Mark has a crush on someone that's way out of his league and Jaemin gets simple joy out of ruining lives.

Word Count: 3331

There were a lot of things that Jaemin and Jeno put up with. Since the beginning of the school year though, the most common was dealing with Mark’s pining over one specific upperclassman.

One of the biggest athletes in their school, Nakamoto Yuta was the captain of their soccer team and the object of Mark Lee’s affection. He was a senior while the three of them were freshmen and Mark had fallen in love the first time he saw him.

It probably had something to do with the fact that they were both technically foreigners in the country, and a lot to do with the fact that he was an amazing soccer player. Also, his smile and his body. Mark thought the sun only shined when Yuta was smiling, and actually found himself needing to fan himself every time he so much as pictured his body.

The best moment of his life had probably been when Yuta removed his shirt halfway through his practice on one of the hottest days of the year. Mark had had to leave early that day.

Mark made it a habit to watch their schools soccer matches and routinely attended the afterschool practices. He would be damned if someone tried to keep him from watching his crush at every chance he got. Some days they’d sit up close to the field to watch, and other days they’d just be situated somewhere nearby.

Jaemin and Jeno both kept him company through the time, regardless of how much they hated it. They all hung out after the practice was over anyways, so they didn’t see a point in meeting up with Mark again later.

They were there so often that they had actually been approached by Yuta about it one day. Mark had sputtered something about an interest in possibly joining the team one day, his face flushed nervously and voice cracking, while both of his friends casually said they were there for support. Yuta seemed thankful for all of their responses of interest.

“Smooth,” Jeno commented as Yuta had jogged back to his stretching teammates.

Jaemin had wrapped an arm around Mark’s neck, smirking at his spaced out look.

“Oh my god,” Mark breathed out. “That just happened. He talked to me.”

“Actually, he talked to us.”

“Let him have his moment, Nana.”

“Look at him, he’s so cool!” Mark exclaimed, leaning over the table the three of them were sitting at to attempt a better look at the male an entire field away. “He just scored a goal!”

Jaemin and Jeno simultaneously groaned and rolled their eyes, giving each other knowing looks.

“You can’t even see him from here,” Jeno sighed out, taking a sip of his slushie.

“It’s just a practice anyways, not like it actually matters if he got a goal.”

When neither comments received a response, Jaemin squinted his eyes at Mark, scrutinizing the way he was fawning over the soccer player. He wasn’t removing his eyes from the field for even a second, nor did he seem to hear anything either of them was saying. They could probably get up and walk away at that moment and Mark wouldn’t notice until the soccer practice had ended.

Every time that Yuta was within a five-mile radius, Mark’s attention was glued to him. Neither Jaemin nor Jeno understood the obsession. They could respect the guy for his soccer skills, but they just couldn’t see what Mark saw. They thought it would probably be a lot easier to be able to if Mark didn’t constantly gush about him.

Jaemin and Jeno exchanged glances once more before nodding their heads in silent agreement.

“Mark?” Jeno asked, moving his head to try and look at the face of the older boy. Mark didn’t even glance at him, eyes following all the small bodies of people on the soccer field with an intense concentration.

“Mark Lee,” Jaemin started in a raised and stern voice, catching Mark’s attention out of pure surprise at the tone, “sit your down. We need to have a talk.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“No,” Jeno answered. “It needs to be right now. We can’t delay it any longer.”

“But practice is ending soon anyways—“

Jaemin forced a smile, getting out of his seat across from Mark to pull him down into his own chair. Mark’s eyes and mouth were wide open in shock as he looked between his friends.

“You have a problem. We need to hold an intervention,” Jaemin informed.

“I-intervention? What’s that?”

It took the two a moment to remember that Mark was in fact a foreigner, and took them another moment to explain the meaning to him.

“That’s ridiculous. I don’t need an intervention,” Mark defended himself, glancing back towards the soccer field to see that the team had begun packing up and leaving the field.

“You’re practically stalking him,” Jeno accused.

Before Mark could object, Jaemin’s mouth was already opening.

“If you just have a crush on him then just tell him already,” he complained, giving his friend a fed-up look.

Mark stared at him like he was insane.

“Is that a joke? I could never even talk to him. He’s so above me.”

“You’ve talked to him before,” Jeno pointed out.

“He talked to me first! And I wasn’t confessing to him!”

Jaemin sighed dramatically and exchanged looks with Jeno again.

“Seriously hyung, just do it. You’ll feel better after,” Mark’s disbelieving look and raised eyebrows made Jaemin smile sweetly. “We will, at least.”

“Nana’s right though, Mark. Just do it. It’s not that hard,” Jeno agreed, pushing for his friend to take a leap out of his comfort zone.

“If you guys don’t shut up,” Mark threatened lightly, covering his ears for show.

“What if we don’t?” Jeno prompted, curious to know what Mark could even attempt to do or say.

“Nothing, because he’s too nice to actually do anything.”

“Seriously, just do it and we’ll stop bothering you.”

“All you need to do is go up to him and say, ‘hey, I’m pretty much in love with you’. Easy, simple, over and done with in like ten seconds.”

“Why don’t you do it then, huh?” Mark asked, irritated by the two not understanding how impossible and insane the idea of him confessing to their upperclassman was. It wasn’t just any senior, it was Nakamoto Yuta for God’s sake. He’d only ever even spoken a few words to the Japanese male anyways, and the chances that he would get rejected were undeniable. He’d only end up embarrassed in the end, and it wasn’t like a rejection would make him stop admiring him. All it would do was confirm the fact that Mark actually had no chance with him.

Jaemin and Jeno paused in their rapid questioning and turned to each other before nodding and looking back to Mark.

Jeno looked a bit unsure about the idea, almost as if he was thinking what if this isn’t actually a good idea, but Jaemin was fully for it. They weren’t confessing for him so he didn’t see any possible consequences or reasons not to. As long as he was in the clear, it was acceptable.

“Okay. We will.”

As if Mark were cursed, at that very moment Yuta came into sight, sweat glistening in the sun from an intense practice. Quickly, before the male could get a chance to walk away, Jaemin and Jeno threw out a few rounds of the classic decision maker: rock paper scissors.

The end result was Jaemin standing up from his seat and speed walking towards the soccer captain’s retreating figure. Mark could only watch in shock, the entire situation escalating too quickly for his poor mind to comprehend.

Mark watched as Jaemin and Yuta both came to a halt, the senior t