When Jinyoung arrived at his desk in the morning, there was a present waiting for him on top of his keyboard. It was thin and flat, and topped off with a silvery bow and gift tag that read “To Jinyoung, From Your Secret Santa.”

“Huh,” Jinyoung said, picking it up. He wasn’t terribly excited about it, considering how the office gift exchange usually went. Last year, Youngjae had been his Secret Santa and had gotten him a popcorn tin which Youngjae then proceeded to snack on himself whenever Jinyoung was away from his desk. The year before that, his Secret Santa had been Yugyeom, who’d forgotten to buy him a gift entirely and then pretended like the pack of gum he fished out of his desk drawer at the last minute was what he’d meant to give him all along.

“Soooo, who do you think your Secret Santa is this year?” came Jackson’s sing-song voice from beside Jinyoung. He was leaning against Jinyoung’s work station, a smug smile on his face.

“Obviously you, based on how excited you are to see me open it,” Jinyoung said drily. “You always do this to whoever you receive in the gift exchange.”

“Well, secret’s out then, go on and open it.” Jackson grinned at him eagerly. “I want to see your face when you see what I got you.”

He got me a y calendar, Jinyoung realized immediately, looking down at the shape of the package he was holding. Sure enough, when he tore off the paper, he revealed the 2020 y Fireman Collection Calendar, which was fronted by a bevy of soot covered shirtless men in front of a fire station. One was even holding a kitten in his arms.

“See, I got you fireman out of respect for you coming out to us last month,” Jackson said proudly. “Did I do a good job? Do you love it?”

“It’s certainly something,” Jinyoung said, not wanting to be a jerk about it. It was true enough that he’d come out as gay to the co-workers he was closest to after months of having them try to set him up with one of their female co-workers who they had mistakenly assumed was his ideal type, but that didn’t really mean he enjoyed ogling musclemen in his spare time. In fact, he was still a little insecure about the whole thing even now that he was out, and the thought of openly expressing an interest in someone, or even openly admitting an interest in someone just to himself, still slightly terrified him.

“Whenever you get a y calendar, the number one thing you should do is flip to the back and decide who the iest man of the month is,” Jackson announced, snatching the calendar and showing Jinyoung the back side where all the months of the calendar were previewed. “I would personally go for Mr. January, Im Jaebum. Just look at that smoldering stare. Roar. How about you?”

“Do I have to?” Jinyoung asked.

“Yes. Did I not just say it was the number one thing you absolutely have to do?”

“No, you said it was something I should do.”

“Same difference. Come on, pick one! I’m dying to know your type.”

Jinyoung sighed, but scanned the first couple of months. He was going to pick one at random to get Jackson off his back, but then his eyes fell on Mr. September.

Most of the guys on the calendar were doing their best to look y—obviously, since they were signing on to be models on a blatantly y calendar. But Mr. September was different. There were no smoldering looks from him. No vamping for the camera or flashing his abs left and right, even though he was technically shirtless. He had a lot more of a slender figure than the men in other months, though there was no denying he was strong and had particularly nice and well-muscled arms.

No, what drew Jinyoung to the picture was how natural it looked. In it, Mr. September was sitting leaned back on the palms of his hands on top of a firetruck, his body sweaty and his head thrown back as if he was catching his breath after an exhausting day of work. His hair was rumpled and there was a little bit of a smudge on his chin. Despite how tired he looked, there was a slight smile on his lips as if he was satisfied with his day’s work and would be ready to do more if someone needed it of him. Jinyoung knew these kinds of calendars were done by professional models rather than actual firefighters most of the time, but Mr. September looked so fully inside his role that Jinyoung could have sworn he’d just come back from putting out a particularly terrible blaze.

All of it together added up to Jinyoung in the way the other pictures didn’t. It gave him the two reactions of “this man is unbelievably y” and “this man is a hero” that these calendars were supposed to evoke, but not only that, it seemed to fill in all the details in his mind of what he wanted in a boyfriend that had previously been vague due to his inexperience and insecurity. He wanted someone who took energy from living well and working hard, someone who was able to love in a way where even the tiring days didn’t slow him down, but rather fueled him.

“Mr. September,” he found himself saying out loud, cheeks flushing.

“Eh, Mr. September?” Jackson said with interest. He squinted at the picture. “Mr. September, Mark Tuan. Yeah, he’s pretty cute, isn’t he? And looks good sweaty. Always an important quality.” Jackson patted Jinyoung on the shoulder. “I hope you display this calendar loud and proud, Park Jinyoung. I also hope you’ll let me drop by your desk next month a time or two to admire the delights of Mr. January.”

“Yeah, sure,” Jinyoung said vaguely. His mind was already miles away, lost in a fantasy of the company catching on fire and Mr. September battling through the flames to rescue him, then carrying him out in his arms and cradling him tenderly until he knew he was all right. He was much better at fantasies than realities, after all. Especially when in his head, the attraction was always mutual and instantaneous, and a guy like Mr. September could exist normally instead of being some male model he’d never meet in his lifetime.

Maybe this year’s gift exchange wasn’t so bad, after all, he thought with a private smile. My mind deserves a little treat every now and again, doesn’t it?

Instead of keeping the calendar at work, he took it home with him and pinned it on his bedroom wall open to September 2020, even though it was only December 2019. For a few hours, he put it out of his mind in favor of making dinner and doing some of his necessary household chores. But late in the evening, he went back into his room and flopped down on his bed, looking at the picture.

“Mr. September,” he said softly to himself. He filled his mind with that image of him on the firetruck, bringing it to life rather than keeping it static and flat. He made Mr. September—Mark—make small movements, like taking a deep breath of the fresh air and running his fingers through his sweat-damp hair and tapping his heels against the front of the truck. And when the image felt so alive it could be real, he had Mark turn his brown eyes to him and smile.

“You’re awake,” Mark said in an invented voice. He slipped off the truck and began walking closer. “You inhaled so much smoke, I was worried about you.”

“I’m all right,” Jinyoung murmured into the silence of his room. “You saved me.” He wanted to reach out and touch Mark’s body, but knew his head couldn’t invent the intimate feeling of another person that he’d never really felt before, and he didn’t want to remind himself of the fact that this wasn’t real.

“I wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” Mark said. “It’s my honor and duty as a firefighter to keep you safe.”

He lifted his hand to touch Jinyoung’s cheek. Jinyoung lifted his hand to his face to mimic the feeling, and it felt like Mark’s fingers on him, not his own. His breath caught. “Mark,” he whispered. “I want to thank you. For saving me.”

Mark’s lips quirked. “And how will you do that, Jinyoung?”

How will I do that?, Jinyoung thought hazily. This could go any way he wanted it to. It was his fantasy to command. But part of him stupidly wished he knew how the real Mr. September would do it so he could fill his mind with that instead of the product of his limited imagination. He wanted Mark's manifestation of desire, not just his own.

Still, he reached down and ed his pants, collapsing into his pillows. “Like this,” he said. He closed his eyelids, where Mark was waiting for him in the fantasy behind them.

Jinyoung tried not to feel pathetic about spending Christmas alone for what felt like the millionth year in a row. In his head, he and Mr. September had spent the day in a whirlwind of romance, complete with a mistletoe kiss and an evening making love on the sheepskin rug in front of the fireplace, so he’d ended the day feeling mentally and physically satisfied and hadn’t felt as alone as he was.

He did, however, feel pretty pathetic when he walked into work on New Year’s Eve and he was the only person in the office other than the facilities manager. Everyone else had called off to spend time with their families and lovers, but Jinyoung’s parents were on the other side of the country visiting his grandparents, and he wasn’t so delusional to where he’d take the day off to spend some time with a fictional boyfriend.

So he slogged through the workday, almost wishing he had left his fireman calendar at the office so he’d have something to keep his mind more enjoyably occupied. Instead, he settled on doing a large print job that would have monopolized the office’s one printer on any other day. The printing room was on the floor below, and though there was a perfectly good stairwell going down, Jinyoung was lazy and took the elevator.

The elevator had only just begun to descend when the power blew. Jinyoung in his breath, grabbing the nearest handrail and squeezing it. It wasn’t that uncommon for a power blip during the winter when the winds were strong or there was a snowstorm, but he’d never been in the elevator before when it had happened.

The power came on again after about twenty seconds. Jinyoung sighed in relief, up until he realized the elevator wasn’t moving.

“!” he swore. He was pretty sure it hadn’t moved much from where he’d gotten on, so pressed the button to open the doors. Nothing happened. He waited a few seconds and pressed it again. Nothing. He thought about calling the facilities manager, but when he reached into his pocket, he realized he’d left his cell phone at his desk.

Panic increasing, he looked for the emergency instructions. The sign told him to press the red button, which would send the building location and elevator information to the proper responders. It didn’t tell him how long the response would take, but it didn’t seem like there was another option. Jinyoung pressed the button, then sank down to the floor of the elevator to wallow. What a New Year’s Eve this was turning out to be.

Jinyoung had dozed off while waiting for help, and was jolted awake when he heard someone tapping on the elevator doors. “Anyone in there?” a voice asked.

Jinyoung leapt up, body flooding in relief. “Yes! I’m here! Are you the emergency responder?”

“I am,” whoever was on the other side said. “And the good news is, the elevator barely moved before it got stuck. You’re mostly still on the third floor, so it’ll be easy to get you out. You’re doing all right in there? You’re staying calm?”

“I’m doing the best I can,” Jinyoung said.

“Perfect. Just give me a moment, then, and I’ll get these doors open for you.”

Jinyoung had thought it might take some time, but it was literally only a moment before the doors were pried open and he could see into the hallway from the slightly lowered angle. There was a firefighter in a yellow turnout coat and hardhat standing in front of him, smiling reassuringly as he pushed the doors the rest of the way open.

Jinyoung recognized the eyes as soon as he saw them. They were Mark’s.

“Mr. September?” he said blankly, heart pounding.

“Hmm?” Mark smiled at him. “You all right there?”

Oh, I get it, Jinyoung realized. I’m dreaming. I must still be napping in the elevator while waiting for the responder. I’m having another Mark dream. Because Mark was a male model, not really a firefighter. He wouldn’t just show up to rescue Jinyoung outside of one of his fantasies.

Jinyoung shifted into fantasy mode accordingly, smiling smoothly. “It looks like you rescued me.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Mark said, tapping his hardhat jokingly. “Though if it makes you feel any better, you weren’t in that much danger, it looks like. The outage probably just made the elevator malfunction.” He extended his hand to help Jinyoung make the step up from where the elevator had slightly lowered from the floor. Jinyoung took it gratefully and stepped out.

Now, he thought, now’s the part he’ll pull me to him and we’ll start kissing. We’re at the company, so…doing it in the CEO’s office? Yes, let’s do it like that.

But Mark didn’t kiss him. He dropped Jinyoung’s hand and picked up the red toolbox he’d brought with him. “I’m going to need to take a look at this elevator. Is there anyone in your company I need approval from?”

Jinyoung stared at him for a moment. What was talk of maintenance doing in his fantasy? Mark had rescued him from a burning building in his head before without worrying about actually putting out the fire before screwing him. Why was his mind suddenly making Mark care about the elevator? Would he be pulling off his shirt while fixing it, or something?

“No,” Jinyoung said, trying to recover his composure and get the dream on track for some action. “I’m basically here alone.” Much emphasis on alone.

“Are you? That’s working on New Year’s Eve for you. Our station’s been pretty quiet today, too.” Mark stepped in the elevator and pulled a key out of his toolbox. He placed it into the little keyhole in the elevator panel and pulled it open to tinker with the controls.

Jinyoung shuffled his feet. Did the dream really need to be this detailed? Really? Was this his nerdiness for intricately written literature coming back to bite him?

Mark worked on the elevator for a few minutes (shirt stubbornly on), and then with a ping it suddenly rose to its correct place on the third floor. “Fixed it!” Mark said triumphantly. “It just got a bit scrambled during the blip and thought it was still properly on the third floor. Which floor were you going to?”

“The 2^nd.”

“Then step in and we’ll take it down and make sure it works.”

OK, so it’s going to be a dream where he jumps me in the elevator, Jinyoung thought in relief. He stepped in beside Mark, and Mark pressed the button for the 2^nd floor. The doors shut and the elevator descended. Jinyoung turned to Mark, waiting for the kiss he was sure would come. But nothing happened, and seconds later the doors opened again.

“Looks like it’s in working order,” Mark said. “Well, I’m sure that’s not how you planned on spending your afternoon, but it’s good we were able to get you out quickly. Are you good to go…?” He paused, waiting for Jinyoung to supply his name. Which was weird, because in all of Jinyoung’s fantasies, he automatically knew it without being told.

“Park Jinyoung,” Jinyoung said. “My name is Jinyoung.”

“Then you’re all right, Jinyoung?” Mark smiled at him in the kind of friendly way that suggested he wasn’t about to make out with him.

I guess I’m supposed to be the aggressive one in this fantasy, then, Jinyoung realized. Fine by me.

“I hope you’re not planning on going without letting me do something to thank you,” Jinyoung said in his best sultry voice. “It wouldn’t be very nice if I just went back to work after you went out of your way to rescue me.”

Mark looked surprised for a moment, then suddenly grinned. “I see your game, Jinyoung. You’re stuck working on the holiday…you want an excuse to leave the office, don’t you?”

Jinyoung blinked. Huh?

“Yeah, then, you can take me out for a working ‘thank you’ coffee,” Mark said. “My shift’s ending anyways. I need to take the truck back and get out of gear, but I could meet you at Starbucks in thirty minutes?”

“Uh….sure?” Jinyoung said. Date fantasy, then? That was fine, he supposed. His mind had leapt straight to X rated stuff, so he hadn’t enjoyed anything mild yet sweet in his Mark fantasies.

“Great, I’ll see you there.” He paused. “I don’t think I’ve introduced myself, have I? I’m Mark.”

“Nice to meet you, Mark.” Jinyoung smiled. “I’ll look forward to seeing you again.”

Jinyoung arrived at Starbucks before Mark and grabbed them some seats in the corner. Probably because he was dreaming, it was mostly deserted for once in the history of Starbucks. Jinyoung ordered a peppermint mocha and took a seat. To his surprise, he could actually taste the drink when he sipped it—he’d always thought food and drink in dreams never really tasted like anything.

Mark appeared a few minutes later. He dropped off his padded jacket at his seat with a smile to Jinyoung, then went up to the front to order his drink.

When he’d received his frap from the guy behind the counter, he took a seat across from Jinyoung. “So, work was getting you down today?” he asked sympathetically.

“A little,” Jinyoung said. Thank god it was a dream, since he’d never be this relaxed making small talk with a hot guy in real life. “Though maybe not down enough because, you know, the elevator.”

Mark laughed. “Right. Glad I was able to help.”

“So what made you want to be a firefighter?” Jinyoung asked. “It’s much more exciting than what I do.”

“I don’t mind a little excitement. But if I’m being honest, the reason I wanted to be a firefighter was because of the toy firetruck I got for Christmas when I was three.”

“Really?”

“Really. The idea just kind of rooted itself in my head and never let go. I know most kids who dream of becoming one never follow through, but…some of us have to, or who’s going to put out the fires, right?”

“Do you rescue dogs and cats, too?”

“Sometimes. My cutest rescue was probably the little pug we pulled out of an apartment fire. Poor thing.”

“You mean I wasn’t your cutest rescue?” Jinyoung asked. It was the kind of cheesy line he’d never be able to pull off in real life, but he relished saying it now.

Mark looked momentarily surprised, but chuckled. “You’re a funny guy, aren’t you?”

Jinyoung could practically hear the phantom disdainful snort of Yugyeom in his head. You? Funny? Dream on. Which Jinyoung was fully intending to do.

“It’s really impressive what you do, though,” Jinyoung said sincerely, since in this version of reality, Mark was actually a firefighter and not a male model. “It must be dangerous, though.”

Mark nodded. “Yeah, a lot of the time. But it’s so rewarding. I wouldn’t trade it for any other job in the world.”

“Can you tell me about some of your most daring fire rescues? I’d love to hear about it.”

Mark happily regaled Jinyoung with some of his best stories, which surprised Jinyoung a bit in how complex and detailed they were considering his own brain was the one inventing them. He wasn’t even aware he’d known enough about faulty wiring and the patterns of how fires spread to come up with these very realistic sounding stories, but they were fascinating. He really felt like he was genuinely listening to Mark tell them, rather than making them up as he went along.

When Mark had shared a handful of firefighter stories, he asked Jinyoung to talk about himself a little. Jinyoung’s work life was boring in comparison, but he told Mark about his co-workers and the kind of antics they got into when they went out together after work. It was a true testament to the fact he was dreaming that Mark looked immersed in everything he was saying rather than bored to tears.

An hour and a half passed (of in-dream time—Jinyoung checked the wall clock in Starbucks, but had no idea how much time had passed in the waking world. Surely the real emergency responder would be waking him up soon). They were still talking to each other as if they would never run out of things to say. Mark was telling him about his Christmas trip to America, and Jinyoung was drinking in his eyes. He really must have memorized them perfectly. They looked so real to him.

“So that’s when I ended up getting this tattoo,” Mark concluded the story he’d been telling, rolling up his sleeves to show his arm, which was inked with the word “TRUTH.”

Oooh, and now I’m mentally giving him tattoos, Jinyoung thought. And inventing a backstory for them. Next thing I know, I’m going to be inventing his parents and meeting them and giving him mental haircuts.

“It really suits you, Mr. September,” he said out loud. Because apparently he subconsciously had a thing for tattoos he hadn’t realized until now.

Mark tilted his head. “That’s the second time you’ve called me that. Any reason why?”

The fireman calendar probably couldn’t seamlessly exist in this universe since Mark wasn’t a model, but since Jinyoung was the one crafting the dream, he intended to make it fit since he couldn’t come up with another explanation off the top of his head. “That was your month on the 2020 y Fireman Collection Calendar.”

Mark looked baffled for a moment, but then his eyes widened. “Oh! That! We shot that back in the summer, so I completely forgot. Did that come out already?”

“Yeah. It’s almost 2020, you know.”

“Right, right. Wow! I can’t believe people are actually buying it. Although I guess it’s a good thing, since the proceeds go to the fire station. If it wasn’t for a good cause, I probably wouldn’t have been able to pose like that.” He shook his head. “So…did you buy it for someone you know?”

“No. I was the one who got it. Someone gave it to me as a gift.”

Mark frowned a little. “Wait. Did they do it as some kind of joke?”

“Not really. They guessed it might be…up my alley.”

“And…” Mark looked at him carefully. “Was it?”

“Some of the months were. Or…one of them, technically.”

“Let me guess,” Mark said, rolling his eyes. “January? Don’t tell me you’re going to ask me to hook you up with Jaebum, because I get that request at least once a day it feels like. From women and men.”

“Not January,” Jinyoung said. He smiled the sly little smile he was only capable of in his head. “There’s a reason I’m very familiar with the fact that you’re Mr. September.”

“Oh,” Mark said. Then his eyes widened a little more. “Ohhhhh. I…see…”

His reaction was more flustered than Jinyoung had thought he would imagine it. Usually the Mark in his head was suave about his power to make Jinyoung love him. This version of Mark seemed entirely floored by the idea. It was actually kind of cute, Jinyoung thought. He kind of liked the idea of Mark not taking this manner of interest as an automatic given just because he was attractive—maybe that was why he was imagining it like this in the first place.

“To tell you the truth,” Jinyoung said in a low voice, “I have the calendar already opened to September in my bedroom. Not only do I like you better than January, but I skipped even displaying his month. And all the others.”

“R-Really?” After a moment, Mark’s cheeks turned a little red. “In your bedroom, you said?”

Jinyoung nodded. “Make of that what you will.”

Mark nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on Jinyoung’s face. Jinyoung could sense an increased awareness in those eyes. He wasn’t just looking at him like a pleasant afternoon coffee diversion right now. There was definitely an interest—a coy one, but one that held the hint of something far more passionate to come.

And this, Jinyoung thought with satisfaction, is where the dream gets even better.

“Um, Jinyoung,” Mark said, running his tongue against his lower lip. “I’m…I’m not doing anything for New Year’s tonight. So…”

“Yes?”

“Would you perhaps like to come over to my place? I have champagne…somewhere…I think?”

“I’d love to come over,” Jinyoung said. Although now that he thought of it, he’d most likely been dreaming for awhile now. It had taken him some time to get to this heated part, and if the dream was able to progress without him getting woken up by the real emergency responder, he’d probably instead get woken up in the middle of the very wet part of the dream. Maybe he should jolt himself awake now, before that happened? It wasn’t like he couldn’t enjoy the conclusion in a daydream later.

But Mark reached across the table and touched his hand, and all thought of waking up without being had by him first fled from his mind. Mark was looking at him softer than he’d ever had, and he didn’t want to lose this exact version of his eyes.

“This is crazy,” Mark said softly. “It must be a dream, right? Meeting someone exactly my type like this, and having you be someone who already knows and is, um… interested… in me? Because this kind of thing doesn’t happen to me. It…you…this is all too good to be true.”

“Funny you should say that.” Jinyoung squeezed his hand lightly. “But why don’t you and I make it real while we can?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m usually the type to rush, but…” Mark trailed off. “Well, in case this is a dream, I shouldn’t waste the opportunity, should I?”

“Definitely not,” Jinyoung said. “The circumstances will never be exactly like this again. We shouldn’t let them slip past us.”

Just like all of his dreams, the details of Mark’s fictional apartment escaped him. They were in each other’s arms too quickly, bodies pressing against the wall, hands scrambling to touch each other. Mark felt more solid to the touch than he ever had to Jinyoung in his dreams before. He hoped he would remember all the details when he woke up so he could apply them to future fantasies.

Mark pulled away, short of breath. Jinyoung traced his fingers along his “TRUTH” tattoo. He’d remember this perfect little detail, too.

“So,” Mark said quietly. “You’re sure you want to…?”

“Yes.” Jinyoung drew closer to him again. “You don’t know how many times I’ve done this with you already, or you wouldn’t even ask that question.”

Mark’s breath caught a little. “You’ve…um…really thought of it that much?”

“Constantly.”

“And…is there any chance I’ll actually be able to live up to what you’ve thought?”

“A 100% chance. This is already the best I’ve ever felt.” He closed the distance between their lips, kissing him soundly. “Now, let’s not waste our time hesitating anymore, OK?”

Mark swallowed and guided him to the couch. He sat down upon it, and Jinyoung slipped onto his lap, straddling him. Mark dug his hands through his hair and kissed him, and Jinyoung slid his hands under his shirt, feeling his skin. It was warm, so detailed. His imagination was truly going all out, his every sense so realistic that he could have easily fooled himself into believing it was actually happening.

Mark groaned into his lips and reached his arms around Jinyoung’s waist to slide his hands down past the waistband of his pants. He squeezed his , then slipped a finger lower to circle his entrance and push inside.

Jinyoung immediately winced, which caught him so off guard he froze in place. Of course in real life it would hurt if someone went in without lube and with nails that needed a t, but this wasn’t real life. Why the hell would he put something uncomfortable in his own fantasy?

“I’m sorry,” Mark said quickly, pulling away. “I honestly wasn’t expecting anything like this to happen tonight, and I didn’t even think of my nails…just give me a moment and I’ll-”

The detail was just too strange to overlook. He’d barely understood why his fantasy had involved Mark doing maintenance on the elevator, but this made absolutely no sense. There was no reason to insert a tiny, realistic snag into what was supposed to be a perfect, ideal fantasy.

“Is this actually happening?” Jinyoung whispered faintly.

“Umm?” Mark looked at him nervously. “I’m seriously sorry. That ruined the mood, didn’t it?”

“Not that. I mean this. You and me meeting…and hooking up…is this actually happening? Like, in reality happening?”

“Uh…well, I did joke about it being like a dream earlier, but yeah, this is still real life as far as I know.”

“Oh god,” Jinyoung said, leaping off Mark’s lap. “Oh . Oh .”

Mark stood up in alarm. “Jinyoung, are you OK?”

“I thought it was a dream!” Jinyoung wailed. “I didn’t think it was actually happening! I thought that when I was talking to you, it wasn’t actually you!”

Mark stared at him quizzically, as if waiting for him to smile and say ‘just kidding!’ When Jinyoung didn’t, Mark cleared his throat awkwardly. “You…you thought your whole day since waking up this morning was a dream?”

“Not the whole day. I thought I’d dozed off in the elevator and started fantasizing about you like I always do. I thought you were a male model, so when you showed up as an actual firefighter, I was sure it couldn’t really be you! And who just meets their fantasy guy out of nowhere like that? I thought it had to be a dream!” He tore his fingers through his hair. “But if it is really you, that means…that means you saw me acting all weird and flirty like I don’t do at all in real life, and I told you…I told you that I used your picture for lewd purposes! To your face!”

Mark looked at him uncertainly. “Um. You…you sure did.”

Jinyoung covered his face with his hands. That was the final death knell. Maybe he could have had a shot with his dream guy if he’d played the fantasy tamer, but he’d gone ahead and just blabbed to the poor guy’s face about to him on what otherwise could have been a normal, healthy, G-rated get-to-know-you date. He’d never be able to look Mark in the eye again.

“Oh my god,” he groaned. “I’m so sorry. You probably think I’m some kind of freaky, idiotic , don’t you?”

Mark put his hand on Jinyoung’s shoulder. “It’s OK, it’s OK, please don’t worry about it. If I’d thought you were a freaky for using my picture for lewd purposes, I wouldn’t have invited you over, all right?”

“But you think I’m crazy, right?” He chanced a glance at Mark. Mark did kind of have an amused look on his face that he was struggling to hold back. “You do, don’t you?”

“Not crazy,” Mark said, adjusting his face. “Just…did you really think you were dreaming? We’ve been together for the past few hours doing fairly mundane things. No crazy dream plot twists.”

“It wasn’t mundane to me, since you were there. You’re someone I thought I’d never be able to meet in real life.”

“It’s not that unrealistic, though. That calendar was for our fire station, which is pretty close to your office. We only sold it locally, so it’s not unreasonable that we’d bump into some of the people who bought it.”

“But I didn’t know that,” Jinyoung said. “I wasn’t the one who bought it. I thought you were some kind of nationally famous model.”

“Nope. Just your local fireman. A perfectly normal guy by all accounts.”

“Not to me,” Jinyoung insisted. “You’re like my dream guy. The kind of guy that I can only obtain in my head. You’re the type of person I would never be able to talk to in real life even if I practiced it for weeks.”

“And yet you’ve talked to me for hours in real life with no problem.”

“Because I thought it wasn’t really happening!”

“Well, it did happen,” Mark said practically. “You passed the hurdle of talking to and getting to know me. It should be easy from hereon out since you’ve actually done the hard part, right?”

“But like I said, how can I even look you in the eye now after everything I said to you?”

“Would it help if I told you I like you, so you don’t have to worry about having weirded me out? I was very genuine in bringing you here…and in what I told you at Starbucks. You’re completely my type. I think you’re funny and cute and handsome and interesting.”

“That was all me being the dream-version of me. I normally have a thousand more inhibitions than that. And I’m definitely not funny. Anyone would tell you so.”

“And I’d say they were wrong. My experience with you was real, no matter what you say. And I met the real you. Unless we’re both really in our beds right now dreaming this whole thing and this moment right now is some kind of weird dreamception.”

Jinyoung was about to shoot back with a retort when he noticed Mark was now having a really hard time holding back his laughter. For a moment he thought he was going to be annoyed, but then the humor of it finally caught up with him. How ridiculous was this whole thing? He’d really, truly met his dream guy in completely natural circumstances, confused the situation, acted like an idiot, but had somehow ended up in Mark's apartment with kisses still fresh on his lips. Was he honestly going to flee the scene and act like it had never happened when Mr. September was pretty much on his hook and insisting not to be let go?

He finally laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of it, and Mark joined him. The sound of Mark’s laughter only made him laugh harder.

“I’m sorry,” Jinyoung said through his laughs. “I’m such a . I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to things like this.”

“You and me both,” Mark said good-naturedly. “Don’t get me wrong, I was fine with you being aggressively into me, but I was panicking a little bit inwardly that I was going to make an of myself trying to be as great as you thought I was.”

“I promise I’ll cool down a little bit.”

“Not too much, though. I’m still sincerely flattered you liked my calendar picture so much. Like I said before, I normally can’t compete with Jaebum.” He smiled. “You’d better not change it from September. Or remove it from your room.”

“So there’s no way I can get you to pretend you don’t know that about me?”

“Not a chance. In fact, I might enjoy myself tonight thinking about how you enjoy yourself to my picture.” His lips quirked. “I think we should save the actual hookup for later, though. I’d rather give the two of us another shot to get to know each other under the terms that it’s 100% real this time. Shall I make you dinner?”

“Oh, you can cook too? You could make yourself look a little less perfect, you know. Just so I don’t convince myself that I’m dreaming again.”

“I’ll be more than happy to pinch you.”

Jinyoung smiled, loosening up a little. Maybe he could do this. After all, he’d technically already done it once before. What was there to be afraid of? He was pretty sure he’d already embarrassed himself as much as he was capable of.

“So, Mr. September,” he said, taking a seat at Mark’s kitchen table. “Have any other tattoos?”