A/N: Since it's my 1 year anniversary writing Markjin, I thought I'd write something for you guys~ Enjoy!

Through the Dark

Jinyoung wished life came with a giant rewind button.

Of course, that was hardly a practical wish. Even if life were that convenient, time would never progress anywhere if everyone could just reverse it whenever they wanted. And you couldn't just trust people to use it for good purposes. Knowing humanity, people would just use it to kill and hurt each other, as always. It didn't matter that he had pure, if not somewhat selfish intentions; he, like everyone else, would just have to live with things the way they were.

But he hated it. He'd thought out the moment a long time before it had actually happened, and it was supposed to go perfectly. There was so little he'd had to work with, too, considering the hideous state of the dorm and the fact that when they did have down time on their own, they tended to spend it in sloppy sweats and the no make up faces they couldn't be caught dead in out in public. There was no real atmosphere on the couch in front of the TV, no twinkling stars overhead or pleasant, flowery smells lingering in the air (the scented candle Jinyoung had surreptitiously planted hadn't seemed to do its job fast enough).

But there had been the right feelings. Or at least that was what he had thought. He and Mark had always seemed to be on the verge of something together, always flirting on the borders of a line they weren't yet crossing. Every moment they were together felt charged, filled with as much things they weren't doing as much as things they were. Every touch could have been a little longer, every word a little more meaningful, every smile a little more tender. Jinyoung had thought the only reason these things weren't happening was because neither one of them had crossed that line yet, and that everything would be fine and open between them when they did. And since Mark wasn't someone you could associate with the word open, Jinyoung thought he'd have to be the one to do it first.

So he did. Right on the couch in front of the TV, right after Mark had brushed a strand of hair from Jinyoung's eyes, one of those moments that was already special, but felt like it could be more. He'd just leaned in the moment Mark had dropped his hand away, closed his eyes, and pressed his lips against Mark's for a brief moment. His heart had been pounding, and he'd thought it had been good-- how was touching Mark, especially like that, supposed to be anything less than amazing? But then he'd opened his eyes again and seen Mark's tense expression which told him just what a mistake he'd made.

It would have been fine if Mark had just thought it was some kind of joke. They'd both be able to laugh it off that way, and at least one of them could pretend it had never happened. But Mark hadn't been laughing, or even merely annoyed. He'd been mad.

“Don't,” he'd said, jerking back from Jinyoung. “Just don't.”

Jinyoung had blinked, frozen in place. Mark didn't get mad, at least not like that. He'd snap half-heartedly sometimes, give you a little smack, or sometimes just outright tell you to shut up, but he rarely got that sort of means-business, cold tone in his voice that let you know he was unhappy with you the way Jaebum and Jackson did when you got on their last nerve. Mark had only a few explosions of anger to his name, once with Youngjae and once with Jackson, and both had quickly learned their lessons and had never done it again. It wasn't that Mark's anger was particularly terrifying or anything. It was just that it happened so rarely, that when it did you knew you had really messed up.

And Jinyoung hadn't just messed up. He'd messed up with a kiss, one he'd been thinking of happily for such a long time.

“I'm-” he'd tried to say-- maybe in explanation or apology, he could barely remember anymore which it was-- when Yugyeom had burst into the room demanding to use the TV because one of his dramas was coming on, and thus spared Jinyoung the added embarrassment of having to explain what he'd done.

After that, Jinyoung had launched Operation Never Talk to Mark Again. It was surprisingly easy. The good thing about having a lot of members was that if you didn't want to talk to one, you could just endlessly talk to the others. Besides, Mark was quiet enough to where the other five didn't even notice that there had been no conversations between him and Jinyoung recently. The fact that he had his own bedroom to barricade himself into only helped matters.

Today was slightly more difficult. They had a schedule-free day, and their managers were trusting the dorm to the members' care so they could attend staff meetings at the agency office. All the members were talking about going out and meeting with friends, so Jinyoung decided to just keep to himself and get some reading while he could have the dorm quiet and to himself. Jaebum, Youngjae, and Yugyeom all dutifully went out at the earliest possible moment, and Jackson and BamBam went shortly after to get some BBQ. Normally this would have infuriated Jinyoung (why, why, why did they never invite him?), but he was already too depressed by Mark to care.

But Mark never left. Jinyoung could hear the sound of him playing a PC game from his room, the only other sound in the lonely dorm building other than Jinyoung slowly turning the pages of his book. He wasn't even processing any of the words, as focused as he was on listening to Mark existing in the other room, existing and hating him for that botched kiss. How was Jinyoung supposed to live like this indefinitely? Surely it was impossible to be in the same group as someone who was disgusted by his love for him. He'd have to drop out. Maybe JYP would let him join that new girl group they were planning.

Mark eventually turned off his game, but Jinyoung didn't hear him move from the couch to go back to his own room. The silence felt deafening. It was such an awkward thing to have hanging between them, but Jinyoung couldn't talk about it. How on earth were you supposed to tell someone you loved them when they'd clearly already shut the whole idea down?

He wasn't going to get his rewind button. He was just going to be stuck in a crappy situation until he got over it, if he ever did. He'd already wrecked the most important relationship to him, and there was no going back from it.

After a few minutes, Mark the TV and watched what sounded like the news. Jinyoung buried his head under the pillow. It didn't help. All he could think of was how badly he'd messed up. He didn't even understand how he'd managed to misinterpret things so much. Hadn't Mark participated in everything between them as much as Jinyoung had? It wasn't just in front of cameras, it was everywhere. They'd always been together, they'd always been leaning on each other from the beginning. Maybe he'd been wrong to expect something because of it, especially since all the members had that sort of trusting relationship to an extent, but he'd thought it had been different. Special. And he'd thought Mark's behavior was a part of what had made it so special.

You were wrong, Jinyoung thought, slamming the pillow down on his head a second time. Live with it.

A knock on the door forced him to stop beating himself up. “Jinyoungie, there's a storm coming,” Mark said on the other side of the door, not bothering to wait for it to open.

Yeah, so? he thought despondently. This clearly wasn't the reconciliation he was looking for, and since Operation Never Talk to Mark again was still going on, he stayed quiet.

“A really bad storm,” Mark continued. “They're saying on the news that if anyone's out driving, they should head home right away.”

“I'll call the members,” Jinyoung said finally. If it was a safety issue, he could at least revive himself for that.

“OK.” Mark paused, and since Jinyoung didn't hear him moving away, he was presumably still lurking outside. “Hey, are you all right?”

How nice of you to care. “Fine,” he said. “I'm calling the members. You can go.”

“Are you planning on staying in there forever?”

“If there's a storm coming, might as well.” He dialed Jaebum's number, shutting down the conversation with Mark. “Hyung? Listen, there's this warning on the news. Apparently a storm is coming, and it won't be safe to go outside.”

“Huh? The sky is getting pretty dark, but I hadn't heard about this. What kind of storm?”

“Mark, what kind of storm?” Jinyoung yelled through the shut door.

“Electrical. Thunder, lightning, possible flooding. It's supposed to be carry over from a typhoon that hit the Japanese coast.”

“A thunder storm and possible flooding,” Jinyoung answered. “Typhoon weather.”

“I'm a little far from the dorm to just head back. Look, why don't I just stay over at my buddy's, just to be safe? I'll come back in the morning, if the roads are good.”

Youngjae and Yugyeom gave him the same line about staying over at a friend's house rather than coming home, since the sky was looking more and more ominous. By time he tried calling BamBam and Jackson, he could already hear the rain lashing hard against the building. He glanced at the time. It was getting close to evening. The rain wasn't that bad yet, but he was anxious about it getting worse. What if they wound up getting stranded? They were only supposed to go out for a quick meal, and it was already slightly nerve wracking that they hadn't been in contact yet.

He tried both their lines and got a busy signal. He took a deep breath and tried again. Still no answer.

“Don't do this,” he wailed at his phone.

“What's going on?” Mark asked. He was still on the other side of the door, to Jinyoung's surprise.

Jinyoung had a lot of pride, but he knew some things were worth setting it aside for. He cracked open the door. “I can't get ahold of BamBam or Jackson.”

“Try a manager,” Mark suggested.

Jinyoung nodded, quickly hitting his speed dial. He sighed in relief when it was answered on the first ring. “Hyung,” he said quickly, switching to speaker so Mark could listen in. “I've been trying to contact the members who went out today about the thunder storm that's going on right now, but I can't get ahold of Jackson and BamBam.”

“Looks like we had the same idea,” his manager said. “I also called everyone to check in, and was just about to call you. Jackson and BamBam are at the practice studio. They're going to wait out the storm and see if there's an opening to come back. If not, they're just going to stay at the company overnight.” He paused. “Is Mark with you in the dorm?”

“Yes.”

“Whatever you do, stay inside. They're predicting power outages, so it'll probably be more difficult to stay in touch in a few hours. I want you all accounted for, okay?”

“Of course.”

“If the power does go, keep an eye on anything in the fridge that could spoil. You used the last scented candle, so I don't think you'll be able to rely on that, but there should be a flashlight in the kitchen. And please don't wear down your cell phone battery using your screen as a light, all right? Keep the battery good in case someone needs to call.”

“I will.”

“All right. Be sure to call in if you and Mark are having any problems.”

“Goodbye, hyung.”

Jinyoung dropped the call. “Do you know where the flashlight in the kitchen is?” he asked Mark.

Mark nodded. “I'll go get it.”

Jinyoung watched his back as he trotted off to the kitchen. Apparently the situation was enough to warrant a truce between them. Jinyoung wasn't sure if he was relieved or not. As much as he didn't want Mark to have bad feelings about their (one-sided) kiss, he was also wary of the idea of acting like it had never happened. There was only so much pretending you could do. Even if it wasn't said out loud, the fact that the two of them had opposite feelings for each other would remain.

After a few minutes, Mark reemerged with a long handled flashlight. “We don't have any back ups of the kind of batteries this thing takes, so we'll need to conserve this, too.” He shook his head. “You should see what's going on out there. It's bad.”

“It looked fine this morning.”

“Yeah, and you haven't been out of the bedroom since. It got worse.” Mark tugged his sleeve and pulled him out to the common rooms. Sure enough, the windows were completely soaked, the sky was dark, and everywhere Jinyoung looked was being pounded by rain and wind. He shivered.

“Will we really be fine here on our own?” Jinyoung asked anxiously.

“Better here than anywhere else, right? We can look after each other.”

Jinyoung glanced at Mark. He really was pretending like nothing had happened. So much so that he wasn't even bothering to put emotional distance between them, going right ahead with the ready kindness Jinyoung had already confused for love once. Did he really think of Jinyoung's feelings so lightly?

“Maybe we should cook something before the power goes?” Jinyoung asked instead of saying something snappish. Now was not the right time to fight with the one person he was sharing the house with.

“Do we actually have anything besides ramen in this place?”

“Let's just have ramen, then. You make it.”

Mark rolled his eyes, but grabbed a pot from the cabinet and started setting up on the stove. Jinyoung sat down at the table, absently playing with the empty straw wrapper someone had left there. He had no idea what he was supposed to say. Usually the two of them could say absolutely nothing and it would still be comfortable somehow, but that couldn't be the case anymore.

Mark cleared his throat first. “You're sure you're okay?”

“Why wouldn't I be okay?” Jinyoung snapped, daring him to answer honestly.

“You've been keeping to yourself a lot lately.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes I just need to get away from my bratty kids.”

“I'm not your kid,” he thought he heard Mark grumbling at the stove. Jinyoung didn't answer. Mark didn't want to be a lover or a kid. Whatever he wanted wasn't the same thing Jinyoung wanted.

After another minute, Mark set down the chopsticks he'd been stirring the ramen with. “You know,” he started, “I might have-”

What Mark might have done was left a mystery. Right then, a massive roar of thunder shook the room, and the power blew, covering the room in darkness. There weren't many windows in the dorm, and very little light to let in even if there were. Jinyoung could barely see anything in front of him through the darkness, not even Mark just a few feet away.

“,” Mark muttered. He hadn't made any progress on the ramen, and now wouldn't be able to on their electric stove.

“Give it a second,” Jinyoung said, clutching onto his chair to orient himself a little. “Sometimes it comes right back on.” They waited about two minutes in silence, but the power remained stubbornly off.

“Remember where we put the flashlight?” Mark asked.

“Should be nearby...”

Jinyoung felt around the table and came up with nothing. He tentatively stood up and waved his arms around, trying to find the kitchen counter. Instead, his hands wrapped around something softer.

“That would be my arm,” Mark said.

Jinyoung let go of him quickly. “You were the one who put the flashlight down.”

“Even if I did remember exactly where I put it, it's not like I can see anything.” Jinyoung heard Mark shuffling around beside him. After a second, he retrieved his cell phone from his pocket and lit up a part of the area around them.

“Manager hyung told us not to,” Jinyoung said, though he was grateful to finally be able to see where they were.

“It's okay if one of us kills our battery, as long as we have one working phone.” Mark grabbed Jinyoung's arm and pulled him around the room. They looked around the nearby rooms for a good five minutes without finding the flashlight.

“.” Mark said again. “I swear to god, it was in that kitchen with us.”

“We should at least get some food out of here if the ramen's a bust,” Jinyoung said. “We should have some packaged stuff, right? And we're supposed to rescue food from the fridge.”

“I'll look for the snack bags, and you check the freezer.”

Luckily, there was nothing much that could go bad in the freezer since they'd recently gotten back from an overseas schedule. There was the end of a carton of ice cream in he freezer and a quart of milk in the fridge. Mark pulled out a bag of chips and a pack of choco pies to add to their stash.

“I guess this is our dinner,” Jinyoung said heavily.

“Or dessert.” Mark passed him the chip bag. “Well. Fun day, huh?”

“It's truly thrilling.” Jinyoung sat back down at the table and began shoving chips into his mouth. He didn't even want to know what else could go wrong today. Since he was alone with Mark, he could only assume it would get worse.

“Ice cream?” Mark asked, extending a spoon to him. He'd turned his cell phone screen back off, and Jinyoung could barely see it or him. It was almost comforting, in a way, that he could look at Mark without really seeing his face and Mark not seeing his. He took the spoon and fumbled it towards the ice cream carton.

“You know, this reminds me of the 'who would you pick to get stuck on a deserted island with' questions they ask us during interviews,” Mark commented.

“Except we're in a house, surrounded by things, have working cell phones, and have plenty of food.”

“But we still have to get through an annoying situation together.”

“Or we could just go to sleep right after this and wake up when the power's back on.”

“When did you stop being fun?”

“I don't want to hear that from you.”

Mark went quiet for a moment. “Fun or not, I'd pick you.”

Jinyoung felt a new wave of fury washing over him. If you don't love me, for the love of God, stop being nice to me. “I'd pick Jaebum,” he said to be spiteful.

“Figures,” Mark said. He sounded unfazed. “If anyone could get you out, it would be Leader. Too bad he isn't here now.”

“We don't have to get out of anything. We just have to sit here.”

There was another clap of thunder overhead, and Jinyoung involuntarily shivered. The room was getting cold, and the ice cream wasn't really helping. He hugged his arms close to his chest and tried not to think about how freezing the wind and rain sounded outside.

“Cold?” Mark asked. “You sound cold.”

“How does someone 'sound' cold? Besides, I didn't even say anything.”

It was odd, but he thought he could hear Mark shrugging in response. “Anyways, we should hunt down some blankets. Come on.” He turned his cell phone screen back on and pulled Jinyoung back to in the direction of Yugyeom and BamBam's room. Rather than taking the blankets from their beds, he kept going towards Jinyoung's room.

“I'm all for camping out in my bedroom for the rest of the night,” Jinyoung said. “But you should go back to yours.”

“Great on you if you want to spend the night in a freezing, pitch black dorm with that freaking loud storm going on outside all by yourself, but apologies if I don't feel the same way. And don't act like you'd just kick out any other member who wanted to stay but me. If I were Yugyeom or BamBam right now, you'd be doing everything to make sure this wasn't as crappy as a situation as it is. That's what you do, right? You mother people.” Mark's voice was verging on mad again. Jinyoung shrank away from him, pulling his blankets around him as if to barricade himself from Mark's harsh voice.

They remained quiet for a long time. With the storm raging outside, it wasn't exactly quiet, but Jinyoung could feel the silence between them all the same. What did Mark want from him? Not love, clearly, but what, if less than that wasn't good enough?

“I think you think I hate you,” Mark said quietly. Jinyoung could barely hear him over the thunder.

“You do.”

“I don't. I just... don't know what you're thinking anymore. I don't understand why you do the things you do.”

“How convenient for you. Aren't you just pretending like you don't so you don't have to deal with it?”

“What? Do you even know... do you even understand how confusing you've been making things?”

“You want me to make them more obvious than I already did? Because you already told me that's exactly what you didn't want. Wasn't I supposed to stop?” Jinyoung could barely see Mark, but leaned forward to grab his arms. “Have you changed your mind? Do I get to keep going?” He said the last words bitterly, knowing he wasn't going to get a positive answer no matter what he did.

It was worse than he expected. Even though all he was doing was touching Mark's arms, Mark forced him off with a low growl. “If you're going to be like this, yes. You need to stop.”

Jinyoung couldn't see his face, but he knew that tone of anger from the last time. Absolutely nothing had changed since then, and even if Mark tried to say there was no hatred behind that voice, Jinyoung could still hear it. Maybe Mark didn't think he hated Jinyoung, but if what he hated was everything in Jinyoung's heart, didn't it amount to the exact same thing?

Jinyoung buried his face in his blanket. His eyes felt damp. I'm not going to cry, he told himself, biting hard on his lip. Not in front of him, even if he can't see it. Still, the more he tried to hold it back, the more it built up everywhere, in his throat, in his heart, in his burning eyes. He couldn't hold back a loud sniff as he threw his hands over his face, trying to bury the evidence and hide all the things Mark couldn't even see to begin with.

“No, wait-” Mark's voice came from beside him. “I didn't mean... I didn't want it to come out like that. Please don't cry, I'm sorry.”

“Go back to your room,” Jinyoung said in a shaky voice. “I get it. Just go.”

“No, you don't get it. Well, maybe you get that I'm being a complete , but...” Mark trailed off. He reached a hand out, resting it on the closest part of Jinyoung he could find, his knee. In spite of everything, Jinyoung couldn't bring himself to pull away.

“It's just...” Mark continued. “You can do things so easily. Like you don't even think about them, you just do them. Things like kissing, especially. You shouldn't just do that.”

“You think that was easy?” Jinyoung asked, wiping at his eyes.

“Wasn't it? You'd do it with anyone. It doesn't make a difference if it's me or Jaebum or Jackson. It's all the same. I'm sorry for getting angry, but I can't do things like that. It has to be about something.”

“You,” Jinyoung said slowly, “think I go around kissing people? Like it's no big deal? You think I'm doing this like it's some kind of hobby?”

'What am I supposed to think?” Mark's cell phone screen lit up again, and after a minute of going through various screens, he it under Jinyoung's nose. “You tell me what this is supposed to be, then.”

Jinyoung looked at the text on the website Mark had opened. It was an interview, one that Jinyoung could vaguely remember doing a month or so ago. He read it to himself:

Q: We've heard Junior likes to take on the role of GOT7's mother?

Junior: Yes. Since the members are really like children, it fits (laughs). Sometimes they drive me crazy and want nothing more to get away from them, but they can be cute and endearing as well. They make you want to kiss them sometimes, but even the youngest ones don't like it anymore (laughs). Maybe I can sneak it on them when they sleep? I should make it my mission to get all six of them.

“This...” Jinyoung sputtered, tossing the phone back to Mark. “It's an interview. Just an interview. It's not like I'm planning on deep kissing all of you, just a peck.”

“Yeah, just a peck. Like the one from the other week? Am I the first one you crossed off your list? I don't find that kind of thing funny, you know. I don't want you to think of me like I'm some kind of a little kid.”

He doesn't know the real reason, Jinyoung realized. But it doesn't matter. It's something he hates, either way. “Sorry, hyung,” he said out loud. “I was wrong for making you uncomfortable. I won't kiss you again, ever, since it's something you don't like.”

Mark went quiet, letting the rain and wind and thunder fill the painful silence between them. It felt like an eternity before Mark finally sighed, pulling his hand away from Jinyoung's knee.

“You never say what I want you to,” he said softly. “Or am I the one who wants all the wrong things?”

“Mark...?”

Suddenly, Jinyoung felt Mark's hands fumbling towards his shoulders, pushing him onto his back. It was so unexpected that his body could barely react. His eyes darted everywhere, trying to find Mark's face but seeing only vague outlines in the darkness surrounding them. What was he thinking? What was he feeling? What the hell did he want Jinyoung to say?

“It's not the doing I didn't like,” Mark murmured. His voice was closer than Jinyoung would have thought, tickling close to his chin. “It was the intention.”

“Y-you don't even really even know what that was,” Jinyoung stammered.

“It wasn't getting one out of six of your kiss your kiddies challenge?”

“No.”

“Then clue me in.”

“No.”

“No?”

“If I tell you, you'll just tell me no again. You'll break-”

“Break what?” Mark's voice felt farther away this time; he'd moved back a little.

Jinyoung didn't know why he said it. Maybe it was because he couldn't even see Mark and felt obscured and somewhat protected by the darkness that covered him and the thunder that could potentially drown him out. Maybe it was because he'd already been rejected twice and it would hurt less a third time. Maybe it was because the arms still pressed against him felt somewhat gentle. Maybe it was Mark's words echoing in his ears, reminding him it wasn't the doing he disliked.

Whatever the reason was, the words came out of his lips, quiet and questioning: “You'll break my heart again.”

“Never,” Mark's voice whispered, right by his ear. Closer than before, back exactly where Jinyoung wanted it be. “I'll never make that mistake again.”

They couldn't see each other, so it was just their hands at first. Mark's traveled from his shoulders, searching for his face, first groping him a little roughly on the chin, then finding his cold cheeks. “You really were crying,” Mark said gently.

“You tried to make me stop wanting to kiss you. I can't.”

“I didn't want it to be for the wrong reason. But if it's because... if it's because it's me, it's fine. You're not the only one who wants that.”

“If you had just let me the first time-”

“I know, I'm sorry.”

“-we could have been doing this-”

Mark's fingers found his lips, shutting Jinyoung up. “I know. But don't let that stop us from doing it now.”

His thumb slowly traced the bottom of Jinyoung's lower lip, and he left it there for a moment as he leaned in. There was no reason to since it was already pitch black everywhere, but Jinyoung closed his eyes, waiting for the moment when all of his agony would be over. When it came, it was better than the first, misinterpreted kiss had been. Mark had apparently already decided that pecks were to be reserved for the other babies, and quickly went deeper, leaning his body weight entirely against Jinyoung and pulling him close. The room was freezing, and the wind and rain didn't do anything to help the impression, but it was somehow incredibly warm in his arms. Jinyoung wrapped an arm around his neck, taking in his body heat and closeness and filling himself with it. This was what he'd wanted for so long. Not to flirt with the edge of what they should and shouldn't do, but to just jump off, hurtling down into whatever passion waited without fearing the fall and the lack of sturdy ground beneath their feet.

Mark stopped to take a breath. “For awhile now I've-”

Mark was slightly out of breath, so Jinyoung finished for him. “Me too.”

“So what exactly were we waiting for?”

“This.”

“Right.” He thought Mark was smiling, though he didn't really have any way of knowing. “I wanted you so badly to look at me this way. I didn't think you did.”

“I always did.” Jinyoung reached out to cup Mark's cheek. Even though they were obscured now, he knew his features like the back of his hand. “Why didn't you see it?”

“Because you look at everyone kindly.”

“This isn't kindness. This is just... this.”

He leaned up and kissed Mark again, but was quickly pushed back down into the blankets. Thunder rumbled over them and rain seemed to pour harder and harder down on the roof, but it all seemed muffled and far away. They didn't pull apart, but touched each other more urgently, a greater force of nature than anything else happening outside.

It poured through the night, and got colder and colder. They didn't notice when Mark's phone died or the power blipped for a single second or even when the winds little by little seemed to let up. Lost in each other, buried in the concealing darkness, they held on tightly and outlasted even the storm.

The lights went back on at three in the morning. Jinyoung had dozed off on Mark's chest, but his eyes snapped open immediately as the overhead light flickered. It felt almost blinding after going so long without it. It was a bit embarrassing seeing the state of his clothes, his shirt pulled up and exposing his chest, his jeans unbottoned, his skin covered in aimlessly placed marks. It was a slight comfort that Mark was also incredibly rumpled and just as thoroughly kissed.

It took Mark a moment longer, but his eyes also fluttered open. “Oh ,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “The stove.”

“I love you, too,” Jinyoung said, stretching.

“Just... give me a second...”

Mark hopped out of bed and ran to the kitchen to shut off the burner he'd been using the evening before. Jinyoung was a little amazed that he didn't feel hungry after only eating ice cream and chips earlier, but he supposed he'd gotten sustenance in other ways.

Mark hurried back as soon as the ramen was taken care of. He had the flashlight they'd never used in his hands. “Surprise, surprise. It was under the table, not on it.”

“A good thing we didn't do anything that would wind up needing it after all.”

Mark smiled. “I would have liked to have been able to see your face.”

Jinyoung shook his head. “We were fine.” He didn't want to think of how much of a mess he'd looked like while it was actually happening.

“So,” Mark said, sitting down on the edge of Jinyoung's bed. “The members are going to ask how we spent yesterday. Any idea how to answer?”

“Telling ghost stories.”

“And the part where we wound up dating each other because of it...?”

“Just tell them they don't have to worry about me sneaking kisses on them when they're sleeping. They'll like that.”

“Their loss.” Mark glanced at the overhead light. “As nice as it is to have this back, it's late. If you're tired, we should go back to sleep.”

“Go ahead, turn the lights off.”

Mark flicked the switch and wormed his way into bed next to Jinyoung. They'd both gotten better at moving around in the dark.

As soon as Mark was in bed, Jinyoung rolled over and planted himself on Mark's chest. “Hey...”

“Oh... so no sleeping?”

“We're used to not sleeping, aren't we?”

“And on our one day off, too. You're bad.”

“Mhmmm.” He leaned down and tugged Mark's lower lip. “Let's find out how bad.”

Jackson and BamBam were the first to arrive back the next day at noon.

“God, yesterday ,” BamBam said, yawning. “That couch was not meant for sleeping on. Another day off ruined by the weather.”

“It's not like there was much to do here,” Jackson said, throwing his coat on the chair. “If it was just Mark and Jinyoung here, they probably just slept the whole time. Not talking to each other. They were still fighting when we left, so it would have been a snoozefest.”

BamBam popped his head into the kitchen. “They ate the rest of the ice cream! That was the flavor I picked out!”

“It would have melted, ya know.”

“It was my ice cream,” BamBam still grumbled.

“Where the heck are those two right now?” Jackson went back to the bedroom, but there were no signs of Mark having slept in it. “Ha! I bet they had to sleep together for warmth and stuff. Can't believe I missed it. Just think of the !”

“I'd rather not.”

They crept around to Jinyoung's room and opened the door. He and Mark were entwined on the bed, Jinyoung's head against Mark's shoulder, their hands resting on top of each other on the blankets.

“!, 2, 3, awwwwwww,” Jackson cooed into BamBam's ear.

“Hoo boy,” BamBam said.

“Looks like they stopped fighting.”

“Looks like they started doing other things.” BamBam paused. “Um, maybe we should wake them up before the managers get back?”

“Nah. Let's give them a little bit longer. Looks like they're having sweet dreams.”

The two quietly shut the door, leaving the pair to their deserved moment of peace in the sunlight after their long night in the darkness.

And see how it's shining through the dark
Spinning a dream for the wide awake
Don't run now
This is my magic world, and it's pulling me under
So stay