Late nights, deep thoughts, and good music. That’s what Mark lived for. After forcing his socially awkward bum to interact with every single human he comes across during the day, he longed for the quietude and stillness the night brought.

That’s why he was more than annoyed to hear a loud banging on his door just when he was going to bed.

‘It’s midnight for god sake, and who knocks like that?’ mumbling frustratingly, he got up from the bed and started making his way to the door, preparing himself to shout at the person. He thought he was done with interacting with another human for the next 12 hours. Life really has a way of ting on him and his plans.

His agitation was further increased when the deafening banging didn’t stop and he could tell that whoever was at the other side of the door was doing it with both hands. He was a tiny bit terrified but also angry so when he opened the door with a bit of force, he didn’t expect another body to fall on him and knock the wind out of him.

What the hell.

The sudden opening of the door must have caused the other person to lose his balance and now Mark was holding him by the shoulders, trying to get him to stand upright.

‘Y-Yahh get off’ Mark’s voice was filled with annoyance but the other didn’t seem to care.

He succeeded after a few seconds of struggle and came face to face with a familiar raven haired guy he had noticed in his building several times. Mark recalled seeing him around; it’s hard not to notice since with a face like this, he really stood out. Not like Mark kept an eye out for him or anything. Just noticed. Carefully.

As he struggled to stand still, Mark couldn’t help but observe that he was just as beautiful up close, if not more. Dressed in simple black jeans, black t-shirt and a denim hoodie with his hair sticking out in different directions, Mark couldn’t remember when was the last time he saw someone as attractive as him. He probably hadn’t.

There was one minor detail though. The prince-like-man was drunk. Like really drunk. Like cannot-stand-without-leaning-on-something-or-someone kind of drunk. Mark wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.

When their eyes met, Mark felt his heart skip a beat and was almost amused when he saw the other’s eyes light up and his lips curled up to give a childlike grin.

‘Jacksonnniee! The rooooom! It opened’ the prince like man bellowed cheerfully, his speech a little slurred, but his eyes didn’t leave Mark.

Mark furrowed his eyebrows at the announcement but then spotted another guy lying on the floor, already fast asleep.

He looked back at the drunken prince in front of him with a confused but concerned expression; the other however, seemed unaware of his friend’s current condition of hugging the floor.

‘Thank youuu!’ the prince said in a sing-song voice, smiling brightly. Mark did not find it cute at all. Not one bit.

‘Thank youu for opening the door to my room you fine fiiiine gentleman’ he said, emphasizing on the ‘fine’ as he eyes raked over Mark’s body, drinking in his bedtime look.

Mark felt his cheeks heating up so he decided to focus on the incorrect statement.

‘Sorry? This is my room as in I live here’

The drunken prince processed that piece of information before his face broke into another cheerful smile.

‘You live here too?? What a lovelyyy co-incidence!’ He hollered and hugged a very confused Mark so forcefully, he actually had to take a step back to brace himself from the impact.

There were goose bumps on his skin and he had to remind himself to keep breathing.

‘We’re alllll in this togetherrr-’ the drunk prince started singing all of a sudden and Mark pulled away quickly to shush him which earned him a pout from the other.

‘Keep your voice down! It’s past midnight for god sake. Do you want to wake up the entire neighborhood?’ Mark said, his own voice getting a tad bit louder

The drunken prince just shook his head adorably and put a finger on his lips, accompanying it with a ‘shhh’ sound while his round eyes kept blinking at Mark. Mark just sighed.

Why is life testing him like this?

He moved from the door and let the prince enter his humble abode, knowing the other was way too drunk to understand the concept of different rooms or floors. Why was he doing this you may ask? Mark was tolerating this because it was the right thing to do. No other reason. He was a kind and responsible citizen helping out someone in need. That’s all.

The drunken prince didn’t care about that though. He happily walked in and quickly hopped on the couch, quickly making himself comfortable. Mark again just sighed. What was he doing? Resident of the building or not, he was still stranger.

‘Gentleman, can you please bring Jacksoniee inside also? He got lost…..outside….I think’

Mark just stared at him incredulously

‘What? No! He can come inside himself, he is a grown man’

‘Aww gentleman don’t get mad. He can’t come inside by himself and that’s because he needs help and that’s because we are a bit you know’ He giggled before continuing ‘tipsyyy and that’s because we wanted to have fun and that’s because we were so tired from work and that’s beca-’

‘Okay okay stop, I get it I get it’

‘And I’m not so sure about him being a grown man, he acts awfully like a kid’ the drunken prince thoughtfully said

‘Like you then’ Mark muttered and then went outside to get the ‘Jacksoniee’ off the floor and inside.

The man-child sleeping on floor didn’t respond to any of Mark’s pokes or nudges, leaving the other with no choice but to drag his sleeping body inside to dump it near the couch.

Mark himself fell on the couch, panting from dragging around the sleeping beast.

Annoyed, he looked at his right to see the prince-like man smiling at him with so much adoration that even in his frustration it made Mark feel shy and as a result he quickly averted his eyes.

‘Soooo gentlema-’

‘Mark’

The other cocked his head to the side to show his confusion

‘My name is Mark, so you can stop with the gentleman’ he grumbled, and was awarded with a breathtaking eye-crinkling smile from the other.

‘Okay Markieee’

‘No no no, just Mark, no markie’ He tried to sound as stern as possible but the other just smirked and got closer to him, making Mark lean back a little.

‘Got it’ The smirk widened ‘Markie’

Mark just sighed in frustration and playfully pushed him off, knowing arguing with this drunken mess was going to get him nowhere. The raven haired just chuckled gleefully

‘I’m Park Jinyoung, don’t want you to refer to me as the drunk moron’

‘A little too late for that’ Mark muttered grumpily, even though he was happy to finally get the name of the prince-like guy. Jinyoung

Jinyoung chuckled in response before firing back

‘Sorry about that, Markie’

Mark just groaned in response before fixating Jinyoung with his stern glare.

‘Go to sleepy party boy, we’ll talk in the morning. You owe me a lot for all this mess’

Jinyoung’s smile faded and he looked horrified at the comment.

‘Sleep? Now? No way Markie-’

‘It’s Mark’

‘I want to talk to you and get to know you better Markie-’

‘Mark’

‘The night is young and so are we Markie’

‘MARK! And the night is not young, it’s a mess, thanks to you. So this is the couch and you are going to sle-’

He stopped speaking when suddenly Jinyoung started inching closer towards him until his face was only centimeters apart from him. The other was studying his face closely as if trying to memorize it and Mark became a flustered mess in matter of seconds.

The smell of the alcohol was unmistakable but he could also detect the faint fragrance of his cologne. It may or may not smell really good.

‘H-Hey loser, ever heard of personal space?’

Jinyoung ignored his question

‘You….’

‘What?’

‘You don’t look Korean’

‘Yeah no Sherlock, I’m Taiwanese. Now get off’

‘Taiwanese?’ Jinyoung started laughing and Mark was slightly offended. What’s so funny in that?

‘Do you know what that makes you Markie?’

Mark sighed, not bothering to correct him anymore and also knowing he would regret asking

‘What?

Staring at Mark dead in the eyes, he just sang

‘Just like fiiiiineee China’ before he started laughing again. Mark just bit his lip, fighting back a smile as Jinyoung went on. This boy was ridiculous.

‘Get it? You are from China and boy you are fineeee’

‘Yes I get it. Thank you Jinyoung’ Mark could feel his face flushing but he tried to act as nonchalant as possible. ‘Now let’s go to sleep, shall-’

‘Are you single?’

Mark’s eyes widened and he was pretty sure now his face resembled a tomato.

‘What? Oh-I-urmm-uhhh-’ He replied, wondering who was the drunk one in this conversation.

But because of his hesitance, Jinyoung’s face fell and he lowered his eyes.

‘Boyfriend? No, a girlfriend? wait are you married? Oh my god, do you have kids?’

‘What? No! I’m not married, I don’t have kids and or any of the other stuff. I-I’m single’

Jinyoung’s face immediately brightened and he inched even closer to Mark, who looked like a deer caught in headlights. He was so close that Mark could feel the other’s warm breath on his face, making him all tingly. Jinyoung didn’t stop though and Mark who could hardly believe this was happening, as a reflex, closed his eyes.

He was waiting for Jinyoung to close the distance between them but just when their lips had barely brushed against each other, Jinyoung pulled back and Mark heard him whine ‘I’m hungry’. Mark opened his eyes to see him pouting before he got up and started making his way to the kitchen, leaving Mark hanging.

‘Jerk’ Mark