Mark was at home, relaxing on a Thursday night when Donghyuck texted him.

do u wanna hang out tomorrow afternoon, it simply read.

Ofc, where are we meeting the others? Mark replied.

No, Donghyuck immediately typed. i mean just the two of us

Mark’s eyes grew wide, his hands trembling even though he was alone in his bedroom.

Yes, he responded, too quickly for his own liking.

great!

i know this rlly pretty spot i wanna visit with u

i’ll pick u up at ur house

Mark didn’t notice how quickly Donghyuck had responded back. Sounds great!!!!

Immediately, he groaned and threw his phone to the other side of his bed. Nervous or excited, all he knew was that there were already butterflies in his stomach. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Mark was nervously pacing outside his door. He’d told his mom he was hanging out with Renjun and Chenle, but he was grateful she wasn’t there. She might have been suspicious at how absolutely nervous Mark was: he’d spent half an hour picking out what to wear (he’d ended up settling on a plain white t-shirt and skinny jeans; he’d never look as cool as Donghyuck even if he tried), he’d bitten his lower lip almost raw, and the palms of his hands had become pools of sweat.

Mark didn’t know whether to be even more nervous or relieved when the doorbell finally rang, throwing it open without hesitation. As per usual, Donghyuck looked gorgeous: black jeans tight against his legs, vintage tee with some movie reference Mark would never get, leather jacket fitted perfectly to his shoulders. As soon as he saw Mark, a confident smile graced his lips. How the hell did he do that?

“That was fast,” he commented. Mark winced; he didn’t realize how weird it was to just open the door immediately.

“Don’t be like that,” Donghyuck spoke softly, noticing Mark’s expression. “It’s cute. Now come on; let’s go.” Mark blushed but with the beckoning of Donghyuck’s hand, he shut the front door and followed him outside.

Surprisingly for a San Francisco summer, it was nice outside. The sun was shining and a breeze blew, but not the kind that cut through your bones until you were a shivering mess. It was the kind of wind that kept the temperature livable, the heat dimmed and withstood. Mark couldn’t imagine life without it; the idea of living in a dry hot place like LA seemed like it would be a death sentence.

“How have you been?” Donghyuck asked, turning to Mark.

“Pretty bored, to be honest. But still good. You?”

Donghyuck ignored Mark’s question. “You should’ve asked me to hang.”

“But...I don’t want to bother you. I’m sure you have your own things going on.”

“You’d never bother me, Mark.”

Mark didn’t quite know how to answer that so he was silent for a few moments, but he finally gained the courage to speak.

“So...where exactly are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” Donghyuck answered with a smile. “Just follow me.”

So Mark followed along patiently, their feet stomping down the bright sidewalk, the sun filtering through the trees overhead.

“, that’s our bus!” Donghyuck suddenly cried, and he immediately began to run after the 23 bus. Mark squeaked, he would be the first to admit he wasn’t actually in shape, but followed after Donghyuck anyways.

Surprisingly, the two actually made it before the bus left. Donghyuck stuck his hand through the door to keep it open while Mark caught up, quickly ducking in through the back door. Mark shuffled through his bag to grab his payment card, while Donghyuck just ignored the fare entirely and grabbed seats for the two of them.

Once Mark had beeped his card he sat down, the sound of their heavy breaths filling the back of the bus.

“Quick piece of advice?” Donghyuck stated in between pants. “Never run in docs.”

Mark laughed softly; he didn't think he'd ever own a pair of doc martens in his life. 

Donghyuck turned to him fully in his seat, leaning against the metal bar behind him. A smile slowly came over his face and Mark quickly looked down, not used to such direct eye contact. But Donghyuck still stared at him anyways, with a look in his eyes that Mark couldn't quite decipher. 

"I like your eyes," Donghyuck suddenly spoke. 

"Wh-what?"

"They're easy to read. Your body language isn't easy to read, but your eyes are different. I like that." 

"Th-thanks," Mark responded, not quite knowing what to say to that.

The bus was fairly empty so the boys talked freely, telling stories of their old schools. Mark could tell that Donghyuck was the kind of guy who could talk for hours without stopping, but he let him without question. Mark's high school days were pretty boring, and Mark knew somehow he'd be interested in anything Donghyuck had to say. 

Looking out the window Mark knew he was lost; even though he'd lived in this city his whole life he had no idea where they were. It was okay though; he was going on an adventure. With Donghyuck, to be honest, everything felt like an adventure.

Suddenly, though, Mark caught a whiff of something in the air. It smelled like a men's cologne Mark couldn't place, maybe axe? Either way he sniffed around a bit, trying to figure out where it was coming from. 

"What?" Donghyuck asked, stopping in the middle of his story about the time he got chased by a security guard at school.

"Are you wearing cologne?" Mark asked. Donghyuck nodded. "I-I thought you didn't like it." 

"I mean...I wanted you to like the way I smelled, since you made fun of my bath and body works stuff last time."

"N-No..." Mark stuttered, "I didn't mind it. I liked it better. Your middle school girl smell suits you." 

Donghyuck slowly grinned. "Thank you," he responded simply as the bus slowed to a stop. The back doors opened, and Donghyuck suddenly grabbed Mark's wrist. 

"This is our stop," he said, tugging Mark out of the bus. Mark was frozen for a moment by Donghyuck's touch, but luckily they made it out before the bus drove on. 

Standing before them was a massive grassy hill, flanked on either side by houses neat in a row. A small, winding path ran up through the dark grass; it looked like quite the climb. 

"Up there?" Mark asked worriedly. 

"Yup," Donghyuck responded, stepping off the sidewalk and onto the path. With a sigh, Mark began to follow him. 

The hill was fairly steep and as much as the turns tried to avoid it, the walk up was still tiring. Both of them were quickly panting, even while the sidewalk was still in sight. 

"I'm too weak for this!" Mark whined, pausing for a moment to catch his breath. 

"It's worth it, I promise!" Donghyuck called back down to him, looking back towards him for a moment. Mark sighed again, hoisting himself up and walking up to where Donghyuck was. 

Donghyuck stepped off of the path and Mark hesitantly followed, their feet crunching through the yellowing grass until they reached a ledge. Donghyuck flopped down tiredly and Mark followed, gasping as soon as he looked out. 

On this ledge was a perfect view of the city; with the sun out they could see everything: Coit Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pyramid Building, Twin Peaks. It was overwhelming, it was stunning, and yes, it was worth the walk. 

"Pretty, right?" Donghyuck asked. 

"Yeah," Mark answered breathlessly. Donghyuck exhaled, laying all the way down. Mark followed, not wanting to seem weird. 

"So...where are you going to school?" Mark asked, the usual question for kids their age. 

"College?" Donghyuck asked, and Mark nodded. "UC Davis. You?" 

"Wait, seriously?" Mark responded, turning his head towards Donghyuck. 

"Yeah...why?" 

"I mean, I'm going there too..." 

"Really? That's great! Thank god, I actually know someone who's going," Donghyuck responded excitedly, smiling brightly. 

"H-how did you get in?" Mark asked. 

"What do you mean?"

"Did you know someone who worked there?"

"Uh...no?" Donghyuck responded. 

"I-I mean, it's kind of a prestigious school..." 

"What are you saying, Mark?" Donghyuck asked roughly, turning back to look up at the sky again. Mark froze, not wanting to offend Donghyuck further. 

"W-well, I was in student body and my gpa was pretty good, and I mean, you...." 

"Ah, typical Lowell kid," Donghyuck sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mark asked; now he was on the defensive. He didn't like where this was going, but he didn't know how to make it stop. 

"Thinks all there is to life is good grades and clubs for college apps." 

"Th-that's not true," Mark stammered. He couldn't lie though, sometimes he did feel that way.

"Just because I went to SOTA and had some fun in high school doesn't mean I didn't work hard. I was lead in most of the musicals at my school since freshman year, plus my gpa wasn't half bad either." 

Mark swallowed thickly with guilt. They'd been on their first date less than an hour and he'd already ed up, just the kind of thing Mark Lee would do. Only an would make a snap judgement like that. 

"There's more to life than grades, you know," Donghyuck said, turning back to Mark. But to Mark's relief there wasn't anger in his eyes any more. 

"I-I know," Mark stammered. 

"But do you?" Donghyuck answered, a smile quirking up at the corner of his thick lips. It wasn't spiteful, but Mark still didn't know what to say. 

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have judged you so quickly," Mark spoke. 

"You're ignoring my question," Donghyuck responded. "I accept your apology though." 

"I-I mean-" 

"I'll teach you how to have fun. I promise." 

Slowly, Mark smiled back at Donghyuck. Already, he could feel himself falling harder. He was forgiving and understanding, just more qualities on top of his many good ones Mark already knew about. 

And so on that ledge they talked for hours endlessly, about high school and college and fears and things they were excited for. Mark talked for a while too and surprisingly Donghyuck listened, just as well as Mark had before, hanging off of his every word. 

When the conversation lulled Donghyuck sat up, pulling out his phone. 

"I wanna do your star chart," Donghyuck simply spoke. "What's your birthday?"

"August 2, 1999," Mark responded, going with the flow. It seemed like with Donghyuck, going with his ideas was usually a good idea. 

"Birth place?" 

"Vancouver." 

"Really?" Donghyuck asked. Mark nodded. 

"My family moved here when I was a baby." 

Donghyuck nodded and continued filling out the questions for Mark. "Birth time?" 

"Why would you need to know that?" 

"It's important," Donghyuck responded. 

"Uh, midnight I think," Mark finally answered. Donghyuck finished it all up and looked over the answers, humming to himself. 

"Interesting, interesting," He responded, scrolling through. 

"What does it say?" 

"Huh. Leo sun, aries moon, virgo venus." 

"I....have no idea what any of that means," Mark responded with a chuckle. 

"Let's see then," Donghyuck said, scrolling back up again. "'Likes authority, aspires toward an ideal...honest, frank, loyal, open, and sincere'...seems about right. That's for your sun sign, by the way, which is in leo. Sun sign is your base personality." 

"That seems pretty accurate, but they were very nice." 

Donghyuck chuckled. "They do list weaknesses too. It says 'presumption and disdain of others'...sounds right to me." 

"Hey!" Mark whined. 

"I'm just kidding," Donghyuck answered, and Mark could tell he meant it. It was freeing, really, how teasing they were with each other already. Things were already easy. 

"Okay, onto your moon sign...'moon in aries'. It says you 'don't play games...you have an aura of childlike innocence'...oh that's definitely true; you're the cutest person I've ever met." Even though Donghyuck mostly said that to himself, Mark still flushed and curled up into a ball. 

"'Venus in virgo'," Donghyuck spoke, reading to himself. 

"What's venus?" Mark asked. 

"Oh, that's how you deal with love," Donghyuck teased. "'Not flirtatious.' That's true; I was surprised when you even agreed to go on this date with me. Okay, but 'dedicated to working on the relationship...gifts of devotion and attention to details of you...great listeners'...huh, I had a feeling you'd make a good boyfriend." 

Mark flushed more and hid it with his knees, his smile hidden as well. Donghyuck gave him a dazzling look, almost not noticing the sky begin to darken.

"!" Mark cried, leaping up. 

"What?"

"I have to be home before dark." 

"...." 

The two of them ran down the hill, almost tripping over the unstable steps and loose rocks before they reached the bus stop just as it pulled in. They leapt on again, Donghyuck still not paying, and sat down in their exact same seats, panting. 

"I can't believe we had to do that again," Mark spoke with a chuckle. 

"Are you gonna be alright? I don't want to get you in trouble."

Mark looked out the window. "I think I'll be fine," he answered, giving Donghyuck a smile. "But thanks for worrying." 

Unlike the ride there, which was full of loud laughter and boisterous talking, the ride back was fairly silent. To Mark's surprise, though, it wasn't uncomfortable. In fact, as his tiredness set in, it felt just right. 

Mark inhaled and exhaled, trying to calm the beating of his heart as he slowly rested his head on Donghyuck's shoulder. It was warm, despite the brisk breeze flowing in through the windows. He could feel Donghyuck smile, the crook of his neck a better pillow than the one on his bed. 

Donghyuck reached over and casually interlaced their fingers, Mark freezing in place. Even though it was just something so simple, nobody had touched him like that in a while. It felt good, and with Donghyuck, it felt right. 

They reached Mark's house soon enough and got off of the bus, Donghyuck walking Mark just a few blocks down back to his front door.

"I had an amazing time today," Donghyuck said sincerely. 

"M-me too," Mark responded. "We should do it again sometime." He could feel Donghyuck's eyes on his lips, but as Donghyuck leaned in he only reached for a hug. 

"Sometimes soon," Donghyuck mumbled in his ear before pulling away. He checked Mark out and smiled, throwing him a grin and a wave before walking away. 

"See ya!" Mark called back, watching him go. Donghyuck simply turned around and winked before turning the corner. 

As soon as Donghyuck was out of sight, Mark grinned and clutched his heart. He knew he wouldn't be getting much sleep that night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: hello my lovely subscribers!!! how are you liking the story so far? i hope you're enjoying it. as an author, the thing that motivates me completely is comments! so if you have something to say, or a thought of any kind, or liked the story, please let me know! i think it makes the fic so much better <3

finally, i wanted to use this platform to speak up about #blacklivesmatter! enough is enough, and it's so important to spread information and donate if you can! here is some information if you want more info/don't know about it already, and it also includes links of how to support in many different ways! 

until the next chapter, 

-RainbowDonkeys