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the story starts and ends like this: wong yukhei with a 500 won coin.
“if it comes out heads, then i’m auditioning,” yukhei announces into the silence of their apartment, fiddling with the small coin. mark thinks it looks funny: yukhei’s big hands clutching the tiny, 3 centimetre-wide coin- the coin that now apparently holds the reins on yukhei’s current decision making.
the audition yukhei is talking about is for a modeling opportunity that had spread through campus news last week. the fashion and design students had first gotten wind of it when a representative of the agency had been looking for someone to walk for a line launch, asking the students to spread the news and encouraging volunteers to come forward for auditions. yukhei, though nowhere close to being a fashion and design student (he suffers through business management), is friends with every nook and cranny of the entire school and has been entertaining the possibility since tuesday.
“dude, no,” mark snorts. “i’m not letting you make a possibly life-changing decision based on a stupid piece of metal. take that thing to a laundromat and finally give it a more useful purpose. it’s served us enough.”
“but, mark! this is my lucky coin, you know this,” yukhei sits up, staring at mark with large eyes, expression imploring the younger to listen to his whining. “besides, i just can’t decide for myself, and clearly you’re of no help since i’ve been sitting on this for days and all you’ve said is ‘ do whatever you want, bro ’,” he says, in a high-pitched voice that mark supposes was an imitation of him.
it’s ridiculous and he wills his facial expression to stay still, lest yukhei get more encouraged. “i don’t sound like that.” inwardly, he cringes. he supposes he should have lent yukhei a more collected piece of advice but yukhei’s dilemma had landed in the same time slot as one of his composition projects and it had left him exhausted and barely coherent enough to tell his right hand from his left, leaving no room to tend to yukhei. a shitty friend, he supposes.
yukhei huffs. “not the point?” he shows mark the coin, the crane coined into the metal facing him. “okay- you know the deal. 500 is tails; head’s the crane. got it?”
mark’s exasperated sigh sounds around the room and he puts a hand on his work, pushing the book away for a second to give yukhei’s stupid idea all his attention. it’s stupid, sure, but wong yukhei is undeniably his best friend and it’s practically mark’s job to indulge yukhei when he gets ideas like this. it’s been 7 years of stupid ideas and mark’s been with the tall idiot for all of them.
the coin isn’t a new stupid idea, not by a long shot. the coin’s been there almost for as long as yukhei and mark have been friends and the state of the of 500 won coin is a testament as to how long it’s lived. yukhei keeps it in the safety of his wallet and pulls it out when he’s unable to make decisions he deems important enough to use the sacred coin on, or when he’s just feeling like a piece of shit and wants to tease mark’s last nerve into bursting.
(it’s mostly the latter.)
yukhei pulls out the coin for decisions big and small. small, like deciding between kfc and mcdonald's when they’re out with the entire gang (“come on, guys, just choose a fucking place- we’re not choosing between two gourmet places, it’s literally shit versus shit,” jaemin will scream, hunger making him irritable. renjun will place a hand on his neck and roll his eyes at his best friend’s irrationality. yukhei will step in and fish the coin from his pocket and announce heads or tails. everyone will groan at the sight of the coin- “that damn fucking coin! enough with the damn coin, yukhei-hyung!”- but whatever the coin lands on, everyone will end up filing into that joint. “the coin is king,” as yukhei will say. “shut the fuck up, xuxi,” mark will say). even big decisions, such as yukhei switching majors, or yukhei going on a date-
all these decisions, decided by a small, circular piece of copper with a crane on one side and a rusty 500 on the other. yukhei’s lucky coin.
and now the coin’s about to make another big decision, it seems.
he watches yukhei close his eyes and grip the coin between his thumb and forefinger, before launching it into the air with a small shriek. mark wants to laugh but his breath unexpectedly gets caught in his throat in anticipation he didn’t have a second ago. yukhei catches the coin and slaps it onto the back of his left hand. he opens an eye and peers at mark.
“well, come on, dumbass. what is it- heads or tails?” mark presses, throwing a balled-up piece of tissue paper in his direction.
yukhei lifts his right hand and glances down at the coin. after a long beat of silence and no response from the taller boy, mark rolls his chair towards the couch where yukhei is sitting, getting a look for himself. he hums.
the crane stares back at the both of them.
“well,” mark says, “guess you’re shooting your shot.”
yukhei turns to look at him and mark sees a smile start to form on his lips. “guess i am.”
mark lee first meets wong yukhei at a small baseball game when he’s 12.
he’s been in little league for a long time now, and as expected of mark lee- son of the coach and infamous lee joonhyung, big-time batter and champion- he’s a star, as they say. he’s a well-oiled machine by now, a product of his father’s genetics and years of practice. ‘a champion in the making', that’s what they call him.
mark absolutely hates it but he takes it, because the look of pride on his father’s face is enough for him to stay.
he meets yukhei during a scrimmage with a neighbouring school that mark’s never heard of but it’s cool- he likes smaller games rather than big ones. with smaller games it’s all friends and fun. with smaller games, no one’s heard of who he is and he can stay on the sidelines without his father dragging him for greetings and handshakes with people he can’t be bothered to remember but will probably be useful to him if he continues with baseball.
mark snorts at the thought. as if .
he meets yukhei and yukhei is tall. he’s tall and his hair is a dark brown and flopping over his eyes and mark lee is… mark lee is absolutely floored .
he meets yukhei and the first words out of his mouth are: “who allowed you to be that tall?”
the latter startles and turns towards mark, leaving the gloves he was unpacking by the metal bench and gives him a confused smile. “sorry?” he’s tall and lanky and he absolutely looms over mark, being about a head taller than his 160cm.
mark blinks. “uh- i just meant- you’re-” he takes a deep breath and berates himself for having absolutely no filter. he gives the boy an apologetic look. “you’re really tall. that’s all i meant to say.”
the boy laughs, bright and reassuring. “it’s cool.” he extends a hand towards mark and mark marvels again at the size of it, broad planes and long fingers. “wong yukhei.”
“mark lee.” he shakes yukhei’s hand. “what do you do?”
yukhei gives him a wide grin. “pitcher!- have been since i was 9. always had long arms and after coach taught me how to launch the ball with proper technique, these babies came in pretty handy for winning games.” he gives his arm a squeeze and while mark can see that it’s as lanky and thin as the rest of yukhei, his arms are long and mark sees it, yukhei using his long arms to achieve maximum momentum.
“i’m a batter,” mark supplies, taking a seat on the bench and watching the pre-game proceedings out on the field. his dad is the center of the diamond, talking with whom mark assumes is the coach of the opposing team. yukhei plops down next to him, placing his gloves in his lap.
“i know,” the taller says, “i saw your dad outside when we got off the bus. i’m a big fan of his, so i’ve definitely heard about you. i’ve seen you play a couple of times and you’re really good- probably one of the best batters i’ve seen play little.” he stops short and gives mark an almost apologetic smile. “you’re probably tired of that, i’m sorry.”
“i am, but it’s cool.” it’s cool, mark thinks, because it’s yukhei . he’s not saying it to get something out of mark, he’s saying it just because.
mark likes him.
apparently, yukhei likes him, too, because he sticks by mark’s side for the entire scrimmage. he likes mark so much, he asks him to be friends and they start to hang out, two 12 year-olds with no agenda on their minds but to enjoy being kids.
thinking of the last year of being in little league has mark a little anxious for what’s going to happen to his and yukhei’s newly-formed bond (“would yukhei stop talking to him because they don’t see each other in games anymore? would yukhei be too busy with games to hang out? would yukhei-”) but he had no need to be worried as yukhei ends up transferring to his high school in the summer of 2013. he gives mark the biggest shock of his teenage life when yukhei shows up to school and bangs a large hand on mark’s locker, startling him within an inch of his life. mark asks what he’s doing there and yukhei just smiles and replies with: “here to see my best friend, what else?”
to the dismay of both their fathers (mark’s more than yukhei’s), they drop out of little league together when they’re 16, mark having grown tired of being the mark lee and yukhei…
well, yukhei drops out months later because mark drops out- simple as, really.
(“so, you just... quit?”
“well, yeah i didn’t really have much of an interest left after you stopped attending games.” yukhei says it like it’s the most nonchalant thing in the entire world but mark’s tiny heart is trying to collapse on itself. “it was getting boring without you.” he gives mark a soft smile.
god . he’s so - “...yukhei, you can’t just-”)
the saga continues on even after little league, to nobody’s surprise- mark and yukhei, yukhei and mark. two inseparable teens at the height of adolescence. they’re practically stuck together at the hip, a buy-one-get-one deal that no one dares interfere with simply because they can’t. they have other friends, sure, but it’s different, mark tells himself. mark has donghyuck and jeno, yukhei has renjun and chenle but it’s different.
why?
mark can’t really tell you.
“where’s xuxi?”
mark raises a hand in greeting as jungwoo takes a seat across from him. he sweeps his homework from the small table and makes space for jungwoo’s tray of lunch. “he’s at that audition thing, remember?” he answers, chewing on a slice of bread.
taking a bite from the apple on his tray, jungwoo hums before asking, “what time does he get back?”
“no idea. he’s skipping all of today,” he says. “the idiot refused to come to school because he said he needed his aura to be chilled out so that he could give the judges the ‘most relaxed version’ of himself that he possibly could.” he relays the words verbatim, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers with a look of fake irritation.
jungwoo laughs. “let the guy be. he was probably really nervous before he left.”
mark had figured the same. he’d left a small post-it on yukhei’s bedroom door before he slipped out for classes, a simple ‘ you got this, wong yukhei! text me after you’re done’. he’s had his phone off silent and in his front pocket since he left the apartment just in case yukhei finishes early and manages to shoot him a text, but so far, it’s radio silence.
“what’s he supposed to do there, anyway?” jungwoo asks.
“i don’t know? walk, i guess,” he shrugs. he’s never been really into this stuff- donghyuck’s more in touch with the design kids than he’s ever been. “look good in front of the judges? flaunt what his parents gave him?”
“well, yukhei won’t have a problem doing that, am i right?” he smirks at mark, underlying with something that makes mark narrow his eyes at the elder.
mark’s not blind. yukhei’s tall and handsome, even in mark’s eyes- especially in mark’s eyes- and very impressionable. if one person at that launch catches sight of yukhei and falls in love, everyone else will follow suit. that’s how it’s always been.
“sure, hyung, sure.”
someone interrupts mark’s glaring to drop down in the chair adjacent his, slamming books onto the table with such force that mark’s tray shakes and his open orange caprisun topples over, leaking over the table. he jumps, scooping it up and protecting his notes from getting tainted.
“jesus, hyuck!” he yells, mouth stuffed with bread, “practice some control, will you?”
donghyuck rolls his eyes before fetching a couple of tissues to throw over the small juice puddle. “sorry, i’m just a bit on edge.” he huffs a harsh breath, pushing his hair out of his face. “my calculus paper didn’t turn out as well as i hoped it would and jisung escaped tutoring yesterday to go on a date with chenle,” he tsks, “those damn kids- wasting away the education their parents are giving them to sneak out and go to the pier.”
“hyuck, you skipped the entirety of yesterday to make out with jaemin,” he points out, jabbing a fry at the younger. “you’re in no place to talk about chenle and jisung. besides, the kids are cute. let them be.”
“well, at least jisung finally had the guts to ask chenle out on a date. unlike someone,” donghyuck mutters under his breath, low but not low enough for mark’s ears to miss it. he gives donghyuck a sound kick to the shin, smug when the younger lets out a loud howl of pain. “hyung, what the fuck-”
“what the hell is that supposed to mean?” he asks, glancing at jungwoo for an answer (as donghyuck is preoccupied with his injured leg), frowning when he receives nothing but a knowing glance from the older boy. “what?” they don’t know, do they ? jungwoo pointedly takes a bite out of his sandwich rather than answering mark’s question, so he turns to the damsel in distress, inwardly smirking when he gets a pained glare in return.
“tell me what you meant by that or i’m getting jeno to dunk your head in the campus fountain.”
“i’m talking about xuxi-hyung,” donghyuck answers, putting his leg down to place a hand on mark’s shoulder. it feels like a touch too condescending and mark attempts to shrug it off.
“what about yukhei?-”
as if on cue, his phone pings. donghyuck’s gaze on the top of his head is searing as he scrambles to drop his food and fish his phone out of his pocket.
raw beef
[11:29am]
pick u up 4 dennys after ur last lecture?
or now
if u wanna skip
im close to campus
:^)
makgeolli
[11:30am]
???right now???
how’d the audition go??
dude?
raw beef
[11:30am]
shh ill tell u abt it when i see u
so pick u up last period?
mark bites his lip, gnawing in contemplation. should he ditch the rest of his classes? but he still has 2 lectures left? he looks up to find questioning gazes from jungwoo and donghyuck, both curiously leaning their heads towards mark and he forces himself to focus on the matter at hand: yukhei and brunch.
makgeolli
[11:30am]
pick me up in 5
ill be near the cafeteria entrance
raw beef
[11:30am]
knew youd crack
:^)
omw!
mark rolls his eyes at the boy’s frequent use of the most passive-aggressive emoticon ever, but lets it slip because it’s yukhei. he slips his phone back into his pocket and gathers his things, shoving papers and pens into his backpack.
“where the hell are you goin’? you haven’t finished your lunch.” jungwoo asks. “is xuxi done with auditions? is he outside?”
he chooses to answer none of the three questions thrown his way, slinging his backpack onto one shoulder as he begins walking backwards, shooting donghyuck a wave. “gotta go!” he gives the two table occupants a smile. “yukhei’s waiting for me.”
(“i still don’t get how he doesn’t see it,” donghyuck sighs, watching mark slip through the double doors of the cafeteria.
“i know,” jungwoo gives him a sympathetic pat on the back, “it’s like waiting for a baby rabbit to gain its eyesight.”
“... hyung, what-”)
the first words out of mark’s mouth when he sees yukhei are: “holy shit.”
he’s aware he’s stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to stare open-mouthed at the boy leaning against his explorer (wong yukhei has a ford explorer that his parents gifted him for his 18th and nobody will ever stop teasing him for it- “big guy, big car,” jaemin had once said). his jaw is slack and he’s probably drooled a little bit but who can blame him when wong yukhei is leaning against his car, looking like a million dollars, waiting for one shabby mark lee.
he’s wearing slacks and a white button-up and that alone in itself is enough to make mark lee incredulous because he didn’t even know wong yukhei owned anything other than sweatpants, ripped jeans and graphic tees, but the wong yukhei in front of his eyes is proving him otherwise- and the trench coat! he’s honest-to-god wearing a long, nude trench coat that swoops down to brush at his knees and he didn’t know it was possible for yukhei to look taller, but he does-
and mark lee’s little heart, his poor, little heart, is crumbling to death.
“fuck, who are you?” mark asks, caught in absolute awe that his voice barely manages to escape from the tight clench of his throat. he’s stepping closer and he’s aware he sounds- and looks- stupid but all the fuses in his brain have exploded and he’s left with one thought and only one thought:
holy.
shit.
the pout on yukhei’s face slowly registers in his brain and he snaps to. “what?” the taller boy whines. “do i look bad?”
“‘bad’?” mark gulps. “no, no, no. you don’t look bad- you, uh- um, you look-” he clenches a fist and digs his nails into his palms, “-different. you look different. i almost couldn’t recognize you.”
“is it a good different?” and yukhei sounds so hopeful, a little fragile, that mark lee crosses the last few steps between them to give him a light punch to the chest, breath catching when his knuckles brush against the soft fabric. (“ you know what that’s made of?” his brain supplies. “ boyfr-”)
“yeah, stupid,” he mumbles, “you look good.”
and yukhei’s answering grin is so bright that mark finds himself lost again, brain halting to absorb that one image of yukhei’s lips split into that grin- that stupid, stupid smile.
when he’s seated in the passenger seat, backpack stowed in the back, he searches for his phone and sends a frantic text to donghyuck.
devil spawn
[11:57am]
...fuck
babe ruth
[12:03pm]
??????????
hyung????
“so, how’d it go?” mark asks, chewing on a strip of bacon. “i’m assuming well since you’re not wallowing in disappointment and drowning in maple syrup instead.”
they’re in their usual booth at denny’s, by the window near the back where it's close enough that the servers can see them clearly but far enough that yukhei’s loud laugh doesn’t disturb other customers. the table had become their usual after several instances of them getting shushed for being a nuisance. yukhei never looks too guilty about it.
said boy cuts into his soggy waffles, glancing at mark from under his fringe. (the decision for waffles had not come easy, either. yukhei used his so-called lucky coin to flip between a lumberjack slam or chicken and waffles. the waffles had won. mark slapped him upside on the head and called him a dumbass.) “well… how do you think it went?”
“you can’t answer my question with another question, asshole,” he rolls his eyes and refrains from throwing the salt shaker in the taller boy’s face. “just tell me.”
yukhei looks up with a grin. “it went really!- well!” he punctuates each word with a slap of his hand on the table and mark is wincing slightly as he laughs.
“i told you you’d do great. what’d they say?”
“they said i was exactly the kind of person they were looking for,” he says excitedly, like a small child who got praised by someone they admired and mark can’t help but let out a fond chuckle. “they said i was tall and handsome- get that? tall and handsome, mark.”
“it’s true. they’re not wrong.” his fork stops halfway between the plate and his mouth after he realizes what he said. he looks up to find yukhei already look at him with eyebrows raised, corner of his lips raised. “i- i mean-”
mark’s been friends with yukhei for about a quarter of his life and with a face like wong yukhei’s, it’s a given that mark’s been starstruck on more than one occasion because of the combination of genetics that came together to form the latter’s face. yukhei going through his growth spurt when they were 16 was less awkward than mark’s own, given that yukhei was already good-looking to begin with. yukhei grew taller, filled out his shoulders and arms, came out of it with a chiseled jaw and sharp features.
yukhei going through puberty was a 10 upgrading to a 100, in mark’s opinion.
he’s been speechless because of yukhei’s face before- but never like this. he’s never said it out loud.
his mouth just had to betray him like this.
yukhei is quick to tease him, like a snake catching its prey. his eyes are blazing with amusement as he leans over his plate and closer to mark. “you think i’m tall and handsome, huh?” he smirks. mark shoves his food into his mouth to prevent himself from having to answer the incriminating question but yukhei is persistent, nudging his shin with a foot and tapping at his plate with his fork.
after a few minutes of the same repetitive treatment, he cracks- his shin is sure to be bruised and yukhei’s fork has scratched uncomfortably on the plate enough times to make him grit his teeth.
“okay! okay, yes, i think you’re tall and handsome and those people would have been absolute fucking idiots to not see how good-looking you are, wong yukhei,” he relents, angrily stabbing at his hashbrowns, pushing the fried potato shreds here and there. he resolutely stares at his plate and only his plate. he’s sure his ears are burning and his neck must be pink from the embarrassment threatening to swallow him whole. he doesn’t look up to see yukhei’s reaction- god, did that gross him out? way to fuckin’ go, mark lee.
another nudge on his shin breaks him away from his thoughts. yukhei’s calling for his attention and mark doesn’t want to tear his eyes away from his plate of hash browns but then yukhei says:
“hey. look at me?”
mark raises his head, a bit sheepish and a whole lot awkward. he meets yukhei’s eyes and startles. all the amusement present earlier has been completely replaced with something else- something softer- so soft, that mark’s throat feels tight. he’s no longer grinning, but there’s a smile still playing on his lips. mark waits for yukhei to speak.
“you really think that?” the boy mumbles, not taking his eyes off mark’s face.
he flushes. “do you really have to keep asking-”
“i’m just making sure, mark,” yukhei says before he leans back in his seat, light hair flopping as it hits the booth. he gives mark another blinding smile, a laugh escaping his lips. “you’re so cute when you’re embarrassed- you look like a little cherry tomato.”
mark’s sure his blush has increased by a tenfold. yukhei’s laugh confirms his theory.
“stop laughing at me, asshole.” he retaliates, kicking blindly in yukhei’s direction. “i don’t appreciate you making fun of me when i'm already embarrassed. you don’t kick a dead horse when it’s already on the ground.”
“pretty sure that’s not how the saying goes but,” yukhei bounces back and leans in close to mark’s face, close enough that mark’s sure he can feel yukhei’s breath on his face. his hand tightens around his fork unconsciously. “i wasn’t making fun of you. i’m appreciating what you look like when you’re embarrassed. it’s cute. i like it.”
“nothing to look at,” he mumbles, shoving another bite of the forgotten hashbrowns into his mouth. they’re cold now. yukhei just called him cute- he likes it.
“ah, that’s where you’re wrong,” yukhei beams. “i could spend all my time looking at you, mark lee, and i’d never get sick of it.”
(mark chokes violently on his hashbrowns.)
the engine whirrs to a stop and mark lifts his head from the window to see they’re already in front of their apartment complex. he makes to turn around and grab his backpack from the back seat but a hand lands on his thigh, making him freeze.
“hey, mark?”
he twists his body back around, looking at the hand perched on his jeans, before trailing up to yukhei’s face. he looks anxious, bottom lip caught between his teeth and the other hand still circled around the steering wheel. mark notes that his knuckles are ash white.
he asks, “you okay?” yukhei looks him in the eyes and mark lifts a heavy hand to nudge the other boy’s chin. “xuxi. what’s up?”
yukhei’s eyes are moving around mark’s face as if he’s searching for something written on his skin that could possibly answer the question in his mind. his eyes glance at mark’s lips and mark’s breath hitches. the blonde seems to come to a conclusion. he lifts the hand on mark’s thigh- mark inwardly groans at the loss- to pat around his pockets. his hands come up with his wallet and mark knows what’s about to happen before it even happens.
he groans out loud, too loud in the stiff silence of the car, “again with the damn coin-”
“shut up, mark, this is important.”
he shuts up, but only because yukhei’s taking the coin out of a corner of the wallet, holding it in his left hand. his right comes up to hold mark’s face, large fingers covering the entirety of his cheek, thumb grazing his chin.
“you know the drill, mark lee,” yukhei says, and for some reason, there’s a hitch in his voice. it leaves mark wondering: what could the great wong yukhei be nervous about? “500 is tails-”
“crane is heads. i know the drill,” mark finishes for him, voice barely a whisper. yukhei nods. “so, what is it? what are you flipping for?”
mark sees yukhei hesitate before:
“heads and i kiss you,” he breathes, and mark- mark lee is absolutely floored.
he’s staring at yukhei with wide eyes, as if expecting him to laugh and pretend this was all a joke in the first place, but no, yukhei does nothing of the sort. he just continues to stare at mark straight in the eyes, gaze unwavering. mark feels completely shaken, like his bones have turned to absolute liquid and he can’t feel anything but the soft pads of yukhei’s hand cupping his face, nothing but the soft gaze yukhei has trained on his face.
“you’re not joking.”
yukhei’s nerves loosen enough for him to let out a chuckle. “no, lee minhyung, i’m not joking.”
mark’s lips jut out in a small pout. yukhei only calls him minhyung when it’s 3am and they’re lying side-by-side on mark’s bed, too small for yukhei’s 6-foot self and definitely too small for two teenage boys, talking about everything and nothing until one of them succumbs to exhaustion. yukhei only calls him minhyung when it’s quiet and he’s talking about home and yukhei wants to offer some comfort, something. yukhei only calls him minhyung when it’s serious. when it’s something mark needs to listen to.
“is this a situation to call me ‘minhyung’ to?” he laughs- stunted, but a laugh nevertheless. “you’re asking a coin to decide whether or not you’re going to kiss me.” his throat threatens to collapse on itself at the word kiss but he pulls through.
yukhei huffs, as if affronted by mark’s blatant dislike at the sight of the coin. “this coin is important to me- it helped me make the decision that led to the best thing in my life.”
“a modelling job doesn’t sound-”
mark’s interrupted before he even finishes. “not that, mark. i’m talking about you.”
him. he’s the best thing in yukhei’s life. mark lee, the best thing in wong yukhei’s life. mark’s not sure how he’s going to come out of this conversation alive, with functioning brain cells and a whole functioning heart.
“me?” he points a trembling finger at himself. “that dumb coin led you to me?”
the thumb by his chin starts rubbing soft circles into his skin- mark’s not sure if it’s to ground yukhei or to ground him. “back in little league, when we first met, i was so nervous about speaking to you because you were like a baby baseball god-” (“yukhei, shut up-”) “- but then, i had this idea.” he lifts the coin back up between their faces. “flip a coin. if it lands on heads, you ask mark lee to be your friend.” through the haze of mark’s vision blurring up, he sees the corner of yukhei’s quirk upwards. “fate had it land on heads, lee minhyung. that’s the reason i’ve kept this coin for 6 years.”
“because it led me to you.”
mark’s going to cry soon if yukhei doesn’t stop talking so before the latter can form another word, he gives yukhei a wet smile. “flip the damn coin, wong yukhei,” he challenges, sitting up straighter. “heads and you kiss me.”
yukhei grins, and he grips the coin properly in his left hand. he shoots mark a wink before tossing the coin in the air.
before it lands, however, mark’s lips are already on yukhei’s.
there’s a yelp of surprise and he doesn’t know if it came from him or yukhei but nothing even matters because he’s kissing yukhei and it feels like everything he’d thought it would feel like. yukhei’s lips, they’re soft and plush and they’re firm as he presses them against mark’s, pushing back and pulling him with him and mark readily follows, hands coming up to circle the nape of yukhei’s neck, gripping at the short strands of hair.
it feels like hours, that first kiss. the two of them there in yukhei’s ford explorer, mark practically halfway across the gear shift with how firm yukhei’s grip on him is, having never made it inside their own apartment, exchanging air in their lungs. i could spend forever like this, mark thinks. just him and yukhei, in each others grasps.
he pulls away to take a breather, far enough that air seeps back into his grateful lungs but not far enough that his lips are disconnected from yukhei’s because that’s the absolute last thing he’d ever want. he sits there, just resting, lips just placed on top of yukhei’s, sharing breaths. yukhei’s hands on his jaw tilt him upwards and their noses bump, yukhei’s teeth catching mark’s lip in between and, god- is this what living in the clouds feel like? mark is lightheaded, his lungs are capsizing and his heart feels three times lighter.
all because of one wong yukhei.
“you’re a cheat,” yukhei whispers against his lips, stealing another kiss, and then another and another, until mark is pushing back and firmly slotting their mouths back together. between kisses, yukhei says, “you’ve destroyed the principle of the coin.”
“no offense,” mark says in response, breathless like he’s never been, resting his forehead against yukhei’s as he takes a breather, “fuck the stupid coin.”
(“i dropped the coin when you kissed me. we have to find it.”
“i’m not spending my time looking for a coin-”
“mark, come on! this is important, this coin is important, i’ve spent 6 years with that sacred coin in my wallet and i’m not losing it in my car just because you decided to unexpectedly jump me-”
“fuck- if you shut up about the stupid coin, i’ll shine my flashlight while you look for it.”
“why do i have to be the one crouching?”
“because you’re the one who dropped it, you dumbass.”
“okay, heads, you look for it-”
“- yukhei.”
“what?- wait… oh.”)