Chapter 26: The Domestic Life
Two heads of hair stuck up from the top of the blanket. One, a warm brown with short curls close to the scalp, the other, a near-black with the softest of waves. A groan sounded from the second head and the boy who owned it lifted his head to look around the room. Seeing that he wasn't sleeping in his room or his bed, Mark turned back to the first boy, a soft smile on his face as he looked at Mason. With a great amount of care, Mark carefully moved closer to Mason and placed a light kiss on his forehead.
Then, he laid there, taking in Mason's soft expression along with the quiet sound of his breathing. Mason looked like an Angel, the curls of his hair highlighting the rounded shape of his jaw, nose, and lips. Watching Mason look so peaceful, Mark acknowledged that this feeling of being around him was like sunlight finally touching your skin after months of cold winter. The first rush of air after being trapped underwater. It was perfect. It was home.
Mark planted two more kisses on Mason's cheeks with a wide smile.
He'd been seriously worried that starting a sexual relationship with Mason would ruin things. But their bodies were as harmonious as them and it had felt effortless. Even though they hadn't gone all the way, Mark woke up feeling completely sated and very satisfied. He couldn't have hoped for a better friend with benefits.
It didn't take even five minutes for Mason to wake up as if his body was aware of Mark's. And Mason would never forget the feeling he got when he opened his eyes to Mark's lazy smile.
"Good morning." Mark sang, chuckling at the sound of his husky voice. Mason groaned quietly as he stretched out his arms before sighing with a smile.
"Good morning." Mason echoed, sitting up slowly to not hurt his tired head. "How long have you been up?"
"Not long." Was Mark's simple reply. He watched silently from his pillow as Mason stood up and, with no clothes on, made to leave open the door. "Mason?"
"Yeah?" Mason mumbled, turning around to look at Mark. Then, Mason's brain suddenly became aware enough to notice all the light brown skin he had on display. Eyes growing incredibly wide, Mason gasped. Mark laughed when Mason's hands flew to his crotch, trying and failing to cover everything up.
"There's no need to be shy. I literally saw all of you last night." The boy lying on the bed joked, mercilessly teasing his naked friend. Mason didn't seem to share his sentiments and rushed to his closet, hands still glued to his crotch, to search for a pair of pants.
The rest of the morning passed by uneventfully. The two of them had woken up much later than Mason's parents and only had to say some quick goodbyes as they left the house. And then, they had the place to themselves.
A shot of nerves went through Mason when he was faced with that fact. He was painfully aware of Mark's presence, his body humming at any proximity he had to the other man. He unknowingly placed more pressure on himself because of that. He wanted Mark to enjoy being around him. He didn't want Mark to regret choosing him.
Mason's first idea to prevent that frightening outcome was to make some breakfast. He scurried into the kitchen, hearing as Mark slowly followed.
"I'm gonna make breakfast." Mason stated, quickly reaching into the fridge and grabbing some eggs. "Do you want anything?"
Mark went to lean against the kitchen island, eyeing the carton in Mason's hand.
"I would like some of those if you'd make me some."
Mason turned to look back at Mark and smiled at the excited look in his eyes. This man really enjoyed his food.
"Of course."
Mason took out a pan and dropped some butter onto it before turning back to the fridge again. He was probably getting ahead of himself, but suddenly some simple fried eggs seemed too simple. He pulled out some spinach, onions, tomatoes, ham, milk, and cheese to create an omelet.
Mark felt like he was watching a show. Mason was incredibly focused as he moved about, chopping up his ingredients with a ferocious speed then going to his eggs and milk that he beat mercilessly.
But Mason was still nervous and somewhere along the way he made a silly mistake.
"Oh shoot!" Mason whispered to himself, looking at a rapidly heating pan. He had no idea what he'd been thinking but he accidentally turned on the stove. Now his pan was starting to heat up and the oil along with it. He grappled with a couple of options in his mind before he thought of Mark. Mark, who was watching Mason with warm, comforting eyes could probably pour some eggs onto a pan.
"Mark, could you pour these into the pan for me?" Mason asked the other man sweetly, holding the bowl up to Mark as he bats his lashes. Mark didn't feel super confident in his abilities. While he did occasionally make some pasta or noodles, he wasn't very consistent with his results. The odds of him somehow messing up their breakfast was concerningly high. However, he had been sitting idly while Mason went through all this effort to feed them. He just felt too guilty to say no.
"Sure."
With an ease that betrayed his dancing background, Mark quickly grabbed the bowl and practically glided over to the stove where he poured the eggs into the pan.
"Can you put a lid over it please?" Mason asked, still chopping up the filling from behind Mark. "One big enough not to touch the eggs."
Mason started to gnaw on his lip when several minutes passed and he still hadn't started working on the ham. Mark was still watching the eggs, a bit fascinated as the top cooked from the combination of heat from the pan and the steam trapped due to the lid. The ham would be easier to chop and as Mark cut it, Mason would be able to cook the other ingredients that need more time in the pan.
"Hey Mark, can you cut this meat for me?" Mason asked sweetly, somehow still worried that Mark would say no. "Just cut it into small cubes okay, like this."
The two of them switched Mason now in front of the pan and sliding items in while Mark chopped up the ham. The rest of the cooking period went smoothly. The pair moved around the kitchen as if dancing, a harmonious team as they finished both omelets. Mason was a bit red as he wondered if the omelets tasted better because they had made them together.
That morning set a precedent for the rest of the day. The two of them were attached at the hip for the rest of the day. Neither of them had anything to do, so they just hung out with one another. They played games, watched about three movies, and made out at least once an hour. It was pure bliss.
Mason kind of liked the fact that they rarely talked about anything important. Every conversation was mundane and simple. They just liked talking about what was happening right at that moment. There was no focus on the past or the future, only that particular moment.
It was as if they were living in a bubble, getting a taste of what an effortless, responsibility-free life could be like. It was undeniably dangerous to experience such a simple existence; it would probably make the rest of their lives pale in comparison. But neither of them cared and Mark's lazy kisses were too enjoyable to pass up.
One of the few times where they actually kept their hands off of one another, to an extent, was when they were playing Call of Duty.
The two of them were way too competitive against one another and much flirting was ignored to focus on getting more kills. Mason's back was hunched as he stared intently at the screen. His fingers nimbly went across his controller to control his character as quickly and efficiently as possible. Mark felt even more pressure. It was known but never stated that Mason was better at video games. If one couldn't tell by their statistics, then they would know just by looking at him. Every part of Mason's body was still while his fingers blurred from their speed.
Mark, on the other hand, was struggling. His entire body was tense as he tried to maneuver his character better but it was still hard. He would sometimes forget gaming basics and find himself tilting and moving the physical controller when only the buttons had any effect. There was no element of chance involved in the game yet Mark continued to clench his toes in prayer, hoping that he would get away from the stranger shooting at him. It never worked.
This was another one of those times. Mark was getting shot at endlessly and his toes cracked because of the strength he used to squeeze them. His elbow pointed to the air as he tilted his controller, trying to turn his character in circles to see who was shooting at him and shoot back. Then, before he could, he died.
Mark knew he would respawn in a matter of seconds but his frustration at being killed again only grew the more he thought about it. Then, they showed who had killed him.
"Mason?!"
Mason jumped at how loudly Mark yelled his name. He came out of his focused daze to find Mark glaring at him harshly.
"What?" He asked absent-mindedly. He was already working on his next target and wasn't fully paying attention to Mark.
"You killed me!"
Mason glanced at Mark, unbothered by the declaration.
"So?"
"What type of friend are you? I thought we would protect each other!"
Instead of consoling his pissed-off lover, Mason laughed. He laughed so hard for so long that he was killed himself by some random person online, but he didn't care at the moment. Mark continued to glare as Mason laughed. Logically, he shouldn't have been getting so upset over this. This was a game after all. But Mark was frustrated and a perfectly good target was right here.
Mason sobered and started playing again. After about a minute, Mark started to reach out his hand push against Mason's controller.
"What are you- hey!"
Mark cackled evilly as Mason's player shuffled around in a circle, the woman in camouflage incapable of defending herself from the online player who killed her. Mason stopped fighting and just stared at the screen in shock. They replayed how his character was killed and it was even more embarrassing to look from the stranger's perspective at how his character had literally been going in circles.
Mason turned to Mark. Mark wore a shit-eating grin and Mason wanted to wipe it off his annoyingly handsome face.
"How'd you like a taste of your own medicine?" Mark asked irritatingly, gesturing to Mason's respawn screen.
"You little shit!"
Mark let out a not-so-manly yelp when Mason flung himself on top of him. Mark was tackled down, forced to press him back against the floor and defend himself from Mason trying to poke him from all directions.
The struggle continued on for far too long. Mason poked and pinched Mark's torso until the taller boy retaliated and flipped them over. But poking turned into tickling until they were just touching one another and laying random kisses against skin.
Mason giggled as Mark kissed right above his belly button. He held Mark's held still to drop a kiss on the back of his neck. Mark grinned into Mason's stomach at the feeling. He happened to glance back at the TV again and laughed.
Mason looked down at Mark curiously, a wide smile on his face.
"What are you laughing about?" He asked brightly, hands falling on to Mark's shoulders.
"The game's over. We both lost."
Mason's headshot to the screen. He squinted his eyes, scanning the list of names before grinning.
"I still beat you."
Mark's smile dropped at Mason's words.
"What, no you didn't."
But as he found their names again, Mason had beaten him by six kills.
"Ah! It's not fair!" Mark yelled out in frustration. He wrapped his body tightly around Mason in an incredibly tight hug and yelled into Mason's chest. Mason just continued to laugh, incredibly amused by Mark's childish behaviour.
—————
Mason wore a bright smile on his face as he and Mark watched a romcom. A montage showed a couple work on the creation of their vegan solar-powered restaurant. It was clear that they would fall in love because working together was easy and seamless. Mason didn't verbalize this out of fear of pushing Mark away, but he thought the straight couple was like them.
Ignoring the struggle of hiding his feelings away, Mason knew it had always been easy to be around Mark. It wasn't that they had a ton in common but they were just able to move from topic to topic without a struggle. And Mark had a way of looking at Mason that made him feel so heard and acknowledged, Mason never wanted to leave his presence. It was so much harder for Mason to get over a guy he couldn't stay away from.
Now, however, with his body fully wrapped around Mark's, it felt as if he didn't have to.
Mark had been watching the movie at first. But he was still sexually charged and Mason was right there. His tang top left so much of his tan skin available for Mark's viewing pleasure and he really wanted to touch.
Mason let out a soft gasp then sigh when he felt Mark's soft lips fall onto his neck.
"Mark, I was trying to watch the movie." Mason complained half-heartedly as Mark's hands snaked around his waist.
"You can keep watching." Mark told him as his eyes came up to lock in with Mason's "But I don't want to just watch anymore."
Mason wasn't holding back a single sound as Mark attacked his neck, likely leaving several marks that would need to be hidden the following day. But after barely a minute of this, Mason heard his phone ring. Both he and Mark froze then turned to stare at the device lying on the table.
"Ignore it." Mark ordered simply, going back to his earlier task.
Mason reached over to grab his phone, going against Mark's annoyed grumbles, and looked at the name.
"It's Jasmine."
"So? Leave it."
Mason raised his finger and Mark sat up to give him a dark glare.
"If you answer that phone, I'm going to make you regret it."
Mason shivered at the threat Mark gave him, wondering if he would really hate the punishment or not. So, with a cheeky smile, he picked up the call.
"Hey, Mason! How's the studying going?" She said brightly, her energy making its way through the phone.
"Oh, it's going well. This nursing course is kicking my ass harder than I-"
Mason cut himself off when he felt Mark's tongue move along his nipple.
"Harder than you what?" Jasmine asked, confused at the silence on the other end.
"-Expected." Mason ground out, his teeth tightly clenched together. "Harder than I expected."
Jasmine frowned on her bed, her shoulders falling slightly. She had hoped that Mason might finish up early so they could go out and do something, but he actually sounded stressed. She could hear it in his voice that he was really wound up.
In actuality, Mason was just struggling not to make any noise.
"So you wouldn't be able to grab some bubble tea with me today?" Jasmine sighed, her question becoming more of a statement towards the end. Mason gnawed into his bottom lip when he felt Mark's teeth.
"Nope. Sorry. No can do."
"Maybe we can organize another time. Monday maybe? After you're done with that class?"
"Uh, well maybe-" Mason began. He'd started to get used to speaking stably with Mark under his shirt. But suddenly, without any warning, hands were going down his pants. "Why don't we talk about this later. Ireallyhavetogonowbye!"
Jasmine frowned when she was met with silence. Pulling her phone away from her face, her jaw dropped open. Mason had hung up on her. It was one thing to reject hanging out with her yesterday, and rejecting her invitation today had also stung. But, hanging up? Now she was insulted.
But Mason had no choice. There was no way he could have been quiet with what Mark planned to do.
"You asshole! I was on the phone." Mason hissed down at the boy who was seated near his crotch.
"I told you not to do it." Mark teased, his hands preoccupied as he grinned cheekily. "It was really your fault."
Mason would have argued but he got a little bit distracted.
—————
Despite having spent so much time together, basically two whole days, Mason was sad to see Mark go. It still felt as if that hadn't been enough time together. But they had their own separate lives so this had been inevitable.
Mark left after seven. Both of Mason's parents had returned by that time and the four of them had eaten dinner together before he went. Mason thought that it had felt wonderfully homey for them to eat dinner together. In his mind, they were having their first meal after Mark was introduced as his boyfriend. His parents had approved, of course, already liking the Tylers. And Mark continued to charm his parents' pants off during the meal.
The jokes that they all laughed at had been made with the knowledge that Mason liked Mark and Mark liked him back. It was another silly fantasy of Mason's to add to the many he had that day. Yet, like all the others, it was incredibly enjoyable too.
Somehow, spending another day with Mark had confirmed the fact that Mark was perfect. This idea was stapled in Mason's mind, welded so tightly with the rest of his firm beliefs that it would be nearly impossible to take it off.
Because only a perfect person could make Mason feel like this.
These were the thoughts that ran through Mason's mind as he stared at his phone. It had only been an hour since Mark left, and Mason already missed him. He wanted to text or call. He just wanted the other boy's attention again.
This is crazy. He thought mentally scolding himself. You aren't even dating and you're still not giving him space.
It took a lot of negative self-talk and a couple of hits to the cheek but Mason talked himself out of texting Mark. At first.
He distracted himself with social media and some random compilations but when 11 o'clock rolled around, his resolve was getting weak.
He wanted to text him goodnight or something cute like that. Just to let Mark know that he was thinking about him. However, that was part of the problem. Friends with benefits aren't supposed to be thinking of one another outside of the bedroom. Would Mark call him out for being too 'couple-y' and reject it?
Mason opened up their conversation and read the last message.
Mark
I'm outside
A simple message informing Mason that Mark was waiting outside for him, ready to take him out on a date. If Mark didn't care at all, he would never go through the effort of taking Mason on all of these dates. He wouldn't have cared at all about making this all special for Mason. But Mark did. Mark had taken his sweet time the previous night to ensure Mason was comfortable and satisfied and tried to give Mason pleasure before seeking his own. Mason's mind was made up and he quickly typed up the message.
Mason
Goodnight
Sweet dreams :)
There it was. A simple, sweet, yet somewhat platonic message wishing Mark good rest with good dreams as well. Mason was sure that Mark would be fine with that. Mason wore a satisfied smile on his warm cheeks as he looked at the message. He went to turn off his phone but stopped when familiar three dots showed up.
Mark was texting back...
Mark
Goodnight
Dream of me tonight ;)
Mason screamed into his pillow. Obviously, Mark didn't care how his words came across. He was perfectly content with driving Mason mad.
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It's been too long!!!!
I feel so bad about not updating in so long.
I've been avoiding looking too closely at this book or Connected to Him so I wouldn't have to actually check how long it's been.
Anywho,
I hope you guys enjoyed this cute chapter. I love M&M so much and it was nice to just give them something good.
I was trying to keep it PG but I think I got a little ahead of myself at a couple of moments. Though I'm sure none of the perverts reading would have minded if they did it on the couch.
Anywhore,
Vote, Comment, Share, Follow, anything else you can do with this book and I will see you later. bye!!!