paradise.

that's what it felt for the two boys to kiss again after days of forcing themselves to stay away from each other.

fireworks exploded inside their chests, making both boys relax into the kiss and let out contented sighs.

they had missed each other's lips so much.

actually, they had missed each other so much.

and it was overwhelming for both of them to be able to be close once again, and to feel the other's body against theirs.

"mmh..." mark moaned as donghyuck's arms wrapped around his waist, pulling the boy closer to him.

donghyuck had pulled mark up, making him sit on the edge of the bed so that he could stand between his spread legs and glue their bodies.

his hands roamed over mark's thighs, sliding under his basketball shorts to caress the pale skin. mark's hands were wrapped around donghyuck's neck, preventing their heads to separate for more than a second.

tongues played together in mark's mouth as both boys let out groans and moans, enjoying too much something they weren't supposed to do.

but did they care? absolutely not. because it felt like paradise.

after a few minutes of intense exchange of saliva, donghyuck pulled away, resting his forehead against mark's with his eyes closed.

"i should never have done that..." he sighed, opening his eyes slowly and looking into mark's.

"d-didn't you like it...?" mark asked, his whole body slumping down in sadness.

"no, it's not that." donghyuck was quick to cup mark's cheeks to prevent him from lowering his head more. "god, baby, i loved it. trust me." he assured. "but it's wrong, you're still dahyun's boyfriend."

"i can break up with her. i don't want to be with her anymore. i want you." mark said quickly, his eyes tearing up.

"calm down, baby... it's not as simple as that..." donghyuck smiled sadly, using his thumbs to wipe mark's tears away.

"b-but... i love you so much, donghyuck..." mark's tears cascaded down his cheeks as he stared at donghyuck.

"baby, i love you too, it's not the problem." donghyuck pulled mark into a hug, letting the older boy rest his head on his chest.

"t-then why...?"

"because how do you expect my family to take it when you'll break up with dahyun to get with her twin brother...?" donghyuck questioned, his hands rubbing mark's back to comfort the boy.

"mmh..." mark mumbled, understanding the problem. "but... this means we'll never be able to get together..." he gasped, crying loudly again.

"hey, mark, calm down..." donghyuck tightened his embrace. "there is a solution that could work."

"really? what is it? do we need to run away?" mark asked immediately, pulling out of the hug to look at donghyuck in the eye.

"no." donghyuck chuckled at mark's behaviour. "but, if dahyun breaks up, then it will be less problematic for us to get together. sure, we'll need to wait a bit before making it official so that it doesn't seem suspicious, but yeah, it could work."

"let's do it then. i'll have dahyun breaking up with me. our 8th month anniversary is in a week. and you said that if i didn't try acting more intimate with her, she would break up. so, let's do this."

donghyuck smiled sincerely, patting mark's head lovingly with one of his hands.

mark was truly an angel that had fallen from the sky.

he was so perfect.

how could donghyuck even hate him at some point of his life?

and how the hell had he managed to go from rolling his eyes each time he spoke to wanting to kiss him every time they crossed paths?

"huh... hello."

donghyuck turned around, greeting the nurse that had just come back inside the infirmary.

"did you need something? or are you here to visit him?" she asked.

"it was to visit." donghyuck replied.

"okay well- mark, why are your eyes swollen? and your cheeks red? do you feel okay?" the nurse questioned the injured boy, approaching him immediately with a thermometer.

"i don't think he's feeling so well. you should call his mother for her to come pick him up." donghyuck informed. "i'll warn the basketball team that their captain is going back home."

"sure, let me call his mother." the nurse nodded, walking back to her office to phone mark's mother, leaving donghyuck alone next to mark.

"take care, okay? i don't want you hurt." donghyuck whispered.

"yes." mark nodded obediently.

"i'm going then." the tanned male smiled, waving his hand at mark as he walked backwards.

"wait..." mark bit his bottom lip. "can you- "

"yes, of course." donghyuck cut him, walking back towards mark and placing his lips on top of his in a sweet peck.

their mouths stayed glued for a few seconds only, no tongues making their appearance into the kiss. it was simple, sweet, and short. but powerful enough to make their heartbeats accelerate.

"bye, baby." donghyuck whispered once they had pulled out.

"goodbye..." mark smiled at him with flushed cheeks.

and with that said, donghyuck walked out of the infirmary, trying to calm his heart and not to panic at the fact he had just done exactly the opposite of what he was supposed to do – and that is avoiding mark at all costs.

but how could he even do that when his feelings for the boy had grown so important and so-

"ouch! watch where you're going!" a voice startled donghyuck as he had just bumbed into someone.

"oh, fuck, sorry." he apologised, rubbing his forehead. "chunho..."

"hi, captain." the boy flashed donghyuck his fakest smile. "you hurt your hand?" he added, sounding more concerned that he actually was.

"yeah, it's fine though. that's why i was in the nurse's office." donghyuck explained, butterflies erupting in his stomach as he recalled mark taking care and bandaging his cuts.

"of course." chunho nodded.

"what are you doing here?" donghyuck raised a brow, seeing that chunho didn't move despite their conversation being finished – they never talked much, because rivalry was obvious between them.

"i have a migraine." he replied simply.

"okay. well, i'll leave you go and see the nurse." donghyuck informed, stepping aside. "hope you'll feel better for training tomorrow." he added.

"of course, captain."

and with that said, chunho headed inside the nurse office while donghyuck took slow steps towards the basketball courts, to inform the whole team about mark's state.

＃

"so, how's everything going with mark?"

the girl lifted her head from her phone, looking at her brother who had just talked.

she had obviously been too focused on her phone to understand what he had just asked her. "what did you ask?"

"how everything was going with mark." donghyuck repeated.

"oh, great." dahyun replied simply before focusing back on her phone.

donghyuck blinked a few times – a habit he had started to develop after spending so much time with mark who kept doing this whenever he was confused, making him adorably cute.

he kind of expected dahyun to continue speaking and give more information. but she didn't seem to be interested in that conversation.

"so... your 8th month anniversary is approaching..." donghyuck tried again, highly implying that he wanted to know if dahyun had finally made her decision on whether she would break up with mark or not.

"really?" her brows furrowed before she looked at the date on her phone. "oh, yeah, it is."

"and... have you made a decision?" donghyuck asked.

"a decision about what?" dahyun lifted her head from her phone once again, looking at her brother annoyedly.

"if you break up with him or not." donghyuck groaned. she was really making no efforts.

"why do you even care about that?" dahyun rolled her eyes before they fell one again on her phone.

"you told me about it last time. so, i was wondering if- "

he was cut in his sentence by dahyun's phone ringing.

"sorry, i need to take that call." she declared before picking up and walking to her room.

donghyuck sighed loudly.

he could hear his sister talking over the phone.

and he knew very well that she wouldn't come back to answer his question.

so, he was still as lost as he had been a few minutes ago.

＃

"so, let me get this straight." renjun stated. "you made out with the boy you were supposed to avoid at all costs?"

"yeah, and we kind of confessed too." donghyuck added.

"wow, that's even more fucked up than what i imagined." jaemin snorted.

"come on, can't you guys have a bit of sympathy?" donghyuck rolled his eyes.

"we had told you this whole plan wasn't a good idea." jeno shrugged.

"but you didn't listen to us..." chenle nodded.

"well, how could i imagine i would fall for mark? i hated him so much!" donghyuck explained.

"life is full of surprises, you know?" jisung patted his shoulders.

"yeah well- "

"wait, what does mark think about all of this?" renjun questioned again, cutting donghyuck's sentence.

donghyuck sighed.

he wasn't inside of mark's head, so he couldn't really know what he was thinking about him and this whole situation.

but he remembered mark assuring him two days ago that he could break up with dahyun to get with him.

so, donghyuck made a wild guess an assumed that mark both returned his feelings and wanted to become his boyfriend.

"same as i do."

"and dahyun?" chenle asked.

"she doesn't know you stupid dolphin!" jeno hit the back of chenle's head lightly.

"ouch!" chenle whined dramatically, making jisung's head lift up immediately.

"hey! don't hit chenle!" he scolded the older boy.

jaemin rolled his eyes. "just take him on your lap and kiss his boo-boo away..."

"and get together at the same time for fuck's sake!" jeno added.

both chenle and jisung muttered some things under their breaths as chenle walked to the sofa jisung was sitting on, plopping onto his lap.

"so, let's change topic. we're not going to speak about our love life all night because we're there to have a great sleepover to forget about things like those." renjun declared, clapping his hands.

"quite easy to say when you have two boyfriends who love you right next to you." donghyuck huffed, making renjun look at jaemin and jeno.

the small male smiled before cuddling into jeno's broad chest as the boy placed a kiss on top of his head. jaemin soon joined, wrapping his arms around both of his boyfriends.

"okay, i see that i'm not needed here." donghyuck declared, taking his eyes off the three lovey-dovey males to check chenle and jisung who were almost kissing – but had stopped leaning forwards as they had noticed donghyuck's attention was on them.

"stop being dramatic, just talk to mark over the phone." jeno rolled his eyes.

"yeah, good idea." donghyuck nodded, pulling his phone out. "but i still don't want you guys having sex in front of me so... yeah, stop kissing each other when i'm here."

"you're no fun..." jaemin tsked.

"okay, so, what are we doing?" chenle asked, leaning back on jisung's chest.

"we could start by a board game. and once donghyuck will have beat all of us like he usually does, a movie marathon." jisung informed, his arms sneaking around chenle's waist as if it was the most natural thing to do.

"let's gooo!"

and that's how, hours later, the six boys were all asleep in chenle's home cinema while the third movie of the night played in the background.

well, actually all six boys weren't asleep.

one was still up, his eyes focused on his phone as a smile appeared on his face when reading the message that had just been sent to him.

donghyuck had been focused on his phone all night long.

for the first time in his life, he hadn't been the best among his friends at board games.

and he didn't even know the name of the movies they had been watching.

his whole attention was taken by the person texting behind that small device he held in his hands.

me

mark

you want to hear a secret?

baby<3

yes

me

i want to have you hidden between my arms

so that i can pamper you in kisses

and cuddle you till the end of time

baby<3

donghyuck

you want to hear a secret?

me

of course, baby

baby<3

i want that too