Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 26

"Have you looked at it yet?" Renjun hopped up onto Donghyuck desk first thing on Wednesday morning, curiosity burning in his eyes despite the sleepy expression on his face. He promptly yawned, not bothering to cover his mouth with his hand, but still managed to maintain steady eye contact with Donghyuck, who shrugged.

"Not yet." The cast list had gone up on the main school noticeboard overnight, the Performing Arts teachers having made their final decisions in a meeting after school the day before. Donghyuck had seen the small crowd of students gathered in front of it as he'd walked in from the parking lot, but he'd made sure to give them all a wide berth and had taken the back staircase to avoid running into anyone he knew.

"Why not?"

"Because I already know the result," Donghyuck said quickly. Then he sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face wearily. "Dejun sent out the emails last night, inviting all of the cast and crew to the social tonight." Renjun nodded, having also been included on the guest list by default, by virtue of his willingness to help with stage management. "I know I'm in because I got the email, but I know I don't have got the role I wanted. Dejun was so much better than me."

"How do you know you didn't get it?" Renjun asked, an inscrutable look on his face as his lips pressed into a thin line. "I know that you think you know, but how can you be sure?"

"What aren't you telling me, Injunie?" Donghyuck asked, brows knitting together as a tiny, unwelcome bubble of hope started to swell inside his chest. He knew that allowing it to gain purchase was a bad idea, but he also knew that Renjun wasn't the type to torture him with false hope where there was none. "Did you look?"

"Of course I did," came the reply, Renjun's tone indicating that he thought Donghyuck was ridiculous for even asking. "But you haven't." Donghyuck glanced down at his phone, which sat on the desk next to Renjun's thigh, and tapped the screen to illuminate the time. He still had ten minutes before homeroom began, and most of the students--including the perpetually almost-late Na Jaemin--hadn't even arrived yet.

"I'm just going to go and, uh--" He didn't even bother to finish his sentence, as Renjun rolled his eyes and leant back against the wall next to Donghyuck's desk. He was halfway to the door by the time he heard the boy's reply, and then he was hurrying down the hallway towards the lobby, that little speck of hope growing with each stride.

"It's about damn time."

Once he made it down the stairs and into the large entryway, Donghyuck quickly found himself nearing the large notice board that filled most of the wall space to the left of the main double doors. A few people were milling around but none of them seemed especially interested in either him or the board, so he skirted around them and made a beeline for the new addition to the already cluttered surface.

The paper was bright white, clean in the way that only a freshly posted notice ever could be, and it contained a neatly typed list of names, alongside their respective characters. His eyes swept up from the bottom as a matter of habit, pausing briefly as he spotted Chenle's name. Next to it, the boxy font announced that Chenle had been given the role of Gavroche, as well as understudy for Jean Valjean. Surprised but incredibly pleased for his friend, a small smile started to spread across his face, even as his nerves grew and his gaze continued to glide up the page. Chenle had worked hard and the part was well deserved, not to mention that the understudy position would give him the chance to learn a lot from Dejun. It would be a great help later on too, if Chenle wanted to take on a larger role in future productions.

When Donghyuck neared the top of the list but had yet to see his name, he started to worry that Renjun had been mistaken--or worse, had cruelly gotten his hopes up for some other, less pleasant reason--but there were still the principal roles left to go.