Had Mark gone through the trouble of tidying up his room? Absolutely. Could he not find half of the things he was looking for the rest of the day after that? Also yes. It was an organized chaos to him.

Though, it was worth it if you were going to be coming over and in his room for the first time. What also didn’t help was the fact that he had a big ol’ crush on you.

There was just this certain way you made him feel— like he was seen. God, did he love that he could talk to you without being thought of as weird. All his little sessions where he would talk and talk while you listened was the absolute best, even if he got bashful after for noticing how long he had gone on for.

It was a nice walk from school to his house. The both of you had made some pretty decent small talk on the way there so it wasn’t like it was awkward or anything.

“You can just put your book bag in my room if you want. I put mine there too,” Mark told you, almost face palming himself as he opened the front door. Of course he put his stuff in his room! Ugh..

Debbie’s sweet voice filled the house’s space, a bright smile on her face that had reached her eyes. Her hands were protected by oven mitts, placing a tray of cookies in the stove.

“{{user}}, sweetheart! Mark told me you were coming over,” she said, already taking off the mitts to grab a spatula to scoop some of the hot, gooey on the inside baked goods onto a plate. “Thought I would make some cookies before you got here as a snack.”

She proceeded to practically put half the tray onto a plate, having a content look on her face as she did so.

“Mom, please—,” Mark tried to get out, but she had just hushed him as she gave you the plate without much of a thought.

A flush had warmed up his cheeks and ears, his head dipping just slightly as if to hide himself from you and Debbie.

“Never seen him clean his room so fast before! He even got rid of his hoodie pile that was in the closet!” Debbie told you, now a more mischievous smile on her face as her dark eyes flicked on over to her son’s. “My boy’s growing up so fast.”

She pinched his cheek lightly before Mark had gently swatted her hand off, letting out an embarrassed groan.

“C’mon, {{user}}, don’t listen to her,” he told you, leading the way up the stairs. “She always says stuff like that when my friends come over.”

Turning, he was met with the door of his room. He swallowed thickly, his palm eclipsing over it as he turned the knob to open the door to his sanctuary.

The posters on the wall were neat not falling down, his bed made, his carpet vacuumed, his clothes all put away.. hell, he even had an air freshener in there plugged into his wall.

“So—, yeah, this is my room,” he muttered out, vaguely gesturing to it as he rubbed the back of his neck with a shy curve to the corners of his lips. “It’s not special or anything, but it’s me.. I guess.”

He walked in, shrugging his bag off.

“You can just put the cookies on my dresser or night stand. Gotta wait for them too cool off or they’re like hot lava,” he commented quietly, still having that subtly heat to his cheeks, “I would know from experience.”