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3 years since highschool started.
2 years since he came out.
1 year since he started testosterone.
and approximately 30 minutes until a date with the guy he's had a crush on for a year now.
you see mark lee was the kind of guy who people used to look at and say “look at that nerdy lesbian”.
but now he's the hot, bisexual, star player for the boys tennis team and also one of the most academically successful students in the school.
not so “nerdy lesbian” anymore, huh?
still yet, hot bisexual star player for the boys tennis team mark lee is freaking the fuck out while his older brother drives him to his date because he refuses to get his license.
“i don't want my birth name anywhere near association with me. my credit card is enough.”
“fair enough,” his older brother johnny responded.
i mean what do boys even talk about? he's only done this “boy thing” for 2 years by now. hell, you’ve always been a boy, mark, so why can't you get this whole “boy thing” down?? he's not usually this worried about his every action and word spoken. fuck. words. his voice has dropped but it still cracks a lot. kinda still sounds girly… wait what if yuta is only going on a date because he thinks he's a girl? wait that doesn't make any sense yuta moved here sophomore year he doesn't even know what “girl mark” was like. does yuta even know he's trans? mark knows rumors about himself go around sometimes but has yuta’s friends ever told him about mark’s freshman year? or worse, his middle school years ? nope, we aren't even going to think about it. yuta probably doesn't even know about pre-t mark. his friends barely knew mark existed when he got on the tennis team, much less would they know about him pre transition.
so yuta doesn't know about mark’s transness, got it. will be avoiding that topic.
but what about topics anyways. like. what do boys even talk about?? football? no yuta plays soccer and tennis… well that doesn't mean he doesn't know anything about football. why is mark even thinking about football, he doesn’t even know anything about the sport. despite being a tennis player he feels he should know more about the professional scene. the only tennis player he can name is michael phelps- wait scratch that michael phelps is a swimmer. so he cant name any professional tennis players. hopefully yuta doesn't try to bring tennis up…
at this point mark realizes he doesn't know much about yuta despite it being 3 months into the season. he's been yuta’s teammate for 3 months. god mark you suck at social interaction.
maybe he should ask about the japanese part of him. or is that too insensitive? he would really like to know more about japan and yuta’s life there before moving to america. i mean, he bets its more interesting than the white picket fence suburban childhood he had. wait what if yuta asks about his childhood? what is he going to say? what do boys even do as kids? all he saw was them playing soccer and woodchips from afar while he was banned from playing because he was a “girl”. dumb sexist 3rd graders. how are you even sexist at such a young age? parents probably. was it woodchips or was it cherry cherry? now that he thinks about it he remembers people playing the game saying the words “cherry cherry” but everyone always called it woodchips outside of game. that's kinda weird the more he thinks about it… maybe he should like, stop doing that.
focus mark. what do boys talk about.
he voices this question out loud to johnny. whether on purpose or accident? he's not sure anymore.
“you're a boy aren't you? just talk about things you like. eventually you'll find something you have in common with yuta. just be yourself, bud.”
mark thinks for a second.
“and don't ‘but-’ me.”
mark sighs. he wasn't even going to “but-” johnny anyways!
thats a lie and you know it.
so let's continue to “but-” his brother in his mind because he's pretty sure yuta doesn't want to hear about animal crossing. i mean yuta is somewhat gay because he's going on a date with mark. but still, he guy is one of the most athletic people in the school. he probably just plays like mario or zelda IF he has a switch at all. he would probably rather not hear mark rant about why he keeps getting stung by bees in a game and he definitely doesn't want to hear mark go on a rant about how pokemon sword and shield have some of the best characters in the entire franchise. that rant would be hours. if he wasn't trans and didn't already know he was attracted to boys from a young age due to Heteronormativity™, leon definitely would've been his gay awakening. or bi awakening. or “i like men” awakening. it was either leon or jasper from steven universe. yes jasper. he thought jasper was a boy for 2 seasons. now that's.. depressing.
you know what, he probably could sucker up the courage to start a rant about his interests. johnny’s right, he’ll find something he has shared interest with yuta and if he doesn't then yuta can have a laugh at the embarrassment that is his life. does mark care? no! now lets go and-!
“hey mark… markkkk? markie-poo? you there?” johnny waves a hand in front of his face.
“huh what yeah yeah i'm here.”
“good because we're at the place.” johnny points to a big “mod pizza” sign in front of where his car is parked. “i'm gonna go shop in the stores over here okay bud? call me if you need a date escape if everything goes horribly wrong or if you're ready to come back home. now go seduce that lovely boy.” johnny winks and gets out of the car, waving to some tall pink haired boy in front of a hot topic. the pink haired boy blows kisses back to his brother and mark collectively decides he is going to Look Away before the two start making out….
anyways. he can do this. you've got this mark…
he gets out of the hot car and looks inside the windows of the mod pizza. yuta is sitting at a table on his phone, presumably waiting for mark to show up. he's about 5 minutes early, no clue how long yuta has been sitting there, but he looks happy looking at his phone. he looks as handsome as always, but also so cute with his smile. oh that smile…
mark slaps himself. the first date hasn't even started! don't be the gay stereotype in which he falls in love on the first date. don't be it…
yet yuta’s smile is still so cute.. the way his lips form into that crescent of light in his life. maybe he would steal a kiss-
he slaps himself again. no thinking about kisses until the end of the date.
oh right, the date. instead of being a massive creep he should probably go in and actually have the date with yuta.
well, here goes nothing.