"That's what every creep says," Donghyuck blurts out and immediately curses when Jaemin elbows him, causing him to lose his game. "Alright, alright, show me this incredibly cute boy who's caught your heartstrings."

"He hasn't caught my heartstrings, what the hell," Jaemin hits Donghyuck again and reaches for his phone. "I'm not gay, I'm just saying he's cute."

"Hey dude, we won't judge you," Jeno says, holding his hands up to defend himself when Jaemin's attack turns to him instead. By the time Jaemin pulls up his conversation with Mark, the door to their classroom opens with a slam. There stands a red-faced Mark.

"I wasn't uh, meant to slam the door open, sorry," Mark's apologies become quieter and quieter as more eyes fall upon him.

"Is that your cute tutor?" Donghyuck asks and twists his head to get a better look. "Well, he sure is adorable."

A hit to the head from Renjun causes Donghyuck to backtrack. "I mean, he's not that- he's not you- he-" Renjun stops him halfways and tells him he was only messing around with him, but Jaemin can tell by the way Renjun stroked Donghyuck head that it wasn't a joke.

"Jaemin!" Mark looks happy, more like relieved, to see Jaemin. "I got the keys to my class, so after school, you can just come up there when you want."

Jaemin hums in agreement and then holds his phone up. "You know you could've just messaged me, right?" The look on Mark's face makes Jaemin regret saying the words. "But this was better!" Jaemin is quick to follow up. "Thanks for telling me personally, otherwise I probably would've missed the text since I don't use my phone much."

Mark's face lightens up and he smiles at Jaemin. "No problem! Don't forget to come up after school, okay?"

"Okay, okay!" Jaemin smiles back and waves at Mark until he leaves.

"Well then, Mr I-am-not-gay-but-totally-just-lost-my-heart-to-that-guy, how you holding up?" Donghyuck snickers and this time it's Jeno who hits him on the head.

-

"Do you have to sit this close?" Mark asks when their legs brush against each other for the tenth time in just the last two minutes. Jaemin looks up from where he was pretending to read and tilts his head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Jaemin counters and leans closer with a pout. "You don't like sitting next to me?"

"That's not it!" Mark shrinks in on himself and spins his pen on his hand. "It's just, there's a seat next to me so why are you sitting opposite me on the same table."

It's on purpose because Jaemin has this sudden urge to make Mark conscious of him. It was weird, Jaemin himself agrees, but Mark had such priceless reactions it was hard to not do just that. Every time their fingers would come within a close range, Mark would jerk his hand back before Jaemin could touch him and his face would easily show exactly what he was thinking.

"This is easier," Jaemin states and then shuffles on his chair to become even more unbelievably close.

"Jaemin," now Mark sounds stern. "It's been five days since we started these lessons and it feels like we've barely even made any progress."

Mark sounds tired and Jaemin actually feels bad for being the reason. He wasn't purposely not paying attention, it's just being in such a close environment with Mark just made him lose his train of thought. Mark was just distracting. That's right, Mark was distracting. He was cute and adorable and tended to brush his not so long hair behind his ears and scrunch his nose whenever he messed a question up and kept chewing on his lips as if that would help him.

"You're very distracting," Jaemin internally curses the fact that he had zero brains to mouth filter there, but then Mark flinches at his words and a blush creeps its way up to his neck, and now Jaemin has no regrets.

"Well, what am I supposed to do about that?" Mark huffed out and sat back in his seat. "I can't exactly explain everything to you over the phone."

Jaemin ponders for a moment and then smiles brightly at Mark. "How about you distract me differently?"

Mark looks hesitant, well obviously he does, Jaemin had been spewing nonsense ever since they met. Whatever he was going to say was bound to be something stupid. But he still clicks his pen and gestures for Jaemin to explain himself.

"How about you set a reward for me?" Jaemin suggests and Mark immediately rolls his eyes.

"Your reward is that you get to continue attending this school, how's that?" Mark replies with a sly smile and Jaemin wonders if Mark had always seemed this sarcastic.

"But that's a given!" Jaemin argues, hoping that his words would come off convincing. "Yeah sure, I'll get to continue studying here, but I want a reward from you, not the school."

Mark pauses and turns his attention to the table. The fact that he was thinking this hard just for him was a little refreshing. It brought a smile to Jaemins face, seeing Mark frown and repeat his words softly.

"What," Mark begins quietly, looking a little scared. "What kind of reward do you want?"

He agreed, Jaemin thinks, surprised that Mark gave in so quickly. He had assumed that Mark would be a little more strong on his word and not let himself get dragged down by Jaemin. Now that he had agreed Jaemin had to think of something off the top of his head. The only thing that came to mind was from the movie his sister had watched yesterday. For the sake of just saying something, Jaemin carefully places his hands on the table and stands up a little, just enough so that he was hovering above Mark. The older boy glances up at him in confusion but allows Jaemin to speak.

"How about a kiss?"

-

"I believe that was deserved," Donghyuck giggles but still takes an ice pack out and holds it out to Jaemin. "Who in their right mind would say yes to kissing you?"

"Everyone but Mark Lee apparently," Jaemin rumbles and holds the ice pack to his cheek, in hopes that the swelling would lessen so he could go home. His parents would probably freak out and contact the school and make it a big deal.

"He seems shy, why would you ask him so bluntly?" Donghyuck shakes his head and pats Jaemins arm in an attempt to comfort him. "I'm not going to ask why you offered a kiss when you claim to not be gay, but here's one thing for sure. He won't say yes that easily."

Jaemin shrugs his hand off and reaches for his phone that was on charging. There are a few messages from his parents saying they'll be coming home late and then a few from his siblings saying they finished their homework and were gonna watch tv. And then at the bottom of the entire list, there's a missed call from Mark.

Jumping up in surprise, almost causing Donghyuck to fall off the bed, Jaemin unplugs his phone and runs out onto the balcony. He shuts the door behind, not missing the way Donghyuck cursed him for taking away all the heat in his room and calls Mark.

"Hello?" Mark's voice is quiet as if he's whispering, and there's a bunch of background sound blocking Jaemin's thought process. "Jaemin?"

"Ah, yeah, Mark," Jaemin nods to and hugs himself when the cold hits him in the face. "You called me earlier. Was it something important?"

There's a moment where Mark doesn't say anything and the background sound quiets down until there's none and the two of them stay on call in silence. Jaemin can hear his pulse in his ear and the winds a bit too chilly for him to stay out for too long, but he can't end the call just yet. Not before Mark told him what he needed to.

"I called earlier because, uhm," Mark sounds nervous and Jaemin can't help but smile to himself. "What you said today, in the classroom...Oh! First, let me apologise for hitting you with my bottle, it just surprised me a little."

"No, no, it's fine, I also-" Before Jaemin can apologise for suggesting such a bizarre idea, Mark cuts him.

"I'll give you that reward."

A second passes as Jaemin waits for the 'I'm just joking', and then another pass and then Jaemin chokes on air. He kneels down and holds his hand to his heart as Mark fills his ears with questions asking if he was alright.

"You'll give me the reward, by the reward are you referring to the kiss I mentioned?" Jaemin really hopes that the light from Donghyuck's room was dim enough to hide the blush on his face. If Donghyuck was to see him he'd probably laugh at him.

Mark clears his throat and hums in agreement. "If you manage to score over 95 per cent in the next class test, I'll give you the reward."

Then just as Jaemin tries to form a sentence Mark ends the call, leaving a confused yet satisfied Jaemin alone on the balcony. The door slowly opens and Jaemin glances up to see Donghyuck looking down at him with a smug smile.

"What's got you looking so red, hm?"