"You really don't need to call me every night before a test to tell me to sleep," Jaemin smiles to himself when he hears Mark sigh over the call.

"Are you sure about that?" Mark sounds annoyed. "Who almost missed his exam over lack of sleep and exhaustion, hm?"

"Okay, okay. I promise I won't do that again," Jaemin even puts his hand to his chest as he says the words. Mark hums in agreement and starts talking about something else. It's barely past 10 as they continue talking. They hadn't spoken in a while due to Jaemin focusing only on his studies and Mark being busy over discussing his choice of universities with his teacher.

Just thinking about Mark graduating made Jaemin frustrated. They weren't going to have their after-school classes in that classroom on the third floor anymore, neither were they going to be able to see each other when walking around the school. It would probably be a lot emptier without Mark around, even if Jaemin was still surrounded by all of his friends.

"After you graduate," Jaemin says after a few moments of silence pass through. He hears Mark take a deep breath at the mention of next year. "We'll still talk, right?"

"Well," Mark laughs a little. "I don't think we'd be able to stop talking if you come first."

Jaemin's reminded of their deal and immediately reddens at the realisation that he had completely forgotten about it. Mark says a few other things to make him feel even more embarrassed and he quickly ends the call, making up an excuse of having to fall asleep. Just before the call ends he hears Mark mutter a small 'good luck', and that's enough to help Jaemin go to sleep.

-

"Just for today," Jaemin pleas, he even purses his lips and blinks his eyes dramatically. He sees Mark's will waver before he finally gives in and lets Jaemin put the cat ears onto him.

There was a week left till Mark's last exam and there they were, standing in the middle of a bustling crowd, holding cotton candy in one hand, a drink in the other and a matching pair of cat ears stuck on their heads. It was all Jaemin's idea. He had suddenly appeared at Mark's doorstep, tickets to the amusement park a few hours away and a large smile on his face. Despite having the stress of upcoming exams holding him down, Mark agreed to spend the day out but only one. And one day was all Jaemin needed.

"We've gone on almost all the rides at this point," Mark sighs and collapses onto one of the nearby benches. "We've been here for over five hours, when are we going home?"

Smiling at the fact that Mark was still shaking his leg with excitement, Jaemin pointed at the one ride Mark had been trying his best to avoid. "After we ride that one we'll go home, how's that?"

Mark's mouth hangs open and he turns from Jaemin to the rollercoaster and then back. "Jaemin, Jaemin, Jaemin— listen here," Mark grabs his shoulder and pulls him down to eye level. He's glaring and looks like he's ready to hit him, but Jaemin can't help but giggle a little. "You know I'm terrified of roller coasters, and you're suggesting we go on one where we don't have anywhere to put our feet and basically are thrown into the air? What if the screws come loose and we go flying up, huh? What would you do then?"

"Then we'll sue the amusement park," Jaemin answers, practically laughing at this point. "Mark! It's not going to suddenly break down coincidentally when we choose to go on it."

"I'm not going," Mark stomps his feet and sinks lower in his seat. "You can try anything but I will not move my feet, at all!"

Jaemin grabs his arms and tries pulling him, but for some strange reason, Mark's incredibly strong and stands his ground. This goes on for a few more moments before an idea comes to Jaemin's mind, a very silly idea and he knows he probably shouldn't do it, but he gets lost in the spur of the moment and leans forwards, caging Mark between his arms and quickly kissing him on his lips.

Mark's eyes widen in shock and they hear a gasp from a lady passing by on their left. Before Jaemin can say anything, apologise maybe, Mark stands up and slaps Jaemin's arm away. He starts making his way to the exit and Jaemin follows, already sprouting out a string of apologises, only then realising that what he did wasn't the best thing to do.

"We were in public!" Mark exclaims, slapping his hands over his face as he brushes past Jaemin. "You can't do that in public!"

"I'm sorry," Jaemin jogs to keep up with Mark's speed walking. He reaches out and grabs Mark's arm before pulling his away from the crowd and into a more quiet area. "I'm sorry, okay? It was just— I just forgot about how we can't do this kind of stuff in public."

Mark's still avoiding his eyes as Jaemin continues to speak. "What if someone we knew was there and they saw us? What if they told someone else and then slowly everyone else found out? I'm graduating in literally a few weeks, but what about you? You're going to be at the same school for another year!"

"I know!" Jaemin yells and Mark stops speaking. "I know, alright. I know. It's just— I didn't want to hide it. I didn't want to hide what's between us. We should be allowed to do this in public as well, like others."

Mark stares at Jaemin for a second before wrapping his arms around him. "Okay, I get it. You just wanted to be all couple-y in public even though it was stupid." Mark taps his forehead against Jaemin's and softly smiles. "It'll be difficult if someone we knew was to see us like this, I understand what you wanted to do, but we can't," Mark pauses, looks away before turning back. "Does that bother you? Do you want to stop this here because it seems hard to get through?"

"No!" Jaemin pulls Make into a hug, placing his chin on his shoulder and snuggling in close. "I won't give up on you just because I can't kiss you in front of others, or that we can't hold hands."

Mark chuckles and squeezes Jaemin unbelievably closer. "Well, I'm glad you don't regret this."

-

"Two days till your graduation," Jaemin says, tracing his finger around Mark's wrist and then curling it around his pinky. "Two days till you stop walking in the same corridors as me."

"Oh my god," Mark sighs and turns to his side to face Jaemin, his knees knocking against the younger's and they awkwardly position themselves horizontally on Mark's bed. "It's not like it's the end of the world, it's not as if we'll never see each other again."

"Well that isn't impossible either," Jaemin mutters, pouting when Mark rolls his eyes. "You could find yourself another pretty girl at uni, maybe even start tutoring her. Then one day she could end up confessing to you and by then I would've been forgotten."

Mark stares at him with squinted eyes. "Another pretty girl? Do I seem that unfaithful to you?" Before Jaemin can muster up an excuse, or explanation, Mark leans forwards and silences him with a kiss. "Stop being dramatic. I'm only going to be a 30-minute train ride away. We can meet whenever we want."

Jaemin itches to complain even further, but then he catches the look on Mark's face and feels guilt wash over him. He was so busy being upset on his own he forgot that Mark was having it worse than him. Mark was going to be moving to the city, separating with his dad and entering another phase of his life on his own. Jaemin still had a year till then.

"Let's call every once in a while," Jaemin says, smiling when he felt Mark shuffle around in confusion.

"Only once in a while?" Mark looks at him with a raised eyebrow and Jaemin reaches over to pinch it.

He nods and then pokes Mark's cheek. "They say absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"But then the rest of me will feel lonely." They stare at each other before bursting into laughter.

"It's been about almost a year since we met," Jaemin states once they've calmed down and finally started making their way downstairs. With the absence of Mark's dad, they found it easier to act casually in his house. At Jaemin's, he had to constantly hide Mark from his siblings, since they seemed to take a great liking towards him.

"Mhm," Mark pushes Jaemin away from himself with a small giggle. "And almost a year since you called my hands interesting."

"Please forget that!"

-

"So?" Mark asks over the phone, the excitement in his voice almost on par with how Jaemin felt when he ran out of his house in the morning to get to school and see the results. "What did you get?"

Jaemin takes a deep breath and holds his hand over his chest, his cheeks heating up at how giddy he felt. "Just as you expected," Jaemin smiles and glances over his shoulder to the large crowd near the results board, the sight of his name at the top making his smile even bigger. "I came first."

He hears Mark sighing out of relief before he suddenly yells into the mic. "Congrats! I'm so proud of you, you worked really hard to get it. Now just remember to work this hard for next year."

"Next year?" Jaemin pauses and looks up to see Mark standing by the gates.

"I couldn't wait," Mark chuckles nervously, ending the call and closing the distance between them. I felt anxious at home waiting for you."

Jaemin takes his hand and drags him into a more secluded area before pulling him into a tight embrace and sighing. "I'm happy to see you here, Mark. But what did you mean by next year?"

Mark hums and pretends to think about it. "Didn't you say that getting tutored by me distracts you, then shouldn't we think of a reward for next year so that you concentrate better?"

Jaemin gapes at Mark before laughing. "Oh my god, you'll tutor me next year as well?" Jaemin hugs Mark tighter than before. "Well let me say thank you in advance, please take care of me next year as well."

"I will," Mark replies with this fondness in his voice it makes the hairs on Jaemin's skin rise. "But only on one condition."

"Condition? What is it?"

"You must call me Hyung," Mark demands so seriously it almost cracks Jaemin up.

"Just call you Hyung? That's all you want from me?" Jaemin questions. Donghyuck had already been calling him Hyung so Jaemin had assumed it held no special value for him.

"Yeah," Mark beams and then happily grabs Jaemin's hands. "I searched up what people use to call their lovers and one of them was Hyung."

"Alright, alright," Jaemin holds a hand up to block Mark's smile because of how happy he looked. "I'll say it." Jaemin brings his hand up to Mark's cheek and slowly pulls him closer, leaning over to his ear to whisper, "Take care of me now, Mark Hyung."

They stay like that for a while in silence, none of them moves. Jaemin feels a little scared, worried that if he pulls away he'll see that Mark didn't seem too happy with the way he said it, and that was a sight he didn't want to see. Hesitantly, Jaemin slides his hand down from Mark's cheek and onto his neck before pulling away to get a look on his face, and he loses all thoughts about regretting it.

Mark was looking at him with comically wide eyes and flaming cheeks. He opens his mouth to say something and looks like a fish for a few moments. Then he slowly takes a deep breath and gently smiles at Jaemin.

"I think we should put off the endearments for now, yeah?"