UNBLOCKED

46 | embarrassing

back to school. after the festivities and merriment of winter break, the ordinariness of school - and the completion of the romeo and juliet literature exam - was a refreshing beginning to the new year.

"okay," said mark during one of those ordinary lunch hours after they'd been back for a few days, "it's been nice hanging with everyone else, but it is nice having the original squad back together."

mark, jinyoung, youngjae and bambam were sitting around a lunch table, munching on the daily special.

"eh, you guys are alright, i guess," jinyoung shrugged jokingly.

mark gave jinyoung's arm a rough slap. "anyway," he continued, "it gives us a bit of space to chat, yanno?"

"why do i feel like this is leading up to something?" jinyoung questioned suspiciously.

"well i dunno about you guys, but these fries are literally the bomb," said bambam, whilst stuffing his face.

youngjae began muttering the lyrics to nct's cherry bomb under his breath in between sips of pink soda.

"bambam!" mark slammed his hand on the table dramatically, making the french fries quake.

"mark tuna!" bambam squeaked through a mouthful of potato. "uh, i mean tuan!"

"we all need a yugbam update here," mark informed him. he slid back into his seat and the table stopped quivering.

"the fuck's one of those?" bambam frowned, gulping water after trying to swallow all of the fries that had previously been in his mouth.

"you and yugyeom," mark sighed.

"spill the beans," youngjae contributed.

"why are you all attacking me?" bambam whined. he looked around at each of the others and huffed. "nothing happened!"

"sure..." mark drawled, "and jinyoung doesn't have a peachy ass."

they all turned to stare at him.

"first thing i could think of?!" mark explained with an awkward smile.

"well, i mean, i'm not gonna deny-"

"YUGYEOM AND BAMBAM KISSED ON NEW YEAR'S EVE!" youngjae burst out suddenly, his voice carrying over the noise of the lunch hall.

bambam's entire being flushed red with embarrassment as the cafeteria fell silent.

"OH MY GOD, YOU KISSED YUGYEOM ON NEW YEAR'S EVE?" mark said just as loudly.

a coconut-haired yugyeom turned slowly around from where he sat with the football team. his cheeks were a rosy pink, but his eyes were bright with pride.

"thanks a lot, bitch-jae," bambam muttered. he kicked youngjae's pink sneaker under the table and tried to scowl through his loved-up smile.

the cafeteria slowly returned to life and chatter filled the air. bambam ate his fries in silence but his blushing ears and little smile told a different story than the one he tried to portray.

"okay then, jae-jae," jinyoung continued, taking the attention off bambam for once.

mark instantly caught on. "yeah, jae-jae," he added, "i didn't even know your hottie existed, let alone went to our school!"

youngjae choked on his pink soda. "w-what...?" he managed.

"seokmin," mark said in a soft tone, "i'm literally screeching. how did you meet him?"

youngjae blinked at them. "uh... kind of a long story?"

"which ends in him becoming your boyfriend!" mark finished for him in a sing-song voice.