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"Mark Lee, you're late!"
Donghyuck's voice rang through the gym doors before Mark had even had a chance to push them open. Trust the wing spiker's sharp mouth to criticize Mark before he had even stepped into the room. It wouldn't have been surprising to Mark if the junior had been listening for his footsteps— not that Mark had been trying to be particularly discreet, thundering down the hall towards the gym in a sprint, but still. Donghyuck would never miss an opportunity to poke fun at Mark, single him out for any mistake.
God, he was going to miss this.
Mark opened the door to Jaemin swinging a sweat-stained kneepad at Donghyuck, the other ducking away from it dramatically. "Can you lay off?" Jaemin scolded, sitting down on the floor to slide his kneepads onto his legs. The sight of Jaemin moving around so easily on the court was still a bit unnatural to Mark, after their middle blocker's long absence due to a back injury. That wasn't to say that Mark wasn't happy he was back, though— their team had tried to play around it, fill in the gap left by Jaemin's absence, but no one could take his place. Even Donghyuck's best attempt at keeping the banter up always seemed to fall a bit flat. "It's his last practice." Jaemin threw a shoe at Donghyuck when the other boy mocked him, Donghyuck running away with a shout.
"It's fine, Jaemin," Mark called as he crossed the gym, dropping his bag next to the others against the wall. He stripped his uniform jacket off, revealing the volleyball jersey underneath. "He's always gonna be like that, no use trying to change it."
"See," Donghyuck jeered at Jaemin, and although Mark was looking into his bag for his shoes, he could hear the telltale noise of Jaemin's other shoe smacking against the wall, followed by a shout from Donghyuck and a cackling laugh from Chenle.
"Guys, come on," Jeno's voice came from somewhere across the gym. When Mark looked over, the other boy was paused in helping Jisung set up the net to pout at the others disapprovingly. "Don't make Mark sad."
Renjun let out a huff from where he was volleying a ball against one of the walls of the gym, hitting the same spot every time. Mark remembered when Renjun had first joined the team and had practiced day in and day out to try to consistently hit the perfect height for him to spike, lining it up with the painted bricks of the wall to achieve it. He'd worn the paint down within a month— the school had repainted it countless times in the two years since then. "Can you lighten up?" he commented coolly, though Mark knew better— when the seniors had graduated last year, Renjun had bawled his eyes out at the last game, and something told Mark that this year would be worse. "He's graduating, not dying ."
" And he's here all summer!" Chenle piped up. Their libero was crouched on the floor, stretching out his long legs. It still shocked Mark how Chenle had seemed to grow three inches overnight, going from a baby-faced kid to a young man before anyone realized it. He still acted like a kid though, the brat, laughing like crazy at the silliest thing and flinging himself across the court after a wayward with reckless abandon. Although, Mark supposed, that's what made him a great libero.
When Mark looked over at Chenle, he was looking back at him, his smile self-assured and hopeful. "And you'll come visit," he added, plopping down onto the court. "Right, hyung?"
It was a given that he would, Mark knew, but for some reason it seemed like the other members of his team collectively held their breath as they waited for an answer. Mark didn't hesitate to assure them. "Absolutely," he answered with certainty, and he tried to hide back a smile as he heard Jisung let out a sigh of relief. "I gotta make sure you guys don't burn the gym down or something."
Although Mark had spared Jisung the embarrassment of pointing out his reaction, it seemed like the rest of the team wasn't on board. "Aw, Jisungie's happy to hear that, huh?" Jaemin cooed, getting up and moving over to Jisung. He flung his arms around the youngest, squeezing him right and trying to pinch his cheeks. "You're gonna miss Mark-hyung, right? Aw, baby's first graduation. You gonna cry?"
"M'not," Jisung mumbled, squirming to try and wriggle out of Jaemin's grip. He writhed harder when Jaemin tried to lean in for a kiss, barely managing to escape in time. Chenle laughed loudly as he stumbled away, swiping at his face as if to wipe off whatever germs Jaemin had gotten on him. "I'm not," he repeated louder, more clearly, though he couldn't quite look at Mark and his face was already red. Even though he hadn't known Jisung as long as the other, the youngest joining their team as a freshman when Mark was already in his senior year, Jisung had become sort of a little brother to him. Even when Jisung had grown like a weed and surpassed Mark in height, the feeling didn't go away. "I don't cry at stuff like that."
"No, Donghyuck will be the one crying," Renjun called, catching the ball he was throwing and looking over his shoulder with a grin. "Just watch, he's acting all tough now but you know he's gonna lose it after the last game. Full blown meltdown, I'd put money on it."
"I will shove that volleyball down your throat," Donghyuck threatened darkly. "Is that what you want? Hwang Injoon, don't test me, I'll fucking do it."
"Try me," Renjun taunted, lobbing the ball at Donghyuck, who caught it and chucked it back at him. Renjun managed to hit it with an awkward bump, the ball spinning and careening sideways through the air until it was caught by Jeno.
"I really hope you're not gonna be like this next year when I'm captain," Jeno complained with a frown, the corners of his mouth turning even further down when Jaemin just sang, "Good luck, Jeno-ya~!" In hindsight, leaving someone on the meek side like Jeno to be captain alone next year was probably not the best idea, but their middle blocker was the one with the lowest proclivity for getting into fights between them, so Mark had gone with what he thought to be the least harmful option. (Although, there wasn't much competition. Donghyuck was a firecracker, Jaemin had hardly a shred of patience on the best days, and Renjun loved getting under other people's skin too much to have any sort of effective leadership skills. The bar could be in hell, and the boys would still find a way to limbo under it.)
Mark couldn't help but laugh at the familiar antics, feeling the heavy knowledge that this was their last practice lifting off his shoulders. Yes, they wouldn't be able to play on a team or mess around in the gym again like this, the seven of them. But every moment was one of a kind, unique in their own way— every moment was the last. All Mark could do was keep present, live in the moment, appreciate every opportunity he had to be with these boys. No moment he spent with them would ever come again, but he would damn well try his best to live them to the fullest when he was in them, and cherish the memories when they were gone.
He finished laughing to find that everyone was looking at him, a myriad of expressions on their faces. Expectant, hopeful, wistful, joyful— so many emotions Mark could nearly drown in them.
So he did what he knew best— letting out a noise to dispel the atmosphere, shaking his head as he walked onto the court. "Boys, are we gonna get emotional or are we gonna play?" he said loudly, the heavy mood lifting with the volume of his voice. "We've still got one last tournament this weekend, and we're not getting any younger! We're losing minutes like this!"
"Says the one who was late in the first place," Donghyuck chirped, and like that, the good mood was back again, the play and banter coming as easy as breathing. Jeno tossed the ball to Mark, who tossed it to Jisung to serve, and everyone got into formation.
"Ready?" Mark called, and the resounding shouts of "Yes, captain!" would echo in his heart for the rest of his life.
"Yo, dream!"