𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 ➪ 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙝𝙮𝙪𝙘𝙠

42

"if these cookies don't get made well, i will murder everyone and myself."

"that's called suicide," jisung pointed out.

chenle raised the spatula in his hand higher in the air. "does it look like i care?"

mark said yes under his breath and went back to making christmas tree shaped dough with a cookie cutter. he wasn't the best baker, for goodness sake he wasn't sure if any of them were, but the canadian put all his effort into trying to make the sugar cookies look pretty.

the place was dimly lit since there wasn't any natural light coming in and gave a relaxing ambience to the bustling kitchen. the youngest two were mostly fooling around, chenle walking around with a spatula and jisung following like a lost puppy. jeno was sitting at the dining table on his phone, the medicine having taken its effect. jaemin and renjun were conversing about school, light smiles and jokes being thrown around. they worked together on making instant ramen because a handful of them got hungry.

mark and donghyuck were shaping the cookies and shared different things about their lives. it left mark feeling like he knew the younger boy more, the stories about their childhood leaving the duo giddy. their amiableness towards each other made mark positive that their relationship took a step in the right direction. the thought of getting to know and learn more about someone he cared for so much was exciting, especially not having to look at donghyuck through a screen that would glitch here and there. seeing his clear skin and nose scrunching whenever he smiled. big doe eyes and an attractive personality. him. just him. everything about him. mark's heart was left in a frenzy every time he thought about his sunshine.

his sunshine. it was the most fitting title for donghyuck. that boy was radiating with happy vibes and energy. he was definitely the mood maker of their group of seven. a sassy or stupid phrase from him could easily make everyone upbeat. his cheerfulness spread to everyone around him and mark was loving it.

"are you excited for the party tomorrow?"

mark looked up in confusion. "what party?"

donghyuck gasped and put the cookie cutter down. he seemed surprised with the answer. "i forgot to tell you! chenle's family is huge and by huge, i mean huge. i'm pretty sure one of his aunt's has triplets and.. wait i'm getting sidetracked," he smiled sheepishly before continuing, "they all come here on christmas for a classic zhong get together and it's always a lot of fun."

"oh." mark blinked and glanced down at the soon to be cookies.

"what happened, hubby?" the look in donghyuck's eyes appeared to be filled with sincere and mark felt something weird. he was pretty sure nobody had ever done that before.

"if i'm being honest," he gazed at donghyuck and was met with the same expression again. his heartbeat went crazy at that. "thinking about meeting these new people makes me anxious."

the tanned male tilted his head to the side, making strands of his ash brown hair fall to his eyelids. he made a quick duck face and broke eye contact with mark. "don't feel anxious about anything. i'm here for you."

mark hesitated. "really?" their eyes locked again and donghyuck nodded slowly, but assuringly. "thank you."

"you don't have to thank me bubs."