Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 7

After spending the rest of the weekend lamenting the fact that he wasn't able to use company commitments as an excuse for not doing his homework, like he had when he'd been through high school the first time, Donghyuck woke up on Monday morning with a strong sense of purpose. He and Renjun had managed to text back and forth a few times on Sunday, in between his history essay and Renjun's extra credit art project, and they were both eager to put their plans into action.

Donghyuck had offered to pick Renjun up for school, but the other boy had declined, explaining that it would be too much too conspicuous for them to arrive and leave school together on the first day of Operation Family--as they had so creatively dubbed it. The key, at least according to Renjun, was for Donghyuck to act as much like the old Hyuck as possible for the time being. Since the two of them were identical, yet polar opposites in many regards, they agreed that it would cause more harm than good if Donghyuck suddenly became a completely different person over a single weekend.

If he was honest, he thought to himself as he found a parking spot and pulled up outside the main building, Donghyuck was nervous that he wasn't a good enough actor to pull it off. It was a lot to ask, and he was very much out of his depth, but he forced himself to remember what was waiting for him back home and what was at stake. He blew out a gust of air, centring himself. He could do this.

He wasn't alone.

They could do this.

--

Fifteen minutes later, eyes glazed over as he tried to make small talk with the boy seated next to him in his homeroom class, he was sincerely doubting his previous conviction. The boy was talking animatedly about some party over the summer that they'd both apparently been in attendance at. He seemed nice enough and he clearly knew Donghyuck well enough for them to be friends, but Hyuck was quickly realising how tough it was to hold a conversation when you didn't even know the other person's name.

Just then, his phone buzzed in his pocket, sending a tiny shiver of static up his ribs. Trying not to look like he wasn't listening, he slipped it out of his jacket and palmed it into his lap. A subtle glance down had him smiling, and he glanced up towards the front of the room to see Renjun watching him knowingly. He caught a glimpse of Renjun's phone, a subtle wave of the device in the air to make sure he'd caught on, and then his back was turned to Donghyuck again as if nothing happened.

Park Jong Soo. Soccer player. Lee Donghyuck fanboy #1.

Flashing the boy a genuine smile for the first time, he interrupted as Jongsoo continued a long, complex story that Donghyuck couldn't recall the start of. "Sorry, Jongsoo-ah," he said, making sure to give the boy his full attention this time, "I zoned out for a second there. Would you mind starting the story again?"

He watched the boy struggle to process his words for a moment, seeming surprised that he'd asked, but then happily launched into his story from the top. Donghyuck couldn't help but be reminded of the training he'd received before his first-ever fan meetings. Eye contact, smile and make them feel like the most important person in the room. He didn't have to fake that when he was with NCTizens--those fan events were always the highlight of his year after all-- but he was definitely a pro at the artifice now, after all these years. This was no different and it really wasn't a boring story now that he was listening properly. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard, he mused, as he nodded in agreement about some detail of a school soccer game he had no memory of attending. He could do this.

--

A few hours later, after he thought he'd done a decent job remembering equations and formulae he'd never imagined he'd need again--aside from one slightly awkward moment when he'd panicked a little bit as everyone else moved to sit by their assigned lab partners in Chemistry, but he didn't know which one was his--Donghyuck found himself in the main stairwell, joining the lunchtime rush towards the cafeteria.