Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 17

"Isn't that right, Hyuck-ah?"

"Huh?" The sound of Donghyuck's name pulled his attention back to the conversation he was barely paying attention to, distracted instead by the far more interesting interactions of the other people scattered around the room. Blinking, he turned his head to find Xiao Dejun and the school's two performing arts teachers staring at him expectantly, waiting for an answer to a question he hadn't been listening to. "Sorry, can you repeat that last part for me?"

His eyes had been on Renjun, who had, in turn, been staring right back at him. The other boy had been rolling his eyes as he did so, gesturing furiously behind Donghyuck as if to suggest that he should be paying attention and not watching him. He wasn't wrong, but Donghyuck would be lying if he said it wasn't fun to watch his friend sigh, every single time he was interrupted from his book by someone wanting him to join in on the impromptu chaos happening between him and Donghyuck.

It was Friday lunchtime. As such, whilst the people in charge, which coincidentally still involved Donghyuck, were busy discussing something important--he really should have been able to remember what, but the information had fled his brain almost immediately--the rest of the newly combined drama and dance crowd had decided to start playing a rather boisterous game of Jegichagi.

Chenle had started screaming excitedly somewhere around four seconds into his turn, brightly coloured jegi arcing high into the air as he ran to get underneath it. The sound had caused Donghyuck to look away from Dejun for a split second--he swore it was just a second--and that had been it. He'd become instantly distracted by the game, and by the people clearly enjoying it more than he was enjoying being a responsible not-quite-adult. He hadn't heard a single word of the discussion since.

"I was just telling the teachers that you were making the audition sign-up sheets, Donghyuck." Dejun's voice was serious and he stared intently at Donghyuck, but he didn't really seem annoyed. His mouth quirked up at the corners, and he was leaning back in his chair in a way that broadcasted that he was relaxed. "Why don't you tell them where you got to with it?"

"Oh, yeah." Donghyuck bent over and fished around under his chair, pulling out three slim, neatly colour-coded stacks of paper. One of the teachers, Mr Choi, raised an impressed eyebrow as he took in the way they were oriented in alternating directions to keep the colours separate. "So, I've got a set for each year group. I'm going to pin them up on each class board, and there are a few different boards, so I thought colour-coding would help to keep them organised."

Actually, Renjun had come up with that idea. Donghyuck had strongly advocated for rainbow stripes across all of them, citing his considerable experience with NCT coming up with new and exciting aesthetic concepts as his reason for getting his way. That idea had been shot down immediately, and Renjun had insisted that whoever had given him the notion that he was any good at colour coordinating was either insane or blind. Donghyuck had made a mental note to tell his stylists when he got home--they'd be flattered, he was sure. Either that or they'd kill him.

"That's quite smart, Donghyuck," Mr Choi said slowly, scratching a spot under his chin thoughtfully. The man seemed to always speak just that little bit slower than everyone else, and Donghyuck couldn't help but partially blame this for his getting distracted earlier. It was easier than admitting to himself that he just wanted to go and play with Jaemin, Chenle and the others, and that he just wanted their conversation to end before lunch did.

"Thank you, seonsaeng-nim." He gave the man a polite nod, before extracting one of the sheets of paper from near the top of the stack. "Dejun, you're in Class A, right?" The older boy nodded, so Donghyuck handed him the sheet. On it, there were three marked sections where students could write their names, underneath a header that stated the year and class. The lists were blank so far, but there was a space for singers, for dancers and for stagehands. "If you think we need anything else, I can change it but--"