detention room. Thankfully his friends were nice enough to wait for him but then he got a text from Taeyong saying that Mark was picking him up and he could leave early, which was both great and terrifying.

Great because he got to leave detention early and all the other kids could suck it. Terrifying because Mark had been acting like a fucking rock towards him so Donghyuck had no idea how he got coerced into picking up the youngest team member.

Well, no matter. At least Mark was talking to him. For now.

<^>

Mark slammed his head into the steering wheel, his eyes wide and his face bright red. Holy fucking SHIT. He didn't think sitting in an enclosed space with Lee Donghyuck would be so different. But no. Apparently his feelings changed fucking everything.

'DID YOU SEE HIS UNIFORM OH GOD HOW DO I SURVIVE SOMETHING LIKE THAT– Calm down Mark. Calm the fuck down. You're fine. You'll be fine. You've seen him plenty of times in his uniform, don't let it get to you.'

...it was getting to him. Like, seriously getting to him. It wasn't just the fact that he had seen Donghyuck in a uniform, it was the fact that Donghyuck was willing to wear one. Completely, fully dressed up.

Lee Donghyuck seemed like the kind of guy to be reluctant about those stiff kinds of things. Mark had (wrongly) assumed Donghyuck would throw anything proper and prim out the window and instead opt to wear his baggy pants and oversized sweatshirts that Mark was so used to seeing at practice. Sure, the kid wore muscle tee's underneath but that didn't change the fact that he dressed like a druggy almost 24/7.

However, Mark had been proven wrong when he first saw Donghyuck in his school uniform. The fully buttoned shirt with the tie tucked into the perfectly ironed blazer had done things to Mark's heart that he couldn't dare confess. Then– THEN he had noticed Donghyuck's legs. BRO HIS LEGS– Of course, as being an athlete who played a prominently lower torso/leg active sport, the guy had to keep his lower half in good shape but Jesus Mark didn't realize he had the thighs of a fucking god. The way his slacks clung to his hips and thighs almost made Mark faint on the spot– and that really wasn't a good look for him.

In the end, Mark had spent the rest of that evening trying to get Donghyuck's uniform-clad body out of his head. It wasn't appropriate! They were teammates– god no, they were friends.

All those thoughts had flown out the window once Mark and Donghyuck were sitting in Taeyong's car, the windows down and Donghyuck humming along to whatever song was playing on the radio. Mark himself had been tapping his finger on the steering wheel, bopping his head along to the beat of the music. The breeze was nice and the weather wasn't freezing, so Donghyuck had let the wind mess with his hair as they drove along the empty roads. It made something in Mark's heart lurch, and it almost pained him out quaint and content he felt like that. Driving with a random song playing, Donghyuck next to him completely relaxed.

It was warm.

And Mark was really fucking scared to ruin that.

<^>

<🐵: yeah its a filler so what? I know y'all were thirsty for panic! at the disco Mark lee so stfu and take your updates like a good little reader>