Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 3

"I'm sorry. Who are you?"

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Renjun's gaze was singularly fixed on Haechan's face, despite his body language appearing to dismiss him completely, torso angled towards the front of the room. Only the slight trembling in his fingers, clenched into fists on the desk next to Haechan's, let the younger boy know that Renjun was not nearly as passive and unaffected as he seemed.

"I--I'm..." Who was he? Haechan supposed, at least while he was dreaming, that he should go with the status quo, and play along. "I'm Donghyuck. We've known each other for years. We've shared a roo--"

"I know who you are!" With a huff, Renjun twisted in his seat to face him properly for the first time. The look on his face was one Haechan hadn't seen in a long time, and he paled. This was one seriously angry Renjun, and all of that anger was directed at him at the moment. He'd never wished for Jaemin or Jeno to appear more, to ease the tension that oozed from his friend.

"Wait, but you said...?" Another sigh, and now the other boy just looked exhausted, and more than a little sad.

"I know what I said. I know who you are, Donghyuck," he explained, fingers twisting together against the laminated surface of the desk at his waist. "I'm not stupid. Everyone in this school knows who you are."

As if to punctuate his point, his heavy gaze swept the students around them, all of whom were suddenly very interested in the desks in front of them, or in the ceiling or the nearest blank stretch of wall. The room around them was deathly silent--even the teacher was watching their exchange with thinly-veiled curiosity--which Haechan found odd. What could possibly be so interesting about two students having a conversation, even if one of them seemed less than keen to be having it?

"What I mean to say is," Renjun continued, eyes flicking between Haechan and the rapt audience around them, each pretending to be anything but, "who are you and what have you done with the real Donghyuck?" That hit a little too close to home for comfort, so Haechan stayed silent, trying to ignore the prickly feeling in the nape of his neck, from the several dozen pairs of eyes on them from all directions. "Why are you talking to me? Why are you sat there? That's not your seat."

"I--I just wanted to say hi," Haechan said hesitantly, after a pregnant pause that seemed to stretch on for centuries. "I'm sorry." Again, the other boy's face twitched, with something akin to guilt and pain surfacing for just a moment, before his eyes closed and he turned to the front again, effectively disengaging from the conversation.

Without saying another word, a very bewildered Haechan collected his belongings from the floor and vacated the seat by his friend, shuddering as he took in the rigid line of Renjun's back, the boy stoically ignoring him. He turned to head for the back of the room and almost bumped into another figure, looming over them both. It was a testament to the other boy's natural grace and poise that Haechan hadn't even heard him enter the room, or sensed him move to stand behind them.

"Trying to steal my spot, Hyuck?" His smile was radiant, as it had been since the first day they had laid eyes on one another in the third-floor practice room, but there was a layer of artifice in the curve of his lips that was only noticeable because they knew each other so well.

"Hey, Jaemin-ah." Taking his cue from the relaxed way Jaemin used a nickname, Haechan hoped that he wasn't about to get chewed out again. He wasn't sure he could handle it from two people this morning. His headache hadn't eased any and he was still running on fumes from his late-night, even if he shouldn't be able to feel either of those things in the dream. If anything, this was starting to feel more like a nightmare than a relaxing jaunt between sleep and awake.

"Rough morning?" the other boy asked, trading places with Haechan and sitting down beside Renjun. The older boy didn't look over at Jaemin either, Haechan noted, but he did visibly relax now that Haechan was no longer occupying the seat. It made something ugly twist in his gut, but he didn't know why. Guilt? Jealousy?