Once he realized that Jinyoung truly wasn’t there, Mark thought that maybe he had texted him to explain. He didn’t. Then Mark nervously remembered Youngjae’s sticky note breakup and thought that maybe Jinyoung left him a note. Part of him was worried he was going to see the same note Youngjae did but most of him was expecting to find something that apologized for leaving.

He didn’t.

While Mark was happy not to broken up with by sticky note, he was also now worried. Why had Jinyoung left? Why hadn’t he told Mark? But then instead of getting upset, Mark caught himself and took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to overthink things. Not this time.

When he asked Jinyoung to sleep over, it wasn’t a preplanned thing. Maybe Jinyoung had to be somewhere in the morning and forgot, but in his haste to leave, he also forgot to tell Mark. It had to be something like that. Jinyoung wouldn’t do something like this to hurt Mark.

After all this time, all of Mark’s worries were fruitless and unnecessary, so it would be pointless to worry now. Jinyoung really cared for him, even Jaebum thought so. Mark didn’t need to worry, or at least that was what he tried telling himself.  

He kept thinking back to the night before, reminding himself of how much Jinyoung cared for him. Of when they were stopped at an intersection and Jinyoung turned to face him. The producer had touched his face so lightly, brushing his fingertips over Mark’s cheeks. Mark saw the way that Jinyoung looked at him, saw the sincerity in his words when he said, “You’re so beautiful.”

Mark had smiled at the compliment and let his eyes flutter closed under the soft touch, feeling Jinyoung’s warm breath as the older traced his features. He felt Jinyoung’s fingers move over his lips, the older’s touch delicate before stalling at Mark’s chin. When Jinyoung’s lips pressed against his, Mark felt his heart skip a beat. At the time he had been cold and just wanted to get to wherever they were going, not really cherishing the moment as much as he should have.

To distract himself, Mark decided to call up Youngjae.

“How come you always call me when I’m about to call you?” Was the first thing that Youngjae said when he picked up.

Mark smiled, “Because we’re best friends, duh.”

He heard the younger’s bright laughter over the phone and smiled wider. This was a good choice, Mark thought to himself.

“Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to grab lunch with Bambam and I,” Youngjae explained.

“And I was gonna ask if you wanted ramyeon, so that’s perfect,” Mark confessed.

“Oh! That’s great because Bambam loves ramyeon!”

Mark shook his head, laughing, “I know, he was my friend first, remember?”

“Oh,” Youngjae paused. “I forgot.”

Even though Mark couldn’t see him, he knew Youngjae was making his cute confused otter face.

“See you at the usual place in 30?”

“Okay!” Came Youngjae’s way too excited response. Mark wondered how his friend could be that happy all the time, but then he realized how happy he had been recently too. He thought of Jinyoung again and smiled.

When Mark got there, he looked for some bright hair color. Youngjae was usually harder to spot because he always wore black but Bambam on the other hand was a bit more lavious. Mark never knew what hair color to expect with him, but not black was usually a safe bet.

He saw pale violet hair styled perfectly and decided that was probably him and started walking over. As he got closer, Mark saw Bambam and Youngjae chatting animatedly at a table in the corner of the restaurant.

Youngjae saw him first and started waving before Bambam turned and smiled warmly. It made Mark happy to see Bambam, they hadn’t seen each other since Mark moved. The two had been good friends for years and it made the rapper feel kind of bad that they haven’t talked recently.

After they ordered, Bambam told them all about how he had been doing this series of music videos for a big company. It had been his dream for years and Mark was happy for him.

“So does this mean you won’t be shooting my videos anymore?” The rapper joked.

Bambam rolled his eyes, “As if, you know I always will.”

“Now that you’re all fancy, you’re going to start charging me, right?” Mark teased, sipping his water.

“Maybe.”

Youngjae started laughing way too hard and Mark shook his head while Bambam just grinned.

“But enough about me, what’s new with you two?” Bambam asked and Mark was about to say nothing when Youngjae perked up in his seat. The rapper rolled his eyes, his best friend was always excited to share.

“I’m seeing someone new!” He said with a wide smile.

Bambam barely looked phased at all, “I’m not surprised.”

Next to him, Mark nodded, agreeing with him. Youngjae was the opposite of chronically single. He was always with someone.

And then Youngjae turned to look at Mark and his grin spread wider, “But so is Mark!”

The brunette eyes widened, not knowing that his best friend was going to share that.

“Okay, I was not expecting that,” Bambam said, actually surprised this time. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I kind of, um, forgot?” said Mark guiltily.

Youngjae, on the other hand, had no problem spilling more details about Mark’s life.

“It’s probably because he’s all Mark can think about,” The younger said with a satisfied grin as he saw Mark paling from Youngjae’s truthful words. He looked to Bambam and consoled, “Don’t be too upset, Mark’s basically been with him day and night since they met.”

Bambam’s eyebrows raised, leaning back in his chair. “You must really like him.”

Pink started to rise to Mark’s cheeks as he said, “I do, I really do.”

“Would I know him?”

Mark paused, biting on his lip in thought, “Maybe, he’s a producer. His name is Park Jinyoung.”

And then Bambam gawked, “Park Jinyoung? Are you serious?”

“Do you know him?” Mark asked, surprised at his friend’s reaction.

“Oh yeah,” Bambam replied, looking slightly uncomfortable. “A lot of my friends have slept with him, actually. I’m surprised you hadn’t met him sooner, you’re totally his type.”

“Really?” Mark asked.

Next to him Youngjae snorted, “Oh come on, even I knew you were his type. He always goes for the-”

“No, no,” Mark interrupted, waving him off. “I meant that he slept with a lot of your friends.”

“Yeah, quite a few,” Bambam’s smile was strained. “He’s known to be the hit it and quit it kind of guy, and you said you’re seeing him?”

Mark just shrugged, “He’s not like that with me.”

His best friend nodded, “I’m dating his best friend and even he said that Jinyoung is different with Mark.”

Bambam looked shocked, “So it’s the real deal? Like with feelings and everything?”

“I mean,” Mark said, feeling the doubt creep in. “That’s what it seems like.”

“That’s what it looks like too,” Youngjae affirmed. “Jinyoung looks at Mark like he put all the stars in the sky.”

Across from him, Bambam seemed impressed. He shrugged and said, “Well, I’m happy for you if it works out but if it doesn’t, at least he seems to be a good lay.”

“I…,” Mark said, hesitantly. “ Wouldn’t know.”

Now both Youngjae and Bambam looked at him in shock. It was Youngjae who spoke first, “You still haven’t slept with him?”

“Yeah, that’s slow, even for you,” The other agreed.

Feeling self-conscious, Mark avoided their eyes and played with the sleeves on his hoodie instead. “I mean, he slept over last night but we didn’t do anything…”

“He slept over?” The brunette heard Youngjae say excitedly.

Mark bit his lip, looking down at his hands. The doubt from before was growing as he remembered the morning. “But when I woke up, he wasn’t there.”

Youngjae reached out and put his hand on Mark’s, causing the rapper to look up. When he met his best friend’s eyes, Youngjae said, “I can see you overthinking this but I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything. He’s too head over heels for you to leave now.”

Mark tried to regain his composure, “Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.”

Bambam, on the other hand, didn’t look so sure.

That night, Mark went to 76 with Youngjae and Jaebum. He hadn’t texted Jinyoung but he was sure that he was coming that night. Everytime he felt himself start worrying, he would look up and see Youngja