#m:f

you shake your head, blinking your dry eyes a few times in an attempt to keep yourself alert. although you're very much enjoying jisung's story time, you can't control your eyelids that are gradually getting heavier and heavier.

mark notices the small change in your smile - yes, you are still very much in a good mood, but he can tell that you're tired. he shimmies himself a little closer to you, whispering in your ear, "tired?"

you turn to him, your smile a little wider than before. "a little," you admit. mark crosses his legs, tapping gently on his left thigh, "want to rest?" he offers.

nodding your head, you lean into the floor, resting your head against mark's leg. he shifts a little, doing his best to ensure that you're comfortable. "goodnight," he whispers, pressing a soft peck to the side of your head.

you close your eyes, jisung's loud and excited voice still going on about how he saw a dog on the street playing with a bird. you didn't really mind the noise from the reactions and conversation between the guys, since it did serve as white noise for you to fall asleep to.

but then, suddenly, you feel mark's cold hand cupping your ear. you keep your eyes closed, and you don't move.

mark looks down at you, a small smile plastered on his face. he doesn't want his noisy members to disturb your sleep.

a good year into your relationship and yet, the smallest gestures he does still makes the same set of butterflies from a year ago, flutter about in your stomach.

you'd think this is the sweetest he can be, but mark always surpasses your expectations.

you feel and hear the vibration of his phone, indicating an incoming call. mark looks at the caller id, then looks back at you. he needs to answer the call, so with his free hand, he reaches for your limp arm, gently raising it by your wrist. he removes the hand he had cupped over your ear, and places your own palm over your head. you hear his muffled, "hello?"

you try to hold back a giggle, knowing fully well how red and shy he'd get if he knew you are awake through all of this. he ends the call quickly, and once you hear him say, "okay, bye," your hand is removed and replaced by his hand, once again.

unable to hold yourself back anymore, you open your eyes to see him staring down at you, his loving gaze shifting into a questioning one.

you press 'send', watching as the 'delivered' changes to 'read' almost immediately. you lock your phone, dropping it back into the little cubby you always put it in when you're driving. you tap your finger on the steering wheel, humming to the new song you've had on repeat for the last few days.

your eyes scan the somewhat familiar surroundings - usually, your boyfriend was the one who'd drive to your neighbourhood to pick you up for date nights, but you decided that you should be the one to drive him every once in a while.

you continue to look around, until something, or rather, someone, catches your eye in your side view mirror. the ends of your lips immediately tug upwards into a smile, watching as mark spots your car.

you see the way his expression immediately brightens up, a shy, excited smile decorating his pretty face. his footsteps quicken, and you swear you see him skip in excitement. you let out a giggle - your boyfriend is so adorable.

as he gets closer to your car, you see him stop for a moment. you raise your brows, tilting your head as you try to get a better view of what he's doing. you see mark taking in a deep breath, his fingers coming together in a gesture as though he's removing all displays of excitement from his face.

is he trying to act like he isn't excited to see you?

he opens the door to the passenger seat, getting in to your car. you tilt your head, eyeing him curiously. he greets you with a simple, obviously well thought out, "'sup."

you blink your eyes twice, staring at him with a blank expression. he returns the eye contact, raising both brows. "what?" he says.

you burst out into a hearty chuckle, leaving mark even more confused.

"what?" he asks once more, his voice accidentally cracking, causing you to chuckle even harder.

"why are you trying to act like you're cool?" you question, calming yourself down.

"what are you talking about?" he tosses back.

"i saw everything," you say, giving the sweetest smile that never fails to make flowers bloom around you in mark's point of view. "and i think you're so cute," you whisper, pulling mark towards you by his hoodie, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

you turn to face forward, starting the car back up, leaving mark all smiley as he pulls his hood over his head, hiding his burning cheeks from your line of vision.

"but you think i'm cool though, right?" he asks as you turn out onto the main street.

“i’ll be quick,” you say, grabbing a shopping basket, hooking it over your left arm. mark nods his head, notifying, “okay, i guess i’ll just look around?” you smile, shooing him away as you begin to hunt for all the art supplies you need.

mark takes his time as he roams around the crafts supplies store, eventually finding himself in the home decor section. it had all sorts of photo frames, fake plants, pretty paintings; what catches his eye, though, are the beautiful embroidered pieces. there are embroidered animals, embroidered cartoon characters, but only one particular piece sparks his interest.

with a wide, toothy grin he grabs it, and makes sure to grab a plastic rose, before making his way towards you.

“babe,” he calls.

you hum in response, turning around only to burst out in a fit of giggly laughter, and mark does the same. “you’re such a dork,” you manage out between giggles.

"the rescue team will be arriving in another 20 minutes," the staff informs through the speaker system.

you glance over at mark, who has been oddly quiet ever since the elevator stalled. he's staring mindlessly at the elevator doors, so you place a hand on his arm, to get his attention. he turns to look at you.

"are you scared?" you ask, trying to read his expression. he doesn't say anything, but his wide-eyes and pale lips are already telling enough of how he feels.

shifting your hand down, you place a gentle hold on mark's hand. "it's okay," you tell him, "they'll be here soon," you reassure, trying to ignore the racing of your heart, and the heat that is beginning to overwhelm you.

you like mark, like, a lot. but cross your heart, you're purely trying to comfort him; there are no ulterior motives involved.

but then, when mark suddenly changes the position of your hands, to interlace his fingers with yours, you feel your heartbeat and breath stop for two solid seconds. you tense up, swallowing. but you're not really given a chance to overthink the situation - the elevator jerks, and in one swift motion, mark pulls you into his embrace. you scrunch the sleeve of his shirt, panting a little from the shock.

"are you okay?" he asks, scanning your face to ensure that you're okay.

"yeah," you manage out, quickly avoiding eye contact before you combust from the heat.

mark reaches for your hand again, interlocking your fingers. "let's just remain like this until they come," he says, pulling you close to his side. you nod your head, pursing your lips as you try to supress the fluttering in your heart.

[12:21]

you hug your knees to your chest, resting your chin atop your knees.

“y/n?” mark calls, entering the room. he sees you sitting by the corner, lost in thought. he sighs, moving towards you. he sits himself down beside you, crossing his legs. he picks at his fingers, trying to think of the most appropriate way to start the conversation. he decides it’d be best to go with, “is everything okay?”

you swallow, your eyes long dry from all the tears you’ve spent the entire day crying. you’re practically numb right now. mark bites on the inside of his lips, unsure of what to do next in response to your silence.

“should i tell you something funny?” he asks, turning to look at your expression. subtly, you nod your head. “let me think,” he hums, trying to think of a decently funny anecdote.

“someone once told me that i’m so cute, they want to bite my cheeks,” he shares, already giggling at the thought of the memory. you furrow your brows, turning to look at him. “what’s so funny about that?” you ask.

“i just thought it was so weird that someone would say that. turns out, it’s an actual thing. it’s called cute aggression,” he explains, reaching a hand out to pinch your right cheek. you frown, confused. “just like how whenever i see you, i get so overwhelmed with how cute you are, that i want to pinch your cheeks,” he says, smiling wide.

for the first time today, you feel the urge to smile, but you hold it in, just to tease mark a little.

“you can’t keep doing this,” you tell him, trying your best to keep both your expression and tone as serious as possible. mark’s grip on your cheek slowly releases, his doe-eyes widening in slight confusion. “sorry, i didn’t mean to,” he murmurs, retracting his hand. “i swear it won’t happen again,” he says, traces of his smile completely gone. you purse your lips to hold in your smile, purposefully rolling your eyes in an attempt to convince mark that you’re annoyed with him.

he blinks a few times, picking at his fingers once more, before finally speaking up.

“do you want me to leave?” he asks, gesturing towards the door.

“i meant, you can’t keep making my heart flutter like this,” you finally say, lips tugging into a real smile. mark heaves a sigh of relief, holding a hand to his heart, “thank goodness, i thought i did something wrong,” he says.

you lean forward, stunning him with a peck on his cheek.

"mark, is the cake ready?" you call out, looking through the paper bag to ensure that you've prepared the candles and lighter that'll be essential for the surprise later. there's no answer from your boyfriend. "mark?" you call a second time.

huffing, you grab the bag of tools, making your way to the kitchen. "mark?" you call once more. mark is standing by the kitchen aisle, eyes fixed on the box, which you assume contains the cake he had ordered online (for the first time), in front of him. you raise a brow, "what are you staring at?"

joining mark, you look at the cake through the transparent lid of the cake box. you stifle a laugh - handwritten in purple icing, on the top of your friend's birthday cake, are the words 'will be collected by mark lee'. you avert your attention to mark, who is still staring at the cake with a blank expression. "what happened?" you ask, biting down on your bottom lip to suppress your laughter.

"there was a box to key in a message at checkout," he begins, finally tearing his eyes away from the cake, to meet your eyes. "i thought they were asking if i had a message for them. i didn't know it meant the message i want to put on the cake," he says, brows knitting, lips slightly pouty, eyes telling of how disappointed he is. you purse your lips; you feel your heart swell at the sight of how cute mark's expression is.