Author: ffairyy

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5763184/chapters/13279609

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Chapter 1: Do you remember?

It was their fourth day in the huge house in LA, which Mark's family owned.

Mark had invited all of the boys to spend some free time together and he hadn't felt this relaxed and happy in weeks.
His parents weren't there with them, just the seven of them and Coco and now and then a few of Mark's hometown friends.
It was more than Mark could have ever wished for and he wanted these days to last forever.
They spent the days in the swimming pool, the evenings sitting around a dream-like barbeque and the nights sweating their asses off in the humid summer air.
It was so nice to have his Korean friends with him at home, showing them how he lived and treating them to all the things they deserved, like really good food and most of all the peaceful freedom they didn't get to enjoy often.

It was especially nice to have Jinyoung there with him.
He wanted to show him so many things, wanted to spend every minute with him and show him all the things that had made Mark who he was. Wanted to take him by the hand and share this feeling with him. The feeling of being at home after such a long time and the feeling of being in charge for once.

But like most of the time, he settled for awkwardly looking at him from a distance, admiring the way he moved and looked and spoke and just everything else a human did.
Him and Jinyoung knew each other for years, but things had changed.
At least for Mark.
The older they got and the closer they grew, the bigger the longing got.
All he could do was thinking back on the new years eve half a year ago when he had suddenly found himself pressed close against Jinyoung's body in a small, dark storage room, their tongues connected in a wild play and Jinyoung's hand in his neck, holding him in place.
How had they even gotten there?
The details were blurry and regarding how drunk he had been, it was a blessing that he remembered it at all.

Even though sometimes it felt more like a curse, because after nearly six months the kiss was still in his mind like a parasite and he imagined feeling Jinyoung's hot alcoholic breath against his mouth whenever he thought of it.
He could still feel the passion in Jinyoung's touches and the adrenaline and lust that had taken over his own body.
Mark had no idea who started it or how long it lasted and he didn't know who ended it.
He still couldn't tell what led to it and looking back, he couldn't really remember the rest of the day or any of the other people at the party.
All he knew was that he and Jinyoung shared a kiss, more passionate and urgent than anything Mark had ever experienced before and he could not get it out of his mind.

While he wasn't sure why Jinyoung never talked about it again, he was pretty sure it happened.
Like...at least 96% sure...
He also had that other theory that maybe he just had some serious daydreaming going on, but in that case he might need to get himself checked, because the feeling and the images in his body felt more than real.

So while the other boys were playing around in the water noisily, he sat there on the side of his pool, letting his legs be cooled by the water and letting his skin restore a bit of the tan he had lost in Korea.
And his glance flew over to Jinyoung, like it usually did.
Mark had accepted his body's ways of making him look like a fool, when Jinyoung was near.
It was not like he could change it. Somehow his body was always faster than his mind and he found himself staring much more than would be considered obvious.
He was wondering if the other boys noticed by now.
You didn't have to be a genius to understand that he was kind of interested.
Kind of curious.
Maybe a little bit crushing.

Jinyoung on the other hand was too busy to notice. Too busy being his handsome self, too busy splashing water around in the pool, being the only one who actually wore a shirt in the water.
He made it seem incidentally, jumping into the water in full clothes, but Mark knew better.
After watching him most of his time for the past months, he understood that Jinyoung had a way of covering himself up, even when they weren't in public.
It was no big deal for the younger boy, but it drove Mark crazy sometimes.
Of course he had caught him walking around in his underwear in the dorm, but it would have been creepy to stare in situations like that.
And now, when he was kind of allowed to stare, that idiot chose to wear half his wardrobe at once.
In the pool.
So he just watched how his blue shirt was glued to his toned body in wetness and how Jinyoung repeatedly had to readjust it, so it wouldn't stretch out too much around his collarbones.
What a tease.

"Don't you want to come in?" Jackson suddenly blocked the view and Mark looked at him in surprise. Where did he even come from?

"Nah I'm good..." Mark mumbled, softly smiling at Jackson.

"Oh come on... don't be a party pooper, Hyung..." the boy grinned up at him and Mark already knew that there was no point in arguing.

Two strong arms grabbed the sides of his bare waist, maybe a bit roughly, and pulled him into the water with a dramatic splash.
Mark was pushed under water involuntarily and before he remembered to close his mouth, he felt water spill into it and he struggled to get back up again. When he did, he was coughing and cursing, but he could hear more than one of the boys laugh rudely.

A second after he found his breath back, he felt different people approaching him, pushing him around and splashing water into his face, as if it was a confession of love, rather than an attack.
He mumbled a few curses, while he rubbed the chlorine filled water out of his eyes, but then he joined their laughter and decided to not longer be their victim.
So he attacked back.

"Runnnn... Mark turned evil!!!" He heard Jackson scream, while he tried his best to get away from Mark, but failed miserably, tripping over his own feet and sinking under water for a second, coughing water the next moment.
The boys were dying of laughter and Mark couldn't help but join in.
Then, when he turned around, his eyes suddenly met Jinyoung's gaze and somehow neither of them remembered to look away, so they shared that moment, until Mark saw a slight red color on the younger boy's cheeks.
He started to worry, like he always did.
So he slowly wandered through the water to Jinyoung.

"You're kinda red...the sun here can be pretty aggressive..." He said warmly, ignoring the excitement in his stomach.
He was used to it, because it showed up whenever he got close to the other boy.
"Did you put on enough sunscreen??"

The answer he got was Jinyoung splashing water into his face as if he offended him personally with his worry.

"I'm alright..." he heard him say a bit too loudly and before he knew what was happening, Jinyoung had him in a headlock, ruffling through his wet hair and laughing.

"I got him..." Jinyoung announced loudly, but Mark didn't even try to defend himself in any way, because all of his senses were caught by the way Jinyoung's wet shirt was pressed against his torso and he imagined Jinyoung's crotch pressing against his thigh, while he was shook by their struggle to stay above water.
And oh god.
Abort, abort!!
Mark hated how that little playing around turned really dangerous all of a sudden.
It was definitely not the first time he was a little bit turned on when they were this close, or when he just watched the boy for too long, but he did not wear the right swimming trunks for this. If Jinyoung would press his body a little longer against Mark, he would most certainly have the boner of the century.
So he awkwardly shimmied out of his grip, trying to laugh it off, trying to escape.

"Why can't you nerds just let me rest for a minute?" He mumbled with a smile on his face, so it wouldn't come over as rude.

"Oh c'mon Mark..." Jaebum called out, sitting on a lounger in safety, one of his headphones in , "You invited them, they just wanna say thank you!"

And then, contrary to Jaebum's words, Bambam threw a wet piece of fabric into Mark's face, hitting him with a splat and making everyone laugh again.

They kept playing around like that for hours, until even the most energetic ones of them were tired and when the sun was setting, they finally finished the preparations for the barbeque.
The best part of the day, if you'd ask Mark.
He sat down with a loud sigh and a plate full of meat and rice and a few vegetables- just for good measure. His stomach was already whining to be filled and when he started eating he forgot about the noise the others still managed to make.
He ignored Coco jumping up and down his leg, trying to get some of the goodies and he ignored the way the two youngest boys were fighting over a sausage.
Mark just enjoyed the heat and the taste of his meal and oh it tasted delicious!
He nearly huffed something offending, when someone sat down beside him and started talking to him, but then he recognized who it was and immediately tensed up.

"Is it good?" Jinyoung wanted to know, nodding down to Mark's plate, while he stuffed his own face with food.

"It's amazing..." Mark sighed, his mouth still half full. His senses were wide awake again, taking in the way Jinyoung pulled his chair closer to his own.

"Can I try?" the younger boy smiled, his chopsticks already aiming for a piece of meat on Mark's plate.
Mark just hummed and watched him eat it. If Jinyoung knew how much it meant that he shared his food with him?
But the way Jinyoung's face turned into bliss, when he tasted it, was worth all the meat in the world. He could have watched him eat it forever.

"Hey..." that one suddenly interrupted his thoughts, "It's really cool that we can stay here...Thanks again."

"No problem." Mark mumbled.

Why was his heart racing?
They were just talking normally.
But Jinyoung was way too close and Mark's mind evilly sent him pictures of New Years Eve again and he couldn't help but wonder if Jinyoung ever thought back on it?
Maybe he should just ask right now...
It was his good right to know, wasn't it? But how did you ask something, without making everything awkward?
After half a year?

The night-sky was so pretty and the little lights around the table and the pool seemed so peaceful and the humid air reminded him that he was at home and Mark really didn't want to ruin all of that by making things awkward.
So he kept his mouth shut, like he always did and instead another thing caught his attention.
Opposite from them and even closer sat Jackson and Jaebum and Mark vividly remembered the noises that had come out of their room the night before.
Mark and Youngjae, who shared the room next to them, had managed to laugh it off, but Mark shivered at the thought of another awkward night like that.

Maybe he should have told them that the walls were a bit thin, maybe he really didn't want to do that, because it was embarrassing and maybe he was way too curious to make it end.
So for now he just watched them and while they probably thought they were being extra sneaky, Mark saw how Jackson's hand lay on Jaebum's thigh and Mark couldn't force himself to look away, so he watched the hand wander up further.
And further.
And.
"Do you still eat that?" Jinyoung's voice tore him away from the view.
Just as things started to get interesting.
The younger boy was looking at a ball of rice on Mark's plate and Mark shook his head no, because yes he had planned to eat that, but no, he would not turn him down.

The evening went and night took over.
Most of the boys had gone inside, all in their rooms, when Youngjae approached Jinyoung, more careful than usually.
Mark watched him with one eye, while he acted like he was cleaning up the table.

"I was wondering..." The boy started to mumble, "...can we maybe switch rooms tonight?"
Mark stopped his movements and his heart started racing in his chest.
No.
Bad idea.
Very bad idea, Youngjae.

"Why...?" Jinyoung wanted to know, looking at him warily.

"It's just... I kinda need some alone-time..." Youngjae awkwardly grinned and Mark was now staring at them in shock, instead of just overhearing the conversation.

"Oh... sure." Jinyoung gave him a slap on the back, like a proud brother and Mark watched in horror, how he turned around to him.
"If that's alright for Mark-hyung..." he added.

No.
No that is not alright.
That is very incredibly not alright.
It's a disaster!

"Sure..." he brought out and Youngjae looked at him apologetically.

So Mark tried to avoid going to sleep. He cleaned up more than there was to clean up and he was the last one who was still outside, being bitten by every single mosquito there was.
At least once.
He knew he couldn't stay outside the whole night, so he finally gave up and joined Jinyoung in their now shared room.
The first thing he noticed was silence.
Good.
Maybe everyone int he house was asleep already.

"Where have you been so long?" Jinyoung's raw voice mumbled in the dark and Mark sighed.
There went his theory of everyone being asleep.

"Cleaning up..." He mumbled back, while his eyes slowly adjusted to the dark in the room.

He closed the door behind himself and carefully made his way to his mattress on the floor. Right next to another mattress, on which he could slowly see Jinyoung's silhouette appear.

"You never clean up in the dorm..." Jinyoung chuckled and Mark forced himself not to sigh again.
Instead he fluffed up his pillows and lay down in defeat.
His heart was jumping around in his chest in excitement, so it would not be easy to fall asleep.

"Why are you still awake?" He asked into the dark.

"Couldn't sleep..." Jinyoung whispered, "And I kinda started to worry if you drowned or something..."

Mark didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything and the room was dead-silent without their voices.
He could hear Jinyoung's steady breathing and for a moment he wondered if he fell asleep, but then he heard him sitting up on his mattress. The darkness and the small room brought back all the tension of the day and Mark couldn't help but replay the memories of the first day of the year over and over again.

Maybe he should just ask him now.

Now that it was just the two of them.

Them and the darkness, in which he could hide from judgement and awkwardness.

"Hey..." he brought out, his voice weaker than he had hoped, "Jinyoungie..."
He saw that Jinyoung was looking at him.
The longer he stared, the clearer his face got in the dark. And suddenly all of his faith left him and Mark just rolled around in defeat.
"Good night."

"Yeah..." Jinyoung whispered, "Good night."

They lay in the dark for a while and Mark couldn't tell if it were minutes or hours, but he had not fallen asleep yet, so he doubted that it would turn into a good night for him.
All these thoughts were rushing through his mind. Not even the deep ones anymore.
More the... not so deep ones.
Like.
Jinyoung was so close.
He lay right there beside him and they were completely alone.
Mark's mind was filled with ideas of what they would be doing now in a perfect world.
A world in which awkwardness and vulnerability didn't exist...
All he wanted was to revive the memory of Jinyoung's lips on his and maybe his big hands exploring his body and...

"Hyung..." Jinyoung suddenly whispered and Mark could hear the nervousness in his voice, "I was wondering..."

Mark didn't know why he held his breath, but something about the tone in the younger boy's voice made him tense up.
But Jinyoung didn't speak for what felt like an eternity. Mark could only hear his breathing, a little bit unsteady and just loud enough to hear it in the otherwise silent room.

"Jinyoungie...?" Mark reminded him to keep speaking and he heard the younger boy take a deep breath..

"Yeah..." Jinyoung mumbled, "I just wondered... would it be completely out of place if I kissed you again?"

Mark's body felt like it was paralyzed, while a bomb of butterflies exploded in his stomach. His heart was racing so fast, that he nearly felt dizzy, but he forced himself to not ruin this now.

"No..." he breathed out into the dark and they lay in silent for a split second, before Jinyoung started to move.
Jinyoung quietly crawled over to Mark's mattress and before Mark knew what was happening, he lay on his side, one of his hands resting on Mark's waist and looking at him carefully.

Jinyoung's face slowly came closer to him and while Mark could not move at all, Jinyoung seemed to have the confidence, he was missing.
When Jinyoung's face turned blurry, Mark closed his eyes and the next thing he felt were his warm lips on his own.
There was not half of the passion of their first kiss in this one, but instead all the gentleness of the world combined.
Jinyoung's lips barely touched his, they were ghosting over Mark's skin like butterflies and he could feel his hot breath on his mouth.
They were so close and Mark could smell leftovers of the chlorine in Jinyoung's hair and sunscreen on his skin, from spending the day in the pool.
Mark forced himself to keep breathing, while he took in the sensations.

Jinyoung put a little more pressure into his kiss, carefully starting to play with Mark's plump lips, tugging on them lightly.
They barely moved at all, but Mark somehow found the courage to bring his hand up to cup Jinyoung's face, just so he wouldn't get the idea to stop kissing him.
He should never ever stop kissing him like this.
There were tingles everywhere and when Jinyoung decided to let his tongue tease Mark's lips open, he weakly sighed into the kiss.

When their tongues touched, it made his heart jump a little and his fingers mindlessly curled into Jinyoung's shirt, searching for support.
The little wet noises they made were innocent and gentle in comparison to Mark's memories, but they were just as breathtaking.
Jinyoung was busy tasting Mark out and Mark was busy trying to keep his senses together and failing miserably.
Jinyoung pulled away slowly, letting Mark linger at an empty space for a second, before he gently stroked a strand of hair out of Mark's face.
Then he whispered, with his voice barely there,

"Do you remember?"
Mark looked into Jinyoung's eyes and they looked back curiously and vulnerable.
Mark heard himself ask,
"What?"
Even though he knew...
Jinyoung hesitated for a moment, before he kept whispering, as if he was sharing a secret with him.

"On New Years...Do you remember that we did this before?"

Mark only nodded, barely able to move at all.
He knew Jinyoung could see him, because he saw relief spread on his face. And then something else. Was it worry?
Or regret?

"I wanted to apologize..." Jinyoung continued, "but I wasn't sure if you remembered..."

Mark stared at him.

"Why... apologize?" Mark whispered, a wave of fear rushing through his body.

"I don't know... I kinda tried to eat you alive... " Jinyoung mumbled shamefully and awkwardly readjusted himself on Mark's side, so he could look at him and actually see his face, "and we were drunk..."

Mark looked back expressionless. Even though Jinyoung was finally speaking, Mark wasn't really sure if he understood what he was telling him.

"But...now we're not..." Mark brought out and he could have slapped himself for how stupid he sounded, but Jinyoung looked at him with a tiny spark in his eyes.
As if he had hoped for an answer as simple as that.

"Now we're not..." He agreed, trying to judge the situation. "And I still want to..."

Again.
He stopped talking and his glance flew down to Mark's lips, as if they held the answer to all their questions.
Mark's hand was still cupping one side of Jinyoung's face gently and that one just laid his hand on top of it, squeezing it lightly, holding it where it was.

Instead of continuing his sentence, he leant closer to kiss him again.
If Mark wasn't lying on the floor already, the kiss would've swept him off his feet.

It was so different from the last one.
It was daring and it was curious and it was steamy. It was reminding him a lot more of their first kiss now. Jinyoung connected their tongues skillfully, leading the movements, letting Mark follow him brainlessly.
Their tongues swirled around and Mark felt the heat, where Jinyoung's hand touched him and he cuddled his body closer to him, partly to do anything at all, partly so he could make sure to have him lying on his side a little longer.

Mark didn't know how much time they spent like this, simply kissing and tasting each other and the only thing he could think was that he would never get tired of tugging on Jinyoung's soft lips like that.
The excitement and the innocence of their tongues was a mixture that made Mark feel tipsy and that teased the tension out of his body at once. He loved the way they both started to relax.

He had no idea how late it was when they finally fell asleep, limps intertwined and faces close to each other.

Chapter 2: Do you want more?

When Mark woke up the next day, Jinyoung was still sleeping.

For a moment he watched his peaceful features and his slightly open hanging mouth and the way his chest was moving with every breath.

The memories were back in a heartbeat and while his heart was already pumping in excitement again, there was also insecurity.
Nearly fear.
What if Jinyoung woke up and regretted everything?
What if he chose to ignore that it happened?
It would not have been the first time.

Mark didn't dare to move, because he wanted to avoid waking the boy up already, but just as the thought crossed his mind, Jinyoung tensed up and tried to open his eyes, but squinted, when the morning sunlight attacked him.
Mark held his breath and watched Jinyoung rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and then he seemed to remember where he was and who he was with.
And he smiled and Mark swore his whole body got warmer by one or two degrees.

"Mornin..." Jinyoung mumbled, still smiling sheepishly at Mark.

"Good Morning." Mark smiled back shyly.

While he felt relieved, that Jinyoung didn't seem to regret everything that happened, he still had no idea what to do.
So he stayed silent and let Jinyoung stretch and welcome the day with a dramatic sigh.

"Didn't get much sleep..." Jinyoung chuckled and Mark felt his stomach fill with butterflies.

"Is that so...?" He mumbled and Jinyoung seemed to be amused by his hesitation.

"Don't act innocent," the younger one huffed, rolling back on his side and leaning closer to Mark, "It's your fault after all..."

Mark wanted to say something sassy, but he was still kind of overwhelmed by Jinyoung.
That one didn't let him collect his feelings though, just adding fuel to the fire by reaching out to stroke a strand of hair out of his face and resting his hand on the back of Mark's head.

"Hyung..." he mumbled innocently, "Could we maybe just stay in bed all day?"

Mark loved that idea.
He felt like he needed at least a day to catch up on everything that happened and understand what was going on, but instead he shook his head unnoticeably.

"Nope." He brought out with a sigh, "I'm not letting any of the boys take over the house..."

"Yeah..." Jinyoung agreed hesitantly, "You're probably right..."

Then he took a deep breath and sat up on his mattress, Mark's eyes following his every move. Jinyoung stretched his arms over his head and his shirt was pulled up by the move, allowing Mark a little glimpse on Jinyoung's little love trail and he gulped at the sight.
His eyes were glued to the spot.

"Hyung?" Jinyoung ripped him out of his sinful thoughts and looked at him knowingly, while he readjusted the shirt and Mark felt the heat stream into his head.
He had never been caught thirsting like this.
But Jinyoung didn't seem to mind, because he just flashed a sunny smile and quickly leaned down over Mark, so his face was ghosting an inch over him.
Then he brought one of his hands back into Mark's hair, stroking them out of his forehead gently.
Mark's heart was pounding desperately in his chest and when Jinyoung finally closed the distance between them and pressed a soft kiss onto Mark's lips, Mark couldn't help it.

He reached out for Jinyoung's waist and he let his hands wander over the thin fabric longingly.
He could feel his tensed muscles and without knowing what he did, he tugged on Jinyoung's lips in a needy way, wanting to feel him closer than he already was.
When Jinyoung's lips parted, he let his tongue slide in and meet Jinyoung's. They probably both tasted like sleep, but Mark couldn't concentrate on it, because Jinyoung kissed back eagerly.
His body was so warm and comfortable.

"Jinyoungie..." Mark whispered breathlessly, between kisses, "I changed my mind... let's stay in bed..."

The boy just grinned, but then he pulled away from Mark and stood up.
He fished a few things out of his traveling bag and left the room with a cheeky smile.
Mark lay there a few more minutes, trying to calm his heartbeat down and trying to understand, how he deserved this much luck and then he slowly started to prepare for the day.

♥

The boys sat together at the breakfast table on the back porch, eating leftovers of the barbeque from the day before and enjoying the sun, as long as it was shining down on them gently.
And while Mark tried not to be as giddy and excited, as a stupid school boy on the day before a field trip, he couldn't get rid of this feeling.
His face turned into a huge smile whenever he let go of control for only a moment and his glance flew to Jinyoung, as natural as it had over the past months.
Only now his eyes were greeted by a warm, knowing smile and reassurance.
With the way his body was betraying him once again and the way he acted around Jinyoung only half an hour after they'd come out of their room together, he wasn't surprised that the others looked at them warily.

While he was pretty sure that they at least had caught his admiring stares aimed at Jinyoung over the past half year, they were probably as surprised as him that Jinyoung was finally reacting to it.
One of the reasons, Mark sat so close to Jinyoung during breakfast, was that he had to reassure himself that this was reality.

♥

While the other boys were about to jump into the pool, Jinyoung was sitting on the side of the pool on a lounger, busy applying sunscreen to his soft skin.
Mark watched him for a moment.
How he coated his arms and legs and his face and how he did his best to not get his shirt dirty.
The sun was already burning down on them again and Mark's body was covered in a thin layer of sweat.
He wanted to just join the others in the cool water, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Jinyoung's side, especially not when he looked the way he did.
His skin shiny from the sunscreen and his fringe sticking to his sweaty forehead a little bit.
His cheeks rosy from the heat that he wasn't used to.
When the younger boy looked up at Mark knowingly, he felt tingles in his whole body. So he looked away quickly, not wanting to appear creepy, even though it was hard to ignore the way Jinyoung caressed his own body in front of him.

"So..." Jinyoung brought out with a shy grin, "Are you helping me with my back or what?"

Mark looked at him surprised.
Before he realized how awkward he must have looked, he started moving and he was sat behind Jinyoung, before that one even had the time to take his shirt off.
Because that's what he obviously needed to do, right?
Taking his shirt off...
He was the only one who somehow managed to not suffocate in his clothes yet. While the others were running around nearly naked and still complaining about the heat, Jinyoung wore shorts and one of his plain shirts.
Mark swallowed his excitement down and he imagined hearing Jinyoung chuckle quietly in front of him.

"Hyung!" Jinyoung brought out quietly, while he hooked his fingers under the hem of his shirt, acting flustered, "You're making me feel shy..."

"S-sorry..." Mark mumbled and forced himself to get his shit together, before he managed to completely embarrass himself in front of the boy he liked so much and probably in front one or two of the other boys who sent curious glances their way.

Mark knew it was a matter of time until he had to explain things to one of them.
Whatever things were.
For the past months he had learned to avoid Youngjae's many unknowingly dangerous questions, like "Why do you only wake Jinyoung Hyung up in the morning and never us?" or Jackson's slightly bitter teasing, "Why do you bring him his laundry? Junior has hands y'know..."

Youngjae didn't mean any harm, he simply didn't know better.
He couldn't know that Mark set his alarm extra early, so he could rumble around enough in the dorm and wake the younger boys up in the process, so it would seem incidentally, when he finally got to knock on Jinyoung's door. Youngjae couldn't know that Jinyoung's sleepy gaze and his grumpy mumbling in the morning was so high on the list of reasons why Mark got out of bed every day.

And while Jackson was definitely teasing him about the way he treated Jinyoung differently from the others, there was no way he knew about the feeling in Mark's stomach, when he got to smell Jinyoung's fresh Laundry, with that extra hint of citrus fabric softener, that only he used.
He couldn't possibly know how it would lift Mark's mood in seconds to see Jinyoung's grateful smile when he brought him his clothes and the way he said thank you.

He thought he was making those things look casual, until one night, when he had been just falling asleep and Jackson's voice had suddenly torn him back to reality.
"Mark...." He had said, way too carefully, not enough of his usual sass in his tone, "Why do you talk about him so much?"

"What?" Mark had asked nervously. His heart had been racing, because he knew which direction the talk would take and he didn't like it.

"Jinyoungie...you always talk about him..." then he had sighed and Mark had nearly gone crazy, waiting for him to speak on, "
I'm just saying...If you need tips or anything, I'm here...just... don't get your hopes up too much."

It had taken Mark an eternity of silence, until he'd managed to whisper a short, but heavy "Okay...."
And it was way too close to a confession for him.

But he didn't want to think too much about it now.
The others could wait, because Jinyoung was sitting right in front of him and things had changed, even though he didn't quite understand how or why.
But he didn't want to complain about his luck.

He'd rather concentrate on the way Jinyoung slowly pulled up the shirt in front of him, sitting straightly, his back arched just enough for Mark to see the outlines of his spine, when he revealed more and more of his body to him.
Mark had to force himself not to sigh longingly and he had the feeling that Jinyoung knew exactly what he was doing to him and that he enjoyed doing it as slowly as humanly possible, without looking like he was trapped in a slow motion sequence of a drama.
Typical.

When he had thrown the shirt onto the lounger next to them, he turned around enough to smile at Mark brightly and he took his hand, to press the tube of sunscreen into it.

Mark would have liked to just linger a little longer, just holding his hand like that, but what he was about to do needed all of his concentration.
He tried to return the smile and then Jinyoung readjusted himself in front of Mark, so he had access to the whole of his back. And those cute little dimples on his pelvis.
So he started smearing the crème around and he definitely took his time.
Because he didn't want him to get sunburned.
Of course.

He started to massage the oily crème into his skin and it felt so soft and warm and Mark could feel the boy's muscles move slightly underneath his touches. His shoulder blades looked like little wings and Mark's heart was racing.

Needing all of his concentration, he somehow had himself under control, while he applied more of the crème than necessary, but Mark had his limits, too.
It was nearly pathetic how his whole body reacted, when Jinyoung let out a comfortable moan and leaned into his hands a little.
Mark tensed up and the butterflies in his stomach started fluttering around in ecstasy.
It was truly unfair.

It was so unfair how hooked he was and it was unfair that Jinyoung was like this.
This sexy and this close to him and this good-sounding.

"Okay..." Jinyoung breathed out relaxed, "Now you."

When he stood up and indicated Mark to move a bit, there was a spark in his eyes that let Mark's muscles twitch again.

He awkwardly made space, so Jinyoung could sit down behind him and without further ado he started splaying his hands over Mark's back and Mark was caught off guard to say the least.
Not only did he sigh out surprised, he nearly jumped.

"Relax, Hyung..." Jinyoung mumbled warmly.

Then he did something that made Mark's heart jump even more and that made one or two of the boys look.
Jinyoung nuzzled his head into the crook of Mark's neck from behind.
He still had one of his hands rubbing little circles of sunscreen into Mark's side, while his head was resting on his shoulder.

"Listen..." his voice was barely more than a whisper, "we can take this slow if you want to...but..."

Mark's heart was pounding so hard, he feared all seven of them were able to hear it, while he mindlessly held his breath, to wait for Jinyoung to keep whispering against his neck.

"I'd also be down..." his voice was so thin and so close to Mark's ear, "for everything else."

Mark swallowed. His body wasn't moving.
Everything else?
Why was Jinyoung's presence so paralyzing sometimes?
Mark had a healthy, functioning body and a proper voice.
Why weren't they working when he really needed them to?

He had to clear his throat after a failed attempt of getting words out.

"Everything else..." His voice broke just a little bit at the end again, but enough to make heat stream into his face, so he cleared his throat again. "Everything else sounds good."

"Okay." Jinyoung mumbled and Mark could hear the fond smile in his voice.

Then, like it was the most natural thing in the world, Jinyoung breathed a tiny kiss against Mark's neck and pulled away completely.

"Now we should be safe from the sun." He grinned and stood up, stretching his limps a little and smearing the rest of sunscreen on his hands across his chest, before he announced "Pool time!!!" and ran towards the pool to jump into it with a noisy splash and making the other boys welcome him with loud cheers.

Mark sat on the lounger in shock and disbelief, with his heart racing like crazy. The butterflies in his stomach decided to throw a techno party and he couldn't do anything besides trying to get himself under control, so he wouldn't look like the biggest idiot.
How could he let him sit like that after what he said to him?
How could he let Mark sit with his emotions all over the place and with an award-worthy boner in his swim trunks?

While he avoided standing up and joining the others in the water, trying not to show Jinyoung how incredibly affected he was by his actions, he acted like he'd just rather listen to music than to finally cool himself in the water like all the sane people would.
He imagined feeling Jinyoung's glances on him and he saw him smiling and waving from afar now and then and of course he waved back like his huge schoolboy crush told him to.
It was unfair - really.

After about two or three hours of excessive noise and laughter and nearly violent playing around, one after the other of the boys got tired out, but Jinyoung stayed in the pool, swimming a few small rounds and only when the other boys went inside the house to either take a midday nap or prepare some food, Mark decided it was safe to get into the water.
Finally.
He already felt like a roasted piece of meat after sitting in the sun for so long and the cool water felt so relieving and good on his skin.

He let out a huge sigh after he had dived into it.

Jinyoung smiled, while he watched Mark stroke his wet hair back and before Mark knew what was happening, he had closed the distance between them and one of his hands lay on Mark's waist naturally.
Mark looked at the younger one in surprise.
But that one didn't let it stop him. He held Mark by his hips and slowly walked him backwards, only a few steps, so Mark was leaning against the edge of the pool.
Kind of cornered. Not that he would complain about it.

"Hyung..." Jinyoung cooed and Mark felt slight alarm, when one of Jinyoung's knees wandered between Mark's thighs and pressed against his semi hard on seemingly incidentally, while Jinyoung's hands held his hips in a firm grip. "Just tell me if you want me to stop..."

Mark swallowed.
His boner was returning to his award-worthy hardness from earlier and he was hyper aware of every part of his body that touched Jinyoung's in any way.

"No..." He breathed out nervously, "Just... what if the boys-"

"They're inside and busy..." Jinyoung smiled and licked his lips mindlessly.

His eyes were looking right into Mark and he was waiting for some kind of sign to cross a line and Mark's breath hitching seemed to be enough of a sign.
So Jinyoung pressed his wet lips against Mark's and he tasted like chlorine and excitement and his lips were a bit chapped from being in the sun all day.
Mark didn't know how much he had needed exactly those sensations pressed against his skin.

Forgotten were the doubts of the others seeing them and forgotten were the thoughts of swimming one or two rounds in the pool.
His back was pressing against the pool edge slightly uncomfortable, but Mark didn't even notice, because he had Jinyoung's hot breathing against his lips and his big hands wandering down his sides slowly.
Mark didn't care that his dick was pressing against Jinyoung's thigh attention seeking, because maybe it wasn't that much of an embarrassment and rather really welcomed by the younger one.
At least he didn't stop putting pressure into his touch, while he let his tongue swirl around in Mark's mouth curiously.

"Why did you let me wait, Hyung?" he breathlessly purred between kisses.

"I-I don't know..." Mark lied.
You let me wait for nearly six months, he thought, but kept the words to himself.

"Didn't you want me to see..." instead of finishing his sentence, Jinyoung gently pulled Mark's hips against his own, pressing them against each other teasingly. The water around them felt like a blanket that covered them and everything they did.
But it hid nothing.
Mark only managed to nod awkwardly, because Jinyoung's teeth had his lower lip locked between them, tugging and nibbling on it teasingly.

"But I could have helped, y'know..." He loosened their kiss for a moment, to look at Mark through his black, deep eyes that never really showed what he was thinking.
But they didn't need to, because apparently Jinyoung had no problem to tell Mark exactly what he was thinking.

"We could have sneaked into the house and..."

Again.
Why did he never continue his sentences?
Mark would have liked to know what they could have done inside the house. He wanted to hear Jinyoung say it. Tell him everything, but he quickly understood that he didn't have to, because he let Mark know what he was talking about, by letting the naughtier of his hands stroke over Mark butt gently, groping it just a little bit, to educe a surprised groan out of Mark.
Oh god.

Mark looked over to the half opened back door to the house to make sure that nobody heard his little pathetic moan.
It was ridiculous, the sound barely loud enough for Jinyoung to catch it, but Mark really didn't want to get caught in this situation.
His heart nearly stopped, when the door opened a tiny little bit and Mark tensed up, not able to move out of Jinyoung's grip.
When a little, white bundle of fluff came trotting through the door.
Jinyoung followed Mark's alarmed stare and smiled at Coco, who was sniffling on some potted flowers in peace, ignoring the two boys in the pool.
Not caring about their little secret.
Jinyoung pulled Mark into a warm and wet hug, nuzzling his head into the crook of his shoulders and chuckling into it silently. His hands both on his ass now, caressing the wet fabric of Mark's swim trunks and pressing their clothed cocks together, as if that wasn't half as sinful as Mark found it to be.

Mark forced himself to stop staring at the door like a scaredy cat.
In his mind he strictly told Coco to keep her little mouth shut about everything she had seen and then his concentration was completely back on Jinyoung's little caresses again.

"Y'know... Hyung..." that one mumbled against Mark's neck, his voice the one of an innocent boy that was telling his mother about the last cookie he stole.
He expected a whole lot more of teasing and saying things he shouldn't say and turning Mark into a flustered mess again, but the words he said were none of that kind.
They sounded sincere and vulnerable and felt kind of heavy, as soon as he spoke them.

"Whatever happens... you're my best friend."

Mark looked at him and for some reason he didn't feel paralyzed now.
His hands moved before he knew it and they were cupping Jinyoung's face and stroking the wet hair from his forehead. He looked at him and felt more confident than he had during the last five months.

"You're my best friend, too..." he whispered.

And this time it was Mark who kissed Jinyoung, even though the younger boy still had him cornered and still had his thigh pressing between Mark's, but it was Mark, who kissed Jinyoung with all of the strength he could gather.

You're so much more than my best friend, he thought, but he tried to let his kiss speak.
He didn't let go of Jinyoung's face and that one just let his tongue dance around Mark's and it was more passionate than before and so much more intimate.
All five of the other boys could have walked through the door right that moment and Mark would not have noticed. Or cared if he did.
He just felt Jinyoung's hands somewhere between his shoulder blades and he had no idea when they had gotten there but he enjoyed that the younger one tried to pull him even closer, even though they were pressed against each other on minimal space already.
They kissed and Jinyoung's hands held Mark warmly and Mark's hands wandered to Jinyoung's neck and rested there.

It was true that time was not a thing when you kissed a person you really liked kissing.
Mark had no idea how long they stood there like that, the sun burning down on them and the water cold around their waists, but they wouldn't have separated, if it wasn't for footsteps coming closer to the door and if it wasn't for Jinyoung gently pushing Mark's body away from him, more to spare him the awkwardness than anything else.
They stood there in the water, still way too close, but not touching anymore, when Jaebum walked through the door.
He looked at them for a moment, with those eyes that looked through them and Mark was convinced he had the ability to replay everything that happened between the two just by looking at them.
But he decided not to get into it and instead he told them to help preparing the barbeque.

♥

Mark had never had barbeque as regularly as during those days in LA.

But he didn't think that he would ever get tired of it, especially not if he shared it with his best friends and Jinyoung, who sat by his side, while all of them stuffed their faces with meat and vegetables and different kinds of sauces.
And a bit of salad.
Because they were responsible adults.

"I should not have slept for two hours... I feel like shit." Jackson announced and then he added, reproachfully, slightly turning towards Jaebum, "Why did nobody wake me up?"

"We were busy preparing the stuff you're eating, y'know..." Jaebum sighed, while he filled his plate with a bunch of different things.

Coco was cuddled into a little ball of white cotton candy in Mark's lap and she was so soundly asleep, that Mark kind of forgot she was there.
So naturally, he nearly jumped, when Jinyoung reached out into his lap, while everyone was sitting around them.
He could have slapped himself with a chair when he realized that no, of course Jinyoung was not reaching out for his cock in front of all of their friends, but instead innocently tried to pet his dog.
Jinyoung wasn't the only one who looked at him in amusement.
When Mark's eyes met Jaebum's knowing gaze, he felt the blood stream into his face.

"You're gonna wake her up, Hyung..." Bambam stated and Mark tried to ignore the sound of Jinyoung clicking his tongue in judgment.

♥

The sun was finally down and Mark was thankful for that.
There was nothing he loved quite like a summer night, the air cooling down after a long day of burning heat and still warm enough to sit around outside and enjoy being alive.
Which was exactly what the boys did.
They sat around the pool and the loungers and currently Yugyeom was telling a story, which Mark didn't follow.

He looked down at the bottle of beer in his hand, that was nearly emptied and he looked over to Jinyoung, who didn't deem it necessary to sit anywhere near him.
Maybe so they wouldn't look completely obvious, but more realistically just to tease Mark and drive him insane with longing.
Mark sat at the edge of the pool, letting his legs dangle into the water and Jinyoung sat on the other side, directly opposite from him, but so so far away.

The other boys laughed and joked around and told stories, which were probably worth listening, because summer nights like that one had the tendency to draw secrets and confessions out of people, but Mark didn't even know who was talking.
He just looked at Jinyoung and his ruffled up hair and with the thin wool jacket he wore to his shorts.
Mark wished there was a polite way to tell somebody that he needed them to take off all their clothes right now and make out with him forever, but instead he just sent glances in Jinyoung's direction, which didn't do the job at all.
Jinyoung was so incredibly good at ignoring those glares.

Whenever he looked at Mark, it was a knowing smirk and a raised eyebrow or, which was the worst of all, a lick over his plump lips.
Mark had trouble concentrating on anything but his need.
He had not gotten that oh so needed relief and the make out session in the pool was just adding fuel to the flames. How could Jinyoung be so cruel?

"I think I'm going to sleep..." Mark announced and his voice was so thin, that he feared nobody heard him.

The younger boys whined for a moment.
Something about how he was a party pooper and boring and how it was only two in the morning, but Mark didn't really care.
He stood up and for a moment he had to concentrate to stand straight, because the bit of alcohol in his blood had affected him more than he would want to admit. He didn't exactly have a high tolerance.

Then he looked at Jinyoung, in hopes he would follow him, but the younger one just looked at him through slightly clouded eyes and then continued talking to Youngjae.
Mark sighed, when he walked to the door.

"I'm going to sleep as well..." Jaebum announced and Mark rolled his eyes when he heard Jackson agree and follow him like a puppy.
Jackson would definitely get laid that night and Mark was just a little bit envious.

♥

He lay in the dark of his room and it only took about ten minutes, until his assumption was proven right and he could hear the first muffled moans out of the room next to his.
Mark vividly remembered the awkwardness between him and Youngjae, when they had to listen to Jackson and Jaebum two nights ago.
But now, alone, in the darkness of his room and with a whole day of tension, he listened closely and nearly wished they wouldn't hold back at all.

He was just about to start touching himself, when he heard the backdoor getting opened and footsteps sounding through the house.
He closed his eyes and thought Jinyoung's name over and over again like a mantra, in hopes it was him who decided to finally go to sleep and he nearly bit his tongue, when it was really the door to his room that got opened and closed again.

Jinyoung quietly tip toed over to his mattress and squinted in Mark's direction.

"Are you asleep?" He whispered.

"No." Mark brought out, his heart already racing like crazy. There was just something about the darkness in the room that made him excited.

"Didn't think so." Jinyoung breathed out and Mark could see his shadowy figure hovering above him for a moment and instead of lying down on his own futon, Jinyoung confidently sank to his knees close next to Mark, who leant up on his arms a bit, to meet him halfway.

"Fuck, I really played myself..." Jinyoung brought out with what was supposed to be a chuckle, but just came out sounding extremely frustrated.

He leaned down and the next thing Mark felt were Jinyoung's lips brushing against his.
His teeth were tugging on Mark's lips lightly and Jinyoung's tongue quickly teased its way into Mark's mouth, where they brushed against each other curiously for a moment, reviving the sensations that were still so new, but soon their kiss got more passionate.

Mark's body was so full of heat and his hard on was pressing tightly against the insides of his briefs.
His blood was rushing through his veins and when Jinyoung threw one leg over Mark, so he was sitting on his body, he let out a silent moan.
Jinyoung pulled away.

"Is this alright?" He breathed between wet kisses.

"Yeah." Mark whispered, his voice sounding thin and tortured.

Mark's hips were trapped between Jinyoung's thighs, straddling him just above his bulge and he drew tiny circles with them, while he connected their tongues again.
When Mark just thought, the heat in his body couldn't get any worse, he heard familiar sounds again.
He had completely forgotten about Jackson and Jaebum, but now he could clearly hear someone talk, it must have been Jaebum and Jackson reacted to it immediately with throaty groans and struggle in his voice.
Jinyoung definitely heard it, too, because his lips parted from Mark for a moment.
He listened closely and Mark felt the heat stream into his head in embarrassment, as if he was responsible for the unholy noises.
Jackson's moans were slightly higher than his talking voice and it would have been a lie to say it wasn't arousing. Mark twisted unnoticeable under Jinyoung's weight.

"Is that...Jackson??" that one brought out surprised.

"Yeah...and Jaebum." Mark sighed awkwardly.

They listened for a moment, both embarrassed, both curious and obviously interested to hear more.
But then Jinyoung remembered what he had started and leaned down over Mark's face again.
When he started kissing Mark again, he tasted slightly different, his saliva a little more sour than before, making Mark feel somewhat dizzy.
He reached out to hold onto Jinyoung's waist, grabbing a bit of fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer down onto himself.
Jinyoung reacted by humming against his lips softly, his hips causing barely there friction again.
Jackson's moans were getting needier and more careless and Mark couldn't help but wonder what was done to him to cause them.

Jinyoung's kiss and slight teasing stood in great contrast to the more and more obscene sounding noises from behind the walls. While the comparison would make them look chaste, Mark's heart and body were still rebelling by every touch and every noise Jinyoung made.
Everything about Jinyoung was so arousing to him and having him this close and having him touch his body and having his weight on top of him, was like torture for Mark.
He could barely handle innocent...

When throaty groans added to Jackson's whines, Mark couldn't help but press his hips up against Jinyoung slightly, seeking friction.
His cock was pulsing and leaking in his pants and all those sounds and the tingling sensations Jinyoung caused in his body streamed right into his erection.

Jinyoung's hands felt so big on his torso and the way they were wandering down nearly unnoticeable had Mark hooked.

"Are they the reason Youngjae wanted to switch rooms?" Jinyoung mumbled, after he had let go of Mark's lips for a moment, just to look down at him amused.

"I think so..." Mark whispered. "He was so embarrassed..."

"Like you?" Jinyoung stroked down further and further, until his hands were lying on Mark's stomach, holding him tightly.

"Worse." Mark brought out.

And just like that Jinyoung leaned down again and the moment they started kissing again, his fingers started to play with the hem of Mark's shirt innocently.
He let them sneak under the fabric slowly, barely touching Mark's skin.

Now there was also the sound of skin slamming against skin sounding through the walls, just adding to the panting and the groans and the lewd sounding whines and it all just sounded illegally obscene.

Mark made a pathetic noise in the back of his throat and that just made Jinyoung bring his hands up his shirt further. He curiously explored his stomach, shoving the shirt up inch for inch, feeling Mark's muscles and making the older one hold his breath for a moment.
It was difficult to keep up their slow exploring and soft touches, while their friends sounded like they were filming a porno.

Having them in his ear made Mark's imagination run wild. His mind showed him unclear images of the two of them and while it would have been incredibly awkward on any other day, JInyoung's presences made all the difference.

They swirled their tongues around and there were tingles where ever they touched.
JInyoung was obviously distracted as well, but he gave all his attention to Mark regardless, kissing him passionately.

And like that the noises from the next room faded and Mark was so lost in the kiss, that he nearly missed how the boys on the other side of the wall had their dramatic show down, their bed probably close to collapsing beneath them and their moans reaching a new record of desperation and as if it wasn't intense enough, Jinyoung chose to give them that moment of spotlight and pulled away from Mark, just to look at him curiously, while they both listened to the boys reaching their limits.
Mark had to force himself not to let a moan of his own slip, when he heard Jaebum groan Jackson's name.

"Now...that was dramatic..." Jinyoung brought out awkwardly, as soon as the moaning turned into exhausted panting,
"We should really tell them about disturbing other people's privacy or something..."

"Maybe we shouldn't..." Mark breathed out, while he listened closely, trying to find out if they were really finished.
He felt a bit worn out, just from listening.

"Why...?" Jinyoung looked at him interested, his voice barely more than a murmur, "Did it turn you on?"

"Maybe a little..." Mark admitted, turning his head away from Jinyoung's gaze.
He felt the boy readjust himself on his body again, lifting his hips, just to sit back down on his crotch instead of his waist.
He made it seem incidentally, but Mark could nearly grab the teasing in his action.

"Me too..." Jinyoung smiled shyly and Mark's stomach filled with electricity, when he felt his lips caught between Jinyoung's teeth the next moment.
Lightly and teasingly.
But so much more demanding than before.

One of Jinyoung's hands was cupping Mark's face and he automatically leaned into the touch, even though he had to loosen their kiss for a short moment.
Jinyoung used that moment to bring his lips to Mark's exposed neck instead and placed little, breathy kisses onto his skin.
Mark's heart was jumping around in reaction.
He felt tickles on his neck, when Jinyoung started to suck on his sensitive skin and let his hands stroke his shirt up further, revealing his torso and his nipples.
Mark felt exposed, feeling the air on his bare upper body, but he was distracted by Jinyoung's hungry lips on his skin.
He let his tongue trace secretive patterns onto his neck and his hands stroked over Mark's body longingly.

When Jinyoung sat up again, letting go of Mark's neck and leaving him with parted lips and closed eyes, he tugged on his rolled up shirt, indicating Mark to take it off.
And he did.
He pulled it over his head and threw it aside carelessly and he felt Jinyoung's attentive eyes on his every move.

Mark couldn't believe he was lying there beneath him and stripping for him and kissing him and all those things, when only two days ago he had feared that Jinyoung regretted their New Year's kiss, if he even remembered it.
And here he was, looking at him with lust in his eyes and something else, which Mark couldn't quite grasp.
He just knew that it felt so right, sharing those intimate things with Jinyoung and letting him touch his body and Mark never wanted to stop.

He was so afraid of this ever stopping. He wanted to be held by him forever.

"Mark..." Jinyoung's raw voice drew him back to reality. He was back to sucking on his neck, but Mark didn't miss the way, he worked his way down slowly, his lips ghosting over his collar bones, while he talked,
"Can I..."

One of his hands floated down his body and was ghosting over the waistband of Mark's sweatpants, tracing the border curiously.

"Yeah..." Mark breathed out, shocked at how needy he sounded.

But Jinyoung's way of stopping now and then to ask for permission, made his heart drop.
The way he cared for him.
Mark closed his eyes, while he buried his fingers into Jinyoung's hair, while he continued breathing kisses onto his collar bones.
And his hand finally dared to cross the line.
He had to readjust himself, so he could slowly stroke his way over Mark's throbbing bulge.
Mark was aching for the friction and when he finally got it, he felt light headed and a moan slipped his tongue, when Jinyoung started to feel over his clothed length with his fingers, while he kissed his way down his torso, only stopping to suck on one of his nipples for a moment.
Mark arched his back.

"Jinyoungie..." he heard himself whine quietly, "please..."

Jinyoung looked at him flustered, as if he was caught off guard by Mark's neediness, but then he didn't lose any more time.
He hooked his fingers into the waistband of Mark's pants and pulled them down determined.
He had to sit down beside him, to help him out of them, so Mark was lying there in nothing but his tight briefs.

Thousands of thoughts were streaming through his head.
Thoughts like "what if he's disappointed" or "how do I look right now" and...

But his whole mind went blank and his heart was racing and all of the blood in his body had to be both in his head and his groin, when Jinyoung leaned down and started to place little butterfly kisses onto Mark's stomach, wandering down with every little peck.

His hand stroked over Mark's clothed cock curiously and Mark had to swallow down a whiney noise that sat in his throat, ready to embarrass him.

"Mark..." Jinyoung breathed against the little trail of hair that led into Mark's briefs.
Mark was waiting for more to come, but Jinyoung seemed to change his mind and kept quiet. Instead of talking, his mouth ghosted over the waistband of Mark's panties and when his lips pressed against his clothed shaft with light pressure, Mark arched his back.

"Fuck..." he heard himself whisper, when Jinyoung looked up at him, while he teasingly started to suck wet patches onto the fabric.
The feeling that erupted in his body was stronger and more thrilling than it had been in his countless daydreams.
But it also made him worry.

"Jinyoung..." He brought out with struggle, the heat streaming into his face again, "it's been a while...I'm not gonna last long if you keep doing this..."

He heard Jinyoung chuckle silently.
"m'sorry...it's just nice seeing you like this..."

Mark nearly regretted saying anything at all, when Jinyoung slowly pulled down his slightly wet briefs, to reveal Mark's leaking erection.
His heart could barely handle the moment he lay in front of Jinyoung naked and fully hard.
Jinyoung's face was so close and he was definitely looking.

If he wasn't too aroused and embarrassed, he would probably have made an attempt to free the younger boy of one or two pieces of clothing as well.
But all he could concentrate on was his head between his legs and the warm hands that started to spread them with light pressure.
Mark found that Jinyoung looked incredibly experienced, the way he readjusted himself, so he could lean down to kiss Mark's thighs.
And his mind was turning blurry again.

He heard himself letting out tiny moans and noises, when Jinyoung wrapped his fingers around him and started stroking him slowly, while he sucked on the inside of his thighs mindlessly.

But the way Mark already struggled to keep his mouth shut told Jinyoung that he needed to move on, if he wanted to get to the interesting bit, before Mark collapsed underneath his touches.

So he stopped torturing the soft skin of his thighs and Mark forgot to breathe for a moment, when he watched Jinyoung wrapping his lips around his tip, licking off the beads of precum on it.

Mark let out the breath he was holding and his hand helplessly searched for something to hold on to and it found Jinyoung's halfway, interlacing their fingers on Mark's stomach, while Jinyoung let his tongue explore Mark's cock.
He let it swirl around, slowly and carefully at first, but quickly encouraged to go harder by Mark's unsteady breathing and the way he squeezed Jinyoung's hand in his.

Mark was too far gone to really worry about the fact that he was butt naked, while Jinyoung was still wearing way too many clothes, but there was a short moment of realization and the arousal made him feel so tipsy, so he dared to ask,
"Jinyoungie... do you maybe wanna take your shirt off?"

The boy stopped moving for a moment, before he let Mark's cock plop out of his mouth and then he nodded knowingly, licking over his shiny lips in thoughts.

"Yeah..." he breathed out, "Sure... sorry."

Then he sat up enough, so he could pull the shirt over his head with one smooth move and Mark watched in awe, how he stripped in front of him, looking a little bit more shy than before.
He wondered how many people had seen him like this.
Stripping wasn't something Jinyoung did without a good reason.
Mark liked the thought that he was enough of a reason.

His body was slim and there wasn't a ton of muscles, but tiny hints of them and Mark couldn't see nearly enough in the dark, but the shadows made him just look more desirable.

He wanted to tell him, how beautiful he looked, but he didn't get the words out of his mouth and before he could try harder, the moment was gone and with it the chance to embarrass himself.
It wasn't that he was scared to say what he thought... it was more that he feared he wouldn't stop talking, once he started.

What if he revealed more than he wanted to?
What if he scared Jinyoung away?
What if the words "You look so good" led to the words "I have been longing to see you like this forever"?
What if "You make me so hot" became "I might be in love with you"?

So he kept quiet, like he often did.
When you're used to keeping things to yourself, you start to lose count of all the unspoken thoughts.
Or the secret desires and fears you buried inside yourself...
And if you open your mouth after a long time of silence, they might just spill out of you...

"Mark..." Jinyoung whispered into the dark, "Are you okay? We can stop..."

"C'mere for a second..." Mark mumbled and Jinyoung started moving right away.
He crawled back onto him, sitting on Mark's naked torso with his shirt off and looking down on him questioning.

Mark reached up to rest his hand in the boy's neck and then he pulled him down into a kiss and he wondered if Jinyoung felt the light despair in his movements.
He tasted himself strongly on Jinyoung's lips, but he ignored it.
Mark was too busy trying to be in the moment and not letting his insecurities ruin it for both of them.

"Sorry..." He mumbled between deep kisses, "I'm not good at this..."

Jinyoung pulled away to look at him for a moment and then he smiled.
"Me neither..."

And as if that little tiny bit of honesty opened some kind of lock that held them back, they started kissing again, passionately.
More carelessly.

Mark let his hands wander over Jinyoung's exposed torso and it was more than he ever wanted. He was so warm and his skin soft and finally he could see the little path of hair again, which he had caught glimpses of over the past months.

He slowly let his hand wander down and his fingers stroke over it, making Jinyoung slow down his tongue for a moment. He looked at Mark with a spark in his eyes.
Then his hand was back on Mark's cock, which had been abandoned for too long and he continued stroking him, while Mark tried to concentrate on Jinyoung's love trail.

His fingers were playing with the waistband of Jinyoung's pants and he searched for a sign to move on. Jinyoung gave him that sign with a little, flustered nod.
And Mark's heart was racing like crazy, when he finally pulled Jinyoung's pants down and then his briefs.

He would have loved to retreat the boy with some sort of teasing, but his own throbbing length didn't give him that much time.
The sound Jinyoung made in the back of his throat, when Mark pulled down his clothes just enough, so his cock was revealed, made him twitch in Jinyoung's hand.
And it took all his willpower to hold back a little longer, when he finally held Jinyoung in his hand.
There was precum everywhere, he was so hard and a good bit bigger than Mark and everything about him was driving his body insane.

He looked into Jinyoung's face, when he started stroking him and Jinyoung let out a muffled moan.
Mark didn't really mind that the boy forgot to move his own hand for a few moments, because seeing him so distracted and seeing pleasure screw up his soft features just a little, was more than Mark needed.

He was sure he could easily cum just by seeing him like that.

"Fuck, sorry..." Jinyoung brought out, when he realized he was like frozen in his position.
When he started pumping Mark again, it was sloppy and hard.
Mark retreated just the same way and he knew they wouldn't last long now, because Jinyoung's panting just mixed perfectly with the small moans that slipped out of Mark's parted lips.

They were still jerking each other off, when Jinyoung leaned down to kiss Mark again, their tongue playing around in an outside of their mouths, their eyes closed.
Mark didn't care about holding back anymore, he let the throaty moans come out and Jinyoung panted heavily against his skin, when Mark finally came with a whiny noise, his hand closing harder around Jinyoung's dick and his hips jerking up slightly.

He spilled his load messily, not really sure where it went, but he felt a few drops land on his stomach.
With the last bit of sense he saw Jinyoung watching him closely and he saw the way his face was filled with bliss and torture and Mark remembered to keep pumping him.
His mind was getting weak and his body was trying to relax, but he forced his wrist to flick harder around Jinyoung's cock, educing groans out of the boy on top of him and it didn't take long, until Jinyoung came with his mouth hanging open, a long drawn moan accompanying him through his climax.

Mark was glad he could catch this sensation.

It made his whole body feel tingly and hot and it made the butterflies in his stomach go crazy to see and feel him release everything he had.
Mark could feel the warm fluid splutter down his fist and onto his stomach and he couldn't help the desperate moan that left his throat.

"Fuck..." He breathed out, while he watched Jinyoung trying to catch his breath. He milked the last bit of cum out of him, while Jinyoung's muscles relaxed visibly.

The boy slowly let his body lie down on Mark's side, pressed against his side, not caring about the stickiness between them.

"Yeah..." Jinyoung panted, "Fuck... I needed this ..."

Mark's heart jumped at his words.
He dared to look over to Jinyoung, who had his eyes closed and he saved the view that presented itself to him deep into his mind.

Jinyoung lying there, with his bronze colored, slim torso and the clear fluid that was spilled all over his soft skin.
The way his chest moved, desperately trying to get back to normal condition.
And the way one of his hands was mindlessly wrapped around his shaft.

Mark couldn't understand that he really got to see him like this. That this wasn't another of his day dreams.
But Jinyoung was there and he was so real, with the little pearls of sweat on his forehead and the musky smell in the room and his pants hanging somewhere above his knees.

They lay in the dark a little longer, both lingering through their aftermaths and both following their own thoughts for a while. Before he knew it, he started to get insecure about the situation.
What if this was it?
What if Jinyoung already got what he needed?

"Hey..." Mark whispered awkwardly, making Jinyoung turn his head tiredly, "Can we do this again...?"

"Now???" Jinyoung brought out confused, looking at Mark a bit impressed, but mostly shocked.

"No...god, no..." Marks cheeks heated up in embarrassment, "I mean...generally."

Then Jinyoung looked at him what felt like an eternity, as if he tried to read his mind.
But after a while he seemed to either have found what he was searching for or gave up the effort.
He just moved closer to Mark, pulling Mark's head closet to him, so it was resting against his collar bones, his legs wrapped around Mark's hips.
Their sticky, flaccid dicks brushing against each other in the process.

"Y'know... I was hoping we'd do it again..." he whispered softly, looking at Mark with a bit of insecurity in his eyes, as if he wanted to make sure to say the right words.
"I mean... I wouldn't use you, Mark... you're my best friend."

"Okay..." Mark murmured.
And he didn't know who initiated it, but the next moment they were kissing again, their sweaty bodies cuddled way too close together and Jinyoung's long limps wrapped around Mark's lazily.

And while their tongues were dancing around slowly and softly, Mark felt his mind drowning in exhaustion and his skin tingling sweetly where Jinyoung touched it and there was only one thought that reached his consciousness.

You're so much more than my best friend...

Chapter 3: Do you wanna try?

"So...had a good night?" Jackson looked at Mark with a curious, knowing spark in his eyes, after he had cornered him on the way to the bathroom early in the morning.
Mark was already blushing, before Jackson had the chance to actually make fun of him.
He didn't know what to say and he understood that the secretiveness had found an end, because Jackson did not look like he'd let him go without answers.
"Are you guys a thing now?" he asked without waiting for Mark's answer to his first question. Mark only sighed, overwhelmed with his friend's noisiness.
"I don't know ..." he mumbled, trying to get past him in the small hallway to the bathroom,
That one just grinned at him, petting his shoulder a little.
"Ahhh, that's so cute..." He cooed, "you guys are so cute."

"Can you..." Mark sighed, while the blush crept back on his face, then he tried again, stress in his voice,
"Do you have to yell? What if Jinyoung hears you?"

Jackson just smiled again, more softly now.

"You're so cute..." he just repeated, "If you need tips, I'm here!" Then he finally left Mark alone, who stood in the hallway a little longer, trying to breathe normally.

♥

Breakfast had never been this awkward.
Mark forced himself to look at the toast in front of him and to make it seem like he was watching Coco play, but all he could think was 'everybody knows'.
If he dared to look up at the other boys' faces, he would probably see mischief and curiosity, maybe judgment of any kind.
Lots of questions.
So he did everything, not to look up.
Not to blush in front of his whole band and not to let his body betray him and tell everything that happened without even having to open his mouth.
And at some point the others started to play along. Let him have his peace and maybe got bored by him, so they talked about everything and nothing and Mark calmed his excitedly beating heart down.

When he looked at Jinyoung, the younger boy met him with a warm, reassuring smile. One, that said "I got you, don't worry."
And it helped his worries.
It didn't help his excitement though, because it took less than a second, before he had images of Jinyoung on top of him in his mind, with his stunning body and his mysteriously skilled tongue between his legs.
He remembered how he sounded when he came and he remembered that Jackson and Jaebum probably heard more than he had hoped.
And he was embarrassed again.
Embarrassed and excited and a tiny bit hard.
The younger ones were just discussing how they should spend the day and that's when Mark remembered how to speak. Finally a topic that didn't make a crossfire break loose.

"A few friends of mine wanted to come over today...didn't I tell you?" he said, his voice not as steady as he wanted it to be.

"That was today?" Bambam wondered aloud and Mark simply nodded.

"Yeah, I haven't seen them in ages."
"Whoa we're finally meeting Mark Hyung's friends..." Yugyeom said excitedly and Mark just smiled.
He was quite eager to see them, too, but he was a bit nervous of his two worlds colliding like this.

♥

Mark sat on the bench on the back porch, while the other boys had already claimed the pool again. He couldn't blame them.
None of them grew up with a pool, so they probably wanted to enjoy every minute in there, while Mark was a bit more used to it and not too excited about it anymore.
The hours flew by like that and he was mostly listening to music and browsing the internet on his little laptop. Jinyoung left the pool after a while of playing around with the others and he sat down beside him, dripping wet and exhausted.
He smiled at Mark, before he kept reading the book he brought.
It was nice to just sit next to him and steal little glances of his concentrated face from time to time.

But Mark got more tensed, as the time passed and at some point Jinyoung closed his book, to look at him questioning.

"What's wrong?" he wanted to know and thankfully none of the boys paid attention to them. Otherwise they could have seen how Jinyoung's hand found its way into Mark's under the table and how his thumb drew little circles on the back of Mark's hand.
The action alone calmed Mark down again. But at the same time, it made his chest feel warm and fuzzy.

"I haven't seen them in forever..." Mark mumbled, hoping that would be enough information and Jinyoung nodded understandingly.

"Don't over-think it... it's gonna be nice!" He smiled and when Mark still looked doubtfully, Jinyoung added, "I'm not gonna embarrass you, don't worry."

"I know." Mark said firmly, squeezing Jinyoung's hand a little.

'I could never be embarrassed of you', he added in his mind.

♥

Mark knew he had spent too much energy worrying about nothing, when he hugged his friends, who he had missed more than he was aware of.
He pulled one after the next into a deep embrace and it was such a relief that everything was like it had always been.
They didn't treat him differently and after the first few minutes together, Mark knew that they would get along with his newer friends just well.

Bambam was eager to get to know them and while he and Yugyeom tried a little too hard, to be cool, they also helped bringing the two groups together through their silliness.
After half an hour of talking and sitting around, Mark was completely relaxed and he had forgotten about his worries.
He was sitting around with them and listened to stories his LA friends had to tell. He was smiling and laughing and sharing a beer with his ex girlfriend Clary, who he hadn't seen in forever.

"How are you doing?" He wanted to know. It wasn't just politeness, he was really curious.

"I'm alright... College is a bit stressful." She smiled and took another sip of her beer.

"What are you doing apart from college?" He wanted to know. He had forgotten that she wasn't exactly talk-active. He still loved that about her, but it got a problem whenever he actually wanted to talk.
The alcohol helped both of them a bit.

"Nothing special." She sighed, "You know I'm boring!"

"You're not boring," he hurried to say, "If you're boring, than what am I?"

"You're an idol...don't think I'm not keeping up with that!" She playfully hit his arm and Mark had to giggle a little.

"So you still do that hitting thing" he rubbed his shoulder, "I was always afraid I'd bruise because of you!" Mark laughed, when she started blushing.
The alcohol in his blood stream already made his sight turn a bit blurry.
"That's not true." She exclaimed a bit too loud.

"It is." Brian said out of nowhere. "You always do that! That's why I don't stand next to you!"

It was adorable.
While Clary was shy, she didn't really have control over her strength or the volume of her voice whenever she tried interacting with people.
It was nice to know that some things didn't change no matter how long you don't see certain people or how far away you have been.
She still had the same long, black hair that made his crush bloom in high school and she still had the same cute way of stroking it behind her ears whenever it blocked her view.
And the way his friends laughed over whatever stupid thing one of them said, was just like back then, when they spent their time together by this pool or at the beach.
A warm nostalgic feeling took over Mark and it was that warmth that made him raise his voice, before he could think.

"We should go to the beach!"

"Now?" Yugyeom and Bambam said in unison.

"Yeah... why not... I haven't been there in forever."

"But... is anyone still sober?" Clary wondered, while Mark could definitely see a hopeful spark in her eyes.

He started laughing when Jaebum warily raised his hand.

♥

It had felt like a good idea when he suggested it. It really had.

But now he was sandwiched between Clary and Youngjae on the backseat of a small car.
Mark internally prayed for Bambam, who was pressed against the car door on Youngjae's other side.
And while Jaebum was a calm driver, Brian, who was the only other sober person around, drove the car Mark was in.
And he felt the alcohol in his stomach swirl around and he wished he would have eaten more when he had the barbeque right in front of him.

He would much rather be in the less full car that Jaebum was driving, with Jinyoung on the backseat, maybe sneakily holding his hand. His heart started pumping faster just at the thought of it.
With all the sensations of being reunited with his old friends, he kinda neglected him a bit. Not because he wanted to- Mark wanted to spend every minute with Jinyoung- but because it was kind of his obligation as the host.
It was pathetic that he started missing him during that twenty minute car ride.

And it was so loud.
How could they possibly be this loud?
Yugyeom, who sat on the passenger seat had turned around to laugh with Youngjae over some insider, which none of the others were involved in and on one hand Mark wanted to throw them out of the car, but on the other... he hadn't seen the younger boys this excited and relaxed in months and he was overwhelmed by the thought of taking them with him to all those places where he had spent his youth.

When Clary started to wriggle uncomfortable on his side, Mark turned around.

"Sorry." He mumbled, "You okay?"

"Yeah... it's just so frigging hot in here!"

Mark saw it as his sign to tell Brian to open some windows and he did.
A few moments later, Mark looked at Clary again.

"So... are you two a thing now?" He asked carefully. It didn't feel weird. It was just curiosity. He loved both of them and he honestly thought they kinda fit.
"ME AND BRIAN?" Clary exclaimed, again, her voice louder than she probably had planned.

Then she laughed and Mark saw Brian looking at them through the rear-view mirror.

"Why are you laughing?" He huffed, "that's kinda offending, y'know..."

"Sorry," she giggled, "No. We're not a thing! I'm actually with Alex now."

"Alex?" Mark brought out in confusion, "But not your neighbor Alex, right?" That jerk.

"No, Jesus... you don't know Alex, I....met her in Art class." She smiled shyly and looked at Mark, as if to check his reaction.

"Oh..." He brought out, "Oh so she's...oh okay."

Why did he sound so awkward?
He just hoped it didn't come off as judgmental. He literally still had butterflies in his stupid stomach from thinking of seeing Jinyoung again in a few minutes. Who was very much a boy, just like himself. For some reason it was comforting to know that Clary was in the hands of a girl now.
He would have loved to tell her about Jinyoung, but the packed car was definitely not the right environment for that conversation.
And maybe he shouldn't do it with all the alcohol in his blood.
He might just start to ramble.

"I CAN SEE THE BEACH!" Youngjae's voice tore him out of his thoughts and made him jerk up in his seat.

And there it was.
The beach that was always worth taking the longer route.
One of his favorite places on earth.

It was a small beach, definitely not one of the popular ones and Mark was glad to see that it was still the way he remembered it.
Just a little smaller.
What was it with places looking so much smaller than our memory makes them out to be?
But it still had the same little forest on one end and a few huge rocks spread over the sand beach and there was nobody around apart from their little group.

The car Jaebum had been driving arrived right after theirs and everyone was fleeing out of Brian's car.

"Finally some air!" Clary said, as soon as she was standing outside and stretching her arms.

"Finally some space..." Mark added, "Nothing against you."

She laughed a loud and happy laugh and Mark couldn't help but join in.

They had brought everything their tipsy selves could think of.
Towels, food, more alcohol and even more food.

"Who the fuck packed a watermelon?" he heard Jaebum ask from afar.
Nobody answered him.

"It was me and I'm not here to be judged." Brian then mumbled, just loud enough for two and a half people to hear and Mark was overflowing with laughter.

While he watched the younger boys leave all their stuff including their responsibilities behind and ran towards the water, Mark just grabbed a towel and helped Brian and Clary to spread out a few towels and he saw Jinyoung shyly smiling at him, when he invited him to join them.
They were drinking and laughing and Brian looked like the happiest person alive with a slice of watermelon in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other.
And Mark was looking at Clary and wondered what Alex was like and then he looked at Jinyoung and wondered why he was so quiet. Even more quiet than usually.
Did he avoid his eye contact?

"Hey... "He took the chance when the others were searching for chips and crackers in the car trunk. "Do you like it here?"

"Yeah..." Jinyoung said, watching the boys play in the water, "It's nice."

"I used to go here all the time... it was my second home." Mark said.

Again, Jinyoung just smiled. And insecurity took over Mark's stomach, where the beer had finally stopped making him feels sick and just spread a warm feeling in his body.
Or was that just Jinyoung's presence? He wasn't sure.
If it wasn't for all the others, he would've loved to kiss him again. It felt like quite the perfect moment.
Instead Jinyoung's hand found his for a moment and he looked into Mark's eyes.

"I wish we were alone..." Jinyoung said and Mark's heart started racing. He wasn't sure why, but those words made excitement form inside of him.
He didn't know what to say.
Yes.
Me too.
"No, sorry..." Jinyoung said instead, "I didn't mean... it's not that I don't like them..."

"Can I show you something?" Mark interrupted him and he watched Jinyoung's eyes widen in surprise. Mark was getting more and more excited and before Jinyoung really had a chance to answer, he stood up and grabbed his arm, so Jinyoung would follow him.
Then, before the others had even returned to their little towels nest, he gently dragged Jinyoung with him and they walked barefoot through the cold sand.

Everything was just as he remembered it.
They walked through that tiny forest and Mark envied Jinyoung for still having his shoes on, but Mark had done it many times. His feet could handle one or two branches.
The trees weren't standing very close to each other and there were scattered palm trees between them and Mark could already see the huge rock behind them. His heart was pounding like crazy, because this was the place he had dreamt of so many times while in Korea and this was the place he had missed for so long and now Jinyoung was following him at a smart pace, his hand warmly in Mark's and he had no idea where they were going, but he just followed him quietly.

"So...Clary is cute." Jinyoung suddenly said and the words surprised Mark.
He didn't know what to answer. He looked over, just to see Jinyoung looking at his feet while he walked. Their hands still intertwined.

"Yeah..." Mark agreed.

"How long have you been together?"

"About a year I think." Mark said. "Why?"
"Just curious." Jinyoung smiled, "I didn't think I'd be jealous..."

There they were again.
The butterflies in him, throwing a little party.
He didn't know why those words made his heart race like they did.
From far away they could still hear Bambam and Youngjae laugh and yell and it was all a bit surreal to Mark.
Then they were there.
Again, just sand underneath them and a huge rock in front of them and Mark didn't know if it was the bit of alcohol still in his system or if it was the overwhelming emotion in his heart that gave him the courage to pull Jinyoung a little closer.

"What is this?" Jinyoung wondered, encouraged by Mark's little act, pulling him even closer and wrapping his arms loosely around Mark's waist, so they were only seeing each other.

"I've been here so many times," Mark whispered, even though nobody was around, "I really love this place..."

"It's beautiful." Jinyoung agreed, but he didn't really look around. He just pressed his forehead against Mark's and tightened the grip around his waist.

"You haven't even seen all of it." Mark smiled.
Then, like the most natural thing in the world, Jinyoung's soft lips found his and tingles exploded in Mark's stomach and he could taste the beer on Jinyoung's lips, but it didn't matter, because nothing in the world was able to ruin this moment for him.
He wasn't sure how he deserved all of this, but it also felt just simply right. He couldn't imagine showing this place to anyone else like this.

"You'll need to take your pants off." He said between kisses. The words had sounded alright in his mind.
They really had.
Jinyoung stopped kissing him and just looked at him in disbelief for a moment.
Oh god.
Oh no.
Why did his brain just never do its job in his presence?

"You're really straight forward today..." Jinyoung grinned.

The blood shot into Mark's head faster than he could think of words to say.

"No, that's not what I meant," Mark hurried to say. His voice sounding embarrassed and slightly panicky.
Jinyoung was bursting with laughter, his hand pressed over his mouth and his hand searching for support on Mark's arm.
Mark swore that the others had to hear him laughing, even though there was a wall of trees between them.
"I didn't... I meant...we'll need to walk through water..." Mark stuttered, "So it's better if you... just... if you don't wanna get wet, you'll have to take them off."

"Aye aye, sir." Jinyoung laughed and pulled him back against his body, "I'll take them off for you for whatever reason..."

"Jinyoung oh my god..." Mark's head was burning from how hot it got. His voice nearly gave up its service. As if just to spare him more embarrassment, Jinyoung connected their lips again and Mark's hands lay on Jinyoung's chest, fingers curled up and his cheeks burning from heat.
But somehow he managed to relax again and he just ignored the way Jinyoung smiled into the kiss now and then. They just stood there for a while and Mark's breathing finally got back to normal. Then he remembered what they came here for.
He carefully pulled away, having Jinyoung linger at the space where he left him.
"Let's go..."

So they stripped their pants and left them at the beach, before Mark started to get into the cold water and made his way alongside the outside of the rock and Jinyoung followed him curiously. The water didn't get deep, Mark knew that, but they were in up to their thighs, when they finally reached the curve of the rock and Mark was so excited.
They waded around it and it only took a few more steps to see the huge hole in the rock that Mark had spent so much time in.
The cave was bigger than you would guess from looking from the outside.

"Whoa." Jinyoung behind him blurted out. When Mark turned around he saw that Jinyoung stood still and took in the whole view. "This is amazing."

"I know, right?" Mark grinned proudly, as if he had carved the cave with his own hands. It was a huge part of his childhood after all.

"No, you don't understand..." Jinyoung shook his head. "This is beautiful...I've never seen anything like this."

Mark giggled a little. Then he took Jinyoung by the hand again and they walked into it deeper, until there was only wet sand under their feet again.
Mark took a deep breath. The smell of sea water and algae and sand and wet stone walls brought back so many memories.

"This is incredible..." Jinyoung was walking around, touching the walls and looking at the two small holes in the ceiling of the cave, where a bit of moonlight was shining through.

Mark had found a halfway dry patch of sand where he sat down and he watched Jinyoung exploring the new territory. He couldn't get the smile off his face, seeing Jinyoung so honestly and obviously amazed.

After he had touched every wall and looked behind the smaller rocks inside of the cave, he joined Mark and naturally rested his head on his shoulder.

"I don't think my childhood was as cool as this..." he mumbled and Mark took all his courage to take his hand again.

"Yeah... we've been here a lot..." he closed his eyes for a moment. It really was a weird feeling to sit here with Jinyoung, who never was and never will be a part of those memories.

"Tell me." Jinyoung said.

"What?"

"How was it as a kid.... Does it feel the same?"

And Mark started to talk.
He told Jinyoung about the time he and his elementary school friends discovered this place and how nobody showed it to them. They were swimming far off from where their parents allowed them to and then there was this huge rock and of course it had to be explored.
And Mark told him, how he had been convinced they were the only people knowing about it, until one day, when they were about nine years old, they walked into it like usually and it wasn't empty. And there was this naked couple and they were having sex and...

"Instead of just quietly backing away like any normal person would, we started screaming and ran away and brian fell into the water and the guy stood up and he looked so shocked and his dong was just bouncing around and I still have that image burned into my mind..."

Jinyoung was laughing and laughing and whenever Mark finished telling a story, he asked for another and Mark had no idea how much time they spent just like that and he couldn't remember when he talked that much the last time. But it felt free and it felt right and it felt like they had all the time in the world. Mark was convinced of that, just like his little self had been convinced that nobody knew about this place.
Somewhere in the process of telling all those stories, they had lied down besides each other, hand in hand, looking at the sky through one of the holes in the cave and it was getting a little cold, but Mark would never complain.

At some point he accidentally started talking about the time he showed Clary this place and he didn't want to keep talking, but somehow he felt like he had to finish what he started.

"We kinda fell asleep in the evening and our parents were worried to death..." he quickly ended.
Mark was afraid he had killed the mood now.
A thing he really knew how to do.
Jinyoung managed a smile, but not one of the real ones. It was a politeness smile. Mark knew the difference.
They stayed quiet for a moment.
Then Jinyoung leaned up on his arm and he looked at him.

"Y'know..." he said quietly, "I was wondering..."
Jinyoung stopped talking for a moment and Mark leant up on his arm as well. The quiet made him nervous.

"What?" He carefully asked.

"I know it's stupid...and difficult." Jinyoung looked at the space between them now, a bit of sand in his hand, "But do you wanna give this a try?"

"Give what a try, Jinyoungie?" Mark's heart was racing. He couldn't believe all of this was real.

"Being my boyfriend." Jinyoung brought out and finally looked at him again. He looked just as insecure as Mark felt. His eyes searching for something to hold on to.

"Yeah..." Mark heard himself whisper. There were so many thoughts in his head but none of them made it past his lips and Mark just hoped it would be enough. He wondered if Jinyoung could hear his heart beating.
But the next moment he felt Jinyoung's hand on his waist and he pulled him close to himself and when they kissed, Mark felt like he was going to burst. His mind turned into pudding as soon as he felt Jinyoung's tongue brush against his and he didn't care that he would get sand in his hair, when he rested his head on his elbow, so Jinyoung could lean over him.

Mark wasn't sure if it was ten minutes or hours later that their lips parted again. His whole body was so warm, contrary to the cold sand underneath him.
Jinyoung stroked the hair out of Mark's face and looked at him for a moment. So softly, that Mark felt the butterflies in him erupt again.

"I might be in love with you." Jinyoung whispered and he rested his head on Mark's chest and Mark managed to wrap his arms around him and he knew Jinyoung could hear his racing heart now.

♥

Mark didn't know when exactly it was, but in the morning Brian called their names from outside the cave and woke them both up. When they found their way back through the water, their pants were still lying on the same spot and Brian just grinned at them.
"I knew you guys were a thing..."
Mark was glad to see that he wasn't the only one blushing. Jinyoung awkwardly smiled at Mark.

The drive home was anticlimactic in some way. There was no energy left of the night before. The younger boys fell asleep in the car and nobody was really speaking.
But this time there was Jinyoung, leaning against Mark's shoulder, their hands intertwined under a rucksack on their laps and Mark watched how he tried to stay awake, but his breathing was so slow and steady.
He fell asleep five minutes before they arrived at Mark's house.

His friends were leaving and there were lots of promises of "I'm gonna call you" and "See you soon, Mark" and it was weird knowing that none of them honestly believed in it. It would probably take forever until they had a chance to repeat this.
But if it would always turn out like this time, it would be worth the wait for Mark.
Like Jinyoung had been worth the six months of insecurity and distant longing and wanting more. It was like his heart had finally found time to rest a little bit, at least as long as Jinyoung wasn't looking at him or touching him or talking to him, because those things made it race like crazy. But now he knew that he actually felt the same and now he actually could touch him and Mark didn't know how he should ever get used to this information.

The days flew and Mark wasn't ready to go back to Seoul just yet. If the decision was his, he would have wanted to spend at least another month with Jinyoung in L.A.
But he settled for making those last two days, that they still had, the best.
Because unless the day at the beach had been a dream- and that was still an option that Mark had to consider- he was now Jinyoung's boyfriend.
As unbelievable as that sounded.
And he wanted to spend every minute with him.

But it was already around twelve o'clock and Jinyoung was still asleep, so Mark decided to take Coco for a walk and also Jackson while he was at it, because that one insisted on seeing a little more of Mark's hometown, before they had to leave again.
He awkwardly told Jackson about Jinyoung and him and earned excited screeching and a really embarrassing, long congratulations- hug.

"I can't believe this!" Jackson grinned happily, "I mean it's adorable, but I would've never imagined it!"

"Yeah, me neither..." Mark mumbled.

"No, I mean... I knew you were madly in love with him- the whole country of south Korea knew, but...I never thought he'd like you."

"Oh yeah... thanks Jackson."

"No, no... I just mean... I didn't think he'd be into guys."

When they walked past the old little bakery, to which Mark had been sent by his parents many times to buy breakfast, an idea formed in his head.

♥

Half an hour later he laid on Jinyoung's side again.
Days ago he had been lying awake, wondering if Jinyoung had forgotten that lethal New Year's kiss and now Jinyoung was sleeping beside him, his arm loosely wrapped around Mark's waist and his head nuzzled against his chest.
Everything was ready. He could wake up any moment now.

There was a tablet with cute pastel patterns on it waiting for him and there were chocolate and vanilla croissants and pastries and there was coffee and Orange Juice out of the bottle, because Mark didn't have much time.
And it wasn't really special, but maybe it was still nice to wake up to.
And just as Mark was starting to get impatient, Jinyoung opened his eyes. It took him a moment to understand where he was and Mark could watch the whole process on his face.
"Morning."
He rolled onto his back and started stretching his arms and arching his back.

"Morning." Mark smiled, "How does breakfast sound?"
He tried to seem relaxed, but his heart was racing. He had dreamt of doing something like this for Jinyoung for a while, but now it suddenly felt extremely cheesy. His younger self would just shake his head in disgust, because he'd never wanted to be that guy. That croissant-buying, breakfast-preparing, hopelessly and embarrassingly in love kinda guy.
But there he was and his heart was racing when he saw Jinyoung's eyes light up, as soon as he saw the tablet.

"Oh my god..." He brought out, "Where did you get all that?"

"Bakery." Mark mumbled shyly.

A huge happy smile took over Jinyoung's face and Mark couldn't help but smile back, awkwardly but with a bit of pride.
Mission 'Make Jinyoungie Smile' - Success.

"You're really on a whole new level..."

They ate together, blankets around their feet and taking their time.

"Y'know..." Jinyoung said with his mouth full, "this is one of those things that are as good as they're made out to be. Breakfast in bed is never a bad idea."

Mark nodded, while he tried his best to keep the vanilla in his croissant, after he had taken a big bite.

"I watched a drama..." Jinyoung munched, "where the guy brought his girlfriend flowers every week...isn't that over the top? You can't even eat flowers."

Mark nodded again. Orange juice and vanilla wasn't the best combination. So he went for the coffee instead.

"And what do you do with all those flowers... it's so predictable."

"So you wouldn't want me to bring you croissants every week?"

"That is not what I said, Mark, are you even listening?"
But Mark found it hard to listen, because it was early in the morning and because all he could think of was the word boyfriend and he just couldn't quite comprehend how that word was now connected to the boy in front of him, who wore a pair of glasses that he didn't need and who was busy complaining about flowers for some reason. And Mark reminded himself to keep eating, even though he would have rather looked at Jinyoung for the rest of the day.

"What's wrong?" that one interrupted his thoughts.

I'm in love with you, too, Mark thought.
And he wanted to say it, but then he looked into Jinyoung's sleepy, curious eyes and he felt the blood stream into his face.

"Let's go back to the cave next time we're here." Mark mumbled instead.

Jinyoung smiled warmly and nodded.

"Yeah, I really liked it." Jinyoung agreed, "And let's go to my hometown, too."

And just like that he started eating again and Mark sighed, because he wished he was brave enough to tell Jinyoung about his feelings, but it was okay.
He would have plenty of time to tell him everything.
And after all Mark had always been bad at keeping his crush a secret and while he sat there, watching his boyfriend eating the breakfast he prepared, it felt like his love for Jinyoung was pouring out of every pore of his body.
There was no way he didn't see it.

And one thing that was really special about Jinyoung was that Mark didn't necessarily need words to make him understand.

The end