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Mark was excited.
He was so excited, in fact, that he had slept for a total of only five hours, failing to fall asleep before three in the morning. And even with less sleep than he was used to, Mark had basically jumped out of bed, for the first time not mad at his alarm for waking him.
The first time to ever attend Pride and that along with all of his friends! Which reminded him that their little group was a very interesting match-up, considering no one was straight. Well, birds of a feather flock together, Mark supposed.
He had searched up and down his closet for the most fitting clothes he could find and had ended up with a simple white shirt that sported a small rainbow on the left chest area, and wide shorts as it was pretty hot. With the utmost care, Mark styled his hair up to look a little cooler and it actually ended up not looking half-bad.
Skipping down the stairs, being as loud as he wanted to in singing 'Over the Rainbow' as his parents weren't home, Mark was already imagining how much fun he and the bunch would have. They would be meeting up in a few hours still, but that didn't stop Mark from enjoying himself even now.
Making himself breakfast that consisted of dry cereal because he had forgotten to buy milk like his parents had told him to, Mark hummed under his breath. He'd never been to Pride but his friends had, so they knew a bit more of what to expect but they still always looked excited when talking to Mark about it. And so, Mark couldn't help but get his hopes up, especially considering the stories his friends had told him and the pictures they had shown.
After Mark had eaten breakfast, brushed his teeth and packed a small bag, he made himself ready to leave for his boyfriend's house. They'd be meeting up there first and then proceed to Renjun and Sicheng's as their flat was nearest to where the Parade would be coming through.
Still with a skip in his step, Mark took on the ten minute walk to Donghyuck's house, triple-checking whether he had everything and had locked the door.
He arrived at Donghyuck's after about six minutes. The other boy's parents also weren't home and so, Mark didn't feel bad for spamming the doorbell, knowing Donghyuck was most definitely already up.
Donghyuck opened the door a few seconds after Mark stopped aggressively punching the button, clad in a rainbow tank top and tight leather pants that made Mark wonder if he wasn't feeling hot. The younger boy's flaming red hair was being held back from falling into his eyes by a headband and it looked like he already had basic make-up on.
Now, instead of greeting his boyfriend like any other person would, Donghyuck looked Mark up and down, scowled, and inquired, “Mark are you being serious right now?”
Mark furrowed his brows and patted himself down. Had he forgotten something Donghyuck had asked him to bring?
Nope, bag with drinks and snacks was right there. His hair was styled and his clothes looked better on him than Mark would have ever imagined himself to look.
“What's wrong?” he asked, eyebrows still furrowed, Donghyuck taking his hand off the door knob to gesture up and down at Mark.
“You look like a fucking plain-ass straight trying to blend in. This is the reason none of us thought you belonged to us. How can you dress like this even for Pride?”
Offended, Mark huffed. It wasn't exactly his fault he didn't have colourful clothes and he didn't know the next thing about fashion.
Donghyuck sighed and grabbed Mark's wrist, pulling him into the house. Mark barely managed to slam the door shut and kick off his shoes somewhere near the entrance, stumbling after Donghyuck like a newborn lamb. Without heeding Mark's struggles, Donghyuck pulled him into his room that was definitely more messy than Mark was used to. There was clothes strewn around everywhere and Donghyuck's make-up utensils were hapharzardly lying on his dressing table like someone had just thrown them there.
“I can't do anything about your clothes, and don't get me wrong, you'd look great on any other day but today you have to be even more obvious, more extra. Okay, I admit I don't look that extra either but, come on. I definitely have to try to make you seem way less like you don't belong,” Donghyuck said, almost throwing Mark into the seat, causing him to swirl in it a bit.
It wasn't like Mark particularly had anything against that idea, especially since it probably involved getting make-up of some sort done and he did enjoy that from time to time, but there still was one problem.
Mark turned to Donghyuck, who was already sorting through his make-up stuff, and pouted, “So I don't even get a kiss anymore? Ah, life is so cruel, my boyfriend doesn't love me anym-”
Mark was cut off by a pair of chemically cherry tasting lips and responded for a second before pulling back sputtering, trying to get the taste out of his mouth. Donghyuck, however, only grinned and leaned closer again, puckering his lips and making kissy sounds.
“Come here, baby,” he said in between, placing kisses anywhere he could on Mark who was desperately trying to keep his boyfriend away from him. “I'll give you the kisses you asked for, don't distance yourself. Come on.”
“No! Stay away from me, I'm gonna die if I keep tasting that!”
“You wanted this! You brought this upon yourself.”
“Okay, sorry, sorry. I don't want any kisses anymore, please.”
Donghyuck leaned back with a smug smile on his face and leaving Mark's face to feel awfully sticky. Making a face, Mark wiped at his cheeks, chin and nose, asking, “What'd you even put on? Lipgloss or something?”
“Yep,” Donghyuck responded, already rummaging through his drawers. With a tiny aha he pulled out a make-up pallette and those pencils that were meant to be used on skin.
“Do you want eye make-up? You'd even have the honour of choosing which colours you want.”
“I'll take the make-up but please don't make me choose anything.”
Donghyuck hummed, wiped his mouth with his hand and leaned down to kiss Mark properly this time. He didn't taste like chemicals anymore and Mark was more than happy to indulge his boyfriend for a little while, their lips moving against each other.
When Donghyuck pulled away, he made direct eye-contact with Mark and smirked.
“Not making you choose anything represents the entire reason you're going to pride with us.”
Mark rolled his eyes and slapped Donghyuck's shoulder. He supposed the younger wasn't exactly wrong but that didn't mean be had to verbally agree to what he had said.
After a few more pecks, Donghyuck got to applying Mark's eyeshadow, complaining about how his skin was perfect and life was unfair but Mark only sat in front of him and smiled, the hand he had placed on Donghyuck's knee, caressing it softly.
Using the same palette for his own make-up when Donghyuck was done with Mark's, the younger boy put on such bright colours, Mark felt like he'd be able to see him from far away. With a grin, and because he wanted to mess with Donghyuck a little since he'd messed with him first, Mark slid his hand up Donghyuck's inner thigh and slipped his hand under Donghyuck's tank top.
Donghyuck startled, his head whipping around to look at Mark, the older boy only giving him a cheeky grin.
“Fuck, Babe,” he swore, holding a hand to his chest and taking a deep breath. “You can't do that, what if I stabbed my eye out with a brush? What would you do then, huh?”
Mark shrugged, grin still in place as he knew fully well Donghyuck tended to rip his hands away from him when he got startled, especially when he was holding something. Still, Mark hoped to placate his boyfriend with a kiss and a gentle squeeze to his belly before he put his hand on Donghyuck's knee again.
Donghyuck pouted but Mark could see the corners of his lips quirk up. Clearing his throat, Donghyuck got back to work, constantly complaining about this and that under his breath, though Mark guessed it was less complaining than it was whining but Donghyuck was really cute when he did that so Mark just sat obediently and watched his boyfriend work, feeling himself fall deeper every single second.
Even when Donghyuck was done with his make-up and got to painting the flags onto Mark's cheeks, Mark finally being able to look at his boyfriend upfront as he worked and internally cooing at the way he stuck his tongue out just a little, Donghyuck complained from time to time. This time not because of Mark's actions, though.
“Why couldn't you have been aro. I could've painted two flags then and no one would've complained. But no, you had to be bi, making my live so much more difficult. And before you say anything, no I can't just paint the ace and the bi flag because that's not the right way.”
“Mh, but if I was aro, I doubt we would be together right now. So it's better, no?”
Donghyuck only grumbled something Mark didn't catch and continued his work with a pout.
It had taken Mark years to find an expression that he thought perfectly fit him, something that had bothered him since the early years of being a teenager. In the end, he had settled on asexual and biromantic, the most comfortable combination he could call himself. As soon as he had found it, he had come out to his friends as almost all of them had been out at that point, and a few months later to his parents. During that time, Donghyuck had also had the courage to ask Mark out and now they were going strong with two years of being in a relationship under their belts.
Mark offered to paint Donghyuck's flags for him as he was confident, he could at least do that much and Donghyuck agreed.
It ended up looking a little wonky but Mark insisted it was supposed to look that way and Donghyuck shouldn't care about it being straight anyways which earned him a flick to his forehead. It seemed like Donghyuck still wasn't done though, pulling out a whole glass of glitter, dumping some on his hand and spreading it in his hair by raking his hand through it.
He then proceeded to tell Mark to do the same before taking even more glitter for himself.
“Isn't that a bit much? I mean, your eyes are already popping, you're gonna be a disco ball if you put any more glitter,” Mark remarked, raising an eyebrow. Donghyuck only glanced at him through the mirror and shrugged.
Sighing, Mark eyed the glitter, afraid he's somehow manage to spill all of it in one go which wouldn't be a surprise if he was being honest.
In the end, he got up anyways, following Donghyuck's example of putting the glitter in his hand, though it was way less than the younger boy had used, and applying it to his hair that way.
Donghyuck bumped their hips together and smiled at Mark through the mirror before explaining, “Jaemin's gonna be decked out in glitter and I'm not gonna lose to him.”
“Oh,” Mark said, trying to speak and concentrate on glittering his hair up at the same time, “is it a 'he day' today?”
Donghyuck nodded, ruffling his hair one last time before stepping back from the mirror and answering, “Yeah, mostly. He called earlier to let me know he was leaning more towards that today but also to falsely accuse me of not being able to one-up him today.”
Mark laughed and shook his head, spreading the residue glitter on his arms as to not have it accumulate on his hand.
“He's gonna be more of a disco ball than you then.”
Mark hadn't thought 'decked out in glitter' was actually going to be just that but Jaemin really did look like someone had just dumped a truckload of glitter on him and he hadn't done anything about it. What was astonishing was that it didn't even look bad, his freshly white-dyed hair gleaming under the sunlight with how much glitter was in it, and his skin only slightly hurting Mark's eyes when the sun reflected on it at the right angle.
“And here I thought I'd finally get here before you guys,” Donghyuck said, pinching both Jaemin and Jeno's cheeks, only the latter whining about it. Jaemin, however, only grinned and replied, “But at least you're arriving together with us today. I'm pretty sure you have your boyfriend to thank for that.”
Donghyuck stuck his tongue out at Jaemin and pulled Mark with him as he overtook their friends with Renjun and Sicheng's flat already in sight.
Renjun was standing outside of the house, smiling as they spotted them walk over.
“Sicheng lost a ring and he's using the time until Jaehyun shows up to find it. I was send out here to be on look-out. And honestly, I'm not going back in, that's too much back and forth, so you're gonna have to suffer out here with me.”
Mark nodded, Donghyuck nodded, Jeno nodded, Jaemin flung himself at Renjun in an attempt of smothering them with love. Renjun skillfully dodged, successfully avoiding being stained with glitter. Jaemin whined in response, complaining that Renjun didn't love him anymore. They still didn't allow him to hug them though.
“You look good today, Mark,” Jeno complimented the elder amongst the chaos and Mark smiled at him, about to answer when Donghyuck laid a hand on his shoulder.
Pulling his boyfriend close, Donghyuck spoke, “He looked plain as fuck when he showed up at my doorstep so I upgraded him a little bit.”
Mark scowled, eyeing Renjun's dark blue shirt and black ripped jeans, a single non-binary flag coloured wristband adorning their forearm.
“This fucker is even more plain than me and no one is complaining!” he exclaimed.
Renjun only made a peace sign, waved it up and down and went, “Gang gang.”
Mark glared at them.
“The kids are fighting!” someone shouted from behind and everyone who wasn't already facing that direction turned to find Guanheng and Jaehyun approaching them with matching grins.
Before anyone could respond, Renjun told Jaehyun to go in and fetch his boyfriend and Guanheng to keep his mouth shut if he wanted to live for another day. Both of them obliged, Jaehyun making use of his spare key and Guanheng opting to grinning constantly instead of speaking.
“Alright, kids, let's go,” Sicheng cut off any and all conversation when he stepped out, hand in hand with Jaehyun. “And I dare any of you to leave my side. You don't wanna know what's gonna happen when you escape my field of vision unannounced.”
Mark found, much like he had anticipated, that Pride was awesome. While it was colourful and festive, it also remembered the hardships of LGBTQ people and it was somehow balanced out in a way that didn't make the whole thing depressing or too ignorant.
The park near Renjun and Sicheng's place served as some kind of Pride-themed Carnival place, their group splitting from the march to spend their time there. Everyone told Sicheng where they were going to go and Sicheng told them to call if they planned on going anywhere else.
Donghyuck dragged Mark over to some kind of mini rollercoaster, denying Mark's request of visiting one of those information booths, saying they should have fun first, then be serious, and then have fun again. Mark complied but he still almost vomited when they got off the ride.
Afterwards, everything was kind of in a flurry, the only thing that really stuck in Mark's memory clearly being Donghyuck's laugh and the excitement his boyfriend dragged him around with in between masses upon masses of different colours and flags.
The music was loud and varied in places, different songs sometimes overlapping with each other.
Mark and Donghyuck couldn't help but to try everything they saw that was edible, stuffing themselves with rainbow-coloured cotton candy, sprinkled crêpes, heartshaped burgers. Between their food adventures, they played different games and read different informational pamphlets, stuffing them all into Mark's bag, only then remembering that they had brought snacks themselves. They silently agreed that they'd pretend they hadn't seen them.
In the abundance of colours and smells and tastes and sounds, Mark's eyes and ears were all over the place. He almost hurled from sensory overload.
“That was fun,” Donghyuck declared when they were back at his. Mark, exhausted and glittering like the vampires in Twilight since he had lost a game and the punishment had been two buckets full off glitter being dumped on him, only huffed in response and barely restrained himself from falling face first into Donghyuck's bed.
“Can I glitter up your bedsheets?” he asked, hands already on the hem of his shirt in case Donghyuck said no. Donghyuck, however nodded, pressing a quick kiss onto Mark's lips before the elder picked up the stray clothes on the bed, threw them away and fell down on the bed.
Donghyuck made himself comfortable next to Mark soon after, not as glittery as Mark but glittery enough to have had to listen to Renjun's teasing. Mark wiggled himself up the bed and settled his arm over Donghyuck's waist, leaning in to kiss him. With a hum, Donghyuck reciprocated, placing his hand in Mark's hair.
“Let's go there alone some time,” Mark whispered against Donghyuck's lips, “I don't wanna call Sicheng every few minutes just because I wanna go somewhere else.”
Donghyuck agreed, kissing Mark once more before snuggling up to him. Thankfully, it hadn't been too hot during the day, so Mark felt comfortable with his boyfriend settling against him.
“Happy Pride Month,” Donghyuck mumbled, his eyes closed. “I love you just the way you are.”
Mark chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to the crown of his boyfriend's head.
“Happy Pride. I love you even though you're annoying- ow.”
“Deserved,” Donghyuck grumbled, pinching Mark's side once more before sighing and leaning down to kiss it. “We can't be mean to each other during June.”
“But you were mean to me just earlier. Actually, you've been mean to me the whole month.”
“You just imagined that. I'd never be mean to you. In fact, I have a notebook where I wrote down every single time you said something mean to me-”
“Shut up, you dumbass.”
“I love you.”
Mark sighed and didn't respond. Donghyuck hated it when Mark didn't respond and he became really cute then so Mark liked to do it from time to time.
As expected, Donghyuck whined, prodding at Mark with his finger. He leaned his head even against Mark's shoulder and looked up at him with puppy eyes, so very cutely whining, “Aah~. Mark, come on, say it back. Mark, baby, sugar puff, honey, darling, uuuh, fuckin', uh, baby. Not, wait, I said that already. Uh, love, sweet...heart.”
Mark could see Donghyuck cringing at his own words but it didn't look like he'd stop any time soon if Mark didn't respond and the elder didn't want to torture them both any longer.
“Fine. I love you, too. Annoying baby.”
“Your annoying baby.”
“I wish I'd never met you.”