upstaged || markhyuck

08. third wheeling.

rehearsals and tech-tests ensued that week and finally the weekend had arrived.

"mark! come play basketball with us," minhyuk yelled from where he stood on mark's front lawn. "good morning, mr lee!" he added when he saw him through the downstairs window.

"son!" mark's dad called to minhyuk from his office, "please step off my lawn but do take mark with you, wherever you lot are going. he's been in bed all morning, probably still in his pyjamas, too."

"thanks, mr lee," said minhyuk, grinning as he carefully stepped off the lee's front lawn. he bounced the basketball on the sidewalk.

"i'm not in my pyjamas!" mark lied blatantly as he stumbled out of bed and threw on a white polo-shirt and a pair of black shorts. he splashed water on his face and brushed his teeth quickly before running downstairs towards the front door.

"so you totally didn't just get changed," minhyuk said, raising an eyebrow as mark opened the front door.

"shut up," mark muttered. he grabbed his wallet from where he'd left it beside the pile of shoes and stuffed his feet into his trainers. "we're not walking, are we?" he glanced around for a car, but only saw yeri and chan waiting on the sidewalk.

"hey, markie!" yeri called, waving. chan also waved and grinned.

"nope, you're driving," minhyuk informed him.

"are you actually kidding-"

"here you are, son," mark's dad said with a smile, handing him the car keys.

"oh, thanks- wait, you're handing me my own car keys," mark remarked with a sigh. "thought it was too good to be true."

"drive safely," his dad replied, handing him ten thousand won as well.

"thanks, dad," mark said.

he locked the front door behind him and walked past his father's sleek black car, stopping beside his own shitty white one with obvious disappointment.

"i'm riding shotgun!" yeri announced, taking off her floppy sunhat and climbing in as soon as mark unlocked his car. "thanks for giving us a ride, markie," she added teasingly.

"stop with the 'markie' already," he grumbled, climbing into the drivers seat as chan and minhyuk got in the back. "where are we going?"

"usual spot," minhyuk said.

"can we listen to music?" chan asked once they were on their way to the park where the basketball court was.

"okay," mark agreed, turning the audio player on. universe sung by kim jongdae started playing out of the speakers.

"this again, huh?" yeri said with a smirk.

"it's a good musical!" mark said in defence. "besides, getting familiar with the songs will help with my lighting cues later."

"oh, you mean lee donghyuck's lighting," said yeri, nodding, "i see."

"you'll be shining a spotlight on him," minhyuk joined in, "and then the lights will go low..."

"guys," mark muttered, trying listen to jongdae's high note.

"and then," yeri began.

"the fade," the three passengers said dramatically.

"shut up or get out of my car."

and they did, because mark tended to be serious when he used that tone with them.

"minhyuk, stop bouncing that fucking basketball in this car, i swear to god," mark uttered, hands tight on the steering wheel as they waited at a red light.

"okay, god," minhyuk scoffed, although he did stop it.

"okay, we're here," said mark pulling into the parking lot. "who's paying for parking?"

"you are?" the asked hopefully.

he looked at them, one eyebrow raised.

"okay, okay, i've got some change here somewhere," said yeri, rummaging through her bag. "chan, cough up."

"why me?" chan asked, confused.

"we're all paying towards parking," minhyuk said, rolling his eyes. he slapped a coin into mark's hand.

"is that all?" mark deadpanned.

"here," said chan.

"right, that's enough," said yeri, making up the difference. "i'll just get the ticket."

"you said you didn't want to play anyway," minhyuk pointed out as he got out of the car. he grabbed chan's hand and dragged him out after him.

"that's because it's sunny," yeri told him, pointing at the sky. "this is the last time my skin is gonna see the damn sun this year."

"it is november," mark observed, going round to the trunk of his car and grabbing his hoodie from inside. he slammed the trunk closed to find that yeri had returned with a parking ticket and a girl.

"is this your girlfriend?" chan questioned.

the girl with short black hair beside yeri burst out laughing. "nah, yeri's girlfriend is old."

"eonni is not old," yeri grumbled.

"i'm chaeyoung," yeri's friend said with a grin. "we have biology together."

"yeah, i know you," minhyuk said, bouncing the basketball on the ground.

"do i get to watch you play?" chaeyoung joked, linking arms with yeri and following chan and minhyuk towards the basketball court as mark placed the parking ticket inside his car.

"if you want," minhyuk said with a wink.

"hey," chan protested.

"what?" minhyuk laughed, nudging chan's shoulder. they reached the empty court and he passed the ball to chan.

chan didn't catch it. he fumbled to grab it, straightening up.

"you always flirt with girls," he complained.

chaeyoung had produced popcorn from her bag and she and yeri sat on a nearby bench, watching the boys.

"shit, this is better than a kdrama," chaeyoung commented, stuffing a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

"oh, i know right," said yeri, "hang with us more often and you'll always be entertained. stop hogging the popcorn!"

"i am not," chaeyoung said indignantly, shoving the packet at yeri she adjusted her cap. "i'm in hardly any of the same classes, though."

"i know," yeri replied with a sigh. "i'd say hang with us after school but i'm usually with-"

"your girlfriend, i know," chaeyoung groaned. "oh, they've actually started playing now."

"yeri, you've left me on a team by myself," mark complained loudly.

"tough," yeri called back, watching as minhyuk and chan had seemed to have forgotten the existence of the ball entirely and were laughing and shoving each other.

"and you've left me third-wheeling with these two!"

"he got that right," chaeyoung commented, watching the pair who were being so blatantly obvious. "what even is love anyway?" she muttered.

"hey, you'll find it eventually," yeri told her. "just wait."

chaeyoung sighed. "you finished all the popcorn," she said, disappointed.

______________________

i think i accidentally became a fan of twice

felt like a sidetracked a bit with this chapter, but i wanted to write a chapter from mark's side of things :)

hope you enjoyed!!

taellipses out x