“Are you guys dating or something?” Admittedly it was a question they heard quite often.

Jinyoung and Mark had been best friends for over ten years now, so naturally they were quite close and just like all best friends do they tend to be rather touchy feely with each other. They would often hug and always be close or touch each other in some way. Jinyoung tended to be the one to touch more often or to pull the other boy closer to him.

So far that could be classified as close best friend behaviour, but what really made people question their relationship was when Mark pushed other people’s hands away when they wanted to touch Jinyoung, or how said boy pulled his older friend to sit on his lap, and of course the most questionable deed being when they would kiss. On the lips.

The first time the boys got closer then just the occasional hug was when they were both fourteen; at that time Mark would often sleep over at Jinyoung’s after school. The two boys would playfully wrestle on the bed until Jinyoung, who was always a bit taller, got Mark pinned by his wrists and both were panting heavily.

One day in September when the weather had gotten colder and slight rain was beating against the window of Jinyoung’s room, the younger boy, overtaken by the heat of the moment and the hormones surging through his blood, leant forward and places a chaste kiss on the other’s cheek.

Mark had looked up at him with his wide curious eyes before giving him a huge smile. Neither of the boys thought it was weird to kiss like that since they were close and treasured each other dearly.

Jinyoung had rolled off his friend and both were lying in the bed just trying to calm their beating hearts and just before they fell asleep they had intertwined their fingers.

The next step was made when both were sixteen. They were at a friend’s house party and like all teenagers do at some point when boys and girls are put into a room they ended up playing truth or dare. So when someone dared Jinyoung to kiss the person in the room who he liked most, thinking they’d get a love confession to one of the girls out of him, he turned to his left and kissed Mark on the lips. Around the two boys the room fell eerily quiet until Jinyoung moved back and grinned at the person who dared him.

            “Of course I was gonna pick my best friend, who else?”

After that people had started questioning their relationship but the boys never cared. They grew ever bolder in showing how deep their bound was to each other and everyone else that might be watching. 

Which is also what got them into their current predicament.

Jinyoung’s blind date, a pretty longhaired girl, had to endure her date’s best friend tagging along and what is more had to watch her potential boyfriend walk hand in hand with the other boy, buy him ice cream and overall act the way a attentive boyfriend should. Just that he wasn’t acting this way with her.

She finally snapped when Jinyoung bend down to tie his, supposedly, best friend’s shoe. When she had asked what he was doing Jinyoung just replied that Mark could hardly tie his shoe while he was eating ice cream.

So really, when she had finally asked the question that had plagued her the whole afternoon she had expected both boys to turn flustered or look confused. Instead they had both started laughing.

            “I really don’t understand why people keep asking us this.” Jinyoung answered still chuckling softly and threw an arm around Mark who nodded his agreement. The girl gave them a disbelieving look before she took a long breath to calm down.

            “Jinyoung, since we met you’ve only been looking at him and treating him like he’s the one you have a date with.” You pointed an accusing finger between the two of them who were giving her confused looks. “I mean you two kissed on the lips for gods sake. How can you even wonder why people would ask that? I don’t care if you’re together or not but please don’t waste my time on supposed blind dates.” With that she stormed off and left the two boys standing in the middle of the park.

After a moment of silence the two boys turned to face each other.

            “I’m sorry I keep scaring off the girls you meet Jinyounggie.” The younger ruffled the other boy’s wavy hair and grinned.

            “It’s not your fault Mark-ah. After all I asked you to come along.” It was silent for another moment before Jinyoung started walking in the direction of his home. “I think we should go home for the day, after all we have school tomorrow.” The younger boy threw a grin over his shoulder and gave a small wave. “See you tomorrow Mark-ah.”

The older boy returned the smile and the wave but as soon as Jinyoung was a bit further away his shoulder’s slumped and he suddenly felt cold even though it was summer. Something was running over his fingers and Mark looked down to see the forgotten ice cream he was still holding.

            “I suddenly don’t feel hungry anymore.” He muttered to himself and threw the ice cream cone into the next bin before going home as well.

That night both boys lay in their respective beds and thought about their friendship.

Mark thought about how he had hated the prospect of Jinyoung getting a girlfriend and not having enough time for him, he hated the idea of not having the younger’s undivided attention and how he was secretly glad he asked him to come along to the date. He also hated it when Jinyoung hugged other people, especially Jaebum, who he knew the other was also close with. Mark was aware that his heart probably fluttered a bit too fast when he was thinking of kissing Jinyoung and that it seemed to completely stop beating when they did kiss.

The only reason he never thought those feelings might be romantic is because he assumed since Jinyoung was so special, his feelings for Jinyoung also had to be special and couldn’t be the same as for his other friends. He would have never thought the younger boy would be that special.

Jinyoung had similar thoughts while he was tossing and turning in bed, trying to sleep. He thought about how he always brings Mark along on his dates because he actually doesn’t want to be alone with those girls and because he knows that when Mark isn’t with him he goes to Jackson and Jinyoung really didn’t like that. He hated how Jackson always acted too close with Mark just because the two of them both spoke English and Cantonese. Another thing he never admitted to anyone was that how often he thought about kissing the other boy’s pretty lips.

He once dared think that those feelings might be romantic but quickly shrugged that thought of thinking that since Mark was so special it wasn’t weird that his feelings for the older boy were also special.

The next day when the two boys arrived at school they didn’t greet each other with a kiss on the lips like usual but only quickly glanced at each other. After spending half of the night thinking about the relationship they had, both felt too awkward to even look at each other for more then a few seconds. Their group of friends was slightly worried about that but figured that if they had a fight they would be able to solve it at some point. After all it was impossible to separate the two.

At lunch break Jackson was attached to Mark which pissed Jinyoung of a great deal, in fact it pissed him off so much he didn’t notice Mark getting pissed off about him being so close with Jaebum.

When school ended the two of them went their shared way home together without having exchanged a single word. When it was time to part ways Jinyoung trailed behind the older boy to his house. Mark barely sent him a confused look, but didn’t comment further, he thought it was about time they talked about what had happened since they had ignored each other the whole day.

When they entered the older boy’s home Jinyoung grabbed Mark’s forearm and pulled him so he was facing the other boy. Before Mark could say something Jinyoung had already placed a soft kiss on lips. After a short moment he pulled away again and gave the shorter boy a soft smile.

            “I had wanted to do this the whole day.” Jinyoung’s voice was quiet and careful. Mark stepped a bit closer and his free hand came to rest over the younger’s heart.

            “Then why didn’t you?” he asked in return. Jinyoung shrugged one shoulder sheepishly.

            “I had to think really hard about something.”

            “Oh? And what is that?” Mark asked with both eyebrows raised. Instead of answering right away Jinyoung grabbed Mark’s face in both hands and kissed him in a way that he’s never done before. It wasn’t just a simple and innocent peck to the lips anymore it was passionate and heated.

            “I think I might not want to be just best friend’s anymore.” Jinyoung whispered against the other’s lips. Mark smiled in return.

            “I think neither do I.”

            “Are you two dating?” asked a shorthaired girl one day while Mark and Jinyoung were sitting together in the park, eating ice cream and holding hands.

It was a question they heard often, but this time, for the first time, their answer would be a different one.