Mid Summer

thirty two,

"Will you stop sulking?" Mark groans, shoving Donghyuck with his shoulder. It's not that the younger was being annoying with his sulking, because sulking can't really be annoying, but Mark wants to see his sunshine happy, not like this. "I can feel the energy in the room dimming."

"I just feel bad okay?" Donghyuck groans, absentmindedly scratching his nails over the tattoo above his heart. "And I have reason to." He adds before Mark could say anything.

"Well, I said you don't. Na Jaemin is a big softie. You apologize sincerely and he'd be the one feeling bad because he didn't give forgiveness earlier," Mark whines.

"Okay, you know what?" The younger starts, turning his full attention to Mark. "I feel shitty."

Before Mark could open his mouth to say something, Donghyuck continues speaking.

"I feel like crap. I treated Jaemin like shit, and in all fairness so did he. But today was probably his breaking point, because he seemed so upset and frustrated. I just wish I wasn't that mean to Jaemin, and I don't know how to fix it. And now I have his soulmate tattoo, but I'm pretty sure Jaemin wants nothing to do with me. So no, Mark, it isn't fine, and even if Na Jaemin is a big softie, I'm not getting out of this one."

Mark purses his lips, pondering on what Donghyuck said for a while.

"What?" The younger asks, eyeing the elder suspiciously. What could be going on Mark's head?

"Do you..." The elder mumbles nervously, picking at his cuticles. It's not that he was anxious to ask, it should be something he should be comfortable asking, but his chest felt right and he didn't know why. He sighs before finally finishing his sentence. "Like him?"

It goes quiet for a few agonizing seconds, which consist of Mark biting his lip and Donghyuck looking anywhere but the former.

"It's too soon to tell," Donghyuck settles on answering, letting out a sarcastic chuckle. "I only started seeing him in a different light a few hours ago."

Mark's lips are still pursed, and Donghyuck doesn't do know what to take from that. Was the elder mad? Was he frustrated? Or was he annoyed because Donghyuck kept on sulking? Donghyuck didn't know, and it would be appreciated if Mark could tell him what was up.

When the younger boy hears a sigh, he looks up, focusing his gaze on how Mark shifts closer, until they're both sitting cross legged on the bed, facing each other with their knees brushing together. Donghyuck raises an eyebrow, curious to see where the elder would take this.

"Listen," Mark starts, and it sounds about seven octaves lower than his usual voice. This already has Donghyuck's nerves on edge, because it's not everyday that Mark uses this kind of voice.

"Listening," the other says quietly, voice sounding insanely small in the elder's ears.

"We haven't... Talked in a while," Mark starts, looking relieved after the sentence left his mouth.

It makes Donghyuck confused.

"But we're talking right now?" He says, trying to lighten the situation a bit. But when Mark's facial expression and demeanour don't change, Donghyuck knows that this might be a bit more serious than he thought.

"We should've talked," Mark admits, sighing heavily after the three words. "We should've talked about me dating Jaemin and you dating Jeno. Aren't we each other's boyfriends before theirs?"

Donghyuck feels queasy at Mark's words, feels something akin to guilt bubbling in his gut.

"We should've," Donghyuck agrees. "Kind of shitty to realize that now, isn't it?"

Mark doesn't say anything about that, and Donghyuck really hates it.

Just like how Jaemin hates lying, Donghyuck really can't stand silence. They were obviously in the middle of a conversation, so Donghyuck doesn't understand why Mark suddenly decided to go mum.

"Say something," the younger mumbles, words slurring together to the point where it was almost unattainable to Mark's ears. But years with Donghyuck have made Mark's ears immune to all sorts of speech.

"I love you."

Donghyuck stops fidgeting, freezing for a minute as he soaks in Mark's words.

It's been so long since he's heard the elder mutter those words.

"Say it again." Donghyuck whispers, fingers curling around his knees, knuckles turning white at the action.

"I love you, Donghyuck." Mark repeats, louder this time as he brings one hand up to cup the younger's cheek.

Donghyuck shakes his head, shuddering out a shaky breath.

"Again."

"Donghyuck-ah... I love you." Mark whispers, bringing his other hand up to cup Donghyuck's other cheek, brushing his thumbs along the latter's cheekbones, leaning in and pressing a long kiss on his lips.

When was the last time they even kissed?

They don't know, neither of them could give you the answer to that,

But when Donghyuck breathes out 'I love you's between their kisses, Mark can't bring himself to care about the last time they kissed, deciding to focus on now.