(*As per request, some of you said that you would like to see a sequel to this. I'm not sure what sequel material would have been appropriate for another story, so instead I decided to just write a little epilogue :) *)
Mark shoved his keys into the wooden door, pushing it open. A cool breeze hit his skin, his eyes immediately attracted to the figure carrying a stack of bins across the room.
He smiled as soon as he laid his eyes on Jackson, working hard in a tank-top and shorts at such an early time in the morning.
Jackson glanced over at him as soon as he closed the door behind him, setting down the boxes just seconds after. He stood up straight, wiping some sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Babe, I told you to come later."
Mark hummed as he stepped closer. "Yeah I know, but do I ever listen?"
Jackson shook his head, reaching out for Mark's waist and tugging him close. He pressed a kiss to his forehead before pulling away. "It's too early, you need your beauty sleep. Go lay down."
"How else will all this work get done though?" Mark retorted as he took a few more steps into the box filled apartment. He glanced down a long hallway to the main bedroom, brows rising at the bed frame that had been already put together. "You have the bedroom set up already?"
"It's... coming along." Jackson replied in a heavy breath. "I'm setting up the bigger pieces of furniture so I could have places to put the smaller things."
"Then I'm glad I came early, I'll help."
Jackson knew he couldn't stop Mark no matter what argument he put up. He chuckled as he watched Mark walk off to dig into a random box before turning away and finding his own container of things to look through.
As soon as he opened a nearby box, sitting right on top of the stuff packed inside was a framed memory. "Hey, look what was in this box."
Mark turned, a smile immediately climbing to his face. "We're so cute."
It was a picture of the four of them; Jackson, Mark, Jinyoung, and Jaebeom, all except for Jinyoung clad blue caps and gowns. Engraved in the frame was their graduating class year, which reminded Mark that Jinyoung's graduation was coming up soon, and they all agreed to be there for him.
They were all beaming in the picture taken by Jackson's mom, either happy that their long four year journey was coming to a close, or happy for their friends and looking forward to their own special day of accomplishment.
"You're still cute." Jackson commented as he looked between the Mark then and the Mark now. Not much had changed, but graduating school just naturally gives one a more mature look.
"Shut up dummy, you're cuter." Mark retorted through bashful giggles. It was the same when he looked at Jackson; he was still that same adorably annoying boy he met toward the end of his freshman year, just a bit older now.
"I remember a time when you wouldn't even dare say anything like that to me." Jackson stated.
"That was then." Mark replied, shaking his head at how childish he used to be. He took the picture and set it aside, grabbing Jackson's hands in replacement. "This is now. And I love now."
"I love both, 'cuz I love you."
The elder blushed, more giggles escaping him. "You're crazy to love me. Crazier back then, than you were now."
"So were you? Besides, that picture was just a year ago, we're still as crazy as we were then now."
Mark couldn't argue that point, as all of them were still a bit childish in some ways. Though there was always something that always made him feel grown up; when he looked down at his fingers and sees the shiny silver ring upon it, especially when he can see the one Jackson is wearing too; he feels like he was preparing for probably the most adult thing that's ever gonna happen to him in just a few months.
"You're insane for proposing to me." he mumbled while looking down at their rings, smiling at how beautiful they looked together. After getting proposed to, he insisted that Jackson got a matching engagement ring himself so he could see how perfectly their hands fit together, and though it was a bit expensive, he did not regret the decision at all.
"Oh isn't there a picture of it that Jaebum took?" Jackson asked, glancing back at the box he had found their graduation picture in to see if he could spot it.
Mark shook his head, chuckling at the memory. "There's a billion pictures of it, I mean we're in the background of random people's graduation photos."
"Tell me it wasn't the best day of your life? Graduating in the morning, getting proposed to right after it in the afternoon, making love in the evening--"
"Yes it was the best day of my entire life and I'm so glad I spent it with you. Will let me live the embarrassment down now?"
"For now I will, but I'll never let you forget it." Jackson smiled as he pulled away from Mark to unpack some more boxes, the elder drifting after him to see what else he digs up from their stuff. "Oh hey, you know Jinyoung met someone?"
"Someone like who?"
"Someone like a cute boy he wants us to meet."
Mark brows rose in surprise. "Seriously? I thought he wasn't exactly the dating type."
"He wasn't, his plan was just to make good friends and finish his studies." Jackson pulled out a tiny foot stool, handing it off to Mark who placed it down out of the way, "But one of his 'friends' he made ended up getting a bit closer..."
Mark tried to think of who it could be, gasping when he thought of someone. "Don't tell me it's Jaebum..."
"No, they're like siblings. And Jaebeom's dating that guy uh... Youngjae, remember?"
"Right, I forgot." Mark had thought that Jaebeom and Jinyoung would surely end up together, but he supposed that not everyone happens to fall for their roommate. "Well, that's good for him."
Jackson nodded in agreement. "Yeah though he says they fight like Tom and Jerry, but it never gets serious. That's what they love about one another, always an entertaining challenge."
Mark chuckled at the phrasing; it sounded quite familiar. "Was I an entertaining challenge?"
Jackson put unpacking the boxes on hold, turning around to face his fiancee. "You were the one thing I've worked the hardest for in my entire life. Granted, you could've made it easier and just confessed from the start..."
"I'm not an easy catch." He retorted.
"No you're not." Jackson reached out and pulled the elder closer, holding him tight by the waist. "But that just means that anyone else who wants you would have to work twice as hard to pull you away from me."
Mark hummed, jutting his lips forward to accept the kiss Jackson bestowed upon him. He loved how his heart still fluttered for this man, shamelessly attracted to the one person he thought was the most annoying. Now, all he could think about was how grateful he was to have him, and how happy they made one another.
He wasn't surprised to feel Jackson's lips drift from his own and travel down his neck, as too much kissing and intimacy always got him excited. Mark always tried to resist him, but there was a point in time where he resisted Jackson too long, and now he was making up for it.
"Hey, we still gotta unpack..." Me mumbled, yet at the same time tilting his head to display his neck better for the elder.
"That can wait." The other replied, his hands sneakily slipping under the elder's shirt as his lips appreciated every bit of skin they could find. "I wanna do it in every room of our apartment. Sort of like how dogs pee everywhere to claim their territory, except it won't be pee that gets everywhere..."
"Jackson~" Mark giggled as his arms slid around the younger's neck, squeezing him tight with no intent of letting go. "I love you."
And that all it took for Mark to be tackled to the floor to be wrecked in a fit of laughter and showers of affection.
<3
