Work Text:
Okay, so here’s the thing.
Donghyuck has been in relationships before, obviously, and has a past of experiences to draw upon when interacting with a new person of interest. He knows what he’s doing, and believes that he’s definitely far past the point of the blushing little girl with a crush act, or embarrassing shit like butterflies in his stomach. He hasn’t felt like that since he was fifteen. Relationships come easy to him, relatively speaking.
The issue is, Mark is very fucking successful at making him feel those stupid butterflies in his stomach. Suspiciously so, honestly.
It’s not like he’s even doing much, or as if a whole lot has changed since they started dating, which only serves to piss Donghyuck off a little more. He’s supposed to be the master at flustering and romancing between them, yet every single time Mark looks at him just so, or grabs his hand randomly to rub soothing circles into the skin, Donghyuck finds himself utterly defeated. Every single time. He doesn’t stand a chance.
And Mark doesn’t even realize, as is typical.
He digresses. The point is: he’s been in relationships before. Which is why his suspicions begin to rise when Mark starts acting ten times more strange and awkward than normal. Donghyuck knows that that has to mean something.
Mark isn’t exactly a natural guy to begin with, but usually when it comes to Donghyuck, he hasn’t been hesitating. He’s learnt that as skittish as Mark can get, he won’t quit when he gets an idea in his head. Sometimes it’s irritating, most times it’s very endearing.
Right now he’s laying somewhere in the middle of those two spectrums.
They’re curled up on Donghyuck’s little bed, watching old pirated and, frankly, corny monster films on his little laptop. They had been bingeing the alien classics - mostly because he loves watching the little knit of a frown appear between Mark’s brows as he tries to understand alien stereotypes in human culture - but have since moved on to the wider genre of the supernatural and its subsets.
Mark’s been looking conflicted about something all day, peering at Donghyuck out of the corner of his eye and intermittently opening his mouth to say something just before evidently changing his mind. Right now, pressed tight together, he’s acting no different. In fact, it might be a little worse, because he’s not even paying attention to the movie that Donghyuck picked out for them. Rude.
Donghyuck might usually be a little antsy about whatever the fuck Mark wants to say to him- which is fully warranted based on past experiences, he thinks- but he finds he’s quite content to let Mark sit there and agonize over it. It’s really cute to watch him fidget, hesitating even to put his arm around Donghyuck when they first laid down.
Besides, he wouldn’t be Lee Donghyuck if he didn’t take a moment to relish in having the upper hand here.
“This movie is incredible, isn’t it?” Donghyuck speaks into the silence, watching Godzilla rip another car apart, or something. He hasn’t really been paying attention, either. “Really a commentary on the progression of modern society, right?”
“Uh,” Mark sits up a little, blinking at him before frowning back at the screen as if only just remembering the movie. “Yes. Of course.”
And then, because he knows Mark hasn’t processed a single thing that’s happened in this movie, he asks, “What’s your favorite part?”
“I haven’t- uh, I have not… decided yet.”
That’s how Donghyuck knows this is intensely flustering Mark, when he starts to trip over his words again and oscillating between formal and informal. He feels his grin stretch even further.
“Is that why you’ve looked so conflicted? I know it’s hard picking out the best part, must be really agonizing.” Donghyuck says, faux sympathy in his tone.
Mark purses his lips then, glancing at Donghyuck. “Actually, I have a… a question.”
“Yes?” Donghyuck encourages. He’s almost tempted to keep fucking with Mark about this, but his curiosity is outweighing it right now.
“Can we… I mean, are you- uh. Are you busy… this weekend?”
“You don’t know my schedule by now?” Donghyuck laughs. He keeps Mark pretty up to date on when he goes to classes, if only so his boyfriend isn’t left at home waiting and wondering.
“Well, just- um. You know.”
“If only I did, Mark. What’s up with you?”
Mark takes a deep breath, resolve in his shoulders. “I would like to go on a date with you. This weekend. Like, out. Take you out. That is, if you are… available.”
“Yeah?” He goads, pleased beyond words. “You’d like to, huh?”
“Donghyuck, please.” Mark mutters, embarrassed, that voice he uses when he wants Donghyuck to shut the fuck up.
Donghyuck just giggles. “I cant believe that’s what you were so nervous about, aren’t we dating?”
“I mean!” Mark tries, averting his gaze. “Aren’t- aren’t you nervous?”
“No.”
“You’re not?” Mark eyes him, until his gaze goes abruptly suspicious. “Wait- your voice is doing that thing.”
Donghyuck sits up a little straighter. “What thing?“
“Like- like,” Mark’s eyes get wide, as if happening upon a revelation. “Your lying voice!”
“I don’t have a lying voice!” Donghyuck refutes, too quick to be believable. Damnit. He can’t believe he’s lied enough to Mark already that he can pick out when he’s doing it. Donghyuck must be getting soft.
“You do, and it’s that exact voice!” Mark insists, eyes narrowed.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” he replies, measured and convincing. “I think you’re confused, Mark.”
He’s not above gaslighting Mark if it means he can wriggle out of his embarrassment, alright? Sometimes you just have to play it underhanded.
Mark hums, evidently not convinced. “You’re really not nervous?”
“I…”
“Because you make me so nervous, you know?”
“Mark…”
“Really, really nervous.”
Donghyuck glares at him. “I know what you’re trying to do.”
“Hm?” Mark smiles at him, like he has no idea what Donghyuck’s talking about. Touché.
“I promise I’m usually not… like this.” Donghyuck whispers.
“Not what?”
“Shy. I’m- I’m usually… not.”
Because he’s usually not . While he wouldn’t exactly say he’s a take-the-lead kind of guy, he acknowledges that he’s known for his mischievously forward personality. But Mark is completely foreign territory, something almost impossible for him to navigate and traverse one foot in front of the other. He’s not sure he likes it.
“I know. It’s… nice to know I’m not alone, though.”
Donghyuck pouts. “I should be the confident one.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“I don’t get you.” Mark says, frowning hard.
Donghyuck rolls his eyes, lightly shoving him backwards. “Okay, space boy.”
The nickname makes Mark grin, though. “Mm, answer me,”
“About what?”
“The… you know.”
“I have a bad memory, Mark. Really, really bad. You’ll have to say what you want out loud for me again.”
Mark doesn’t look like he believes him. But he still repeats, louder, more confident, “I want to go on a date with you.”
“You do, do you? And how are you gonna do that?”
“I… I’m gonna plan a date for us, okay? This weekend.”
Donghyuck smiles, pecking Mark on the nose. “Okay. Where are you taking me?”
“It’s a surprise.” Mark whispers, pretend mystique in his voice, smile all soft and sweet.
“Not even a little hint?”
“Nope,” he chirps, pleased with himself. Cute. “You said you liked surprises, didn’t you?”
Donghyuck hums. “I get to change my mind when I please, you know. Special privileges.”
“Special privileges from where?”
“From beating you for title of most movies paid attention to.”
“Wha- oh.”
They don’t ever finish the movie.
And then the questions start.
He only ever peppers them into every day, casual conversations. Completely innocuous, even.
However, Donghyuck is not stupid, so he begins to catch onto the pattern very quick.
“Do you like flowers?
“As much as anyone else, I guess?”
“What’s your favorite food?”
“Kimchi jjigae.”
“If I can’t get your favorite food on this specific kind of date, will you be mad?”
“No?”
“What would you say is your dream date destination?”
Ugh.
Donghyuck decides he’s had enough of the not so cleverly concealed persistent questions. “Mark.”
“Uh?”
“You’re sweet,” he assures. “Don’t worry too much, okay?”
Mark looks caught for a moment before he finally recognizes the ruse is up. “Isn’t that easier said than done?”
Donghyuck appreciates that Mark wants to be considerate to his likes and preferences, but he doesn’t really think it’s worth it at the cost of him worrying himself sick.
“You’ve probably seen me at my worst way before I’d allow most boyfriends to, Mark. And I’ve seen you embarrass yourself, like, wow, a lot-“
“Shut up.”
Donghyuck grins at him. “See? Would someone about to take me on our first date tell me to shut up?”
“I’m just trying to, like, get the human customs correct. I even went to Yangyang for advice-“
Donghyuck sees his life flash before his eyes, future burning to ashes. “Do not go to Yangyang for advice! Not unless you want me to have the worst date of my life.”
Sometimes Yangyang says stupid things, sometimes he’s unnecessarily sarcastic. Both are risky options that Mark is bound to take seriously, and Donghyuck is not keen on that happening.
“Yes, some of his suggestions were a little odd. But many things are a little odd to me. I think he was teasing me? Mostly.”
Donghyuck lets out a relieved breath. “I’d rather you ask Renjun if you really have to, the cute one you spoke to on my phone.”
“Okay,” he sighs, still looking a little uneasy. “I just don’t want to mess up, you know?”
“I know, baby.” Donghyuck says, patting him.
He makes a noise of confusion. “I’m not a baby. I am fully grown.”
Donghyuck ignores him. “You’re my baby. Just try not to stress too much, okay? I like your brain nice and mush-free.”
Mark nods like the request was literal. “I’ll try my very best.”
Normally, Donghyuck loves hanging out with Renjun, even if doesn’t say as much in so many words. He appreciates the ease of conversation, the relaxation that comes with zero expectations of each other by this point, and how Renjun seems to just get him with barely a look. Perks of years of friendship, or at least the perks of knowing each other through high school.
He does not love hanging out with Renjun when he gets that smug fucking look on his face, like he’s found something to lord over Donghyuck with. He’s been doing it almost the entire time they’ve hung out with each other today, and Donghyuck has decided not to give into it out of the need to protect his dignity. He refuses to grovel. Renjun will fold eventually.
Which he inevitably does, right outside Donghyuck’s apartment building as he walks him home. “Your boyfriend is very cute.”
“He’s mine.” He replies immediately, lacking any real heat.
Renjun shoves at him, affronted. “I’m literally in a relationship.”
“I know your ways, Huang Renjun, you could easily seduce another man to be your third,” he aims to dig a finger into Renjun’s lower ribs, hissing when Renjun thwarts it with his own twisting pinch. “Anyways, yeah, I know he’s cute. How do you know he’s cute?”
That smug, satisfied look overtakes his features once more as he plants his hands on his hips to broaden his shoulders. “He called me for dating advice,” he doesn’t even give Donghyuck a moment to marinate in that statement. “I told you I’m great. And that my advice is so awesome people seek me out in search of my wisdom, and-“
The smugness sort of makes a little more sense, then. Donghyuck spent much of their budding youth teasing Renjun for being so awkward with people he liked and then clamming up whenever he stumbled into relationships, claiming that he would be an emotional virgin for the rest of his life. And then, when he met Yangyang, the first thing Donghyuck did was say he was lucky to meet someone so much more awkward than him, even though Renjun had already grown out of that phase in his life.
Donghyuck would very obviously take this opportunity to tease Renjun some more, but the words Mark and dating advice have him distracted. Call him a changed man.
“What’d you say?” He asks, urgent. “What’d he ask about?”
“Unfortunately, I’m sworn to secrecy.” Renjun replies, eyeing him. He doesn’t sound the least bit regretful.
“So you came to gloat?”
He gives him a patronizing, if not inappropriately disappointed, look. “I came to say your boyfriend is sweet and you should be excited.”
So, yes. Completely unhelpful.
Donghyuck whines, feeling very betrayed. “I don’t need you to tell me that, I already know! I need you to tell me what to expect.”
Renjun eyes him for a quiet moment, considering. “Are you nervous?”
And, Donghyuck, completely incapable of lying to Renjun, just groans. “It’s embarrassing.”
The silence is humiliating, even more so for how brief it is. This must be incredibly delightful for Renjun, if the way he throws his head back with a surprised laugh is anything to go by.
“Oh, wow,” Renjun leans over to pinch his cheek. “This is so sweet, I’ve never seen you be cute, like, ever.”
Donghyuck slaps his hand away. “I am plenty cute!”
“Eh.”
“Mark thinks so.”
“Imagine if he didn’t.”
“Okay,” Donghyuck says. “I’m ignoring your jealous and vindictive heart. What should I wear?”
But Renjun is no easy target, far too familiar with Donghyuck’s game. He folds his arms. “You’re trying to get hints from my answers, and I’m not gonna fall for that.”
Damnit.
Donghyuck sighs, getting his key out of his pocket as they approach his apartment number. “I’ve known you for too long, I need to replace you.”
“Uh huh.”
“With a robot, maybe, who doesn’t know all my secrets-
“Alien boyfriend, robot best friend,” Renjun muses. “Some catch you’d be.”
Donghyuck stops outside of his door to shake his head at Renjun. “Again, you’re jealous of my sitcom life-“
“Oh, yeah,” he agrees, monotone. “You caught me.”
And just like he’s in a sitcom, Mark interrupts their conversation by throwing the front door wide open, goofy grin and excited eyes. God, he really is like a puppy sometimes.
“Donghyuck! You’re home!”
When Donghyuck gets over his surprise, he can’t help but laugh at him. “Were you waiting at the door again?”
Mark only looks a little bit put out. “I’d appreciate it if you’d stop saying it like it’s creepy, Hyuck.”
“It sort of is a little bit, kind of.”
“I think it’s cute!” Renjun offers.
“Hi, Renjun!”
Donghyuck shakes his head disapprovingly, dramatizing his reaction. “Cheating already.”
Mark only rolls his eyes, stepping back to allow Donghyuck to come inside. “Stop making fun of me.”
“No, ‘cause then you’d grow bored of me,” he turns back to Renjun. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a night of passion ahead of us.”
“Of course,” Renjun laughs. “So classy.”
Donghyuck sticks his tongue out before promptly shutting the door in his face.
Mark is staring attentively at him when he faces him. “What does night of passion entail?”
“Cuddling and a movie, duh. The really spicy stuff.”
Mark squints. “Sarcasm?”
“A little bit,” he shrugs. “But I do want to cuddle with my boyfriend. Oh, if only he were around to give me a big, giant, warm hug. Alas, he’s left me to flounder alone in my entryway! So heartless, so cruel.”
“Hyuck,” Mark whines.
Donghyuck has found that Mark tends to be a little shy about physical affection, specifically initiating it spontaneously. Whether that’s because of him still figuring out his human body, or because it’s just how he is, Donghyuck has discovered work arounds to it. Namely: laying the guilt on unnecessarily thick. Sue him. It works.
Mark hesitantly brings his arms around Donghyuck’s back, fingers clutched into his shirt, all sweet and solid warmth. Donghyuck ups it by throwing his arms around Mark’s middle, squeezing at his sides until Mark laughs at the intensity.
“Okay, okay,” he giggles. “Giant and warm enough for you yet?”
“I think we could do better than this.” Donghyuck says, trying to, for all intents and purposes, burrow into Mark’s skin while still standing
“Mm, I have something for you.” Mark murmurs into his shoulder.
Donghyuck attempts to pull back a little, curious, but Mark tugs him right back in. “Are you gonna show it to me?”
“In a second.”
But Donghyuck is curious.
“Second passed. You’re so heavy, Mark.”
Mark retaliates by dropping all of his weight on Donghyuck, going utterly boneless as Donghyuck stumbles to practically carry him.
“Agh! I was kidding! I surrender, just show me your thing.”
Mark perks up. He lets go of Donghyuck, an uncomfortable absence of heat when he does, to go grab a slip of paper from the little counter in their little kitchen and pass it to him.
Donghyuck looks at the paper with interest, interest that doubles considerably when he actually sees what’s on it. “You wanna go to an arboretum?”
“Yeah!” Mark smiles. “It’d be fun, right?”
“I guess… hm, I’ve never been to an arboretum before.”
“Me neither! Not on Earth, at least.”
Donghyuck starts to laugh at the statement. He knows Mark hasn’t been to many places on Earth, but- “You have arboretums on Mars? I thought it was all, like, rocks and dirt.”
Mark shakes his head. “We cultivate many plant species on Mars, both for study and for aesthetic.”
“You have plants on Mars?”
“Not native, no. We get them from other planets.”
“Like, in the Milky Way?” Donghyuck asks slowly, trying to gauge the way Martian society works as best he can. He should try a little harder to understand now, seeing as his boyfriend (courtship partner? Fuck.) is from Mars.
The issue is that it’s a little hard for his teeny human brain to comprehend the sheer vastness of the way Mark describes Martian society, as well as their interplanetary pursuits. Also, you know, aliens are suddenly real and pretty close by, not just abstract concepts made up for human entertainment.
Half the time he’s still a little convinced Mark is just some guy who hit his head super hard, but then sometimes he watches Mark take his ring off very briefly and he’s forced to remember this is very real and very much so happening to him.
“Like, outside the Milky Way,” Mark explains. “Our technology is pretty advanced.”
Donghyuck hums. “Would you ever take me there one day?”
He knows that once upon a time he was vehemently against the idea, and still is a little bit. Now, he’s trying to practice staying open minded. When your boyfriend is from Mars, you’re not really left with much of a choice.
“Yes, of course,” Mark agrees eagerly, round eyes all earnest. “Whenever you want to, we can figure it out. I… I really like you, you know.”
And, man, doesn’t that feel good?
“Mhm, cutie.”
Mark wakes them up early for their date.
Alright, well, not really that early, but Donghyuck has morning classes on the weekdays so weekends are his shining beacon of I-can-finally-sleep-in.
So, at ten on a Saturday morning, he’s slightly begrudgingly dragging his feet to get ready for a full day at the arboretum.
Honestly? He’s a little excited. He’s never actually had a boyfriend put this much effort into a date before, always just a pair of two broke college students who couldn’t be bothered to do anything but eat lunch on campus or maybe catch a movie once in awhile. Boring, but it was enough for him at the time.
He’d be upset at Mark raising his standards so much if he wasn’t busy preening at the attention.
But here Mark is, packing water bottles and making sure Donghyuck is dressed appropriately, like they’re going on a hike, or something. Overly prepared, maybe, but so fucking cute.
By the time they actually make it to the arboretum, he can tell Mark is unreasonably nervous. He’s asked to hold Donghyuck’s hand three separate times after continuously letting go because his palms were getting too sweaty, or whatever. Donghyuck didn’t mind, but he’ll let Mark process this freak out in whatever way works for him.
“Okay,” Mark stops him as soon as they’re inside, squatting to dig around his backpack. Donghyuck’s old backpack, actually. “These are for you.”
He hands Donghyuck a really rather darling little bouquet of tulips, only he hands them far too military-like and to the point. He did not feel the romance in that pass.
Still, Donghyuck’s heart speeds up a little. “Thanks. Where am I supposed to put them, though?”
Mark blinks. “Ah. I didn’t… I did not consider that.”
“Mark-“
“Right, okay.” He carefully takes the bouquet back before Donghyuck can even react, tucking them back in as gingerly as he can.
But that was his first mistake. Donghyuck’s eyes catch on a little glimpse of rainbow paper.
He snatches up the little bundled pads of colorful paper, a delighted grin on his face. This day just got so much better. “Are you using fucking flash cards?”
Mark grabs at them before he can start to shuffle through them. He’s glaring at him, though his ears are a little pink. “You’re not allowed to make fun of me, I prepared very hard for this.”
“Fine,” Donghyuck sighs, like the mere suggestion kills him. “I’ll let it slide just this once.”
It’s more than a little obvious that Mark probably over planned this, and wants it to go really well. If it were anyone else, Donghyuck would’ve felt a bit suffocated and tried to make a discreet run for it. But it’s Mark, and Mark-
“It’s very… plant-ful.” Mark tries, smiling at all the wild bursts of color they pass with wonder, dainty trees and springing flowers.
He looks back at Donghyuck excitedly, as if seeking approval for his new, made up word.
Donghyuck smiles encouragingly. “Yes, of course.”
Mark is Mark, and that’s enough for him.
And because Mark is more than enough for him, he’s not even the slightest bit bothered when Mark begins to eagerly point out all the flowers he recognizes. Mark’s quirk of wanting to know as much knowledge as he can physically handle is fucking cute, especially in the context of an arboretum date.
All the typical Mark-isms and Donghyuck-appropriate-reactions included, it is going pretty well. A lot better than many of Donghyuck’s past dates, in fact. It’s cute, and it’s pretty, and Mark is the sweetest guy he’s ever met, and… would it be kind of insane to say that his inner fifteen year old girl is squealing? Probably.
But then the breeze kicks in, and it’s getting a bit stronger than it probably should be, and they get a little busy marveling at how it makes the colors in the flowers ripple, and then-
“Ah, well,” Mark says, sounding distant. “There goes my flash cards.”
They both watch as the whole stack goes flying from Mark’s grip and immediately carried into the lake, melting into the water.
“Did you at least memorize your lines?” Donghyuck can’t resist from saying, obnoxiously unhelpful. Most people would be tempted to smack him for it.
Mark is not most people.
“Hyuck,” he whines, face already sunk into his hands. “That’s not what they were for.”
“Really?”
Mark lifts his face back up, cupping a palm around his ruddy neck. “I just… outlined the direction of our date a little. Like, where we’re going, stuff like that. We were supposed to go have lunch next, but I’m not sure if you even want to. I probably should have asked. Oh, this is so stupid.”
Donghyuck can sense Mark’s composure rapidly unraveling. “How about we just… take a walk around the lake? The water’s very pretty, I think.”
It’s just a small lake surrounded by fencing and elaborate flower bushes, so the walk is gonna get real redundant very soon, but he thinks that’s better than Mark standing there like a sad, wet dog, soaked through with regrets.
“I would like that.” He agrees, unenthusiastic.
And unenthusiastic he remains, even the longer they walk. Donghyuck sort of feels a little bad, he gets how it feels to expect everything to go one way and have it go another.
Right when Donghyuck’s gonna try to make some kind of self deprecating joke at his own expense to at least make Mark smile, he finally speaks up.
“Can I ask you something?” Mark asks, looking less stressed and more nervous. Maybe even resigned. Well, that can’t mean anything good.
“Yeah…?”
“Um,” Mark twiddles his thumbs, like they’re aching to tap against something. “You… like me, right? Like… romantically?”
Which is such a bizarre fucking question that Donghyuck doesn’t even know where to start. Like, does Mark think Donghyuck’s been subtle at all this whole time? Didn’t they literally just go over this already?
“Huh? Why are you asking me that?”
“Because just… I dunno. Sometimes the way you look at me, it doesn’t feel… reciprocal. I guess I’m very- uh, worried? That you see me as something… like, a novelty.”
“What…?” Donghyuck feels his heart abruptly stutter, in absolutely the worst way possible.
He thought they were on the same page…?
Mark seems to immediately pick up on his mood drop, paling and twisting his fingers. “Oh, no. That was stupid. Sorry, I’m being stupid. I don’t- just, I don’t quite understand anything at all yet, and I’m trying to- but, I guess I’m just kind of freaked out still and- and I really like you, and I want you to like me just as much, and I’m scared this date proved just how inept I am, so- so, and-“
“Holy shit, Mark,” Donghyuck laughs, breathless, before tugging Mark into a bone crushing hug. “I look at you like that because I think you’re precious, not because I think you’re a novelty. Trust me.”
“Oh…” Mark relaxes against him. “Precious?”
Donghyuck is pretty sure he already knows what that word means and is just fishing for compliments now without being obvious. Donghyuck is happy to indulge him.
“Adorable, lovely, cute, super fun to hang out with. I like you, idiot.”
Mark looks a little more placated at this, pink ears and shiny eyes. “I feel like the intended meaning there becomes void when you insult me, dude.”
“Dude,” Donghyuck coos. “It’s how I show affection, you should know this by now.”
“Yes, I do,” Mark concedes. “I just- I get too in my own… head sometimes.”
“Yeah, I can tell. Don’t worry, we’re dating now, so I’m here to get you out of that big head of yours when you need it.” Donghyuck pats his cheek with a mirthful smile
“Again, the insults-“
“Big head that I think is so cute and lovely-“
“Eugh,” Mark pulls back, irritated but still flushed pretty pink. “Whatever.”
“Not whatever.” Donghyuck laughs.
“Whatever!” Mark insists, red. “Unhand me!”
“God, Mark, you’re too cute. Never change.”
Mark groans.
He still doesn’t seem to be all that consoled, though, gripping onto Donghyuck’s hand just a little too tight as they steadily continue their walk.
“‘M sorry I got all… insecure.” He says, sounding very ashamed.
God, he’s so sweet. How is this Donghyuck’s life?
“It’s alright-“
“No, like, just- you’ve never done anything wrong, I’m just stupid.” Mark is almost pouting. Oh my god.
“Mark, the only stupid thing about you is you putting yourself down. It happens to everyone, okay? I’m okay, I’m just glad you talked to me before it got worse.”
“Mm. If you’re sure.” Mark says, though he doesn’t quite sound convinced.
“I know things are gonna be weird as we figure shit out, so… I get it, really. I’ve also never done this before. I’m working on myself, too.”
He’s never had someone so attentive to his needs, so dedicated to making whatever this is work, living together before they’ve even had a conversation about where this could go. It’s impulsive but it feels safe and right and… it’s all new. Donghyuck has had just as much to adjust to.
Mark sighs, like he’s finally letting go of his pent up anxiety. The smile he gives Donghyuck is half upturned and self deprecating. “Humans are just so strange.”
“Well, buddy, you’re dating one,” Donghyuck shrugs. “So get used to it.”
“I like strange, though.”
A try at flustering Donghyuck, no doubt. Mark doesn’t need to know he never has to try.
“Hm, you’re so corny.”
“But you like it?”
“Of course.” Donghyuck affirms, half banter, half truth.
Mark stops him, bringing his other hand to hold Donghyuck’s free one. “I like you a lot, Donghyuck. I’d like to be with you for a while, if you’d let me.”
But Mark, who puts a pillow behind his back when he’s been studying too long, who organizes his school materials for him just because he thinks it’s fun and because Donghyuck likes it, who always orders the same drink Donghyuck gets at the coffee shop just because he knows Donghyuck will finish first and want some of his, who watches everything with a sense of sweet wonderment, but especially looks at Donghyuck like he’s seeing him for the first time every time, who-
Donghyuck smiles, feels the bursting of his heart spread behind his teeth and under his tongue, just waiting to spill forward.
“I really like you, too, Mark. A while sounds really nice.”
( On their way back home, hands intertwined, Mark whispers, shy, “Can we go on another date soon?”
Donghyuck tries to hide his pleased smile, squeezing Mark’s hand once. “We can go on another date whenever we want, you don’t have to ask.”
Mark doesn’t even try to cover up his smile, silly transparent grin brightening up his features.
Too cute. )