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..."

"Would get engaged!" Mark's mum finally revealed, throwing her hands up in excitement, yet her face contained nothing but nervousness, scared as to how their kids would react. Mark froze in his seat, the fork in his hand dropping onto the floor, and his jaw hanging wide open.

Donghyuck, on the other hand, remained relaxed, although he had a surprised look on his face, and his cheeks were blossoming a red colour, Donghyuck didn't say anything bad. Instead, he nodded, picked up his fork, and continued eating his food, much to his parents' surprise.

"B-but-" Mark spluttered, seeing as how easily Donghyuck hadn't given in to this engagement, and hoping he could perhaps change their minds. "Me and Donghyuck are just best friends. Nothing else! I can't possibly think of him in that way!"

"Minhyung." Mark's mum had said, a stern expression over his face, and his real name rolling off her tongue in such a manner that it immediately made Mark shut his mouth up and cower in his seat.

(Later that night, when Mark and Donghyuck were sitting on Donghyuck's floor, Mark brought up the topic again, anger lacing his words.

"We can't get married," Mark stated, and he refused to even look at Donghyuck, feeling weird since he had to think about his best friend in such a way. "We're just friends, and our parents need to understand that."

"Oh come on hyung." Donghyuck pleaded, his voice small and quiet, and it sounded as if he was offended. Offended that Mark was so disgusted by the idea of marrying him. "It won't be that bad. Plus, since we're already friends, we won't have much trouble, right?"

Mark didn't reply to him after that, choosing to stare down at his phone, and shooting holes at his wallpaper, which was a picture of Mark and his crush. But that didn't matter anymore.

He then changed the wallpaper to a blank colour.)

"I'll be back from the bathroom." Mark chuckled, getting up from the sofa and walking towards the toilet, praying no one would stop him. By the time he reached the door of the toilet, Mark's phone rang, and he saw that he had gotten a message from Lucas.

lucascas

yo mark im outside ur house ATM

jump out the window or smth

ill catch you ;)

markiess

ill be out in a sec

also, fuck u. i ain't no rapunzel

"Mark hyung?" Donghyuck's voice rang in Mark's ear, and he froze with his hand over the door handle. "Were you going to sneak out?"

"And what if I was?" Mark snapped, turning his head to look at Donghyuck, but immediately regretting it after seeing the hurt expression on the younger's face. "Lucas is waiting for me."

"Wait." Donghyuck sighed, running a hand down his face before stealing a glance at the room behind them, where the others were still laughing and giggling. "I can fake being sick so we go home, and then you can sneak out once your parents go to bed. I'm sure Lucas can wait thirty minutes or so?"

Mark also hates this. He hates how Donghyuck always lets him do whatever the hell he wants without even questioning it, especially after how Mark's treated him since that one night. Donghyuck knows about how Mark sneaks out of lessons to get high. Donghyuck knows about how Mark has already had his first kiss. Donghyuck knows about how Mark's dating Yerim, but he never says anything. He never reminds Mark that they're going to be getting married in two years or so, he never tells Mark to not lead Yerim on, he never even tells Mark that he's hurt by his actions, even though his face shows clearly how he feels. And this all might've been because of what Mark said to him on his first day at high school.

"Okay, lemme text Lucas." Mark answered, letting Donghyuck stumble back into the other room and pretend to be feeling sick and blaming it on the 'cheap local store cakes'. Lucas replied quickly, telling Mark to take his time (because he was currently trying his best to get Renjun, one of their friends, to finally date him).

"Bye-bye," Donghyuck said, taking a step out of the house and waving at the others, the smile on his face gentle, and Mark almost felt bad for basically kicking him out of the house. Keyword: almost.

"I'll hit the bed then." Mark yawned, stretching his arms up and starting his journey up the stairs. His parents didn't pay much mind as they heard the door to Mark's room lock, and then silence.

The last thing Mark remembers from that night is jumping out of his windows, falling into Lucas' arms, getting shoved into a car, and then drilling down on Donghyuck's bed. He doesn't question why he woke up in the younger's arms, or why his clothes were changed, or why he didn't even have the horrible stench of alcohol on him, but he did scramble out of the bed, waking Donghyuck up in the process, and then bolt back to his house as soon as he could.

When he arrived home, his mum asked where he had been, and right after he mentioned Donghyuck's name, her sharp eyes softened and she nodded along, telling him that it was fine.