“Dude, please.” Jackson groans as he lets go of his grip on the mouse. He turns to look at Jinyoung, pouting when he sees the latter with an evil smirk on his face.

It’s a Tuesday night. Jinyoung and Jackson are playing Dragon Nest, and Jinyoung just beat him once again in PvP (player versus player), for the nth time, in the game today. Actually, he always gets beaten up by Jinyoung in PvP ever since Jinyoung had completely geared up his character, and got the hang of the game — despite the fact that Jackson’s the first one who played it, and he just invited Jinyoung to try.

Of course, Jinyoung had said no at first, saying: “Fantasy games are not my style”, and that he has his own priorities, but soon enough, Jackson had convinced him.

While Jackson’s character is a ‘Pyromancer’ (also known as ‘Saleana’), a secondary class specialization of ‘Sorceress’, Jinyoung had chosen to create an ‘Archer’ back then, and soon he turned it to an ‘Artillery’ when it had reached level forty-five.

 

(A/N: Jackson’s character, Saleana, is a master of fire magic, focusing more on destructive skills to burn their foes to a crisp, specializes in using a staff and spell book. Jinyoung’s character, Artillery, on the other hand, specializes in using crossbows, and using explosive and destructive magical based attacks.)

 

Jackson didn’t expect Jinyoung to become addicted with the game. Or maybe too addicted, to the point that Jinyoung had surpassed Jackson’s record in PvP, and even becoming the number one player in the entire game. Not just that, Jinyoung had also earned the title ‘Imperator’, the highest known rank in the game, and so Jinyoung’s character got a gold crown insignia beside its name.

 

(A/N: There are 26 ranks in Dragon Nest based on PvP, with 26 being the highest rank. Each rank has a unique insignia that will be shown beside the character’s name.)

 

Jackson, on the other hand, had stayed on the ‘Executor’ rank, the twentieth rank, with a giant blue star insignia. Jackson may not be on the top one hundred players, and he’s also not the ‘Top Pyromancer’, but Jinyoung thinks that he’s still the most pro Pyromancer in the game.

“I told you man, Pyromancers, or maybe even all Sorceress classes are no match against us, Artilleries.” Jinyoung says, finally turning to look at Jackson after logging off his account, evil smirk still plastered on his face, teasing.

Jackson frowns, playfully hitting Jinyoung on his arm. “Yah! Don’t you dare say such things to us Sorceresses again, okay? You may be my best friend but I won’t let you say such things to my character.” Jackson pouts as he finishes his sentence.

Jinyoung just chuckles, standing up as the computer shuts down, signaling him that his time is over. “Fine. But seriously, is there anyone in this whole game that can beat me?” he says, voice smug as he walks towards the exit of the shop.

Jackson rolls his eyes at his conceited friend as he follows him. “Dude, stop acting like that even though you got zero deaths in your PvP record.” He says, slinging an arm around Jinyoung’s shoulder. “Someday, someone will beat you.”

This time, it’s Jinyoung’s turn to roll his eyes at Jackson. “Yah, you know how pro I am, right? I won’t let anyone ruin my record.”

It’s true, though. No one in that shop, and even in the whole game, has ever beaten Jinyoung in PvP.

Well, there was one time when some kid with chubby cheeks and colorful hair, whom introduced himself as BamBam, challenged Jinyoung for a PvP. BamBam had used a ‘Gear Master’ at that time, a secondary class specialization of ‘Academic’, and he did manage to lower the health points (HP) of Jinyoung’s character down to thirty thousand (the maximum health points in PvP being one hundred twenty thousand).

It was the first time Jinyoung had ever reached that number in PvP, because usually, his character’s health points never reaches half. But still, Jinyoung had turned everything around and managed to win.

Jinyoung had also invited BamBam to join his raid party after knowing that BamBam, is in fact, one of the ‘Top Gear Master’ users in the game. Well, BamBam had refused at first, saying: “I have no experience in nesting”, but Jinyoung had insisted that he’ll teach him everything, so the younger had nothing to do but to agree. BamBam had also told him that he can only play on weekends, and Jinyoung was fine with that.

Jackson chuckles as he pinches Jinyoung’s cheek. “Hey, by the way, is our raid party complete yet? Remember the event on the next patch that will start in a month? The fastest team to clear the Black Dragon Nest in hardcore mode will receive one million won dude!” he says, voice full of excitement, and Jinyoung smiles widely at his best friend, just as equally excited as Jackson. “And also one hundred thousand in-game cash per member! Imagine all the costumes we can buy with that money!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll only be needing one last member. A healer.”

“One more?” Jackson asks, raising an eyebrow. “But don’t we need eight to form a raid party? We’re just six, remember?”

“Are you scared?” Jinyoung presses, lips curving to a smirk. Teasing his best friend is fun for him.

“Me? Scared? Ha-ha, that’s funny.” Jackson rolls his eyes. “It’s just the Black Dragon, man. We’ve kicked his off too many times in the Memoria.”

“Fine, fine. Whatever you say.” Jinyoung replies, still smirking. Jackson just rolls his eyes again, elbowing the younger playfully, making Jinyoung laugh. “Just trust me, okay?” he adds, and Jackson just nods.

The reward is ours.

 

☼

 

The next day, Jinyoung’s seated on his usual spot in the internet café. He’s playing alone since Jackson has told him earlier that he has something important to do, and Jinyoung just nods.

Good thing Jaebum’s here. He sighs, focusing back to the screen. He and Jaebum are currently in a dungeon. The older man has asked for his help to finish a side quest, and Jinyoung immediately said yes since he has nothing else to do, and also no one seems to challenge him for a PvP this day. Jaebum’s playing on the second floor of the shop, though, but Jinyoung doesn’t mind as long as he has someone to play with.

Jaebum’s character is a ‘Majesty’, another second class specialization of Sorceress. Jinyoung was the one who invited Jaebum to join his raid party, after the younger saw him play.

 

(A/N: Jaebum’s character, Majesty, is a master of dark gravity magic. Majesty can read enemy’s buffs, and steal one to herself with just the flick of her wrist.)

 

After clearing the dungeon, Jaebum immediately chatted him a ‘Thank you master’. Jinyoung chuckles at the term. He then returns his character to town after distributing the loot (he gave most of it to Jaebum).

And just as when Jinyoung thought that no one would challenge him for a PvP today when it happened.

Jinyoung’s currently walking his character towards the Trading House (TH) to see if the items he was selling has been sold. He’s about to click on the NPC (non-player character) when someone sends him a PvP request.

Assassin? He raises his eyebrows as he looks at the character who just dared to send him a PvP request. Jinyoung snorts, shaking his head when the character does a hello gesture. He then sends a ‘Sorry I’m kinda busy’ to the chat before clicking the decline button on the screen.

He’s about to click the NPC again, when that same person sends him another PvP request. He rolls his eyes, feeling a bit irritated, and types ‘Next time please. My time’s about to cut off.’, but before he can even press enter, his challenger has already sent ‘Please? Just one round?’.

Jinyoung sighs, deleting what he has typed on the chat. He replaces it with ‘Fine’, pressing enter, before clicking the accept button on the screen this time. Ugh, probably just another weakling. This will be quick.

The match starts a few seconds later. Jinyoung suggested that they’ll do it in a smaller PvP room, and his challenger just agreed.

Jinyoung expected that his opponent is a weakling — but he was wrong.

Jinyoung’s brows are furrowed, gaze intent on the screen, focused. His right hand’s gripping the mouse a little hard, clicking on the left and right buttons quickly as he maneuvers his character — his left hand’s quickly pressing each key on the keyboard representing a skill.

But his challenger is faster.

. Jinyoung curses under his breath as he presses a key to cast a buff that makes his character move faster, for it to escape — a move that he usually uses when he wants a PvP match to end quickly, but this time is different. His character’s HP is barely just twenty thousand now, and Jinyoung frowns because this is the first time he’s ever reached that number. It’s much lower than the time he had a PvP with BamBam.

He’s too much consumed with his plan to escape that he didn’t notice his opponent’s character doing its special skill (SS). Jinyoung’s eyes widen for a second as the skill hits his character directly, its HP getting lower and lower with each hit. . Jinyoung’s hand moves to press the key for his character’s special skill, hoping that it would counter his challenger’s, but it’s too late. His character has already died before he can even press it, and he can see his opponent’s character doing a laughing gesture before leaving the PvP room.

Annoyed, Jinyoung slams his hands on the desk, earning a confused look from the other people in the shop — but he couldn’t find it in himself to care because he just lost. For the first time.

I actually lost…? What the …

Jinyoung just stared at the screen for a good two minutes, still not sinking in his mind that he actually lost in a PvP, before logging off his account. He walks toward the counter to cut his time, still with a frown on his face.

“What’s wrong, master?” A young boy with nice nostrils asks from behind the counter, eyes blinking innocently as he looks at Jinyoung.

Jinyoung just shakes his head. “Nothing, Youngjae.” And the younger just nods.

Youngjae is the son of the owner of the internet café. Jinyoung had known him ever since their shop opened about two years ago. When Jinyoung had found out that Youngjae plays the same game as with him and Jackson, he didn’t hesitate to recruit the younger to his raid party. Youngjae’s character is a ‘Crusader’, a secondary class specialization of ‘Cleric’, and not just that, he’s currently one of the game’s ‘Top Crusader’ users. Youngjae had challenged Jinyoung for a PvP before, and well, he lost.

As Jinyoung walks toward the exit, he can see two figures standing outside through the glass door. One of them is Jaebum, he noticed, but the other one is not familiar to him. It’s like this is the first time he’s seen that person in this place.

When Jinyoung finally steps out, he was greeted by a grinning Jaebum, waving his hand at him like they haven’t seen each other for years, and a man standing beside him with a drop-dead gorgeous visage and blond hair.

Jinyoung looks at Jaebum with a confused expression as he stands right in front of him, and Jaebum chuckles, looking at the man beside him. “Yah, introduce yourself to our master.” He wiggles his brows at the last word, making the cute boy smile sheepishly and rub his nape.

Jinyoung rolls his eyes at Jaebum before stealing a glance at the boy beside him.

As cliché as it sounds, the first word to pop out in his mind is beautiful — and his glance turns to a stare, and before he knows it, their eyes met. Jinyoung’s eyes widen for a second before looking away, feeling his cheeks burn slightly. Crap.

“Hey.” The cute boy finally greets with a wide smile, revealing sparkly white teeth with sharp canines that fits perfectly with his visage and his blond hair. His deep voice sends shivers through Jinyoung’s ears down to his spine.

Jinyoung swallows before speaking, stuttering when he does. “H-hello.”

But then the smile on the blond boy’s face was replaced by a smirk, turning his head to look at Jaebum from beside him. Jinyoung looks at Jaebum as well — only to see that the older man is also smirking before turning to look back at Jinyoung.

“What?” Jinyoung raises an eyebrow as he looks between the two.

“So, this is Dragon Nest’s strongest player, huh?” The blond boy’s deep voice sounds again, sending another wave of shivers to Jinyoung’s spine, and he flushes a bit at the term.

He then extends an arm to Jinyoung, asking him for a handshake, and Jinyoung hesitantly accepts it. Jinyoung feels his heart skip a beat at the contact. So soft… He thinks, shaking his head afterwards in an attempt to get rid of his thoughts, and he suddenly pulls his hand away, hiding it behind him. He looks at anywhere but the blonde boy. Jinyoung can feel his palms starting to become sweaty. Idiot.

There’s a slight moment of silence before the blond boy finally speaks again. “Your name is Jinyoung, right?” He asks, and Jinyoung just nods, still not looking at him. Jinyoung can feel the latter smirk again. “My name is Mark. I was the Assassin who challenge you for a PvP lately. And hey, you’re cute, master.”

 

☼

 

To: Jackson (10:15 pm)

hey jackson, still awake?

 

From: Jackson (10:16 pm)

yup, why?

 

To: Jackson (10:18 pm)

nothing… do you perhaps know a guy named mark? that plays dragon nest?

 

From: Jackson (10:19 pm)

nah dude. why? did he just beat you in pvp or something? hahaha!

 

To: Jackson (10:25 pm)

I hate to say this but… yes he did.

 

From: Jackson (10:26 pm)

WHAT?! FOR REAL?!

 

To: Jackson (10:30 pm)

yes… okay bye now. i gtg. let’s just talk abt this tomorrow. goodnight jacks.

 

From: Jackson (10:31 pm)

okay dude. goodnight!

 

Jinyoung sighs as he tosses his phone to his side.

He immediately went home, with cheeks still flushed after his conversation with Jaebum and Mark earlier — thanking God that his mom is not at home yet.

He’s currently flopped on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The clock reads ten forty-five, and all he can think of right now is about what happened earlier this day — him losing in a PvP, and of course, Mark.

Jinyoung wonders why he isn’t that mad — with the fact that he just lost in a PvP to someone he doesn’t know, and not just that, that was the first time he’s ever lost in his entire years of playing the game. So why the hell he isn’t that mad? Is it because the person he just lost to is… cute? But, well, who knows?

Jinyoung doesn’t even know the reason either.

He can still see the blond boy’s drop-dead gorgeous visage in his mind. The way his canines show when he smiled. He can still hear the boy’s deep voice that sends shivers to his spine. The way he said Jinyoung’s name. He can still feel the warmth and the softness of the blond boy’s hand when it touched his. So perfect-

“Jinyoung?”

A voice cuts through his thoughts. His eyes widen for a second before he turns to see his mom, standing by the door of his room, eyebrows raised.

“M-mom, how long have you been there?” He stutters, sitting up.

“Long enough to see you smiling like a love sick fool thinking about his crush.” His mom says, lips curving to a small smirk at the last part, crossing her arms as he looks at Jinyoung.

Jinyoung pouts and stifles a whine at that. Stuttering once again as he speaks. “I-I’m not! Ugh, y-you know I don’t do crushes, mom.”

“Mhmm,” His mom just hums in response, still have the small smirk on her face, teasing. “So, what time did you get here?” She asks.

“I got here before ten.” Jinyoung lies, nodding.

His mom raises an eyebrow, and Jinyoung freezes on his spot, thinking of all the consequences he could get if his mom catches him lying. But then she nods afterwards, and Jinyoung sighs in relief. “Okay? Goodnight then.” She says, sending a flying kiss before turning to walk away. Jinyoung groans, and she chuckles as she closes the door behind her.

“Oh, by the way, don’t forget to introduce your crush to me, Jinyoung baby.” Her mom adds from the other side, laughing, and Jinyoung groans again as he lays back down on his bed, burying his face on his pillow. Ugh, my mom’s an idiot.

The clock reads eleven thirty now, and Jinyoung’s finally asleep. And as he sleeps, a certain blond boy appears in his dreams.

 

☼

 

“What? Light Fury?” Jackson’s brows are raised as he speaks.

It’s lunch break. He and Jinyoung are currently seated on their usual table in the cafeteria. He has told Jackson about everything that happened last night, and Jackson can’t help it but be shocked, because damn, someone had actually beaten Dragon Nest’s strongest player. Jinyoung has also told him that he met the guy that beaten him, but he doesn’t bother giving out more details or else Jackson will probably nonstop. He knows his best friend well.

Jinyoung nods, taking a sip from his can of coke. “Well, that was actually the first time I encountered one, and I can’t believe that some player’s descriptions about the Light Fury are true.”

“Like what?” Jackson presses, taking a sip from his own can of coke as well.

“That they’re OP.”

 

(A/N: OP means overpowered.)

 

“Oh… so they’re still not balanced yet.”

Jinyoung just nods in reply.

“They should fix this soon.”

It’s true that the ‘Light Fury’, a secondary class specialization of ‘Assassin’, is OP, though, but that’s just for now. This kind of thing always happens in the game — the new classes, or characters, are still so imbalanced that they tend to be more powerful than the others. Light Fury was just a new update from the game. It is a healer/support type class, so of course, players had expected it to be weak in damage.

“I just… don’t understand why I’m not that mad…” Jinyoung finally speaks, voice soft. “I mean, I just lost. I should be frustrated, right? My record has been ruined…” He murmurs the last part, looking up at Jackson, who just shrugs at him as a reply.  I sound like a twelve year old.

 

☼

 

“Ugh, dude where are they?” Jackson whines, putting his grande cup of milk tea on the table in front of him. “We’ve been waiting for like, two hours.”

Jinyoung rolls his eyes at his best friend’s exaggeration. “Don’t be such a drama queen. We’ve only been here for like, fifteen minutes.” Idiot.

After the final bell rung, the two immediately went to the tea shop near the internet café. Jinyoung forgot to tell Jackson during their lunch break that he had texted everyone to meet up, and plan about the upcoming event — and maybe to get to know each other better.

A few minutes and another pair of teas later, the shop’s door clicks open, signaling that someone just entered. Both of them looks up almost immediately to see who it was.

Jinyoung smiles when he sees Jaebum entering the place, but then he sees that familiar hint of blond hair following behind him, and it makes him freeze on his spot for a second before he looks away, eyes wide as he looks at Jaebum, walking towards their table with someone none other than Mark. Jinyoung can already feel his cheeks warming up, his heart beating a little bit faster than normal. .

“Um, Jinyoung?” Jackson says, looking at Jinyoung with a confused expression. “Who’s that blondie with Jaebum?”

Jinyoung swallows, looking at his best friend. He in a breath before answering. “That’s M-Mark.” He mentally slaps himself for stuttering.

Jackson just raised his brows at Jinyoung, lips forming an ‘o’ as he looks back at the blonde boy.

“Yo, Jackson! It’s been ages!” Jaebum says, eyes disappearing when he grins as he stands in front of Jackson, giving him a high-five.

Jackson grins as well, shifting on his seat to give space for Jaebum to sit. “Idiot, we always see each other. In the game, that is.” He chuckles, and Jaebum takes a seat beside him.

Jinyoung’s just looking at his lap the whole time, doing his best not to look up because he’s pretty sure his gaze will just move towards the blond boy if he does. Get a hold of yourself, idiot. Jinyoung hates himself for reacting like this because of a person he barely knows.

It’s only then when Jackson clears his throat and speaks when Jinyoung back to reality, finally looking up.

“Uh, Jinyoung?” Jackson says, looking at the younger with raised brows.

But before Jinyoung can even say a word, Mark’s already moving to take a seat beside him on his left, without warning. Jinyoung’s eyes widen almost comically as he looks at the blond, feeling his cheeks warming up, as he feels the blonde so close to him (because he wasn’t able to give space for him).

“Hey, master.” Mark finally speaks, looking at Jinyoung with a smile. He looks tired, and his uniform’s buttons are all ed. He looks hot- what the ? Jinyoung bites his bottom lip as he accidentally glances at Mark’s exposed collarbones, since the blond’s only wearing a tank top as an undershirt.

Jinyoung shakes his head, looking back up at Mark, and he meets his eyes. “H-hey.” He stutters, again, voice almost a whisper. Stupid.

Jackson clears his throat once again, and Jinyoung flinches for a second, turning to look at his best friend, who’s looking at him with an amused expression. “Aren’t you gonna introduce him to me?”

Jaebum snickers from Jackson’s side, and Jinyoung’s cheeks are warming up more as he can feel Mark’s gaze directed towards him. “He’s Mark. Our last raid party member and-“

“The one who beat him yesterday.” Mark cuts off Jinyoung’s sentence, as if those are the words that Jinyoung wanted to say, smirking as he looks at Jackson, then back to Jinyoung.

Both Jackson and Jaebum laughs at that, and Jinyoung frowns as he looks at the blonde, cheeks a light shade of pink. “I wasn’t going to say that!” He huffs, slightly pouting his lips, and Mark his lower lip at the sight.

“Oh, I’m sorry master,” Mark says in a teasing tone, parting his legs to make himself more comfortable on his seat. His lips curve to a smirk once again as he caught Jinyoung glancing at his thighs. Mark lifts his right leg then, wanting to tease the younger even more, and moves it to place on top of Jinyoung’s lap. “Forgive me?” He adds, sending a playful wink to the younger.

Jinyoung freezes on his spot at the sudden contact, feeling the weight of Mark’s thigh against his. On the corner of his eyes, he can see Jaebum and Jackson sending each other a look, and then both of them are smirking. His heart’s pounding against his ribcage. What the hell?

“Oh, now I see why our master told me that he’s not mad even though his record had just been ruined.” Jackson teases, turning to look at Jaebum, giving him high-five and then the two of them laugh again.

Mark laughs along them. His high pitched laugh sending a familiar wave of shivers through Jinyoung’s ears down to his spine, and Jinyoung sinks in his seat, asking himself on why is he friends with Jackson and Jaebum.

Somebody save me.

 

☼

 

It’s almost six pm when they’re all gathered, well except for Youngjae. The younger apologized to Jinyoung through text, saying he can’t come because he needs to look after their shop. Jinyoung doesn’t mind that much though since he knew that Youngjae already knows what they’re going to talk about.

Jinyoung started their meeting by introducing the others to Mark. He first introduced the very tall kid named Yugyeom.

“This is Yugyeom, our team’s Elestra.” He says, pointing at the said person.  Yugyeom smiles at Mark which the elder immediately returned.

 

(A/N: Elestra is another specialization class of Sorceress, which chooses the path of ice magic, boosting their damage potential using ice-based skills. Elestra’s ‘ice-stacking’ skills are so useful in raids.)

 

Jinyoung then looks at BamBam. “That’s BamBam, our Gear Master, and the Top Gear Master in the game.” He says, finishing his sentence with a smirk as BamBam rolls his eye and pouts, a light shade of pink coloring his cute cheeks.

“Hyung, please. I told you not to introduce me like tha-“

“And this guy right here is Jackson, as you already knew,” Jinyoung cuts off BamBam’s complaint, looking at his best friend. He just realized that he hasn’t formally introduced Jackson to the blond yet. Jinyoung rolls his eyes when he sees that Jackson has that -eating grin on his face and he’s wiggling his brows annoyingly at Jinyoung. “He’s probably the weakest Pyromancer in the game. I don’t even know why I accepted hi- ow!” He exclaim when Jackson pinches his thigh.

“Yah!” Jinyoung frowns, slapping Jackson’s arm, glaring at him.

Jackson rolls his eyes, extending an arm to Mark to shake his hand, which Mark gladly accepts with a chuckle.

After he introduced everyone to the new recruit, Jinyoung clears his throat before finally telling them the reason why they’re all gathered here. “So, uh… you all know about the event on the upcoming patch right next month, right?” All of them nod, listening carefully to what Jinyoung’s going to say. “Good. Well then, since our raid party is finally complete, thanks to Jaebum for recruiting a healer,” he pauses, smiling as he looks at Jaebum’s direction, who gave him a mock salute. He rolls his eyes at that and continued talking. “As I was saying, our raid party is finally complete, so we’ll now focus on gearing up our members who’re not totally geared yet.”

“And by geared, means-” BamBam wants to ask but he was cut off by Jackson.

“That your character must have than one million HP. Yes.” Jackson nods and grins at all of them, and Jinyoung smiles, nodding as well.

“He’s right. So tell me, who among here hasn’t reached that yet?” He asks, looking at them all one by one. “Youngjae already have more than that amount of HP since he’s our tank, and also Jackson, since we always go to dungeons together.” He adds, still looking at them as he waits for someone to raise their hand, or speak.

BamBam looks around first before raising his hand hesitantly, pouting. “Me… my character only has barely eight hundred thousand...”

Yugyeom raises his hand as well, smiling at BamBam. “Me too, my character’s HP hasn’t reached one million yet. It’s stuck at nine hundred thousand.” he says, and BamBam releases a sigh of relief, probably glad that he’s the only one.

“Mhmm.” Jinyoung hums, nodding at the two youngest. “Yugyeom, you’re an Elestra, we only need your ice stacking skills so it’s fine if your character’s HP hasn’t reached one million yet. But I want you to buy some ice jades to increase its magic attack.” He says firmly, taking a sip of his milk tea. Yugyeom nods.

Jinyoung hasn’t looked at Mark’s direction at all after the introductions, and he swears he can feel the elder’s gaze towards him the whole time. He almost forgot that Mark’s thigh is still on top of his, so when he accidentally glances down, it’s enough to make his heart start beating faster than normal, once again. Oh dear god. He also hasn’t realized that he’s been sipping on his tea so quickly until he choked. Quickly placing his cup on the table, his hand moves up to cover his mouth as he coughs.

Mark’s the first one to notice that, and he’s quick to help the younger. He places a hand on the small of Jinyoung’s back, rubbing soothing circles as the younger continues to cough.

“You okay?” Mark asks then when Jinyoung stops coughing, concern evident in his voice. The younger just nods, still not having the courage to look at him, cheeks a shade of pink once again. No I’m not.

And Jinyoung wonders how can someone whom I met for merely a day cause such effects on me?

 

☼

 

It’s almost eight o’clock in the evening when they all decided to go home — though BamBam and Yugyeom already left before seven thirty, saying they still need to study for their exams tomorrow.

Jinyoung waves a goodbye at Jaebum and Mark as he and Jackson walks to the right side of the street, their houses being merely just three houses away, so they usually, almost always, go home together. Jaebum grins at them as he waves his hand as well, walking to the opposite side.

What they didn’t notice, though, is that Mark is quietly following behind them.

 

☼

 

They walk for about ten minutes before reaching Jackson’s house. Talking about some random stuff, but mostly Jinyoung laughing to Jackson’s lame jokes. Jinyoung’s thankful though that the elder hasn’t mentioned Mark’s name, nor .

“Goodnight Jacks.” Jinyoung says as Jackson opens the gate of their house and steps in.

“Goodnight. And oh, let me copy your math assignment tomorrow okay?” Jackson grins and Jinyoung just chuckles, shaking his head because Jackson always copies his assignments.

“Yeah. Fine, fine, you lazy .”

Jackson grins wider at that. “Thanks. Love you.” He puckers his lips and makes some ugly kissing noises, and Jinyoung grimaces at the sight, but laughs anyway.

 

☼

 

He’s standing outside their house, and was about to open the gate when he finally noticed Mark’s presence. W-what? Why is he- He blinks, face full of confusion as he looks at the elder, whose walking towards him with a smile. It’s just a small smile though, not the same smile he saw on the elder’s face when they first met, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t make his heart beat faster than normal. Damn it, stay away-

“What?” Mark suddenly asks, brows raised, expression amused as he looks at Jinyoung’s confused one. “I live in this part of the village too okay?” The elder turns to point at the house just across the street, just right in front of Jinyoung’s. “I wasn’t stalking you.” He chuckles.

Jinyoung rolls his eyes at that, feeling his cheeks burning up, and he hopes the elder doesn’t see the probably visible blush coloring his cheeks. He then thinks if there was perhaps a time he saw Mark every time he gets out of his house early in the morning for school, or every night to meet up with Jackson at the shop, but there’s none so he asks the elder, a little proud of himself for not stuttering.

“Since when have you been living there?”

“Summer.” The elder simply says, and Jinyoung just nods.

He looks at the blond’s house across the street again, and thinks of that time when there were trucks outside, men carrying furniture out of the trucks and moving them inside the house. He had watched them until the very last furniture, but still he can’t see a certain blonde boy in his memory so he asks him again.

“H-how come I haven’t s-seen you before?” He mentally curses himself for stuttering this time. Stupid. He then turns to look at the blonde, heart skipping a beat when their eyes met, but there’s something behind Mark’s eyes that has Jinyoung wondering. Something like… disappointment? He doesn’t really know.

Mark smiles then, but it’s a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. He places his hands inside his pockets, looking at the star-filled sky. “Well, that’s bad.” He says, voice low.

Jinyoung just watches him, confused. “Huh?” What’s wrong with him?

There’s a moment of silence, maybe about thirty seconds (not that Jinyoung’s counting), then he’s suddenly looking back at the younger, eyes locking into his once again as he speaks.

“I was always looking at you.”

 

☼

 

It’s been more than two weeks since he last saw Mark.

He’d been so busy studying since there’s only a week left before their final exams, spending all his free time in the library or staying up late studying instead of being in the shop. Jackson joined him in studying one night but he just ended up sleeping as Jinyoung was teaching him some Chemistry s (as what Jackson would describe it).

Jinyoung would be lying if he said that his conversation with Mark on that certain night hasn’t always been in his head. Heck, he had even been destructed during his exams in some subjects. He just hope he’ll pass them all.

I was always looking at you.

Those words would always pop out of his mind. Jinyoung would think that it’s creepy if it came from another person, but it was Mark who said it.

What does he mean about that? It’s been bugging him the whole time. Even now that he’s lying on his bed on a Sunday night — finally being able to sleep after a week of preparing for the finals and another week for the final exams week — those words are still stuck on his head as he thinks about a certain blond with bright smile.

 

☼

 

“Congratulations on getting the highest grade in Chem man!” Jackson is loud as always, even on a Monday morning. “You’re officially a nerd.”

Jinyoung would usually get annoyed, and shove Jackson off but today’s different. The results of their finals exams were returned to them earlier, and to say that Jinyoung’s happy is an understatement. Both of them are currently heading towards the cafeteria, having texted each other earlier to have a small celebration for surviving the semester.

Jinyoung chuckles, eyes disappearing as he smiles at the elder. “Thank you. Congrats on passing all your subjects too.”

“Thanks.” Jackson says as they both walk towards their usual table, taking a seat. “So are you finally playing later or nah? Jaebum and Mark said they missed us,” He laughs, opening his backpack to get the bags of junk food and chips that he probably grabbed from their fridge before going to school. “Those losers are lucky their exams started a week before ours.”

“Y-yeah tell them we’ll play.” Jinyoung pretends his ears doesn’t perk up at the mention of Mark’s name, taking some chips and stuffing them in his mouth. I’ll finally see him. He smiles a bit at the thought.

“So, what about the two kids? Have they geared up their characters?” Jinyoung suddenly asks seconds later.

Jackson nods. “Yep. Yugyeom said BamBam’s stronger than me now. He got an FD plate with a second stat in a dungeon.” He pouts after finishing his sentence.

 

(A/N: FD stands for final damage. It’s a stat that boosts your character’s damage. Having an FD plate with second stat is rare in the game, and it can be sold in huge amount of gold.)

 

“What? Seriously?” Jinyoung’s mouth forms to an ‘o’ at the news. “Wow that kid is so lucky. Though he could’ve sold it in the TH for some gold.” He nods.

“True.” Jackson nods as well, eating the last piece of chip.

 

☼

 

“Master! Long time no see!” Youngjae greets from the counter as soon as Jinyoung opens the glass door and gets inside the shop, Jackson following behind him.

“Idiot.” Jinyoung rolls his eyes and Youngjae just laughs. “Are they here?” he asks, looking around.

The shop’s quiet and almost empty tonight, different from its usually noisy atmosphere — full of students playing their own favorite online games, yelling curses and slamming hands against the table whenever their character dies, or trash talks whenever their opponent’s character dies and sending out “NOOB!” to the chat. Jinyoung assumes they’re just tired from the previous week since majority of students playing here are his schoolmates.

Youngjae nods. “Yeah, they’re on the second floor. They’ve had a few rounds of PvP while waiting for you.”

As soon as Jinyoung’s on the second floor of the shop, the first thing he sees is of course, Mark, since the blond is sitting on Jinyoung’s favorite spot, PC twenty-two. The four of them are sitting in a row, Jaebum’s on twenty-three, Yugyeom’s on twenty-four, and BamBam’s on twenty-five. It seems like they’re done with their rounds of PvP, like what Youngjae has said earlier, since the four of them are now either just walking their characters in town, or surfing on different sites.

Jinyoung walks quietly towards PC twenty-six, mostly because he doesn’t want to sit beside Mark (not that he’s avoiding him), but before he can even reach it, a familiar deep voice calls his name.

“Oh, hey there, Jinyoungie!”

Well, of course, it’s Mark. Jinyoung freezes for a second, and he can already feel his cheeks warming up at the way Mark said his name, like it always does. He contemplates on whether he should turn around, or not, but he remains on his spot anyway. Their eyes met, and Mark smiles at him, so wide and bright that Jinyoung thinks the moon outside has just been put to shame. God.

“Hi.” He says stupidly, not really knowing what to say, as he slowly walks toward the blond boy.

“Sit here. I reserved this for you.” Mark gestures to the vacant seat beside him, eyes never leaving the younger even though Jinyoung’s looking elsewhere now.

Jinyoung just nods, still looking anywhere but Mark as he walks towards PC twenty-one, heart already pounding in his chest. Jackson snickers before taking making a beeline towards PC twenty-six.

“Good thing you’re here now, then. These two losers won’t join us in the Memoria cos they’re scared.” It’s Jaebum, referring to the two kids beside him, laughing when they both complains.

Jinyoung smiles a bit at that, eyes on the screen as the game starts, typing out his username and password. He tries his best not to look at the blond boy beside him, palm a bit sweaty as he holds on the mouse.

“So, let’s try the normal mode?” Jinyoung says as he creates a raid party, sending requests to all of them, Youngjae’s included, of course.

“Black Dragon Nest full run?” BamBam asks.

Jinyoung just nods, still not having the courage to look to his right. “Well, yeah. Hardcore mode will be available on the next patch so why not try the normal mode first? No worries, it’s not that hard.”

“What about the boss’ attack patterns hyung?” It’s Yugyeom this time.

“There aren’t many changes in the boss’ attack patterns on both modes. Just listen to my instructions, okay?”

“Yes master!” Both kids say in unison, and Jinyoung chuckles at that, shaking his head, walking his character towards the portal.

“Let’s go, then.”

 

☼

 

“Ey, the boss only dropped a cannon, then other useless things. That’s not fair.” Yugyeom whines as they walk down the stairs.

“Shut up, giant toddler. You got two unique accessories, at least be thankful.” Jaebum says from the back, rolling his eyes even though Yugyeom can’t see it.

 

(A/N: There are seven different grades or rarity of items in the game. Each is defined by a certain color of the item's icon border and the color of the item's name in text. Divine items are colored gold, legend items are red, unique items are purple, epic items are orange, rare items are blue, magic items are green, and normal items are white.)

 

They just had a successful run of the Black Dragon Nest’s normal mode — despite the fact that he got distracted a couple of times during the whole run, when his hand accidentally brushes against Mark’s, or whenever he feels the blond’s gaze towards him. Now, they’re heading downstairs to pay for their time. Youngjae was the announced MVP (most valuable player) after their raid has ended, being the one who gave the last hit to the boss before it died. They’ve finished the nest within thirty minutes — it’s kind of fast but Jinyoung’s sure it’ll take them more time in the hardcore mode.

As what Yugyeom has said, the boss only dropped one useful item, a weapon, cannon to be exact, which of course belonged to BamBam’s character so they had no other choice but to give up the roll for the loot. The boss has also dropped three accessories, and Yugyeom luckily got two since he got the highest rolls. Jinyoung doesn’t really mind not getting any loot since he already have a full Black Dragon set for his character anyway.

“Youngjae-ah! You did a great job back there man.” Jackson high-fives the said boy and grins, leaning against the counter.

“Yeah. Such a pro.” Jaebum joins, eyes disappearing as he smiles genuinely at the younger.

Youngjae slightly blushes at that, looking down but he can’t hide the sheepish smile on his face. “T-thanks.”

Cute. Jinyoung thinks, smiling as he looks between the two. I wonder when they will confess to each other. But then again, he doesn’t have the rights to say that at all since he still has his own love problems to deal with.

 

☼

 

Jinyoung’s walking faster than normal on his way home. He’s alone since Jackson has told him earlier that he have some errands to run. Jinyoung tries to complain, saying: “It’s nine thirty in the evening!”, but that didn’t stop his best friend.

It’s supposed to take him at least ten minutes of walking for him to arrive home, but it became five when Jinyoung’s fast walking turns to jogging, and eventually running. He knew Mark will be following him, and he didn’t want to sound rude, but he really doesn’t want to be close to the blond, especially when the older boy gives him weird feelings (as what he would describe them).

Panting, he opens the gate of their house and gets in. He went straight to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water, eyes widening a bit as he sees his mother eating dinner.

“Had fun?” His mother asks, looking at Jinyoung as he gets a glass and opens the fridge.

“You’re early. Why? You didn’t even text me.” He replies, grabbing a pitcher full of cold water and pouring some on the glass he’s holding.

His mother works at a fast-food restaurant in a mall not too far from their house. She usually comes home after ten pm so it’s unusual to see her at home before that — but Jinyoung doesn’t really mind.

“Well, there aren’t many costumers so we closed early.” Her mother shrugs, chewing on her food. “So how’s your grades?” She asks when Jinyoung takes a seat across her.

“I mostly got A’s, then one A+.” He answers, proud of himself.

Her mom smiles then, leaning closer to ruffle his son’s hair. “Very good.”

They just stayed there, laughing and talking about some random things as Jinyoung continues to eat. A few minutes later, their doorbell rang. Jinyoung attempts to stand up but his mom stops him, saying: “I’ll go get it.” She says, and Jinyoung just nods.

His mom returns a few minutes later, “Jinyoung-ah, there’s a cute blondie outside looking for you.” She says, smirk visible on her face, and amusement in her voice when she speaks. “I think he’s the one who lives across the street.”

Jinyoung gulps, even though there’s currently no more food in his mouth, his cheeks are already slightly burning at the way his mom emphasized the words cute and blondie — also because he knows who that blond is that lives across the street his mom was referring to. Why the hell is he here?

Without saying a word, Jinyoung’s on his feet and makes a beeline towards the front door. His mom has left the gate open, so he can clearly see Mark standing there, smile wide and bright as ever when he spots the younger. Jinyoung’s breath catches in his throat at the sight, heart already hammering in his chest, and there it is again, that same weird feeling that he feels whenever he sees the blond boy that’s currently standing right in front of him.

“Yo.” Mark greets, hands inside his hoodies’ pockets

“Why are you here?” Jinyoung asks, silently wishing that he didn’t sound rude, trying to look calm even though his insides are in chaos. Inhale, exhale.

“I…” Mark starts, looking down at the ground, scratching his nape. Jinyoung thinks it’s cute as hell. “My parents are out until Wednesday… and I just read their messages… and they locked the house... so…”

“So…?” Jinyoung blinks, looking at him expectantly. Please don’t tell me you’re going to sleep here-

Mark sighs before looking up, a sheepish smile evident on his face, and Jinyoung fights the urge to pinch the elder’s cheeks because god why is he acting cute now.

“C-can I perhaps… sleep here? I really d-don’t have anywhere to go…”

Well, .

There’s a slight moment of silence as Jinyoung tries to decipher what’s happening. He wants to sleep here… well that’s fine, except that we don’t have an extra room and mom will probably let him sleep with me- ugh, my life is over.

Mark opens his mouth, about to say something, when Jinyoung cuts him off.

“Okay.” The word escapes his mouth before he even has the time to stop himself. Jinyoung bites his bottom lip at the thought of Mark sleeping beside him — his face burning again, and heart pounding inside his chest.

Mark’s face lights up then, sparkly white teeth showing up as he smiles. It’s so bright that Jinyoung thinks he might melt into a puddle right in front of the blond. “Thank you. Really.”

And Jinyoung just nods. God help me.

 

☼

 

“M-mom… this is Mark-” Jinyoung starts, but he’s immediately interrupted by his mom.

What she said made Jinyoung freeze on his spot, heart pounding impossibly fast in his chest he thinks his heart strings will cut off soon enough.

“Is he your boyfriend, honey? Ooh, he’s so good-looking!” she chirps, excitement evident in her voice. She grins at Mark, hand ing forward to shake the blond’s hand. “Hi Mark, I’m Jinyoung’s mom. Nice to finally meet you!”

Jinyoung chokes on his spit, eyes wide and cheeks burning red in embarrassment. He pulls his hands up to cover his face, contemplating on whether or not he should run away as far as his feet could take him. Oh my god! This is not happening!

He risks a glance at the blonde beside him through his fingers, heart stopping for a second when he sees Mark standing there, awkwardly, face red as well. He looks just as embarrassed as I am… He then realized that this is the first time he saw Mark blush, and Jinyoung can’t help it but think god he’s so cute- he’s usually a tease…

Silence follows, then Jinyoung’s mom is speaking again. “Jinyoung?” She looks between the two boys in front of her in confusion.

Jinyoung takes a deep breath, finally moving his hands away from his flushed face. “H-he’s not my b-boyfriend mom…” he stutters, then he’s telling his mom the reason why Mark is there.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry Mark. I thought you are Jinyoung’s-"

“Mom, please.” Jinyoung whines, pouting. He missed to see how Mark his lips at that. “We’ll g-go upstairs now…” he looks at Mark, nodding at him to follow. Mark bows to her mom before going.

 

☼

 

Jinyoung’s lying on his bed, facing the wall, whilst Mark’s inside the bathroom, his bathroom, taking a shower. Images of the blonde taking a shower pops out on his head — Mark being fully , water flowing down from his head to all over his body — as he stares at the white wall. His eyes widen at that, shaking his head as if to erase all of his thoughts about Mark being and wet. Stupid ert…

He sighs, then suddenly, the bathroom’s door creaks open, and Jinyoung almost immediately lifts his head. Mark steps out, blonde hair combed backwards, completely revealing his forehead, and only a towel covering his lower half. Jinyoung unconsciously  his lips as his eyes rake all over Mark’s bare torso, from his collarbones, to his toned chest and pink s, down to the lines of his abs — and even on his v-line. Suddenly, he feels the room becoming hot, even though he had turned the AC on. He’s ing hot- the lord is testing me…

When he finally looks up, Mark’s already looking at him, lips curved to a smirk and there’s something in the elder’s eyes that he can’t decipher. “Like what you see?” Mark says, his deep voice sending the way too familiar shivers all over Jinyoung’s body.

Jinyoung’s eyes widen, breath catching in his throat, cheeks heating, and heart hammering against his ribcage because oh my god I got caught! He turns to his side then, his back facing Mark and he closes his eyes shut, pretends to be sleeping. Goddammit Jinyoung.

Mark shakes his head, walking towards Jinyoung’s bed to grab the clothes the younger has prepared for him earlier. He strips off the towel and quickly wears the oversized tank top, armholes big enough to reveal his chest from the sides, and shorts that may be too short for his liking.

He raises his brows in amusement, though Jinyoung can’t see it, as he sits on the bed beside the younger. “You chose the most revealing clothes for me to wear, huh?”

Jinyoung flinches for a sec, because he may, or may not, have chosen the tank top paired with shorts for Mark to wear on purpose. He takes a deep breath before finally turning to look at the blond. “No, I did n-” He goes to protest, but what he sees makes him face the wall again. , how can someone be so hot in every w-

Minutes of silence follows — only the sound of their breaths can be heard in the room — then eventually, Jinyoung hears the creaking of his bed as Mark goes to lie down beside him. Jinyoung can feel Mark shuffle closer to him, the blond’s body heat radiating and sending warmth towards him. He relaxes his shoulders, trying hard to appear as if he is really sleeping, because in the back of his mind, Jinyoung’s curious, but not hopeful, as to what Mark’s about to do.

“Jinyoung?” Mark calls out then, voice low and soft and everything that’s perfect to Jinyoung’s ears. “Are you sleeping already?”

He thinks about replying the blond, but Mark didn’t really give him time to contemplate as he feels something on his back.

Is he… writing something? Jinyoung asks himself as he inhales a small amount of air and stirs, deciding to continue his act of sleeping. That made the blond recoil, so he takes that moment to shuffle a bit to a more comfortable position, nuzzling his face into his pillow.

A few seconds later, he feels it again. The tip of Mark’s finger slowly tracing invisible tracks on Jinyoung’s back, as if he’s continuing what he was writing earlier. His touches are soft as his finger make light turns against the fabric of Jinyoung’s shirt.

Jinyoung tries to spell out in his mind what Mark is writing, focusing on following each line the blond’s making on his back. Then suddenly, he feels Mark pull his fingers off rather too quickly. Jinyoung furrows his brows in confusion. Huh?

Slightly frustrated that he can’t spell out what Mark was possibly writing, Jinyoung puts up the act of waking up. He rolls to lay on his back, stretching out his arms to nothing but plain white ceiling before rubbing his eyes. He blinks and turns his head to the side to look at the blond.

Mark’s close. Too close, to the point that Jinyoung thinks he can practically count every strand of the blond’s eyelashes. His skin is flawless, almost like porcelain, and Jinyoung does his best pretending to be calm.

“Good morning.” He jokes, surprised that his voice is kind of hoarse as if he was really sleeping. Wow I could be a good actor. He suppresses a chuckle at his thought.

Mark looks at him with a smile. “It’s ten thirty. Did I wake you up? Sorry, I’m just bored…”

I wasn’t even sleeping. “So, what were you writing?” he asks, his curiosity is killing him.

“Noob.” Mark grins cheekily. Jinyoung just snorts and rolls his eyes, despite knowing that the elder lied.

Liar. That didn’t feel like four letters. Jinyoung thinks, but he keeps it to himself. “Wow, that’s so mature for an eighteen year old.” He says sarcastically.

“Well, the M in Mark actually stands for mature.” He shoots back with an emphasis of his name and a wiggle of his eyebrows. Jinyoung just shakes his head, not being able to fight the smile forming on his face. He didn’t know it’d be this comfortable to talk to Mark.

There’s another moment of silence — both of them just looking at each other, smiles plastered on their faces. Mark’s the one to break it though, asking the question he’d been wanting to ask.

“So, were you ignoring me? I thought you said you weren’t mad when I defeated you about three weeks ago…” he asks lightly, voice trailing off as he finishes his sentence, much to Jinyoung’s surprise.

Jinyoung’s slightly taken aback by the sudden question, thinking of any reasonable answers he could get. But he gets none so he stutters when he speaks. “A-a-am I? N-n-no I’m n-not ignoring you. And y-you’re right, I’m not mad. It’s j-just a game anyway.” . Get a hold of yourself moron.

“Really?”

Jinyoung just nods, not really trusting himself to speak.

“We’re good then?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” He managed to say, slightly proud of himself for talking straightly.

Mark smiles a wide, genuine smile then, and it takes Jinyoung’s breath away. “So… friends?” The blond asks, expression expectant.

Jinyoung hums as he nods. “Yeah, friends.” He returns the smile Mark is giving to him.

There’s another comfortable silence between them then, both looking at each other with genuine smiles on their faces, until one of them falls asleep. And eventually the other as well. Jinyoung’s the one who fell asleep last though. And before he does, he realized that maybe, just maybe, he likes Mark. And well, maybe, it’s true. Maybe that explains all those weird feelings whenever I see him… maybe I do like Mark. God what should I do?

 

☼

 

(A/N: A little throwback? This is mostly focused on Mark; on when and how he met, and fell for, Jinyoung.)

 

“Mark, wake up. We’re here.”

His mom calls out, shaking him lightly as their car goes to halt. Her voice drifts into his dream, making him stir, and eventually he wakes up. His eyes flutter slowly, arms stretching out as he yawns. He then looks outside through the car windows, taking in the new surroundings.

They just arrived at their new home after hours of traveling. Mark and his family had already been living in Seoul since he entered high school. But now that there’s only two semesters left before he graduates, his parents sold their house to buy a new one on some village located near the university Mark was planning to study at. There’s also a high school not too far away from the university too, so Mark decided to just study there for senior year.

He steps out of their car and moves to lean against the wall, watching as men carry out their things and furniture from the truck. Mark has offered to help, but they declined saying: “You’re too skinny kid.” He frowned at that, but lets them anyway since he knows they’re true.

He thinks about going inside their new house to join his parents, when suddenly, he catches something, or someone rather, in the corner of his eyes.

It’s a boy, probably just around his age, standing by the gate of the house just right across the street, phone pressed against his ear. The boy has a raven black hair that fits just perfectly for his milky white skin. Mark’s mouth agape at the sight, the word beautiful suddenly popping out in his mind, no matter how cliché that sounds.

He walks away from the wall then, eyes narrowed trying to get a better sight of the boy’s facial features. The boys suddenly laughs, his hand moving up to cover his mouth, crinkles beautifully forming on the sides of his eyes. Mark feels his breath catch in his throat at that, hand moving up to hold his chest as his heartbeat suddenly becomes faster than normal.

Who is he?

It’s Mark’s first time to see such sight. His first time to see such beauty. And it’s from a boy. A goddamn boy. And Mark swears to the universe above that he’s straight. But he realized he doesn’t really give a about gender when it comes to things like this. What matters to Mark right now is that he’s beautiful, and I’m want to make him mine. His parents are fine with whatever decisions he make anyway. “As long as you’re happy,” They said one day, when Mark finally came out to them as bi, and Mark had kept those words until the present.

Eventually, the boy detached his phone from his ear and looks at his direction. But before the boy can even see him, Mark had already ran to hide behind their car, heart beating fast inside his chest and cheeks heating at almost being caught.

He peeks through the glass windows and sees that the boy is still there, confusion in his face as he looks at the men carrying furniture from the truck and moving them inside the house. Mark had stayed in his position until the boy walks back inside their house, adoration visible in the blonde’s face as he looks at him. It’s not until the very last furniture that he sees the boy walking back inside their house.

Mark goes inside their new house as well, wearing a smile so wide his parents think his face is going to tear apart. The beautiful boy had been running inside Mark’s head since then. But unfortunately that was the last time he’s seen the boy, despite the fact that he lives just across the street.

 

☼

 

School starts two weeks later.

“Hello everyone, my name is Mark. I’m the new transfer student. Hope I’ll be friends with you all.” Mark introduces himself in Korean, earning giggles from the girls, and snorts from the boys. He bows politely, cheeks slightly pink from slight embarrassment, then he walks toward the only empty armchair at the back. It’s Monday and today is his first day as a senior.

“Hey. Mark, right? My name is Jaebum. Nice to meet you.” The boy from his right, with raven black hair and small eyes, who introduced himself as Jaebum, says, eyes disappearing as he smiles while extending an arm to him, asking for a handshake.

Mark smiles as well as they shake hands. “Nice to meet you too, Jaebum.”

“Say, judging by your name and accent, you’re not from here, aren’t you?” He says, and Mark nods.

“You’re right. We’ve been living here in Seoul for just four years. I’m still learning.”

“I see. So, it’s your first day here, right? Want me to tour you in our school?” Jaebum offers, eyes disappearing once again as he smiles, and Mark can’t say no to that.

They became good friends since then.

Mark and Jaebum almost have the same schedules, so they had spent every free time they have on that day walking around the campus. And Mark is more than happy and thankful that he had already found a friend — who doesn’t find him boring or awkward.

 

☼

 

The next time Mark sees that beautiful boy, it’s on a Friday afternoon the same week, and he’s currently walking home from school. He spots the boy outside a building what he recognizes as an internet café, talking to Jaebum.

Huh? He stops on his tracks then, wearing a confused expression as he watches the two converse. They know each other?

The boy suddenly laughs at something Jaebum said, teeth sparkling under the sunlight, crinkles forming on either sides of his eyes, and Mark feels his heart beat faster than normal at the sight because god he’s a lot more beautiful when he laughs…

The boy hugs Jaebum eventually, patting his shoulder before walking away, and Mark feels a slight pang on his heart at that. Are they… He shakes his head, heaving a deep sigh before walking again, head down this time. Nope, he’s clearly not jealous. Why would he?

He was just about to walk past the shop when Jaebum spots him, calling out his name, and waving his hand as he crosses the street. Mark stills, contemplating on whether he should run away or look at Jaebum. He does the latter, though.

He stops and turns to look at Jaebum then, showing him a small smile. “Hi.” He says.

“Why are you here?” Jaebum asks. “Wait- don’t tell me you live in this village as well?” he asks again, excitement in his voice this time.

Mark nods. “Yeah.”

He looks at the direction where the boy went then, smiling a bit when he sees that he’s still in sight, though he’s far away.

“Mark?” Jaebum speaks up again, and Mark snaps back to reality. He almost forgot that Jaebum’s there.

“Oh, sorry. Uh- what were you saying?”

“I said, which part you live?” Jaebum raises his eyebrows at him as he asks. He then looks at the direction where Mark was looking at. “Do you know him?” He asks again, pointing at the boy that’s almost out of sight.

Mark almost chokes on his spit at that, cheeks slightly burning. . He looks to where Jaebum is pointing then, but the boy is now out of sight, so he takes that as a cue to pretend he doesn’t know what Jaebum was talking about.

“Who?”

“Jinyoung.”

Jinyoung? So that’s his name…?

“Jinyoung… who?” Mark bites his lip as the name comes out of his mouth. He just hopes that Jaebum can’t see the faint blush that’s probably coloring his cheeks right now.

Jaebum rolls his eyes then, turning to look back at the direction where he was pointing earlier, “That-” but he’s not around anymore. He scratches his nape as he looks back at Mark. “Never mind. He’s gone.”

“Who’s gone? I’m sorry, Jae, but I don’t know who that Jinyoung you’re talking about is. But yeah, I do live in that part of this village.”

And after that, Mark goes home with flushed cheeks, heart pounding inside his ribcage. He locks himself inside his room, millions of thoughts running on his mind.

“Jinyoung…” he murmurs as lies down his bed, testing the name on his tongue, smiling to himself until he falls asleep eventually. Such a beautiful name for a beautiful boy.

Mark has made sure to watch Jinyoung since then. He’d always hide behind their gate every morning — making sure the boy wouldn’t see him — eyes peeking through the bars to look at Jinyoung as he walks out of their house, hair styled neatly and school uniform tidy.

 

☼

 

The next time Mark sees him — not from behind bars of their gate — it’s on a Wednesday two weeks later. The sun’s almost out. He’s walking with Jaebum to the shop since Jaebum had told him that he has someone to meet. Mark’s assuming, but not hoping, that it’s Jinyoung.

Jaebum tells him to wait outside, and Mark just nods. But just five minutes later, Mark’s already bored, so he decided to buy a milk tea at a tea shop nearby, and stays for a few minutes. When he returns, the same thing happened. Both Jaebum and Jinyoung are outside the shop. Mark stops on his tracks, but hides behind a car parked this time, peeking through the glass windows as he watches the two converse. From there he can see Jinyoung bidding goodbye to Jaebum, hugging him before walking away. Have I been away that long?

Jaebum looks around then, probably trying to find Mark, but Mark waits until Jinyoung is far enough before walking away from behind the car to join him. Mark didn’t notice he has been looking at Jinyoung as he walks away, until Jaebum clears his throat.

“Mark?” Jaebum calls out, and Mark tears his gaze away from the boy from afar. “Seriously man, you should stop daydreaming when I’m asking a question.”

His cheeks slightly burn at that. “I-I’m not. W-what were you asking again?” He stutters, looking back at the direction where Jinyoung is walking.

Jaebum follows the direction where Mark is currently looking, but this time, he sees Jinyoung. A smirk slowly forming on his face.

He’s beautiful… even from here.

Mark didn’t realize he just said his thoughts out loud until he looks back at Jaebum. The younger has that -eating grin on his face as Mark looks at him in confusion.

“What?” he asks, brows furrowed.

“I knew it!” Jaebum suddenly exclaims, a hint of amusement in his voice, startling Mark. “It was him that you were looking at that Friday.” He wiggles his eyebrows, and Mark freezes on his spot.

Oh my god.

Mark can feel his heart beating fast in his chest. He thinks about running, but he chooses not to. I guess there’s no sense if I lie... He thinks, heaving a sigh of defeat before looking up at Jaebum.

“Y-yes. He was.” He stutters, cheeks burning and palms slightly sweating.

“Do you like him? Since when? You’re neighbors, right?” Jaebum continuously asks, eyebrows raised. Mark goes to speak but Jaebum cuts him off. “Oh my god, this is great. Our Jinyoung has been single since birth! He’s not interested in girls, and you’re pretty good-looking, so I think you two might be perfect for each othe-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down.” Mark cuts him off this time by covering Jaebum’s mouth with his hand. He can’t help it but smile at what he’s heard from the younger though. So they’re not dating. Thank god.

“Sorry.” Jaebum says after removing Mark’s hand from his mouth, chuckling. “But I was just saying. So, you do like him, right?” He asks again, looking at Mark expectantly.

Mark just nods sheepishly.

“I didn’t know you were gay.” Jaebum says casually, and Mark almost chokes on his spit.

“I-I-I’m not.” he shakes his head.

“Eh?”

Mark sighs. “I’m- ugh, I don’t know now, okay? He’s just so… beautiful… I can’t help it. I want to make him mine too…” The last part comes out as a murmur, but Jaebum still hears it.

Jaebum scrunches his nose in mock disgust at that and acts like he’s throwing up. Mark smacks his head, rolling his eyes, and the younger just laughs. “I didn’t know you were cheesy too.” He chuckles. “Okay, let me introduce you to him then.”

Jaebum goes to get him phone from his pocket, probably calling Jinyoung, and Mark’s eyes widen at that, hand moving to hold Jaebum’s wrist.

“Wait!” he says, voice louder than his normal talking voice. He bites his lower lip at that. “S-sorry. J-just please don’t call him.”

Jaebum looks at him, brows furrowed. “But why?”

“I-I’m not ready…” What the ? “I-I mean, yeah, I do want to introduce myself to him but not now.”

“Why?” Jaebum asks him the same question.

Mark runs a hand through his hair and sighs, biting his lower lip before answering. “I know this is ing cliché, but I want him to remember my introduction.” He looks to the ground, cheeks burning from embarrassment. God that was cringe worthy as .

There’s a few seconds of silence then Jaebum bursts out laughing, louder than before, hands clutching at his stomach and eyes disappearing. Mark rolls his eyes for the nth time and turns to walk away, but Jaebum grabs his wrist.

“Sorry, okay?” Jaebum says, wiping away the happy tears on his eyes. “Damn you’re really cheesy. Jinyoung is so lucky.”

Mark smiles at that.

“Say, you said you want your introduction to be memorable, right?” Jaebum clarifies, and Mark nods. “Good, then I have a plan. Meet me this Saturday at the internet café near our school.”

“Why not here?” Mark asks, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, you’ll see, lover boy. You’ll see. And if my plan works, I’m pretty sure this will be memorable to Jinyoung.” He smirks, a glint of mischief in his eyes, but Mark chooses to ignore it.

Who knows, maybe Jaebum’s plan might work.

 

☼

 

And this is when Mark started playing Dragon Nest.

It’s on an afternoon when he decided to go to the place where he and Jaebum are supposed to meet. It’s a bit smaller compared to the shop in the village. Most students here are using the computers for school purposes, and not for gaming.

Mark walks further into the place and finds Jaebum on PC six, stopping to tap the younger’s shoulder to let him know he’s there. Jaebum turns to look at him and smiles, removing the headphones on his head.

“Yo, man! Oh, sit here, I reserved this for you.” Jaebum jabs a thumb on the chair next to his.

“Thank you.” Mark smiles, sitting on the chair as Jaebum turns his computer on. “Sorry I just came. How long have you been waiting?” He turns to look at the screen of Jaebum’s computer, checking on the time he’s consumed.

“Nah, I didn’t wait for that long. Just forty minutes.” Jaebum says, using Mark’s computer. He opens the browser and goes to a website Mark isn’t sure if he’s visited it before.

Mark looks at him as the webpage stops loading, confused. Dragon… Nest? “What’s that?” he asks. “An online game?”

“This, my friend, is the main part of my plan.” Jaebum replies, wiggling his eyebrows at him.

Huh?

That made Mark even more confused than he already is, because how can an online game help me with Jinyoung? This is ridiculous-

“Jeez, stop saying your thoughts aloud. Just trust me, okay?” Jaebum cuts him off, rolling his eyes. “Go make an account first. Tell me when you’re done.” The younger instructs, turning back to his own computer. Mark just nods and complies.

As he fills up everything, Mark then realized that this isn’t the first time he’s heard of this game. He remembers that way back two years ago, his classmates were talking about this new MMORPG. Mark ignored them of course since he’d already been playing two online games at that time. One of those is Grand Chase, a two-dimensional side-scrolling MMORPG, and another one is Elsword, a two point five-dimensional side-scrolling MMORPG, that’s similar to Grand Chase, but has better graphics.

He’s already stopped playing those games since last year, choosing to focus more on his studies. And this is actually his first time playing another online game after almost a year. Mark has to admit, he misses gaming — a lot.

“Jaebum, I’m done. Should I log-in now?” Mark says eventually after doing evertyhing. He turns to look at Jaebum, but the younger seems to be busy playing, headphones on and eyes focused on the screen. He decided to just wait for him.

When he looks at the younger’s screen, he noticed that he’s currently in a dungeon with someone. An archer? Hmm, cool, but not really my preferred character. Mark thinks, remembering those days when he still plays MMORPGs, he doesn’t really like using an Archer that much.

He squints his eyes then, looking all over the screen, trying to find the name of Jaebum’s party member. Ju… ni… eo… Mark blinks as reads the name that’s written in Hangeul. Junior? Who would use his real name in an online game? He snorts, shaking his head as he looks back at his computer, wearing the headphones on, and going to YouTube to maybe watch some girl group videos whilst waiting for Jaebum.

“Ah, , finally done.” Jaebum says eventually, removing his headphones, and stretching his arms. He types something before looking at Mark, who seems to be busy. “Oi, Mark.”

No reply.

“Yah!” he waves his hand in front of the blonde’s face, trying to get his attention.

Mark removes his headphones then, looking at Jaebum. “Oh, sorry. Are you done?” he asks.

“Uh-huh.” Jaebum nods. He glances at Mark’s screen then, smirking at what he sees. “You can stop watching Red Velvet’s videos now and log-in on the game.”

Mark’s eyes widen for a second, a faint blush coloring his cheeks in slight embarrassment as he closes the browser, going to the desktop and double clicking the ‘dnlauncher’ icon. Jaebum laughs at that.

 

☼

 

“So, which one do you prefer?”

“I think I’ll pick this.” Mark points to the Assassin, eyebrows raised as looks at Jaebum. “Is it good?”

Jaebum grins then. “Ah, perfect. You’re making my plan easier, lover boy.”

Huh? “Why?” he asks, brows furrowed, but Jaebum didn’t answer. And Mark’s pretty sure if curiosity could really kill, he’d be dead.

He clicks on the Assassin then, the character customization page appearing after he does. He clicks some arrows to change the appearance — clothes, face, skin and hair color — of his character, and when he’s satisfied with it, he goes to type its name.

“Mtuan? Really man?” Jaebum snorts. “Who would use his rea-“

“Hey, at least it’s not that obvious unlike your party member earlier.” Mark cuts him off, rolling his eyes. He clicks some buttons after finishing the tutorial, then his character is taken to a town. He looks to the right side of the screen and sees some arrows that’ll probably take him to NPCs for more quests so he follows them.

“Oh, that was Jinyoung, by the way.” Jaebum suddenly says after a while, looking at Mark as if he’s waiting for his reaction. Mark’s ears seem to perk up at that, eyes widening, and Jaebum laughs once again.

“I’m glad I amuse you.” Mark sarcastically says, shaking his head and he turns his attention back to the game.

Jaebum just grins, hand coming up to pinch the blonde’s cheek. “Aww, you’re so cute. You should see your own reactions. Seriously, are you a living meme?” He coos.

“Stop that.” Mark frowns, slapping Jaebum’s hand as he turns to glare at the younger.

Jaebum snickers. “Ooh, I’m scared.”

Mark, who seems to be done with all of Jaebum’s s, stands up and turns to leave. But the younger’s quick to grab his wrist.

“Yah, I’m sorry, okay? Please don’t leave.” He pouts, ing pouts, and Mark sighs, hand coming up to cover Jaebum’s face. Eww, please.

“Ugh, fine.” He groans, sitting back on the chair. “But will you spill the beans already?” He tilts his head to look at the younger, eyebrows raised. “Tell me why I am here at four in the afternoon, playing an online game I didn’t even bother playing two years ago.”

“Okay, then.” Jaebum grins. He leans closer to Mark’s computer and presses a key on the keyboard, a chart showing the current rankings in PVP and ‘Ladder’ suddenly popping out on the screen.

Mark looks at Jaebum in confusion before looking back at the screen. “So…?”

“Look who’s in the first place, idiot.” He points to the screen, and Mark’s quick to follow.

When he reads the name, his eyes widen. No way. “Jinyoung?” he asks, though it’s pretty clear who it is. On the number one spot of the PVP ranking shows Jinyoung’s IGN, and to say that Mark’s shocked would be an understatement.

Jaebum chuckles as he nods. “Yep.”

Mark doesn’t say anything for a while. He just stares at the screen, at Jinyoung’s IGN. He then moves his gaze to look at his record, eyes widening once again, if possible, at what he sees. “No deaths?!” He turns to look at Jaebum, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. Whoa, he’s a pro.

“Shocking, isn’t it? How can a mere high school student be a top player?” Jaebum grins, looking at Mark in amusement. “So, I think you now have an idea about my plan?”

“Maybe.” The blonde nods, not really knowing what else to say. He then goes to think about what Jaebum’s plan could be. So he wants me to play this game, then he showed me that Jinyoung is currently the top player, which means- no way! His eyes widen, for the nth time today, as realization strikes him, looking back at Jaebum with wide eyes.

“I have to beat him.”

“Bingo!” Jaebum snaps his fingers and chuckles. “And we need a healer in our raid party too. But first you’ll have to-”

“But how? He’s on the first place! How the hell can I beat him when I’m barely just level ten? There’s no way I-”

Jaebum cuts him off by covering his with his hand. “Shush, my friend. I’ll help you, of course.” He rolls his eyes at Mark. “As I was saying,” he continues, finally pulling his hand off of Mark’s visage. “You need to reach the max level first, then I’ll help you gear up after that.”

Mark just nods in reply. This might actually work.

 

☼

 

Two months. That’s how long it takes Mark to make his character finally reach the maximum level, level eighty — since he can only play on weekends because of school — and another month for mastering all the dungeons and dragons’ nests, and completely gearing up his character. All with the help of Jaebum. The younger’s amused to see Mark getting the hang of the game faster than he has expected, despite the fact that Mark only plays every weekends.

Mark spends the weekends of the next month practicing in PvP, then. Jaebum helps him with this as well. The younger’s teaching him the right moves, and skill combinations that will make the opponents helpless once it hits, and Mark’s grateful for that because by the end of the month, he’s on the top five hundred already.

 

☼

 

It was on a Wednesday when Mark finally decided to challenge Jinyoung for a PvP. It’s his first time playing on a weekday, but he doesn’t really care that much since he’s done with all the requirements for finals anyway. He doesn’t know why, or where he suddenly got the confidence, but it’s been five months already, and he’s tired of waiting — having been patient enough. He’s tired of just watching the younger from afar, tired of just watching him through the bars of their gate. He’s had enough, so he decided that tonight, he’ll finally do it.

He’s not even sure if his experience in PvP is enough to beat Jinyoung, or at least lower his character’s HP to half, but he wants to try. Jaebum had told him stories of students challenging Jinyoung to a PvP, but they all failed. And to say that Mark is nervous right now would be an understatement.

“Just relax, man. Jinyoung’s an Artillery, on the Bow Master side. His class is much slower than those classes on the Acrobat side.” Jaebum says from his side, eyes on the screen of his pc. “Breathe.”

Both he and Jaebum are currently on the second floor of the internet café in their village, Jinyoung’s playing on the first floor, and it’s Mark’s first time to be playing here. The blond has been amazed when he entered the second floor of the shop a while ago, looking at all the cool-looking computers that’s obviously made for gaming. It's a lot different than on the first floor, and even on the shop near their school where Jaebum had trained him.

“I am.” Mark says eventually, looking at Jaebum’s computer screen. The younger’s currently in a dungeon for a quest, and with him is none other than Jinyoung.

Mark patiently waits for them to clear the dungeon, and by the time they’re finally done, Jaebum types something before looking at the blond.

“He’s back in town. Find him, quick!”

Mark nods before moving his attention back to the computer his using. He holds on the mouse, walking his character all over the town trying to look for Jinyoung’s. Where is he?

He’s sure he already looked at every direction, but still no sign of Jinyoung’s character. Dammit. He curses under his breath, impatience growing inside him. But just as when he was about to turn to ask Jaebum, when he finally sees it.

Jinyoung’s character is currently walking towards the Trading House — an Archer wearing a gorgeous looking white wedding dress costume — and Mark presses a key on the keyboard so that his character is riding on a mount to reach Jinyoung faster.

When Mark finally reaches him, he clicks on Jinyoung’s character, and a menu appears. He then clicks challenge PvP, pressing another key on the keyboard — so that his character is doing a hello gesture — whilst waiting for Jinyoung to accept his request.

‘Sorry I’m kinda busy’ Mark reads on the screen, but before he can even ask why, Jinyoung’s already declined his request.

He turns to look at Jaebum then, pouting. “Oi, Jae, he said he’s busy.”

“Busy, my .” Jaebum snorts. “He’s lying. Just send him another request.”

Mark sighs, sending Jinyoung another PvP request. But this time, he types a ‘Please? Just one round?’ before the younger can decline. He waits for a few seconds, then finally, Jinyoung replies ‘Fine’ and accepts his challenge.

Finally.

The match started a few seconds later, both of them has agreed earlier to just do it in a small PvP room. Mark’s heart is beating faster than normal right now, because who wouldn’t? He just challenged the game’s top player, and not just that, it’s Jinyoung. The boy he’s been crushing on for months now.

When the countdown ended, Jinyoung’s already bombarding him with basic skills. Mark’s eyes widen almost comically at that — his character barely dodging a magic arrow thrown to him. Whoa, he’s fast.

Mark’s not really doing anything yet, just dodging any skill Jinyoung casts at him. He’s waiting for all of his skills to cool down before he can do the combo Jaebum had taught him.

By the time all of his character’s skills are available, he presses a key on the keyboard so that his character is throwing multiple daggers at Jinyoung. When Mark sees that he dodges it all, a smirk makes its way on his face because he knows what it means when your opponent dodges your counter attack after bombarding you with skills. He’s out of mana points (MP).

Got ya!

Mark completely buffs his character first, summoning some cats (yes, cats) that helps boost his attack power, before finally dashing towards Jinyoung’s character. Mark throws another set of daggers then, and when it hits and makes his opponent flinch, he quickly does the combo move.

Apparently, it suddenly becomes a one-sided battle — Jinyoung’s character just running and barely dodging every skill Mark throws at him. He smirks when he notices that he did manage to lower Jinyoung’s health points down to more than a half now. This isn’t that hard as I thought.

When the cool down of his special skill finally reaches zero, he quickly presses the key that represents that skills, and aims it at Jinyoung. Please hit. Please hit. Please hit. He practically chants inside his head, brows furrowed as he looks at the screen.

 

(A/N: It usually takes two hundred and fifty seconds for a special skill to cool down.)

 

“Bull’s eye!” Mark almost screams as his special skill hits Jinyoung’s character directly, grinning wide. He notices that Jinyoung attempted to cast his character’s special skill as well, but it’s already too late. He presses a key so that his character is doing a laughing gesture before exiting the PvP room.

“Holy .” Jaebum’s eyes are wide as he looks at the blond. “No way, man. You really did it!” he laughs, giving Mark a high-five.

“Yeah, I did it!” Mark grins, unable to contain his happiness, as he stands up from his seat. I ing did it.

 

☼

 

They’re now standing outside the shop. Jaebum has told Mark to wait for Jinyoung to go out. When the younger does step out, he can’t help it but stare at him. This is probably the first time he’s seen Jinyoung this close, and his jaw drops because god, he’s way more beautiful than just watching him from afar.

Jaebum waves his hand at Jinyoung then, eyes disappearing as he grins widely. Jinyoung just looks at Jaebum with a confused expression as he stands in front of him, and Mark resists the urge to say cute.

“Yah, introduce yourself to our master.” Jaebum says as he looks at the blond, wiggling his eyebrows at the last word. Mark chuckles as he rubs his nape, eyes never leaving Jinyoung — and he’s pretty sure he sees the Jinyoung roll his eyes at Jaebum, before the younger glances at him.

Mark watches as Jinyoung’s glance towards him soon turns to a stare, and soon enough, their eyes met. Mark almost wants to laugh at the way Jinyoung’s eyes widen, cheeks turning red, but he decides not to. Instead, he shows him the widest smile he could muster as he says: “Hi.”

“H-hello.” Jinyoung stutters when he replies, swallowing on nothing, and Mark looks at the way his Adam’s apple move.

Is he… nervous? Interesting. Mark hums to himself, turning to give Jaebum a look — the other smirks as well — before looking back at Jinyoung, who’s raising his eyebrows as he looks between them.

“So, this is Dragon Nest’s strongest player, huh?” Mark notices the way Jinyoung’s cheeks flush at his remark. He extends an arm to the younger then, asking him for a handshake, which the younger accepts hesitantly.

Mark can feel his heart beat faster inside his chest as soon as their hands touch, electricity spiking under his skin as he looks at the younger. Jinyoung suddenly pulls his hand then, hiding it behind him as he looks at anywhere but the blond. Mark just looks at him with amusement and fondness. He almost forgot that Jaebum is there, but right now, he feels that everything is just a blur, now that he’s this close to Jinyoung. So close, yet still so far.

There’s a slight moment of silence, and Mark’s the one who breaks it. “You’re Jinyoung, right?” he asks, and the younger just nods, still not looking at him. He smirks before continuing.

“My name is Mark. I was the Assassin who challenge you for a PvP lately. And hey, you’re cute, master.”

Later that night, when Mark finally gets home, he locks himself inside his bedroom. He buries his head on his pillow, his insides are in chaos as he tries to decipher what just happened earlier that night. And as he drifts off to sleeps, a certain beautiful raven-haired boy appears in his dreams.

 

☼

 

(A/N: Back to the present.)

 

“Okay man, speak.” Jackson says, eyes narrowed as he looks at Jinyoung.

It’s a Thursday night, Mark’s parent’s had finally returned the morning, and the blond won’t be sleeping at Jinyoung’s house anymore. It’s also less than two weeks before the anticipated event will start. The seven of them were playing in the shop as usual, but they’re on the ground floor this time. Jinyoung has excused himself earlier to go to the comfort room after they clear a full run of the Desert Dragon Nest. He didn’t notice Jackson following behind.

After zipping his pants, he unlocked the door of the cubicle. He was about to go out when suddenly, Jackson entered, and pinned him against the door, hands on either sides of his head. Jinyoung’s eyes widened in both shock and confusion, if possible.

Jinyoung blinks, nonchalant, or should I say trying to look nonchalant, on what Jackson was talking about. “What?”

“Oh don’t play dumb, Jinyoung. You think we wouldn’t notice?” Jackson snorts, rolling his eyes.

“Jackson I really don-”

“What’s going on between you and blondie, huh?” Jackson cuts him off by getting straight to the point, eyes still narrowed. He smirks when he sees the faint blush on the younger’s cheeks.

Well, . “I- there’s n-nothing g-going on with us…” he stutters, looking away.

“Sure,” Jackson coos. “Then explain why you two are suddenly close? Weren’t you ignoring him just last week? You’ve become clingy towards him now, too.”

Jinyoung sighs, finally looking up to meet the elder’s eyes. “Jackson, I think it’s none of your business. We’re friends, what do you expect?” He asks, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, right, friends,” Jackson coos again, emphasizing the word friend. “You don’t look at him like he’s just a friend, Jinyoung, and he does the same to you too. But, well, if you really won’t say anything then I’ll just figure it out myself.” He says, finally moving away from the younger. “You can’t hide anything forever, though.”

And with that, Jackson goes out of the cubicle they’re in to go back to their friends, leaving Jinyoung behind with flushed cheeks and heart beating impossibly fast in his chest. As if, Jackson. As if.

When he finally goes back to join his friends, he ignores all of their questions, and Mark’s gaze towards him.

 

☼

 

“Jinyoung? Is there something wrong?” Mark asks, voice soft. He and Jinyoung are currently walking on the street that leads to their homes. The younger had been quiet since he returned from the comfort room, and Mark wants to know why.

Was it really obvious? Or I’m just stupid for thinking that no one would notice? He thinks. What Jackson had said earlier, when they’re in the small space of the cubicle were all true. He and Mark had really gotten close in just a span of three consecutive days of practically living together.

Mark would be the one to wake him up every morning in those three days — telling Jinyoung that he’s prepared the younger’s bath and school uniform already, and that he’s helped his mom in cooking breakfast. Jinyoung’s more than grateful to that. Mark even comes with him to school every morning, with the blond carrying his bag until they reach the Jinyoung’s classroom for his first class. Jinyoung would complain but Mark always insists.

What’s going on between you and blondie, huh? Jackson’s words earlier suddenly pops out in his mind again, and Jinyoung shakes his head as if that will get rid of them. Though there’s really this small part in Jinyoung’s heart, hoping that this isn’t some one-sided love story . It's his first time having a crush, and he doesn't want to end up being broken.

“Jinyoung?” Mark speaks again, looking at him.

Jinyoung seems to snap back to reality. He’s too much consumed with his thought that he almost forgot Mark’s with him. Almost. “Y-yes?” He stutters — because that’s what he does best.

“I was asking if you’re okay. You’ve been quiet since going out of the comfort room.” Mark’s eyes never leaves the younger. And Jinyoung wonders if he could ever get used to the feelings he get whenever he’s with Mark — or even with just thinking about the blond.

No, I’m not. “Yep, I’m fine. Don’t mind me.” He says, smiling. Mark just nods, not pressing on the topic anymore, and Jinyoung lets out a sigh of relief.

“Well, if ever you have a problem, I’m always here.”

But you are my problem. Jinyoung wants to say, looking away when he feels his cheeks burning despite the cold temperature. “Thanks, Mark.” He says instead, biting his lower lip.

They arrive at Jinyoung’s house few minutes later. It’s now nine in the evening, and Jinyoung wants nothing but to lay down on his bed.

“Hey, Jinyoung? You’re going to Jaebum’s vacation house next weekend, right?” Mark asks as soon as they stop in front of the younger’s house, eyebrows raised.

After they’re done playing earlier, the seven of them have stayed for a while outside of the shop when Jaebum told them he has something important to say. But it turns out he’s just inviting his friends to their vacation house next weekend — much to Jinyoung’s disappointment. Jinyoung thought he’ll finally say there’s something going on with him with Youngjae, but with what happened in the comfort room, he realized it’s none of his business and he still have his own problem (as what he would describe it) to deal with.

“It’s semester break! And it’s only one semester left ‘til we leave high school. Let’s have some fun.” Jaebum had said.

“Yeah right. But it’s only for the four of you oldies.” BamBam whined. “I, Yugyeom, and Youngjae still have a year and one sem left.” He added with a pout.

“So, I guess that means you won’t come with us?” Jackson piped up, smirking when he saw BamBam’s reaction.

“And miss all the fun? No way, hyung!” BamBam had rolled his eyes, and Jackson just snickered. Youngjae and Yugyeom both nodded their heads in agreement, while Mark and Jinyoung just watched their friends in amusement, fond smiles on their faces.

“Aish, you losers are too noisy. Make sure you tell your parents about it, okay? You still got a week to prepare.”

“Aye sir!” the three youngest said in unison, wide smiles plastered on their faces.

“Oh, right!” Jinyoung chuckles. “Yes, I’ll go of course.” He nods.

“Good.” Mark smiles then, the same wide smile he had when Jinyoung first met him. And Jinyoung swallows, unable to tear his gaze away from the blond in front of him. The two may be closer now, but that doesn’t mean Jinyoung is used to those weird feelings the blond is making him feel.

There’s a moment of comfortable silence — because it always happens when they’re together. The two of them are just looking into each other’s eyes, smiles plastered on their faces, and it brings Jinyoung back to the night when Mark first slept with him. The night when he realized he likes Mark. And Jinyoung almost doesn’t want to look away.

“So, uh… I’ll go now.” It’s Mark who breaks the silence, voice low when he speaks.

Jinyoung nods, trying his best to hide the disappointment that’s probably visible on his face. “Okay...” he murmurs, so quietly it almost got lost in the breeze.

“Goodnight, Jinyoungie.” Mark smiles, and Jinyoung just nods again, only managing a small smile.

“Goodnight, Mark hyung…”

But before Jinyoung can even do anything, Mark’s suddenly moving closer to him. His eyes widen as the elder leans closer, so close, and before he knows it, he feels Mark’s lips on his cheek. What the hell?

Mark smirks before he practically skedaddles as he crosses the street, waving his hand before going inside their house — leaving Jinyoung standing there, body stiff, cheeks red and heart pounding hard against his ribcage he thinks he might need a heart transplant.

“Oh my god…” Jinyoung murmurs as he enters his room, leaning against the door and sliding down until his touches the cold floor. He runs a hand through his hair, mind in chaos as he moves a hand up to place on his cheek — the part where Mark’s lips touched still burning.

Why am I disappointed it wasn’t on my lips?

 

☼

 

“Hyung, we should wake them-”

“Shush, BamBam, just let them.”

“Aww, look at that, they look so cute!”

“Hurry! Take a pic!”

Jinyoung wakes up to the sound of his friends’ chatters. Groaning, he slowly peels his eyes open and stretches his arms. When he’s utterly awake, he’s greeted by Jackson, BamBam and Youngjae, wide grins plastered on their faces. He furrows his brows as he looks at them in confusion, and he was about to say anything when he realized that his head is leaning into something — or someone, rather.

No way… did I just- And when he turns his head to look up, he sees none other than Mark, who seems to be still peacefully sleeping despite all those noises. Jinyoung swallows as he sits up straight, slowly. Mark’s body warmth still radiating towards him, and he feels his cheeks burning at that, heart beat slowly picking up. Oh my god-

“Good morning, Jinyoung hyung,” Youngjae jokes (it’s actually afternoon), Jackson and BamBam both snickering behind him. “Had a good sleep?”

“Yeah, had a good sleep, Jinyoungie?” it’s Jackson this time, -eating grin on his face.

And of course, BamBam joins the teasing. “Hmm, I bet he had. Especially when he’s snuggled so close to his blondie gamer boyfriend.” He coos, and the three of them laughs when they notice the faint blush on Jinyoung’s cheeks.

, ing stop. He curses in his mind, and all he wants to do right now is to run away from his idiotic friends. He doesn’t though.

“S-shut up…” Jinyoung stutters, rolling his eyes at them before looking away. The three of them laughs again. God why do I have these idiots as friends.

 

☼

 

“Where are Jaebum and Yugyeom?” Jinyoung asks as they get off the car, the five of them are now walking towards a house, which he assumes it’s Jaebum’s vacation house, right after Mark wakes up.

Youngjae answers his question. “They’re already in. We arrived just thirty minutes ago.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up earlier, then?” Jinyoung turns his head to look at his friends, but then his eyes meet Mark’s so he looks away almost immediately. .

“Well, you looked so peaceful and comfortable so we just waited instead.” It’s BamBam who answers his next question, smirk on his face, and Jinyoung just wants nothing right but to punch it off. This is going to be a long weekend.

 

☼

 

After dinner, the seven of them are now outside, seated on the sand by the shore and forming a circle — roasting marshmallows on the campfire in the middle whilst discussing their plans on the upcoming event happening in just three days. On Jinyoung’s left seats Jackson, who’s wrapped up in a blanket he’s sharing with BamBam, and on his right is Mark — the two of them sharing a blanket as well. Jinyoung pretends his insides are not in chaos right now, especially when the blond is this close to him. So close.

Next to Mark is Youngjae, then Jaebum, and Yugyeom.

Jinyoung checks the time on his phone and it reads ten pm, so he suggests to the others that they should get inside already and sleep, but Jackson contradicts.

“Hey, let’s play truth or dare first,” Jackson suggests, a wide grin on his face. “We don’t have anything to do anyway.” He turns to look at Jinyoung then, winking mischievously and the younger rolls his eyes.

“Okay, then I dare you to drown yourself on the sea so you won’t annoy me, or anyone, anymore.” Jinyoung remarks, earning snickers from the others.

“Ouch,” Jackson says as he puts his hands on the left side of his chest, dramatically, looking at Jinyoung with a hurt expression, and the younger just rolls his eyes again. “How could you say that to your best fr-” he adds but he’s cut off by Jaebum, who has an amused expression on his face.

“Alright, stop bickering now, kids. I’m okay with truth or da-”

“Hey, grandpa, you’re only older than me by two mo-”

“Oh my god, just shut up already.” Jaebum sighs, rolling his eyes at Jackson, and well he does shut up with that, feeling defeated. Jinyoung smirks, mouthing a ‘Thank you’ at Jaebum and the older chuckles, shaking his head.

In the end, they all agreed to play the game Jackson had suggested. And after a few round of rock, paper, scissors, it’s BamBam who ends up being the first one to ask.

“Yugyeom-ah,” he calls out, Yugyeom turning to look at him. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” He replies.

BamBam seems to think for a moment before speaking again. “I dare you to… kiss anyone here!”

“What the ?!” Yugyeom’s eyes widen almost comically at that, a faint blush coloring his cheeks and everyone snickers.

“What? You told me you haven’t kissed a guy before, so here’s your chance.” BamBam just shrugs, expression nonchalant.

“ you.” Yugyeom curses, earning a series of laughter from everyone again, but he stands up anyway. He walks quickly around the campfire and kneels down in front of an oblivious BamBam, who’s still laughing from Yugyeom’s misery. What Yugyeom did made him stop, though.

It was just a quick peck on the lips, but still enough to make everyone look shocked — including BamBam of course, whose eyes are practically bulging out of its sockets, and jaw dropped almost comically — because they really had no idea who would Yugyeom pick, anyway. But just a few moments later, the group erupts into cheers and laughter, and the youngest of them all has a smirk on his face when he returns to his seat, maybe satisfied with what he’s done.

“Ooh, I didn’t know Gyeommie has a thing for his best friend.” Jackson teases the youngest, BamBam still blushing beside him, but Jinyoung can see something else behind the elder’s eyes. He takes a note in his mind to talk to him about that later.

“Shut up. I’m ing straight, you idiot.” Yugyeom rolls his eyes, and everyone snickers, well, except Jackson who’s wearing an expression like he’s been betrayed by everyone.

“That’s hyung for you!”

 

☼

 

They all continued with their game afterwards, and it’s Jinyoung who gets to ask last. He looks around his group of friends, and the others are looking back at him, expressions expectant because they’ve all been asked already.

But Jinyoung’s eyes meet with Mark’s then, and he sighs, cheeks already burning. “M-Mark hyung,” He stutters, and he’s pretty sure he sees Jackson smirking but he ignores him. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” The blonde smiles. Jinyoung’s heartbeat picks up at that.

It’s now or never. He swallows on nothing, before speaking again. Hoping it wouldn’t sound so lame. “I dare you to have a rematch with me. After the event.”

“Oh, oh! I would love to see that!” BamBam chirps, voice cheerful. “A rematch battle between the best gamer, and the challenger who beat him.”

“Yeah, me too,” Yugyeom agrees, grinning. “It will be epic!”

“Me three!” Youngjae joins them, excitement visible on his visage. “Please let this happen hyungs! I want to witness it.”

Mark seems to think for a moment, Jinyoung looking at him expectantly, then suddenly, the blonde’s lips curve up to a smirk, and Jinyoung thinks that okay maybe this is not a good idea-

“Okay, I accept your challenge for a rematch.” Mark starts, earning cheers from the others. “But let’s have a bet, Jinyoungie?”

Well, . “Bet? What bet?” His cheeks burn, heart beating fast as he can feel the others’ gazes towards them — and also because he really has no idea on what’s going on in the blonde’s head at all. Nope, not at all.

He meets eyes with Mark again, and Jinyoung feels like everything else around them is just a blur. It has always been like that whenever his eyes meet the blond’s. There’s just something about Mark that makes Jinyoung ignore everything.

“It’s simple. If you win, I’ll do anything you want? Or maybe I’ll quit.” Mark’s voice is firm, eyes never leaving Jinyoung.

“Okay…” Jinyoung’s voice trails off. “But I will never make you quit, you know…”

Mark snorts. “You’re talking as if you’ll win, eh?”

We’ll see about that, Mark Tuan. “Conceited,” Jinyoung remarks, rolling his eyes, and Mark just chuckles. “And what if I lose, though?” He asks. His heart suddenly starts beating fast once again for a reason Jinyoung doesn’t really know. , calm down.

Mark’s silent again for a few seconds, and it’s driving Jinyoung insane with curiosity. There's a tension that makes him almost forgot that his friends are still there, watching them. Just ing say it, oh god-

He’s cut off from his thoughts when Mark finally speaks. And when Jinyoung heard what the blonde has said, it made him think of all the times Jackson had made him this shocked or surprised — but he thinks of none and so he decides that this is probably the most shocked and surprised he’s ever been in his entire life. Ever.

“If you lose, then you’ll be my boyfriend.” Mark had said. And Jinyoung hates the fact that a big part of his heart wants it to happen.

 

☼

 

“Yes! We did it! We ing did it!” Jackson cheers as he looks at the screen with wide eyes, standing up and punching the air above him with both hands. Jinyoung would slap a hand on his mouth anytime, but not tonight. Because what’s on Jackson’s screen right now is Dragon Nest’s homepage, and it reads “Congratulations to ‘GOD7’ raid party for clearing the Black Dragon Nest hardcore mode in just 32 minutes and 40 seconds, making them the fastest raid party to do so. All members will receive their in-game cash reward within 24 hours. Happy gaming!” — So he just grins instead.

It’s twelve midnight, so basically it’s a Thursday now. The seven of them are currently the only people in the shop. They have decided earlier to wait for the results since it’ll be posted on midnight the day after the event. Jinyoung was confident that they’ll win, of course. And to win they did.

Jinyoung stands then, smiling as he watch his friends cheering for their victory. Behind the counter, Youngjae’s grabbing some bags of junk food and chips and cans of soft drinks from the fridge, giving it to his friends, a wide smile also plastered on his face.

“Thanks, man!” he hears Jackson say as he grabs one of each.

“Pay for that tomorrow. Nothing is free these days, you know.” Youngjae’s expression becomes serious, and Jackson pouts.

“Hey! I thought these are for free!” Jackson frowns, placing his bag of chips and can back on the counter.

“Hah! You really fell for it. What an idiot!” Youngjae bursts out laughing, and Jackson grabs the bag of chips again to throw it to the younger’s face.

“Why are you all so mean to me?!” Jackson rants, making everyone inside the room laugh.

It’s only when Jinyoung’s walking towards the counter to get his snacks that Mark approaches him.

“Jinyoung-ah.” The blond says casually, looking at the Jinyoung, as he takes a sip on his own can of cola. Jinyoung follows the way his Adam’s apple move, and he hates that his whole body is reacting with whatever the blond does. God, why is this happening?

“Y-yes?” he stutters. Yep, I’m stupid.

“Can we have our rematch now?” Mark asks, eyebrows raised as he looks at him. And suddenly, the room becomes quiet as everyone gathers around them. Ugh, -

“Oh my god, yes please!” BamBam chirps, excitement obvious in his voice.

And just like before, it’s Yugyeom who speaks up next. “Yeah, hyung. We have the place the whole night anyway.” He turns to look at Youngjae then. “Right?”

Youngjae nods, seemingly eager to see the match as well. “Come on, hyung. Please!”

In the corner of his eyes, he can see Jackson and Jaebum talking to each other, wicked smirks on his faces. And when he turns to look at Mark, the elder’s already looking at him — like always. There’s that something in the elder’s eyes again that he can’t decipher, and he feels his cheeks burning up already. I guess I don’t have a choice then… god, help me please.

Jinyoung takes in a deep breath and heaves a deep sigh before finally saying: “Fine.” It comes out as a murmur, but the three youngest still heard it and they yell ‘Yes!’ simultaneously. Jaebum and Jackson high-fives each other before laughing, and Mark has the widest smile Jinyoung has ever seen. He can’t help it but to smile at that. Why is he so beautiful?

 

☼

 

Mark and Jinyoung are now seated beside each other, eyes focused on the screen of the computers their using — hands placed firmly on the keyboards and mouse. Jinyoung is on PC one, and the blond is on PC two. Jackson and BamBam are standing behind Mark, whilst the other three are standing behind Jinyoung, Jaebum massaging his shoulders as he mutters some words of encouragement.

The match starts after a few seconds later, and, well, Jinyoung may, or may have not, have let himself lose on purpose afterwards.

 

☼

 

“You owe me fifty thousand won!” Jackson s a hand at Jaebum, like he’s asking for something.

“Tomorrow.” Jaebum rolls his eyes.

Jinyoung looks between the two, confused. “You guys had a bet?”

“Yep! And I won.” Jackson grins. “I mean, Mark won. Err- whatever. What’s important is that grandpa owes me fifty thousand won.” He jabs a thumb at an annoyed-looking Jaebum, eyebrows wiggling, and Jaebum rolls his eyes again.

“Oh shut up, Jinyoung didn’t even give his all.”

“Ey, a loss is still a loss my man.”

“Jackson, you traitor!” Jinyoung pouts. “How could you bet for Mark when I am your best friend?”

“Oh come on, we all know you like him,” Jackson says casually, like it’s the most ing normal thing to say, rolling his eyes at the younger. “I know you’d lose on purpose.” He winks and Jinyoung gives finger, making everyone laugh.

 

☼

 

“So, does that mean you two are… boyfriends now?” Yugyeom eventually asks as they’re standing outside the shop to get some fresh air. Everyone turns to look between the two, expectantly.

Jinyoung freezes on his spot, eyes widening. Oh my god. He swallows on nothing as he looks down to the ground, cheeks burning and heart hammering inside his chest — a thousand thoughts running in his head. What he doesn’t understand, though, is why did Mark wanted me to be his boyfriend in the first place? Does that mean he likes me as we-

“Yes, we are.”

Jinyoung’s cut off from his thoughts when he feels an arm wrap around his waist. Jinyoung flinches for a second, skin burning from the touch, before slowly tilting to look at who it is, but basing on the familiar warmth that he’s feeling right now, he knows so well that it’s Mark.

Their eyes met and the blonde has that wide smile on his face, eyebrows raised as he looks at the younger, like he’s waiting for a confirmation. Jinyoung thinks of hesitating, biting his lower as he looks away again. But then Jackson’s words earlier suddenly pops out in his mind, “I know you’d lose on purpose”, and he hates the fact that his idiotic best friend is right.

With a sigh of defeat, he looks back at Mark, nodding slowly. “Yes…” He murmurs, voice barely audible — but Mark suddenly grins, and Jinyoung knows that the blond heard him. Their friends erupt into cheers then, trapping them into a group hug, and Jinyoung can’t help the smile forming in his face.

Mark pulls him to a hug afterwards, leaning closer to his ears. "I like you. A lot." He whispers, voice low so only the younger can hear, and Jinyoung flushes. “God, Jinyoung, you have no idea how long I’ve waited for this…”

Oh my god, are all of these real?

"I like you too, Mark. A lot" He whispers back, biting his lower lip in slight hesitation — and when they pull away to look at each other, with wide smiles plastered on their faces, Jinyoung decides that this is probably one of the best things that's ever happened to his life.

 

☼

 

Jinyoung thinks he may not be considered as the best gamer in Dragon Nest anymore — considering that someone has defeated him twice now — but he realizes that doesn’t really care about the rankings anymore.

Because losing on the game he's best at is what led him to the love of his life. To Mark. And what’s more important to Jinyoung now is that Mark actually became his boyfriend.

His gamer boy.

 

☼

 

(Bonus #1: Graduation Day)

 

“Congrats, Jinyoungie!”

“Thanks.” Jinyoung smiles at everyone greeting him as he walks down the hall. It’s their graduation day — five months after he and Mark has started dating — and well, he ends up being the valedictorian of their batch.

“That was a nice speech.” Jackson says when Jinyoung takes a seat beside him.

“Thank you, Jacks,” Jinyoung smiles, heartbeat still fast because of his nervousness from earlier. “Where are the others?”

“They texted me that they’ll just wait outside.”

Jinyoung only nods.

They wait for a few more minutes until the principal’s done saying his closing remarks, before standing up their seats, and heading outside the place.

 

☼

 

“Jinyoung hyung!” BamBam’s the first one to greet. The younger practically running towards him as soon as he steps outside the hall, hugging him tightly, face buried on Jinyoung’s chest.

He chuckles, hand moving up to ruffle the boy’s hair. “What?”

BamBam pouts. “I’m gonna miss you…”

“Why? The university where I’m going to isn’t that far from here.” Jinyoung says, smiling fondly.

“But still-”

“BamBam, I’ll pay you to stop being a drama queen.” It’s Jackson, and the younger frowns at that.

“Oh yeah? Well, I’ll pay you to stop looking like an idiot!” BamBam counters, sticking his tongue out before running away — Jackson chases after him, saying something like “Come here you disrespectful !”.

Jinyoung laughs, and Jaebum shakes his head, moving closer to him, smiling. “Congrats, Jinyoung.”

“Thank you, Jae.” And it’s only when Jinyoung looks around when he notices that Mark is nowhere in sight. He frowns a bit, slightly tiptoeing whilst he continues to look for his boyfriend.

Suddenly, he feels a pair of hands on his shoulders, and a whisper of “Looking for me?” that’s way too close to his ears. Jinyoung squeals, ing squeals, at that — and it’s nowhere near manly. It earns him a look from other people near them, making him flush in embarrassment.

It was Mark, and he’s laughing.

“I hate you,” Jinyoung frowns, hitting him on the chest. “I hate you so much.”

Mark wipes the happy tears in his eyes when he finally calms down, moving closer to wrap his arms around Jinyoung’s waist. “No, you don’t.”

Jinyoung rolls his eyes, but relaxes onto the blond’s warmth anyway. “Where have you been?” He asks, moving a hand up to Mark’s visage. His heartbeat starts picking up when he brushes a thumb on his cheek — because he’s still not used to this, touching Mark, and he doesn’t think he’ll ever be.

Mark leans on the touch. “I just took a dump.” He jokes, and Jinyoung frowns again, pushing him lightly.

Idiot. “Stop making fun of me.” Jinyoung pouts, looking away — and Mark takes that as a chance to lean closer and plant a kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek. Jinyoung flushes then, and Mark grins, satisfied.

 

☼

 

“So, Mark, when are you moving with Jinyoung?” Jackson suddenly asks nonchalantly, making Jinyoung freeze on his seat in the restaurant they’re currently in.

“What?” Mark looks at Jackson, then at his boyfriend, confused.

. Jinyoung mentally curses, looking down on his lap — and in his mind, he’s already killed his best friend in fifty different ways.

Jackson raises a brow at Jinyoung. “Wait- you still haven’t told hi- oh my god! I’m sorry!” His eyes are wide, hand moving up to cover his agape mouth.

“What are you two talking about?” Mark presses, and Jinyoung sighs in defeat.

“I- uh- nothing… I just- um- I’m just wondering if…”

“If… what? Just say it, Jinyoungie.” The blond has his eyebrows raised, looking at his boyfriend expectantly.

Jinyoung sighs again, but it’s audible this time. It takes him all of his courage to look at Mark in the eyes when he speaks, coherently. “I just want to ask… if… perhaps you want to live in the same dorm with me…” His voice trails off with every word, but he still continues. “I mean, when we enter college… because you know, we’re going to the same university…?”

Mark’s face brighten.

“Are you sure?” Mark is smiling, so wide, and so bright Jinyoung thinks it’s enough to light up the whole restaurant. “I was gonna ask you the same thing…” Jinyoung looks shocked at first, but soon he’s smiling too, because well, Mark is smiling. And suddenly, there only the two of them — everything around them is just a blur.

Jinyoung thinks of all the possible things that could happen when he’s finally living together with his boyfriend in college — waking up in Mark’s arm or chest every morning with his own arm wrapped around the blond’s waist; Mark kissing him before they sleep at night, or after waking up in the morning; both of them cooking meals together; or even just being together — there are just so many, and Jinyoung feels excitement already filling his insides.

 

☼

 

(Bonus #2: Two months after)

 

“Ah, . Finally!”

Jinyoung groans, flopping down in the center of the double bed. It’s eight in the evening. He and Mark has just finished moving their things, then arranging and cleaning everything. To say that he’s tired would be an understatement. They had moved in this afternoon. Their dorm isn’t really that spacious, but it’s spacious enough for two people.

“Yeah, finally.” Mark joins him on the bed, lying on his stomach on top of Jinyoung’s so they’re like forming an x mark.

Jinyoung chuckles, causing Mark to vibrate on top of him. “Yah, you’re heavy. Get off me!”

Mark only hums in response, but he moves to get off the younger anyway. But instead of just lying down beside his boyfriend, Mark hovers on top of Jinyoung — palms on either side of the younger’s head.

Jinyoung swallows on nothing when Mark smirks whilst looking at him. “W-what?” He tilts his head to the side, avoiding eye contact. But the blond moves a hand to cup his chin, moving the younger’s head to look at him in the eyes.

Silence follows as the two are just staring at each other — Mark’s breathing fans over Jinyoung’s face, warm and relaxing. Jinyoung has his heart stuttering against his chest, because again, even after seven months, he’s still not used to this. This meaning being so close to the blond.

“You’re beautiful, Jinyoung.” Mark eventually says, looking at the boy underneath him with fondness in his eyes. Jinyoung sees it, the fondness, and his breath catches in his throat. Cheeks a bright pink, heart rate picking up faster if possible.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to say that the first time we met…” Jinyoung says before he even gets the chance to stop himself. Mark grins, and suddenly, their faces are close. Too close.

It takes Jinyoung back to the time when Mark had stayed over in his room because his parents are out of town. It feels like yesterday — he can practically count the blond’s eyelashes, and Mark’s skin is still just as flawless as before, almost like porcelain. Jinyoung does his best pretending to be calm, again, this time.

Then they’re kissing.

Jinyoung moves a hand to the blond’s nape, gripping on the small hair stands that grow there, pulling him closer — his eyes closed. Mark’s mouth is wet and warm against his, and Jinyoung tilts his head slightly to the side to let the blond’s tongue enter his mouth.

Just like any other first kisses, it was awkward, Jinyoung thinks — but still feels pretty good.

When Mark shows no sign of pulling away, Jinyoung goes to move his hand up to grip on blond locks instead, earning him a low groan from the blond. Mark the seam of Jinyoung’s lips before finally pulling away, both of them panting and in need of air — faces red as they look at each other.

“I love you, Jinyoungie,” Mark murmurs, voice soft and sweet and Jinyoung thinks he might burst or melt into a puddle because of the happiness he’s currently feeling. “So much.”

Jinyoung wraps his arms around the blond then, pulling him close. He has tears in his eyes but he’s smiling, so wide he thinks his own face might split in half.

“God, Mark, I love you too,” He pecks Mark’s lips once, twice, thrice, then they’re both laughing breathily. Their foreheads touching when they look at each other — with fondness and genuinity. “I love you too, so much, Mark hyung.”

They kiss again until both of them fall asleep.

Jinyoung wakes up on top of Mark the next morning, his head resting on the blond’s chest, Mark’s arms still wrapped around his waist — just like what he had imagined months ago, and he smiles because everything just feels so perfect.

 

 

---

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