[not beta-ed. forgive the author please.]

Mark believes that bad things happen everyday.

There is not a thing such a perfect happy day because there has to be at least one moment in a day that doesn't go as you wish- -it is not always something big. Sometimes it is just a small detail that you forget the day after, but sometimes it is as catastrophic as the end of the world.

The end of Mark's little safe bubble happens on a bad day.

Of course, it's on a bad day.

Mark believes that bad days are called like that because bad things happen from the very beginning. From at an early hour- -sometimes even from the exact moment you open your eyes ready (or not) for a new day, you've got this terrible feeling that this- -this day- -is going to be one of the worst days (or the worst day) of your life. 

The point is bad things happen everyday, but mostly on bad days and, unfortunately, they don't shoot in the only bad people.

Bad things are unfair ers.

You can be the sweetest man alive- -you can be that one man who helps grandmothers cross the road- -you can be that teacher who does not give a lot of homework to your students because you understand that they are supposed to enjoy their lives before they enter the adulthood society and forget about parties and alcohol and getting laid- -you can be that perfect student who chooses not to smoke nor to drink because it is not healthy and that perfect teenager whose hobby is not procrastinating until there is only one minute left- -you can be the president, a national hero, a superhero even (guys, if you do not have at least the slightest Marvel culture and you don't know how Anthony Stark's life can go from the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist life to the big man in a suit of an armor who needs to prove everyone that he deserves being part of the ing Avengers life, then you and Mark won't get along), but bad things will happen anyway. Actually, someone said that the better person you are, the worst things happen to you (quotation from Mark Tuan).

Seriously, life is a .

-

Mark has looked everywhere.

He has pulled out all the family's clothes in the laundry and he has looked under his bed and inside his wardrobe at least three times. He has tried asking for his mother to come and search it for him, but each time a shout of Mark leaves the room, his mother's answer arrives immediately in the form of a loud and simple no.

He pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue.

Looking around at the mess in his room (it looks like a freaking hurricane flew here), Mark grimaces at the pair of dirty shoes that he's involutarily thrown on the bed. I freaking, no, ing. I ing sleep there. He rakes a hand through his hair and breathes.Very.Slowly.

"Mooooooooom! I need to go to school in- -" He glances at the alarm clock on his bedside table.

The short arm is pointing at the number seven while the longer at ten. . He scans his bedroom, eyes jumping here and there, looking for his phone because he needs to invent an excuse in order not to have Jaebum beat him two times in a row. He cannot afford to lose the seat again.

"Moooooooooooom! I can't find my shirt uniform! And my phone is missing too. Care to do some of your magic and make them reappear?"

"Ask your brother!" is his mother's reply to his request.

Mark rolls his eyes.

He does not even know why he tried again.

'Cause I'm desperate. Seriously, where is his phone? He eyes the pile of sweaters on the floor and the amount of jeans and other pieces of clothing that he has taken from his wardrobe and the now single socks that were once neatly arranged in his drawer. Well, maybe he doesn't need his mother to see this.

But then, again, if she doesn't walk the stairs and clean the mess (because Mark won't be able to do it. No. He's already too late), how will he find his precious belongings? 

"Oh, my god." Mom is a genius.

Mark rushes out of his room and goes straight to Nichkhun's without bothering to knock first because, what are manners when your best friend is threatening yet again to take your place and shove you in a seat that does not allow you to lean your side at the window and contemplate the blueness of the sky and, more importantly, a seat from which you can't casually take a look at Jackson on his skateboard while your eyes briefly look at the other students who are running in order not to get scolded by the teachers because they're late? Just like I am. 

Because Nichkhun is taking an engineering course- - meaning that he's a college student - -he sleeps in the morning since his lessons start at eleven on Mondays and Fridays and at three for the rest of the week.

His brother is surrounded by a fortress of pillows and books and he's sleeping heavily- -Mark can hear him snore. (Actually, at nights, when his parents are out and so is his sister, Nichkhun and Mark usually stay in the living room and his older brother usually falls asleep in the middle of a movie, resulting to either Mark turning off the television or Mark turning Nichkhun to the other side because you really can't relax watching anything with him like that: Nichkhun snores too loudly).

Luckily, Nichkhun's cellphone is always placed somewhere near him. He texts his girlfriend like every ing minute of the day and Mark is thankful for that because he manages to spot it quickly.

So he borrows his brother's cellphone to call his before he starts coming back to the chaos of his bedroom, only to exit again because the ringing tone isn't coming from there.

He walks back and forth and nothing.

Chester Bennington's singing the chorus of In the End. Mark can't still tell where the hell he has forgotten his phone. He wanders in the two rooms until he stops at one spot and tries to listen carefully. I've been looking in the wrong places maybe.

Mark closes the door of Nichkhun's room.

Mark closes the door of his room.

I had to fall to lose it all, his favorite singer says.

"Where the fu- -" Mark starts, but then his eyes fall on the only open door and without thinking twice, he walks to the bathroom.

It is there.

Finally. He can hear his idol's voice louder and louder. He steps inside and he can see his cellphone vibrating with the screen light flashing in the sink.

His face crumples as he first ends the call to pick up his phone only to find out that it is covered with what seems like ing cream. And when Mark touches the disgusting product and brings it to his nose, he grits his teeth. Laura and the she puts on her face to be able to talk with that crappy-head of his boy-toy without scaring him.

"I am so going to teach her a lesson," he murmurs, taking some pieces of toilet paper and cleaning his cellphone. It doesn't go all away. When Mark's finger unlocks it, he can feel the oily essence of the cream and he supposes that it will never completely go away because girls' make up, girls' things, girls' everything last forever. Like Laura's eyeliner.

Mark quickly types a reply.

You wish.

Well, my bestfriend is a son of a . Cool. He can see the other grinning just by reading his text. Mark is this close to punch the wall, but that is not his priority at the moment.

So, after a delicate pause in which he curses against Jaebum some more, Mark sprints to deposit Nichkhun's cellphone at his feet (and if he hears the rustling of the blanket and his brother prounouncing his name and throwing a pillow at his direction because he's made noises, Mark doesn't care).

He grabs his rucksack and runs the stairs. He has his hand on the doorknob, ready to go, when his mother calls him.

"Yes?" Mark huffs.

His mom must have woken up in a good mood because she does not pay attention to her son's attitude. Instead, she smiles. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Mark stares at her with a blank expression before snapping his fingers as the realisation hits him. "You do not actually deserve a kiss from me, mom. You did not rescue me up there." He says, but he leans in for a peck on the cheek.

Only for his mom to tap him on the nose affectionately. Mark frowns. "You haven't had breakfast yet." She looks at him knowingly.

"Mom, I'm- -"

"If you eat your cereals fast, I'm sure you will arrive punctual, dear." She says in a tone of finality. No one in the family usually dares to contradict her, but unlike her, Mark is definitely not in a good mood. His is getting worse and worse actually.

"But I am- -"

"Mark Yi-En Tuan." And when your mother calls you by your complete name it means that if you do not obey her, you're gonna be in trouble. In .

But seriously, it is not about ogling Jackson anymore. It is about arriving in time because if he doesn't Mr Park will shoo him from his lesson because the old man ing hates latecomers. "What about I eat an apple on the way to school?" Mark says hurriedly, trying to find an agreement that would be extra favorable for him.

It occurs to Mark that this day is going to be part of his days that I'll try to forget when his mother gives him a thumb up and he's running to school with an apple in his mouth- -he turns the corner, he crosses the road without waiting for the traffic light to flash green and when a car honks at him, Mark ing bites the apple and the piece goes straight to his throat and nearly suffocates him.

Mark does not die. Because if he dies because of a fruit, he'll make a scene up there.

He coughs a lot, though. His eyes are watering.

While his apple is getting kicked by passerbies and ok he's not going to have breakfast as he wished before after all, his phone buzzes in the pocket of his uniform pants.

Jaebum is telling him that their teacher is already in the classroom. 

Worst day of the year. And it is just the beginning.

A middle aged man is extending his hand at Mark, but the guy is already on his feet. He offers a thankful smile before he inhales deeply and then reassumes running. Thank God I've left the History book at the locker. No heavy things to carry, thank God. He does not check the time because that would just make him panic more and he doesn't need that at the moment. 

It usually takes him half an hour to get to school when he leaves his house at seven thirty and he walks calmly with the thought that Jaebum is still sleeping anyway so he can take it easily. He estimates that he'd be at the place in ten minutes and he ignores his body protesting that he can't keep this pace.

It is only when he is inside the school area that he fishes his cellphone out of his pocket.

8.45

Bad, very bad.

If it wasn't for the small incident that happened before, he would have gotten here five minutes earlier.  my life. Mark takes small steps now for various reasons: the most important is that his lungs need oxygen and two, he knows which are the consequences of his lateness. Detention. 

Mom won't get mad 'cause this is partly her fault. If she agreed on helping me find my uniform and my cellphone, this wouldn't have happened. If she conceded that I skipped breakfast this wouldn't have happened. If- -

Mark's eyes widen. He looks down at his clothes and- - Please, make it the uniform shirt. Make it the uniform shirt. Make it the uniform shirt. It's plain red. It is pajamas and  . Why the hell did not his mother say anything about it?

He doubts that she did not notice.

The rational part of him tries to convince him that maybe she was not concentrating on his appearance, but she was more preoccupied on his health that she did not realise that her son was going out wearing a piece of his pajama, but try to tell that to the unrational part of Mark's brain which is waiting for another, even the minimum stress to burst.

He contemplates what to do after biting his bottom lip to the point that he almost cuts it.

I'm going home. There is no way he is going to face his classmates in this condition and be scolded by the old man about proper garments and then be punished. 

With a frustrated sigh, he turns to leave. I should tell Jaebum. He will ask his friend to lie and say that he is sick and- -

"OI, YOU, DO NOT ING STAND THERE! WATCH OUT! YOU!"

Mark quickly looks at his right where the shouts are originating. His expression barely slides from confussion to scared- -he does not know if he screamed or said anything at all. What he's sure of is that someone collides against him and knocks him out.

All he can remember is blurry seeing a guy kneel to him and ask him to survive. Then it's all black.

-

"A concussion?" A voice says. It sounds angry. "Why would you wish that he had a concussion, klutz? What kind of prayer is that?" Mark's head may hurt like a motherer, but he can confirm it: the person who is talking- - hissing - -is definitely angry.

"...Cool, man." Another voice says, whispering but not really. "But seriously, why not?"

"..."

"..."

"...why not, what?"

"Why don't we wish that he had a concussion, duh. Don't those cause short term memory loss? Maybe he'll forget what happened. Let's believe in the power of concussion."

"Jinyoung."

"...Yes?"

"Shut up."

"But hyung~"

Mark does not feel like opening his eyes, but let's say that he does not trust being surrounded by strangers and he absolutely has no idea about what happened to him. He wants an explanation...and maybe a bed to lie on. His neck hurts too. It is just after fluttering his eyelids open that he realises that he's sitting on the floor. Of the school.

"What's going on?" He mumbles, holding his head with one hand.

There are two students- -he recognises the uniform of his school. Mark takes a little sigh of relief. He squints at them. Hey, this one look familiar- -the guy with short hair. Junior. Yes, it's Junior. He's looking back at Mark with worry.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Junior booms all of a sudden, and he disintegrates an indefinite number of Mark's neurons in the process.

"What the was that?" The other student demands from Junior. Mark has seen him before- -he has seen all of Jackson's small group of friends. He's the basketball player. And nothing clicks even after that great information that the little voice in his mind's provided him (it's because of the headache), but Mark registers that he has sharp features, brown hair and really plump lips. And he's tanned. 

"I'm talking to you, Jinyoung." Tanned guy pulls Junior by his collar.

"That was plan B." 

"What."

"Plan A was the concussion, but since it's unlikely that it worked, I had to prepare a plan B."

"And all you could elaborate was happy- -" The tanned guy doesn't even finish his sentence. He shakes his head. He clicks his tongue at his friend. Before Junior has the chance to talk again, tanned guy shoves him aside.

"Pretend that he doesn't exist, okay?" Now, he's interacting with Mark. "How are you feeling?" He asks, concern writing his next facial expression.

"You tell me." Mark says coldly because he can't care less. So what if he's concerned? It is only logical that he is- -that they are. Of course they are worried as : they are the responsable of Mark's pain.

If the other gets affected by the hostility that he receives (which is what Mark is hoping for), he's hiding it well (read that as 'he doesn't mind Mark's rudeness at all'. Mark just likes pretending that the other is bothered by his action. Pardon).

He points at himself, "Kim Jongin," and then he catches Junior's wrist and brings him close to his side, "the idiot is Park Jinyoung."

"Also known as Junior." The other adds with a small smirk. "You and I...yesterday, right?" He asks, raising an eyebrow knowingly. 

"You know each other?" Jongin meddles in.

"Not really." Mark says. Once his eyes fall on Junior, they stick there. "You did this to me, didn't you?" It is more a statement rather than a question. Mark enjoys the smugness disappearing from the other's face and being replaced by something he recognises as fear.

Junior's orbs dilate. He opens and closes his mouth like a fish. "Are you going to sue me?"

The timid and trembling question, plus Junior's lost puppy look have Mark chuckling and it's a terrible idea because the next thing he knows is that he is closing his eyes very tight, vainly expecting for the ache to vanish.

"We should bring you to the infirmary." Jongin urges, his fingers tentatively touching Mark's shoulder. "Miss Chaerin will take care of you better than we did."

Mark would have retorted that it did not look like they did something to rescue him. They only inflicted him pain, and then sat him on the floor (which was uncomfortable) and holy , I feel dizzy. "Please do," he murmurs in the end. He doesn't wait for the answer. Mark manages to get up on his own, but when he's about to walk, Jongin puts his arm around Mark. "Thanks."

"Jinyoung," Jongin calls his friend who's standing in front of them, unsure on what to do. "On the left." He instructs, but Junior isn't moving. "You stupid klutz, come here."

"Only if he promises that he won't tell the nurse." Mark sees Junior swallow hard. "...and that he won't sue me. These are my conditions. Take 'em or leave 'em." He says with a catious tone. "Well?"

Mark feels all the irritation slowly going away, because really? Look at him. He swears that he would have laughed- - if only he could take a picture of that hopeless look, he would have the solution for sad days. It's so helpless, childish- -he almost tries to visualize what Junior would have looked like when he was little and he broke something precious in his house and he had to tell it to his parents. But Mark forces himself to suppress the laughter.

He opts for a friendly smile. "You have my word."

"Fine."

And at this point, Mark should declare that this is good because even if it started as a hell-day, instead of a 'hit&run' he has the culprits walking him to the infirmary and trust him, with Mark's luck, this is something really surprising.

Knowing his cruel destiny though, Mark should have seen that there's a catch for this good thing.

As a matter of fact, Junior suddenly stomps his feet and then excuses himself.

"Where the are you going?" Jongin half-shouts/half-hisses to Junior's back. Then, he exchanges a puzzled look with Mark. Several minutes later, Junior reappears with a skateboard in his hands.

The skateboard.

Before he can think about it, Mark blurts out, "isn't that Jackson's?" He doesn't cover his mouth with both of his hands because it would be obvious that he did not want to say that sentence. He feels numb, though. Numb and dumb. Number and dumb. What a perfect combination.

However, Junior does not find anything odd about it (right. Everyone knows about Jackson's companion. Why did Mark even get nervous?). He is not looking at neither Jongin or Mark. "We need to give this back to him."

"We're not interrupting Mrs Jung's hour to call Jackson out." Jongin says immediately. "We're skipping first period, alright? You'll hand him it during recess."

"No, he's out. He got kicked out by the teacher." Junior replies. "It will be quick."

"You go while I accompany Mark in the infirmary."

"I need you to be there with me. I kind of scratched his Lady and he'll destroy my skull." Junior directs a scowl at the skate. "C'mon, let's go." But the look he has is far from his confident tone. Mark notes how totally different is Junior's reaction to Mark's kind of blackmail from going to face Jackson- -

Oh.

Ooh.

They are going to face Jackson.

Jackson- -the guy that has had Mark's interest from day one at the park. Jackson, the guy who drives Mark crazy without him knowing- -the same guy Mark follows, but from whom he's hiding since the embarassing rejection.

An unpleasant feeling akin to disappointment (how ed up he is if he hasn't seen Jackson yet and he's already feeling like Jackson will do something that will make him sulk about it again? Wait. Delete the sulking part) and excitement (but what if he doesn't?) war for dominance. It is when Jongin keeps on insisting for Junior to go to Jackson by himself because Mark is not feeling well, that Mark knows which of the two feelings wins.

"It's fine to me," Mark sputters, his mind only thinking Jackson and me and want to. "We can go to the infirmary after delivering the skateboard to Jackson." A shiver runs down his spine as he pronounces the name of his crush in front of his crush's friends. 

Junior beams. "I like this one." He tells Jongin. "Heard what my buddy Mark said?" Jongin shrugs at the both of them. "Off to the Wang boy!"

(Mark does not understand Junior one bit: first he looks like 10 kilos are on his back, then one second later he's radiating happiness from all over his body).

The next minutes are the longest of his entire existence. 

They pass section A, and then Mark doesn't know what to do with himself anymore.

Jackson is outside the classroom.

As they get nearer, Mark sees that he has his hands stuffed inside his pockets as he mantains a position that balances perfectly a book on his head. He doesn't have his cap on. Which intrigues Mark because seeing Jackson's hair styled with gel happens once every decade.

When Junior throws himself at the guy (who loses his composure and makes a face as the book falls to the floor), Mark can't stop himself from letting out an alien protesting sound. 

Jackson is giving him his attention. "Huh?"

Let's be honest here- -Mark has visualized this encounter with Jackson at least a billion times. In his head. The encounter is something drama-like. For example, Mark is man enough to press Jackson to his locker with his body and then he kisses the hell out of the guy (Jackson moans. Mark catches this opportunity to slip his tongue in the other's mouth. Jackson is panting, "N-not at school" and- -Cut. CUT!) or, Mark is again man enough to wait for Jackson after school and then to apologise (then Jackson, upon seeing that Mark is the finest human specimen decides that Mark has to come to his home later that night to be forgiven. Okay. OKAY. All of the imaginary sceneries somewhat lead to . In Mark's defence he's got hormones. Teenagers hormones. Those should explain enough).

Now that he has the person of his desires in front of him yet again, his worry is that the world won't do him the favor of swallowing him whole. Why am I so ing just making an idiot of myself. Say something.

"So you call your skateboard Lady." Where the does that come from? Mark feels like losing two years of life. 

Jackson's forefinger is indicating Mark. "Who is he?" He says in the same tone someone would say 'who the brought this one here?' and that doesn't make Mark's shoulders droop dejectedly.

He does not even remember me.

To you guys, it may look like a gift to Mark (because now that Jackson has no wrong memories of Mark making fun of him, they can start everything all over again and Mark can make this right this time), but to Mark, it feels like a punch square to the jaw and to his ego. I wasn't worth being remembered.

Jackson did not remember him.

Nothing. 

He's almost tempted to tell Jackson about #5 turn-down of 2012, but Jongin's talk spares him.

"Jinyoung tried to ride your skateboard this morning when he arrived at school. He was bragging about how good he was until he was near the entrance and he did not know how to stop skating. Mark here showed up from nowhere and he got hit by Jinyoung pretty hard." Jongin summarises and Mark listens carefully, asking himself in the middle of the narration why he did not ask for these details of the incident earlier. "Mark was unconscious before. We're taking him to Miss Chaerin."

"Yes." Junior confirms. He coughs in his fit. He's still leaning too close to Jackson for Mark's liking, but sadly it is not like Mark has the right to tell him to back off from Jackson. "And something happened to Lady. He's got this little, almost invisible line in one of his wheels." He's shifting his weight from foot to foot.

From Junior's behavior (and from personal experience), Mark is preparing himself to Jackson losing his temper. But instead, he attends one scene that he will never remove from his head.

Jackson's intently looking at Junior who's pushing the skateboard on his side, but the shorter guy isn't taking it. He tilts his head as if scanning if his friend has any injury. Mark is still in awe. This Jackson- -he's never seen this part of him. Caring. It is new and he likes it- -, if he likes it.

"You okay?" Jackson breathes out, and Mark can't really help but imagine him being in Junior's position. If his crush asked him a thing with that voice- -even something impossible like fetch him the moon or bring him one of the brightest stars, Mark would.

"Why am I here?" Jongin crosses his arms on his chest. "Jackson would never kill him- -kick his a little, yes, but Jinyoung is his favorite."

Mark's heart shrink to his stomach. He does not know why Jongin's shared that information with him. He's disturbed (jealous. Jealousy is another ) by Jackson and Junior talking to each other after that, yet he can't tear his eyes from them. 

"I will never leave Lady at your house ever again." Jackson is complaining as he embraces his skateboard.

"Don't be like that, hyung!"

this .

"Wanna go visit the infirmary?" Jongin offers.

"Yes."

-

"Why are you dressed in red?" 

Mark's head is not on this planet. "I'm in my pajamas." That proves it.

-

Jongin keeps him company for a while.

He asks Mark seriously what his intentions are- -if he's going to tell the principal about the incident or not. No matter what happened before (the Jackson and Junior being smiley to each other. He's only seeing green), Mark is not a dickhead who doesn't keep his promises. Contented with Mark's response, Jongin salutes him.

Miss Chaerin suggests him to go back home and he complies.

When Mark is gloomy, everyone can tell because it's written all over his face. His sister wants to treat him food, but he refuses. Same is the answer he gives to his father's offer to cheer him up and to his brother's. Mark's mother bakes him cookies and he accepts them. Food is always delicious.

He still texts Jaebum.

He tells him everything and his best friend calls him that night. 

"We've never heard of Junior and Jackson like that, haven't we?" Jaebum reasons out because sometimes he can be a nice person too.

Mark snorts. "Just like we've never heard of Jackson's soft side- -God, JB, if you were there..." He lets out a moan. "He was such an angel to Junior. He asked him if he was okay with this expression..Oh, JB."

"I'm hanging up."

He hates Jaebum.

-

Now, Mark knows that you were all expecting to read about his following Jackson habit being discovered, but the first part was necessary. 

Especially Junior and Jongin.

Junior.

Jongin.

They are very important.