upstaged || markhyuck

67: plotting.

"last night was fun," donghyuck chirped as he linked arms with jaemin, "it was a good idea, wasn't it?"

"yeah, even if you made us watch hairspray," renjun said, hurrying to catch up with donghyuck's longer strides. jeno linked fingers with him, putting their joined hands in his coat pocket as it was so cold outside.

"you can't stop the beat!" donghyuck said innocently. "did you have a good time, jaemin?"

jaemin blinked, having been thinking about how nice it was to be squished on the sofa next to daehwi as the younger sang lyrics to the songs under his breath. the brown-haired boy was glad he had made up with donghyuck and the others, even if he'd had to pour his soul into writing letters to do so. he still hadn't talked to daehwi about the letter, and he supposed the honey-haired boy was warming up his voice in the theatre that morning, as he told him he usually did.

"y-yeah," he mumbled, shaking his head. donghyuck looked amused at jaemin's distracted expression. "it was really nice."

"nice, was it?" jeno teased. "you're just happy that daehwi was there."

"shut up," jaemin muttered, blushing.

renjun tugged on jaemin's sleeve to get his attention. "jeno and i have been doing some... research," he said, narrowing his eyes conspiratorially. "about a certain person."

"a certain bitch, you mean," donghyuck scoffed. "sorry, do go on."

renjun lowered his voice as they got nearer the school building.

"about, you know, nancy," he continued, "and you're not the only guy she's played around with."

jaemin's expression turned sour. "why am i not surprised? i already saw her kissing some other guy."

"according to my sources," said renjun, "that unlucky guy was kim woojin, who graduated last year. he was also on the football team."

"so?" jaemin asked dryly. "i'm done with her."

"she also had a thing with felix-"

"what?" donghyuck demanded. "what?" he added in a whisper.

renjun stopped them and dragged them to the side of the building. "i've just been asking around and basically nancy can't stay loyal to one person, instead messing about with people like you, jaemin."

"what's that supposed to say about me?" he muttered.

"only that nancy is manipulative," jeno said, shrugging. "it could have happened to anyone."

"how can we expose her?" was jaemin's next question.

"don't worry," said donghyuck, laying a hand on his shoulder. "we'll make a plan. come to the theatre after school; i know a few people who would like to help us."

***

"you want names?" xiyeon asked, crossing her arms as jaemin, donghyuck, renjun and jeno stood on the stage in front of her.

"just warm up, babes!" mr byun called as he rushed towards the stage door, glasses askew, having forgotten his copy of the script. "i'll be back in five minutes."

"sure, mr byun!" said sanha, striding over to where xiyeon was. "i smell plotting," he added, "do i want to know?"

"we're getting a revenge, of sorts, on nancy," said donghyuck.

"then i'm in," sanha said, raising his eyebrows. he had dyed his hair orange again, and mr byun kept calling him 'orange beanpole' so sanha had sworn to dye it more of a brown shade before the show. that, and donghyuck's fire hydrant hair was bright enough for the stage, so his being orange was a bit much. "oh, hi, jaemin," he added. "unfortunately i can't stay away from these kinds of things, i was involved in pranking you that time."