When breakfast was finished everyone was excited to get on with their own schedule, having 3 days to themselves after a hectic comeback schedule, and soon the dorm was all quiet.

Jinyoung started with some exercise to relax his jaw in his room. Then he began to focus on his script. Eerything was fine at first, he tried to find the perfect voice tone for his character - a young, naive boy who discovered and made friends with a pretty mermaid, and how the relationship develops.

But then Jinyoung was driven into the story of his character in the modern world, when he was all alone without his mother, how they made a promise at the edge of the blue sea, how he struggled to find her, to survive without her, the sweat moment of reunion…

Before he knew it, he was reading through the whole script, even though his overall appearance was just about 30 minutes.

Jinyoung was reading again and again that one page when Jun Jae met his mother across the road, until someone lightly spoke behind his ears.

“Uhm… This part is a reunion? Is it really really sad Jinyoungie?”

Jinyoung quickly turned to his right to a curious and worried Mark Tuan who was bending over to see the script, he was so close that his soft breath tickled Jinyoung’s cheeks. When Jinyoung felt Mark’s breath sending cool senses to his face, he realized that he was crying, pretty badly…

Jinyoung would had felt embarrassed to death, but at the moment, he was still emerged to the story, he almost didn’t feel like himself.

“...Yi – en…”

Jinyoung said foggily. He didn’t even know why the hell that name came out of his mouth, he never used it towards Mark. Jinyoung always liked the sound of that name, it sounded just like Mark, very gentle, a bit of shyness, but so so gentle…

But at the same time it seemed strange to him. Because everyone have always simply called Mark, ‘Yi-en’ was like a magic word, that not just anyone can use, at anytime. He’d always felt kinda jelly that Jackson can totally call Mark like that a few times to tease the fans, even if it’s not on regular basis, just because they’re close, and both speaks Chinese. It sounded so endearing that, for some reason, Jinyoung had never thought of calling him that, out loud…

Mark was visibly shocked, completely dumb-struck, and didn’t know what to say.

“O-Oh… Yeah, that’s me… *cough*.. So, w-well, are you ok?”

It was then that Jinyoung’s common sense came back to him, which made Jinyoung felt like a stupid weirdo.

“Oh right! Right! Yeah I’m fine, fine. Why are you here again? Ah, I didn’t mean it like that! What I meant to mean is, I mean, what I was saying is that you know, this is my room, I was reading the script and- ”

Jinyoung’s word was scrambled with hick-ups from his tears as he tried to wipe them away as fast as possible with his hands. ! How did I cry that bad and didn’t even notice?!

“Wow wow wow wow! It’s ok!”

Mark laughed at the sight of an all-pink-Jinyoung trying to hide that he had just (so obviously) cried from a script. He quickly took the younger’s hands to stop him from violently rubbing his face.

“You didn’t know? You were walking around the whole evening. I saw you went out of your room while reading the script, drank some water, then sat by the window, then on the kitchen table, and then you sat down next to me on this sofa and few moments later you were crying. I’ve never seen you cry when you read..”

Only then did Jinyoung take a good look around and realize that he had been sitting on the couch at the living room all along.

“I did?!!.. Hahaha. I guess I was too into my character, seriously that wasn’t me.” Jinyoung waved his hands in anxiety. 

Mark stared at him for some time in thoughts. Until Jinyoung started feeling awkward, he suddenly said.

“Hey, let’s hang out at Han River, I’ll bring the speaker to listen to music, we can buy some snacks too. Come on!”

Mark said and immediately turned to his room to change and get ready.

“What? But it’s late, It’ll be cold! And I have to finish the script! And what about the kids! Yah Markeu hyung! Are you listening?!”

“C’mon you love winter, and it’s 7:30 p.m, I’m pretty sure the kids would be eating outside. Haven’t seen them for the whole day.”

Mark strolled out of the room, put an extra thick coat and wrapped another extra thick scarf around Jinyoung, then pulled him out of the dorm into the cold evening.

They bought some ramens, boild eggs, grilled squid, some snacks and for Jinyoung’s healthy throat (which Mark insisted on), 2 bottles of hot, warm milk.

Soon, they were lying on the green grass, faced towards the peaceful Han River with cold breezes blowing gently around them.

It was cold. But it was nice.

They silently ate the snacks at first, until Mark suddenly chuckled, a light puff of fog came out from his breath.

“What is it?” Jinyoung asked, intrigued.

“Nothing much. I remember at the living room, you suddenly called my name, ‘Yi-en’. I was really taken aback then. It was weird to hear someone use that name to call me.”

“Yeah? I guess it was weird” Jinyoung said, smiling sheepishly.

Great, just like I thought, he thinks it’s weird. I should never use that name again. Stupid Park Jinyoung!

“A good kind of weird.” Mark added lightly.

“I like how you say it, it sound surprisingly nice with your voice, I never knew, you know, Jackson always made it sound like a pain in the .” Mark mumbled, a tint of shyness spread across his face.

With that last sentence Jinyoung laughed out in relieve.

Ok, maybe just a few times, I’ll use that name.

“It’s good to see you laugh.” Mark grinned.

Jinyoung spread his smile, making an ugly face and shoved it in front of Mark, causing him to burst out laughing, pushing Jinyoung’s face away.

“Hey Jinyoungie?”

Mark asked after a period of tickling and rolling on the grass.

“Hmmm”

“Are you missing home?”

A shot of electric went through Jinyoung’s body, as he turned to look at Mark, surprised.

Mark was looking straight forward into his eyes, voice so much clearer than the usual silent tone he has, but even more gentle. And somehow, Jinyoung felt exposed.

“Why would you think so?” Jinyoung asked, not as a denial, but more as a wonder.

“Uhm~ I’m not sure, it’s just what you do, the way you look around, what you say.”

“Haha, that’s not very convincing.”

“Ah, how do I put this? I know that it’s been a long time since you visit home, you even stayed with me on Chuseok to film Running Man. And I know you’re always proud of your mom’s Kimichi soup, and how you learned to replicate it. It’s just, those things you do, it has more stories to it. You get me? And especially the way you gaze around…”

Now it was Jinyoung’s turn to chuckle. Mark’s always not good with words and expressing his own feelings. And there he was, struggling to find words to describe HIS feelings.

“Yeah, you got me”, he signed in defeat. “Lately I’ve been looking a lot at doors and windows. It’s silly, that I’d never thought anyone would notice. It might seem stupid, but I just couldn’t help staring at them. I’m just hoping, by some miracle-”

“That your family, anyone of them, would open the door, say ‘surprise!’ with open arms and a smile, so you can run into their embrace and tell them about all that you’ve been through?”

Jinyoung looked at Mark, and for the first time, he was at a loss of words in front of the older. Jinyoung opened his mouth, then closed it again.

“I know. I know.”

Mark smiled and simply repeated, soft as a warm breeze in the winter evening.

It was a long silence when Jinyoung turned his head away from Mark, trying to calm his sudden overwhelm of emotions, he can feel his body lightly shaking, he didn’t want to face Mark, but he could still feel his warmth beside him. He knows it, Jinyoung knew Mark knows it, better than anyone else...

A drop of tear escaped Jinyoung’s eyes, but he slowly wiped it off. As if a new strength was given to him from the boy sitting beside him, Jinyoung found his courage again.

After wiping off that single tear, Jinyoung turned back and faced Mark’s gentle gaze. He giggled and said.

“Wow, experienced aren’t you? I’ve never seen you had this talk with the other members when they feel homesick?”

“Well, Yugyeom and BamBam shares everything together in their room, so there’s no need for me. Jackson has been in the same room with me for a long time, and you know him, he’s very expressive. He’ll always talk to me and managed to let it out some how. Youngjae seem surprisingly collected about this homesick thingy, maybe because Mokpo is nearer to Seol? Jaebum, hmmm, he’s too busy as a leader, he misses home frequently, but I’ve never seen it get a hold on him too much.

And you. Well, at first I thought you’re just like Jaebum, but then I discovered that you tend to hide your feelings a lot, so much that I’m not one bit confident to know if you’re missing home. I figured you’ll share with Jaebum since you two are close, but this time he’s not here so…. I decided to keep an eye on you..? If you don’t like it!-”

“Pabo Mark hyung~ How can I not like it? In fact, now I realized how careless I… we were. I didn’t know that it would be like this, if you’re too far away from home.”

“Ah. No need to feel sorry, you get used to it.” Mark scratched his head, it clearly was still awkward for the older to talk about his own feelings.

Jinyoung felt a light guiltiness tugged his heart. It must have been very tough for his hyung… Compared to him, his sadness seemed small and shallow, no wonder Mark could make it out that he was missing home.

There’s another thing Jinyoung didn’t tell Mark. He and Jaebum never really had much closure talks. They did, back in JJ Project days, when they were still young teenagers that fought and made up every few days. But now they understand each other too well, there wasn’t need for pep talks anymore. Everytime Jaebum senses that Jinyoung is down, all he does is a light pat on the shoulder, and gave him an encouraging look, to let Jinyoung know that he’s there.

That’s what all there is for long-time friends, you don’t say much.

But it’s the first time Jinyoung was encouraged, in a clumsy yet cute and caring way by his Mark hyung, by simple words, that might not be perfect in Korean grammar, but got him nearly tear up.

“Ooooh~ It’s getting colder. Here, drink the milk, it’s still warm. I’ll change the song to my playlist.” Mark unplugged the speaker from Jinyoung’s phone and searched for a song in his own.

“….What if I fall, and hurt myself.

Would you know how to fix me?

What if I went, and lost myself.

Would you know where to find me?

If I forgot, who I am.

Would you please, remind me?

Oh, ‘cause without you things go hazy.”

Jinyoung smiled at the  lyrics.

“Hey I understood all of it. What a simple and cute song! What’s the name?” Jinyoung exclaimed happily.

“Hazy. Yeah, it’s pretty simple. I like to listen to this if I can’t sleep.”

“Ayyy. Hyung, I didn’t know you ever had any trouble falling asleep~”

“Yah, we’re not even in the same room, how do you know if I slept??”

Their laughs mixed together in the hasty evening, under the dark Seol sky, lighted with neon lights and warm markets on the street. The way home is never too dark, or too lonely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Jinyoung was barely at the dorm. He had a busy day preparing for the script. They spent the whole morning informing about the filming plans and schedule, where they’d have to go to film the historical scenes, introduction and brief of the story, etc.

They had a short break and lunch with the cast, and they continued with their work, now starting with the script.

Jinyoung could’ve gone home earlier, since his scenes were not that much, but it was scattered in many episodes. Plus he also wanted to stay to observe and learn from his sunbenims, who were all famous and great actors. Working with them makes him want to do his best, even if his role was just a small role.

Then PD-nim wanted to treat the cast to dinner, so that everyone can get to know each other, and to have a friendly working session. Clearly, nobody can say no to That.

When Jinyoung finally arrived at the dorm, it was already 10 p.m. The maknaes were in the living room, watching TV with some snacks. He could hear Jackson and Youngjae playing video game in the room.

“Oh Jinyoung hyung, you’re finally home! You must be very tired.” BamBam said kindly towards him.

“Don’t worry hyung, We’ll make you breakfast tomorrow morning.” Yugyeom winked towards Jinyoung.

It was understandable. They all felt very sorry for Jinyoung since he lost 3 rare holidays they got in the comeback. They know perfectly well how tiresome a hectic schedule could be.

“Great. I’m looking forward to ramen from you guys and fried eggs from Jackson. As if you guys know any better.”

Jinyoung casually waved his hands and walked straight towards his room in a drowsy state, totally drained.

As he opened the door to his room, he was surprised at first, and then nearly burst out laughing at the sight of a Mark Tuan dozing off on his bed, with the phone on his chest, and Coco laying on his belly.

He seemed to have fallen asleep just a few minutes ago, because Coco was still awake. Coco saw Jinyoung, she hopped off of Mark and ran out of his room to find her Mommy, clearly bored of her lazy Daddy.

After changing into his pijamas and do a quick wash, Jinyoung head towards the bed and stood in front of his hyung.

“Aish, this hyung.” He chuckled, then climbed on the bed, settled comfily beside Mark.

Jinyoung thought for a moment. Then he took out his phone, and set a song on repeat for 1 hour, the song that he’d been wanting to listen to for the whole day.

“I watched you sleeping, quietly in my bed.

You don’t know this now but, there’s something that need to be said.

It’s all that I can hear.

And it’s more than I can bare.

What if I fall, and hurt myself.

Would you know how to fix me?

What if I went, and lost myself.

Would you know where to find me?

If I forgot, who I am.

Would you please, remind me?

Oh, ‘cause without you things go hazy….”

Mark shifted in his sleep. He turned and hugged Jinyoung like a giant stuffed teddy bear, looking quite satisfied.

Outside of the room, he could hear the tip toes and the voices of the maknaes.

“Hey guys! Turn down the volume, Jinyoung hyung is home. He’s heading to sleep now. Shhhhhhh~”

Jinyoung grinned, then closed his eyes in the warmth of the blanket, and in his hyung’s comfortable embrace.

--- THE END---

Guys! I finally finished my second Markjin fanfic! ^^ What do you think?~
I've always wanted to write this fic, because I've been abroad and away from home more than a year now. So, every word in here is from my own experience :)) (of course, with considerable changes according to the characters)

Since I went abroad, I got to understand Mark's feelings more, and trust me, it's very hard and lonely. But we all know he's got GOT7, and he's got Jinyoung. I'm sure he's all safe and sound <3