2840 words... my longest chapter e v e r
and sorry for the delay, i am having quite problematic health issues at the moment, so it's hard for me to use my phone...

just like any other morning, donghyuck opened his eyes slowly when his body judged having enough sleep.

the honey-haired male wasn't surprised to see an unfamiliar room around. during those past days, he had kept waking up in different places to the point he had gotten used to being foreign to his surroundings.

however, if donghyuck didn't question why this room looked like no other room he had slept in the days before, he did question why he was cuddled between two muscular arms, and why a chest was glued to his back.

seeing the hands that were loosely hanging off his waist made the boy gasp silently, but he wasn't 100% sure that they belonged to mark – or he actually was, but wouldn't admit it to himself. the beautiful boy turned his head slowly, making sure not to wake the other boy up. and his thoughts were confirmed when he saw mark's peaceful sleeping face just behind him.

"oh my god!" he whisper-shouted, his eyes widening in surprise as his heart started beating erratically.

he recalled mark screaming out loud that he didn't like him the day before. so, donghyuck was seriously starting to wonder why the same mark was literally cuddling him in his sleep at the moment. not that donghyuck would complain, because he had actually acknowledged his feelings for hades' son. but he would love mark to stop giving him false hopes.

donghyuck slipped out of mark's embrace the best he could, trying his best not to trouble mark's sleep. he didn't really want to face him right now.

once out of mark's arms, donghyuck tiptoed out of the room, walking to the kitchen where he found chenle and jisung giggling together.

"hey guys." he declared, flashing them a smile.

"oh, hi donghyuck!" chenle replied happily. "did you sleep well?"

"yeah, i guess." the honey-haired replied, taking a sit around the table.

donghyuck poured himself a bit of orange juice as he watched carefully the two other boys.

jisung was leaning on the kitchen's counter, and chenle was hopping around him, both laughing about something donghyuck didn't try understanding.

chenle also often glued his body to jisung's, leaning his head over his shoulder, or just silently asking for cuddles.

donghyuck smiled as he watched sparks and pink hearts flying around the two boys, their feelings now completely eviden and figured out. he wasn't sure they were together yet, though, but donghyuck knew that it was bound to happen.

"what are we doing today?" donghyuck suddenly asked, catching the attention of the two youngest who seemed to have forgotten about his presence.

"how about we visit paris?! i want to see the louvre! oh, and also the eiffel tower! and how about doing a bateaux-mouches ride?!"

"what the hell is a bateau-mouche?" donghyuck's brows furrowed as he tried his best pronouncing the french word accurately – but he wasn't hermes' son, so his accent was very bad.

"they're the riverboats. there are rides on the seine every hour i think." jisung explained.

"sounds cool." donghyuck shrugged.

"good morning, gentlemen."

the three teenagers speaking inside the kitchen turned towards the corridor, only to find jaemin bending as if he had been doing a reverence.

"hello?" jisung raised a brow.

"please, greet the great jeno and princess renjun." jaemin added, stepping aside to reveal jeno holding a struggling renjun bridal style.

"jeno, put me down!" renjun whined as jeno smiled stupidly at his three friends.

chenle and jisung had disgusted looks on, the taller leaning on the counter with his arms around chenle's shoulders as the other boy was leaning against his chest – in a similar sweet position as jeno and renjun.

donghyuck simply had a smile on as he watched the red hearts dancing around the three males' heads.

"did you three eat something bad?" chenle asked. "why are you like this?"

"like what?" jeno asked as jaemin tickled renjun in his arms to tease him.

"like... this...?" jisung replied, pointing at the three of them.

"it's nothing too severe, don't worry." donghyuck chuckled.

all heads turned towards him.

"what do you mean?" chenle questioned.

"just... being in love... and having your feelings returned, you know?"

Ω

"jisung, look!" chenle exclaimed happily, standing up from his seat as he pointed at the giant iron tower sitting on the shore.

"yes, it's the eiffel tower." jisung explained.

"it looks so big from there..." chenle told excitedly, clapping his hands cutely as the people around him frowned because of the amount of noise he was making in a foreign language.

"il peut pas se la fermer le noich?" one of the people next to them told, rolling their eyes.

"le noich en question, il comprend le francais." chenle replied, making the group of french tourists gasp in unison and walk away.

jisung chuckled, having absolutely no idea what had just been said, but understanding that he hadn't been complimented due to the harshness of the tone in his answer.

"what did you say?" jisung asked.

"they told not so politely that the chinese boy should shut up." chenle explained. "but i told them that i did understand french, and it made them leave."

jisung laughed again, using his hand to ruffle chenle's fluffy hair.

"pff... the others aren't even appreciating the beautiful view..." chenle rolled his eyes.

jisung tuned around, seeing donghyuck and renjun sitting together and talking silently about a topic – which was surely about feelings because of the redness of renjun's cheeks.

jeno, jaemin and mark were also conversing, but they were seated a few seats away from the other two. their conversation seemed to be way more serious.

"oh, jisung!" chenle exclaimed again. "can you take a picture of me in front of the eiffel tower?"

"yeah, sure." jisung nodded as chenle pulled a device out and handed it to jisung.

jisung took a few steps back to get a better angle as chenle posed cutely in front of the metallic tower. he did a few poses, trying to play with the perspective to give a funny vibe to the pictures that would be taken.

"jisung! can you come here, please?" jaemin yelled, catching the attention of the boy.

jisung nodded, handging the device back to his crush. "i'm sorry, i'm coming back." he told before running towards the group of boys.

chenle used this free time to look at the pictures that jisung had taken, to make sure that the perspective ideas he had had were looking good on the pictures.

however, he was surprised when he realsied that the eiffel tower was barely visible on the pictures. you could make it out in the background, but it was very blurry, as if jisung had purposely focused the camera on the foreground, where something more important was. effectively, the dozens of pictures that had been taken were pictures of chenle. he looked absolutely gorgeous in every single one of them, as if between him and the eiffel tower, he was the masterpiece.

chenle sighed, lifting his head to look at jising who was now talking with jeno and mark.

"i should ask him out, shouldn't i?" he asked out loud as he felt a presence behind his back.

"i thought it was pretty obvious already." donghyuck told with a smile.

Ω

"donghyuck?"

the so-called male turned around, looking over his shoulder at mark who had just said his name with a hint of desperation in his voice.

they had just watched the sun set from the sacré-cœur.

but seeing donghyuck, the son of apollo, standing right in front of him, it seemed like the sun never set.

actually, in mark's universe, the sun never set. donghyuck was his sun. everything revolved around him, he was the centre of attention, and he shined bright at any time of the day or the night.

"yeah?" his honey-voice sounded like music in mark's ears.

"can we talk?" mark asked, trying to sound as confident as possible – but it was hard seeing how donghyuck was radiating with confidence.

"talk?" donghyuck tilted his head. "like... here?"

"no... i'd like to bring you somewhere." mark approached donghyuck slowly.

donghyuck looked behind mark at jaemin and jeno who were nodding their heads. donghyuck then faced renjun – he would have faced chenle too, but him and jisung seemed to be in another dimension at the moment, leaning against each other's side as they enjoyed the view of paris together.

renjun was about to protest, but his boyfriends interrupted him before he could say anything.

"go with mark, donghyuck." jaemin told, wrapping an arm around renjun's shoulders.

"but- "

"you won't regret it." jeno cut renjun's words again.

donghyuck looked at mark, his heart melting at the small nervous smile mark flashed him.

how could he resist him if mark kept doing things like those to his heart?

the honey-haired nodded, slowly holding out his hand to link it with mark's before hades' son gently pulled him down the stairs.

"enjoy your night!" jaemin exclaimed.

none of them answered. both were abviously too overwhelmed by the simple contact they were voluntarily sharing to care about anything else around.

donghyuck had absolutely no idea where mark would bring him.

they had been walking around paris for more than half an hour now, and none of them had exchanged any words. however, the atmosphere wasn't awkward. it was rather comforting, as if both boys had needed this without actually knowing it.

"w-where are we going?" donghyuck dared to speak when his feet started hurting.

"to the pont des arts." mark replied.

"is it far?" donghyuck asked.

"it's over there." mark told, pointing at a bridge over the river. donghyuck wasn't sure which bridge he was talking about though, because there were so many bridges running over the seine.

donghyuck took his troubled patiently as he let mark guide him across the crowd.

mark eventually led him on a bridge, but donghyuck wasn't even able to look at his surroundings anymore. the only thing on his mind at the moment was his feet that were hurting like hell. he couldn't walk anymore. they had done that all day, walking.

thankfully, mark led them to a bench, and donghyuck happily sat there, letting out a long sigh at the contact of the wood under his thigs, and at the feeling of his feet not touching the gound anymore.

"everything alright?" mark asked, raising a brow.

"my feet hurt like hell." donghyuck informed, closing his eyes.

"why didn't you tell me earlier? i would have carried you." mark said, making donghyuck's heart do summersaults in his chest.

"y-yeah, or we could have stopped at a nearer bridge." he stuttered.

"huh... not really. i really wanted to bring you to this special bridge." mark smiled confusing donghyuck.

"why?"

"look around."

that's only when donghyuck acknowledged his surroundings. they were sitting on a bench in the middle of the bridge, and there were dozens of people surrounding them. donghyuck found it cute how most of them were holding hands or hugging. and when he concentrated more, he could feel love in the air. real love, true love, pure love... it seemed to be a placed where couples went on dates.

donghyuck focused on the bridge, finding the railing quite interesting. it was quite colourful and it didn't really seem to be a smooth surface, as if things were glued onto it.

"what is this...?" he asked, curiously standing up and walking towards the railing to inspect it better.

once he was close enough, donghyuck realised that it wasn't the actual railing, but that hundreds of padlocks of various sizes and shapes were locked there, making it seem like the whole bridge was a piece of art.

the boy turned his head, finding two women crouching next to the railing and locking a padlock before kissing passionately and then throwing the key over the edge of the bridge, right into the river.

"this is what this bridge is known for." mark spoke, approaching donghyuck. "couples come here, and seal a promise with a padlock before throwing the key in the seine for it to keep their promise forever."

"it's beautiful..." donghyuck let out, his eyes concentrated on the red heart flying above the two girls' head. "but why did you bring me here?" donghyuck then furrowed his brows, concentrating on mark.

mark sighed. "i want you to know that i lied yesterday, when i told chenle i didn't like you.the fact is i didn't want to admit it to the others out loud, but i didn't think you would hear it. in fact, i do like you. heck, i do even love you at that point. i was just too much of a coward to tell it to chenle. but by doing this, i hurt you, and i sincerely want to apologize for that. i felt so bad yesterday and today, knowing that you were angry at me just because i wasn't confident enough with myself. but i love you, donghyuck. i am now ready to scream it out loud to the whole world. i fell deep for you, and you're the only one that i want."

donghyuck's body started shaking as mark spoke those words. he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

mark was confessing ot him, he was voicing out his true feelings... and he loved donghyuck...

donghyuck was euphoric at that point, he didn't know what to say or what to do. he wanted to hug mark, to kiss him, to make him understand that he loved him back. but he was completely petrified because of shock.

"if i brought you there, it's because i wanted us to seal a promise. i wanted the two of us to place a lovelock on that bridge, and be able to lock our love forever." mark continued as he pulled out of his pocket a white padlock in which was engraved a beautiful omega. in mark's other hand was the key for this padlock, a small metallic object to which were hanging pink, yellow and black ribbons. "but that's only if you agree with it too."

donghyuck nodded the best he could, looking like he was about to pass out any second from now.

mark smiled as a sigh escaped his lips, not being able to hold himself from pulling the beautiful boy in a hug as tears of relief escaped his eyes.

it seemed that this action made donghyuck come back to his senses and regain he ability to move. the glowing male wrapped his arms around mark's torso, tightening his embrace quickly as he started crying silently too.

mark did the same on his side, kissing the sides of donghyuck's head during their hug.

they pulled away after a long time, looking into each other's teary eyes.

"okay..." mark wiped his eyes. "open the padlock."

donghyuck grabbed the object with trembling hands and he inserted the key in the hole, twisting it to open the lock.

once this was done, mark placed a hand around his waist as he guided donghyuck towards the railing.

donghyuck smiled at mark, his heart speeding up at an incredible speed as mark placed his hand over his to entangle their padlock with the metallic railing.

both boys shared an intense eye-contact.

"lee donghyuck, i promise to love you like you deserved to be loved forever. i may not be the best demigod out there, but i'll be the best at loving you and protecting you, that's for sure." mark spoke.

"i love you..." donghyuck said, new tears escaping his eyes.

mark smiled, using one of his thumbs to wipe the tears off donghyuck's cheeks. "i love you too."

mark tightened his embrace around donghyuck's hand, the pression locking the padlock between their fingers.

both boys stood up again, facing each other as donghyuck looked at the key inside his hand.

"are you ready to start this journey by my side?" mark asked, flashing one of his charming smiles to donghyuck whose head was starting to spin at the number of emotions he was feeling at the same time.

"yes..." he replied, smiling brightly and almost lighting up like the sun – well, to mark it seemed like donghyuck was the only source of light existing.

"then throw the key."

donghyuck looked at the object between his fingers before taking mark's hand with his free one. with one last glance towards mark, donghyuck throw the key over the edge, looking as it fell in slow motion in the dark river under them, disappearing for ever...

once the key had disappeared in the depths of the seine, mark pulled on donghyuck's hand, bringing the boy close to him and doing the thing he had wanted to do for so long: kissing him.

as surprised as he was, donghyuck responded to the kiss, completely melting in mark's strong embrace as he forgot everything about their surroundings.

it was only him and mark now, kissing on top of the most romantic bridge of paris, after sealing their love halfway through the night.