Mark woke in the morning to the sound of his own stomach grumbling.

His head felt fuzzy and he hardly had the energy to sit up, but when he noticed that he was alone he sprung up.  The spot where Jinyoung had been next to him was now just replaced with his clothes folded neatly in a pile.

He hurriedly got dressed and walked outside to find Jinyoung nestled in a ball outside their test, trying to soak up the sunlight.

Mark tiptoed over to him and crouched down before poking him lightly on the arm.  “Jinyoungie.”  He said in a cute voice.

Jinyoung looked over at him, the tip of his nose red and his eyes swollen.  “Mark… why is it so cold- ah-choo!”   Jinyoung sneezed, then he fell into a coughing fit and Mark took him into his arms and held him.

“Jinyoung, are you okay?  It’s not cold, the sun is out now.”

Jinyoung sniffed loudly and leaned into Mark’s touch.  “I’m fine, honestly.  I think I’m just a little sick.”

Mark put a hand against Jinyoung’s forehead and sure enough, he was burning up.  “Jinyoung, I thought you said that you weren’t sneezing because you were sick.”

“I wasn’t sick!  I just woke up like this I swear- ah-choo!”  Jinyoung whole body shook when he coughed and sneezed as he buried his face into Mark’s chest.  “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s my fault, I should’ve noticed, we shouldn’t have walked so far-“

“Mark, it’s nobody’s fault.  Just calm down.”

“How can I stay calm when you’re like this?  I’m worried.”  Too many thoughts were running through Mark’s brain for him to even grasp all of them.  Jinyoung was sick, they didn’t have any supplies, and they were stuck out with no sense of survival.  “We need to find food or water.  I don’t know where, but don’t worry Jinyoung, I’ll-“

Jinyoung ran a reassuring hand down Mark’s shoulder and pointed ahead.  “I was looking around a bit this morning, the trees start clearing more rapidly the further North we go.  I’m very certain there has to be civilization not too far from here, instead of risking our bad survival instincts out here, I think if we muster up whatever energy we have left we should be able to reach some place safe.”

“We still can’t be sure how far that is.  Even if it’ll only take a few more hours, can you walk in that condition?”

“As long as you’re with me I’ll persevere.  We made this decision together; I’m not giving up without you.”  Jinyoung stood up trying to showcase he was okay, but he immediately stumbled, causing Mark to reach out and steady him.

“Jinyoung, please…”  Mark stared at him with unease but Jinyoung brushed him off.

“I said don’t worry, we’re walking!  No –“Jinyoung fell into another coughing fit and Mark patted him on the back.  “No worries!”

Mark was highly against the idea but at this point, it was their best chance at survival.  He folded up their tent and shoved it into his arms, and he let Jinyoung lean on him as they walked.

One hour later Mark realized they made a mistake.

Despite trying to stay positive, Jinyoung could not walk anymore.   He stumbled so much he fell over, his breathing laboured and his temperature was skyrocketing.  “Mark, I’m sorry… I don’t know why… I can’t move.”

“No, shh.  Don’t worry, you shouldn’t have pushed yourself.”    Mark was trying to keep calm to not make the situation worse and cause them both to panic.  “We’re going to be fine, alright?”  Mark turned around then leaned down, dropping the tent to the ground.  He hoped they wouldn’t need that anymore.  “Can you get on my back?”

Jinyoung weakly put his arms around his neck and Mark was able to hoist him up, only to stumble sideways and almost fall over as he did.  “Mark… don’t push yourself.”

“No!  I’m fine!  We’re going to make it, I can handle this.”  He tried to ignore how weak his legs felt with the extra weight and how his vision was blurrier than before.  “Everything is good.”

Jinyoung had completely passed out on his back at some point.  The only thing that kept him going was the sound of his breathing and the will to make sure they were both okay.

The trees thinned more and more but it still felt that there was no end in sight in comparison to how long they had walked.  Mark had completely lost track of time.  His eyes were red and swollen and his head was pounding, his body covered in a cold sweat.

He stumbled and fell to his knees, his body finally giving up.  He decided maybe he should take a rest.  He lightly shuffled Jinyoung off his back and lied him down beside him, before he collapsed right next to him.  He held his hand tightly, rubbing his thumb around to make sure he could still feel his pulse out of habit.

As soon as he hit the ground he realized he wasn’t going to be getting up.  His body was completely gone.  He was running a high fever like Jinyoung and there was no more energy between the both of them.

They were stupid.  They should’ve known from the beginning that this wasn’t going to work out.  They were driven by the desire to escape and now here they were, completely hopeless.  If they had stayed would it have been better?  He kept telling himself no, but if they had stayed at least Jinyoung would’ve been safe.

This was his silly idea, his ridiculous plan.  It was his fault they failed.  It was his fault Jinyoung was lying lifeless next to him, struggling to breathe.  It was his fault that he would probably pass out soon as well, his own eyes refusing to stay open.

Everyone was rooting for them and they had failed.

There was no use in trying to hold on anymore.

Mark was sure he was dreaming when he heard voices.  He couldn’t open his eyes to see, but they sounded so real.  Was he dreaming?

“Oh my god.  Are they dead?  Did we just stumble on some awful murder scene or something?  I’m going to be sick.”

“They’re not dead, you idiot.  They’re breathing, but they’re in horrible condition.”

“Oh no!  Oh no!  Are they going to die?  Do we have time?  Can we save them?!  I don’t want to be responsible for someone’s death!  Bam, we can’t just leave them here!”

“I think we can still save them, we just need to hurry.”

“Hey!  Can you hear me?  Are you awake?!”

That was the last thing Mark heard before he out.

Mark awoke in warmth, swaddled in a blanket lying on a comfortable chair.  It took him a moment for him to remember what had happened, then it all came back to him in a rush and he sat up abruptly.  “Jinyoung?  Jinyoung?!  Are you here?  Jinyoung!!” 

“Hey, shhh, relax.  I’m assuming you’re talking about him?”  A man with bright red hair gestured across from him, where Jinyoung was lying peacefully, a cloth on his forehead.  “His fever hasn’t broken yet, but I think he’s going to be fine.”

Mark crawled over to him and stared at his face.  He was struggling to breathe.  “Jinyoung, this is all my fault… I really thought we…”  After making sure Jinyoung was still there he started questioning his surroundings.

He seemed to be in a house, it was small and cozy.  He and Jinyoung were on a couch while a man stood next to them, staring at him and trying to size him up. 

“Oh!  Did one of them wake up?”  A blonde man entered the room with a fresh cloth.  He replaced the one on Jinyoung’s forehead and then stared straight at Mark.  “You should still be lying down; your body is in horrible condition.”  He nudged him away so he could lie back down on the other side of the couch.  “I’ll get you something to eat, you must be hungry right?”

Mark tried to protest but he quickly realized that he was right.  “Yes, of course, but um,” He settled back down on the couch.  “Who are you?  And where are we?”  It was obvious that they weren’t dangerous, quite the opposite, so he was able to stay calm.

The red-haired one muffled a laugh and the other sent him a look to stop.  “Sorry, you’re probably really confused.  Just trust us; we’re not going to hurt you.”  He sat down on a couch across from them.  “Yugyeom, can you go get some soup and put it in a bowl for him?  It should be finished.”

“Okay.”  The red haired one left to go shuffle around in the kitchen for a minute and then returned with two bowls of soup.  The other gave him a questioning look.  “What?  I’m kind of hungry too.  I did basically have to carry two people back to our house by myself.”

“Hey!  You know my stamina isn’t that great!  I said I’m sorry!”

“This guy is more of a twig than you are, and you couldn’t carry him for less than thirty minutes?  Sure, okay.  It’s not a big deal, I’m over it.”  He was obviously not over it, indicated by the way he slurped his soup passive aggressively.

The other groaned but decided to brush it off, knowing that there was no winning.  “Anyways,” He handed the soup and spoon to Mark who eagerly dug in, only to pause and try to interpret the flavour in his mouth after the first sip.  “It might taste a bit different; there are a lot of herbs in there that we find around the forest.  Not common but completely edible, trust me.”

Mark’s mouth was full of bitterness and he was thankful his clogged nose was blocking out most of the flavour.  He sipped the free soup graciously, his tongue was crying but his stomach as grateful.

“I go by the name Bambam, and this,” He pointed to the one beside him.  “Is Yugyeom.”  He waved a bit then went back to gulping down soup.  “We were out looking for herbs when we stumbled across you guys lying there, and we couldn’t just leave you for dead.  So, we hauled you back here and now you’re not dead.  That’s basically it.”

Mark put his soup down on the table, got up, and bowed to them.  “Thank you so much, you really saved our lives.  I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

“Don’t worry about it!  It’s not every day we get to save lives; we’re going to be basking in the sheer glory of this for a while, right Yugyeom?”

“I’ll be expecting payment in cash when you leave, our services are not cheap.”  Yugyeom deadpanned and Mark and Bambam stared at him, offended.  “I was joking!  Don’t look at me like that!”  Bambam hit him on the shoulder and Yugyeom just stuck his tongue out at him.

“Ignore him.  Anyways, do you have a name?”  Bambam asked.

“I’m Princ—“He caught himself before he said something he shouldn’t have.  He almost forgot he wasn’t a royal anymore.  He left that title back in the palace.  “I mean, I’m just Mark.”

“Alright, just Mark!  How about the guy with you?”    Bambam giggled a bit at the way Yugyeom said his name.

Mark decided not to correct them, he was already uncomfortable enough trying to converse with strangers that seemed too comfortable teasing him already.  “This is Jinyoung.”

“What were you guys doing out in the forest?  Nobody really comes up here except for us.”  Bambam asked.

Mark knew he couldn’t divulge the real reason, but he couldn’t think of any other made up reason either.  “I… can’t say.  I’m sorry.”

“Are you from the town?”  Bambam leaned in as he talked; intent on getting as much information as he can.

“Town?  No.  I really can’t say…”  Mark knew he was sounding more and more suspicious but the words just spilled out of his mouth before he had time to think.

“Come on!  You can trust us!  Go ahead, ask us anything about us, we’ll tell you.”  Bambam said confidently.

“Alright… how old are you?”

“We’re both 19.”  Three years younger than Mark, but they were both taller than him.  Mark was suddenly glad Jinyoung wasn’t a giant; it would be harder to kiss him.

“Do you guys live here together?”

“Yes!  It’s just us; we’ve been living here together for a year now.”  Bambam threw and arm around Yugyeom but he tried to shrug it off.

“Okay, what’s your relationship?”

“Oh, Yugyeom is my boyfriend.”  At this statement, Yugyeom spat all the soup out of his mouth in shock.  “Ewwww!!  Yugyeom what the hell is wrong with you?  There’s soup everywhere!”

“He didn’t mean that!  He meant friends, best friends!  We’re just friends… who are guys!  Not like boyfriends, as in dating boyfriends, because we wouldn’t do that!  Nope, never even thought about that!”  Yugyeom started rambling.

“Yugyeom calm down!  It’s fine!  He’s not going to tell anyone!”  Bambam pulled him back down and held him against the couch.

“What do you mean?  How do you know for sure?!  It’s dangerous to tell people that!”

“No, I’m sure about this,” Bambam look at Mark then pointed at Jinyoung.  “He’s your boyfriend, right?”

Mark had never referred to Jinyoung as his boyfriend before.  He kind of liked it.  A lot.  “How did you know?”  He was worried about telling them about his relationship as well, but he knew now that he had nothing to worry about.

“Well, you guys were holding hands pretty tightly for two people who had basically passed out.”  Mark had forgotten about that.  “That’s not the only reason I was so sure, I know you don’t want to tell me how you ended up in the forest, but I know there’s a good reason behind it.”

“How do you know that?”

“I ran away from home to come here, I’m originally from the western kingdom.  Here in the north, I’m undocumented, but I know my family wouldn’t accept me if I told them about my relationship.   That’s one of the reasons our house is in the forest, half an hour away from the nearest town.  I need to keep quiet about the fact that I’m here and we want to live freely without worrying about being caught.  The punishment for people like us is death, and I don’t want to risk either of us getting hurt.”

He seemed very childish from how he acted before but they way he spoke about his past made him seem much more mature.  Mark knew he was really brave to do what he did.  “I’m happy it worked out.”

“Sorry, I’ve talked too much.  You still need to rest, and I hope the other one is going to wake up soon, he really needs to get some nourishment in his body.”  Bambam flushed, probably thinking that he over shared.  “I’m guessing you guys don’t have anywhere to go?  We have an extra bedroom you guys can use, it’s no problem.”

“Thank you so much, really.  You’re too kind, and I’m sorry for intruding.  There has to be something I can give you in return… ”

Bambam and Yugyeom grabbed him and ushered him to the room.  “Just sleep!  We can figure out everything else in the morning.”

They locked the door behind him.  His mind was telling him to stay awake but his body craved more rest, so he climbed into bed and fell back asleep easily.

“Hey!  I think this guy’s finally waking up!”  Yugyeom popped his head into his room and Mark jumped out of bed, running outside to see if it was true.

“Jinyoung?!”  Mark leaped on the couch, careful to avoid hurting Jinyoung.

“M-Mark?” 

“Jinyoung!  It’s me!  Thank god you’re awake!”

“Is this heaven?”  Jinyoung asked, his eyes opening slowly, trying to adjust to the light.

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure I’m dead, but this can’t be hell since you’re here with me, so the only logical conclusion is that this is heaven.” 

Mark just laughed and buried his head in the crook of Jinyoung’s neck.  “No, don’t worry.  We’re both alive.”

“Don’t lie.  It’s fine if we’re dead, really.  As long as you’re here it can’t be that bad.” 

“Stop!  We’re really alive.”  Mark hugged him tightly.  “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

Jinyoung tried to move his head but groaned as he did so.  “Okay, I’m pretty sure headaches this bad don’t exist in heaven.  I’m definitely alive, but how?”

“Don’t worry, I can explain everything.”

A/N: Ah, I just want to say thank you SO much for 200 subscribers!!! It really means a lot!! <3  I'll hope you'll continue to read until the end! :D