(part 14, february 14th, i'm surprising myself...)

very very very long chapter ahead

i woke up, more stressed than ever.

first, i was late: lucas was already down the builing where i lived, annoyed because i wasn't answering his call (obviously because i was sleeping). and second: i would meet mark again today.

i quickly got out of my bed, and ran down the building to take lucas up, without even dressing in proper clothes.

"sorry-i.., i overslept...." i said panting.

"i noticed." he answered pissed. "we only have four- well, now three and a half- hours to get ready for today. we need to be quick."

two hours after, we were deep in our preparation. lucas had me try on a dozen of different shirts to find the perfect one, as well as tons of trousers to see which one would "show well my cute little butt" as lucas had said. when we found how to dress, we passed to the makeup. lucas -because he was an expert- opened every single makeup kit he had and shuffled around a bit, contemplating on which shade was better for me to wear.

"we'll go for a nude make up. is it good?" he asked me showing a kit with many brownish colours.

I nodded and closed my eyes for him to apply the makeup.

when i opened my eyes, i was able to see the hard work lucas had just done. to be honest, i was pretty, and i was very happy to look like this. i told myself that maybe, with these looks, i would manage to make mark notice me, and perhaps fall for me...

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"hello guys!" screamed jaemin as he saw lucas and i arrive. he was sitting on a bench, next to jisung who had rolled his eyes at the loudness of his friend.

"seriously jaemin, can't you be a bit calmer and quieter?" he said putting his hand on his temple.

jaemin ignored his complaint. "how are you guys doing?"

"well, donghyuck is ready to fuck mark" lucas said, causing me to gasp and hit him in the groin.

"that action wasn't necessary." lucas whined.

"your comment wasn't either!" i cut him.

"hello hello dudes" jungwoo approached the group of boys, placing a quick kiss on his boyfriend's lips and high-fiving the others.

"junguwu, it's so nice to see you!" lucas engulfed him in a tight hug, totally forgetting about his previous pain.

jaemin coughed to get everybody's attention. "well, the only ones missing are the lee brothers, renjun and lele. as expected i want to say... you know hyuck, by choosing mark as a boyfriend, you're embarking yourself in a trip where you'll be late for the rest of your-"

"who said i was always late?" a voice erupted behind jaemin and i, startling us. Well, it had to be mark. he was standing there, more handsome than ever, next to jeno, renjun and chenle, and smiling widely at me.

the two following minutes were kind of awkward because of the many hellos that were exchanged between everybody. then, it was time for our first activity to begin: eating.

"guys, my tummy is officially grumbling" jaemin said "so we need to eat"

"won't you shut up two minutes? you're loud as fuck" jisung spat.

"hey, treat him better, will you?" jeno said protectively. "what about mac donalds?" he continued.

"nah, we ate there yesterday." mark added approaching me. "can't we eat to the tacos bar? it's just two streets from there, and their food is so hmm"

shit, i can't handle spicy food.... what a good way to embarrass yourself in front of your crush...

"oh no, please, i wanted to have sushi!" chenle exclaimed jumping up and down.

yea, sushi is way better.

nobody seemed to be denying chenle's proposition, so after two or three minutes of deep thinking, renjun took the lead. "so, sushi it is. let's go!"

the nine of us walked towards the sushi shop that was at the end of the street. lucas was stuck to jungwoo, not leaving an inch between their two bodies, causing jaemin to squint his nose. "too much love in the air for me..."

"well..." i started "it's velentines day, what were you expecting?"

jaemin scoffed "you're kidding me, right? like you won't be like that in two hours."

i hit him and ran over to where mark was, leaving jaemin with his two knights (because it's a secret for no one, the three of them will end up together).

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as expected, lunch was aWkWaRd. the boys had made me sit facing mark, on a way too small table, on which too many plates were laying. it was great that it didn't last more than 40 minutes, because i hadn't many occasions to embarrass myself in front of him.

during lunch, we had decided we would go to the cinema at the end of the day (how cliché!) to see the new film that was produced. and before this time of the day, we had five hours to kill. we decided (more like chenle, jaemin and lucas decided) to go to the "youth club" where we could play many things such as ping pong, videogames, pool... it was located at the other end of the city (because otherwise it wouldn't be funny), but it was closer from the cinema than we were at the sushi restaurant, so it's a good thing they wanted to go there. plus, it was starting to get hella cold, because february's air is not the warmest of the year.

so, we took the bus, crossing the town, and arrived at the club, which was empty because it was the holidays. well, there was three boys and two girls watching a cartoon on one of the big sofas of the video room.

we first decided to play ping-pong. as soon as this was decided, lucas jumped in front of us in excitement.

"okay guys, let's do a tournament, four teams, four qualification games, the winners against the winners, the losers against the losers. games in fifteen points so that it's not so long. is it okay for everybody?"

"yes, but we're nine." jungwoo said.

"nah, jaemin doesn't want to play." lucas smiled widely.

"hey! of course i want to play!" jaemin whined.

"go play then, i don't want to anyway." jungwoo reassured him.

"yay, thanks. your boyfriend is so cool, unlike you." jaemin pulled his tongue out towards lucas.

"anyway, now that we're eight, what about the tea- "chenle started.

"let me choose them!" lucas screamed, cutting chenle and startling everyone, even the five persons from the video room. "chenle and jisung, then jaemin and renjun, jeno and i, so that i can beat your ass" he added wiling his eyebrows looking at jaemin who was laughing. "and finally, oh! donghyuck, you'll need to be with mark!"

i shyly looked at mark, who smiled at me instantly.

"let's start. babe, you count the points, because you're good at maths. first game, chenle against donghyuck. here we goooooo!" lucas commanded, way too excited.

we played, while the others watched us, like we could. mark and i won, 15 to 13, but mostly because jisung kept hitting the ball so harshly that the points were for us. otherwise, we would have lost.

then it was jaemin and lucas' team to play. well, the game was quick, they surely know how to play...

we continued the games for a bit more than an hour. of course, the final game opposed jaemin and renjun against jeno and lucas. jungwoo was cheering on lucas, while counting the points, chenle and jisung were acting like cheerleaders opposite jungwoo, and mark and i had sat on the nearest couch because we were tired (why, i don't know). i felt, at the moment, more comfortable with mark, like it still was a bit awkward, but i managed to align five words without stuttering, compared to the beginning of the meal. none of us were talking, we were just sitting, a bit close, but not enough to have our tights touching. well, at the exact moment i was thinking about the fact that we could sit closer, he moved, approaching his body from mine, and passing his arm over my shoulders, holding me close to him. that's all i needed to stop breathing and almost faint. my heart was pounding so hard in my chest that i thought it would get out of my rib cage.

"does it bother you?" he asked, seeing my face.

"oh no, it's cool, don't worry!" i answered quickly, surely blushing, which made him smile.

"good then."

i relaxed, blowing the air i had kept inside of my lungs for the past seconds and let my head fall on his shoulder. i could hear his heartbeat, pumping at a quicker than normal pace. and then, i guess i fell asleep, because i don't remember anything about the next minutes.

i woke up because of the ruckus the boys were making, and opened my eyes to find myself in front of seven cameras with seven boys behind them giggling a bit loudly. when they realised i had woken up, they quickly put their phones away. i removed my head from mark's shoulder, but his head was leaning on mine, which caused him to wake up as well.

"sorry, i fell asleep." he said in a hoarse voice, causing me to shiver.

i shook my head smiling, to make him understand that i didn't mind.

"sorry to break your moment, lovebirds" lucas started, wiggling his brows, "but we were about to play smashbros, so you're coming?"

i blushed hard at the "lovebirds" part. "yeah, we're coming." i said rising to my feet, and losing all the warmth that mark was providing me.

he stood up as well, and ran to the videogames room, jumping on the softest armchair, followed by the others who sat on the different sofas. i arrived last, and when i entered the room, i noticed there wasn't any chair for me. as i was about to go take a chair in a next-door room, mark started talking.

"come and sit here, donghyuck."

i turned around to see him patting his knees, and smiling widely at me. i slowly headed in his direction, while lucas and jaemin were whistling. when i got in front of the armchair, mark took my waist and pulled me on his legs, giving me my remote after.

the game started, we played, i lost more than usual. but, well... what did you expect? i couldn't even concentrate myself, when i was sitting on mark.

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we left the club half an hour before the beginning of the film, and well, we ran to catch the bus, because otherwise we would have been late for the movie. we entered the cinema out of breath, chenle paid the places for everybody, because we hadn't enough time to pass one after the other. we sat in the room the minute it started. we were all sitting on the same row taking all the places available on it. From left to right, chenle next to the alley (because he said he always got to the toilet during a film), jisung, jaemin, jeno, renjun, jungwoo, lucas, me, and next to the wall mark.

the whole film was silent, which is normal, and mark didn't even try to grab my shoulders or something like that (because honestly, i thought that after all the events of the afternoon, he would have.).

at the end of the film, it was 8:00p.m., and we had to get back home. while going out of the room, and the cinema, we discussed about our thoughts of the film (which wasn't very good in my opinion, but as mark said he had like it, i pretended that i liked it too). once outside, we all needed to go in different directions. so, we bid our goodbyes. that's when my stress started to go up in my body to the point that it blocked a bit my respiration. i had said goodbye to everyone except mark, because i wanted this awkward moment to take place the latest possible. but it couldn't last forever: mark had also saluted everybody, leaving me the only person he needed to say goodbye to. i approached him, reducing my speed at each step, and finally stood in front of him. a wave of questions hit me: should we shake hands? or just high-five maybe? what about if i kissed his cheeks? what to do?!

while my mind was burning from the inside, i tried to smile and muttered a little "goodbye mark". he looked at me, smiled, and raised his hands to cup my cheeks before laying his lips on mine. my eyes widened, and i kissed back. while we were detaching our lips, i could hear what i think was jaemin's voice whispering a bit too loud "oh my god, they kissed, they kissed! guys, mark took his balls and kissed hyuck!".

i hugged mark, very tight, and he put his arms around me, providing me warmth, and making my heart pump like crazy. He cupped my cheeks to kiss me for the second time. it wasn't something deep nor dirty, just a peck, that lasted three seconds, but that was all i needed to understand that he was surely gay, and returning my feelings. we parted again, smiling to each other, and then waving goodbye before going in our own directions. mark went with jeno back to their house, jaemin, renjun and jungwoo went to the bus stop, chenle's parents were there to take him as well as jisung's. lucas and i were leaving walking, and his parents would take me home on the way. once we were alone, lucas started malfunctioning.

"bro, you kissed him! isn't that the best thing that could happen?"

"correction: he kissed me." i smiled "which is even better."

"i'm so happy for you" lucas side-hugged me. "do you realise that you're getting yourself a man?!"

"yea, that's the most wonderful thing that could happe-"

i was cut in my sentence by a honk. lucas and i looked where the noise was coming from to notice lucas' parents' car waiting for us. we ran to the car and entered the back row.

"hello boys" lucas' mother said as soon as we sat down

"hello!" we said in one voice

"how was your day? was it good?" she asked.

"yea, even better for some of us..." lucas moked me.

"that's great. how was jungwoo? it has been long since we saw him."

"good, he says hi." lucas said.

that was the good thing with lucas' mother (well, his father as well). she wasn't homophobic, and she had accepted jungwoo in their family without making any scandal. i don't think my parents know about me being gay, but we talked about this subject already, and they didn't seem to mind.

lucas' mother dove me to my house, and i left the car saluting them before running inside my house. i kissed my parent's cheeks before dashing to my room to realise what had happened today.

mark and i had kissed, meaning he was gay, and that he returned my feelings.

to say that i was the happiest boy on earth would be an understatement.

my parents called me to eat, asking me about my day. i didn't tell them anything about that kiss, but i surely told them how wonderful this day had been. after dinner, i received a message from mark

from : my future boy

heyy

it was cool to see you today

i had a great time

from : me

yeah, i was so happy

you can't imagine

we talked for hours about nothing relevant. just about our thoughts of the film, some hobbies we had or even fun anecdotes we wanted to share. but that's when the sensitive subject came in the conversation...

from : my future boy

donghyuck

about our relationship?

from : me

yea... hum

what do think?

from : my future boy

idk

like i really enjoyed being with you

today, but the other days as well

from : me

what do you want us to be then?

from : my future boy

something like...

boyfriends?

from : me

really?!

from : my future boy

only if you are okay with it

i mean... i don't want to force you

from : me

of course i am okay with it

from : my future boy

then, donghyuck

will you be my boyfriend?

from : me

yessss!!!

from : my future boy

: ))))

we continued talking until i had to go to bed.

that day had been the best. i had spent it with my crush, i had kissed my crush, and my crush had asked me to become his boyfriend.

how could it have been better?

you're right, there's no way...