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Chapter Text

“Lucas? As in my friend Lucas? The same Lucas that you said was an immature loser and wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole during Truth or Dare last year and then made fun of him even more for crying after?”

“No Mark, the other kid named Lucas that we know. I bet there’s a Lucas on every corner over there in Canada but in Korea it’s not a common name, man.” He could practically hear the sarcasm dripping off of Donghyuck’s voice. Even though he was 8,000 kilometers away he could picture the face he was making. It seemed to be reserved specifically for Mark—or more explicitly for when Mark said something that he deemed stupid.  It starts with an overly dramatic eye roll until they land on Mark’s face and he cocks his head to the side while giving him a stare that would give him nightmares if it weren’t almost comically overused.

“Sorry Hyuck, I’m just having a hard time picturing you having a crush on him. Literally right before I left you called him a baby giraffe that hasn’t grown into his limbs yet.” Mark was biting his nails again. He thought he had given up the habit for good but here he is at it again.

“Well, he definitely grew into his limbs. We work at the pool together and he keeps walking around in his stupid red board shorts and his ridiculous six pack and it’s getting to me I guess.” Donghyuck paused for a second but ten years of friendship taught Mark that he wasn’t finished with his thought just yet. “You don’t mind right? Because if you say you don’t want me to pursue it I won’t.”

“Of course I don’t mind. I’m just a little worried. I’m pretty sure he’s scared of you.”

Donghyuck laughed. “He definitely was scared. You should have seen his face when we both showed up for training on the first day. It’s been two months though so he’s seen my charms and we’re friends now or something. He even asked for my number so I guess he’s not scared anymore. We’ve been texting.”

At this moment Mark heard a rapping on his door and his mom stuck her head in. “Mark we have to be up in four hours, maybe it’s time to stop talking to Hyuck and get some sleep.”

Mark nodded and she closed the door. “Sorry I think it’s time for me to go to sleep now.”

“Oh shit, I didn’t realize how late it was there. Let’s FaceTime soon because ever since you left for Canada you seem to have forgotten your Instagram password and I miss your face.”

“I just don’t have an annoying best friend here that is forcing me to take pictures of myself every five minutes.” Mark rolled his eyes. He had thought about asking his mom but it seemed odd in a way. It had been his and Donghyuck’s tradition for so long it felt like he was cheating on that.

“I’m going to text your mom to force her to take pictures of you. Night, Mark. Thanks for, um, listening to me and everything.”

“Night, Hyuck. Anytime.”

They both hung up and Mark groaned while sinking back onto his bed. He should have known that this summer wouldn’t be any different. Of course Donghyuck was going to find someone to turn his attention to. He was just surprised it took this long. Usually it was within the same week when he would receive a weirdly vague text gushing over someone in their friend group and by the time he came back to Korea the feelings had disappeared.

It all started the summer before they entered High School. Mark’s parents decided that they missed Canada too much to stay in Korea so they moved back, leaving Mark to finish off his schooling while staying at his cousin Johnny’s house. Their only stipulation was that he would visit them during the summers. So every June he would say goodbye to his friends and spend the next three months in Canada.

The first year, about a week after he arrived he’d received this puzzling text.

Donghyuck:

Did you ever realize how cute Jaemin is? Just like a hypothetical question…

Mark:

Umm what? looool

Donghyuck:

I dunno. Jeno said something and now I can’t stop thinking about him?

Mark:

I literally haven’t thought bout it?

Donghyuck:

Do you think that he might um want to hang out with me?

Mark:

You’re friends with him so yeah? lol of course he would

Donghyuck:

Cool… thnx

It was only until later that week while he listened to Donghyuck wax poetic about Jaemin’s face that he realized that he was asking about Jaemin in a non-platonic way.  Johnny always told Mark he was the densest person on the planet and now Mark finally understood why. When he mentioned this to Donghyuck he couldn’t stop laughing.

“Mark I literally said I thought he was cute and was nervous to talk to him, what else could that mean?”

“I don’t know! I thought you guys had a fight or something and you were nervous about patching it up. I’m so out of the loop over here nobody tells me anything!” Mark replied letting out his frustrations.

“Oh. I’m going to call you more then. We all thought you wanted us to leave you alone so you can spend time with your parents since you haven’t seen them a lot recently…” Donghyuck’s voice trailed off and Mark could tell he felt bad. Donghyuck had always been an open book and even his voice portrayed every emotion that he was currently feeling.

“I just thought everyone was having fun without me,” Mark admitted.

“I’ve been a wreck ever since you left you dolt!” Hyuck’s voice vibrated through the phone. “I thought you were on this cool adventure in Canada and were meeting all these new friends who had pet Moose and I can’t compete with that! I thought that you would want to stay there with your parents! How can I start high school without you?”

This made Mark smile. “Nobody has a pet Moose here so you don’t have to worry. Also my parents told me I have to stay in Korea because the school system is better there or something.”

“They kinda suck sometimes,” Donghyuck whispered as if they could hear him through the phone.

“Yeah…” Mark trailed off not ready to open that can of worms. “So tell me why you suddenly have the hots for Jaemin.”

After that everything went back to normal and Donghyuck started calling more regularly to give him Jaemin and general life updates. Mark also realized he could pick up the phone and call his friends back home as well. The summer passed by with Mark trying to find adventures in a town where he only knew two people, and he was related to both of them. It was good to see his parents, as they had been in and out of Korea the past couple of months to find a home to live in and jobs to work at in Canada.

It was only when the summer was over and he arrived back at Incheon International Airport and saw Donghyuck outside the terminal sporting a sign that said WELCOME HOME MARK did he think to ask him if there were any changes between him and Jaemin.

“Oh, we wouldn’t work out anyways. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship.”

And that was the last thing he heard about Jaemin as a potential love interest. Fast forward one year to the summer before sophomore year.

Donghyuck:

Someone finally moved into your old house next door

They have a kid our age

His name is Renjun and he’s from China

Mark:

Oh finally! It’s only been a year… Is he nice?

Donghyuck:

Who cares? He’s cuuuuute ;)

Mark:

You loser. Make friends with him! He probably doesn’t know anyone…

Donghyuck:

Hmmm moving from a foreign country and not knowing anyone… Sounds familiar lol

Mark:

Is this the part where I should say I would have been lost without you befriending me?

Donghyuck:

This is the part where I tell you that you’re lucky I took pity on you. I pulled you into the cool crowd

Mark:

No one thinks we’re cool… not even us

Donghyuck:

Shhh let me have this

Later that month Mark received a photo of a random guy from Donghyuck without any context. He glanced at his phone, which had two clocks, one with the current time and another with the Seoul time. 11pm, there was no way that Donghyuck was asleep yet. He picked up after two rings.

“Am I supposed to know who this is?” Mark asked

“Well hello to you too. My day has been great thanks for asking,” Donghyuck replied “Really, Mark, do they not have manners in Canada?”

“Hello Hyuck, how have you been? I’ve been bored out of my mind. Now that we’ve caught up, who this guy in this picture? Are you stalking someone because it does not look like he knows you were taking this.”

“Calm down, I’m way too cute to need to stalk someone. That’s Renjun my new neighbor. Isn’t he so adorable?” Donghyuck sounded excited. It was extremely different from a year ago where he seemed nervous to even mention Jaemin’s name.

“He looks… short?” Mark replied. Honestly the picture was blurry and it could have been anybody so Mark wasn’t sure how to respond to it. “Is that why you like him so much? You finally found someone shorter than you?”

“Mark Lee you truly did leave your manners in Korea. I’m going to have to call your mom and have her ground you. Renjun is the cutest person in the world. He’s going to go to our school so you can meet him when you come back.”

“You really like him, don’t you?” Mark could hear the sincerity in Hyuck’s voice. “I trust your judgment, but maybe next time send a picture where I can actually make out his facial features.”

A couple of days later he receives a selca with Donghyuck and who he assumes is the previously blurry Renjun. Mark must admit that the boy is cute, albeit not quite his type. He types back a quick he’s pretty cute I guess.

This summer his parents had introduced him to some of their friends kids so he at least had some people to talk to even though the more time he spent with them, the more thankful he was for having his friends back in Korea.  His new “friends” were always saying something gross and reminded Mark of those weird popular kids in American movies that made everyone around them succumb to peer pressure. If Donghyuck were here he would say they were compensating for something and make fun of them. Then he would proceed to escort Mark on a grand adventure, which would make him forget about everything they had said. Unfortunately Donghyuck was not here so Mark found himself awkwardly laughing at disgusting jokes and hanging out in smelly basements.

He gets periodic updates the rest of the summer from his real friends mostly consisting of the heart-eye emoji from Donghyuck, so he’s fully expecting to hear of some progress being made on the Renjun front when he arrives at the airport. Donghyuck is reusing the same sign as last year except this time he added stars around the border and a lot more glitter. Mark barely leaves the terminal before he’s being engulfed into a huge bear hug.

“I missed you,” Donghyuck breathes into his neck. He takes a step back and smiles at Mark. “Seriously, these summers go by so slowly without you.”

“Missed you too, Hyuck. I was starting to get worried you we’re going to replace me with Renjun.” Mark smiled back to show that he was kidding.

“Never.”

When they reached the car, which had a smiling Johnny and his boyfriend?—when did that happen—in the front seat. Donghyuck and Mark climbed into the back and Mark answered the obligatory “How was Canada?” questions.

Donghyuck looked nervous when he looked over towards Mark. “I know you were kidding earlier but I would never replace you with Renjun. Best friends for life, remember?”

“How could I forget, you made me take a blood oath,” Mark laughed. As much as he loved spending time with his parents, Canada hasn’t felt like his home in awhile. There was always a sense of relief and belonging that rushes him when he sets foot back in Korea.

“Ugh there was hardly any blood and it’s been five years. Every time you bring it up you make it seem like I drained you of half your blood vampire-style. You lived, bitch.”

Mark didn’t mention the reason why he did it was because he liked when Donghyuck got fake mad. His face scrunched up and his voice got even higher pitched when he was whining.

Johnny and Ten were arguing about which way was going to take the least amount of time so Mark took this time to lean closer to Donghyuck and whisper, “So how did things go with Renjun? Are you guys dating now or what?”

After seeing Donghyuck’s face fall Mark knew he shouldn’t have asked. “No, not dating. I don’t think he would ever like me like that. I do think we’re finally friends, though. So this summer wasn’t a total waste.”

Mark brushed Hyuck’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze. Donghyuck squeezed so hard back that it took everything in him to not let out a pained moan. Later that year when Renjun officially joined their little group, he remembered to check back in to make sure Donghyuck wasn’t still pining. Luckily he got back a “Oh, no way. That whole crush thing seems like a million years ago. It was only a summer thing.”

The next summer it was even harder to leave behind all of his friends. He had to listen to all of them make plans to party, and go to the beach and whine about summer jobs. Mark was never one to make a fuss and hated having people worry over him so he pretended like it wasn’t eating him up inside. He left for Canada with a heavy heart. Seeing his parents eased his sorrows enough for him to get through the first couple of weeks but he quickly slipped into boredom.

Mark was making lunch, and by making lunch he meant he was reheating leftover pasta, when he saw his phone ring.  He no longer needed to have a Seoul clock on his phone as he felt like he was living two simultaneous lives. One through his friends posts and texts and the other through his own eyes in Canada. It was nearly four a.m. in Korea so he was surprised to see Donghyuck’s name pop up on screen.

“Hey Hyuck, what’s up?”

“Mark, something happened and I’m freaking out.” Donghyuck’s voice sounded husky and rushed which was not something that Mark was used to hearing.

“Are you ok? Hyuck you’re freaking me out.” Mark was now borderline ready to fly back to Korea to give him a hug and pretend to be able to beat up whoever or whatever was bothering him.

“You know Jaehyun right?” Donghyuck’s voice had gone back to him normal tone but it was very soft and Mark had to turn up his phone volume to hear him.

“Yeah he’s been friends with Johnny since birth. What did he do?” Mark had met Jaehyun forever ago and has gotten to know him pretty well. They play basketball together a couple times a month. He refuses to believe that he would do anything malicious but you can never really know a person. If he has done anything to Hyuck he’ll be forced to…

Mark’s thoughts got cut off abruptly when Donghyuck quickly said “Relax, he didn’t do anything to me. There was a party at his house tonight and everyone was there and things got a little out of control.”

That didn’t do anything to settle his nerves. Mark has definitely gone to parties at Jaehyun’s house before and by the time he left he felt like he’d aged mentally by at least ten years. It was where he met his first (and only) girlfriend and also where he realized that he never wanted to date girls ever again. Johnny’s friends were a bit wild but they basically raised him and Mark couldn’t have been more grateful towards them.  His friends had never gone to parties with him before because they had parents that didn’t abandon them and move back to Canada and therefore also had curfews. Apparently that all changed this summer and Mark has never felt more out of the loop.

“Donghyuck, start from the beginning. When did you guys start partying with Johnny’s friends?” Mark tried to keep the jealousy out of his voice but even he could tell he did a shit job of it.

“Jeno and Ten work at the same dance studio so we have been hanging out a little after they get off and Ten invited Jeno to the party and we all kind of tagged along. Johnny was wasted by the way and he did this strip tease to Ariana Grande. I think Chenle took a video and I’ll send it to you.” Donghyuck was talking a million words a minute and Mark could barely keep up.

“That was a wild ride and all but what does that have to do with you?” Mark was only a little impatient and still plotting murder despite not knowing whom the attended target should be yet.

“Damn, I’m just setting the mood. Anyways, we ran into a bunch of kids from our grade and some seniors. Jungwoo was there and he said hi, by the way. Something about Mr. Choi’s first period nerd solidarity I think? I was a little tipsy at that point so it really went in one ear and out the other,” Donghyuck continued his rambling and had also confirmed that this “mistake” definitely involved alcohol. Great.

“If you see Jungwoo again let him know I miss him too. Also are you going to find a point anywhere Hyuck? Why do I feel like I’m freaking out about this more than you are and I don’t even know what happened yet?” Mark had completely abandoned his pasta and was now settling on picking at his cuticles.

“Getting there, I promise,” Mark could visualize the eye roll that followed. “So anyways we were drinking with a bunch of the kids from class and someone suggested playing truth or dare and it was all going great until it was my turn.”

“Oh shit, what happened?”

“Jaemin is a piece of shit that’s what happened. So obviously I picked dare because I’m not scared of anything and he told me to make out with someone next to me. I got to pick but literally I had no choice because I was sitting between Herin and Jeno…” Donghyuck trailed off.

“Please tell me you chose Jeno and this isn’t some elaborate long apology.”

“Of course I chose Jeno I wasn’t about to make out with your ex girlfriend. I’m scared of her dude, especially after how you dumped her. Also Jeno isn’t so bad, I’m pretty sure I was the only person at that party who hadn’t made out with him yet anyways.”

This was probably true. Even Mark had kissed Jeno once during his post Herin “I’m trying to find myself and found a bunch of random people in the process” phase.  He’s definitely not proud of that part of his past. Jeno was a good guy and one of his best friends so he would really hate to have to fight him. He also was 100% sure that Jeno would win that fight anyways.

“Please tell me Jeno didn’t do anything to you. I don’t think I could hate him even if I tried.” Deep down Mark knew that Jeno would never do something to Donghyuck but he needed to hear the words from Donghyuck’s mouth.

“Oh my god of course he didn’t. We’ve been friends since we were in diapers there’s no way he could even hurt a fly. I turned to Jeno and we kissed for like a second and then Renjun booed and said that doesn’t even count and called me a chicken shit loser. You know how he gets when he drinks and obviously I wasn’t about to back down after being called a chicken shit loser so I ended up climbing onto his lap and we kinda made out for like a loooong time.”

“Did you learn nothing from Back to the Future? When someone calls you chicken you let it go or it ruins your life. I’m pretty sure that’s the moral of that series. We’ve seen it like thirteen times, Hyuck.”

“Shut up, I’m not about to take advice about not being competitive from you. You literally cried the last time the basketball team lost and don’t try to pretend you had allergies—it was the dead of winter. I could see your tears even from the bleachers.”

“It was an extremely high pollen winter! I’m not about to go down this path again with you. Why are you freaking out about this anyways? Jeno’s a good kisser and it seemed like you enjoyed it?” Mark had almost forgot the point of this whole phone call in the first place.

“Oh, I was super into it. You know I’ve only made out with that one guy before and that was way more PG than this was. I have the hickeys to prove it. I think the problem was I was too into it? I think I may have a crush on Jeno and I’m freaking out about this. Our parents used to bathe us together. This is weird right? Tell me this is weird.” Donghyuck’s voice was back to being soft and pleading. Mark tried to not think about how Hyuck would look scattered with hickeys because he definitely didn’t need that image floating through his brain.

“It’s not weird, Hyuck. Jeno’s a great guy and I’m pretty sure everyone in our group has had a crush on him at one time or another. I know Jaemin and Renjun have. It’s just part of the initiation process to be friends with him. I think it’s because you’ve known him for so long you haven’t realized how cute he is.” Mark’s stomach was twisting into knots and he wasn’t sure why. Must be because he’s hungry and still hasn’t eaten the pasta yet. “Look, Hyuck, you need to sleep on this and call me tomorrow no matter what time it is here. By tomorrow I’m sure everything will make more sense.”

“Yeah that makes sense. Night, Mark.” There was silence on the other end until Mark was almost convinced that Donghyuck had fallen asleep until he heard a quiet “I miss you. I wish you were here with us.”

“Miss you too. Goodnight Hyuckie. Call me in the morning.” Donghyuck replied with a sleepy “Mhmm” and then Mark finally hung up the phone.  He wanted to also say that he wished he was there with them but knew that if he said the words out loud that it would break him. Instead, he busied himself with reheating his pasta and then turned on some documentary on the migration patterns of geese until his parents finally returned from work.

Later that evening when he was recounting his day to his parents he realized that the sinking feeling in his stomach never really went away. He mentioned it to his mom and she got a weird look on her face and said to take some Tums.

He lay on his bed, the Tums having no effect on him even hours later. He kept thinking about Donghyuck and when he was going to call and about his whole situation. He heard his phone vibrate and the launched towards it only to see it was from Chenle. It was a link to the video of Johnny dancing and although he laughed Mark still was slightly disappointed it wasn’t from Donghyuck. He sent a quick text to Johnny to make fun of him.

Mark:

Duuude didn’t realize you could dance. You’ve got some moves ;) Did Ten teach you those???

Fwd Johnnydancing.vid

He then realized that he should probably check Snapchat from the night before and then Mark could at least pretend that he had been there. It was, in short, a mess. He didn’t even realize how sloppy most of his friends could get. He saved enough screenshots to have blackmail on the entire junior student body. He had just gotten to Jaemin’s story when he saw something that in hindsight he should have seen coming.

Donghyuck was seated on top of Jeno and Jeno’s hands were inside his shirt lifting it slightly, revealing the small of Donghyuck’s back and they were certainly going at it. If anything, Mark thought that Hyuck downplayed the make out session. The feeling in his stomach intensified and that’s when Mark realized that it was jealousy. All the feelings he had been repressing since the moment he moved to Korea and the kid on the porch next to his came up to him and declared that they have to be friends because they live so close and he was the coolest kid in the neighborhood.

“You don’t want to accidentally befriend a loser. That’s why you have to stick with me.”

This was the same Donghyuck who tried to beg their parents when they were ten to tear down the fence between their yards so that he could always play with Mark even when he wasn’t granted permission to stay over. (It didn’t work, but they both became pros at climbing said fence.) The same Donghyuck who stood up to a kid twice his size for making fun of Mark’s somewhat terrible Korean when he first moved. The same Hyuck who had called Mark’s parents Mom2 and Dad2 and cried when they had moved back to Canada. The same Donghyuck who came to every single one of his basketball games and carried a huge embarrassing sign that said MARK BE BALLIN’ with a glittery basketball painted on with an assist from Renjun.

Had Mark been paying attention to what his heart had been thinking he would have noticed his crush much sooner. Instead, he had pushed it into a dark recesses of his mind and left it there until now when it all came spilling out at once. Of course he had a crush on Donghyuck.  He was literally the first person Mark wanted to tell anything to. He’s even thought of sharing his feelings about hating going to Canada to him and how he low-key detests his parents. Mark had long since sworn to himself to keep those deep down and never speak of them but Donghyuck makes him want to sing like a canary.

After lying on his bed for a couple hours in an absolute panic, Mark realized that he only had one possible move. Jisung always said that Mark was fluent in three languages; English, Korean and Donghyuck. There was no way that Mark wouldn’t know if his feelings were reciprocated. Unfortunately he put his chances of that at 0%.  So just like his other secrets that were piling up, this one was also going to stay locked up in Vault Mark.

As soon as he decided that he was going to hide away his feelings, in a cruel test of fate Mark felt his phone vibrate. Of course it was Donghyuck.

“Hey Hyuckie.” Was his voice always this pitchy? Mark hoped he wasn’t giving anything away but all of a sudden every move he made seemed plastic.

“Hi Markie.” Donghyuck still sounded sleepy and his voice slightly cracked. “Hope I didn’t wake you up.”

“Nah, I was just going through Snapchat. The party was just as wild as you said it was. I don’t think I can look at anybody the same way ever again.” Mark then proceeded to laugh in the fakest way possible. He didn’t even realize that sound could come out of his body.

“Do you have strep or something? You sound sick,” Donghyuck immediately sounded concerned because he was the most amazing person on the planet. Mark lightly slapped his cheek with his palm and gave himself a quick pull yourself together man speech in his head. He had one goal and it was to not be weird.

“Yeah I just have allergies or something. Are you feeling okay, Hyuck? I know last night was rough.” Mark’s voice seemed a bit less prepubescent so he’ll take it as a win.

“Yeah I think I slept for like 12 hours or something,” Donghyuck laughed and Mark’s heart jumped. “I keep thinking about everything you said last night and you’re right. I think I just need to talk it out with Jeno. Things don’t have to be weird between us. Maybe I’ll try to see if he wants to hang out alone and sober and I’ll see if my feelings are still there.”

“Yeah, I think that’s probably best.”

The rest of the summer was a complete blur on Mark’s end. He spent it wishing he were a more open person so that he could have someone to talk to about his newfound feelings. Donghyuck and Jeno did hang out and make out for another month or so. Mark kept telling him that was dating but Donghyuck kept denying it. By the time that Mark rolled back into the country their little tryst had come to an end and Donghyuck was standing at the airport with an even more ridiculous version of his WELCOME HOME MARK!!!! sign.

If Mark had been unsure of his feelings before, he definitely wasn’t now. Seeing Donghyuck run towards him, almost barreling into a couple reuniting and finally landing in Mark’s arms was as if all time had stopped. His heart, which had been in constant turmoil for the past three months, finally calmed and adjusted itself to a normal rhythm.

“I missed you,” Mark whispered into his ear.

“I missed you more,” Donghyuck replied.

And life went on. Mark thought it would be hard to hide his feelings from Donghyuck and his friends, but no one ever caught on. He was a bit concerned about how easy it had gotten to lie about everything but he decided not to dwell on it too much. Junior year was tough and the gang found themselves in the library and at study sessions more often than parties. Donghyuck, true to form, didn’t talk about any boys during the school year. He never even pointed out anyone he thought was cute.

As the world warmed up and the snow started melting everyone was in high spirits. Mark used to love spring and summer but now it just meant he was closer to his impending doom. This year had been trying. His parents had usually visited during the holidays but decided against it this winter break and Mark had been furious. It seemed the longer they stayed in Canada, the less they cared about their son. The worst part is he kept lying about it to his friends. He’d heard from them a grand total of five times that whole year but whenever his friends would ask about them he would make up stories about their lives.

“Yeah they would have come to visit but my mom was sick so they didn’t want to travel,” or “They’re doing great! Dad just got a promotion at work.”

Luckily, none of his friends kept up with his parents or they would have found that everything he said about them was fictional. At the end of May he finally heard from them in the form of a one-line email just asking what day he was done with school and planning on visiting them. Mark replied with the date and nothing else.  When that date actually came, Mark found himself on an 11-hour flight on the brink of a nervous breakdown. It ended with him crying in the first class bathroom and then actually purchasing the overpriced sleep masks because his eyes had become so puffy.

Fast-forward to two months into the summer and things were almost hostile in the Lee household. Mark’s parents, instead of actually trying to talk to their son and fix things, decided that what they needed was a fishing trip into the boonies where there was no Internet. Mark was already regretting it but after the conversation he just had with Donghyuck he was now numb.

Mark had known Lucas since freshman year first period when a nervous baby faced Mark was moving to a new school and none of his friends were in this class and a not so nervous loud-mouthed giant sat next to him and didn’t stop talking the entire period.  He has never been more grateful to a human being before in his life. They quickly became friends as anyone who has ever met Lucas does. He couldn’t think of a better person for Hyuck to like (even though an evil voice in his head said except you ). He decides to text Lucas before he has no access to the outside world.

Mark:

Lucasssssss

Lucas:

Markkkkk!

wazzup dude, how’s Canada? Too busy riding moose to text me XD

Mark:

I’ve never even seen a moose… smh why does everyone think that lol

Lucas:

Damn I was gonna have you bring me one back

Mark:

I’ll find one and put it in my suitcase…

So… I hear you and Donghyuck have been hanging out…

Lucas:

Yehhhhh ;) you were right man, maybe he isn’t secretly the devil. Hes a homie for sure

Mark:

Lol cool glad you guys are finally friends. It was so weird that you would never talk

Lucas:

He cute…. But you didn’t hear that from me.

Mark:

Looool no worries bro your secret is safe with me

Unfortunately for Lucas, Mark is a horrible person and proceeds to break his promise not even a minute later.

Mark:

Lucas thinks you’re cute… he told me not to tell you

Donghyuck:

Omfg what the hell do I even do with this info??? Should I ask him out or something?

Mark:

If I know Lucas I don’t think you’ll even have to ask, he’s going to do it soon.

Donghyuck:

I’ll send him signals that it’s reciprocated

This is going to be fun… lol

Mark:

Shit now I feel bad. You’re gonna give him hell aren’t you?

Donghyuck:

u know it!

Hey… aren’t you supposed to be asleep. It’s your big fishing trip tomorrow :)

Mark:

Ugh don’t remind me. One week without Internet. This is what literal hell is like.

Donghyuck:

Shut up you big baby. It’s gonna be a blast. You get to hang out with your parents for once without them having to worry about work.

Mark:

Yeah I guess… night Hyuck. I’ll call you in a week if I don’t die of boredom first.

Donghyuck:

I’ll send you enough texts to fill a novel so you can have something interesting to come back to ;)

The fishing trip was a disaster, but not as much of one as Mark had assumed it would be. Everything that was said seemed to get on someone’s last nerve, so most of the time the trio sat in a serene silence. It gave Mark a lot of time to think, and by the time they trekked back into civilization he had made peace with the fact that Donghyuck and Lucas were probably already a couple. At the end of the day the thing that Mark wanted the most was for his best friend to be happy, and Lucas would make anyone happy.

True to his previous statement, Donghyuck did send him enough texts, Snaps, and voicemails to make a small novella so as soon as his phone dinged off a cell tower Mark started to read and watch all of them.

Donghyuck:

Damn you are right Lucas has it baaaad for me loooool

It’s been so fun torturing him…

I went over to him and touched his bicep and asked if hes been working out and he jumped like 3 feet in the air and screamed

Looool im dying

Low key it was super cute tho…

The rest of the texts were predictable enough. Donghyuck was slowly tormenting Lucas into asking him out and it seemed to be working.  He checked his Snaps and sure enough Donghyuck had sent him enough with the caption look at this big idiot to know that his friend was definitely falling head of heels for Lucas right back. It was weird to see it all at once. It was like reading a book the whole way through instead of taking breaks for chapters. It left no room for curiosity, as it was all being spelled out for him all at once.

Mark knew that the voicemails were the final frontier so he waited until he had checked all his other social media until finally calling his voicemail.

“Heeeeey Mark. It’s me, your best friend Donghyuck. We used to live next door to each other. We’ve gone to the same school since we were 8. Just reminding you since it’s been forever since you’ve seen me. Hehehe. Anyways huuuuge update on the Lucas frontier so of course I needed to call my main man and tell him all the juicy deets. We’re going to see a movie together tomorrow. I think it’s a date? I can really never tell. Remember that one time that I thought Chenle asked me out but it turns out you guys were throwing a surprise party for me. Okay that’s off topic but I’ll call you after the maybe date and let you know how it goes. Miss you!”

Beep

“ Markie Mark! It’s your old pal Donghyuck. You know, from school. Anyways turns out it was a date. I think… He paid for both tickets and popcorn even though I did that move where I pretended like I was going to pay for my half. I even told him that next time it’s on me and he smiled and asked if there was going to be a next time so I think that means he likes me too. Hopefully. What’s not to love? Anyways he’s a huge idiot still and got scared and threw half the popcorn into the row behind us but it was still fun. He’s taking me to Jaehyun’s party tomorrow, which is supposed to be a shit show so expect another drunken voicemail. Miss you buddy! Catch me a sturgeon or something.”

Beep

“MARK LEE!!!!! Shut up Lucas I’m talking to Mark (Duuuude what’s up boiiii). Give me the phone back. No fair you know I’m not that tall. Oh my god finally. Hey it’s Hyuckie from the block (hahahaha) and from our friendship of 10 years. Also I don’t think we know any other Donghyuck’s, do we? Well none that count anyways. You are missing a great party. I’m pretty sure Renjun, Jaemin and Jeno have something going on together. They were getting pretty wild in the kitchen earlier. Jisung took like a million videos I’ll have him send you them. Lucas stoooop. Ok I have to go before I get mauled by Bigfoot over here. Love you! (love you bro!)”

Beep

“Hey Mark. This is an official apology from sober Donghyuck. You might know me as the person who saved your life that one time you were choking on a jolly rancher. Or those many times you saved my life by letting me stay over when I was drunk so that my parents didn’t kill me. Anyways I know I called you last night and it was a hot mess so I’m really sorry bout that.  I just had lunch with Lucas and we are officially dating now! My first real boyfriend… I’m kind of freaking out and could have used a best friend that is not 8,158 kilometers away. Is it weird that I looked that up? I’m being stupid because I know you’re having a great time in Canada and I’m being selfish. Anyways, know that I miss you like crazy and I love you and I’ll be counting down the next 27 days until I get to see you again. Bye Mark!”

Beep

Mark surprised himself by being genuinely happy for his best friend. Jealousy took a back seat to how glad he was for both Donghyuck and Lucas. It also did help to know that Mark was still on his mind despite his new boyfriend taking some of his attention. It was the first time in five years he was glad he was in Canada instead of witnessing it live, because that would have been painful.  He would also be counting down the next 27 days until he gets to see his real family again.

27 days passed by at an excruciatingly slow pace. Mark had gotten so bored one time that he actually started running for pleasure. The only good thing about Canada was the scenery and it actually kept him running for longer as he enjoyed exploring new areas.  He had gotten so good at it he was running upwards of 8 miles a day. Unfortunately, that only took up a part of his day and he found himself bored out his mind and had to resort to extreme methods. He even spent a couple days with his old “friends” but quickly realized that boredom was far superior than stooping to their level of disgusting. The rest of the time was spent writing a novel about a boy who wanted to become the wind. (It was definitely not an angsty autobiography…)

Mark had taken a creative writing course last year and had gotten some interesting feedback and decided that he loved writing.  It was his one outlet where he could be completely true to himself. He had been so used to lying it was very freeing to express all of his emotions while under the guise of a character. His English teacher told him to think about perusing the medium in college and Mark was seriously considering it. It was the only thing keeping him sane whilst in Canada.

Finally, the day came where he found himself at the airport flying back to Seoul. His parents had left him a note saying a quick goodbye, which irked him to no end. They could have said it the night before or had taken one day off of work to drive him to the airport, but instead they wired enough money to take an Uber into his account. This flight had significantly less crying than the previous one and contained mostly nervous excitement.  

Once Mark got off the plane he quickly grabbed his luggage and made his way towards the hoards of families waiting for their person to come back. Sure enough Donghyuck was upholding his tradition of bringing that weird WELCOME HOME MARK!!!!!!!! sign. There was now glitter surrounding each of the letters. It was so incredibly embarrassing but Mark couldn’t care less. He was finally in the same vicinity as his best friend and nothing could take away from that.

“Mark!” Donghyuck was now standing on a chair waving his hand in the air like crazy searching for his friend. Being friends with Donghyuck certainly made you forget your sense of mortification.

“Hyuck over here!” Mark waved back just as frantically. Donghyuck turned his head and smiled and it effectively knocked the wind out of him. Lifeguarding all summer made him even tanner and it boosted his handsomeness if that was even possible. Mark stood there slightly slack jawed for a moment before regaining his composure and rushing over to Donghyuck’s side.

“Hey Hyuckie,” Mark beamed. Donghyuck proceeded to jump off the chair he was standing on into Mark’s embrace. This actually knocked the wind out of him (and not in the metaphorical sense like earlier) and he stumbled back while still gripping onto Donghyuck and only sheer force of will kept them from ending up on the floor.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Donghyuck exclaimed while taking a step back on giving Mark an inquisitive once over.

Mark was terrified that he was somehow showing a depressing exterior and exposing his inner thoughts. “What do you mean? I’m just the same old Mark. Hahaha. Ha. Ha…” he trailed off once he saw Donghyuck give an exaggerated eye roll.

“I meant your arms you fool.” Donghyuck touch the aforementioned biceps and gave them a quick squeeze. “You’re buff as hell. Did you spend your whole summer in a gym?”

“Oh, really?” Mark looked down at his arms and they looked the same to him. “I’ve been running a lot but I don’t think I look any different?”

“Trust me, I would have noticed if you were hiding those under your sweater vests. It looks good.” Donghyuck smiled at him and gave him one more gently squeeze before picking up his homemade sign which had fallen after he made the leap into Mark’s arms. “Come on, muscle pig. Johnny is parked illegally and he’ll have a fit if he gets another ticket.”

Donghyuck took Mark’s hand and started dragging him through the airport towards Johnny’s car. God it felt great to be back.

Senior year was absolutely crazy. Everyone pretty early on in the year realized that nothing would be the same once they didn’t see each other every day so there were even more parties and hangouts than usual. Turns out Donghyuck wasn’t the only one who noticed a change in Mark.  He had turned weirdly popular his last year of high school. He tried to go out with a couple of guys but found none as interesting as Donghyuck and broke up with them before they could catch feelings. His crush on his best friend had manifested itself into love, and once he realized that he stopped accepting any confessions. It would have been unfair to the other person to not have his full attention.

Donghyuck and Lucas dated for around five months before breaking up right before Christmas. Mark was incredibly alarmed to find his best friend crying on his doorstep but Donghyuck assured him it was for the best and they had parted amicably. It was also no surprise that his parents hadn’t visited for the winter holidays this year. It was for the best because he celebrated with Johnny and his friends and actually enjoyed himself.

It was a surprise however that Mark found out after winter break that Lucas had started dating Jungwoo. Mark had been absolutely furious. He rushed over to Donghyuck’s to vent about it.

“How could he do this to you?” Mark paced back and forth around Donghyuck’s room while the younger sat on his bed reading a magazine. “I really thought he was a great guy but now he’s pulling this shit. You guys literally stopped dating less than two weeks ago. What the fuck is his problem?”

Donghyuck glanced up from his magazine. “Calm down, drama queen. I already knew that Lucas liked him. He’s liked him forever.”

“He liked someone else and still dated you? That’s a dick move, Hyuck, and you know it.” Mark stopped pacing and sat on the bed next to Donghyuck. Donghyuck proceeded to put his head on Mark’s shoulder and his heart skipped a beat.

“It would have been if I didn’t know about it before we started dating. He was worried that it would ruin their friendship and decided to never do anything about it. I could relate a bit and we decided to give it a try. He really did like me, though. I don’t regret it at all and I’m glad that he and Jungwoo finally got their shit together.” Donghyuck glanced up at him and proceeded to burrow even more into his shoulder blade.

“Oh yeah because you had a crush on Jeno. You’re over that now, right? You’re not secretly pining and hurting because he’s kind of dating Renjun and Jaemin?” Mark had almost completely forgotten about his obsession with Jeno. It seemed like it happened a lifetime ago, not just a year and a half.

“Oh right, Jeno…That’s definitely who I was talking about,” Donghyuck replied. “Nah, I’m over that now. He and Renjun and Jaemin are so gross that I’m glad I didn’t get in between that whole mess. They are kind of cute though.”

“You would never hear the end of it if you told them that.” Mark laughed and started playing with the top of Donghyuck’s hair. The other let out a contented sigh so he continued running his fingers through it.

“That’s why I’m taking it to the grave, Mark Lee. If you dare tell them I said anything I will share that picture of you after the hot dog eating contest you entered on every single media platform I’m on. Even my LinkedIn, I’m dead serious.” Donghyuck muttered in a voice that was definitely not dead serious.

“Calm down Hyuck, I wouldn’t do that to you. I took a blood oath and everything,” Mark assured him while untangling a knot that he had probably accidentally afflicted.

“Again with this damn blood oath. We were ten! Don’t even get me started on all the weird shit that I’ve done for you over the years…” Mark laughed as Donghyuck spit out those words and that was the end of the Lucas debate.

Mark apologized to Lucas for the cold front he had been putting on after seeing him with Jungwoo and their friendship stayed in tact. After getting past the fact that he didn’t in fact screw over Donghyuck, it turns out they’re a very cute couple. He’s never seen either of them happier and it slightly brings out the little green monster that is jealousy. If only Mark were as brave as they were and could confess to Donghyuck and by some miracle he felt the same, they could also be that happy.

Despite the fact that Mark was trying to savor every moment of his final year, it seemed to be passing by at the speed of light. Every last seemed like the end of the world. His last basketball game ended with him crying in the locker room over the loss of the camaraderie with his teammates. The last spring break party, which he would rather not savor as he ended up playing seven minutes in heaven with Jaehyun and it took a month for either of them to be able to look each other in the eyes. Even his last test, which marked the end of his academic high school life, got him choked up. This all meant a build up to summer, which was his least favorite time of year.

His friend group was going to end up all over Korea come September. Chenle and Jisung both had another year left of high school to wrap up. Jeno had found himself a dance studio job in Busan, which made Renjun and Jaemin exclusively apply to colleges nearby. Lucas booked a modeling gig that had him traveling to different studios around the country. Jungwoo was working at a design company that was based in Jeju, but had traveling opportunities. (He and Lucas were determined to make a go of this long distance thing and Mark truly wished them the best.) Although Mark and Donghyuck were going to different schools, they were both located in Seoul and were about a 15-minute drive from each other so they promised to see each other all the time.

The weeks leading up to summer vacation were like a ticking time bomb for Mark. His friends tried not to sound excited about plans they were making over the summer around him but it still bothered him anyways. Instead of spending time with people he actually loved, he had to go to Canada and fake being a family with people who don’t even care enough to come out for Mark’s graduation. The words “Can’t be bothered” actually came out of their mouths when Mark called to ask them if they wanted tickets to it.

It started to affect his sleeping patterns.  More often than not Mark would find himself sneaking out of the house after midnight to go on a run. It got to the point where the only time he could actually fall asleep was if he ran so long it tired him out.  The day before graduation, Mark’s anxiety was at an all time high. He had been lying in bed for three hours and his body was nowhere near tired. He put on his running shoes and slipped out the back door. His feet kept moving until he found himself in front of Donghyuck’s house.

Standing in front of one of his favorite places to be in the world, right next to the house that his family used to live in back when they were happy was almost too much for Mark to handle. He needed to talk to Donghyuck immediately or he was going to burst. He looked down for a rock to throw up at Hyuck’s window but decided that was too cheesy so he just sent him a text instead.

Mark:

Hyuck… are you up?

I need to talk to you…

It’s really important

I’m outside

Just when Mark was about to give up and run back home he saw the light in Donghyuck’s room turn on and the window opened slightly.

“Mark what the hell are you doing here? It’s 2am!” Donghyuck whispered in the loudest tone he could without waking the neighbors.

Mark took one look at Donghyuck’s sleepy face and promptly burst into tears. Donghyuck looked alarmed and proceeded to slam the window shut. The noise echoed into the night. Less than a second later he opened it again to whisper shout: “Shit Mark, don’t cry. I’m on my way down.”

The window closed for a final time and Mark was still sobbing when Donghyuck came out of his door looking completely flustered.

“What’s wrong?” He asked before wrapping his arms around Mark’s sobbing figure. “Are you hurt? You’re freaking me out.”

Mark tried to talk and explain everything but the only sound that would come out of his mouth was a warbled cry. Donghyuck led him to his backyard and onto the steps that lead up to his back porch. He didn’t say anything more but his hand had found the way to the small of Mark’s back and was rubbing circles into his skin and each movement was calming Mark down little by little. The sobs that had taken over his body had calmed down to a reasonable light cry and he could finally speak again.

“Sorry,” He hiccupped. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

“You can always come to me Mark, you know that,” Donghyuck hadn’t stopped rubbing circles into his back “Now who hurt you? Do you need me to punch somebody? Because I will cut a bitch. Everyone is always making fun of me because I’m short but I didn’t take all of those self-defense classes for nothing. I’m dangerous.”

This made Mark laugh. It came out course and made him sound like a gremlin but his mood was definitely on the rise. Donghyuck always made his mood better. “I don’t even know where to start.”

Donghyuck took both his hands and gave them a slight squeeze. He looked Mark straight in the eye and said, “Take your time. Start at the beginning.”

“I hate Canada, I hate my parents, and I would rather die than go there this summer.”

Donghyuck’s eyes got huge but he didn’t say anything. He listened while Mark ranted about how his parents had stopped calling him and how tense things were in the Lee household every summer. He gasped when Mark mentioned that he had only talked to them twice this entire year. Once when they called to say that they were going to Aspen for winter break and not Seoul. They didn’t even apologize for that or sound sad to not be in Mark’s presence. The other time had been last week when Mark called to ask them if they were coming to his graduation and we know how great that went. He let out everything that he has been holding in since the summer before High School when his parents decided that they didn’t care whether or not their son was living with them. By the end of his tirade he glanced up and Donghyuck was crying as well.

“Shit Hyuck, don’t cry. Only one of us can be a mess at a time.” Mark unwrapped his hand from Donghyuck’s where it had stayed for the entire story and wiped away his tears.

“I can’t believe your parents would fucking do that to you. Why didn’t you tell meeee?” Donghyuck was now heavily sobbing as well and his words were coming out jumbled but Mark could understand him anyways. “I literally texted your mom more this year than you did. I should have seen this. You always were so unhappy going back to Canada but I just thought you hated flying. Fuuuuck.”

“Shhh Hyuck, this is not your fault,” Mark had stopped crying and was now in Operation Comfort Donghyuck mode. “I made sure nobody knew. I have been lying about them for years. If anything this is my fault. I was just ashamed, I guess. Embarrassed because everyone had parents that loved them and mine didn’t give a shit if I was around or not. I felt so fucking bad hiding it but I didn’t know how to bring it up.”

Donghyuck sniffled and wiped off the rest of his tears with the back of his hand. “I don’t blame you Mark, this is not your fault. You’re the victim in all of this. God, your parents are horrible. I hate them.”

“Yeah me too. That makes me a terrible person, doesn’t it?” Mark looked down. He’s always thought that and saying it out loud just made it sound truer. Donghyuck lifted the bottom of his chin forcing Mark to look into his eyes. Hyuck shook his head back and forth adamantly denying the fact. Just as he was about to open his mouth the back door opened.

“Lee Donghyuck, why in God’s name are you up this late…” Mrs. Lee stood above them in her nightgown and was all ready to berate the two of them until she got a good look at their faces. She sighed and just stated, “I’ll put on some tea water. Finish whatever this is inside so you don’t wake up the entire neighborhood.”

Donghyuck stood up and dragged Mark inside his house by his hand. Mrs. Lee made them some tea and gave Donghyuck a quick kiss on the cheek and ruffled Mark’s hair before heading back up to bed. They quietly sipped their tea not knowing what to do from here on out.

Donghyuck broke the silence by stating; “There’s no way in hell you’re going back there this summer. Over my dead body.”

“Can I just say no? I’ve never disobeyed them before. Is it just that easy?” Mark has never thought about doing that before. It had always been a taboo subject for him.

“What’s the worst that could happen? They stop sending you money? You can always live with me this summer if Johnny kicks you out. I’m sure he won’t, though, he loves you way more than your parents.” Donghyuck had a determined look on his face. “I don’t want you spending the last summer we’re all going to be together in fucking Canada hating your life. Spend it with me and the people who love you.”

“Okay, I’m going to do it. I’m going to call my parents and tell them I won’t come back over the summer. I’m really going to do it.” Mark’s hands betrayed him, as they were shaking too bad to even hold his phone.

Donghyuck grabbed on to them and they immediately steadied. “We’ll do this together. I’m right here with you Mark. Whatever happens I’ll always be here with you.”

So what else could Mark do except gather up all his courage and make the one phone call that could change his life forever. He dialed the number and waited for them to pick up. He got their voicemail.

Of course he did.

“Hey Mom, hi dad. It’s Mark. Just letting you know that I won’t be coming to Canada this summer. I want to spend the last summer before I go to college with my friends. I want to spend it with the people who have actually been cheering me on the past four years. I don’t know if you’re going to be mad, or maybe you’ll be relieved like I am that you don’t have to put up with me this summer. You must know that everything has been going downhill for the past four years. I can’t be the only one who’s seeing this. If you decide to cut me off, I can live with that. I’m already planning on getting a job and being a responsible person like you kind of raised me to be. If you decide you want to see me over the summer, I’ll be in Seoul. It’s only an 11-hour plane ride away. If you choose not to see me, I can live with that as well. I’m kind of used to it by now. Bottom line is I haven’t been happy in Canada, but being in Seoul with the people I love has made me happy. Hopefully you can live with this decision because I’m not changing my mind. Thanks for taking care of me but I’ll be fine on my own from now on. Goodbye.”

Beep

Mark had surprisingly made it through the whole phone call without bursting into tears (Donghyuck hadn’t been so lucky). After hanging up the weight that had been on his shoulders for the past four years has miraculously dissipated. All that was left was an intense exhaustion. Donghyuck must have sensed that, because he suggested that they go to his room and sleep before the morning comes. Mark climbs into Donghyuck’s bed, just like he’s done hundreds of times for hundreds of different sleepovers they’ve had over the past ten years. And just like the hundreds of times before this, it calmed him down and made all his problems easier. Being near Donghyuck always made his life easier.

The next day when he was putting on his uniform for the last time he had an epiphany. This was the first summer he was spending in Seoul in five years. The last four years he had to watch from afar as Donghyuck was falling for one of his friends. This year he was determined to be that friend. This is the year that Donghyuck is going to fall for Mark instead. He was in such a good mood even the two word text from his parents that just say okay then didn’t damper his happiness.

As Mark crossed the stage to get his diploma, he glanced into the crowd to see everyone who was important to him. Donghyuck was wolf whistling from the rafters and he glanced over and smiled at him. Donghyuck smiled and waved back. Somewhere in the crowd Johnny and Ten were waving a huge poster that said That’s My Son! with a picture of baby Mark on it. Lucas was yelling, “Get that diploma bro!” in the front row. Jeno, Renjun and Jaemin were all on their feet cheering while Chenle and Jisung were taking videos of that whole mess. This was the first day of the best summer of his life. He was going to make every moment count.

Chapter Text

Mark quickly finds out two things after he graduates.

1. He is in desperate need of a job now that his parents aren’t sending him any money.
2. He has no idea how to win Donghyuck’s affections. Like where does he even start?

He decides to tackle task one first because it seemed infinitely easier than task two. Task two is daunting. Task two wakes him up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.  Let’s not mention task two. Luckily his cousin Johnny comes in clutch and has a million friends who are working at places that are hiring. One call to any of them is a guaranteed hire. After a brief summary of all available jobs he decided to work with Doyoung at the local juice bar.

The decision was 100% based on how easy he finds the job and definitely not because it was a three minute walk to the pool where Donghyuck was working at again this year. He certainly hasn’t dreamed about taking Hyuck on a date when their lunch breaks are synced up.  So one week after graduation Mark is now a proud employee of Cherry Bomb!  The inside of the shop was just as intense as the exclamation point makes it seem. It was decked out in purple camo and there were large cherry decals stuck to the walls.

Mark’s uniform was just as forceful and embarrassing to wear. The first time he slipped into the black shirt adorned with a simple set of cherries on the front and the in-your-face purplish-pinkish printed camo pants Donghyuck couldn’t stop laughing.

“Shut up Hyuck it doesn’t even look that bad!” Mark lied. “I think I pull it off!”

“Wonbin himself couldn’t pull those off. You could literally put those on Gong Yoo and he would look ridiculous. Hold on, let me take a picture to send to the group chat.” Donghyuck then proceeded to take over 15 photos each more ridiculous than the last before sending them all to everyone he knew.

Jisung:

WHAT ARE THOOOSE? :::::DDDDDD

Renjun:

Burn them. Immediately.

Lucas:

Those are tight bro! Get me some too!!!

Doyoung:

Now you know what I have to fucking deal with on a daily basis. Welcome to the team Mark. It sucks but the job is stupid easy and actually pays well so joke’s on everybody else.

Johnny:

Omg come downstairs right now. I need to see these in person. Ten has been on the floor laughing for the last five minutes. He says he wants to try them on XD

Mark stops reading after that. Sure the uniform is horrible but at least Doyoung likes working there and all his coworkers seem nice. He’s heard horror stories from so many of his friends about their summer jobs so if flashy pants are the worst of his problems, he should be in for a great summer.

Donghyuck walks him to his job on the first day because he is an angel sent from above. He even packed him a lunch and wrote him a cute note that read knock ‘em dead lee! in pink highlighter. It matches the storefront with its brightness and Mark tapes it to his locker alongside several Polaroids he’s forced his friends to take with him over the years.

His first day was a whirlwind of information. Apparently Monday’s aren’t happenin’ days in the juice business so he spent most of the day learning how to use the juicer and memorizing all the incredibly asinine names for all the signature drinks. Those were Doyoung’s words, not Mark’s. He had to listen to Doyoung complain about a lot of different facets of the job, but at the end of the day he showed Mark how to do everything perfectly and clearly had a soft spot for the place.

Mark loved it almost immediately. It was so over the top kitschy but there was something somewhat homey about it.  Everyone who came through the doors had one of two expressions. The first being a look of absolute shock and then followed up with some awe. Their jaw would drop to the floor and they would almost squint because of the brightness. After the first five customers of the day had the exact same reaction Mark leaned over to Doyoung to laugh about it.

“You’re laughing about it now but give it a week. You’re going to hate that damn expression. That’s the expression of someone who has never been here before and is going to need a lot of fucking help. Give me the regulars any day.”

It turns out Cherry Bomb! has quite the cult follow1ing. Their drinks were super Instagramable (once again those were Doyoung’s words. Mark updated his Instagram once a month, if that, and didn’t even really know what an aesthetic was. Donghyuck has tried to explain it so many times he’s given up.) and that brought a group of characters into their shop.

The second expression customers had while entering was a look of determination. They just walk straight up to the counter without even so much as glancing at the flashing-rotating menu with the drink choices. About two hours into his first shift Mark encountered one of those customers. She was wearing sunglasses more expensive than Mark’s entire wardrobe and her heels clicked against the linoleum flooring.

“One Large Pearadise to go.” She stated in a nasally tone without ever looking up from her iPhone X.

“Umm, yes of course! A Pearadise. Got it. Definitely.” Mark had suddenly forgotten everything Doyoung had taught him. What’s a pear? What’s juice? Luckily Doyoung wasn’t a cruel dictator and had already started preparing the drink in his stead.  The lady had walked to the end of the counter and was handing her credit card to the air so Mark quickly ran over there to take it from her.

“That will be, um, 6000 won.” Mark belted out in his best version of how someone who was an actual confident human being would say it. She glanced up from her phone, gave him the once over and handed over her card without saying a word. Mark somehow managed to swipe it and print out a receipt without making a mistake and returned them to her. Doyoung had finished her drink by then and handed it to her. She turned towards the door and they watched as her heels clicked across the floor and out of their lives.

“Jesus, Mark, have you ever talked to another human being before?” Doyoung side-eyed him while cleaning out the blender. “Just wondering what the fuck just happened?”

“I panicked! She could have killed me if she wanted to. She had that sort of energy.” Mark stuttered. He was slightly worried that he was about to get fired on his first day at a real job and the panic was rising in his chest until he glanced over at Doyoung who was laughing.

“Yeah, she had a real Devil Wears Prada vibe to her. Listen, this is going to be the most important piece of advice anyone is going to give you,” Doyoung came up right next to Mark, who leaned in to listen carefully. “At the end of the day this is just a fucking juice bar so relax. No need to freak out over blended fruit. Some people are going to be assholes, some are going to be amazing but don’t let how any of these fuckers get to you. If they’re terrible, it’s a stupid story to tell your friends later but don’t let it mean anything more to you. We’re all going places here Mark and 10 years from now this will just be a small bump in the road that it your life.”

Doyoung proceeded to ruffle Mark’s hair and go back to washing the blender as if he didn’t just give a speech that deserved to be at the end of some sort of inspiring sports movie. After that Mark relaxed a bit. Clearly Mark wasn’t going to get fired on his first day and Doyoung was the best boss he could ask for. Besides the fact that his feet were stinging a bit from all the standing still he wasn’t used to, the rest of the day went off without a hitch.

At the end of the day when they had finally finished cleaning up, Mark stepped out into the setting sunlight to spot a familiar face. Donghyuck was outside carrying a huge sign that said HAPPY FIRST DAY AT WORK MARKIE written in calligraphy. He groaned and made his way over to his now former best friend.

“I’m never speaking to you again. This is so embarrassing.” Mark groaned while trying to make a grab for the sign. Donghyuck took a step back and whacked him on the top of the head with it and then proceeded to laugh so hard that he was practically on the ground. Mark took that time to snatch the sign and roll it up.

“Spoilsport.” Donghyuck laughed while sticking out his tongue. “I put a lot of work into that sign.”

“I think you single handedly keep the entire poster board industry of Korea in business,” Mark sighed. “Thanks Hyuck. Even if it is embarrassing that was really nice of you.”

“Anytime Markie. Anyways let’s go out to eat. My treat since it’s your first day of work and everything.”

Well, Mark definitely couldn’t turn down that opportunity. “Okay, let me go home and change first.”

“Oh, no way in hell. We are going out like this. You can’t deprive the world of those pants. Everyone deserves to see them.” Donghyuck proceeded to grab Mark by the wrist and pull him into the diner two doors down. Luckily it was kind of shitty so the pants didn’t make him too underdressed.

Their waiter ended up being a familiar face. “Welcome to Chain Restaurant my name is Taeyong and I’ll be your waiter today… Oh, Mark what’s up?”

Mark is starting to feel like Johnny might be friends with the entire working class of Seoul. “Hey, Taeyong. How goes it?”

Taeyong gave him the blankest stare back and gestured to his whole body. “Just living the dream. You know how it goes. I’ll get you and your date some shakes. On the house.”

Mark didn’t even have time to object to this clearly friendly, casual hangout being called a date before Taeyong was halfway to the kitchens. He turned sharply towards Donghyuck who was paying him no mind, his face turned in the direction Taeyong jetted towards.

Donghyuck’s face whipped back towards Mark at lightning speed. “You know Lee Taeyong?” His eyes were huge, and filled with wonder.

“A little bit? I’ve seen him at parties and stuff. He’s mostly Johnny’s friend.”

“Holy crap. It’s like seeing a celebrity in real life. He came to the dance studio once and gave the best class ever. Literally everyone in our year had a crush on him. At least all the straight girls did and most of the guys, regardless of their sexual identity. When he comes back distract him so I can take a stealth picture of him. Shit, my flash is on.” Donghyuck proceeded to fiddle with his phone, making sure the settings were perfect.

“Everyone had a crush on Taeyong? Why?” Mark seemed puzzled. Taeyong was in short, a spaz. He was also always lecturing Mark about safety and being out past his curfew. “Out of all of Johnny’s friends everyone had a crush on Taeyong?”

“You officially have the worst taste in men ever, Mark Lee.” Donghyuck was giving him the same face as when they went shopping together and Mark bought Johnny jorts for his birthday. ( “Stop enabling him you idiot. Also it’s fucking January. Where is he going that he needs shorts in the dead of winter?” To be fair, Johnny ended up loving the gift, Ten not so much.)

Donghyuck rolled his eyes before continuing his pro Taeyong spiel. “If Michelangelo himself rose from the grave and got a look at that bone structure he would say Fuck David, let me sculpt this hot young thing in the nude. ”

Mark was now officially creeped out. He glared at Donghyuck and hissed under his breath, “You can’t say that about people that are in the near vicinity. What if he heard you?” After glancing around the restaurant to see that Taeyong was safely across the room and definitely out of hearing distance he continued. “I guess he’s kind of attractive but I feel the same way about him as you do about Chris Pine. I can objectively see that he’s attractive but I’m not attracted to him.”

Donghyuck has gone on many a rant about how Chris Pine is the least attractive of all the Chris’s and that was always his reason. Mark had never once gotten the logic but it somehow all made sense in this moment. Before Donghyuck could retort, Taeyong arrived at their table bearing shakes and asking for their order. While Mark was ordering Donghyuck managed to take a couple stalker pictures of Taeyong’s side profile. After he left he proudly showed them off to Mark.

“Let me just give you his Instagram handle. Stop creeping on my sort-of-friends.” Mark said in a tone that sounded like he was trying very hard to keep the jealousy out of his voice. He would give up his right arm to have Donghyuck talk about him like that.

When they finished all the food Taeyong gave them and tipped him generously the duo started walking back towards the bus that drops them off in their neighborhood. Donghyuck was oddly quiet and Mark was exhausted so he didn’t try to push any conversation. When they arrived at the bus stop Mark glanced over to see Donghyuck looking up at his expectantly. Mark leaned in close and flicked him in the middle of his forehead.

“What are you looking so glum for? Eat too much?” Mark joked but quickly trailed off when he saw how deep in thought the younger was.

“I was just thinking… If you don’t find Taeyong attractive, who do you think is the hottest one of Johnny’s friends?” Donghyuck looked entirely too serious for a stupid question that sounded like it came straight out of Truth or Dare.

“Umm, never really thought about it. Most of them I consider older brothers. It feels weird to crush on any of them. Like it’s a little too close to home.” Mark shuddered at the thought.

“So you don’t have a crush on Jung Jaehyun?” Donghyuck asked while glancing across the street at the cars passing by.

Well that was something Mark was not expecting, which is why he ended up choking on the saliva in his mouth. “Oh my god, who the hell did you hear that from? No. Nope. Not even a little bit? Um, just no.”

“So you didn’t make out with him in the closet at his party over spring break and come out looking like you got mauled by a wild animal?” This was once again a shocking question from one Lee Donghyuck, who was still innocently looking at the passing cars and avoiding Mark’s incredulous facial expressions.

“Whatthefuck? Ummm, where are you getting this information from?” Mark’s hue was turning crimson and his anxiety was through the roof. So everyone knew about that. Cool… Really cool…

“Jaehyun told Johnny who told Ten who blabbed about it to Jeno and he swore me to secrecy.” Donghyuck replied like it was obvious. He finally glanced over at Mark who was still in the middle of an internal (and slightly external) freak-out. “I told him that there was no way that happened but your demeanor right now is not helping your cause. Holy shit. You and Jaehyun. Can’t say I saw that one coming.”

“First off, there is no me and Jaehyun. It’s just me, myself, and I. I don’t even like him! We were all playing seven minutes in heaven and I was tipsy enough to go along with it. I regretted it instantly and our friendship hasn’t been the same since.” Mark finally took a breath after his outburst. The last thing he wanted was the love of his life thinking he was into someone else.

Donghyuck was silent for a minute and it was one of the most agonizing of Mark’s adult life. “Was he a good kisser?” And just like that his best friend was back and smiling.

“I have no idea. Maybe? I think I’m still repressing it.” Mark laughed as well.

“Can you just tell me next time you do something like this? I don’t want to hear about this seventh hand. This is what best friends are for after all.” Donghyuck held out his pinky and forced Mark’s own to complete the promise.

“No blood oath this time?” Mark teased knowing that this would rile up his friend.

“Again with the blood oath! Will you ever get over it? I didn’t hear you complaining when we were ten! Now it’s every other week you bring it up…”

When Mark finally got home he waved hello to Johnny on the couch and his cousin returned it. “Just got a text from Tae saying that he thought you and your boyfriend are cute. Did you start dating someone without telling me?”

Mark blushed as he thought about what would have happened if today was actually a date. “Nah I was just out with Hyuck. Taeyong misunderstood.”

“Mhmm,” Johnny replied, clearly not buying it, but Mark rushed up to his room before he could get the third degree.

Over the next couple of weeks Mark worked really hard trying to figure out all the ins and outs of his job. He worked mostly with Doyoung, but did meet a couple of his other coworkers. Taeil was a friend of Johnny’s that he had only met a couple of times.

“I’m not much of a partier,” Taeil shrugged when asked why he’s never around.

“He’s just saying that because he can’t hold his alcohol. Last party we were both at he was doing shots off everyone. I think I still have the video.” Yuta, the only other employee he’s met, teased. He was the only one who worked here that seemed to have no connection to his cousin.

The two of them, and Doyoung made a great team that Mark was thrilled to be apart of. Doyoung was a bit of a superstar. He could somehow make juices twice as fast as anyone else, which he chalked up to having the most experience. (“ You guys will be just as fast. Give it another couple of years.” To which Yuta would respond “ Kill me if I’m still here in a couple of years.” ) Yuta would make every shift fun. He was constantly making up beats with his hands and Mark would join in with some funky rhythm banging the spoons together. Taeil was quiet until he wasn’t. Mark would sometimes not even realize he was there until the older employee would sneak up behind him and tell him a really stupid joke (that Mark would laugh so hard at that he slapped his knees) or share a fact so random that you never realized you wanted to know the information in the first place.

All in all, Mark was having the time of his life at his first job. The cherry on top was that Donghyuck would sometimes visit during his break to make use of Mark’s employee discount. The four of them were all working the first time Donghyuck came in to say hi.

“Welcome to Cherry Bomb! how can we help you today?” Yuta enthusiastically greeted him before Mark looked up to see who it was.

“Hyuck! You came!” He smiled. Donghyuck had promised a surprise visit since Mark’s first shift.

“Of course I came. You’ve been hyping the drinks so much I had to try them,” Donghyuck returned his smile tenfold. “Now what do you recommend?”

“Hmmm, they’re all good,” Mark started (“ Damn straight!” Doyoung yelled from the back room) “But my favorite is the GO!jiberry.”

“He’s wrong. It’s LiMINTless.” Yuta argued. “But really just go with the ingredients you like. Can’t go wrong, just as Mark said.”

Donghyuck pondered the choices. “I think I’ll have to go with the GO!jiberry.”

“Good choice!” Mark started preparing all the ingredients. He’s secretly glad it took Donghyuck a couple of weeks to come visit because his skillset was pretty horrible at the beginning and what kind of person would want to date someone who couldn’t even make a proper blended juice drink? He finished with a swirl of whipped cream and handed it over into Donghyuck’s expecting hands.

“If this sucks I’m holding you personally responsible,” Donghyuck giggled before handing over a wad of cash. Mark counted it and handed half of it back. Donghyuck looked confused and glanced up to the flashy price board and back at Mark.

“Employee discount,” Mark smirked. “50% off.”

“You’re not going to get in trouble because of this, right?” Donghyuck leaned forward and whispered giving Mark a view straight down his entire loose tank. After giving himself a quick internal don’t be a perv speech he glanced over at Doyoung who had made his way out to the front of the store.

“Oh, I don’t give a shit.” He shrugged. He truly was the best boss to ever exist and was turning more into Mark’s personal hero by the day.

“Thank you,” Donghyuck smiled widely in his direction. “I’m only on my fifteen so I have to bounce. Thanks for the juice, Markie.” And just like that he was out the door and waving behind the glass.

“Is that your boyfriend?” Taeil asked. Yuta and Doyoung looked over expectantly.

“Um no, that’s my best friend Donghyuck. You’re literally the second person this summer to think that though. We’ve been friends for like 10 years so we’re just close.” Mark recited. He gives a similar speech in his head to himself a couple of times a month.

“But you’re in love with him, right?” Yuta asked bluntly. Mark sputtered and turned red and it became painfully obvious that Yuta hit the nail on the head.

“Um, could you really tell that easily?” Mark said, hiding his head in shame.

“I knew there was a reason why you were hired here. This is the official unrequited love shift. We’re all in the same boat dude. Don’t worry it’s only obvious because I live that every day.” Yuta stated. “So literally join the club. We already have matching t-shirts.”

“Oh, um, all of you guys have a crush on someone that doesn’t like you back?” Mark asked bewildered. It seemed a little too much of a coincidence. Also all of his coworkers were good-looking guys. Anyone should be happy to date them.

“Oh yeah, big time. Taeil has been crushing on the same guy since high school and hasn’t made a move yet. Although he’s super obvious about it so I would be surprised if Sicheng doesn’t know about it.” Yuta confessed in lieu of Taeil who looked slightly put off.

“Sicheng… That name sounds familiar.” Mark said but couldn’t quite put a name to the face. “What does he look like?”

“An angel,” Taeil sighed. “A literal angel.”

Yuta rolled his eyes and took out his phone to show Mark Sicheng’s Instagram.

“Oh, I think I’ve seen him around before. He knows Lucas, right?” Mark had an epiphany upon glancing at his face.

Taeil nodded. “Yeah, they’re friends.”

“He’s pretty cute I guess.” Mark said to Taeil, who gave him a small smile back.

“Since Yuta’s going to share my business I guess you should know that he has an even more pathetic crush. When are you going to tell Taeyong that the only reason you asked him to tutor you was so you could get his phone number?” Taeil dropped that bomb and nearly stuck out his tongue in Yuta’s general direction.

“Oh fuck off, you know he’s not into me like that,” Yuta pouted. “Trust me, those tutoring sessions were torture. He kept talking about how happy he was that he didn’t have a boyfriend tying him down and could only focus on studying. I was like thanks, I can take a hint buddy.”

“Oh man I know Taeyong. Apparently a lot of people have a crush on him, too. Did you know he works at Chain down the street?” Mark asked. It was weird how many people suddenly had a crush on Taeyong. It’s like everyday he was finding another admirer.

“Oh Yuta definitely knows he works at Chain. How many times have you been there this week?” Taeil teased.

“I like their cheeseburgers.” Taeil raised an eyebrow and Yuta stuttered. “I don’t have to take this from you!”

“Doyoung you’re being awfully quiet back there. Do you also have a someone you’re hopelessly crushing on?” Mark asked. Doyoung had been cleaning the same wooden spoon for the past five minutes.

“Oh, Doyoung has it the worst.  He’s been crushing on this guy practically since they were learning how to walk. Keeps blabbing about not wanting to ruin the friendship and all that jazz.” Yuta laughed. “I keep telling him I’m pretty sure he has a chance but he says he would die before making a move.”

“I totally get that., Mark said, thinking of his very similar situation. “I think I would have to be 100% sure that Hyuck liked me back before I confessed. I don’t think I could handle our friendship turning weird.”

“If I date him, I’m going to want to go all in and that would definitely scare him away,” Doyoung finally spoke for himself. “He’s currently in a ‘finding himself’ phase and if he ever gets out of it and wants to date someone for real, I’ll be here. But I have a feeling I won’t be the first person he turns to if that happens.”

“You’re the smartest person I know Doyoung,” Mark replied honestly. “I can’t believe anyone wouldn’t want to date you.”

“I really think Jaehyun likes you back Doie.” Yuta states and Mark proceeds to drop the case of 250 paper testing cups he had been opening, spilling them all over the floor.

“Oh shit, I’ll clean this up. Umm, I’m so sorry. Ah crap this is bad. Sorry! Sorry. I’ll fix this.” Mark was panicking. How do you tell your boss/new favorite person that you made out with their crush in his very own closet?

“Mark, are you ok dude?” Yuta squats down next to him and starts to help pick up all the mini cups. Taeil joins in and they quickly pick up everything that spilled.

“Um, yeah, I’m okay. Do you mean Jung Jaehyun? He’s a friend of Johnny’s? He’s decently tall with dimples. That Jaehyun?” Mark bit his lip and looked at his feet. There’s no way he can look Doyoung in the eye.

“Yeah that Jaehyun. You guys are friends right?” Doyoung responded. Crap.

“Um, I don’t know how to tell you this. Please don’t be mad because it didn’t even mean anything I swear…”

“You made out with him during seven minute in heaven during his party over spring break?” Doyoung cut him off. He must have seen the look of absolute panic in Mark’s eyes so he continued. “You probably don’t remember, but I was there too. Calm down Mark, if I got mad at everyone who made out with him I would have no friends left. It’s not like we’re dating anyways. It would be weirdly possessive of me to think of him as only mine.”

“You are really the coolest Doyoung. Jaehyun is crazy if he doesn’t see that.” Mark was a bit enamored by his boss. Doyoung gave him a small smile back and finally put down the wooden spoon, which was now the cleanest thing to ever exist in the universe.

“If he doesn’t Yuta and I are going to get married and open up the gayest bed and breakfast in Korea,” Doyoung stated. “It’s always good to have a backup plan.”

“I keep hoping they don’t end up finding love because I want to go to that B&B.” Taeil joked, and it got him two flicks to the head from the involved parties.

After learning all of that information about his coworkers and being officially inducted into the Unrequited Love Club it was like a dam broke and all Mark could talk about was Donghyuck.

“Did I mention he has the voice of an angel? Going to norabang with him is an out of body experience.” Mark gushed.

“You may have mentioned it once or twice.” Taeil was in the middle of making himself a smoothie. He jokingly started pulsing the blender whenever Mark opened his mouth to say anything.

“Hey! I’m sorry Taeil I just have never talked about this with anybody before and now I can’t stop talking about him. Next time I mention him just cover my mouth or something.” Mark gave himself a quick, light slap on his cheek before going back to counting down the hours before they could officially close. Nobody had come or the past hour and he and Taeil were getting incredibly bored.

“Don’t worry, it’s cute. I’m just being a brat, I don’t mind you talking about him.” Taeil says as he was finishing up blending the smoothie. He poured half in a cup and handed it to Mark and saved the rest for himself.

“Thanks dude. I didn’t realize how crazy I’ve been going keeping this all inside. Now I feel like I’m going to burst if I don’t talk about all these feelings.” Mark confesses.

He had the epiphany about liking Donghyuck two years ago and he never breathed a word about it to anyone. Everyone Mark knows also knows Donghyuck, and he couldn’t take the chance of him finding out even by accident. It was so nice to have a neutral party that doesn’t know them as friends to blab about his massive crush to that he’s been taking full advantage of it. Mark made a quick mental note to take it back a couple of notches as to not annoy his coworkers, but the way Taeil gave him quick hair ruffle and smile at the end of the day made it seem like he would still like Mark even if every word out of his mouth was Donghyuck.

The only downside about working at Cherry Bomb! was that Mark has been on the grind so much that he hasn’t seen his friends very often. His first day off in awhile he decided to surprise Donghyuck at his place of work. Plus the whole staying inside the whole summer thing wasn’t really Mark’s style and he was starting to look like a ghost. So he dug his swim trunks out of the bottom of his closet and texted Jungwoo to see if he was interested in going with to visit his boyfriend.

Jungwoo:

Yessssss <3 <3 <3

And so they were off.  It was 32 degrees out and by the time they had walked to the pool they were ready to jump in the water without even trying to find Lucas and Donghyuck. Their plan was foiled though when a minute after coming out of the locker rooms they heard a large cry of “Baby!” and all Mark saw was a blur run past him and barrel into Jungwoo.

Jungwoo must deal with this a lot because he didn’t even seem fazed when Lucas picked him up and whirled him around in a circle. Only after all of that did he seem to even realize that Mark was there.

“What’s up bro?” He smiled and also enveloped Mark into a bone-crushing hug. “I can’t believe you guys are here!”

“It was Mark’s idea.” Jungwoo smiled before Lucas picked him up again. “Cut it out ‘Cas. It’s too hot and you’re sweating all over me. But I missed you too.”

“Donghyuck’s over by the kiddie pool.” Lucas said. He was ignoring his boyfriend’s warning and was clinging to him like a koala.

“Oh cool. I’ll go say hi before we go swimming.” Mark started walking towards the shallow end and away from the love fest. He quickly spots Donghyuck standing with his feet in the water looking incredibly bored. The entire kiddie pool was empty and so Mark decided sneak up behind him and give him a gentle push.

Donghyuck’s scream ripped through the silence before he turned around to look at the culprit. Mark stood there putting his arms up as if he was under arrest.

“Mark you idiot! I’m going to kill you!” Donghyuck screamed. He took a handful of water and threw it straight at Mark’s face. “Oh no, what is that look for Mark Lee. You deserved that 100%. Don’t even thing about retaliating…” He trailed off just as Mark leaned down and splashed him, soaking him from the waist down.

“You just looked hot, I was trying to cool you down.” Mark smirked. “You’re welcome.”

“Oh that’s how you’re going to play this. Let me show you how thankful I truly am.” Donghyuck kicked up the water at his feet getting Mark just as wet. After that it was pretty much an all out water war.  Mark ended up sending a tidal wave towards Hyuck just as he was bending down to send a counter attack and Donghyuck found himself completely soaked.

“Ok that’s it!” Donghyuck screamed while wiping the water out of his eyes with the back of his forearm. He ran full speed towards Mark and tackled him to the ground. The water was shallow but it still engulfed Mark’s entire back, soaking his shirt. “Now we’re even.”

Mark looked up at Donghyuck who was sitting on him, making sure that Mark was completely soaked and gulped. This was getting into dangerous territory here. “Fine, you win! I’m waving my white flag.”

Just as Donghyuck was about to get up he heard someone yelling from behind him. “Really Donghyuck? We’re paying you to be here. You’re literally on the clock right now.”

“I’m just having a little fun, Kun, lighten up!” Donghyuck responded before rolling his eyes at Mark. “Boss man is making me work again. He keeps threatening to fire me but jokes on him. I know we’re down four guards this summer and they wouldn’t be able to survive without me.”

“I’m not going to chance it Hyuck. Besides I came here to swim anyways. Get off me so I can find Jungwoo.” Mark lied before giving Donghyuck a gentle shove off of him.

“Liar, you came to visit me and you know it. I get off in an hour. Wait for me?” Donghyuck fluttered his eyelashes at Mark awaiting a response.

“Yeah yeah I’ll wait for you. Dinners on me this time since you treated last time.” He glanced over to the other side of the pool to see Kun yelling at Lucas for probably the exact same reason he just yelled at Donghyuck. Mark kind of felt bad for him. He couldn’t imagine having to control both Lucas and Donghyuck.

Jungwoo and Mark ended up having a blast at the pool. It was so nice to be outside in the water and not cooped up in the air-conditioned store. It had been a long time since he’d hung out with Jungwoo as well. The last year had been busy for both of them and it was nice to see his friend again.

“Are you excited for university?” Jungwoo had asked him.

“Honestly I haven’t even thought about it. Is doesn’t even feel real yet. Is that bad?” Mark’s mind was in short term goal mode only. He had the two-step plan for the summer and then after that it was a blank slate.

“No, not bad. If you keep thinking about the future too much you forget to live in the present.” Jungwoo smiled back at him.

“Are you excited about Jeju?” Mark hadn’t gotten a chance to ask the older man about his digital design internship at all yet.

“Yes and no,” Jungwoo stalled for a second. “I’m excited that I got such a huge opportunity right off the bat. I’m really nervous that I’m going to get there and I’m not going to be what they want. I almost wish I had started off as a coffee errand boy or something. Much less pressure.”

“Yeah that makes sense.” Mark was also a fellow worrier. He had been a mess starting his part times minimum wage job, so he couldn’t even imagine starting a real job that had actual expectations. “You’re a hard worker, Jungwoo. You’re gonna kick ass.”

“Thanks Mark.” Jungwoo his behind his hand and blushed before turning and looking at his boyfriend sitting in the lifeguard chair. “I have a lot of people counting on me so I have to give it my best.”

“So things with you and Lucas seem… good.” Mark didn’t really know how to approach that subject. It was still a little weird for him because Donghyuck and Lucas used to date but if they were over it, he should be too.

“Yeah it’s been great.” Jungwoo sighed dreamily. “I was super hesitant at first because we had been such good friends and I didn’t want to ruin that. But then we started dating and now I can’t believe I was even worried. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m glad we took the plunge.”

Mark didn’t know what to say to that. It was hitting a little too close to home since the situation was so similar to that of his and Donghyuck’s. He couldn’t help think that if he also took the plunge, that they could also be that happy. He quickly shook the thoughts from his brain. When he looked back up he saw Jungwoo smiling at him inquisitively.

“I’m happy that you guys are happy.” Mark finally responded. And he was truly happy that his friends found happiness. He was definitely jealous, but mostly happy.

“Thanks Mark.” Jungwoo said just as they hear a shout from the side of the pool.

“Mark get over here!” Donghyuck shouted from under the umbrella, now dressed in his civvies.

“I promised I would take Hyuck to dinner. Do you want to come with?” Mark posed the question to Jungwoo.

“Nah, I’m getting ice cream with Lucas and Kun when their shifts are up. Have fun!” Mark waved and swam over to where his towel and dry clothes were laying out. He quickly dried off and put on his shirt and looked up to see Donghyuck standing right before him.

“I’m starving.” The younger grumbled and grabbed Mark by the arm and started pulling him towards the exit. Mark quickly gave a goodbye wave to Lucas (“Bye bro!”) and let Donghyuck lead him down the street. Since Mark was treating he was a little worried that Donghyuck would force him to buy him something nice so he was a bit surprised when he was dragged into Chain.

“Oh thank god. I thought my wallet was going to get abused today.” Mark chuckled.

“Oh, I’m still ordering a milkshake and dessert so don’t look so smug just yet.” Donghyuck smiled and stuck out his tongue as they were being led towards their table.

Just as they were sitting down, Mark felt a cold breeze on the back of his neck and shivered. 10 seconds later hands grabbed his shoulders and someone whispered a quiet “Boo!” into his ear.

Mark screamed and whipped his head around only to find Yuta sitting in the booth behind him. “Jesus, Yuta. I thought someone was trying to kill me! What the hell was that?”

“You really have zero awareness of your surroundings Mark. I tried to wave to you the entire time you were walking over here. I even called your name. Twice.” Yuta smiled and then reached past Mark’s head, holding his hand out. “You must be Donghyuck. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Yes this is Donghyuck. Hyuck, this is Satan whose human name is Yuta. He has no boundaries. We work together.” Mark was mostly teasing. Although a small percentage him was slightly annoyed Yuta was crashing his friend date.

“Hey Yuta! I met you super briefly when I visited Mark at work I think.” Donghyuck smiled at him. It was the smile that he usually gave right before causing trouble. This can’t be good. “I’ll let you sit with us if you tell me super embarrassing work stories about Mark.”

“Sold!” Satan responded and Donghyuck cheered. “I have so many.”

Now Mark was very nervous. He knows Yuta would never give up how he’s secretly in love with Donghyuck but just him being vicinity of someone who knows his deepest darkest secret and said secret was giving him mild heart palpitations.

Yuta smiled and pushed Mark over to sit next to him in the booth. He started telling the story about how Mark forgot to put the top on the blender and it exploded all over him. Donghyuck was laughing so hard he was slapping his leg.

“The best part was that it was at the beginning of his shift so for the next five hours he had to greet customers covered in DREAMcicle juice. He was orange from head to toe.” Yuta laughed.

“We got a lot of tips that day though,” Mark chimed in to prevent anything worse from being said. “Everyone felt sorry for me. This one lady gave me a 20,000 won for dry cleaning.”

“Taeil then felt so bad he spilled some juice on himself in solidarity,” Yuta added. “It took us like two hours after close to clean up.”

“Taeyong!” Mark called across the restaurant after spotting him. Yuta flinched and turned his head towards the object of his affections. Taeyong waved back and started walking towards the trio.

“I hate you…” Yuta whispered. “He’s walking over here don’t fucking say anything or I will tell your crush how you feel about them.”

“Your what?” Donghyuck looked confused.

“Nothing!” Yuta and Mark responded in tandem.

“Hey Mark! Nice to see you guys again! Umm, Yuta I didn’t know you were friends with Mark and Donghyuck.” Taeyong looked confused.

“We work together.” Mark stated before Yuta could close his mouth from very publically gaping at the waiter.

“Oh, that’s nice.” Taeyong’s voice was still overly monotone whilst looking at Yuta who still couldn’t get anything out. Can I get anyone anything? Let me guess… A burger for you Yuta?”

“Yup.” Yuta had finally found his confidence and was giving Taeyong a lazy smile that only came out of one side of his mouth. “Can’t help it, they’re so good here.”

“Then I’ll take a burger, too,” Donghyuck chimed in. “And cheese fries. Mark is paying today so I’m not holding back.”

“Aw, that’s super nice of you Mark.” Yuta replied well fluttering his eyelashes and dropping his head on Mark’s shoulder. “Maybe I’ll get cheese fries too, if you’re paying.”

“I only promised to pay for Hyuck!” Mark scowled before Yuta sheepishly muttered out a quick “Just kidding. You should have seen your face.”

“Stop trying to scam children, Yuta.” Taeyong scolded him. Before Mark could complain about being called a child, Taeyong turned to him and asked for his order.

“Um, I’ll take a burger too I guess.” Mark had completely forgotten what he wanted to order and that was the only thing he could remember on the menu. Guess it was burgers for the table then… Taeyong scurried away to go put in their order and both Yuta and Donghyuck whipped around to watch him walk away.

“He’s the hottest man alive.” Yuta said, still staring at Taeyong’s backside.

“He certainly is.” Donghyuck sighed.

Yuta snapped his head towards Donghyuck and Mark saw an honest to god snarl come out of the Japanese man’s mouth. “He’s mine, kid. You’re cool and everything but don’t make me fight you for the love of my life.”

Surprisingly Donghyuck just laughed. “You can have him. He’s not my type, I just really like his bone structure. He’s waaaay too old for me anyways. You guys are the same age, right?”

Yuta laughed right back. “Watch it, kiddo. You guys aren’t that much younger than me.”

Mark watched as Yuta and Donghyuck went back and forth reciting Taeyong’s best qualities before he literally couldn’t take it anymore. “I really don’t get it. Are we talking about the same person here?”

This caused both other party members to whip around and look at Mark with mirth in their eyes.

“You have horrible taste, Mark Lee.” Donghyuck said for around the thousandth time in their lives.

Yuta glanced across the table at Donghyuck (who coincidentally was Mark’s current taste) and let out a knowing laugh. “Yeah, Mark, you have horrible taste.”

Mark glared at both of them. “I should have invited Kun so he could tell me all the humiliating work stories about you Hyuck. I feel completely outnumbered here.”

“Joke’s on you, I’m a complete angel at work. “ Donghyuck really said with his whole mouth. “He would only tell you stories about me saving lives and looking cute.”

“Are you forgetting that I was just there an hour ago? I saw him yell at you.” Mark gaffed. Donghyuck smiled right back at him.

“Well too bad he’s not here to deny anything right now. Also, I’m forbidding you from ever talking to him again.”

Before Mark could retort Taeyong returned with their food. Yuta gave him his megawatt smile and thanked the older man enough for every table in the restaurant. Taeyong looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. The rest of the meal Yuta and Donghyuck decided to have a competition to see who could steal the most food off of Mark’s plate without him noticing. Donghyuck won, and bragged very loudly about it. Yuta waited until Donghyuck left to go to the bathroom to make a very crude whipping sound at Mark.

“Oh come on, you’re one to talk,” Mark could take a lot, but hearing he was whipped from Yuta of all people was a bit too much. “You turn into a totally different person any time Taeyong is within hearing distance of you.”

“Can’t help it,” Yuta shrugged. “I’ve tried to act normal and my body doesn’t let me. The only time I come close is when I’m wasted. Or he’s wasted. Otherwise I act like a fool.”

Mark started feeling bad for Yuta and gave him a grimace. The older shook his head back at him. “Don’t feel back Markie. My life is still great even if it is loveless. You’re a good kid but worry about your own love life before you get wrapped up in mine. I’m doing just great.”

Neither of them had noticed Donghyuck returning to the table. “What love life?” He asked, eyes squinting and accusatory as he stared down Mark. “Mark better not have a love life. I would know about it if he did.”

“I’m just trying to rile him up, kid. Don’t worry, you still know Markie here the best.” Yuta came in with the save. Donghyuck eased up a bit, but he still looked a bit peeved at the thought.

“You would be the first to know if that happened. I promise.” Mark hoped that would be the case because it would be with him, but even if it wasn’t he could never hide it from Donghyuck.

The rest of the dinner wrapped up with no extra fanfare. Yuta did give Taeyong a tip larger than the entire bill even after being advised that it was a stupid idea from the two younger boys but he seemed dead set on it.

“I’m going to be his accidental sugar daddy.”

“Not on our salary you aren’t,” Mark rolled his eyes. “Just talk to him like normal or he’s going to be really freaked out by you.”

And with that they parted ways with Yuta. Two minutes later Mark receives a text from him.

Yuta:

For what it’s worth, I think hyuckie has a crush on you too… go for it man! xoxo Yuta

Mark blushed after reading it, but knew that Yuta having an hour encounter with the two of them does not mean that he’s psychic. However, he was still thinking about it hours later when he was lying in bed trying to squeeze in some sleep before his morning shift.

This whole summer Mark had been sleeping great. Before he confronted his parents he wasn’t able to sleep at all without the help of running. Ever since he decided to stay in Korea his whole sleeping schedule started to fix itself. Once he started working at Cherry Bomb! he was so exhausted that he often found himself in bed before it even got dark outside. Tonight though, all that nervous energy that used to manifest itself when thinking about his parents came back but this time all he was thinking about was what Yuta said about Hyuck.

So Mark found himself, for the first time in two months, running around the neighborhood at ungodly hours at night. His old route was still ingrained in his memory and his feet took him down the same path he used go. It was definitely harder than it used to be. Even after only a few blocks Mark found himself breathing heavily, the time off taking a toll on his stamina. Eventually he found himself a rhythm that worked for him although the pace was much slower than he was used to. His feet took him past his old house, and of course Donghyuck’s house as well. He slowed down to look at the two houses that he spent most of his childhood in and was surprised to see a figure sitting on the porch. He would know that figure anywhere and especially since he was still wearing the same clothes they ate dinner in earlier.

“Mark?” Donghyuck looked surprised.  “What are you doing here?

“Oh, I couldn’t sleep so I was running to tire myself out. I, um, like running past this place. We had so many good memories here.” Mark was awkwardly standing on the pavement in front of the front stairs until Donghyuck scooted over to the side and double tapped on the space next to him for Mark to sit.

Mark happily took him up on the offer. “Sorry, I’m sweating buckets. I’m not used to running anymore.”

“You’re always gross so I’m used to it.” Donghyuck laughed and knocked his knees into Mark’s. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Donghyuck broke it. “Mark…are you doing ok? We haven’t really talked about any of what went down with your parents. You seem like you’re doing better so I didn’t want to pry…”

Mark took a minute to try and formulate how he feels. During this time Donghyuck took it upon himself to rest his head on Mark’s shoulder and he promptly forgot everything he was going to say. He regroups and says, “I think I’m finally feeling okay. I was feeling shitty for so long that I keep thinking that something is going to come around and ruin it after I finally feel like I’m in a good place. Everything is so calm and I’m just waiting for the storm to hit.”

Donghyuck rolled his head against Mark’s shoulders so that he was gazing directly into his eyes. “If anyone deserves the calm it’s you, Mark Lee.  And if anyone tries to disturb that calm, come to me first and I’ll beat them up.”

Mark had to laugh at that. Donghyuck was probably the least qualified out of all his friends to beat anybody up, but he supposes that what he lacks in height and muscle mass, he makes up in spunk. “You’ll be the first to know. I promise.” Mark echoes the words he said earlier that evening, whilst extending his pinky out to make it a true promise. Donghyuck smiled and hooked his pinky right back.

The two boys ended up sitting on the porch for quite a while before Donghyuck broke the silence. “Think you can get some sleep now?”

“Yeah, I’m good now.” And Mark truly was. The moment his head hit the pillow that night he was quickly asleep and didn’t stir until his alarm jarred him awake in the morning.

Cherry Bomb! was having an extremely slow day. Doyoung, Yuta and Mark were the only ones at the store and were all slowly descending into madness. They had started off by trying to throw blueberries into each other’s mouths, which not only created a mess but also was slowly depleting the blueberry supply. Doyoung was showing off weird Benihana style knife tricks using spatulas until he accidentally chucked one of the spatulas on top of the rotating price sign. Naturally, they spent the next hour trying to get it down.

Doyoung ended up on Yuta’s shoulders trying to get it off the top with Mark supervising (also read as freaking out) from down below. Yuta kept laughing which caused Doyoung to sway on top of him. Doyoung would pull Yuta’s hair in retaliation, which made the Japanese man give him a quick pinch to his sides.

“You’re going to have to trust me more if we’re ever going to make this marriage work.” Yuta joked. “I don’t want to run that bed and breakfast by myself.”

“Shut up. You know your going to need my brains to keep that thing running. So don’t kill me just yet baby.” Doyoung joked right back, running his fingers through Yuta’s locks. Over the commotion nobody heart the door open.

“Um, hey guys…” All three employees slowly turned towards the entrud… customer that had entered. Mark immediately thought that was the end for them. They were going to call the owner and have them all fired. Then write a scathing Yelp review and he’s never going to work anywhere ever again. He glanced up and saw Jung Jaehyun standing in the doorway looking extremely confused.

“Oh thank god it’s just you Jaehyun.” Yuta spoke first. “If that had been a real customer all of our asses would be on the line.”

“Um, yeah, it’s just me.” Jaehyun said while looking at Yuta and Doyoung, who was still a bit shell shocked.

“Um, spatula, sign and chair not tall. So Yuta is tall. Yup.” Doyoung stuttered as if that made any sense.

Mark wanted to put Doyoung out of his misery so he turned to Jaehyun, who had yet to notice he was there. “Do you want some juice or something dude?”

Jaehyun finally turned to look at Mark and his eyes got slightly wide but he recovered quickly. “I came in here to ask you guys something, but I could probably use some juice. I’ll take a Blackberries on Blackberries.”

Mark was the only one not occupied so he went around to the other side of the counter to start making his drink.

“A little help would be nice here dude.” Yuta spoke up. “Doyoung is heavier that he looks. Ouch. If my hair falls out I’m suing you. I’ll take back my marriage proposal.”

“Aren’t you guys a little too young to get married? I didn’t even know you guys were dating.” Jaehyun asked while reaching over Yuta’s head to grab Doyoung by the waist and hoist him down to the ground.

“Hahahaha, Yuta’s just kidding. It’s an inside joke, we’re both very single.” Doyoung laughed like a maniac. Mark really couldn’t take it anymore. Poor Doyoung.

“So… Jaehyun.  You said that you came in here to ask us something?” Mark helped while pouring the blackberries into the blender.

“Oh yeah. I’m having a party this Saturday and was hoping you guys could come.” Jaehyun was always throwing a party so this didn’t really come as a surprise.  Mark, while mentally scarred from the last party thought it sounded like the perfect distraction.

“Can I bring some friends?” Mark asked, thinking of Donghyuck, Jeno, Renjun and Jaemin. “You know all of them I promise.”

“Oh yeah, I don’t care who comes.” Jaehyun smiled. Mark had finished blending the juice and handed it to the older man.

“Well you know I can’t turn down an opportunity to get drunk and forget my problems.” Yuta chimed in. “Just out of curiosity who else did you invite?”

“Um, just the usual. Johnny, Ten, Sicheng, Jungwoo, Taeil, Taeyong…” Jaehyun never got a chance to finish the sentence before Yuta interrupted him. “Oh I’ll definitely be there. Doie help me dye my hair before the party? Pleeeaaasseeee!”

Doyoung rolled his eyes. “Fine, be at my apartment Friday night.”

“Doyoung are you going to come?” Jaehyun looked at him expectantly. “It’s gonna be really fun.”

Doyoung paused and put his finger up to his chin, imitating the thinker before sighing. “Someone has to make sure that no one trashes your place. Don’t worry, I’ll be there.”

“Johnny promised he would be sober. Something about feeling old and a 30-day cleanse from alcohol or something. Come get drunk with me,” Jaehyun smiled. “It’s been awhile since both of us have been drunk together. It will be like old times.”

Doyoung looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel but nodded in silent agreement.

“Cool. I’ll see you guys Saturday.” Jaehyun said after paying Mark for his drink and headed out the door with a small wave. Doyoung collapsed down the side of the wall.

“Oh, Doie, he definitely likes you.” Yuta stated. “It will be like olllld tiiimmeeesss.”

“For once I’m with Yuta,” Mark agreed. “That was totally suspicious.”

“He’s always like that. I’m not going to get my hopes up.” Doyoung was nothing if not practical, but we had a small smile for the rest of the shift even after the spatula dislodged from it’s height and fell on his head.

Mark:

Party at Jaehyun’s this Saturday. Wanna come?

Donghyuck:

Depends.

Mark:

… ???

Donghyuck:

1: Can I stay at your house after? If I come home drunk my mom will murder me

2: Are you going to ditch me to make out with Jaehyun in a closet again? I don’t want to see that :P

Mark:

Yes to staying over. Fuck no to making out with Jaehyun.

Donghyuck:
you know this is gonna be the first party that wasn’t just us and Jeno, Jaemin and Renjun stealing Johnny’s booze.

Mark:

Did you forget you drunkenly called me the last two summers after partying too hard???

Donghyuck:
That doesn’t count… You weren’t there.

Mark’s heart fluttered a bit after reading that. Part of him realized that Donghyuck doesn’t mean it like that but he took two calming deep breathes before replying.

Mark:

Wanna come over to pregame before? Johnny’s on that cleanse shit again so he’s acting as DD.

Donghyuck:

Ugh finally that cleanse is good for something. I’ll be by at 7 <3

Once Mark realized that all his friends were going to Jaehyun’s party he started to get really excited. He couldn’t help himself. This time he wouldn’t have to watch everyone’s Snapchats half a day away, pretending he wasn’t incredibly jealous. This time he’s going to be in the Snapchats. He’s finally going to party with his friends that are the same age as him. It’s always been fun to party with Johnny and co, but he’s always felt young and stupid. Now at least Mark will be young and stupid together with his gang.

The rest of the week passed by at turtle pace, as it always seems to when there’s something to look forward to, but Saturday night finally arrived. Mark had tried on eight different outfits before he was somewhat satisfied and then waited in his room for Donghyuck to stop by. Jeno lived two blocks away from Jaehyun, so the rest of the group was going to meet up with them at the party. Donghyuck said that he was going to show up by 7, but to nobody’s surprise he ended up coming over closer to 8.

“You’re late.” Mark quipped lightly before grabbing Hyuck into a quick side hug.

“Stop pretending to be surprised.” Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “I was always late even back when we used to be neighbors. Also I don’t wake up looking this good.”

To emphasize that he did a little twirl and that gave Mark free reign to check him out. He looked great, which Mark has pretty much come to expect from his younger friend. He voiced this out loud so that Donghyuck’s efforts wouldn’t go in vein. “You look great Hyuck.”

“Thanks! You look… Is that what you’re planning on wearing?” Donghyuck replied after giving him the once over.

“What’s wrong with this?” Mark gestured to the ensemble that had taken him the better part of half an hour to put together. “I think I look good.”

“You look like Lucas dressed you. Come on, let me in your closet.” Donghyuck dragged him back up the stairs towards his room. He spent less than a minute inside Mark’s closet before throwing him a casual pair of jeans and loose tank that Mark only wore to bed in the hotter months. Mark looked at them hesitantly before shrugging and changing, because he would do pretty much anything Donghyuck asked him to.

“That’s better!” Donghyuck smiled when Mark was finally in an approved outfit. “You should show off your arms more. I’m just giving the people what they want.”

“What people?” Mark scoffed. Donghyuck shrugged and started heading back downstairs. “What people, Donghyuck?”

“You know… just the general masses. Nobody in particular. Why? Are you trying to get a boyfriend tonight?” They made it to the kitchen where Johnny and Ten were sitting on the countertop.

“Damn Mark, the guns are out!” Ten shouted. He clearly had already started drinking. “Give us a show!”

Donghyuck had started making himself a jack and coke and joined in the heckling. “Flex those biceps!”

Mark sent pleading eyes over to Johnny who just smirked back and threw him a beer out of the fridge. Once Mark cracked open the top, accidentally flexing while performing the task and he heard rowdy cheers from the other boys, including a wolf whistle from Johnny. “Oh shut up! I’m going to go put on a sweater or something.”

“Don’t you dare!” Donghyuck replied and jumped on Mark’s back to stop him from changing, resulting with more cheers from the peanut gallery. Mark finally tapped out and decided this was probably a losing fight. He might as well put up with it for a night.

Fast-forward an hour and Ten, Donghyuck, and Mark were happily buzzed.  Johnny was corralling all of them into his car and they set out for the party. Ten and Donghyuck had started loudly singing along to Michael Jackson songs and it was so infectious that even Mark, who wasn’t the biggest fan of his singing voice had joined in for the choruses. When they pulled up to Jaehyun’s house, their energy level was already at an eleven and they were definitely ready to party.

Luckily the party seemed to be on the exact same level as them and the first sight that greeted them when they entered was Jeno shotgunning a beer and everyone in the near vicinity shouting Chug! Chug! Chug! Jeno finished drinking and tipped it upside down over his head to signify that it was empty to erupting cheers. That earned him a kiss from both his boyfriends and that resulted in even more screaming from the crowd. Johnny ducked into the living room with a wave goodbye and dragged Ten with him. Jaemin and Renjun pulled Hyuck into a hug and Jeno gave Mark a quick fist bump.

“Damn, we need to catch up.” Donghyuck giggled, pulling away from the headlock that Renjun was trying to pull him into. He grabbed Mark’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze before declaring “Take me to the alcohol!”

Mark knew Jaehyun’s place like the back of his hand so he led Donghyuck through the throngs of people towards the kitchen. There was a keg near the door, but Donghyuck hated beer and would only ever drink it if there were literally nothing else. Even then he would complain the whole time and make someone else drink most of it. Once they got into the kitchen Mark spied a vat of jungle juice and poured them two glasses before handing one of them over to Hyuck.

Donghyuck took it and made a fake glass clinking noise as he tapped it against Mark’s cup. “Cheers!” He shouted before taking a sip and coughing a slight bit. “Shit that is strong as hell. Jaehyun is out for blood.”

Mark took a sip and definitely concurred that the alcohol far outweighed the rest of the contents of the mystery punch. He looked up to Donghyuck chugging half his glass before taking the ladle and topping the drink out. “Damn, Hyuck. So it’s gonna be that kind of night.”

“Yeah it is. Now drink up Lee. Here’s to a night that we need to piece together tomorrow.” If Donghyuck told him to jump off a bridge Mark would probably consider it. However if all he was asking was for Mark to get smashed, he would gladly partake.

“Markkkkk!” Came a shout from behind him. Mark turned around before he was brought into a bone-crushing hug.  His drink spilled half its contents on the floor and Mark had to steady himself so he didn’t go crashing down on the floor. He took a step back to see that his mystery man was in fact Yuta.

“Having fun Yuta?” Mark laughed at his clearly intoxicated coworker who nodded back enthusiastically. His hair was now lavender which was no doubt Doyoung’s work and it looked great on him. “Love the hair man. Has it won Taeyong over yet?”

Yuta’s eyes lit up after hearing his crush’s name. “Dunno haven’t seen him yet. Imma go find him.” And just like that he was gone. Mark turned around to laugh about it with Donghyuck but the younger had disappeared into the crowd. Mark sighed and then topped off his drink, which had mostly been sacrificed to the party gods. He scans the crowd before sighting Taeil sitting on the couch.

“I thought you didn’t do parties.” Mark said as he sat next to him on the couch.

“Jaehyun begged me. I just couldn’t say no to him.” Taeil smiled. “I didn’t know everyone that’s ever gone to our high school in the past decade would be here though.”

“Yeah his parties are always this wild.” Mark laughed. His eyes were still searching the party trying to see where Donghyuck had run off too. He didn’t find him but he did see Doyoung and Jaehyun near the bear pong table. They spotted him as well and waved him over.

“Mark! Taeil! Come play against ussss.” Jaehyun shouted from across the room. It was clear he wasn’t going to take no as an answer so Mark pulled Taeil up from the couch and dragged him through the throngs of people to where his friends were waiting.

“You think we can take them?” Mark asked Taeil who shook his head right back. “Love the lack of confidence…Let’s get it!”

Jaehyun had his arm around Doyoung and his boss had a slight blush that most would just attribute to the alcohol. Mark and Taeil both knew better though.

Jaehyun rolled the ping-pong balls to them and flashed them a cocky smile. “You guys can start first since we’re going to win anyways.”

“Oooookay, now it’s actually on. You guys are going down.” So Mark may have a competitive streak and Jaehyun definitely knew what to say to add fuel to that flame. Unfortunately Taeil had no aim to speak of. In fact Mark was pretty sure he’s never thrown a ball before in his life. Every time it left his hands a new person got hit in the back of the head. Mark was trying to hold down the team, but Team Dojae was kicking their ass.

“Re-rack please! Make it a diamond!” Doyoung had a very determined look on his face and he was making a diamond with his fingers. Mark could tell that he was a bit tipsy because Jaehyun was all over him and he wasn’t freaking out completely. Every time Doyoung successfully took a cup Jaehyun would give him a lingering hug. The last one he landed in Jaehyun lifted Doyoung up and spun him in circles. Sober Doyoung would definitely be flustered but tipsy Doyoung was eating it up.

“Should we be worried about that?” Mark whispered to Taeil who had just finished apologizing to the latest victim of his curveball.

Taeil shook his head. “Let him have his fun. I have a good feeling about tonight.”

Mark decided to trust Taeil and let Doyoung continue flirting with the love of his life. They were four cups behind so Mark decided to focus on his aim instead. Just as they were about to lose he felt hands circle around his waist from behind. He turned around to see Donghyuck staring back at him.

“Wow you guys suck.” He said, while still keeping his arms tightly wrapped around Mark’s torso.

“Yeah they do!” Jaehyun shouted from the other side of the table. “We were hoping for a challenge. This is pathetic.”

“Hey you can’t call my best friend pathetic!” Doyoung pouted. “Only I can do that!”

Just as the words came out of Donghyuck’s mouth, Doyoung bounced the ball into the front cup claiming the win. “Okay, that was completely pathetic Mark. I’m with Jaehyun on this one.” Mark looked over to congratulate the two on the win but witnessed Doyoung give Jaehyun a quick kiss on the cheek. Jaehyun gave one back and they were both looking a bit shell-shocked so Mark decided not to intrude. He turned to Taeil but he was talking to someone so the beer pong team was officially no more.

“Come on loser,” Donghyuck grabbed his arm and pulled him through the crowd. “A bunch of kids from our grade are playing games upstairs.”

The upstairs of the party was much more mellow than the first floor. The music could still be heard but it wasn’t at a deafening level. Donghyuck was still holding onto his hand even though there really was no need. Only a couple of people littered the hallways. They got to a room at the end of the hallway and opened to door to a lot of familiar faces. All of his friends his age were there and then some. There was a chorus of people yelling “Mark!” when he entered and if he was feeling more level-headed it might have made him tear up.

He picked a seat between Lucas (and Jungwoo who was practically sitting on his lap) and Jaemin before Donghyuck forced the couple to move down so he could sit on Mark’s right. The other half of the circle was playing some sort of elaborate card game that Mark was pretty sure was made up on the spot to get everyone to drink more as the rules made absolutely no sense and kept changing. Mark closed his eyes for a second to take this all in. He was going to miss these goofballs when they were all over the country.

He looked to his left and saw Renjun had been trying to get his attention. “Hello, earth to Mark!” He said while waving his hands in front of his face. “You didn’t hear jack shit of what I just said, did you?”

“Sorry, Injun. What’s up?” Mark replied sheepishly. He needed to stop thinking of the future and live in the present.

“In a couple of weeks before everyone leaves we’re having a sleepover. You in? Keep in mind that we won’t take no for an answer.” Mark as someone who has been on the other side of Renjun’s wrath before knows that he’s telling the truth.

“Of course. Wouldn’t miss it,” Mark smiled. “Let me know dates so I can request off work.”

“Yes! That’s settled then,” Renjun replied and then clapped his hands together. “Now let’s play a game and not whatever the hell is happening over there. Yo Park stop conning everybody and let’s all do something fun.”

“Let’s play seven minutes in heaven!” Someone shouted from the other side of the room.

“NO!” Mark blurted out involuntarily. Everyone turned towards him waiting for an explanation. “Just have some veryyyy bad memories. Anything but that. Please.”

“Fine Truth or Dare it is since Markie here can’t handle anything else.” Jaemin decided. It was very hard to say no to Jaemin so everyone else was on board.  It could be worse so Mark found himself agreeing with the peanut gallery.

“I’ll go first then.” Jaemin said with his trademark smile. “Lucas, truth or dare.”

“Dare, man!” Lucas replied to nobody’s surprise.

“Get on top of the bed strip for everyone. I’ll even let you pick the song,” Jaemin smirked as Jungwoo groaned out. “Don’t encourage him Jaemin.”

“Too easy!” Lucas got up on the bed as Jungwoo put on some sort of techno song that had some very questionable English lyrics that Mark was glad most of his friends couldn’t understand because they were certainly making him blush. Lucas slowly took off his shirt and the room erupted in cheers. He threw it at Jaemin who howled when he caught it.

Donghyuck leaned over and whispered in Mark’s ear. “I already have to see this at work everyday… Can the next person dare him to put back on his shirt?”

Mark laughed and whispered back, “If I get the chance I’ll do it for you.”

The very next turn Lucas dared Chenle to go downstairs and get some fireball and give everyone a shot. “That’s not even a real dare you idiot!” Chenle tried to argue.

“Too bad!” Lucas laughed. “We need to drink!”

“Yeah we all need to drink to forget your strip tease.” Donghyuck retorted out of the side of his mouth. ( Hey! It was hot!)  Chenle laughed and went down and got the alcohol.

After they were all plied with drink courtesy of Chenle via Lucas’s dare everyone started to get even wilder. No matter if you picked truth or dare everyone was ruthless with the questions.

Jisung was forced to lick the floor. Arin had to admit which teacher she would go on a date from their high school (everyone seemed to have a different opinion about that one.) Yerim had to upload an ugly picture to her Instagram. Jihoon was forced to drink a “mystery concoction” which almost made him throw up. Tzuyu had to call an ex boyfriend and ask him for money. Jeno was asked if he had to go out with only one boyfriend, whom would he choose? He refused to pick and had to drink an entire cup of some vile mixed drink which he happily downed as he was hugged to death by both of his boys.

Mark was having so much fun laughing at everyone’s expense and Donghyuck’s ongoing commentary that he was not prepared for someone to pick him.

“Mark! Truth or Dare?” Jeno asked. Oh shit he was now up. Truth was the easy road out. Except what if they asked Mark if he had a crush on someone and he had to admit that he loved Donghyuck. He could always lie… Who was he kidding? Mark couldn’t tell a lie. At least not without everyone guessing it was one. Well that made things complicated.

“Dare!” Mark answered.

He looked over to see Renjun whispering into Jeno’s ear. That couldn’t be good. “Ok Mark. Kiss the person you are most attracted to in the room.”

Mark gulped and started looking around the room. He would rather die than kiss anyone in the Norenmin trio so he quickly passed them by. He then eliminated Jisung and Chenle because they were still kids to him. He passed by his old basketball teammates and every girl in the circle. He was pretty sure some of the people in the room were friends with his ex girlfriend so he dismissed them as well. He looked at Lucas and Jungwoo and didn’t want the kind of drama kissing either of them would bring. That left…. Hyuck. He glanced at the person who to his right who looked like he was trying to guess who Mark would pick.

“Anytime now Mark.” He could hear Jisung’s voice from across the room. “Who are you going to pick?”

“Mark?” Donghyuck looked into his eyes. Mark decided to stop thinking. This was the moment. He pulled at Donghyuck’s shirt bringing their faces closer. Mark leaned in and brought their lips together for a brief moment. Donghyuck gasped and Mark leaned away to look at his face. Donghyuck was still looking at his lips so Mark decided to give it a second go. This time Hyuck met him halfway and responded to his lips. They only kissed for a couple of seconds but it was enough for Mark to taste the cinnamon on his lips before both pulling away. The crowd was hushed as if nobody expected Mark to pick Donghyuck.

Mark cleared his throat. Everyone was staring at him, which made him want to freak out. Instead he opened his mouth, smiled and asked “Woojin, truth or dare?”

After he made Woojin show everyone his recent search history on his phone Mark went back to freaking out. Donghyuck had stopped his running commentary next to him and was eerily quiet. He kept sneaking glances at Mark, which made him very self-conscious. It wasn’t until he heard his name being called that Donghyuck finally spoke again.

“Hyuckie, truth or dare?” Sohye called. She had just had to write her name with her butt and was still blushing from it.

Donghyuck paused for a second before answering “Truth.”

“On a scale from one to ten how good of a kisser is Mark?” Mark choked. He didn’t remember Sohye being this ruthless. So much for old lab partners sticking together that traitor. He glared at Sohye, who winked at him and then turned her attention to Donghyuck who was frozen.

“Um, it was too short to rate.” Donghyuck laughed.

“Cop out!” Renjun called. “You just have to answer.”

“Or Mark could make it longer if that helps you judge.” Jaemin chimed in.

“Hey! Only one question at a time.” Donghyuck glared. “Um, a 7? I guess?”

Mark’s face fell. It was the shortest but most meaningful kiss in his life and it was a 7? He tried not to dwell on it but he barely heard Donghyuck dare Lee Chan to breakdance in the center of the room. Maybe if he hadn’t been so awkward it would be better. If…When they kiss again he would make sure it would rock his world. 10 wouldn’t even be a high enough scale to rate it.

After the next couple of rounds the game started to break up. Everyone had gotten a bit too sloppy to coherently think of questions to ask. The whole group was a very giggly mess. Mark was pulled into about a million selcas that he was sure he was going to regret the next day after seeing them. It came to his attention that it could be one of the last times he sees some of these people. Mark was positive he would keep in contact with all his close friends, but some of these people he just knew through school. It put him in a very weird mood.

“Mark! Donghyuck! There you guys are.” Johnny’s head popped into the room. “Ten is so far gone. If you want a ride meet me in front in 10.”

Mark glanced over at Donghyuck who had his head resting on Jaemin’s shoulder listening to whatever story Jaemin was so animatedly spinning. “Hyuck? Ready to go? Johnny is outside.”

‘Yeah let’s go.” Donghyuck lifted himself off Jaemin and headed towards the door. Mark quickly said his goodbyes to the people he thought would remember it and then caught up to Hyuck. When they got to the bottom of the stairs the rest of the party was still raging, albeit not quite as hard as it was before they went upstairs. Mark found a surge of bravery and grabbed Donghyuck’s hand. The younger boy looked hesitant at first but quickly squeezed his hand right back. Mark led him through the party, past Doyoung who was sitting on Jaehyun’s lap, past Taeil who was dancing to the beat with Yuta, past Taeyong who was texting someone and past throngs of people he had never seen before until he finally reached the door and fresh air.

Johnny had pulled his car up in front of the residence and Ten was sticking his head out the window yelling something incoherent at them. They climbed into the back seat and made it through the entire ride home before Mark finally unwrapped his hand from around Donghyuck’s. They didn’t say a word to each other, as they got ready for bed. Mark finally turned off the lights and slipped into his bed that Donghyuck was already lying in.

All Mark could hear was the ticking of the clock on his wall that seemed to match his own pounding heartbeat. He didn’t dare say a word. He finally turned his body to glance at Donghyuck to see if he was asleep only to find that he was very much awake and staring back at him.

“Hey…” Mark couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Hey…” Donghyuck returned. They spent the next minute in silence before Donghyuck finally spoke up. “Why did you pick me tonight?”

Mark gulped. This was it. This was the moment that he told Donghyuck he was the most beautiful boy he’s ever seen in his life. That it didn’t matter what room Mark was in, he would always pick Hyuck as the person he was most attracted to. Except that this wasn’t the moment. They were both tipsy and tired. Mark had thought of a million different scenarios of how to ask Donghyuck out and none of them were when they had been drinking. So he chickened out.

“Um, I don’t know. Thought it would be the least awkward after with someone I was good friends with and everyone else was a couple,” Mark lied.

“Oh.” Hyuck turned his body to face the ceiling, so Mark did the same. “That makes sense.”

The two of them fell into a extremely heavy silence, full of things that Mark didn’t say but so very much wanted to. He finally allowed himself to ask one thing that was on his mind.

“Hyuck?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you really think that kiss was only a 7?” Mark questioned. “I’ve been told I’m a pretty good kisser…”

Donghyuck laughed at this. “Did I bruise your ego Markie?”

“No! I mean yeah, a little bit. I, um, just enjoyed it more than a 7 so now I’m rethinking every kiss I’ve ever given wondering if they thought it was a 7 or not…”

“Well rest assured you still have great kissing skills. I, um, only gave it a 7 because it was too short…” Mark whipped his head towards Donghyuck who was still looking at the ceiling, but now his face was adorned with a slight flush.

“So… if it was longer you would probably rate it higher.” Mark now also had quite the flush attack his cheeks.

“Maybe…” Donghyuck trailed off before rolling over to face Mark and dropped this bomb. “I wouldn’t really be able to tell unless it actually happened.”

“So if I were to kiss you… right now… for longer then we would both know…” Mark was full on blushing. He was also hoping he was reading this right.

“Yes.” Hyuck whispered, their faces were inches apart. “That’s probably the only solution.”

Mark summoned all the courage he’d ever had and cupped his hand to Donghyuck’s cheek, brushing an eyelash off with his thumb. Hyuck leaned into his hand giving it a little nuzzle before looking Mark directly in the eyes. Mark saw the vulnerability in his friend’s eyes for the first time ever. He took one more look at him before leaning in and capturing his lips. This time Donghyuck was ready and eager to return his affection. They were still laying in bed, side by side and Mark took the hand that was on Donghyuck’s cheek and moved it to the small of his back, rubbing circles over the exposed skin.

The kiss started off just as soft as the one they had shared previously but after a minute it picked up in pace. Mark poured out all his feelings that he’s been hiding for the past two years and Donghyuck returned them just as eagerly.  Donghyuck slipped his tongue over Mark’s lips and Mark opened his mouth in response. The position itself was a bit uncomfortable but Mark didn’t want to move just in case it would cause the kiss to stop. They were full on making out now and Mark hadn’t been happier in quite some time. Donghyuck let out a small moan, which unfortunately caused both of them to pull away from each other.

They were staring into each other’s eyes, neither person speaking a word. Donghyuck finally broke the contact and rolled back over to look at the ceiling. Mark followed suit, not wanting Donghyuck to catch him staring for too long.

“Um, how was it? Still a 7?” Mark tried to make a joke but his voice came out shaky and breathless unable to hide the truth behind the question.

“I… don’t think you have to worry about being a bad kisser Mark.” Donghyuck still wasn’t looking at him and Mark wasn’t sure if he wanted him to start. “I’ll move it up to a 9.”

“I’ll take it.” Mark would have given it a solid 100 out of 10 if he could but he would take a 9 out of 10. It was still technically an A.

Neither of them spoke another word and drifted off into sleep full of questions unanswered between the two. When Mark woke up the next morning Donghyuck had already gone. He checked his phone to see if the younger boy had texted him any clues to his whereabouts but was saddened to find nothing. He opened up their text messages trying to think of something to send. Mark found himself completely speechless not knowing what to say.

The next week was incredibly awkward to say the least with neither friend reaching out to each other. Mark was confused and for once he couldn’t spill his guts to his best friend. This summer had made him forget how awful it was to bottle things up inside. Mark had been so used to keeping secrets, but after spilling his guts to Hyuck about his parents, and then talking about his crush to his coworkers it felt like regressing to not shout from the rooftops that this life-altering kiss had happened. It was like he had been climbing a staircase and once he got to the top stair, he slipped bringing him all the way down to the bottom not knowing if he should climb again.

Mark’s coworkers must have known something had happened because Mark had showed up at work that week as a slightly dimmer version of himself that they weren’t used to seeing. The one topic that did make Mark revert back to the boy he was earlier that summer was finding out how well things were going for Doyoung.

He grilled his supervisor the next time he saw him. “So…Doyoung…You were looking pretty cozy with Jaehyun at his party.”

Doyoung blushed and tried to hide a small smile that involuntarily appeared on his face. “It’s going alright. We’re not dating or anything but I think he might be interested. I’m going to make him work for it though. I don’t want him if the feelings are fleeting.”

Yuta made jokes about kicking him out of the Unrequited Love Club but was genuinely happy for him. “Just as long as he knows that I was your first husband at heart. He’s going to have to go through me too.”

Doyoung threw a wet towel at Yuta’s head muttering about how everything he says was all nonsense but he did grab him into a quick side hug, which Yuta quickly took over and tried to squeeze the lights out of him. Mark was happy that at least this part of his life was very normal. None of his coworkers asked him anything about Donghyuck as if they had sensed the reason for Mark’s melancholic attitude. Johnny seemed to also know that something was up because he kept dragging Mark along to his dates with Ten.

With his friends and work keeping him so busy during the day, all of Mark’s worries were kept bottled up until he was lying in bed trying to get to sleep. Angry visions appeared in his subconscious telling him that Donghyuck is never going to love him back, so why even try. Those were bad enough but on some nights Mark had convinced himself that Donghyuck was never going to want to be friends with him again either. So Mark had restarted his running regiment and it was the only thing that was keeping him sane. He had to change his route though, not wanting to run past Hyuck’s house in the off chance that he was sitting outside and confronted Mark about never wanting to see him again.

Mark was getting dressed to go on his nightly run when he heard his phone go off. He ignored it and continued to get ready. He returned to the phone to see that he had a missed voicemail from an unknown number. He glanced at the clock, seeing that it was 12:45 in the morning, an odd time for someone to call. Mark checked his voicemail only to hear this.

“Mark. This is your mother calling. Your father and I arrived in Seoul yesterday. We have a packed schedule but we will be having dinner at La Yeon tomorrow at 7pm. If you do manage to attend please wear a suit, as it is a fancier place and you wouldn’t want to stick out. Please text this number with your answer of whether or not you can make it. Thank you.”

Beep.

Shit. Of course his parents came to Seoul without telling him. Of course they gave him absolutely no notice before doing so. And of course they insisted on meeting him in the most uncomfortable location ever. Mark knew they probably did this so that he wouldn’t make a scene. For the first time this week Mark mind was thinking of something other than his kiss with Donghyuck. Awkwardness be damned he really needed to his best friend.

So Mark ran. He ran faster than he had run all summer. He ran down the path that was so ingrained in his mind that he could probably have run it blindfolded. He wasn’t sure what his plan was. He realized halfway there that he had forgotten his phone at home. He supposes that he could throw pebbles at Donghyuck’s room again, as it had worked the last time he was having a parental freak out. When he arrived it turned out that he shouldn’t have worried. He saw the figure of his best friend sitting on the steps; very reminiscent of the last time he had run past his house. That seemed like ages ago when in reality it had been about a week.

Donghyuck finally turned his head to see Mark, breathing heavy and staring at him. He let out a small gasp, clearly not expecting a late night intruder. “Mark? What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“No.” Mark responded truthfully. Donghyuck’s eyes widened slightly and scooted over enough to make room for Mark to sit next to him comfortably on the steps.

“Is this about what happened between us last week?” Donghyuck was always known to be blunt, which is why it was so unexpected to not hear anything from him the past week. He had expected this confrontation the morning after their kiss, not a week later after Mark had shown up unexpectedly and forced his hand,

“No.” Mark responded. Donghyuck’s eyes narrowed and Mark could see his hands ball into fists. Then he realized how wrong that sounded. “I mean that’s definitely part of it! I’ve been in agony the past week. It’s just… something else happened.”

Donghyuck waited for Mark to continue, still looking slightly suspicious and slightly ready to throw fists. So Mark spilled his guts. “My parents just called me. My mom left me a message. Apparently they are currently in Seoul and want to know if I can meet them tomorrow at some fancy ass restaurant. I’m freaking out.”

“They just called you right now? And they want to meet you tomorrow?” Donghyuck scoffed. “Are you going to go?”

“I don’t know. Part of me knows the only reason they asked me is to make themselves feel better. Like they can ask to see me once and if I say no they can make me out to be this horrible son who doesn’t want to see his parents.” Mark confessed his concerns. “And I know the reason why they chose La Yeon is because they know I won’t throw a fit in a place that I can’t even afford the napkins at.”

“Oh shit, they’re taking you to La Yeon? You should go just so you can eat the food there. Can I come with?” Donghyuck joked.

“Can you?” Mark hadn’t thought of that. “Please Hyuck? The only way I’ll get through this is if you’re by my side. I know this last week has been confusing? Lonely? I don’t know but it’s been horrible. I hope it’s not too awkward for you to spend time with me and this is the biggest favor ever… but would you please come with me so I don’t have to face my parents alone.”

Mark was practically begging at this point. Donghyuck was still not facing him so he got out of his seat and kneeled on the step in front of Hyuck. Donghyuck caught his eye and the two of them blushed. Mark had missed that face so much this past week so he didn’t dare to look away for even one moment. “Please Donghyuck. I can’t ask anyone but you.”

“I’ll be there.” Donghyuck responded, looking Mark directly in the eyes as he accepted. “I do have one condition though.”

“Anything,” Mark said. He meant it. He would do anything for Donghyuck.

“After this all goes down we need to talk. Properly. I want to air out everything that happened between us.” Donghyuck’s eyes were determined and unwavering.

“I promise.” Mark returned the sentiment. He then got out his keys from the pocket of his sweatshirt and took the tip of the largest key and made a tiny but deep slice into the webbing between his ring and middle finger.

“Mark, oh my god. What are you doing? Is this is blood oath? But you made fun of me so much for forcing you to do this as kids.” Donghyuck looked slightly horrified but took the key that Mark was holding out for him with no hesitation.

“That’s how serious I am about this Hyuckie.” Mark watched as Donghyuck made a tiny cut in the exact same location as Mark’s. He then intertwined their injured hands together in a promise for the future.

“You can never make fun of me about this ever again, Mark Lee.” Donghyuck laughed, their hands still intertwined. His face then turned sour. “What the hell am I going to wear?”

After Mark finally calmed Donghyuck down after his mini wardrobe freak out he ran home to find his phone in waiting for him in his bed. He took a minute to calm himself before texting the random number his parents were contacting him from.

Mark:

I’m bringing Donghyuck. We will be there at 7.

The next day Mark was a ball of nerves. He mentioned the whole situation to Johnny who insisted on driving them to the restaurant. “I’ll eat with Ten nearby, so if you need to escape at anytime we’ll be right there.” Mark found an old suit that he had bought for a basketball banquet he had to attend when their team won a major competition. Ten had a suit that he thought Donghyuck would fit so he went over there early to help him get ready. When it was finally time to leave and pick up the other boys Mark was so visibly shaken that Johnny had to help him to the car.

The drive to Donghyuck’s passed by in a flash and just like that Mark found himself knocking on the door of Donghyuck’s house, palms sweating, and being a whole nervous wreck. He looked up as the door opened to see Donghyuck dressed in a suit, hair done and a full face of makeup. He looked exquisite. Mark gaped for almost a minute before Donghyuck rolled his eyes and pulled him inside.

“You look amazing Hyuck.” Mark admitted, not able to take his eyes off of him.

Donghyuck actually looked shy, which was a new look that Mark was not used to seeing. “Thanks. You look great too.”

The two of them just stared at each other until Ten popped up from the other room insisting on taking pictures of the two of them. Mark decided that this would have been exactly what would happen if he stayed in Canada and went to prom. His date, whoever it would have been, would definitely not look as stunning as Donghyuck does at this very moment.

“We’re gonna be late guys.” Ten urged them outside and into the car that Johnny had kept running.

“Wow, you guys look great!” Johnny smiled while setting off towards the restaurant. “Did you take pictures Ten?”

“He took like 300 of them.” Donghyuck complained and rolled his eyes towards Mark who laughed.  His nervousness was still present, but just being near Hyuck was calming him down enough to keep it under wraps. They arrived in front of the restaurant precisely at 6:55. Mark let out a deep breath before entering through the door into his personal nightmare.

Mark quickly talked to the maître d, mentioning his parents name for the reservation. They were already there so they were led to the table where he saw his parents for the first time in about a year.  

Mark didn’t know what he was going to feel after seeing them. They looked exactly the same. Mark didn’t know why he assumed that they would look different. Or that somehow the year apart would make them unrecognizable. But here they were sitting down as if they hadn’t made the last few years of his life miserable. When they saw Donghyuck and Mark they stood up and Mark’s dad stuck his hand out and Mark shook it, not knowing what else to do.

Mark and Donghyuck took a seat in the two empty chairs across from his parents. For a minute nobody said a word. It was the most uncomfortable silence in the history of silences. Mark’s fingernails dug into his palms in an attempt to calm himself down. Donghyuck reached over and clasped his hand. Mark gave him a small smile filled with gratitude at the kind gesture.

After the tension filled silence was too unbearable to continue Mark finally faced his fears and asked “So why are you guys in town?”

His voice came out vapid and unfeeling, which was pretty akin to what his mood was at the time. His parent’s spared a glance at one another before his mom answered. “Your father is on a business trip. We leave tomorrow.”

“Oh. Okay.” What else was there to say? Mark couldn’t think of a single topic to bring up in front of his family. Luckily their waiter came to take their drink orders and it livened up the table the slightest bit.

Mark’s parents talked between themselves about what dishes they heard were good from a friend of a friend and Mark put all of his concentration into reading every minute detail of the menu. Once they ordered a lull fell over the table once again.

“Are you planning on going to college Mark?” His dad asked, about six months too late.

“Mark and I are both going to colleges in Seoul.” Donghyuck answered for both of them. He then went on to explain what program he was excited about starting and other facts about their colleges. Mark has never been more grateful that Donghyuck was spearheading the conversation.

When the food finally arrived they exchanged pleasantries about the taste. Anything else that was brought up usually ended after one sentence, the conversation drying up.

“Did you know that Robbie Clarence is getting married?” Mark’s mom asked.

Robbie Clarence offered him heroin on their first meeting and kept asking Mark to speak Chinese so he definitely didn’t try to keep up with his social happenings of the other boy. “Um, no I didn’t.”

Awkward pause…Mark decided to try to start a conversation. “It’s nice that they are giving you travel opportunities at work, Dad.”

“Well they tend to do that when you’re the vice president.” His dad gloated.

“I didn’t know that you got promoted.” Mark tried to be nice. “Congratulations.”

“You probably would have been more informed if you hadn’t abandoned Canada and your family this summer.” His mom slipped in, as if it was a casual comment and not a declaration of war.

Mark stood up quickly; gripping the edge of the table so hard he felt the tablecloth shift towards him. Three heads turned to look in his direction, all mirroring the exact same concerned expression. Donghyuck looked concerned for him, while he knew his parent’s concern was more towards the scene that he was causing.

“Bathroom,” Mark blurted out. “I need to use the bathroom.”

He sent what he hoped was an apologetic expression towards Hyuck before walking as briskly as he could without standing out towards the restrooms located in the corner. Mark had never tried breathing exercises before, but decided this was the time to start. After a quick Google search he found himself following along to the six step instructions in a tutorial on How To: Not Freak Out In A Public Place. Step 6 called for Mark to splash his face with cold water. Surprisingly he did find himself calming down after that. He carefully dried his face with the softest paper towels ever found in a public restroom and made his way back to the table.

He paused for a second right behind his parents who were listening very intently to something Donghyuck was saying. Hyuck had his phone out and was pointing it towards his parents and talking quite animatedly.

“This is a picture of Mark from his last basketball game. He scored 36 points, which was only 3 points off of breaking the school record. The rest of the team carried him on their shoulder. It was incredible to see live. This next picture is of Mark’s final science project. He worked on it for two days straight, barely sleeping. Johnny had to physically force him to go to bed so he didn’t pass out from exhaustion. It was worth it thought because he got an A and almost moved Mr. Choi to tears. Here’s a picture of him at our graduation that my mom took because she was there. Those are the rest of our friends just in case you don’t remember what they look like because it’s been so long since you’ve seen them.”

Donghyuck stopped for only a minute, his fingers swiping through his pictures before finding one more that he deemed worthy to share. “Last, but not least, here’s a picture of Mark on his first day of work because he needed to find a job after you cut him off. It looks ridiculous right? But somehow Mark can pull it off. Because Mark can literally do anything because he has a great support system of his friends and family, excluding you. I didn’t show you this to have you catch up on his life. I showed you this because I need you to know that everything Mark’s accomplished has been in spite of you and he will continue to go on to bigger and better things regardless of if you’re in his life or not. So make a decision and stick with it because you can’t keep hurting him. He doesn’t deserve this.”

Mark stared at Donghyuck in awe. The younger now had tears glistening in his eyes but that did nothing to thwart the look of determination that shone through. Mark knew what he had to do. The mixed up thoughts in his head quickly unjumbled themselves and found a clarity that he has never known. Before he stepped back into the conversation, his dad spoke up.

“You have no right to talk to us like that, young man.” He had never heard his dad speak in such a venomous tone before. “We invited you to this nice dinner and you have been nothing but rude to us. Don’t intrude into our family business pretending you have any idea what is going on.”

“You didn’t invite me. Mark did, because he needed someone who was actually on his side. And if anybody doesn’t have a fucking clue about what’s going on, it’s you.” Donghyuck stood up, the tears finally overflowing and his look of determination morphed into pure anger. Mark decided to step in before this got more out of hand.

“Mom. Dad.” That got their attention. Mark took his time walking around the table and standing squarely next to Donghyuck before proceeding. “I was really worried when you asked me to dinner. Actually, I was a nervous wreck. I was a nervous wreck whenever I had to even think about talking to you for the past few years. The closer it got to summer the more miserable I became.”

“Oh, that’s rich.” His mom snorted. “Being with your family is miserable now, is it?”

“Now that I’m here,” Mark continued, ignoring the snide remark. “I feel like I can finally breathe again for the first time since you decided to leave me here all those years ago. This summer was the best thing that ever happened to me. Donghyuck is the best thing that ever happened to me. He’s actually been here whenever I needed him so you don’t get to speak to him like that.”

At this time the tables nearest to them were all clearly trying to eavesdrop on this conversation. Mark probably would too if he was in their shoes. His parents looked worried and his mother leaded over the table and whispered, “This is not the time or the place for a tantrum, Mark. We raised you better than this.”

Mark had to laugh at that. “You guys are going to listen to what I have to say right here and now. First of all, you didn’t raise me at all. I can’t believe you have the audacity to even say that. We haven’t been a family in a very long time. I was worried about what I would say to you today, but now everything is so clear. I’m done trying to make this work. Next time you’re in Korea, please don’t contact me. And if I’m ever in Canada I’m certainly not going to contact you. This relationship is so toxic and has been eating me up inside for the past five years, but you guys still don’t care about me and probably never will. So I’m going to stop pushing myself to care as well. This is my final goodbye.”

“You can’t cut us out of your life,” Mark’s dad looked appalled. “What would our friends say about that?”

“Well now I’m 100% sure I’m making the right decision. You care more about what your friends think and the fact that I’m airing this out in a public place than you do about me. Tell them that I moved to Antarctica, or that I became a Buddhist Monk. Or you can tell them the fucking truth that you are horrible people who never really loved their own flesh and blood. I guess I should thank you for finally making this decision easy for me. Goodbye.” And with that Mark grabbed Donghyuck’s hand and led him out of the restaurant and away from the thorns in his side forever.

Donghyuck hadn’t stopped crying since his confrontation before Mark’s speech. He somehow still looked beautiful though. Mark couldn’t take his eyes off him as he wiped away his tears.  “We should probably contact Johnny now.” Mark belatedly realized that they needed a ride home after ditching.

“I texted him five minute ago in the restaurant when you started talking,” Donghyuck hiccupped out. “I thought we might need to make a run for it.

For some reason that did Mark in and he starts laughing. It wasn’t his normal laugh but a maniacal one that was usually reserved for when he saw someone fall down and it takes him by surprise, forcing out the sound involuntarily. It was dark and twisted and now Mark can’t stop laughing. He should be devastated, but instead he was laughing and laughing finding himself unable to stop. His laughing slowly morphed into something akin to a short breathy sobs and he finds himself enveloped in a hug courtesy of Donghyuck.

Mark decided that today was the day he stopped hiding his emotions so he let himself cry into Donghyuck’s arms, not worrying about any passersby’s.  He barely remembers getting in Johnny’s car and he definitely doesn’t remember the ride home or Donghyuck wriggling out of his grip when they arrive at his house. He has a vague flash of Johnny carrying him up the stairs, stripping off his suit and tucking him into bed while Ten whispers encouragements into his ears. Mark doesn’t know how long he cried, but he eventually falls into a deep slumber, allowing nothing to awaken him.

When he finally does wake up the next day, morning has long since given way to afternoon. He wakes up with a splitting headache that always tends to come from sobbing your eyes out. He relishes his dark room for a few minutes longer before finally deciding to join to ranks of the living.

Johnny was sitting on the couch downstairs and he turned towards Mark when he heard the footsteps and gave him a long hug. “How are you doing today, kiddo?”

“I don’t know yet,” Mark admitted. “Thanks for helping me out last night.”

“Donghyuck told us what went down. I’m so sorry Mark. You don’t deserve any of this.” Johnny gave him a sad smile and ruffled his hair. “Anything you need just say the word and I’ll get it for you.”

“Am I a bad person if I say I’m relieved?” Mark genuinely wanted to know. “I don’t regret anything I said and I’m not really even mad at them I’m just so glad it’s over. It’s the first time in forever I haven’t had a dark cloud in my peripheral vision. I can finally be free.”

“That doesn’t make you a bad person at all.” If Mark didn’t know Johnny so well he would swear that his cousin sounded choked up. “You don’t owe them anything Mark. Letting all of that off your chest was incredibly brave.”

“Thanks for everything Johnny.” Mark said with the utmost sincerity. “The only reason I could do any of that was because you gave me a home here.”

“Anytime, kiddo. Anytime.” Johnny replied.

While Johnny made him lunch Mark was deep in thought. Confronting his parents cleared his conscious drastically, but there was one big secret still on his mind. He was going to confess to Hyuck. Although he started the summer with only a two-step plan, Mark’s summer seemed to go through more steps than are required to run a marathon but he still hasn’t said the most important words yet.

“Johnny, how did you confess to Ten?” Mark asked.

Johnny stopped stirring and put down his wooden spoon before sitting next to Mark. “It wasn’t romantic in the least bit. I kind of just blurted out that I was in love with him. He said it was about time and then kissed the daylights out of me.”

“That sounds like Ten,” Mark laughed.

“You know Ten and Donghyuck are a lot alike,” Johnny analyzed. “Back when Ten and I were just friends he was so outgoing and I thought there might be something between us but I was sure he would tell me if there was. I thought that since he was so brazen the second he had a crush on me he would just confess so I wasted years not doing anything about it. After we got together I asked him why he never told me he liked me back and he said that he was waiting for me to catch up. He thought he was being obvious and that he thought I knew and chose to ignore him. In reality he was scared shitless just like me, it’s just hidden under all that bravado. So just because Donghyuck is a spitfire and doesn’t hold anything back, doesn’t mean he isn’t just as scared as you are about things changing. If this whole summer proves nothing else it’s that Hyuck will stick with you through thick and thin, just give him a chance to do so.”

Mark really took Johnny’s advice to heart. He was almost more scared of this conversation with Hyuck than he was disowning his own parents. Part of Mark realized that the weight wouldn’t completely lift off his shoulders unless he confesses. “Alright I’m going to do it. I’m going to tell Donghyuck that I love him.”

“That’s the spirit!” Johnny cheered. “Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

“Do you have any poster board?”

Mark was nervous. This seemed to be a common theme in his life. He spent the last three hours making an incredibly over the top poster board confession that would hopefully be worthy of Donghyuck. It was a lot harder than he thought it would be. He thinks back to all the times Donghyuck made one for him and all the effort that must have taken.

He flashes back to Mark’s first ever basketball game when they were ten. He had been so nervous that he was shaking. Donghyuck promised that he would be there to cheer him on. Mark looked into the crowd and the first thing he saw was a huge glittery sign very simply adorned with a GO MARK! Mark immediately felt better. At that time the sign was almost bigger than Hyuck was, but he still held it over his head using all his strength. Mark started laughing and the nervousness dissipated. He thanked Donghyuck after the game and since then it became a thing that he would do for him whenever Mark was nervous.

He thinks back to the first summer he was in Canada and how nervous he was when he came back, thinking that his friends had all changed without him. When he arrived in the airport to see Donghyuck with that sign he knew everything was still the same. Donghyuck was there in the airport every summer after that, holding even more elaborate signs and at every major mile marker in his life. So the least Mark could do for him was show Hyuck that he’ll be there for him as well, hopefully forever.

He rehearsed the act of confessing in front of Johnny and Ten, who immediately told him to ignore a script and just speak from the heart. Ten put Mark in a sleeveless shirt with a quick “Donghyuck likes your arms” which Mark really wished he would elaborate on. They offered to drive him, but Mark felt like he needed to physically make the journey over there, just like he has many times before.

He brought his phone this time. The plan was to call Donghyuck when he arrived and tell him to come down and then surprise him with the sign, which he had meticulously rolled up for the journey. The last block Mark could feel his heartbeat in his ears. He heart rate was probably higher than it was when he would run this path. Mark finally arrived at Donghyuck’s house and his little plan was shot to hell.

Donghyuck was sitting on the porch, holding a glass of tea and looking off into the distance. He had yet to notice Mark’s presence so he softly said “Donghyuck.”

That was enough to startle him and he put a hand over his heart before looking over at Mark. “Oh shit, just give me a heart attack why don’t you.” He muttered.

“Donghyuck I have something to say to you and if I don’t do it now I’m going to chicken out.” Mark took a deep breath and exhaled calming his nerves.

“Go ahead.” Donghyuck prompted him. He almost looked hopeful which Mark took as a good sign.

“Donghyuck I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve ever done for me. When I moved here I was so worried I wouldn’t make friends and on my first day here you marched over and declared us best friends and I don’t know if I can ever make that up to you.”

“You don’t need to make anything up you fool,” Donghyuck smiled. “I’m just as grateful you said yes and became part of my life. I should be thanking you.”

“You’ve done so much for me, Hyuckie. Coming with me yesterday and telling off my parents was just the tip of the iceberg. You are the most caring person I know and you keep on saving me day in and day out. I am forever in your debt.”

Donghyuck had stood up from his perch on the porch and walked down the stairs towards Mark. He stops right in front of him and stops and asks “What’s this about, Mark?”

“Do you remember when I was nervous that I was going to ruin basketball for everyone on my team when we were ten and you said you would come and then you showed up with that ridiculous sign? All of my worries went away as soon as I saw you. You’re my rock even then Hyuck, and will probably continue to be so for the rest of my life. You’ve done so much for me I just want to do something for you as well because you deserve the world.”

Mark takes a step back and pulls out the poster board. Donghyuck’s eyes get huge as he finally gets a look at what Mark brought with him. Mark takes his time unraveling it, his hands shaking in the process. When it’s finally out in all it’s glory Donghyuck takes a step back to read it and promptly gasped.

Although Mark’s handwriting wasn’t as good as Donghyuck’s and he didn’t have an entire craft store of supplies to help make it pretty, he did pour his heart into the message which read I’m in love with you Donghyuck. His first draft just said I love you Donghyuck but his friend already knew that. He needed to make the distinction that this was romantic love.

Donghyuck was still gaping so Mark decided to elaborate. “Lee Donghyuck I am so incredibly in love with you. Everything you do is magic and it’s a privilege to just be in your presence every day, let alone call you my best friend. You’ve made my whole life complete just by being in it. I don’t know what will happen after this but if you even feel a fraction of what I feel for you I beg you to give me a shot. Would you go out with me?”

Donghyuck stared at him for what seemed to be an eternity before finally hearing Mark’s prayers and answering him. “You’re such an idiot Mark. I mean I knew you were stupidest genius in the world but this is just on a whole new level.”

“Oh. I’m sorry I hope we can still be friends.” Mark muttered under his breath. This was probably the worst moment of his life.

“Mark look up at me.” Donghyuck commanded and Mark couldn’t help but meet his gaze. “Mark Lee. I have been in love with you since we were ten years old.”

Now it was Mark’s turn to gape like a fish. “No you haven’t!”

“Yes I have!” Donghyuck retaliated. “How would you know what I was feeling?”

“You kept telling me about crushing on other boys! Of course you didn’t like me!” Mark rationalized.

“That’s because you had no interest in me! You didn’t even really care about relationships until we were in high school. And then you were straight for a bit. I had a bit of hope once you broke up with Herin and had your gay awakening but it was pretty clear I was not the cause of that. So I decided to find someone else just in case you never liked me back.”

“Oh.” Mark was blushing and still very, very confused.

“So every summer when you left for Canada I thought, since I won’t see you for three months, now’s the perfect time to get over you and try to crush on someone else. And for a second, I thought it would work. But then when I would pick you up at the airport and all those feelings would come rushing back. I’ve been in love with you half my life Mark. I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving you.” Donghyuck stated, his eyes still never leaving Mark’s.

“I realized I was in love with you the day that you called me after kissing Jeno at Jaehyun’s party but I think I felt it without knowing for a long time. I was so jealous, Hyuckie. I’m sorry it took me so long to catch up.” Mark said, meaning every word.

“So…” Donghyuck said a flush to his cheeks. “What now?”

“You never answered my question. Will you go out with me?” Mark asks again.

“Of course I will.” Donghyuck smiled and pulled Mark into a quick but sweet kiss. It wasn’t as short and confusing as their first kiss, and it definitely wasn’t as passionate as their second but it was clarifying and so incredibly satisfying.

“You know I’ve been waiting on these steps every day since we first kissed hoping that you would stop by.” Donghyuck confessed. “I used to watch you run from my window and I always hoped you would stop in but you never would. Then we kissed and didn’t talk so I sat outside so when you ran past you would have to stop and talk to me, but you stopped running around here.”

“I’m sorry, Hyuck.” Mark said. “I was worried that if we talked you would tell me that I made you uncomfortable and you didn’t want to be friends anymore.”

“Never.” Donghyuck shook his head. “You’re stuck with me forever Mark Lee.”

“Forever with you sounds perfect.” Mark admitted before pulling Donghyuck into a hug. He didn’t know what his future held but he knew Donghyuck would be apart of it.

After he finally got together with Donghyuck the rest of Mark’s summer flew by. He happily shared every detail to his Cherry Bomb! coworkers and they couldn’t have been happier for him. Half of their team now had boyfriends, with Doyoung now officially going out with Jaehyun and it could have been the love in the air but he had a good feeling about Yuta and Taeil’s love lives as well. He hopes that everyone in the Unrequited Love Shift finds happiness because they deserve the world and Mark knows he truly struck the amazing coworker jackpot.

As the summer was winding down he found himself at the final party of the summer, which he had promised Renjun he would attend what seems like an eternity ago. All his closest friends were moving onto bigger and hopefully better things and it would probably be a long time before they are all gathered together again. Mark was forever grateful that he was present these last three months to spend it with the people he loved the most.

Mark thought of all the people that he never would have got to know as well if he didn’t stay in Korea that summer. He thought of Johnny and Ten, who always had his back no matter what crazy decisions he made. They were the couple he was going to model his relationship with Donghyuck after. He thought of Doyoung who taught him early on in the summer how to help deal with anxiety and so many life lessons since then. He thinks of how Yuta’s boundless energy and enthusiasm was infectious and just being around him makes him happy. He thinks of Taeil who was always a bit mysterious but a great listener and someone he thought of as an older brother.

Mark looks around the room at the people who have gathered. Jungwoo was laughing at something Lucas had said and the two of them were practically falling over one another. Chenle and Jisung were running around the house chasing Jaemin who was carrying a plate of cupcakes. Renjun was wearing an apron and cheering on the two younger kids. Jeno was off to the side laughing at the chaos and soaking it in.

Lastly Mark turned his head towards Donghyuck. He was laughing and doing that thing where he put both hands on his knees and buried his chin into his chest so the sound came out kind of muffled.  Mark always hated that pose, which he later figured out was because Donghyuck looked so beautiful when he laughed that he liked to see how his face lit up when he did it. Donghyuck must have felt his gaze because he looked up towards Mark and smiled. In that moment Mark knew, that whatever uncertainty the future holds, one thing that will forever stay constant was Donghyuck.