Chapter Text
"Wait, seriously?"
"Yes, Donghyuck. Now can you shut the fuck up please?"
"Absolutely not. You are going out with a boy and I'm just supposed to— what, be calm? Sorry, not happening."
Mark groaned. He should've known the moment Donghyuck slammed the door closed, that this evening would be tough before the main event even began.
Donghyuck continued, "Also, you're not wearing a blue striped shirt on your first date. Wear something cool. You have to look so Na Jaemin should be kissing the floor you walk on."
"He literally wouldn't do that. Ever."
"See. Pessimistic."
"It's called Hygienic."
Donghyuck seemed to pay no attention to him. Instead, he rummaged through his closet, holding up a outfit after a while,
"This one. This is the one."
And if Mark gave in and tried the outfit on, admittedly to look his best in front of Jaemin, who was to blame? It was Jaemin. And it was their first date. One that Mark himself had asked Jaemin on, after an embarassingly long struggle.
Mark sighed as he stood in front of the mirror, in the outfit now, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Yah! You will mess up the foundation", Donghyuck slapped his hand away from his face.
"I told you I don't need a foundation!"
"You do"
"I don't. And I also don't need a red leather jacket. It's coffee for fuck's sake, Donghyuck!"
"Well, who asked you to make it just coffee? You could've taken him to dinner? Could've taken him home as well, I'm sure he wouldn't have minded."
Yeah well, this time Donghyuck is prolly right. Him and Jaemin have been talking for a while now—2 months, around. They've gone out before too. Coffee, parks. Jaemin also stayed over Mark's place once, like a week ago. They randomly went grocery shopping that day because Mark had little to no stock at home.
"How do you even live like that?", Jaemin had asked, laughing, but it hadn't felt like mockery.
"I'm rarely at home. And... uhm- I can't really cook..? So. Yeah."
Mark had still been awkward then. Just a little. Mostly because he was too conscious of Jaemin around him.
Jaemin had grown pretty affectionate by that time. Randomly daping an arm around Mark's shoulder, sitting too close on the couch so their knees brushed.
And something similar had happened later that night. They had been in Mark's room. Jaemin had hesitated at first, saying bedrooms were very personal to a lot of people and that he wouldn't want to intrude.
If only he knew what Mark dreamt of in this bedroom.
"You don't have to, you know? We can just sit in the living room."
"I want to. And also, I'm not sure I can carry my whole computer out in the living room"
Jaemin had laughed at that, the tension slipping away, giggly Jaemin reappearing.
They had played games on Mark's computer that evening. And Mark swore that he was good at it and yet somehow Jaemin had ended up winning three games in a row.
Mark had started chasing him around the room then, first genuinely trying to catch him, and later just because of how happy and sweet the imagery of it was. Jaemin running, trying to get away from him, giggling along the way.
And then Jaemin had tumbled over something and fallen into Mark's bed. And Mark had tried to check up on him to see if he was hurt, and ended up throwing himself too, right on the bed, next to Jaemin.
They had both laughed out loud at that. When the laughter died down, Mark remembered the chase and tried to grab Jaemin, but Jaemin had slipped away and rolled them onto the bed together so that he was lying half on top of Mark. They had wrestled on the bed then, playful and chaotic, but underneath there was the soft intimacy of it all.
At some point, Jaemin had sat up, his knees on either side of Mark's hip. Mark didn't know whether Jaemin realised that he was basically straddling his lap. But Jaemin's eyes had been fixed at something behind the bed frame. When Mark followed his line of sight, he noticed that one corner of his Spider-Man costume was peeking out from where he stores them.
He quickly scrambled away from under Jaemin, shoving the costume back in, and turned back to Jaemin—bracing himself for the round of interrogation.
But it never came.
Jaemin just sat back, looking at Mark. His expression calm, like he knew exactly what it was without asking anything.
"Aren't you gonna ask me anything?", Mark had asked, hesitant.
Jaemin had only answered by pulling Mark up by his nape and kissing him on the mouth.
That had been their first kiss. It wasn't long, but Mark had responded almost immediately. The kiss communicating the feelings that they both couldn't spell out.
Mark had finally asked Jaemin out that night, the execution of which, was supposed to happen today.
By the time Mark finally made his way out, he had talked Donghyuck into letting him change out of the leather jacket and into a simpler black jacket with white sleeves.
Jaemin was outside the cafe when he finally reached there.
"I'm so sorry, have you been waiting for long?", Mark asked when Jaemin was near enough to hear him.
"Not long. Just 7 mins and 46 secs"
"You...counted?"
Jaemin didn't say anything, just smiled.
That was another thing about Jaemin. He was ridiculously specific about time, and numbers in general. Though Mark supposed that that was a good thing with how bad with numbers he himself was. You know. Balancing things out.
The date that night had went fairly well and peaceful, save for the one time when Mark burned his tongue on the hot brownie.
Jaemin hadn't even laughed at him, just offering his both the water and his own iced coffee.
They had went home pretty late that night, after taking a walk around a park nearby and stealing kisses under the streetlights.
And he was completely at ease then.
Not for once did he think about how he would have to go back to his 'superhero' job the next night.
Not for once did that thought of failing to catch the thief gnaw at the back of his head.