HIKE

25 | problem solver mark lee

renjun stirred at the throbbing pain in his ankle. he didn't notice how much it hurt at first, not in his state of semi-consciousness. absentmindedly, he tried to push himself out of the sleeping bag - and that's when the sharp stab of pain spiked up his leg and altered his senses.

"fuck!" renjun yelled, a sob finding its way to clog his throat.

"renny, what's wrong?" jeno was instantly awoken from his slumber, outstretching a hand to renjun in concern.

eyes watering from the blinding pain, renjun glanced over at jeno in need of help. only, jeno had somehow managed to lose his shirt during the night, and his bare upper body was almost as blinding as the throbbing in renjun's ankle. he was toned, abs cut and arms defined, and renjun found his eyes exploring all of it, right down to noticing that all jeno was wearing were a pair of low slung sweatpants.

renjun found himself screaming at this point.

"oh my god, renny, talk to me," jeno demanded, terrified that something truly awful had happened. he shuffled over to the chinese boy and reached out to comfort him in some way, but renjun just found himself sobbing harder being that close to those abs.

the tent door was speedily unzipped and mark stuck his head inside. "what's going on?"

renjun jumped, startled, making him screech even louder. "i thought you were a fucking bug," he cried.

"renjun wants the termination of all bug species," jaemin's voice put in from outside.

"fat nerd," donghyuck put in.

"whatever," mark muttered, keeping focused on the issue at hand. "renjun, what's wrong?"

renjun clutched at his ankle but touching it only seemed to make it worse. "my ankle," he sobbed, "i think it's broken."

mark quickly tossed aside the sleeping bag, which had been unzipped and spread open into a blanket. jeno didn't even think about putting on a shirt as mark inspected renjun's ankle, being too worried to care. jeno had been the one to notice renjun getting too hot in the middle of the night and, after touching his forehead and fearing he'd contracted a terrible virus, had opened up the sleeping bag to let renjun cool down. even now he was practically biting his nails in anxiety.

"this is some huge swelling," mark observed, his brow furrowed and his lips pursed. "did you twist it yesterday?"

"m-maybe," renjun admitted through sniffles, wincing every time mark so much as breathed in the air around his ankle.

mark nodded with a grim expression. "it's looking bad, but i don't think it's broken. to me, it seems like a bad sprain. donghyuck, do you have a first aid kid?"

"yeah, hyung, i'll go get it!" donghyuck's voice sounded upbeat but it was only to relieve some of the tension in the situation and lighten the mood. it wasn't working.

"okay, uh... i'll bind your ankle for you, renjun," said mark once donghyuck had returned with the first aid kit.

"do you even know what you're doing, hyung?" donghyuck asked sceptically.

"yes, i do, actually," mark shot back at him, "i took a first aid course."

"so did i!"

"i practiced in scouts expeditions too."

donghyuck scoffed then. "pfft, jisung quit scouts last year," he said.

"he was a shitty scout," mark complained as he wrapped renjun's ankle tight in clean bandages. "he just didn't want to be there."

"i know," said donghyuck plaintively, "that's why he quit."

"anyway," said mark, steering the topic quite swiftly back to renjun's problematic ankle, "take some paracetamol for the pain, ren, okay? now, if everyone could come inside, i need to talk to you all."

jaemin and donghyuck squeezed inside the tent as well, and zipped the door shut. then mark took a deep breath and spoke his thoughts.

"i'm gunna be honest, renjun," he said, "by the looks of things there is no way you're finishing the challenge."

renjun let out a disappointed sigh. he knocked two pills back and jolted slightly in surprise as he felt jeno's arm snake its way around his waist out of view of the others. renjun tried not to smile or blush at the gesture. it was comforting, somehow, like it took some of the pain away.

"so it means you have two options," mark continued. "either renjun quits the team and the rest of you finish the hike, or you all forfeit."

"no way!" jeno protested, whilst the others just looked downcast, "we're not doing this without renny."

"but we can't just fail, je," jaemin argued. "i didn't pass out for nothing."

"what if i carry renjun?" jeno demanded, staring mark down intently.

"the bags," donghyuck droned, because he knew it was all hopeless.

"yeah, you can't carry your bag, and renjun's bag, and renjun," mark pointed out. "i'm sorry, jeno."

they fell into a helpless silence, as if they were sorting through an empty folder of solutions. nothing was possible.

"but..." said jaemin, deep in thought, "what if we didn't have to take the bags?"

mark's eyes suddenly lit up with an idea, and he snapped his fingers in realisation. "jaemin... you're right!" he exclaimed. "alright, here's the plan - but you are seriously gonna owe me one."

"wait, you actually have a good idea for once, hyung?" donghyuck cut in, raising an eyebrow teasingly when mark glared at him.

"i'm serious," mark said, "this is a huge favour from me, okay? right, so if jeno can carry renjun, you can complete the hike as normal. we'll shove the rucksacks in my car and i'll drive them slowly to the finish point. just before you get there, i'll get the bags to you and mr kim won't know any different."

"so we'll still get the award?" donghyuck questioned.

mark nodded. "if no one finds out you technically cheated," he confirmed.

"you really think we can do this, hyung?" renjun spoke up.

mark smiled at them all. "if you guys think you can, then i'll help you," he answered. "but you're gonna want to leave soon, the other groups are all starting around now."

"okay!" said donghyuck, jumping up and hitting his head on the roof of the tent, "let's go-"

"wait, wait, wait," mark interrupted. donghyuck slowly sat back down again. "you guys have to promise not to tell anyone," mark continued.

"yeah, whatever, we won't," said donghyuck easily.

"i'm serious!" mark insisted. "if you tell anyone, and i mean anyone, then you're getting disqualified and mr kim will never give me a good reference in my resume."

"we won't tell anyone, hyung," jeno told him solemnly.

"you all promise?" mark held out pinkie fingers on both hands and forced them all to pinkie promise him they'd keep their loud mouths shut.

they all linked pinkies in a circle and grumbled their promises, muttering words of loyalty to their hyung.

"right, so all we need to do is stick to the plan and not tell anyone. got it?"

the dream team nodded firmly. they were sure they could do it.

"got it."

___________________

a | n
i was so proud of myself
that i wrote this in advance
after publishing the last one :)

did y'all watch chain bc ma boy
johnny was out there getting the
lines and screentime he deserved
ahhhhhhh he worked so hard

(but my fave part is secretly
winwin's line woop woop)