Cove Holden and Mark Romwell didn't often get to go to the mall— though it was somewhat close to Cliff's scuba shop, it was rather inconvenient for Noelani, Pam, or Cliff himself to take them. They'd only been a handful of times since the initial visit with Kyra, Derek, and Lee. Now, though? Now things were changing. The boys, best of friends for eight years, were now sixteen, and driver's licences were acquired. Mark had never been super keen on driving, though he could in a pinch, but Cove was far more comfortable behind a wheel— which worked, given that Cove was the more adventurous.

As such, Mark was happy to be whisked off by his favorite person. The car was familiar— the same one Cove's father had driven them in so many times before, now passed on to son— and the two unironically jammed out to pop songs for the whole drive. If pop didn't happen to be Mark's favorite, Cove probably would've found the genre stupid, but of course by now he knew all of the words to quite a few songs. Despite not being stellar at singing, Mark still loved to do it, and he was gradually improving just through continued effort. Cove was oftentimes far too self-conscious to sing, but, to Mark's complete and utter delight, that all seemed to melt away when it was just the two of them.

Occasionally, when a volume adjustment was needed, their hands would brush together and send them both into a momentary fluster. Even though both of them had been almost uncomfortably attracted to each other for years at this point, neither had said anything. Frankly, Mark found the panic to be part of the fun of HAVING a crush, at least for now.

Someday... Someday he'd say something. But for now, this was fine. Besides. The longer they waited, the more of a celebration it would be for both families when the inevitable occurred. He shuffled in his seat with a mischievous smile. "Whatcha thinking about?" Cove asked, anticipating shenanigans.

Mark frantically thought up a lie that would guide the conversation in the proper direction. "All the snacks I'm planning on stealing bites from when you're not looking" suited his needs perfectly. It prompted Cove to redden just a bit and laugh weightlessly before sticking his tongue out.

"You're impossible."

"Impossibly perfect, you mean! As long as you don't mind how weepy I can get," he played.

"Oh, please. I cry just as often. You MET me while I was crying." Cove's aquamarine eyes shone in amusement before settling into a nostalgic warmth.

The brief recollection of that night stirred Mark's heart. Thinking about how lonely and lost Cove had felt back then made him sad, but it also opened the door to all of their most cherished childhood memories. "I know I say this all the time, but I'm so glad I know you. You're really special to me." Speaking of tears, Mark was now attempting to maybe NOT do that right now. Fortunately, for once, the tears didn't come.

Cove went even redder, but his smile was radiant. "M-Mark! H-How do you always manage to take me by surprise like that?! I mean, obviously, I care about you loads back."

"So... you won't get mad at me when I swipe some of your food, is what you're telling me?" A beat of astonished silence passed, and then the two boys cackled, Cove taking a hand off the wheel just briefly to give Mark a light shove.

The rest of the drive passed by in a lighthearted quiet. It was always fascinating to Cove how Mark could so easily bring affection to any conversation and still make it feel completely natural by the end. They hopped out of the car, Mark vivid with excitement. That was another thing about Mark. It seemed like, no matter how mundane things were, he was somehow always enthusiastic for whatever they were doing.

The framing strands of white hair that were out of his typical bun twirled with him, hitting him slightly in the face. He laughed. "Can you piggyback me?"

"Wh-What?!" Cove blurted out accidentally, taken-aback. He'd done so one or two times before, but it was still somewhat new.

"Oh no, a-are you uncomfortable with it? I kinda sorta maybe wanted to start doing it more often, but not if it makes you—"

The brief moment of worry passed as Cove crouched slightly to let the much smaller boy onto his back. "I'm okay! Please don't panic! I was just surprised," he explained apologetically. Relief flooded through Mark. Cove, in spite of the obvious love he had (platonically or otherwise), was known for fleeing when he got too nervous with advancements. Mark had come to be a bit wary of these occasions. But fortunately, all was well.

"Onward!" Mark pointed dramatically. And soon they were moving. Mark had to resist pressing his cheek up against Cove's, feeling comfort in his body heat.

The two of them made some of the usual stops: the pet store, to look at fish, the art store, so Mark could ogle some copic markers... though, the requested trip to the bookstore was a surprise. Mark was pleased with the addition; Cove had recently been shifting from being more athletically inclined to more academically so, and that was more Mark's style anyway.

The addition on Mark's end was a request to check out one of the many clothing stores, though not before the obligatory smoothie run. Strawberry, banana, and coconut was always Cove's choice. Strawberry and blueberry was Mark's.

They chatted idly for a while, eventually coming to pass the children's rides, the little helicopters and cars and horses and motorcycles that rocked this way and that when fueled by quarters. Mark sighed. "I miss Derek."

"Yeah, he was always fun to be around. You always seemed to light up whenever he could hang out with us, too."

"I still talk to him! He was always worried about us drifting apart, but I promised him it'd never happen. Even so, I just wish he could chill with us in person now and then. Wait... is that him, over there?!" Mark squinted.

"Huh? How?" Cove asked, turning his head to look. Mark took the opportunity to steal a sip of smoothie, just as promised. "Hey!"

"I told you I was gonna go for it! Besides. I really am sad. The least you can do is let me have some." But then, to make up for the deception, he wordlessly offered his cup to Cove. One nervous squeak and some gentle prodding later, a sip had been exchanged as payment. Now it was time for clothes shopping.

They bounced between all sorts of different things. Mostly, Cove kept it to the more casual shirts, having never been particularly happy in formal wear. Even so, they did also look at some of the fancier button-ups, and occasionally Mark would get distracted by a nice blouse. Despite being extraordinarily comfortable with his sex assigned at birth, Mark oftentimes became taken by how pretty some of the more "feminine" clothes were.

After finding a nice anklet that, for reasons unbeknownst to Mark, made Cove a bit flustered, the two began walking towards check-out. But on the way there, Mark's gaze became transfixed. "I... I've never worn a dress before. Plenty of skirts and blouses, but never a dress. That, though," he pointed, wholly unable to stop staring at it. He drifted off toward it as though hypnotized. It was colored seafoam with some silver detailing, the skirt had a translucent outermost layer, and it had short, delicate butterfly sleeves. If there was ever a Mark dress, it was that. The wispy airiness, the way it seemed to shimmer just a bit, it was all so... mystical-looking.

Cove was unable to figure out what exactly to do in this situation, but he settled on giving his crush a slight shoulder nudge. "Do you want to try it on? They've got fitting rooms," he pointed out. He kept his volume low in admiration. He noticed Mark's purple eyes flitting around in consideration behind his octagonal glasses.

"I do... but I'm honestly a little intimidated. Do you think I'll look good in it?"

Cove spluttered nervous false starts until he took a deep breath and managed to choke out an, "I-I'm positive you will. Go put it on! I'll wait just outside the dressing room."

With that encouragement, Mark gave an excited smile and bounced on his toes a little as he swiped up the dress. He tried to look around for the dressing room, but had a hard time, so Cove led him there. After a few minutes of Cove trying to stay relaxed— C'mon, Cove, you've seen Mark in cute clothes before— any progress he'd made was instantly stolen when Mark stepped out. His breathing hitched. It wasn't so much the dress, though that was stunning on his tiny frame. No, it was the smile. For a second, Mark made the pursed-lip expression that he made when he was trying to contain himself, but then it burst into a full-blown beam. Not a word was shared for several seconds, and instead the two just stared at each other, nearly getting lost in the moment before Cove cleared his throat. "See? It looks good. Better than good? Yeah, better."

"Agh, okay, I need it. I guess I'll be low on pocket money for a bit, but this has to be mine."

"I can help pay for it!" Cove volunteered the moment the complaint left Mark's lips.

"Ah— Cove, you don't need to," Mark reassured, feeling heat rise to his cheeks.

"It's okay. I want to." There was more conviction in his tone than there had been all day.

"Okay," he agreed breathlessly. They headed to pay for it, the anklet, and a shirt that Cove had wanted, a potent energy filling the silence.

And all the way home, the image of each other in that moment was seared in their brains like a tattoo in their eyelids whenever they'd take a second to close their eyes.

This was a good day. Though, frankly, every day they could spend together was a good one.