Hello there. This chapter isn't the best, especially after a whole 6-7 months of no updating, but I'm gonna try my best to write more for it!! I really like this story of mine so I wanna make sure it flows correctly. I'm gonna be editing the previous chapters because...they were so badly written. Anyways, I hope this chapters good... 😚

"Doesn't that make you a stalker?" Mark asked, confusing laced his sentence as Ten rolled his eyes, probably for what seemed like the tenth time already.

"Just because I follow him around, it doesn't mean I'm his stalker," Ten grumbled, clearly not pleased with what Mark had chose to comment on after his very long monologue complaining about how Taeyong, a guy in his dance class, was refusing to go out with him. "I'm just an admirer."

"A very loud and whiny admirer," Donghyuck mumbled and chose to ignore the glare he received from Renjun, who had also chosen to join the club, much to Donghyuck's dismay. "So what do you want from us? Taeyong seems to not be interested in you, he ignores every attempt you make to date him and has been very clear about how he truly feels towards you."

"He feels nothing but love and respect towards me," Ten held his chin high and dismissed the idea that Taeyong wasn't into him. Sure, Taeyong pushed Ten away every time he asked him out or tried to flirt with him, but that didn't mean he wasn't interested. He was just playing hard to get, and Ten was fine with that.

"Sure," Donghyuck huffed out before turning to Chenle and Jisung. "Can you two take care of him? I have stuff to do after school for the next week and can't really help with the club."

"Yeah!" Chenle jumped up, immediately agreeing to help Ten, who seemed like a nice guy. But then a hand landed on his and Jisung shot him a look. "Oh...wait, Jisung won't be able to join me."

"Why?" Donghyuck questioned, getting up from his seat and picked his bag up. Chenle and Jisung shared a look before they nervously coughed. 

"Jisung got detention for falling asleep in class," Chenle answered for him, both afraid of Donghyuck's wrath. As much as the older tended to speak as little as he could with the youngest two, he still managed to engage in an argument with them whenever he did converse.

Donghyuck opened his mouth to speak but Mark was quick to grab his hand and then nod at the kids. "That's okay. Jisung, you can go to detention. Chenle, help this guy out."

"This guy has a name," Ten rolled his eyes and then stood up when Chenle made a move for the door.

Renjun, who had been sitting a little away from Donghyuck, eyed Mark's hand that was casually placed over the blondes. Mark seemed to notice his gaze and hurriedly took it off. Donghyuck let out a deep sigh and then turned to Mark, ready to talk to him about how boring his lesson was when one of his teachers didn't show up.

"I had to ask, Donghyuck," Mark started in a small voice, not wanting Renjun to hear what they were going to speak about. Donghyuck nodded as a sign for Mark to continue. "What's your relationship with Jaemin?"

"Nothing," Donghyuck immediately answered with a glare. Renjun seemed to have caught on to what Mark had said and leaned forwards in his chair, causing Donghyuck to internally groan. 

"You guys live together," Mark pointed out. "But you said you hate him. Why would you move in with him if you hate him?"

He was stepping into unknown territory, but Mark was just curious. After finding out that the two had been living together, he couldn't make any sense of it no matter how hard he thought. Jaemin apparently didn't know a Donghyuck, but when Mark confronted him outside their shared apartment, they seemed close. Donghyuck had said that he hated Jaemin, so him with with the person he hates made Mark's mind spin in confusion.

"Mark," Donghyuck scowled. "This really isn't any of your business."

Silence followed and Mark realised he had overstepped the boundaries. Quickly, he stood up from his seat and apologised before running out of the room, alarming both Donghyuck and Renjun. A snicker was heard and Donghyuck snapped his head to the side to send Renjun a sharp look.

"Why haven't you told him yet?" Renjun asked, shuffling closer to Donghyuck and placed a hand over his shoulder. "Don't you trust him?"

"I do," Donghyuck shrugged off Renjun's hand and then glanced over at the door through which Mark had disappeared through. "But I don't want him to know about Jaemin. It's better to keep it a secret."

☀️

"So when did you and Taeyong meet?" Chenle asked as he walked down the corridor with Ten. The older held a hand to his chin and thought deeply about the question.

"Well, I've known him ever since he joined the dance club but we didn't actually speak until about last year," Ten explained. "I was taking part in a challenged and got assigned to him. That was the first time we spoke."

"So all the time before that," Chenle stopped and Ten followed. "You watched him from afar?"

"Yes, and I know it sounds cree—"

"I did the same!" Chenle excitedly cut Ten off and bounced on the spot. "You know Jisung? The boy I was sitting with? I used to admire him from far away until just recently with Donghyuck's hyung's help we properly met."

"Then why was that brat so shaken up by my story?" Ten asked, a little offended that Donghyuck had been looking down upon him when one of the members in his club had done the exact same thing. 

"Hyung is a little strange," Chenle commented as he recalled the time Donghyuck had purposely ignored Chenle the entire day when the younger was in need of help again. "Anyways, so this guy, Taeyong?"

"Hyung," Ten added. "Call him hyung."

"Okay, okay. So this Taeyong hyung," Chenle and Ten turned the corner and stopped at the cafeteria entrance. "Do you think he likes you back?"

"Mhm, I'm a hundred percent sure," Ten replied confidentially, smiling as if he had just won an award. 

"Maybe he thinks you're not being serious about your feelings?" Chenle suggested. 

Ten hummed in agreement and the two walked into the cafeteria, immediately getting hit with the sound of loud students. They shared a look before turning back around and heading straight for the library. "Alright, then let's show him that I really do like him."

🍉

"Notes on his locker?" Donghyuck looked up from his work and raised an eyebrow at Chenle, who had been updating him on the situation with Ten. "That's so childish."

"But it's one way to show that he isn't just joking around," Chenle whined and took a seat beside Donghyuck, but got up a few moments later when Mark entered the room and shot him a look. "Look, if this doesn't work then I'll take all the blame. But at least let me try."

"I still think Taeyong doesn't have any feelings for him," Donghyuck shook his head in disapproval. "You guys are probably going to harass him at this point."

Chenle opened his mouth to protest but closed it after a while. They're plan wasn't terrible but it wasn't the best either. Truth be told, Chenle had come to Donghyuck to get compliments for his efforts and work but all he got was slander.

"Good luck, Chenle," Mark smiled and waved at him as he left the room. At least Mark was still cheering him on. "Hey, Donghyuck."

"Hey," Donghyuck greeted back and forced his eyes back to his book.

"Sorry," Mark murmured and chewed down on his lip. 

"For what?" Donghyuck's eyes stayed on the book and he fought back the urge to look up at Mark. "You have nothing to apologise for."

"I overstepped my boundaries," Mark sighed in frustration. "I shouldn't have asked you about Jaemin if you weren't comfortable to talk about him."

Silence followed and Donghyuck could feel Mark getting more tense as the seconds passed. He didn't want Mark to feel bad for asking about Jaemin but it really wasn't his place to question Donghyuck's relationship with Jaemin. On top of that, Donghyuck wanted to keep Mark as away as he could from Jaemin. The less he knew the better.

"It's okay," Donghyuck smiled at Mark and then put his book on the side. "So, how was your day?"

🐬

"I don't think Taeyong knows the notes are from me," Ten frowned as Chenle cut out more heart shaped papers. The younger stopped midway and gave Ten a pointed look. "I don't want to sign the note! What if someone else sees them and laughs at me?"

"So are you embarrassed by your feelings for Taeyong hyung?" Chenle's voice raised as he spoke. Ten looked shocked for a second and then shook his head frantically. 

"Of course not!" Ten defended himself, but this only fueled Chenle to continue.

"Are you sure?" Chenle teased, the frown on his face getting deeper. "If you were, you would be signing your name happily on the notes. You wouldn't care if he found out you were the one writing them to him. You wouldn't care if anyone else found them instead! You would be confident!"

"I would be confident!" Ten echoed and fist bumped the air. "Give me a heart paper, Chenle! I'm going to write him my sappiest love note ever."

"That's the spirit!"

🐺

"I don't know what Taeyong hyung looks like," Chenle said to Jisung as they avoided the gazes of their teacher. Jisung grunted as Chenle hit his leg. "Come on, do you know who he is?"

"I'm in the dance club as well, Chenle," He glared as their teacher shot them another look. "Can we talk after lesson? Both of us are failing maths already, can't afford to fail even more."

"Park Jisung, Zhong Chenle," Their teacher called out and Jisung sighed.

"Well done."

Their knees ached as they sat on the ground outside their class. They could hear the giggles from their classmates and tried their best to ignore it. 

"Okay, now that we're not in class," Chenle tilted his head to the side and smiled at Jisung. "How does this Taeyong hyung look like?"

"He's really good looking," Jisung finally gave in. "He's one of the best dancers in our class, you should come check us out."

"I will, one day," Chenle sighed and then leaned against Jisung. "My arms hurt."

"Maybe if you stayed quiet during lesson they wouldn't," Jisung stuck his tongue out at Chenle and then shrugged him off.

The bell rang almost immediately and Chenle jumped up from his spot. "Collect my detention slip please, thanks, Jisung." With that, Chenle ran into the class, grabbed his bag and disappeared down the corner. 

Ten had been asking for Chenle's help throughout the day. He wanted to ask for more help — and although it was strange getting help from Chenle, someone younger than him and just about as clueless as he was, but he was the only one there to offer any guidance.

"What do you need now?' Chenle asked as he took a seat beside Ten. 

"I'm thinking of just properly confessing to Taeyong," Ten murmured, using his fork to stab his chicken, sadly. "He's been getting close with one of the other members of our club and— and I don't like it."

"Hyung, only confess if you really think you're ready to confess," Chenle pat his back softly and then frowned when Ten's tensed muscles refused to relax. "Why are you so antsy? Did something happen?"

"Some guys in my class told me there was no chance of Taeyong and I dating," Ten places his fork down, a bitter smile over his face. "Maybe they're right. Taeyong barely knows I exist. We've spoken, like what, three or four times? Everything seems to be in my head; it's a delusion. Maybe...maybe Donghyuck was right. I'm not going to be able to be with Taeyong and it just— wow, it just feels wrong when I think about that."

"Then don't!" Chenle shook his head. Ten had seemed so motivated to be with Taeyong no matter what came between them, so how could a few harsh words from a small group of irrelevant people cause his goals to suddenly seem like nothing but a far fetched dream? "Hyung, don't give up just yet! You still aren't completely sure if Taeyong hyung has no feelings for you!"

"He doesn't even look at me," The first choked sob escaped Ten's mouth and Chenle panicked. "He doesn't—doesn't look at me. He doesn't talk to me. He probably likes our club leader."

"And who's that?" Chenle asked, a little too afraid to try and comfort Ten for the first few things he said but end up messing up. Jisung, despite being as childish as he was, was probably a lot better at comforting people. Chenle, on the other hand, wasn't the best at reading emotions and actions. 

"Taemin hyung," Ten sniffled. "Taeyong's friends with him. Taemin hyung's so cool, I wouldn't be surprised if he liked him. Wait— Chenle— wait." Ten's eyes widened comically and he turned to Chenle. "What if I've been coming in between them this whole time? What if Taeyong had been wanting to ask Taemin hyung out but I've been stopping them?"

"Hyung," Chenle placed a hand over his and soothing caressed it. "Calm down. I'm sure if you were interrupting something they would've told you. Come on, let's get out of here."

"Chenle, I may have a free after lunch but you have lessons to go to," Ten scolded and rubbed his eyes, wiping away the tears before they could've fallen. 

"Please, don't try lecturing me about school when you miss out on half of your lessons."

🐶

"You guys are doing what?" Donghyuck slapped a hand against his forehead and everyone in the room hissed at the echoing sound. "Chenle— get back to school, right now! No, don't— Chenle!"

The call ended and Donghyuck pulled the phone away from his ear, his face red of anger and his fingers tightly clenched around the phone. "What did," Jisung cleared his throat nervously, almost melting beneath Donghyuck's gaze. "What did Chenle say?" He finally squeaked out.

"He bunked school with Ten and now they're not coming back to the club," Donghyuck ran a hand down his face in frustration before turning to Taeyong, who awkwardly squirmed in his chair. "Sorry, hyung. We'll somehow make Ten come to school so that we can get the plan going. Jisung, can you try?"

"It's okay," Taeyong chewed on his lip. "I'm kinda scared already. More time would mean I can calm myself down."

"You don't have to worry about him saying no," Mark giggled from next to Donghyuck. "I'm sure he'll probably jump on you."

"He's going to jump on me?" Taeyong's jaw dropped and Jisung had to try his best to not laugh. Mark was quick to resort to a stuttering mess and he explained to Taeyong how he didn't actually mean it. 

Donghyuck watched as Mark sighed out of relief once Taeyong got the idea and he fell back on his chair. 

"Hey," Donghyuck whispered, so that the others wouldn't catch what they were talking about. "Mark."

"Yeah?" Mark turned his head to the side, leaning in to hear him more clearly. Donghyuck felt his cheeks warm up as the distance between them was shortened greatly, and he had to try his best to not break out of his calm facade. 

"I'm sorry," Donghyuck felt a little bitter for having to apologise — a foreign concept he had nearly forgotten about. "Earlier this week. I shouldn't have gotten angry at you."

"Are you talking about when I asked about Jaemin?" Mark had lost interest in consoling Taeyong and diverted his full and undivided attention to Donghyuck. "If you are, then no need to apologise. I should've known my boundaries. And we've already spoken about this. It's perfectly fine."

"But still, I shouldn't have gotten angry over you being curious. I understand why you would want to know what's going on between Jaemin and I but—"

"It's okay, Donghyuck," Mark smiled softly and took Donghyuck's hand into his own, which was new and Donghyuck's face burst into flames (Renjun could see from the other side of the room and his 'quiet' snickering could be heard so clearly). "You can tell me whenever you feel comfortable to. Or don't tell me at all! It's completely your choice."

Donghyuck nodded slowly and just as he was going to continue speaking, the doors burst open and Chenle walked in.

"Jisung's hurt?" Chenle yelled as soon as he entered. His eyes scanned the room and froze at Jisung, who was sat up against the cupboard with his leg tucked between his arm. "Jisung!"

"Uh, hey, Chenle," Jisung looked over the older's head and gestured for Taeyong and Donghyuck to hurry up before focusing on him again. "We need to talk."

"We— we what?" Chenle quirked his eyebrow but still followed Jisung, who he thought was injured, out of the room. Renjun trailed behind them and soon there were only four of them in the room.

"Taeyong?" Ten questioned the presence of his crush and turned to Donghyuck. "What is he doing here?"

"He can explain that to you," Donghyuck hurriedly said and grabbed Mark's hand. "Good luck," he whispered to Taeyong, who shot back a shaky smile before the two of them exited the room as well.

Silence filled the emptiness in their conversation and Ten found it hard to sit still. Maybe Taeyong had come to the services club to ask them to help get him with Taemin, wouldn't be quite shocking. It hurt to know that none of them had told him about this and he nervously played with his fingers. What if they told Taeyong he liked him? What if the reason Taeyong was shifting his weight from heel to heel was because he was going to reject him? Rejection wasn't something Ten already wasn't good with, but he knew that if it included Taeyong then he wouldn't be able to handle it at all.

"Ten," Taeyong let out a soft sigh and started taking small footsteps towards him. "I need to tell you something really important."

"Yeah?" Ten cursed at himself when he stuttered through the word. "What is it?"

"We don't know each other that well—" 

Ah, Ten thought. Here it is. The final rejection.

"We barely speak to each other," Taeyong continued. "We were probably partnered up once in that dance challenge, but honestly—"

"If you're going to reject me, can you be a little quick about it?" Ten tapped his foot against the floor impatiently. It was better to pull off the bandaid in one go rather than drag it out and tear it apart slowly, painfully.

"Reject you?" Taeyong froze in his steps, only a few feet away from Ten. "You think I'm going to reject you?"

"What else would you be doing right now?" Ten answered with his eyes directed to the floor. 

Taeyong remained silent and Ten could feel the embarrassment seeping off him. He had been chasing this guy by confessing to him nearly every day, despite them only interacting with each other every so often and now he was going to be completely shut down. It felt bad.

"Ten," Taeyong chuckled softly and took the last few steps to him. "I'm not here to reject you."

"You're...not?" Ten raised his head and flushed at their sudden proximity. (Donghyuck, who was outside the room and peering through the windows, nodded in understanding of the feeling). "Then what are you here to do?"

"My plan was to confess to you through a long speech," Taeyong coughed, embarrassed that it failed so miserably. "But I guess I should just keep it simple." Ten's mouth parted in surprise and his body relaxed. "Ten, we don't know each other that well yet, I don't even know when your birthday is, or what your favourite coffee order is, or what fruits you—"

"I hate fruits," Ten paused and then blushed shyly. "I mean, sorry, continue."

"Uhm, yeah, as I was saying, we don't know about each others favourites, but I still have to say this to you," Taeyong took a deep breath and his eyes fluttered close so that he would have enough courage to say the next few things. "Ever since we first met, I really liked you. I would watch you from afar, be all nice to everyone and just be yourself. You started coming up to me randomly and telling me that you liked me...so I assumed it was just a joke for you, or something you just said with no feelings behind it. I came to this club asking for help and turns out you happened to come right after me.

"Ten, this may seem really stupid, regarding the fact that we aren't familiar with each other yet," Taeyong took ahold of Ten's hands and smiled. "But, will you go out with me?"

Ten felt his knees get weak so he did the first thing that came to his mind. He jumped into Taeyong. A crash was heard in the room and the five herding around the entrance ran in to check what happened. They found Ten's limbs wrapped around Taeyong and the two were in the ground. A chuckle escaped Donghyuck's mouth as he turned to Mark.

"He really did end up jumping."