The moment Mark glanced up from his laptop‘s screen, he immediately regreted his decision. He planned to spend the evening doing absolutely nothing, just lazing around and maybe going to sleep a bit earlier than he would on a Friday night. Even though he is only eighteen years old, he sometimes feels like he is physically forty or fifty years old. Thank God that he isn’t, but sometimes all the practices are a little bit too much. Not that he is not happy that he gets to practice dancing in a group with six other amazing guys. Okay, maybe five amazing guys. No, make it four and a half. Sometimes it just gets a little bit too much to be surrounded by them all the time.

            Mark stretched his arms up and his shoulder muscles popped with a sickening sound.

            ‘Ew dude, don’t do that, that’s gross.’ Mark cocked his head a little bit and smiled innocently while widening his eyes.

            ‘What? You mean this?’ The red head moved his head around and his neck muscles popped loudly. The other occupant of the room flinched and covered his ears.

            ‘Why do you always do this?’ Mark laughed loudly and shook his head in amusement. He sometimes wondered why he liked to get Jaebum riled up. Maybe that’s just how their relationship worked.

            ‘Maybe I just like to see you suffering.’ Jaebum groaned loudly and sat down next to the red head. Mark leaned his head to rest it on the light haired male’s shoulder and drummed his fingers on his bent knee. Sometimes he wondered why he practiced this much when it came to dancing, but really, the answer was quite easy. He liked doing this with his other six friends. Plus, it was a good stress reliever. And he genuinely liked dancing. It gave him a thrill when he was moving to the beat of the song and whenever he did flips; he felt his body burning up with adrenaline.

            Plus, he kind of preferred to spend his free time doing something productive than staying home. And it’s not like he has major problems at home, but it’s just a bit tense lately.

            Mark moved from L.A. to Seoul when he was sixteen years old. It has been two years since he entered this high school, and it was his senior year right now. He was lucky enough that he met Jaebum during the first day of school and their personalities just clicked. They immediately became best friends. Maybe it was because both of them were new in the school and all the other students seemed to already have their circles of friends. They have been through hell and back together. Along the way they met Yugyeom and Youngjae. Yugyeom was two years younger than Mark and Jaebum, and Youngjae was a year younger than the two males.

            Jaebum introduced Mark and the other two to Jinyoung, his other best friend, and it seemed like Jinyoung, or how he liked to be called Jr., had taken a sudden liking towards Mark and babied him as if he was his younger brother. Note the fact that the red head is older than Jinyoung by almost a year.  And the younger male still likes to baby him and treat him like he was his cute dongsaeng.

            About a year ago, a new guy transferred to their school. The students said that the new guy was a total jerk and a player. Well, they were kind of right with the player part. Okay, maybe not really. Jackson was just really flirty and openly affectionate. It’s not like he wanted to give people false hopes, he just acted before he thought. And maybe that was his biggest flaw. And he wasn’t really that much of a jerk. Thought Mark understood why the others might have thought that he was rude. His straightforwardness and inability to hold his mouth shut made him come off as a little bit of a jerk to others.

            But Mark welcomed the new guy with open arms. The fact that they were both foreigners also played an important role in this. The red head kind of pitied Jackson. The guy came from Hong Kong and he didn’t know anyone in school, so Mark decided to take him under his wing. And he sometimes kind of regrets it.

            The last member of the group was introduced when the six boys were hanging out in the park. His name was Kunpimook Bhuwakul, but he asked them to call him BamBam. What kind of nickname is that? Mark immediately remembered Flintstones and the little white haired boy. Wasn’t he called Bam Bam or something like that?

            BamBam was immediately liked by the maknae line of the group and the hyungs had no other option than to accept the new addition. Not that they were really against it. BamBam seemed to be a cool kid, plus, he managed to rock the blond fringe he had, so he got bonus points from Mark.

            ‘So, are you up to go out tonight with the guys?’ Really, Mark kind of wanted to have a peaceful evening. But it seems like all the higher forces are against him.

            ‘Do I have to? I just want to relax, I’m a bit tired.’ Jaebum punched his shoulder playfully and grinned widely.

            ‘Come on, don’t be such a grandpa.’ And that’s what you get for being the oldest in the group. Even if it’s only for a few months.

            ‘I have homework.’

            ‘No you don’t. You finished it before practice.’ Mark scoffed and scratched the back of his head.  

            ‘Um, I have to get home quickly.’

            ‘No you don’t. Your mom’s in Busan and your dad’s out of the country because of a business trip.’ . One bad thing that this friendship held was that Jaebum basically knew everything about him.

            ‘Fine, but if something happens, it’s your fault.’

            Mark sometimes hated Jaebum for his ability to convince the red head to do whatever the younger male wanted.

            Neither of them bothered to change clothes and they simply walked to the usual meeting place. It was a Chinese restaurant that they had came across during one of their outings. More like the time when Jaebum was hiding from his slightly psychotic ex-girlfriend and Mark wanted to eat badly. So they ended up going into the restaurant.

            It became a tradition for the whole gang to meet up at least once per two weeks in this restaurant. The owner already knew them. Mark wouldn’t be surprised if the old man remembered his order. He always ate the same food in the restaurant, and drank the same drink.

            Mark wasn’t really fond of changes. He still hadn’t gotten used to Seoul, even thought he had been living here for more than two years. Maybe he was seriously getting too old for this .

            Even from the outside of the restaurant Mark could recognize the loud voices of his friends.  The red head looked at Jaebum and they shared a knowing look. Why in hell were they friends with these weirdoes?

            Their usual table was already stacked with food and it seemed like Jackson was telling one of his stories, or how Mark liked to call them: Jackson Wang’s adventures that end up with hitting the fan, to the other guys. The two missing boys made their way to the table and it looked like only Jinyoung and Yugyeom noticed that they arrived.

            Mark sometimes wondered how BamBam and Youngjae could get so engrossed in the stories Jackson told. They were nothing spectacular, just Jackson doing stupid things. Maybe that was the catch. When Jackson does stupid things, he manages to get himself into the most ridiculous situations ever. But really, Mark is not one to talk, because he himself always manages to somehow be the one who accompanies Jackson in his adventure time.

            The two might seem like a pair that you wouldn’t think fitted well together, but their differences made their bond special. Jackson was the more outgoing and vocal guy who was dubbed as the trouble maker of the group. Mark was the adorable dork who lifted everyone’s mood up with his quick comebacks. But what almost no one knew was that the red head was usually as much at fault behind the troubles Jackson causes as the Hong Kong native was.

            Mark looked at his friends and frowned when he noticed that Jackson was talking with his mouth full. Does he not have any manners? He could see that Jinyoung was also a bit disgusted. Sure, they should already be used to this, but the one thing that Mark couldn’t stand was bad table manners.

            ‘Dude, you are eating like a pig.’ Jackson turned his head to look at Mark and raised one of his eyebrows in confusion.

            ‘What? Are you talking to me?’ Okay, it came out more like Wfaf? Af yoh tahkin tfo me? But Mark understood him perfectly even when his mouth was stuffed with food.

            ‘Seriously Jackson, that is gross.’ The dark haired male tilted his head in confusion and the red head could feel his heart beat picking up a bit. What is this? Why does he feel tingly all over his body? Is he getting down with a cold or something? He will have to check internet when he gets home for the causes of these symptoms. Maybe he has some kind of a terminal disease and he has only a few months left to live. Okay, maybe his mind is running a bit too wildly.

            ‘What did I do now?’ The red head mentally face palmed and he could almost feel his eyebrow starting to twitch. How dense could Jackson be? Or was he playing with him on purpose?

            ‘Were you born an idiot or have you had to work for it?’ The red head grinned when he saw the way Jackson’s eyes glinted in amusement. This was usually how their conversations carried on. They either teased each other, made fun of each other or simply talked nonsense. But somewhere in between of those seemingly unimportant conversations Mark got attached to Jackson, just how he did to the other group members.

            ‘What did you have for breakfast? flakes?’ Mark almost laughed loudly and he could sense that the other occupants of the room were cracking up at their friendly banter.

            ‘Yeah, well, at least I’m attractive.’ Now, don’t think that Mark is narcissistic or something. He knows that he is not ugly, he might not be the perfect six feet tall model, but he is quite attractive (Who is he kidding? Just quite?). At least that’s what his mother said. And you know what they say, always believe your mother. Unless she is holding a knife in one hand and glaring at you. Then you should run. Jackson pointed his chopsticks in Mark's direction and tried to look menacing.

            ‘Excuse me. I’ll let you know that I am quite attractive. I have girls and guys begging to kiss me.’ Conceited much? Mark grinned even wider and his eyes twinkled in mischief.

            ‘You’re so ugly, you make onions cry.’ A smirk made its way onto Jackson’s face and Mark shuddered a little bit. That smirk always meant that the Hong Kong native is up to something.

            ‘Mark, just shut up and my .’ Typical Jackson, always trying to shut another person up by talking dirty. But this was an old trick and Mark has already gotten used to it during the time Jackson has been his friend.

            ‘Sorry, I don’t small things.’ This time Jackson laughed loudly and put his hand next to his plate.

            ‘ on this then.’ Mark didn’t have enough time to react and a dumpling covered in something slimy hit him straight in his face. Oh wow, ew, is that Jackson’s saliva? The whole table was laughing and Mark glared at Jaebum. Damn it, the guy is supposed to be his best friend. JB shrugged his shoulders and smiled apologetically at the red head.

            ‘Sorry Mark, but your expression was priceless.’ The red head glared at him even more and noticed that Jackson was grinning in satisfaction.

            Sometimes Mark really regretted his choice in friends. The only ones who looked at least a little bit on Mark’s side were Jinyoung and Yugyeom. The mother hyena of the group and the ever so loyal maknae.

            Maybe he should straighten out his priorities and rearrange his best friend rank.

            Yeah, he probably should. 

I am so sorry for this fail chapter. Forgive me, for I have sinned T_T