Intricate: Our Bittersweet Love | MARKNOMINHYUCK(bxbxbxb)

Chapter 1

C H A P T E R  1 : Something that can be compared to breathing.

-----Jaemin-----

Sometimes... I still can't believe it but it feels like breathing, anyway. It's hard to believe that I have one of them next to me and that I'm leaning my head on his shoulder while we hear the other two in the car's front seats bicker. I smile looking at them and while I still find this hard to believe, it feels like breathing. Natural. Is it too much if I say 'meant to be'?

"What are you thinking?" Jeno asks from beside me, running one of his hands through my now blue hair. Was it my decision? No. It was Donghyuck's and it was hard to refuse his pleas. It looks good on me anyway.

"They're funny," I simply say in a low voice with a slight chuckle, not diverting my eyes from the front seats.

I hear Jeno huff. "What are they even fighting about again?"

"Mark thinks Donghyuck would die within three hours in a zombie apocalypse so Donghyuck is defending himself on why he would not," I reply with a snicker.

"And what do you think?"

"Um." I hum thoughtfully, furrowing my eyebrows slightly in thought. "I think it depends. He doesn't take a lot of things seriously but when he does, he reaches his goals. So it depends on whether he takes it seriously or not."

Jeno laughs and we don't speak again until the car stops and we all get out of the car. "Roller skating?" I ask, feeling my eyes shimmer in joy and my lips go as wide as possible.

I don't know how to skate but the others had told me they would teach me one day. This was early on in the summer and I thought they didn't remember it anymore but I guess they were saving the best for last.

"I'm gonna make a fool out of myself." It didn't stop me from fidgeting around in excitement.

"We'll be here," Donghyuck tells me, walking beside me and taking my hand in his.

There's no argument needed when we say that Donghyuck is the one who initiates the most skinship. Not that we mind. It's nice to have someone like him, actually. Someone who is not afraid to express his feelings and someone we can count on to step up when needed. We haven't had our first fight but I have an immense feeling that Donghyuck would be the first to speak in the serious and tense atmosphere we would find ourselves in. He would be the one to go 'we need to talk' while Mark would be the first one to say his thoughts.

"Four people for an hour, please," Mark tells the employee with a charming and gentle smile.

We soon get our skates and walk to the rink. I internally sigh in relief when I see that there are only two other people, a pair of girls laughing and giggling as they skate together.

As I put on my skates, I can't help but feel the butterflies in my stomach out of anxiousness. I was sure I would fall at least 1,000 times and would have a bruise here and there by the time we'll be done.

"Just hold our hands, okay?" Jeno says from beside me with a little grin.

These days, Jeno smiles more and I'm happy about it, of course. I can't help but wonder if it's because he's happy with us or because he's comfortable enough to show his real self now. Either choice sounds nice.

"Will it hurt when I fall?" I question as I very carefully and slowly stand up from the bench, the wheels on my feet instantly feeling strange.

Jeno is quick to stand in front of me and grab my hands with his. "You won't fall. I'll be here to catch you." He snickers slightly, probably finding that phrase quite corny. I won't let him know, but I love it.

He lets me walk to the rink by myself before standing with me. I instantly found the floor slippery and wavered a little but found balance. Mark and Donghyuck were long gone, going in circles around the rink and I would playfully glare at them and mouth at them 'traitors' every time we made eye contact. Jeno took my hands and helped me move, instructing me how I should or shouldn't move my feet. Thirty minutes in, I noticed that the two girls were going and a group of five had come in though they stayed far from us and were in their own world, much like us.

I laughed every time I felt myself lose balance and so did Jeno. Sometime later, Mark and Donghyuck joined us.

We mostly stayed in pairs, switching around. I needed to have a hand on mine for the whole hour though as I was too scared to fall.

The whole time it wasn't sunshine and rainbows, though. I saw the looks that the group that had a huge distance from us gave us. I'm not sure if the others noticed but I knew better than to let their judgment get to me. "They'll be the first in many." I don't know if that thought was supposed to be comforting or not but I knew that I had to learn how to deal with this shit. Don't mind it, is probably the easiest. I focused on breathing. On being with my three lovers.

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When we were done, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I hadn't fallen a single time. There were close calls but just as Jeno said, he was there to catch me. All three of them were.

As we walk out of the skating place, I still felt jittery and the smile on my face wouldn't vanish. "I'll take it you had fun?" Mark-Hyung says with a slight chuckle as he comes next to me, putting his arm around my shoulder and bringing me close.

"A lot. Even if you and Donghyuck left us half the time." I jokingly sigh in disappointment, making all of them laugh.

"So. What should we do now?" Donghyuck asks as we get inside his car (though it's usually Mark driving it).

"Food," Jeno states. "Sushi?"

I instantly agree with him, I could never say no to sushi. Mark was easy to convince and Donghyuck a little more difficult but eventually, he gave in and we were on our way to the sushi place.

"Where do you guys wanna stay over tonight?" The eldest asks as he picks up a piece of sushi, soon placing it inside his mouth.

"Mom will kill me if I'm not home again. How about mine this time?" We usually avoid staying at my place because of the fact that I have an older brother and my bed is too small for all four of us. On the contrary, Donghyuck's and Jeno's house is usually empty and they have plenty of space so we usually go back and forth. There have been a couple of nights spent at Mark's, of course, but since he's now a high school graduate, his parents let him be more independent and it's not a huge problem that he's out and about as long as his parents are notified.

They all were quick to agree and we went back to focusing on our eating.

As I looked around the table, seeing the naturalness of all of this, I couldn't compare it to anything but the ability to breath.