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Swoosh. The glimmer of a blade can be seen as the skater glides across the rink in time to the song. Donghyuck can feel the music pulse through him as he prepares for a triple axel. Pushing off he gets into the air only to have a loud buzzer interrupt everything and have him land nowhere as gracefully as he needs.
He looks over to the source of the noise to see the hockey team all geared up and ready for their time slot. Of course, it was already time for him to get off the ice for the Zamboni to go over it before the hockey team could practice. Sighing he skates over to the door to let himself off the ice where he sees the rest of his “team” but in reality, is the rest of the skaters on campus.
After getting his skate guards on, he walks over to the rest of his team so they can go back to the locker room. On their way, they happen to pass the hockey team who are giving them looks.
“Look at those ballerinas on ice, go.”
“Is ice skating even a sport?”
“Why do they get time on the ice when we could just have that time?”
Those taunting words from the hockey team echoed over to the skaters and while Donghyuck tried to ignore it, he also felt that they should get something in return.
“Hey, jock sniffers shut it. At least we smell nice.”
“You want to go Lee?” the star player of the hockey team, Mark Lee questions as he stocks over to Donghyuck.
“Let’s go Canada. I bet you won’t hit me,” Donghyuck snarks back. Before anyone could throw down gloves and Donghyuck could jump at Mark, Renjun and Shotaro held him back. In turn, Sungchan and Yangyang held Mark back so neither of them ended up fighting.
Johnny and Yuta end up rushing over to the scene to make sure the fight still does not try to commence. Johnny proceeds to take away Mark while Yuta does the same with Haechan, however, it does not escape his vision when he notices Shotaro smile kindly at the rival Sungchan. He hands Donghyuck off to Sicheng before wheeling around to pick up Shotaro to grace him away from Sungchan where they were talking after the attempt of a fight between the two teams. Yuta walks over and picks up Shotaro while Shotaro struggles to get down. After they are back in the locker They
“Yuta-ani, why did you have to pick me up and carry me away?”
“You were fraternizing with the enemy so I had to take you away.”
“But I was just talking to Sungchan because he is in some of my classes. What is wrong with us being friends?”
“Taro we have had a rivalry with the hockey team since forever, just ignore that Sungchan guy.”
“Do you not like him? Is that why you are being overprotective of me?”
“Well um, enough of this conversation we have to get home because Yuto and Niki are waiting for us.”
Shotaro and Yuta pack up their stuff to leave and start heading out but not before Shotaro tells Donghyuck to text him later and Yuta hugs Sicheng one last time.
Later that day, Donghyuck flops onto his bed sighing about the once again almost fight with Mark. He can just hear his mother’s disapproval ringing in his ears about the whole rivalry and that he should have just stayed at his private skating area even during the school year. His mother being a past figure skating herself does not make the pressure any easier on him especially since his parents happen to be wealthy too. But Donghyuck wanted to use the University rink even if he has to fight Mark Lee and the rest of those hockey players for it. A ping on his phone wakes him out of his internal thoughts.
Two Devils & Taro
Injun
Hey Hyuck
I think we should talk about that fight earlier
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
I thought you were going to hit him this time
Hyuck
I am surprised I didn’t really
I think if you guys didn’t I probably would have
Injun
Hyuck idk why you still have this stupid feud with Mark
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
I am still not sure why we have a feud with the hockey team
Hyuck
Cause he is Mark Lee
The absolute bane of my existence
Besides we have a rivalry because they eat up our practice time
Also,,, you know, are family relationships issue
Injun
I think you should not let your families affect everyone else hyuck
It could ruin other people’s relationships without you even realizing it
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
Yeah
My brother won’t even let me even look at Sungchan without him getting angry
Hyuck
Ooo does our Taro have a crush on the hockey player
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
No we are simply just friends well we try but Yuta hyung does not like that too much
Hyuck
We will ignore how fast you denied that for now
Well, does Yuto hyung like Sungchan?
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
Yeah I think does
Injun
See poor Taro can’t even have friends because of this stupid feud
Hyuck
If Marks stops being an asshole then we wouldn’t have this problem
Injun
I am pretty sure you are the only one who hates him
Xiaojun and Hendery are completely fine with him
Hyuck
Xiaojun and Hendery hang out with him? Those traitors
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
Have you thought about being friends with Mark?
Donghyuck drops his phone down on the bed and sighs dramatically. Both of his friends were probably right but he couldn’t get himself to possibly drop the rivalry with Mark. Their parents' companies were, and it was only fair that the two were rivals. Besides the University only having one rink for both the hockey team and the skaters to share was ridiculous. Donghyuck stops his thoughts to try to get some assignments done before his parents ask if he has done anything during their weekly calls. If only his parents were more involved in his well-being instead of him being the sole person for the future of their company.
Buzzzz. Buzzz. Buzzzz. Donghyuck startles awake by the sound of his phone ringing and vibrating against his nightstand. Reaching over to see who the caller is, his mother, he immediately sighs before swiping to answer the call.
“Hello, mother.”
“Donghyuck, why do you sound like you are still asleep? We have guests coming over to the estate in a half hour and I expect you to be here on time to greet them,” Donghyuck's mother voiced over the phone, her grievances over her son’s untimeliness.
“Okay mother I am finishing getting ready as we speak and I will see you there,” and with that Donghyuck quickly hung up to bolt out of bed to try to get ready. Quickly changing into something appropriate, he brushes his hair and flies out the door to try to get to his parent’s house somewhat on time. Lucky for him, he was able to bolt out of the apartment fairly quickly and set out to see the family driver already there to take him.
“Hello Mr. Lee, I am here to take you to the estate now.”
“Hello Jeonghoon,” Donghyuck greets the chauffeur as he gets into the car so they can leave to head to the estate. The drive consisted of the towering buildings slowly getting smaller as the car traveled out the heart of the city to the upper district where the mansions had resided. Arriving with two minutes to spare- a new record for Donghyuck, he enters the house to see his parents already in the sitting room putting the final touches on the area before hearing the doorbell ring. They motion for the butler to attend the door while Donghyuck walks over to the sitting room to take his place and wait for the guests to walk into the room.
What he was not expecting to enter into the sitting room was hockey ace, Mark Lee. The look of shock crossed both of the boys' faces as they stared at each other for so much as breathing in the same room as each other. They both snap out of their revelation as both parents sit down to start discussing whatever agenda has caused him to cross paths with his number one mortal enemy.
“It must be of wonder as to why both Lee families have gathered today. After a long time of healthy competition between the two companies, it was decided that we start working together to provide a stronger company for the future,” Aerum, Donghyuck’s mother, starts as the rest of them nod along.
“Our plan is for both Lee Industries and Lee Enterprise to eventually merge and for that to happen, we both need our heirs of the company to start making public appearances together. We have not decided to the public on the front of how exactly we wish to present your relationship to the public just yet, but an announcement will be made after your first task together: the 60th annual Children's Hospital Benefit,” Suh Sungho lays out for the two younger males in the room.
“Excuse me what? What relationship do you propose for Mark and I?” Donghyuck questions quite out of shock and quickening anger.
“We were thinking along the sides of a romantic arrangement but we are still discussing all the details of your arrangement,” Lee Songho, Mark's father, states for clarification for the two.
Donghyuck, getting more angered about the arrangement by the second, seems about ready to lash out at the adults, however, one look from his mother keeps him quiet. Mark and Donghyuck both exchange looks as neither of them seemed keen on the idea. The parents have them exchange numbers (only to realize they already had them due to the hockey rink situation) and continue their conversations over the upcoming plans regarding this gala.
After the fiasco, if one could even call that whole situation such, Donghyuck had trudged back to his apartment to flop down on the bed. He couldn’t even begin to process what had just gone down at the estate, him, Lee Donghyuck working together with Mark Lee. Even worse, his parents were considering putting them into an arranged relationship essentially, god the thought of that itself was awful to think about.
Deciding he needed to tell someone, anyone, he pulls up his group chat with some of his choir hyungs.
the three hoes
Hyuck
Guys I need to tell you something
Doyoung
Did you decide to stop acting dramatic over this stupid feud of yours?
Tennie
Did you finally get over whatever high horse you are on and make out with Mark?
Hyuck
What no? He is still my mortal enemy
Well I guess what I want to talk about is regarding him
Him and I have to work together for our parents for some gala
Tennie
Ughhh rich people problems
Hyuck
Ten you have a rich boyfriend
Which by the way you have not introduced him to us yet
Ten
I will when the time comes
Doyoung
So regarding this gala that you have to work on with Mark….
Hyuck
Our parents want to put it together and show up as each other's dates…
Ten
Holy shit you and Mark
I am wheezing
Doyoung
Do you want Jaehyun and I to be there to help?
Hyuck
Sure hyung
If only this planning goes well now…
After finding out Mark and him would be working together, ice skating practice was rough, to say the least. Mondays are when hockey practice is before ice skating practice and as the two teams switch, a deadly tension fills the air.
Mark and Donghyuck can’t even look at each other without glaring and blatantly ignoring any possible reasons to talk between the two. On the sides of each of the heads of the feud, Renjun and Yangyang look at each other in worry about the current tension in the air before going back to pretending they hate each other.
“Canada, your team went into overtime today. Now we have less time on the ice.”
“Sorry, Lee but we had to finish the drills.”
“Next time finish on time.”
Despite having to be forced to work with each other for their parents' agenda, they both have not lightened up about this feud whatsoever. The little surprise from their parents made them even more emotionally charged at each other. Mark and the rest of the team brush past the skaters to go back to the locker room. On the other hand, the skaters take off their skate guards and set out onto the ice.
“Okay, we are going to do our normal group warm-ups before getting into individual practice.”
Practice went slowly for most of the skater team as Donghyuck was not in a good mood. The individual set practice was a lot better for all of them, it was set times within the large hour to give feedback on current progress in their sets and work on more technical things. Each skater also had their ice slots later in the week but Mondays and Fridays were for team peer coaching.
Donghyuck had a hard time trying to concentrate while going through his routine. Skating around the rink all he could think about was Mark and how they were essentially arranged to each other. God, what were his parents even thinking about setting him up with someone? Even if it might just be business allies, the fact they are even considering a romantic relationship is gag-inducing. He, Lee Donghyuck ice skater extraordinaire with hockey player Mark Lee, is disgusting. Donghyuck shivers at the thought and tries to focus back on his turns.
Getting into position for a Biellmann spin, Donghyuck builds up some momentum onto the ice before lifting his leg to be parallel to the ice before further extending it up to reach above his head. Donghyuck was gliding effortlessly on the ice and while in his little world, missed an audience member who seems to be entranced with his performance.
“Mark. Mark. Hello are you there Mark”
As soon as Mark hears his name being called for the third time, he snaps out of his trance of watching Donghyuck practice his free skate. He turns to Johnny who is just wearing a knowing grin.
“So enemies huh seems more like lovers to me,” Johnny muses watching Mark turn flustered by the second, “Anyways we should start heading out, mom and dad are waiting for us tonight.”
“Is hyung also joining us for dinner as well?” Mark asks as he picks up his bag.
“Yeah, he is coming tonight. But when will Donghyuck start coming, hmm?”
“Hyung, let's not talk about the arrangement. I don’t even know what mom and dad were even thinking. If they wanted us and the Lee’s to work together couldn’t they have figured out a better idea than forcing Donghyuck and I into this mess? He already hates me and this just makes everything worse.”
“Well I do not know what they were thinking but now you just got to go along with it. I will be here to support you, Mark. Remember that.”
Mark just nods along as a response and with one look at Donghyuck on the ice, the two brothers leave the rink.
Shotaro and Sungchan make their way across the campus leaving their last class together to go to a cafe near campus. The whole time they make small talk together and swing their hands back and forth as they get near the cafe. Getting close enough to start seeing people inside the cafe, Shotaro notices Yuta and Sicheng already there eating.
“Hey Sungchannie, how about we go somewhere else?”
“Is there something wrong with this cafe hyung?”
“Uh well, I just remembered about this place that Yuto hyung works part-time so I wanted to show the place instead uh yeah.”
“Oh okay hyung, we can go there instead. I like your hyung anyways.”
“Well at least one hyung likes you,” Shotaro mutters under his breath.
“What was that hyung?”
“Oh nothing, Sungchannie, let's just keep walking.”
The two of them continue to further walk a couple of blocks down the road to the other little cafe Shotaro’s brother Yuto works at. Shotaro was the second youngest out of his family, with Yuta and Yuto being twin older brothers, Niki being his younger brother. Although his family is quite large compared to most, he has a tight connection with brothers even when they are being a bit overprotective (hint Yuta).
Shotaro wonders what causes Yuta to be very overprotective when it comes to his friendship with Sungchan. The feud between Mark and Donghyuck should not be the main reason for his brother to act upright? Besides, it is not like Sungchan is an asshole or anything. He is very caring and takes care of his younger sister quite well. I am going to have to do some more investigating.
“Taro, are we at the place now?”
Shotaro snaps out of his thoughts as he looks at the shop, yup they were most definitely at the right place and he could see his brother already through the window. Nodding along to Sungchan, he pulls the younger into the shop and Yuto brightens up seeing them both walk in.
“Aww, how are my favorite dongsaengs today?” Yuto cooes as the two enter the cafe and walk up to the counter.
“We are doing great today, Yuto hyung,” Sungchan beams. The three of them continued to chat as there was not anyone else wanting to order before Sungchan and Shotaro sat down to continue with the outing.
After a while, Sungchan has to leave to go help out with his sister, leaving Shotaro at the cafe as he was going to wait for the end of his brother’s shift. When Yuto finishes up and passes off to the employee who would be taking his shift, he walks over to where Shotaro is on his phone.
“Taro, you and Sungchannie look so cute together.”
“Yuto-ani we are just friends,” stresses Shotaro (in a cute whiny voice).
“Okay, okay I was just teasing you both. So what brings you here? As much as I love my baby brother coming into the place where I work, usually, you just come here with Niki.”
“Well we were just going to go to the cafe near the school but then I saw Yuta-ani and turned us right around. You know about how he hates Sungchan for whatever reason. If he is being protective over me can you tell him to lay back off it Yuto? I just want him to be my brother without getting into his head with my friendships. This stupid feud can’t be his reason for hating Sungchan though.”
“Hmm, I will see what I can do Taro. You know how our brother gets trying to be the eldest and protect his little brothers. I will look into why he is getting in such a frazzle over Sungchan though since the boy is so sweet.”
“Thank you ani.”
The two brothers start to pack up and head home, trying to figure out why their brother with such a big heart and good intentions, would be so worked up over this.
Tuesdays were usually Donghyuck’s favorite and least favorite day of the week. This was the day when he got to spend the most amount of time on the ice for private practice and no hockey jocks would be in the near vicinity. But in terms of least favorite, it was still the beginning of the week when a lot of assignments and other obligations tended to hang over his head. As Donghyuck ended his private practice with the coach and was getting his skate guards back on, he noticed an addition in the stands. Turning to see who could be in the stands, he sees his enemy Mark Lee walking towards him. He honestly has been avoiding Mark even more so since their parents surprised them with their crazy idea last week.
“Hey Canada, what are you doing here? There are no hockey practices today.”
“I am here to extend the invitation from my parents regarding having dinner today, so they can get to know you a bit better.”
“Your parents want to have me over dinner? What short notice though... don’t you think? Anyways tell them I would love to join,” Donghyuck smirked when he noticed Mark becoming more unsettled by the idea of Donghyuck having dinner with his family, “well is there any specific time I have to be at the Lee residence?”
“Well, actually my parents wanted us to arrive together after I had asked you so I guess after you change we can head over?”
“Well, I am most certainly not showing up to your parent’s place in sweats from skating practice so I guess we will have to stop at my apartment on the way.”
Without waiting for any objection, Donghyuck started walking back to the locker rooms to exchange his things with Mark trailing behind trying to keep up with him. The two of them eventually make it out of the rink center and have Donghyuck’s driver escort them back to the apartment. Which to say the entire car ride back was unbearable, to say the least. The entire car sat in silence as they made their way to the apartment and continued in silence afterward when Donghyuck came back out of his apartment building again.
Arriving at the Lee house, the two of them were escorted into the dining room where the rest of the Lee family was waiting and to Donghyuck’s surprise, Ten was among the rest of the family. Sitting right next to Johnny. Oh well, this just got more interesting Donghyuck thought as he moved to sit down next to Mark across from Ten.
Dinner was probably the most awkward affair Donghyuck had encountered. Not only was he trying to politely get to know his (probable) future in-laws while also trying to dissect Ten and Johnny’s relationship. He still couldn’t believe that Ten hadn’t told him he was dating Johnny but he did have to admit that they were quite cute. Well, it probably has to do with my never-ending feud with Mark, Donghyuck thought to himself as he continued to eat. Noticing Mark completely enjoying the meal with his parents and how well he got along with Johnny and Ten, it makes Donghyuck wish for a second that he could be that comfortable and carefree around Mark. But so far he isn’t and I doubt that he will change anytime soon.
“Both of you will start working on the gala tomorrow afternoon and will be meeting with our planner,” Mark’s mother says throughout dinner.
Just great.
The next day could not go any faster Donhyuck thought sarcastically as he left campus to go to the venue that the gala was set to be held in. When Donghyuck arrived, Mark was already there with Ten and standing with the event planner.
“Sleeping beauty finally shows up,” Mark mutters as Donghyuck takes his place right next to him. Donghyuck just scoffs but continues to pay no mind to Mark next to him.
Preparing for the gala was a lot more painful than Donghyuck thought it would be. Having some passion for decorating and planning, Donghyuck thought this would be fun except Mark was being no help whatsoever in helping to decide anything for the party. Ten and him were bouncing ideas back and forth between each other, only stopping momentarily to hold up swatches or palettes for Mark to give his opinion on. Mark felt he was useless in all of this planning stuff especially since Ten and Donghyuck seemed to have a stronghold on it. But it still felt nice when they had asked him for extra input into this.
The event planner that Mark’s parents had hired was taking notes the entire time of what Ten and Donghyuck seemed to have decided on. At one point though Donghyuck and Mark got into what one would say was a petty and pointless argument over the centerpiece. Honestly one could not tell you as to why they were arguing over the centerpiece but Ten was looking on amused at the whole thing and the event planner just stood there confused.
“You two bicker like an old married couple. You realize that right,” Ten teases at the two of them, instantly making both of them stop talking to turn in disbelief at Ten. Both start letting out protests at the idea of acting like a married couple when they hated each other. No way.
After Ten’s comment, the rest of the meeting for the initial planning of the gala came with a lot more looks directed at each other and less conversation. Ten looks exasperated at the childishness that both Mark and Donghyuck were displaying but considering he had known both for a while (including the stupid feud) he just ignored both of them and carried on.
Eventually, the meeting came to an end and they agreed to meet this weekend to look over the samples for the catering options for the gala. Donghyuck left to go back to school to go over his routines in the rink and to clear his head after the strenuous amount of time he had spent with Mark Lee in the same room.
---
Entering back into the rink, Donghyuck was quite confused to see Renjun here still. Renjun’s practices ended about half an hour ago and it seems that Renjun was still hanging around. Donghyuck had noticed other times when Renjun would stick around the rink for no apparent reason, but he had brushed it off as Renjun just collecting his post-practice thoughts and stuff he needed to continue to work on. Snapping out of his thoughts, he notices that Renjun had to begin to move out of the rink. Donghyuck, curious to find out where his friend was going, started to follow behind him (to make sure he was safe okay).
Renjun had made his way out of the main rink area and was heading towards the entrance to leave, okay he is just leaving nothing weird about that Donghyuck mused. As he approached the front though, behind Renjun, he noticed someone there waiting for Renjun. Donghyuck was having a hard time trying to figure out this mysterious person as their back was turned from Donghyuck and when they moved to face Renjun, Donghyuck quickly hid out of sight to not be caught by either of them. Peaking around the corner from his hiding spot, he briefly catches whoever Renjun was with and Renjun disappears from the building.
Donghyuck started walking back to the rink a little curious about who could be picking Renjun up from his practice, but at the same time, glad his friend had someone to make sure he gets home safely. Donghyuck would have to ask Renjun about it later though, he makes a mental note of that in his head and returns to the locker room.
Shotaro and Sungchan were just chilling in Yuto’s cafe one afternoon when Yuta and Sicheng walked in. Shotaro was completely panicking internally at the thought of his brother noticing them and hoped that he wouldn’t turn his back. But fate hated him at that moment when Yuta turned around and noticed the both of them. Sungchan was in the middle of giving some food to eat, chopsticks held up in the air near Shotaro’s mouth when Yuta locked eyes onto the pair.
Yuta promptly stormed up to the two of them sitting at the table in the corner and gave Shotaro his most disappointed and angry look. As he was about to open his mouth and say something to the both of them, Sicheng swept him and took Yuta away from the two to go sit elsewhere and chat with Yuto a bit more. Shotaro sighed in relief, but he knew that when he was home that Yuta-ane and he were going to talk. One that Shotaro was already dreading, yet Shotaro tried to focus back on Sungchan instead of worrying about what would happen later.
“Taro hyung, why did your brother storm over here to us and look like he was about to murder me?”
“Don’t worry about it Channie. My brother is just being very overprotective when it comes to me and when I hang out with you.”
“Well, I guess since Yuto hyung is completely fine with us, that you would have one older protective brother. Does Yuta hyung hate me though? He is still throwing daggers at me with his eyes over there.”
Shotaro follows to where Sungchan is mentioning and notices his brother staring at them despite both Sicheng and Yuto hyung trying to distract and calm him down. Shotaro just shakes his head disappointingly and goes back to hanging out with Sungchan, making sure that the both of them continue to ignore Yuta.
Donghyuck walks into Crave Catering at 11:00 with a little bit of dread in him. Honestly, he did not want to be here sampling but it needed to be done to confirm what kind of menu would be served at the gala. After all, this was a big event for both his parents and Mark’s parents as this was one of their first conjoined events. Once again Donghyuck seemed to be the last to arrive making it seem as though Lee was always late to things (more like everyone was just even more early). The waiter led them over to the table that would hold what they were to be sampling.
Ten was animatedly chatting with the gala planner trying to get more insight on what the job entailed while Mark and Donghyuck sat there in silence.
“Okay, the waiter should be bringing out the first of the four dishes at any moment. Are there other final details that the two of you wanted to discuss before we started testing out the dishes?” The event planner Park Jinhee stated to Mark and Donghyuck.
Donghyuck thought for a moment before asking, “Is the children’s room all finalized?”
“Ah yes, the room that you requested has been planned to accompany all your thoughts on it, sir.”
With that the first course arrived and honestly if Donghyuck had not been raised on rich events over the years, he would have been disappointed at the lack of food on the dish. However, considering it was only an appetizer it seemed fine. The sampling for the gala went by rather slowly with not much talk occurring other than to discuss the current dishes that they were serving. Eventually, they got to the desert which had Donghyuck excited to see what they were to be bringing out. The waiter laid down in front of Donghyuck a single slice of chocolate cake with a cream filling topped with gold flakes. Donghyuck picked up his fork to dig into the cake and upon trying the bite he could just feel the richness of the chocolate encase his mouth. Damn this cake is delicious.
“Anything to say about this cake so far?”
Honestly just hearing that question, Donghyuck could not even start to think of anything wrong with this cake but on the other hand, it seemed Mark could.
“I was just wondering if it was exactly necessary to have the gold flakes on top? Also, are there any other layer flavors besides the one that is currently in between the chocolate cake layers?”
At that very question, Donghyuck whipped his head over to where Mark was sitting and gave him a look saying seriously?
“Mark, I don’t know why you are even bothering asking anything, this cake is perfect. Nothing should be changed about it.”
“Well, I was just wondering if this was exactly necessary to have gold flakes on the cake? Besides, isn't it a waste of money to just be throwing on these gold flakes on the cake?”
“We are planning a gala for a bunch of rich people. It is kind of expected to throw around a bit of money just to impress and please everyone there.”
“Yes okay, so we are entertaining a rich clientele but aren't there anyways to impress them without all the gold.”
“Why are you so pressed over this Lee?”
“Why are you so pressed over this Lee?” Mark taunted back.
While the two of them were getting into a squabble over whether they should have the gold flakes on top or not, Ten was just laughing at the whole situation secretly texting Johnny updates of the two. At one point the arguing turned away from the cake to onto any other topic they could argue about which happened to once again be the rink.
“I don’t understand why you don’t just use another rink, Lee.”
“I am a student at SMU and I can book the rink as well. Besides you, hockey players don’t need to use it 24/7 so I don’t see why the figure skaters can’t use it as well.”
“There are other rinks in the city, just use those.”
“Why would we do that? Lee just accept that you just don’t want us there at all.”
“I never said that exactly.”
“Yes, you literally-”
“Guy stop it. We are in public, if you want to argue, do it elsewhere,” Ten hisses giving them a look as the waiter starts to approach the table checking upon them. After clearing away all the dishes to which they ended up agreeing on the gold flakes they all head out of the restaurant.
“Hey Hyuckie, I was wondering if you wanted to join us for dinner tonight you know, considering Johnny and your families will be working more closely together. It could be some bonding for the four of us,” Ten asks Donghyuck as they are leaving the restaurant.
“Sure hyung just text me the details for later.”
Donghyuck heads home wondering how he is possibly going to survive another meal with Mark Lee after the fiasco that just occurred.
Donghyuck arrived at what he presumed was Johnny’s apartment at 7 pm. Waiting for the door to open he looked around the place and noticed that the apartment complex seemed to be quite luxurious and new. Everything had a clean atmosphere making it almost seem like a fancy hotel instead of an apartment complex. Getting snapped out of his observations by the sound of the door opening up to Johnny.
Walking into the apartment, Donghyuck was immediately drawn to all the artwork on the walls. Some of them were photos while others were drawn work. Johnny’s apartment was a mix of both photography probably taken by Johnny himself and artworks that looked like Ten had done them. Even with the look of modernism in the apartment, the place still looked well lived in and warm. Donghyuck could smell the smell of the food wafting in from the kitchen from where he stood in the entryway. Johnny just further beckoned him further into the apartment where Ten and Mark were setting up the table.
Everyone sat down at the table and dug in. There was some silence as everyone started eating. The conversation slowly started to trickle in as the dinner continued. It started with small talk about what everyone had been doing in the last couple of days to Johnny bringing up the gala planning that they had done earlier in the day.
“So how did the sample testing go? I heard a couple of things but I was wondering what you two thought about the whole thing?” Johnny asked, motioning with his chopsticks towards Donghyuck and Mark.
“It went good for the most part except for Lee over here was being difficult when it came to the cake,” Donghyuck sassed at the end.
“Excuse me! I just thought it was impractical to have gold flakes on the top, that's all.”
“But Mark once again we are appealing to the one percent. We have to include stuff like this.”
“You say that as if you aren’t also part of the rich class.”
“Well so are you-”
“Awww Ten don’t you think they are so cute together. They bicker just like a married couple. Actually, they both remind me of Jaehyun and Doyoung,” Johnny’s statement effectively stopped Mark and Donghyuck bickering as they starred as Johnny proclaimed that.
“Us as a couple,” Donghyuck snorts, “Gross.”
“Yeah, as if I would ever date Lee over here.”
Although both Mark and Donghyuck remarked on how they felt about each other, neither sounded partially convincing. Johnny and Ten just share a glance and shake their heads going back to the food. Neither Johnny and Ten decided to comment on how close the pair seemed to be sitting.
After a while, Donghyuck perks up asking, “So Johnny hyung and Ten hyung how exactly did you get together? For a while, Ten hyung just referred you to the rich boyfriend. Also, Ten hyung, since you and Doyoung have known each other longer, why didn’t you tell me Doyoung knew Johnny.”
“Okay, one question at a time kiddo. Let’s start with how Ten and I met. Honestly, we just met like any other couple, Ten ran into me and immediately tried to flirt with me.”
“Shut up, that didn’t happen like that.”
“Uh yeah, I think that was exactly what had happened.”
“Yeah but you, Johnny Suh started flirting. I mean really who uses a pickup line on someone after they run into you.”
“You were hot, did you expect me to just not flirt with you.”
“Okay, hyungs we get it you both had a movie scene introduction. No need to go any further into an explanation. Now about how Doyoung knew before me hyung.”
“Oh right,” Ten says, “Well Doyoung and I were best friends before we met Johnny so naturally he just knew. It was me, him, and Kun for a while before we started meeting more people.”
“Ohh makes sense but I can’t believe I was the only one out of the three of us that didn’t know who Johnny hyung was before.”
After learning more about Johnny’s relationship, Donghyuck secretly snuck a look at Mark next to him. Man if only I was something more than just a rival to him… wait a second. Donghyuck spent the rest of the thought mind a little muddled at his sudden realization.
Sungchan was hanging out over by the “skaters side” of the rink with Shotaro while the other was packing up from his skate practice earlier. As Shotaro goes to the locker room to put some things away, Yuta walks up to Sungchan taking Shotaro’s previous spot.
“What are your intentions with my brother?” Yuta questions Sungchan who was a little nervous about interacting with Shotaro’s brother who seemingly hated him for some reason.
“We are just friends that’s all and we live on the same floor so we just naturally started hanging out together.”
“I don’t like you hanging out with my brother.”
“Wait, why not? I didn’t do anything wrong that I am aware of…” Sungchan trailed off.
“I don’t want you to hang out with Shotaro anymore. I know people like you, nice and then you end up taking advantage of people. I can’t possibly have you try to hurt my little brother like that. So I am warning you to stay away from him if you knew what was best for him. Am I making myself clear?”
Sungchan gets called onto the rink before he could give a proper answer, but Yuta took his silence as a yes anyway. Yuta moves to go back to the locker room, thinking about how what he had just done was only for his brother’s sake. No one should have gone through what he did with any of those scums or so-called hockey players.
-----
After practice that day, Sunghan headed back to the dorms trying to make sense of what had happened with Shotaro’s brother and if he should follow what his brother said. On one hand, it’s Shotaro’s brother so obviously, he would know more about what was best and was just trying to look out for his baby brother. But on the other hand, Shotaro was an adult meaning he should be able to make his own choices regardless of what his brother may have thought.
Besides Yuto hyung was accepting of whatever he and Shotaro had going on so maybe I should just ignore Yuta hyung’s warning.
Sungchan opens up his dorm room, setting down his stuff before going back to his room to grab stuff to wash up after hockey practice. Ignoring the text message pings on his phone, he left the room to clean up.
Coming back to the room, Sungchan did not expect to see Shotaro sitting on his bed but there he was.
“Taro what are you doing here?”
“Well you weren’t answering your phone so I just wanted to stop by. I heard you were a little out of it during practice and I just wanted to check up on you.”
“Oh,” Sungchan says nervously trying to decide once again if he should follow what Yuta had threatened, “Uhm maybe you should go back to your room Taro hyung. It is getting late and you have to get up early tomorrow.”
“Channie, are you sure are you okay? Usually, you don’t seem so out of it and nervous?”
Sungchan just tries to ignore Shotaro’s stare but he could never ignore his best friend like that, especially someone as sweet and caring as Shotaro.
Nervously Sungchan blurts out, “Well actually uhm your brother came to talk to me before practice today and uhm well he kind of threatened me to stop talking to you.”
He could see the soft smile on Shotaro’s face immediately replaced with anger, something that was not common to see on the older’s face. After a couple of seconds, Shotaro seemed to have calmed down a little bit and walked up to Sungchan.
“Channie, I need you to just ignore whatever my brother has told you. I will talk to him tomorrow and get this all sorted out.”
The younger one just nods in agreement before the both of them make their way over to the bed both settling on putting on a movie to watch to forget about the fiasco that had occurred today and that is still yet to come.
-----
The next day after classes, Shotaro made his way over to his brother’s shared apartment since he knew that Yuta would hopefully be there since he was done with his lectures for the day. He knocked on the door, waiting for Yuta and Yuto ani to open the door for him.
Yuta opened the door a couple of seconds later exclaiming his excitement that his baby brother had stopped by to visit and ushered him in. As they both moved further into the apartment, Yuta talking animatedly about anything, Shotaro was trailing behind quietly trying to come up with the best way to approach his brother.
Both of them settle down into the living room, where Yuta finally asks why Shotaro was there.
“Yuta ani, I know what you said to Sungchan yesterday and I don’t want you to interfere in my relationship. I know you probably meant well but Sungchannie is my friend and I want you to just leave him alone.”
“But taro. I want you to not get hurt at all. Sungchan is a hockey player. All of them are no good. It’s best for you to just stay away and not be so close to him.”
“But I don’t want to have to lose him. I care for him a lot.”
“ I know you probably must care but Shotaro, you should think about yourself in the future,” Yuta tries to reason.
“No Yuta ani you don’t understand I like him hell I might even love him. I don’t know the whole logistics but I care for him a lot and I will not just sit here and let you try to separate us,” Shotaro almost practically shouts.
“Like? Love? Shotaro-”
Before Yuta can continue off from where he was trying to say, Shotaro leaves. Yuta is left sitting there in the living room thinking about what had just gone down. Yuta sits there for a while deep in thought until Yuto decides to enter the room. Having heard the whole ordeal and being on friendly terms with Sungchan, he knew a little bit better about what both of them were feeling.
“Yuta do you want to talk about it?”
Yuta just nods before pausing for a moment, “Yuto was I too hard on him? Did what I think was protecting my brother instead backfired into him hating me?”
“Yuta I think what you did had good intentions but the way you went about it was poorly executed. Even taro said he understood that you probably had good intentions, but Yuta you failed to consider how either of them felt about the ordeal. Those boys care deeply for each other and with you trying to force them apart just isn’t right. I know Yuta that you went through something bad and that is why you did what you did. You care a lot about our family, especially our younger brothers but I think you should just let Shotaro figure out this whole relationship thing for himself.”
“But Yuto, what if he gets hurt. I just don’t want him to go through anything that I went through. Hell, I don’t even hate those hockey players, I just hate him and what he did to me.”
“That is completely valid Yuta. I think you should try to explain more to Shotaro, maybe the reasons behind your decisions. He doesn’t know after all. I just want both of you to be happy both with whoever you end up with and being brothers together.”
Yuta leans in to hug his twin, “Thanks Yuto. You were always the more rational one out of the both of us. Always knew what to do in any situation. I love you. I’ll try to talk to him when I can.”
“That’s good. You probably should tell him that you don’t hate hockey players either considering Sicheng used to be one,” Yuto teased to which Yuta just playfully pushed him. The two brothers sit together in the living room after their heart-to-heart moment with one thinking about how he could make it up to his younger brother again.
Today was the day. As Donghyuck was getting ready in the mirror for the gala tonight, he was a little nervous about how the whole thing was going to go down. Donghyuck wasn’t exactly nervous per se about the actual socializing or even if everything was going to run smoothly. It was more he was worried about what his parents were going to think about the whole thing and if he and Mark were going to entirely get along.
Mark was going to be picking him up to take him to the gala. Their parents insisted that they were to arrive together and stay near each other the entire night. Donghyuck continued to stare at the mirror fixing his cuff links nervously waiting for this night to just get itself over with. The sound of the doorbell ringing snapped Donghyuck over his revy and he motionlessly moved over to the front door. Opening the door he opens to see Mark and honestly Donghyuck would never admit this to anyone but Mark looked hot standing there with his black hair pulled up into a comma shape and a nice fitting suit.
They both stare at each other for what seems like an eternity before Mark snaps out of the staring contest first motioning that the two of them should get going. Donghyuck shuffles to grab his things and out the door, the two of them go. The car ride was absolutely silent with only the occasional sentence being thrown around of reminders that they should do. The car stopped in front of the building and Donghyuck was once again filled with nerves. As hosts of the party, their parents wanted them to make a grand entrance to which Donghyuck did not think about much at the time, however, as he now was about to make that grand entrance with Mark it was becoming overwhelming.
Mark silently noticed that Donghyuck was a little nervous, took his hand into his, and squeezed it as a sign of reassurance. Donghyuck just squeezed back and the two of them made their way into the venue holding hands the entire time.
A little bit into the benefit gala, Donghyuck and Mark made their way up to the stage right after the first course was served.
“Thank you all for coming tonight, my name is Lee Donghyuck, and standing beside me is Lee Mark. Tonight's gala was in honor of the 60th Anniversary of the Children Benefit’s Hospital Fundraising. Mark and I have been working hard on this gala so I hope you all enjoy your evening.”
“Yes thank you all. As Donghyuck has just mentioned, the purpose of this gala was to help contribute to the Children’s Hospital as they are a nonprofit hospital that takes care of any child that walks through their doors. Your contribution tonight helps to keep the hospital running and making sure that their patients do not have to worry about the bill. Once again, both of us are happy to have you here. Enjoy your night.”
Donghyuck and Mark make their way off the stage and go to sit down for the rest of the dinner to commence. Sitting at the table with Donghyuck and Mark are Johny, Ten, Doyoung, Jaehyun, and famous skater Lee Hyukjae and famous hockey player Lee Donghae. Everyone at the table seemed to be getting along just fine. Having Hyukjae and Donghae at the table, Mark and Donghyuck were quite absorbed into talking to them. I mean it wasn’t every day that Donghyuck would be sitting by one of the top male Korean ice skaters.
“So Hyukjae and Donghyuck-ssi if I remember correctly you both registered as being each other’s plus-ones. How did you guys become so close to attending events together?” Ten asked the two of them.
“Oh, actually that’s quite a funny story. So back in our rookie days of being professionals for our respective activities, we trained at this same rink. We used to hate each other because the other person kept going overtime causing issues with practices. But then one day our respective coaches decided that we were going to do bonding together to get through our issues,” Donghae started.
Hyukjae picked up saying, “So the two of us ended up doing a bunch of various activities together such as teaching each other how to do our sports to making friendship bracelets for each other. What our coaches didn’t expect was us to get over our differences so quickly and become fast friends. From then we just went to everything together.”
“Hyukjae you forgot to mention when I confused my undying love for you and how we have been going as a couple since then. Sure the public doesn’t know much about it but isn’t that the fun of it all.”
Hyukjae just pretended to look unamused with Donghae’s antics but you could see a hint of a smile on his face. Donghyuck after hearing that story started to go into a spiral about everything that has been on his mind after he thought about the even possibility of not completely hating Mark. What if Mark was straight? Wait Donghyuck did he give any hint that he wasn’t anything but? Donghyuck, why are you assuming his sexuality? Fine, let’s not worry about that but does he still hate me?
Suddenly being shaken out of his thoughts, Donghyuck looked over to see Doyoung giving him a reassuring smile. The rest of the night went relatively smoothly, well despite the entire crisis mode Donghyuck went in. Donghyuck ended up having a great time talking to Hyukjae and got a lot of great advice. The one advice though Donghyuck was not expecting to receive was “Don’t let silly little feuds and grudges get in the way of your happiness. Never let anyone else’s thoughts get in your way either.”
Hyuck just nodded along to the advice wondering how Hyukjae could tell. However, considering the senior just gave him a knowing look he just accepted the fact he was completely transparent. Donghyuck just accepted the fact that the senior knew what he was talking about and that he needed to figure out his feelings with Mark.
Figuring that the gala was quite successful and both Lee families were pleased with the results, Donghyuck thought that they weren’t going to meddle much more into Mark and Donghyuck lives. Oh, how was Donghyuck wrong. Donghyuck walked into practice to see the hockey team wrapping up which was quite normal for when their practice times were back to back. What he didn’t expect from his team was Shotaro completely ignoring his brother and Renjun to not be anywhere. Those thoughts were completely thrown out of the window when he saw Mark starting to approach him.
“Hey Hyuck, are you available on Friday?”
“Uh yeah I am,” Donghyuck was so shocked by Mark talking to him nicely in the hockey rink center that he failed to even fully comprehend what Mark’s question was implying.
“Cool, I will text you later about more details for then. See ya.”
With that Mark walked off, the rest of the team either have gone already or started to head to the locker room with him. Donghyuck just continued to stare at where Mark had just been with the gears still turning on what the hell had just occurred.
“Donghyuck,” Renjun’s sudden shout of Donghyuck’s name completely snapped him out of his revy. Donghyuck turned and there Renjun was suddenly right in front of him. How Renjun had gotten there all of the sudden confused Donghyuck because only a couple of seconds ago Renjun was nowhere to be seen. Even odder was Renjun looking a little disheveled but considering Renjun just looked like he had just run from somewhere, Donghyuck was just to assume it had something to do with that. The practice continued without a fault but throughout it, everyone could tell Donghyuck was a little too absorbed into his thoughts while they were working on a quadruple salchow.
At the end of practice, Donghyuck noticed a new message notification.
Mark Lee 🙄
I will pick you up at 7 pm on Friday
Dress more on the casual side
Oh, Donghyuck was going to be in for an adventure alright.
------
At 6:45, Donghyuck was sitting at the front door waiting for the time to slowly tick past for it to finally be 7 pm. Honeslty, Donghyuck doesn't know why he is ready this early but here he was staring at his shoes just waiting. Okay so maybe Donghyuck was a tiny bit excited for what Mark could have possibily planned but at the same time, he was still confused as to why Mark had suddenly asked him out in the first place. It was as if this was a date-wait was this a date? At this moment, Donghyuck was just straight-up confused. Everything seemed like a date: the secrecy, Mark initiating it, even a whole dress code. The only was to confirm this was to ask Mark himself.
The sound of the doorbell snapped Hyuck out of his thoughts and he quickly shot up to open the door. Upon opening the door, Donghyuck noticed how perfect Mark looked. Stupid Mark and how he looks like boyfriend material. Mark cleared his throat and in a silent agreement, the two of them left the apartment to head down to where Mark had parked his car. At first, the car was enveloped in silence but that was soon dissipated as a catchy girl group song had come onto the radio. Donghyuck could not help but sing along to the whole song and even did some of the hand motions used in the actual choreography. What Hyuck didn't notice was Mark's occasionally looking over at him and giving a soft smile.
"We are here," Mark announces not even a couple of minutes later after the song had ended. Donghyuck looks around wondering at what kind of place Mark could have been taking him to. To his suprise, it is not a fancy restaurant that Mark leads him to but rather what looked like an old noodle shop. The two of them enter the shop and Donghyuck is instantly hit with the various smells and feels a sense of comfort.
The two of them got seated in the corner of the restaurant in a more secluded area. The nice ahjumma just coos at the both of them and tells them that they remind her of her grandsons. Both of them just sit in silence staring at the menu. The ahjumma comes back to take their orders and says “Now you two boys just relax and enjoy each other's company. You both seem so stiff.”
At that statement, both boys blush and try to stutter out a response. After that, though they get into a bit of a groove with their conversations. They both talk about their majors (both business administration which they were both surprised at) but Mark was minoring in creative writing while Donghyuck was minoring in dance with a focus on ballet.
“No way you are doing a ballet minor? I did ballet once for part of a hockey camp but I sucked at it.”
“Yeah I like it a lot and since I have been doing it for a long time because of figure skating I just figured I could minor in it.”
“You know sometimes I wish I could do something other than business. I am interested in music but since my parents wanted me to take over the CEO position here I am.”
“Same. I wish I did something different than business sometimes. If you don’t mind me asking, why are you going to be the CEO when Johnny hyung is older than you?”
“Ah well, Johnny and I are technically cousins, not brothers. His mom, who is my mom’s aunt, died a couple of years after Johnny was born. So my family has been taking care of him since his dad had been out of the picture. That’s why Johnny and I just refer to each other as brothers because we have been raised as such. Also since it is my father’s company, it makes me the rightful blood heir but Johnny will still play a big role in the company as well.”
“That makes more sense now why you are taking over the company now. You know Mark Lee, I think we are getting along now,” Donghyuck teases.
Mark just scuffs playfully but before he could retort anything back, a different waitress comes back with their noodle dishes. That breaks the conversation the two of them were having as they started digging into their dishes. The conversation became lighter after that, with a lot of main remarks about the food or other trivial things. At the end of the meal, Mark leans over and wipes away the sauce on Donghyuck’s face causing him to blush at the whole thing.
The car ride home was silent again but this time it was a more comfortable silence between the two. Once they reach Donghyuck’s apartment complex Mark parks the car.
“I had a fun time Donghyuck.”
“I did too, Mark.”
“I’m glad my parents suggested this, it was nice to get to know each other a little better.”
At that single phrase, Donghyuck completely froze in shock. Did Mark just say his parents set all of this up? Instead of verbally responding, Donghyuck just nods and starts to get out of the car.
“Hey, do you want to come to our hockey game next week? Night, Donghyuck.”
“Sure. Night, Mark,” Donghyuck with a little bit of strain in his voice and then proceeds to shut the door. He walks over to the door to the building and only looks back once to see Mark is still there probably to make sure he got into the building safely. Walking further into the building, Hyuck’s thoughts are completely swirling at the fact he thought this was an actual date, okay so maybe Donghyuck should have assumed like that but it was nice to think so. Honestly, what even was the point of getting any hopes up, they both hated each other and they were in a feud for Christ’s sake. They were only hanging out at all because of their parents and that was it.
“The sake of the company Donghyuck. The sake of the company,” he muttered to himself. With that thought he went to bed, tired out at how this evening had gone and even confused with his own emotions.
Donghyuck was very confused about what had transpired last night. His feelings were all over the place and he just wanted to scream. So he did what any other confused person did, he texted his hyungs and then also the other 00 liners. Although with the zero liners he was going to need to be vaguer. But Renjun still always knew how to give good advice.
the three hoes
Hyuck
Guys, I have a problem
I may have f**lings for M***
Tennie
Hyuckie no need to censor it
We are all aware of your feelings for Mark
Doyoung
Yeah we knew for a while already
We were just waiting for you to say something first
Hyuck
Wait, you guys already knew??
Am I that obvious 💀
Tennie
Yes
Doyoung
You know that fine line between love and hate?
Well that is your relationship with Mark
Except you are on the love side
Hyuck
Omg I really that obvious
I don’t even know when it went from hate to something else
My emotions are such a mess though
Idk if I really like him or my brain is playing tricks on me
I have hated him for so long or a feud
Could I be developing feelings now???
Tennie
Hyuckie it's okay to be confused about your feelings towards Mark
I think you should take some time to figure it out
Especially as you said you have been in a feud with him for so long
Doyoung
Yeah
Ten and I will always be here for you to rant to if need be
If anything, Jaehyun and I were a lot like you and Mark
I was the same and taking some time to just process all my emotions helped a lot
Hyuck
Thanks, hyungs
I appreciate this
Doyoung
Anytime hyuckie
Just let us know how it goes
Tennie
^^^
Donghyuck felt a little better after talking to his hyungs. After all, they had been in relationship confusion as well and understood more of what Donghyuck was feeling. Now he was onto talking to Shotaro and Renjun to gauge how they felt about the whole Mark situation.
Two Devils & Taro
Hyuck
So guys hypothetically if someone liked a guy and then they say that their parents set up the whole thing how would you react. Also, how does one even tell if they like a guy or if it’s just hate
Asking for a friend here
Injun
Well first off why would his parents be involved anyways
2 hate is usually masked love if you start contemplating how you feel
3 hyuck are we going to pretend it's just not you asking about mark
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
Hyuck its okay to like someone
We would never judge you
Hyuck
I guess I am just worried about how others would react
I honestly do not even know if I have real feelings you know?
See I feel we just got closer because of our parents but not really because we wanted to
Stupid company merger, stupid mark lee
At this point we are frenemies
Friendly for our parents, but enemies on the ice
Injun
I think we should back this up for a second
Wdym about you and mark working together for a merger
I think that would clear up some things
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
Yeah so do you and Mark have to hang out for your parents' companies?
Hyuck
Did I never tell you both?? Shit
Anyways a little while ago my parents told me that both Lee companies would be working together on future projects
So Mark and I hosted this gala together two weeks ago
Then Mark and I went on a “date”
That's it
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
Ohhhhhh so you guys have to work together
Also, that is why hyung said his parents set it up
Injun
Ah that explains why Ten ge suddenly got busy with an event
So hyuck, what are you going to do about all of this?
Hyuck
I think I need time to think
The feud is always constantly in my mind
I will probably also see how Mark reacts too
Injun
Remember don’t let this feud control you
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
Yeah I don’t want it to further mess up your relationship like it tried to do to mine
Hyuck
What taro wdym?
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
Yuta got protective over me again to sungchan
Let’s just say we aren’t on speaking terms rn
Injun
Oh no Shotaro :/
Hyuck
Is there something you need us to do taro?
Taro (✿◠‿◠)
Yuta and I need time to settle things
It will probably get better when you confess to hyung
|
＼(≧▽≦)／ |
Hyuck
askdgfjsdjfsjldfksdgkj
Donghyuck was completely taken aback by Shotaro’s statement but man does he wish that he could just air out his feelings. He hated feeling confused and unsure about all his emotions. Hyuck just stared at the window lost in his thoughts about what he should do. Ten and Doyoung hyung had given him some great advice. Shotaro and Renjun were there to support him with whatever happened yet Donghyuck was still too uncertain. So, Donghyuck decided that he was just going to go with the flow.
Donghyuck knew he probably shouldn’t be here this close to the hockey game on Friday evening but he needed to work on his routine. He was not getting his quadruple salchow right at all and he needed to work on it. It did not help whatsoever that the gala planning had taken up more time than he had anticipated. Since it was still pretty early before the hockey team would even be in the rink area, Donghyuck took advantage of it to practice. As Hyuck was ramping up to get into position to launch from a knee bend, a shout startles Donghyuck out of focus making him take off rustily and land horribly.
It was one of those falls that were lucky that Donghyuck had caught himself before it could have been worse. Picking himself up and turning around, he sees Mark staring him down from the other side of the rink border. Skating over, he could see how annoyed even angry Mark seemed to look. That itself riled up Hyuck even more, making him ready to fight if need be.
“Lee what are you doing? You know that we have a game today so why are you skating right now? We have to make sure the ice is Zamboni before the game.”
“Well I’m sorry Lee but I needed to practice. I knew it was game day and I came early enough to disrupt your precious game.”
“Just get off the ice.”
“No, I still have 10 more minutes and I will use them.”
“Lee Donghyuck get off the ice now,” Mark seethes. One noticeable thing is he is not amused by Donghyuck’s stubbornness.
“Fine. It was not like I wanted to get some practice in anyways before I came to watch your game. I am going home. Goodbye Lee.”
Without Hyuck skates down the rink to where he had the door propped open and proceeds to walk off, put on his skate guards, and goes into the locker room. Mark stands there in shock and confusion. He had invited him to the hockey game last week, but he just thought that Hyuck was saying ‘sure’ to be nice. Mark didn’t think that Donghycuk would be so affected by their usual bantering either, something must have been bothering him. Whatever it was, Mark didn’t have the time to think about it because he had a game to prepare for.
-------
True to his word, Donghyuck had left the rink and went home. He did still get updates of the game though because Ten hyung and Renjun were there together. Though he was not quite sure why Renjun was there, he assumed it was because Ten hyung needed some company while watching Johnny hyung skate. The game was still in the first period when Donghyuck received a text from Renjun.
Injun
I know it's only the first period but Mark is not doing good at all out here.
He seems very spacey and I think has a frown on his face
Did anything happen?
Hyuck
We just got into a mini argument that's all
Nothing for him to get all worked up over though
Injun
Well clearly he is hyuck
He keeps looking over in our direction
Hyuck
Well I may or may not have said I was going to go to his game
Injun
So why aren’t you here???
Hyuck
Because before I stormed out I said I wasn’t going
Injun
Both of you are killing me
Get your ass here before it gets even worse
At that, Donghyuck got up and quickly ran out the door. Luckily the skating rink was only a 7-minute walk from his apartment so he could get there pretty quickly. Hopefully, he won’t miss too much more of the first period.
-------
Donghyuck somehow overestimated his time or something because he ended up missing the first period entirely. When he showed up and found Ten hyung and Renjun, both teams were in their respective bench areas talking and hydrating. Mark seemed to be getting talked to by both Yangyang and Johnny. Donghyuck sat down next to Renjun who was wearing the university’s skating program sweatshirts. It had a design that had combined hockey and figure skating onto it to which both teams had hated at first. After a while, though it ended up growing on both teams. Unbeknownst to Donghyuck, Renjun had a 24 jersey on underneath to support the hockey player(s).
The second period was fairing a lot better than the first one, well that is at least what Ten and Renjun said as they were filling Donghyuck in on what he missed. From his perspective, Mark seemed to be doing just fine and seemed like he was killing it out on the rink. To be fair though, Donghyuck did not know more than just the bare basics of hockey. One thing that was noticeable was Mark keeping looking through the audience as if he was trying to find someone. The moment that Mark looked over at where Donghyuck was sitting, their eyes seemed to have made eye contact, and instantly Mark was back in the zone. It was as if something snapped in him and suddenly he was moving with such determination that the other side didn’t have time to process the sudden change.
Mark had scored a goal and it had ended the mark for the second period. Once again Mark made eye contact with Donghyuck as he was skating back to the box where the rest of his team was. This time though it was as if there was a spark between the two of them. The third period carried on like how the second half of the second period was, with Mark on some electric energy as he whizzed around the rink. Even when he got checked against the side of the rink he just got right up back into it as nothing had just happened. Somehow before Hyuck even knew it, the game was over and the hockey players were shaking hands with the other team. Their hockey team had pulled a complete 180 (according to Ten hyung that was) because of them suddenly pulling ahead in the second period giving them the two goals needed to win the game (it was 3-2 at the end).
Since Ten hyung and Renjun would be waiting around longer for Johnny, Donghyuck ended up staying back with them as well. Soon enough the hockey team came back out dressed down in just their casual clothes. Johnny, Yangyang, and Mark went towards the trio who were standing at the bottom of the bleachers.
“Oh, Hyuck I wasn’t expecting you to be here,” Johnny says as he approaches them and immediately goes to be by Ten.
“Well Ten hyung and Renjun wanted some more company so they told me to show up and here I am. Besides, I guess it was about time to see how Lee was out there on the ice.”
Renjun snorts at that but makes no move to retorting Donghyuck’s statement.
“So was I good out there Lee?” Mark asks back in response, anticipating Donghyuck’s response.
“Eh could have been better Lee. You seemed completely out of it when I showed up. I heard if it wasn’t for Sungchan as your right-wing I don’t think you would have done as well.”
“But I ended up pulling it off for the other 2 periods. It was just game jitters, that's all.”
“Whatever you say, Lee.”
The whole group slowly started heading out to the exit after that exchange and Donghyuck headed back to his apartment. If he ended up thinking about how good Mark looked while playing hockey, he would never admit that.
Donghyuck enters skating practice the next day, to see Renjun, Sicheng, and Yangyang openly hanging out together. Funnily enough, it was the first time he had seen the three of them hanging out together. Scanning around the stands and the rink, not seeing Yuta anywhere, he goes over to Shotaro.
“Hey Taro, have you got a second?”
“Yeah what's up Hyuck?”
“First I wanted to see how you were doing with the whole Yuta situation. So, I wanted to ask you more about why Yuta seems to be so upset over the hockey team, I mean I have my stupid petty differences but he seems to take it to a whole another level.”
“Honestly, there is not much that I can tell you that you don’t already know about yourself. Hyung is quite protective of me, that part you already know but he never really explains why he gets so upset over Sungchan and I hanging out together. Every time I ask why he gets defensive and brings up your part in this whole feud being a thing. He even tried to ban Sungchan and me from hanging out together.”
“Well, in that case, I think you should try to dig in more as to why your brother is acting the way he is. He has to have some sort of reason for reacting the way he did. If anything I guess try asking Yuto or just try to make up with your brother?”
“Thanks, Hyuck. I will certainly try talking to Yuto hyung first to see if there is anything I can get out of it.”
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Shotaro walked into the cafe his brother worked right before his brother was scheduled to take a break. Sitting down in his normal spot, soon enough Yuto came over with his drink and took a seat across from him.
“So what brings my little brother here today? I see you don’t have that dashing hockey player with you today,” Yuto teases.
“Yuto-ani do you know why Yuta hates hockey players so much?”
“I do Taro but that is something for both you and him to talk about when you two finally decide to make up.”
“Okay, ani I guess it is time we both make up anyway.”
“Good now the next time you come here, I expect you to come again with that cute hockey player.”
“Yuto ani,” Shotaro whines as Yuto starts to get up from the table to get back to work. Shotaro needed to come up with a way to talk to Yuta and figure out their differences.
For the next week, every time that the hockey team and ice skaters interacted it always went a little bit like this: Hyuck and Mark endlessly teasing? Fighting? With each other? Either way, it wasn’t exactly like they stopped hating each other but rather that they were doing a weird ritual between the two of them that no one wanted to be a part of.
Once again Donghyuck and Mark were going together but this time they decided to have a “date” at an ice rink. Funny considering they spend every day there but when Mark gave him that face full of excitement, Donghyuck could not just refuse. So to the rink they went but instead of going to their indoor rink, they went to an outside one that seemed to be a bit secluded. Surprisingly no one seemed to be there and that just meant the two of them could have more fun by themselves.
“Hey Lee, I bet you can’t beat me in a lap around the rink. I don’t think those jumps and spins give you a lot of time learning how to be fast on the ice.”
“Oh yeah Lee, you wanna go? Sure, let's race around the rink.”\
“What will happen when I win?” Mark mused.
“Not if I beat you to it.”
With that on the count of three, the two of them started racing around the rink as fast as they could. In the end, they ended up having to call it a draw as they both made it around at the same time. After that, they just decided to free skate for a bit and at one point Donghyuck started doing some basic jumps and spins. Even if they didn’t have a lot of base value, Mark was nonetheless impressed by Donghyuck’s skill.
“Damn Donghyuck, that was so cool what you just did right now,” Mark exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement about what he had just seen.
“Oh, that? That was just some basic jumps I was doing.”
“Still, that was so cool. The way you were flying and spinning in the air was amazing bro.”
Donghyuck internally cringed at the mention of the word bro but considering Mark had just complimented his ice skating skills he will take it. They both just ended up skating up side by side talking about their classes and eventually got onto the topic of why they joined their sport in the first place. What they were not expecting was for both of them to have a common reason to have started skating in the first place. The ice rink was a place that had a calming effect on both of them and was something they used to escape for a while.
While just chatting and skating they noticed that they had started noticing it was snowing. Unbothered by the snow they continued what they were doing until it started coming down as sleet mixed in. Both of them hurriedly took off their skates and tried to get back to the car as fast as they could. They slowly drove home not wanting to rush in this awful weather but since Donghyuck’s house was too far from where the rink they were just at, they decided to just go to Mark’s place.
Upon entering the apartment and taking off their winter gear, Mark offered to go get Donghyuck some dryer clothes so he wouldn’t be so cold from the sleet clothes. After changing, the two of them make some hot chocolate and decide to sit on the couch. They both snuggle into the couch and put on some random movie on Netflix as they continue to warm up from the cold.
“You looked breathtaking out there Donghyuck,” Mark says with rose-tinted cheeks.
Donghyuck is too a little red by the compliment and says, “Well if you want to see me with a full routine being breathtaking, you should come to one of my ice skating competitions.”
“Sure I definitely will have to.”
They both were enveloped in silence after that brief exchange between the two and the promise of seeing Hyuck skate competitively. Eventually, Donghyuck had finished his mug and set it down on the coffee table. He proceeded to snuggle in closer to Mark but still kept a healthy distance in case Mark would find it weird. What they both did not expect though was them both following asleep on the couch.
-------
Ten and Johnny walk into the apartment after spending the night at Ten’s place to find Donghyuck and Mark asleep on the couch. Moving closer to get a better look, they could see that the two of them were snuggled into each other with Donghyuck laying on top of Mark. Ten pulls out his phone to snap a picture while Johnny moves to head to the kitchen to start on some breakfast.
Donghyuck started stirring at the sound of movement in the kitchen and slowly shifted around. Opening his eyes, he notices not only is he not in his bed, but he is also on top of another person. That person just happened to be Mark Lee and with that thought, Donghyuck bolted up well to the extent that wouldn’t wake up Mark. Walking over to the kitchen, he sees Johnny cutting up some fruits while Ten was mixing a batter.
“Oh, Donghyuck you are up! I hope we didn’t wake you up because of all the noise?” Johnny asks concerned.
“Oh no, it was fine. I can be a light sleeper sometimes so I just wake up easily.”
“So,” Ten inquires, “What happened between you and Mark?” Ten had a shit-eating grin on his face at the fact that the two were snuggling on the couch together.
“Nothing. Mark just took me to stay here because of the sleet last night. Then we just watched a random movie and fell asleep, that's all,” Donghyuck says with almost a pouting tone.
“But you wished more had happened,” Ten teases. Johnny just laughs at the exchange between the both of them.
Before anyone could say anything more, Mark came stumbling into the kitchen having just woken up. Ten and Johnny finish working on what they were doing while Donghyuck and Mark work on setting the table. The four of them ended up having an assortment of waffles with fruit and other toppings. The conversation around the table wasn’t a lot but it was still a peaceful meal. At one point, Donghyuck and Mark both reached for the syrup at the same time and accidentally touched each other’s hands. Mark instantly retreated and both of them ended up being a blushing mess. Ten and Johnny just exchanged amused looks but didn’t say anything as the other two continued eating.
When it was time for Donghyuck to leave, Mark drove him home. The two of them were silent in the car, lost in thoughts. Donghyuck was figuring out how was he going to keep these feelings under and keep the stupid feud alive. He still didn’t even know if Mark liked him or if it was just a byproduct of their parents meddling. All Donghyuck could do for now was just let things happen and go with just whatever happens.
It was two weeks later when Donghyuck was practicing late at the skating rink. Having left something in the locker room, Donghyuck walks in only to hear voices. Puzzled by the voices as it was quite late and no one should have been in there, he stopped for a second.
“Baby you were quite pretty out there skating.”
“Quit being a tease, I fell on my ass out there.”
“I am serious. You were amazing to watch even if you fell.”
Donghyuck was still puzzled about who the two could be and inched closer to try to see who they were. Confused by why there was no sound coming from the people in the locker room anymore, he walked around the corner to see who it was. What he was not expecting however was…
“Renjun! Yangyang!” Donghyuck had shouted upon walking upon the two openly kissing and embracing each other in the locker room. The two instantly pull away from each other at the sound of their names.
“Uh Donghyuck um was not expecting you here,” Yangyang sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I was grabbing something that I had forgotten and I stumbled upon the two of you.” Donghyuck keeps looking back between his best friend and the hockey player Yangyang trying to understand what he had just walked in upon.
“Hyuck I know this may look surprising considering you never really see Yang and I together well you know because of the feud but-” Renjun starts rambling but gets cut off.
“Injunnie I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Donghyuck squeals to Renjun. He quickly runs over to squeal and hug his best friend.
“Wait, you are not mad or betrayed that Yangyang and I are breaking the god-forsaken skater vs. hockey feud?” Both of them stop hugging as Renjun says that.
“Nah I mean why would I let my stupid feud with Mark get in the way of my friend’s happiness.” At that moment he realizes how much his stupid feud was affecting everyone else. It had made his friend feel like he had to hide his relationship from him over something as stupid as a feud.
“But Donghyuck, do you not realize how polarized the feud has caused us to the point that Renjun and I had to hide our relationship because we were scared of the reactions it would cause. Hell even with Shotaro and Yuta it has caused problems because Sungchannie just wants to have some sort of relationship with Shotaro. The two brothers have had so much more tension over something so stupid. ”
“I don’t think I truly realized how badly this feud stemmed from our family issues. Honestly, I think Mark and I are starting to get along more but we just keep up the rivalry for everyone else I guess. Sure I am not entirely sure about where Mark and I stand… ”
“Well, Hyuckie, I think it’s time we slowly break down this feud.”
“Yes, Injunnie let’s bring down this feud so you can openly ogle your boyfriend.”
“Donghyuck,” Renjun threatens with no true malice in his voice.
“See you later lovebirds! I have some axles to work on.”
With that Donghyuck left the locker room completely forgetting what he had come in for but came out with a new plan to make sure everyone would get over this feud. It was up to him to get rid of this dumb rivalry that had gone way too far. Besides, he doesn’t even think he truly hates Mark anyways anymore. Not after that talk with Ten anyways. Something between him and Mark had shifted at some point that made him want to end this stupid feud. But he also had to try to figure out what to do with Yuta and Shotaro first.
After seeing Renjun and Yangyang make out in the locker room (gross) Donghyuck started to notice all the little signs that he had missed in the first place. First off, Renjun would always come in all smiley and spacey after his Mandarin club meetings because Yangyang was also in them. Also, Yangyang had given Renjun a sweatshirt with his hockey number on it that Renjun often wore during skating practices. How Donghyuck never noticed the sweatshirt being a hockey sweatshirt? He doesn’t even know that one himself.
Donghyuck decided to meet up with Renjun at a cafe near campus one day after classes. Renjun walked in wearing a soft smile on his face and came over to sit down with Hyuck.
“How does it feel to be in love Injunnie,” Donghyuck teases, happy that his friend is open about his relationship now.
“Shut up Hyuck we aren’t in love,” Renjun says with no malice in his voice and still a hint of a smile on his face as he looks down at his hands.
Donghyuck looks down at Renjun’s hands too, noticing a certain ring that wasn’t ever there before.
“Ooo Renjun, did you get a new ring recently? I have never seen you with that ring before.”
Renjun just blushes further but doesn’t say anything and Donghyuck takes that as an unofficial saying that Yangyang must have given it to Renjun.
“Anyways. Injunnie do you have any ideas of how I should end this feud? I was thinking that it had to be something with the style you know since we have been going at so long.”
“Well, Hyuck I think we should first talk more about your feelings regarding Mark before we decide on how we go about ending this whole thing. Clearly from what I understood in the locker room was that you didn’t hate him anymore. But how do you feel about him now?”
“Well, I guess I maybe sort of have feelings for him,” Donghyuck rushes out.
“Great now that you finally realized all the sexual tension between you and Mark we can get started on the whole final shebang you wanted.”
“Wait Renjun, what do you mean about sexual tension? Were Mark and I that bad when we were arguing?”
“Yeah, you were. At first, I thought that you guys actually did hate each other but then it just turned into a bunch of unresolved tension. I am surprised Yangyang and I were the ones that got caught in the locker room first between the two of us.”
“Injunnieee,” Donghyuck whined about the remark but soon they both shifted onto how they were going to possibly pull off everything and mend the strained relationships. Finally, after an hour of planning and going through ideas, Renjun and Donghyuck finished the idea of what they were going to do the next time there was hockey and ice skating practice that were back to back.
Today was the end game. Donghyuck was going to finally get rid of this stupid feud once and for all. Throughout the whole day, Hyuck kept fiddling nervously waiting for hours to slowly pass by to finally get to practice. Today was one of those days when the skating team and the hockey team had back-to-back practices with each other. When the time came for Donghyuck to leave to go to the rink, he practically had bolted out of room to get there as fast as he could. When he got to the hockey rink, he still had 15 minutes before the team would be done.
Wow, I really must have been excited to be this early to come before they were even done. Donghyuck had sat down with his skating gear and decided to wait until their practice was fully done. Soon enough the rest of the figure skaters came trickling in, with Renjun giving him a partially amused look noticing how early he was.
The sound of the buzzer signaled that it was officially game time well in the sense that Donghyuck was going to finally end this once and for all. Yangyang who was in on this plan as well gave him the go signal and he started making his way towards the hockey team.
Mark turned around noticing a presence approaching him, “Ah Lee I noticed you showing up earlier than normal. What do I owe this pleasure?”
Donghyuck took a glance around making sure that both teams were in proximity of the two of them. Then what he said next shocked everyone well almost everyone.
“Mark Lee, I like you. More than a rival should but screw the stupid rivalry. I like you a lot more than I should and honestly, I thought it was just from our parents meddling but it is a lot more than that. I understand if you don’t feel the same but at the least I want the stupid feud between us to end. It has gone on too long and was affecting a lot more people than just ourselves. So what do you say, Lee.”
Mark stood there in silence at the sudden confession from Donghyuck and each second that ticked by Donghyuck grew more and more anxious. It seemed as if everyone was holding their breaths waiting for Mark to say something, anything.
Eventually, Mark finally spoke, “Let’s end the feud here and now. Then after this, I can take you on an official date without our parents' insistence.”
Everyone started cheering and Donghyuck went even closer to Mark to say, “Wait so are you saying that you like me?”
“Yes, Donghyuck. I like you.”
“Say that again, I couldn’t hear you,” Hyuck teased.
While everybody else was celebrating and Mark and Donghyuck were in their little world, Yuta pulled Shotaro and Sungchan to the side.
“I think it's about time that I apologize to you Taro and Sungchan. First off, I am sorry for projecting my past issues with hockey players onto you Sungchan. You are completely different from that person from the past and I should have kept that in mind. While I won’t exactly apologize for wanting to protect my younger brother, the ways I have gone about it were not exactly the best to do so. So again I am sorry.” Yuta then turns his attention to Shotaro.
“Taro my sweet brother, I am sorry that I interfered with your relationship. You are old enough to make your own decisions and I should have respected that. I also apologize for using my personal experiences to interfere and then not tell you. Sure at the time I wasn’t ready to tell you. You are my younger brother and I felt I shouldn't burden you with something that had happened in the past. However, once again you are old enough to make your decisions. I will keep it brief for now but in my freshman year, an upperclassman hockey player took advantage of me and used my kindness for his gain. He was an awful person and that is why I just hated hockey players so much. Yeah, they aren’t all the same but since I was just so hurt that I just fueled that hurt onto others. Once again I am sorry Taro.”
“Hyung I am sorry too. I shouldn’t have lashed out on you when you tried to explain things to me and tried to listen out to your reasoning at all.”
The brothers end up hugging it out after apologizing. Sungchan ended up in a hug with Yuta as well, which he was not expecting whatsoever.
After that, Yuta looked at the two and exclaimed in a teasing manner, “So are you two together yet?”
Shotaro and Sungchan just blush and try to stutter out something but alas they just resigned to Yuta’s teasing without confirming nor denying anything.
--------
After the official ending of the feud, the figure skaters decided to cancel practice together for the day, and instead, the hockey team would join them in a free skate. Everyone seemed to be having a fun time together on the ice with Sungchan, Shotaro, Jaemin, and Jeno skating around the rink playing some sort of game. Jaehyun and Johnny were skating around with Sicheng and Yuta. Jungwoo and Lucas seemed to be in their world showing each other tricks. Renjun and Yangyang were seen skating around in casual circles holding hands as they glided across the ice.
Donghyuck suddenly said out loud to himself, “Isn’t this nice that we aren’t all fighting each other and just content?”
Mark's voice suddenly popped up besides Donghyuck, “Yeah it is nice. Now, do you want to come to join me on the ice?”
Mark holds out his hand which Donghyuck eagerly takes. “Yes let’s go show Renjun and Yangyang who the better couple is.”
Mark just laughs and shakes his head nevertheless, he and Donghyuck go onto the ice to skate around. The both of them continue to hold hands as they skate around the rink with their hearts happy and content on their faces.
Special Scene- 1.5 months later
Today was a big day for Mark and Donghyuck. While today would be a preliminary day competition for Donghyuck, Mark would be competing against one of the hardest teams in their conference to see who would advance into the quarter-finals. Mark wished he could go cheered on Donghyuck today for his prelims, but he was stuck with pre-game rituals that overlapped with Hyuck’s competition. At least, Ten was there to cheer him on and send updates on how Donghyuck was doing.
Mark loved to see his boyfriend (yes his boyfriend ) skate around the ice wearing beautiful costumes and radiating as he spun and glided around the ice. But here he was doing laps around the rink as a customary pre-game jitter routine.
“What's with that look Mark? Missing your boyfriend,” the last part both Yangyang and Jaemin teased at the same time. Mark just scoffed and continued skating around with his thoughts. Yangyang had the nerve to talk. He is constantly whining about how he misses Renjun, Mark thought to himself. Soon enough the end of warms up came up quickly and with that Mark would be back in the locker room.
There he would go through his pregame ritual of organizing his entire bag and arranging his gear in size order. Considering what other professional hockey players did for their pre-game rituals, Mark felt this was quite tame. Johnny behind him was pacing up and down the column counting to 50 in every single language he knew while walking as if he was on a tightrope.
After arranging his gear, Mark checked his watch to see it was 10 minutes before he was supposed to go onto the ice. So Mark started to gear up, putting the gear on and rechecking how tight or lose each piece was on his body. Tying his laces, he could hear the rest of the team finishing up as well. Mark grabbed his stick and his helmet and headed out to where the rest of the team was. The team got into a circle-like formation and waited for Johnny to give his pre-game speech.
“Okay team. This is probably going to be one of our hardest games this season, but this doesn’t mean that we should be freaking out. We, like our opponents, are one of the highest-ranked hockey teams in our conference. This whole idea of them being one of the hardest doesn’t mean they are not beatable. I know our strength as a team and I know that we will be able to beat them. So what do you say, team? Are you ready to claim that spot in the quarter-finals? On three say SMU Dinosaurs… 1, 2, 3.”
“SMU DINOSAURS”
With the motivational speech over with, the team set out for the ice. They made it through all of their pre-game on the ice skating, skating around in a half-circle letting the freshly clean rink get broken in a little bit. Mark looked up into the crowd at this point and almost shouted in joy. There in the stands was the figure skater team, well specifically Mark was just looking at Donghyuck. He looked like he had just come from the competition, still in makeup, and had his figure skating white team jacket on. With Donghyuck there, Mark knew for a fact that he was going to give it even more to this game. After all, he had to impress his boyfriend, who also was his good luck charm.
-------
The game was neck to neck. Ever since the beginning of the first period to now in the third period, SMU and JYU tied with 2 goals each. Both teams were constantly at each other it seemed and Donghyuk was sitting on the bleachers a nervous wreck. Ten and Renjun were not much better either, Renjun especially since he had gotten a lot angrier as the game progressed. The entire figure skating team along with the rest of the people watching were on the edge of their seats as the game kept going. JYU seemed to be more aggressive tonight as they already had two people in the penalty box. Every time someone was getting checked into the side, it made the game even more nerve-wracking.
It was down to the very end of the third period and SMU had just gotten the puck back from JYU. They were making their way across the rink and the whole time you could feel as everyone held their breaths. Sungchan had passed the puck to Mark and Mark hit it, sending the puck sliding into the net. The puck had barely passed through the goalies reach but it had done it. At that moment of relief, the buzzer sounded off signaling the end of the period and the end of the game. SMU had won. Donghyuck shot up in the air cheering at their victory, hugging onto Renjun and jumping around.
The figure skaters waited for the other team to clear off the ice before running down the bleachers to get to the hockey players. Mark had met Donghyuck at the rink edge barrier and in a flurry of excitement, Donghyuck grabbed a hold of Mark's face pulling him into a kiss. The rest of the team hollered and cheered at them but neither of them paid attention. They pull both with blush covered cheeks but giant smiles on their face.
“Hyuckie you made it.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world Lee.”
“But I couldn’t go to your competition.”
“That's okay. I advanced that's all you need to know. You can just watch me at the final competition.”
“Deal. Now Let me get out of this gear so we can go celebrate.”
After all the hockey players changed, the big group of skaters went out to a pizza place. The air was full of happiness, relief, and just a sense of comfort that is brought with friends. The fourteen of them were all rapidly talking and laughing. Donghyuck snuggled in further to Mark while he was listening in to Renjun’s conversation and thought that nothing could get better than this.