Mid Summer

thirty five,

"I hope they're not killing each other," Jeno frowns, scratching the side of his neck as he looks up a little bit to scan the menu of the all day breakfast place he and Mark are at. "That would be bad."

Mark snorts, throwing an arm around the younger's shoulders.

"We wouldn't want that, would we?"

Mark thinks Jeno looks cute when he pouts and shakes his head no, when he shifts a little closer to Mark, thinking the latter doesn't notice.

"I want the waffles," Jeno says, turning to face Mark's side profile. "What do you want?"

"For Jaemin and Hyuck to get along." He deadpans.

"So french toast okay with you?"

——

"Why am I the only one who's being paranoid about this?" Mark sighs when their food arrives at their table.

Mark hasn't been able to stop his leg from bouncing up and down in sheer nervousness about what was happening with Jaemin and Donghyuck. When the former had left and suggested that he attempts to patch things up with Donghyuck, Jeno and Mark were proud of him for addressing it, but now Mark is more petrified of how Donghyuck was handling it.

Donghyuck... Donghyuck has the tendency to be stubborn. It wasn't something Mark was unfamiliar with, and Jaemin probably picked that up from the conversations he's had with Donghyuck. But talking to Donghyuck one on one? Without Jeno or Mark being there? The latter didn't know how smoothly that could go.

"Because I'm trying to spend some time with my boyfriend," Jeno mumbles, proceeding to aggressively stab a piece of waffle.

Mark sighs, reaching across the table and slowly putting his hand on top of Jeno's, uncertainty clear through his actions as he doesn't know if what he was doing was too much.

Mark likes Jeno. A lot. So he shouldn't be ignoring him, or thinking of other things while they're on their date (was it a date?) together.

"Sorry," the elder apologizes, smiling a bit ruefully. "Your hair looks nice with that colour."

It wasn't like Jeno dyed his hair yesterday or anything, it's just that Mark hasn't had the opportunity to comment on Jeno's new chestnut light brown hair. It suited the younger boy, and in Mark's eyes, it made him younger than normal. Accentuated his cute features, if you will.

"Thanks," Jeno smiles, and as Mark expected, his eyes crinkle beautifully.

Mark's heart is beating violently against his chest, and he wonders if Jeno can hear it. And even if Jeno can in fact hear it, does he feel the same way?

Mark lets his thoughts about his thumping heart wander as the two boys continue to eat in silence for a few more minutes before Jeno's phone buzzes.

Normally, he wouldn't be one to check his phone during alone time with someone else, but it was from Donghyuck and there was an image attached, and he's very intrigued and also very concerned. Honestly, who knows what that image attachment could be about.

"Donghyuck texted me and I'm scared to see what it is," Jeno says honestly, throwing his phone to Mark. "You open it."

"Well shit, don't you think if you're scared I am too?" Mark asks, getting frantic as he looks at the notification go from 'now' to '1 m ago'.

"Well I'm not doing it!" Jeno shrieks, nodding his head towards the threatening device. "Just do it! Man up!"

"You're telling me to man up?" Mark gapes, but nonetheless picks up Jeno's phone and opens the message, since he now had a point to prove. Mark could so man up. Especially if it was Jeno who asked.

If you asked Mark if he was sweating while opening the message, he'd lie to you and say no. In reality, it's equal parts gross and concerning how much he's sweating.

He sucks it up though, mostly because he knows Jeno wouldn't, and clicks on the notification. It brings him to Jeno's messaging app, where he can't help but notice Donghyuck's contact saved as 'Duck Hyucks', while Jaemin's was 'Sweet Nana', and his own was named 'Soccer Cutie Hyung'. He doesn't dwell on it for too long though, because the unopened message from Donghyuck is taunting him, daring him to open it.

So he does.

And it takes him a while to digest what was on the screen.

Once he does though, all he can do is let out an airy chuckle, tossing Jeno's phone back to him.

The owner of the device yelps, as if the phone was scalding.

"Did you open it?" The younger boy asks quietly, almost in a whisper, with his eyes wide in anticipation. He still however refuses to looks down at his screen to check for himself. He didn't know if he was mentally prepared for it.

Mark just laughs again, shaking his head. Jeno pouts, and decides that if Mark wasn't going to give him a straight answer, he was going to have to find out for himself. As much as it terrified him, Jeno turns his phone towards him and reads what's on his screen.

duck hyucks: should've told me nana's was a sweetheart earlier

Jeno's mouth is open, jaw almost on the floor as he takes in the picture Donghyuck has sent with the text. It was a selfie, with Jaemin smiling the brightest he has in a while, head tucked into Donghyuck's shoulder, and arms around the elder boy's body. Donghyuck has an equally as bright smile, an arm around Jaemin's shoulders.

"That's insane," Jeno whispers, locking his phone and pocketing it away. "Like magic."

Mark is still laughing, however it is now more contained and quiet.

"Yeah," he agrees, staring at Jeno so fondly that it makes a blush appear on the younger's cheeks. "Magical."

Except it wasn't really magical, and all four of them knew if.

It wasn't magical. It was just about time.