<^>

Mark had a very large problem on his hands. That problem being: he found the right word to describe Lee Donghyuck. A crush.

Mark had realized this while he was eating chinese takeout with Yuta in the apartment, and he ended up choking on his tangsuyuk. It was not a pleasant evening, as right after he got over his choking fit, Mark let out a string of curses that even his aunt would slap him for saying. Yuta, who had been sitting there, noodles halfway in his mouth in frozen surprise, almost wanted to laugh at the young man. Did he know what was wrong? Not at all, but seeing Mark struggle was entertaining nonetheless.

Mark eventually got over it, and stayed in his seat, slumped and wrapped in his thoughts. When did this happen? When did Lee Donghyuck suddenly appeal to him like this? And why? Sure, the kid was good-looking, we've been over that– so why was Mark suddenly so infatuated with him? Well, maybe not suddenly, he'd been thinking about Donghyuck more and more over the past months, and it all had come to fruition at the dinner table.

Horrible timing, really.

Had it been that moment in the crashroom at midnight? Mark had found Donghyuck asleep (again) in the locker rooms, slumped against the bottom locker, his knees up against his chest and his arms around them loosely. Mark had just arrived for his practice, and had gone in to change when he found the boy in that state. Sure, his heart had skipped a beat but that didn't mean that anything, did it?

Or maybe it was the time where they were on the bus and Donghyuck had woken from a nightmare more shaken than usual. Mark had, instead of waiting with Donghyuck for his stop, invited him into his own apartment and let him sleep there for the night. In the morning, they had woken up in each other's arms, but neither said anything about it afterwards.

Or maybe it was the afterparty from one of their meets, where Donghyuck had lost his section [🐵: it wasn't the race dw] and had clung to Mark sadly the entire night. He hadn't paid attention to whatever was going on with the rest of his team, his focus only towards the boy that was sighing while hanging on to his arm.

Or maybe it was at last week's meet, where Mark noticed he couldn't take his eyes off of Donghyuck as the boy raced down the hill like he always did. There was just something about the look on Donghyuck's face that always put Mark's heart into overdrive. If he didn't know any better, he would say that everyone's hearts would pound when Donghyuck flashed that smile.

And oh god, was his smile beautiful. The way Donghyuck's entire face would shine even brighter when he flashed his teeth, his lips curling into his gums expressing the pure happiness he was feeling. And it did something to Mark whenever that smile was directed at him, as if he was the only person in the world who could make Donghyuck smile like that. As if Mark was special. And some part of him truly wished he was, that he was someone who Donghyuck treasured, who Donghyuck thought about in the early rays of the morning sun. And though that hope was fleeting, all doubt would wash away when the boy would look at Mark, smile softly, and whisper 'hyung'.

Okay, so maybe it was more than a crush. Mark could accept that, at least, he thought he could– but when he went to practice the next morning, he had no idea what to do with himself. He didn't think his enlightenment would affect him this much yet here he was, staring at Donghyuck as if nothing else was worth his time (part of him believed that to be true, but Mark tried to shut that down as quickly as possible).

So far, this was not going as Mark had planned. Did he even have a plan? No, not really. He just assumed it would be like 'oh I like him? Okay. Anyways'. But no, it wasn't like that, at all. Now Mark was hyper-aware of everything he said, did, and even thought when Donghyuck was in close proximity. He had no idea his hands could get this clammy, and he almost lost his balance while practicing his routine because Donghyuck was cheering him on like he always does.

Oh god this was getting to be so much worse than Mark initially thought. And he had no idea what to do about it.

<^>

Donghyuck crossed his arms over his chest as he watched Jisung like a hawk. The younger boy had asked Donghyuck to help him practice his backside-180, which he learned about a week ago and was hell-bent on perfecting. Donghyuck had eagerly agreed, ready to do anything to get his mind off of a certain 19 year old.

You see, Donghyuck was having a problem. A big one. That problem was named Mark Lee and Donghyuck did not want to deal with it. First off, Mark had been acting weird around him for almost a full week and no one knew why (not even Johnny, which was terrifying) and Donghyuck was now acutely aware as to how Mark was acting.

Gushy. Mark was acting gushy. He would stutter on his words when he talked to Donghyuck, he would rarely make eye contact anymore, and his face was constantly red. It was beginning to worry the high schooler but Mark always seemed fine when he was with anyone else, so Donghyuck figured he should be taking it personally.

And he was. Very personally. He was trying not to overthink it but he'd had an epiphany about a week ago where he realized –while getting ready to head to class– that, oh fuck, he had a thing for his friend. He had almost screamed but the look Jaemin had given him stopped Donghyuck from doing so. With that new knowledge, and the way Mark was currently acting, Donghyuck was scared he had done something wrong. Mark and him didn't fight often, and nothing had been as bad as their big blow up about a month ago, but Donghyuck was hoping to any and every god out there that Mark wasn't angry with him.

Donghyuck knew he wasn't, because this wasn't what an angry Mark acted like. Angry Mark was the cold-shoulder personified. No talking, no looking, no nothing. And this wasn't Mark at the moment, so Donghyuck had to keep reminding himself to calm down because he didn't do anything to upset his friend. If he had, then Johnny would have told him.

Jisung jumped off the lift and looked at Donghyuck expectantly. "Well? How was that?"

Finally pulled from his thoughts, Donghyuck shrugged. "Your form was phenomenal. But you looked super nervous."

"I mean, I am still learning this, Hyuck."

"No shit. What I mean is that you need to work on your confidence when you go to do this trick, or any for that matter. Who cares if you execute it perfectly, if you're shaking in your boots while doing it, then it'll seem sloppy. They key," he held up a finger, ready to start a lecture. Jisung rolled his eyes but continued to listen. "If you make a mistake, but you make it confidently, as if you meant to do that the entire time– the only person who will notice besides yourself, is your coach. So go into your practice and tricks with your head held high, and no one will notice the slip-ups you will possibly make."

Jisung furrowed his brows thoughtfully. "That's...actually really good advice, hyung. Thank you."

"Of course it was good advice, I'm the one who said it."

"There's the asshole I know," Jisung said, sighing deeply as his shoulders sagged. "Your ego just doesn't catch a break, does it?"

Donghyuck lowered his finger and smiled. "You act as if it wants one." Jisung ignored the final remark and went back to the hill, ready to try again and hopefully look more confident doing so. Donghyuck watched on proudly, his smile never leaving his face at Jisung's strong attempts to get better. He'd improved so much since Donghyuck left and the older had nothing but satisfaction in seeing Jisung succeed. Maybe one day they'd be on the same level.

"How was that?!" Jisung called from the bottom.

Donghyuck raised his thumb and smiled his biggest smile. "It was perfect! You looked amazing, Sungie!" Jisung raised his thumb and smiled back before running to the lift. Donghyuck laughed and crossed his arms. He figured, for right now, he could ignore the issue with Mark, and instead just enjoy his time here, with Jisung, doing the thing he loved most.

<^>

<🐵: Hi Playmates! Mark is whipped but what else is new lmao,, and Donghyuck has an issue with it wpirgprig Idk something about Donghyuck and Jisung's relationship makes me so happy its not even funny pidgnpwrig anywho have fun with this 1000+ words chapter...IKR OVER 1000 WORDS WHAT IS GOING ON WITH ME BWAHAAHAH its been a while since I've typed this much so you guys are lucky>