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“Okay...” Mark mumbles to himself, shaking the knob back and forth.
The lock was stuck alright, but what if Mark tries opening it slowly, one more time?
Nope.
Thank god Donghyuck was not here today. He would probably say something about “fully capable Mark Lee not being very fucking capable huh?” and mock him by imitating how Mark kept on trying to open the door, despite knowing it was properly stuck. Like stuck, stuck.
“This is fun.” Lucas, or Yukhei, or Xuxi, mumbled, sitting on the stairs with one abnormally large hand clutching the railing for support. “This is so fun, being locked out.”
“Hey, man, I'm trying my best here, okay?” Mark said defensively, shooting his neighbour a look. The wonderfully full head of hair jerked up and Lucas' puppy big eyes went even wider.
“No, I'm not...I'm not like making fun of you.” Lucas tried to fold all hundred and eighty-plus centimetres closer to his body, but ended up sprawling his limbs over the steps. His head ended up somewhere near Mark's feet and he gazed up at Mark, face alcohol flushed. “We like, never hang out. We should do this more.”
Well, he was kinda right...Mark really only ran into Lucas when he was getting mail from their shared mailbox or when Lucas was heading out to run in wonderfully showy tank tops when Mark was running late to class. His biceps really were nice in the morning.
“I'm still going to try and open this door.” Mark told Lucas, biting at his lip. He left his chapstick in his apartment. “You need to, like, lay down.”
“I am laying down.”
“But like, lay down...on a bed?”
“Oh yeah.” Lucas trailed off, gaze kind of wandering over Mark's face. “You should kick the door!”
“What?”
“Yeah, just...give it a real good one!” Lucas' foot flung itself upwards. “Like that! I believe in you!”
Normally Mark would be more cautious about kicking down a rickety door to a building that probably saw the ends of both World Wars, but Mark was going to bite through his lip at any point now and Lucas should get at least three glasses of water and a ibuprofen into him. So Mark stepped back, and with what little third year college student strength he mustered up, Mark slammed his foot into the door. It creaked a little bit, but stood steady and most definitely closed.
“That's some torque, Mark.” Lucas said, drink dragging Mark's name into something deeper and hoarse, grating in a pleasant way on Mark's ears and creating a strange shiver down his spine. “You've got like, an abnormal torque to size ratio there, babe. Impressive!”
Babe?
“Are you cold?” Lucas squinted at Mark, propping himself down in his elbows as he tipped his head further back to look at Mark. “You just shivered.”
“Yea, its...” Mark trailed off, eyeing the golden skin of Lucas' collarbone peeking from the neckline of his hoodie. “...a bit? Cold?”
“Aw...” Oh my god, that was such a cute pout. “Come 'ere.”
“What?”
“Come here!” Lucas patted the ground beside him with a wide smile, cheeks puffing up adorably. “I'll cuddle ya!”
And somehow, as if possessed, Mark turned away from the door, and sat down beside his very drunk, very attractive neighbour, who flung one muscled arm around his shoulders and snuggled Mark into his side, with a cute smile that could outshine Jeno's and Chenle's.
“You're tiny!” Lucas exclaimed, leaning down closer to Mark's face.
“I'm one seventy-four!” Mark protested, moving slightly away from Lucas' face and his full lips. He could smell the vodka, but it was mixing strangely well with the cologne he could smell.
“So small!” Lucas smiled at Mark, slanting down until their noses booped. “I'm a hundred and eighty-three! Nine above!”
“Maybe, you're just...um...freakishly tall?” Mark said, voice growing smaller as his head was snuggled into the crook of Lucas' neck. Oh god, he smelt so good now, like vanilla rum and it was so sweet, and Mark's mouth was so close, touching the thin skin of his neck, and Mark could feel the heartbeat pumping in the vein against his lips.
“You're nice to hug, Lee Mark.” Lucas cooed, rubbing his cheek against the top of Mark's head.
“Thanks?”
“Mm, that tickles.” Lucas laughed, moving his head as Mark snapped his head back, flushing and wiping at his lips.
“It's ok though! But I rather look at your face.” Lucas stared at Mark intently with his warm eyes. “You have a nice face. Your parents must be so proud!”
“It's not that nice...”
“It is! Very nice!” Lucas took Mark's head between two warm hands. “Be confident! Okay?”
“O-okay?”
“Okay!” Lucas cheered, grinning.
Mark didn't know what to do. Lucas just kept smiling at him, still cradling his head in careful palms and starting to slowly stroke over the curves of one cheek with his right hand.
“You're pretty.” Lucas' voice was suddenly shy, and his voice was so quiet. “I always wanted to tell you that. Is that creepy?”
“No?” With a face like that, and a personality like that, Mark wouldn't be creeped out in the slightest. “You're, um, attractive too. I mean, you're handsome, I wouldn't like say you're pretty, but you are really handsome and, um-”
“Can I kiss ya?”
“What?” Mark squawked.
“I figured I should ask permission.” Lucas said, eyebrows narrowing thoughtfully. “It's kinda rude to just lay one on you, and you could be uncomfortable, and I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable, ya know? And you don't have to let me kiss you, we can just cuddle-”
“Okay.”
“We can just hug it out-really?” Lucas' eyes went wide, and Mark could see the dark brown of his eyes from this close, and Lucas had really white whites...
“Yea.” Mark whispered. “You can kiss me.”
“Thank you!” Lucas beamed. “Okay, okay, I'm going to kiss ya now.”
“Okay.” Mark squeaked.
"Right now."
And Lucas kissed him. It was just a simple kiss, really, just a soft and warm peck on Mark's lips, but it was so soft and quick. It was cute and Mark's eyes where open the entire time and he could see Lucas's slightly scrunched closed eyes.
Lucas drew back and smiled at him, yet again, and it was so bright and adorable. Maybe being locked out wasn't so bad.
It really wasn't that bad at all, Mark thought, moving to give Lucas another kiss, eyes closed this time.