Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 18

It took Renjun until Wednesday to notice.

In his defence, he had been extremely busy with classes and extracurriculars--including attending one he wasn't strictly even a part of, since he'd thought it would be a good idea to stick close to Donghyuck and Jaemin for the time being, all things considered. He hadn't had much reason to check their class board that week, since the year had barely begun and there wasn't much on it he hadn't already seen, so he'd missed it until now.

The first giveaway that something was up was the small gaggle of students, girls and boys alike, crowding around the large board outside his last class before lunch. It just so happened that this was the board for his class, which wasn't strange in and of itself. What was strange, however, was that none of the students currently jostling for space were people he knew. He wasn't even sure they were in his year group yet there they were, fighting for a spot by the wall, near the brightly coloured sign-up sheet he'd helped Donghyuck design.

"What's going on?" he asked a girl towards the back, who ignored him as she stepped around another student to try to get closer to the wall. He frowned, tapping a boy on the back this time, one who thankfully responded. He repeated his question, in response to which the boy pointed a shaking finger towards the board.

"Lee Jeno," he said simply, voice low and almost reverent as he spoke the words. Renjun's mouth fell open in surprise, the name of his unrequited crush the very last thing he'd ever expected to fall from the boy's lips in that moment. He floundered for a half-beat, mouth working overtime to minimal effect, before he shook himself free from his stupor enough to string a sentence together.

"What about him?" he asked, glancing again at the board out of the corner of his eye. One of the students at the front of the group, closest to the wall, had retrieved a pen from her bag and was scribbling furiously on something Renjun couldn't quite see. "This isn't even his class. It's over there." He pointed down the long hallway to his left, indicating a different, garishly-decorated slab of plaster-board.

"My guess is that he was trying to fly under the radar." Both boys turned their attention quickly to a set of twin girls who were now pushing their way out of the group, one still wielding a pen in front of her torso like a dagger. They must have been the ones at the front that he had just seen, Renjun thought. The one with the pen was grinning widely and looked triumphant, like she was returning home from war. "I'm so glad I noticed though," she continued, as her twin nodded. "I can't believe that I might actually be able to spend time in the same room as Jeno-oppa. He might even notice me."

"Notice us," the other girl added quietly but was summarily ignored. The first was already striding off down the corridor, pen swinging loosely in her hand at her hip as she almost skipped across the linoleum. Now thoroughly confused, Renjun managed to clear out most of the remaining students by threatening to report them for loitering upstairs during lunch--a move he wasn't particularly proud of, considering he was planning to do exactly the same thing once they were gone, but he had to know what was suddenly so interesting about his class board. Especially if it had something to do with Lee Jeno.

Moving to occupy the newly vacant space, he skirted around three petite freshman girls who were still chattering away to each other in a huddle, and scanned the array of notes, photos and advertisements already littering the space. Nothing stood out, which confused him even further.

He was just starting to wonder whether the students had been staging some kind of bizarre protest or impromptu fan meet in honour of the 11th-grade soccer player, who definitely had more than enough admirers to make that sort of farce possible, when his eyes finally landed on his friend's hopelessly crooked stapling effort.

Auditions for the Winter Musical, it read, followed by several lines of essential detail that Renjun suspected he knew by heart at this point, having listened to both Donghyuck and Dejun repeat them multiple times, every other day, for the past few weeks. He skipped over the text, quickly finding his own name near the bottom. It was followed by several others, including one immediately below his that made his blood run cold.