The red head looked down at his phone and prayed mentally that it would ring any minute. But of course with his luck, nothing like this would ever happen. Mark glared at his phone and he felt a tug on his jacket’s sleeve. He turned his head a little bit and was met with Yugyeom’s smiling face. Oh God, he used Mark’s secret weakness. He never could say no to the maknae when the younger boy smiled at him with his famous smile. Mark forcefully pried his eyes away from the cute boy’s face and stared at his phone’s screen. Ring you good for nothing piece of trash.  

                ‘Hyung, come on.’ Oh no. Not that cutesy voice. How can Yugyeom be so freakishly tall and still sound so cute? What genes did his parents pass on to him? Mark wondered if the maknae knew how easily he could convince people with that voice of his to do anything he wants.

                ‘No. I need to finish my paper.’ Mark could already imagine the pout on Yugyeom’s face and he had to fight the urge to glance at the Maknae’s expression. If he did, he would be doomed.

                ‘But Hyung, the paper is due in two weeks and it's Saturday.’ The red head sighed loudly and tilted his head a little bit to look at the maknae.

                ‘And what do you want me to do about that?’

                ‘Why don’t we invite the gang over and just relax?’ Mark’s shoulders fell in defeat and he picked up his phone. He quickly typed in a message that everyone should come over to his house and made sure that the other five males received it. Mark turned his head and stared at Yugyeom with a judging face. The younger boy smiled at him innocently and his eyes formed into small crescent moons.

                ‘Happy now?’ The maknae giggled and nodded his head. Seriously, this kid did not know the full extent of his cuteness. Maybe that’s why Mark was overprotective when it came to Yugyeom. Differently than BamBam, the maknae of the group was truly innocent and he was still a kid in the red head’s eyes. Sure, BamBam was the same age as Yugyeom, but the Thai male was sly and he knew how to use his baby face to make everything go his way. The red head saw Yugyeom as his younger brother, maybe that’s why he always made sure that the younger male was healthy.

                When Mark moved to Seoul with his family, he didn’t know any of his neighbors. Heck, he probably still doesn’t know most of them. So imagine his surprise when he found out that Yugyeom was actually living only a few blocks away from him. The two of them started hanging out at each other’s places often. Mark’s parents knew Yugyeom and his mother pampered him as if he was her own son. His father liked the younger boy too, he sometimes even took his son and Yugyeom to see basketball and football matches.

                Yugyeom always came over to Mark’s place when he was bored during the weekends. Mainly because he knew that the red head would be at home, lazing around and playing video games. Which was why the younger male was pestering Mark right now to invite the others over. And he succeeded, just like he always does.

                ‘Very.’ The red head ruffled Yugyeom’s hair and smiled at the younger male. The maknae rolled his bottom lip between his teeth and looked at his oldest hyung. Mark could see that something was bothering his friend and he frowned lightly. The maknae was doing great in school and he didn’t have any family problems, so what was bothering him?

                The red head moved to sit on the ground next to Yugyeom and patted the boy’s knee.

                ‘Say, hyung, had you ever liked someone?’ Mark scoffed at the question and raised an eyebrow.

                ‘Well, yeah of course. I mean if I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t be your friend.’ Mark saw how Yugyeom shook his head and how his facial expression softened.

                ‘No hyung, I mean had you ever liked anyone in a romantic way?’ The red head tilted his head and his eyes widened in surprise. Don’t tell me that?

                ‘Yug, do you perhaps like me?’ The red head knew that his dongsaeng could in no way harbor any romantic feelings for him. He’s not that dense, he would have noticed. But he wanted to see if Yugyeom was just asking because he was curious or because he actually liked someone. Mark almost laughed loudly when he saw the way Yugyeom’s eyes comically widened and his mouth fell open.

                ‘What? Ew, hyung, no.’ Okay, that might have hurt a little bit. Even though Mark saw him only as a little brother, his reaction didn’t have to be so wild. A simple no would have been enough. The red head frowned and smacked the maknae over the back of his head.

                ‘Don’t say things like that. Some people might get offended.’ Okay, maybe his pride was hurt a little bit. Nobody wants to be told to their face that someone does not find them attractive. Yugyeom’s eyes widened even more and he started to form kind words immediately.

                ‘Hyung, it’s not what I mean. You are attractive, like really attractive. You are just not the type of attractive that would win my heart over.’ The red head covered his freshly forming smile behind his palm and tried to look angry.  

                ‘Are you saying that I’m not manly?’ Yugyeom started panicking and shook his head.  Mark gripped his younger friend around his waist and started ghosting his fingers quickly over the boy’s stomach. Yugyeom laughed loudly while he was being tickled and tried to get out of his hyung’s tight hold. The red head only increased the tickling and by that moment Yugyeom was red faced and his laugher was high pitched. If only the other guys would see this. The maknae was usually more collected, but when it came to Mark, he unintentionally let his guard down and transformed into a kid all the time.

                Mark stopped torturing the poor overgrowth puppy and patted his head.

                ‘Why are you asking this?’ Yugyeom blushed a pretty shade of pink and Mark’s eyes widened. , don’t tell me that my innocent and cute dongsaeng likes someone. When did he grow up? I swear just yesterday he was begging me to buy ice cream for him.

                ‘I’m just curious. So had you ever liked someone?’

                ‘There was this girl in the States. I dated her, but then had to move to Seoul, so yeah, I did like her.’ Yugyeom nodded his head and looked at his hyung with curious eyes.

                ‘How did it feel for you when you were dating her?’ The red head scratched the back of his head and looked at his dongsaeng. What did he feel back then?

                ‘I guess I felt happy. And when I saw her I always smiled unconsciously. I wanted to hold her hand all the time. I don’t really  clearly how I felt; it was a long time ago.’ Yugyeom nodded and Mark was about to ask what’s wrong, when the door bell rung. The red head opened the doors and was met with his other five friends. How did they manage to come here at the same time?

                Jackson was the first one to make his way into the house and he laid down on the couch.

                ‘I call Mark’s bed tonight.’

                ‘What do you mean you call my bed? I’m sleeping in it, not you. And why would you stay over?’ Jackson cocked his head a little bit and looked at Mark with his trademark smirk adoring his face.

                ‘Face it, we will all stay here over for the night.’ Mark frowned and shook his head. He sometimes hated the fact that Jackson was usually correct. He wasn’t as stupid as others thought he was. And that usually gave him an advantage.

                Jaebum walked over to Mark while the other guys settled in the living room and dragged him into the kitchen. The light haired male shook the older male’s shoulders slightly and faked panic.

                ‘Mark, you have to help me.’ The red head raised one of his eyebrows and flicked Jaebum on his forehead.

                ‘What? Is it one of your crazy exes again?’ Jaebum’s face flushed and he nodded his head slightly.

                ‘Yerin. She just can’t understand the word no.’ Mark nodded his head in agreement.

                ‘I’ll help you, but, no offence, your choice in lovers .’ Jaebum furrowed his eyebrows and punched Mark’s shoulder playfully.

                ‘Why do people say ‘no offense’ right before they’re about to offend you?’ Mark shrugged his shoulders and a giggle came out of his mouth.

                ‘To soften the offence. Did you buy any snacks if you are going to stay over for the night?’ Jaebum shoved a plastic bag full of food and drinks into Mark’s outstretched arm and the red head grinned widely. They made their way into the living room with the unpacked snacks. Jaebum sat down next to Yugyeom and Mark settled himself to sit in front of Jackson on the ground.

                The red head could feel the way Jackson’s knees pressed into his back and he leaned back a little bit. He rested the back of his head on the younger male’s lap and let out a soft sigh. Jackson’s legs were unusually comfortable. Mark had always thought that it would be really uncomfortable to lean on the younger male’s legs, because they seemed to be muscular. But the muscles in his back relaxed by the mere touch of Jackson’s covered flesh.

                ‘Alright, we bought some alcohol, let’s have some.’ The red head looked at Jackson in confusion from his upside down place and the Hong Kong native grinned widely.

                ‘Jacks, we can’t drink alcohol.’ The younger male patted his cheek in mock comfort and grinned even wider.

                ‘Yeah, but no great story started with someone eating a salad.’ Mark scoffed and Jackson pinched his cheeks a little bit too roughly.

                ‘Our Markie is so innocent.’ The red head glared at the younger male and pulled his hands off of his face.

                ‘Alright, just don’t come crying to me when you do something stupid.’ Jaebum poured some alcohol into shot glasses and gave them to the six males sitting around the living room. Mark gulped down the drink and his face scrunched up in distaste. How can anyone drink this? What is this actually? The red head lifted the opened bottle up and read the name of the alcohol. Vodka. (That tastes awful during the first try, but then it gets okayish, so you can drink it.) Well, now he knows what he will never drink again.

                Mark saw that Jackson was gulping down his second shot. And his third one afterwards. How is he capable of doing that? But really, Mark wouldn’t be surprised if Jackson had drank this more than once during the last year.  

                ‘You’re insane Jacks. How can you drink this?’ The younger male laughed loudly and pressed a full shot glass to Mark’s slightly parted lips.

                ‘I don’t suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.’ He couldn’t understand why, but the red head parted his lips a little bit more and tilted his head back in order to let Jackson empty the glass into his throat. The alcohol burned his insides, and he was already a little bit dizzy. Mark wasn’t really used to drinking alcohol. At least not strong alcohol. He was okay with a few bottles of beer or cider, but not something that was over thirty five percentages in strength.

                A small droplet of alcohol escaped the corner of his lips and Jackson wiped it away with his finger. The Hong Kong native the alcohol away from his finger and Mark gulped a little bit. Was it getting a little bit hot in here?

                The bottle was finished mostly by Jackson and Jaebum, with the help of Jinyoung and Mark. Even though the red head didn’t drink much, his head was spinning a little bit. But it didn’t mean that he did not know what was happening around him. Mark and Jinyoung made the sofa for Youngjae. BamBam said that he’ll sleep on the other couch and the older males agreed with his choice. Jinyoung got the guest room. Jaebum and Yugyeom settled in Mark’s parent’s bedroom and the red head was dragged into his room by Jackson.

                The Hong Kong native changed into one of Mark’s shirts and laid down on the middle of the bed. The red head had to nudge his side in order to make him move when he walked to his side of the bed. During nights like these Mark was really happy that he had a bed fit for three people. They could have probably taken BamBam into here too.

                The red head could feel something warm hitting the back of his neck, but he was so tired that he just brushed the feeling aside. He snuggled into his blankets and his heavy eyelids dropped, caging him in his sleep.