ɪ sᴀʏ ɪᴛ ᴅᴏᴇsɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ (ʙᴜᴛ ɪᴛ's ᴋɪʟʟɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ)

1 || ᴀ ғʟᴏᴡᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴅᴇғɪɴɪᴛᴇʟʏ ᴡɪʟᴛᴇᴅ

Mark hated this. He hated the way his parents looked at him expectantly, urging him to turn to his left, and then joke around with Donghyuck. Out of every human being on the world (and there are just so many to choose from), his parents had to decide that Mark would marry their best friend's son because that arranged marriage shit was still a thing, apparently. He also hated the way Donghyuck let out a chuckle at Mark's mums comment about how they would look great together, and way Donghyuck brings a hand to cover the bottom half of his face (conscious about how he looks when he laughs, even though he looks alright in Mark's opinion, only alright), and how Donghyuck says, "Oh auntie, don't tease Mark, he already looks enough like a tomato", which he does. But it's not because of the teasing he's receiving (he's already immune to it at this point, 4 years of teasing has been more than enough hell for him), it's because Mark is fuming.

He's fuming because he doesn't want to be here, in the middle of his living room, the walls decorated in some cheap birthday party strings, and a cake on the table. The people surrounding him might've brought a smile to his face a few years ago (keyword: few fucking years ago), but that isn't the case now. What Mark really wanted to do on his sixteenth birthday, was to go out with Yukhei, finally visiting the club they had discovered downtown which allowed people in without IDs (and although it was illegal, Mark just loved the thrill of doing something dangerous).

Yet here he was, squashed between the arm of the sofa, and Donghyuck. He doesn't hate Donghyuck (well, he does), but the boy is so annoying. He's always laughing his head off, cracking stupid jokes, that definitely don't make Mark crack up from time to time. Donghyuck's also got this horrible habit of joining in with the teasing their parents do, turning to face Mark and telling him that he can't wait until they get married and Donghyuck finally gets the chance to slap Mark awake.

It's weird. He had assumed that Donghyuck would be against this arrangement, especially since the two were such close friends, always attached by the hips ever since birth, but only as friends. Then when the two turned 10 and Mark hurried home, eager to tell his parents that he had nearly had his first kiss (because he was that one kid who tells his parents everything), his parents exchanged looks, a little nervous before kneeling down beside him.

"Mark sweetie, you can't kiss anyone." They said giving him strange looks, which he now knows was their way to stop him from doing something they didn't approve of. At first, Mark wanted to ask them why he wasn't allowed, he had seen so many kids his age randomly getting kisses on their cheeks from cute girls in other classes, but ended up not questioning them, choosing to become that one guy in class that dodged kisses, as weird as it seemed.

They were 12 when Mark found out he was engaged to his best friend. His family was over at Donghyuck's and they were talking about how they were going to be spending the summer, thinking about going out to the beach. That's when Donghyuck brought up the subject of how Mark was so popular at school.

"You are?" Mark's own mum asked, confused that her son could even get popular at school, although it shouldn't be quite surprising because he was so good as socialising, and had his ways with making people's heart flutter.

"He is!" Donghyuck giggled, nudging Mark, who only gave him a shy smile, before turning to his parents, who had a disapproving look. "He's so well known in our year! All the girls have been trying to ask Mark hyung out."

"Oh." Silence followed that simple word, and Donghyuck didn't know what he had done wrong. All the adults in the room were just stealing glances and clearing their throats from time to time.

"Mark...Donghyuck." Donghyuck's dad, Chanyeol, started, leaning forward and licking his lips nervously. The tension in the room only worsened every second they dragged out this conversation. "When you guys were born," he cleared his throat, earning a grunt from Baekhyun, "We decided that our sons would..."