When Mark turned eighteen, he felt afraid. You know when students graduate from high school, not knowing what to do with their life afterwards? Whether they should find a job, follow their dreams or continue their education? You know that feeling?

Well Mark was feeling exactly that.

Sure the people at the orphanage as well as the dream team threw him a huge party, which he was extremely grateful for, of course. But when he woke up the next day as an official eighteen year old, he felt lost.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about what he wanted to do for the past few months. After all, he had come to a conclusion that he wanted to do something pertaining to music, what with his ability to play numerous instruments like the piano, guitar and violin. (He had a lot of time on his hands while being in the orphanage alright, don’t judge!)

He just didn’t know where to start.

-

More than a week passes and Sunday comes around quicker than ever. The front door of the orphanage bolts open and two Chinese boys come running into the foyer, falling into a pile together with five others.

“So how was your first week of school?” Mark asks curiously, sounding like a mom, once they’ve all settled down.

“It was amazing, oh ma gad!” The younger Chinese exclaims, cheekbones lifting so high his eyes turn into slits.

“It was fine, hyung!” Ren Jun replies more calmly than Chen Le. “Ma and Pa enrolled us in a private international school and we met lots of friends from around the world!”

“And they’re all so nice!” Chen Le adds on with glee.

“That’s great!” Mark grins and he pats both their heads. About a month ago, his two Chinese boys were successfully adopted by a Chinese-Korean couple in their late 40s. They were very friendly and welcoming of course, the two boys easily settling into their home.

Although Mark had learnt his lesson, he was still pretty affected. He barely spoke to anyone for the first few days, only leaving his bed to apologise (again) when Donghyuck forced coaxed him out of it. (Don’t ask how.)

He had ruffled the two boys’ hairs, giving them a bittersweet smile as they packed their things. The orphanage was relatively quieter without Chen Le’s screams of oh ma gad and Ren Jun’s gruntled mumbles telling the younger to be less of a nuisance.

He was still slightly sulky for a few days after they left, but trust his amazing boyfriend Donghyuck to always distract him from the bitterness, bringing him to their usual hangout spot. Besides, Ren Jun and Chen Le promised to visit every weekend, and they’ve been doing so without fail, slowly easing the worry in Mark’s heart.

Back to the present, the seven boys were happily eating the pie that one of the caretakers made when Mr. Kim walked into the room, the heels of his leather oxfords clicking on the hardwood floors.

“Hey boys!” He greets them with a smile. “Nice seeing you two again, Ren Jun and Chen Le.”

The boys greet the director with their usual loudness and a little bow, pieces of pie crust stuck to the corners of their lips. They haven’t seen Mr. Kim in a while, they’re not sure why. The last time they saw him in orphanage was Mark’s birthday, which was more than a week ago.

“Anyways, I have some news for you all.” The director says as he stands before the seven of them, hands clasped behind his back. He refuses with a smile when Jeno offers him a seat, opting to get straight to the point.

“I’ve already discussed this with my partners and my workers, but I have yet to tell you boys but - this orphanage will no longer be in business.”

The collective sound of forks being dropped onto the table could be heard, along with soft gasps of disbelief.

Mark almost chokes on his pie and sputters out crumbs, his nightmare from before flashing briefly in his mind. Donghyuck looks at his boyfriend in worry, arm reaching out to pat his back.

“What do you mean, Mr. Kim?” He asks curiously.

“Yeah, what’s gonna happen to us then?” Jaemin adds on.

The old man chuckles at the boys’ adolescence, walking over to Jisung and playfully ruffling the boy’s mushroom hair.

“You boys jump to conclusions too quickly, tsk.” Mr. Kim shakes his head. “Don’t worry, it’s not going to be shut down! Gee, you boys always think of the worst case scenario.”

The seven boys sigh in relief, picking up their forgotten forks and continuing their pie feast, leaving their ears perked as they listen to the director’s explanation.

“Well, taking care of troublemaking kids like you can be a pain,” The old man jokes, eyes darting towards Mark. The boy simply giggles and playfully gives him finger hearts. Mr. Kim scoffs and rolls his eyes. “So, I’ve decided to turn the orphanage into an academy instead.”

“Ooh~” The boys coo, pretty fascinated by the director’s plans.

“The daycare will run as per normal, but we will also be offering different types of classes and tuition. Most of the caretakers have been trained already, but of course they would still need to get some certification.”

“But wait,” Jaemin interrupts. “That still doesn’t answer my question though. What’s gonna happens to us?”

“Well,” Mr. Kim begins, stealing a bit of Mark’s pie when he wasn’t looking. He munches on the sweet dessert as he continues. “Kicking you out would be cruel of course, but I can’t let you all freeload here in this house, so the best option would be to help out with classes. I’ll give you boys more pocket money and you can keep your room.”

The boys look at each other, lips pursed as if to consider the director’s conditions. Oh who were they kidding, it was a great opportunity. They get more pocket money and they still get to stay together, with the exception of the two Chinese boys of course.

“I’m sure we can work with that.” Mark looks up at the director and agrees with a smile. Maybe this could be a way I can start doing music, the boy thinks to himself.

The director grins, stealing another bite of pie before leaving the room. Those little devils are so cute.

“Aw man, if only Mr. Kim did this before we got adopted,” Chen Le randomly speaks up, sulking at his slice of pie. “I would love to show everyone how to be a cutie president like me.”

The boys roll their eyes, Ren Jun shoving a forkful of pie into the younger’s mouth.

“Shut it and eat your damn pie, Zhong Chen Le.”

-

Mark strolls through rows and rows of gold-painted trees, warm toned leaves falling to the ground and rustling beneath his boots. He smiles watching Donghyuck play around the piles of autumn leaves like a kid. God he’s so in love.

He widens his eyes when he hears the younger boy screech all of a sudden before falling backwards onto a low pile of leaves. Mark jogs over in worry, but he scoffs when he sees his boyfriend laying there with a eating grin on his face, eyes closed in bliss.

“You , I got worried for nothing.” The older complains, looking down at the beauty that lay before him in admiration. But of course he wouldn’t admit that.

“Aww, you were worried about me?” Donghyuck teases, fluttering his eyes open. He looks up into Mark’s eyes and giggled. “You like me so much, hyung!”

Mark ignores him, blowing his bangs out of his face, and stretches his arm out towards the younger.

“Come on, get out of there, it’s dirty.”

Donghyuck smirks, obviously plotting something else in his mind. He grips his boyfriend’s arm firmly, pulling him down onto the ground with him instead of getting up.

The older boy shrieks, obviously taken by surprise. As he lay there pathetically on the ground, facing the sky, he decides it was best to ignore his stupid boyfriend for messing with him.

The cold shoulder clearly didn’t last long because it only took a little peck on the cheek for Mark to turn around and look down at Donghyuck oh so fondly once more.

“Ey, don’t be mad~” The younger whines, throwing his limbs around his boyfriend as he snuggles up against his side, clearly not caring about the dirty leaves. “I just wanted to lay here with you.”

“Really? Here in the middle of the park where everyone can see us?” Mark questions the boy, amused. He wraps his own arms around Donghyuck though, chin resting atop his head. “You know we can do this at home right?”

“Well yeah, but this feels nicer.”

Mark merely hums in response, and two stay in each other’s embrace for God know’s how long until the older breaks the silence.

“How’s vocal training with Taeyeon noona?” He asks, inhaling the scent of the autumn breeze together with Donghyuck’s shampoo.

“That woman is ruthless,” The younger groans. “I didn’t know she could sing like that though, it’s amazing.”

Donghyuck had decided to help Taeyeon, one of their caretakers, with vocal classes once the academy was open for business. After all, he used to perform together with Jeno at his old school. Of course he still had a lot to improve on, but who knew the quiet and gentle caretaker used to be a vocal powerhouse in a band when she was in her late teens.

“Yeah I’ve heard her sing before,” Mark chuckles, thinking back to the time he overheard said caretaker hitting the high notes while baking. “Almost busted the windows though.”

Donghyuck tsk-ed, nuzzling his nose further into Mark’s red knitted sweater.

“How about music with Henry hyung, though?” He asks back. “You guys make a lot of ruckus with those drums.”

“It’s going great!” The older laughs, recalling the time almost everyone complained about the noise they made. “Though I’m surprised though, Henry hyung is like a music genius. He plays almost every instrument. To think that after all those years I would know that about him.”

“Hah, it’s like all our caretakers have a secret past or something.” Donghyuck jokes.

“Yeah, like Jongin hyung with dancing too. Who knew eh? That guy is always either eating or sleeping.”

Donghyuck hums and nods in agreement, relishing in the soft vibrations off Mark’s chest every time he spoke or laughed. He lets Mark carry on with his rambles about the caretakers’ “secret identities”, nodding every now and then.

He lifts his head slightly, staring blankly at his boyfriend’s features as he went on and on with his rambles. The younger grins and randomly presses another kiss on Mark’s chin, effectively cutting him off mid-sentence.

“What was that for?”

“Nothing~” Donghyuck says cutely, still grinning up at the older. “You’re still ugly.”

Mark sniggers at his boyfriend’s words, unaffected by being called ugly. After all, he knew the underlying meaning behind it.

He pulls away from the younger slightly, looking down straight into his eyes.

“I love you too, dumb Hyuck.” He says, craning his neck down further to press a loving kiss to Donghyuck’s lips. He feels the younger smile against his lips, before he clasps his hands behind the older’s neck, deepening the kiss.

And the two boys lay there in each other’s arms as they watched the sun go down, unbothered by the dirty ground or the weird stares from passers-by.

-

The small dance studio is warm and slightly stuffy when Jaemin enters, mirrors all fogged up. He spots Jeno sitting in the corner of the studio, back against the mirror and eyes closed, clearly taking a break from dancing.

Jisung is nowhere to be seen though, probably already gone to wash up, so Jaemin takes in the sight of his boyfriend - dark hair all damp and tousled atop his head, beads of sweat trickling down the sides of his face down to his neck, mouth parted parted slightly to breathe, and last but not least his sweaty white t-shirt sticking to his form.

Jaemin tries to avoid the foolish smile forming on his face. Even in this state, his Jeno manages to look so good. They’ve been dating for quite a while yet the younger still never fails to feel all giddy and gross inside because of him.

Breaking out of his mushy trance, the pretty boy strides over to his resting boyfriend quietly and squats down by his side. Not caring about the sweat, Jaemin runs his fingers through Jeno’s chocolate brown locks, brushing them away from sticking to his forehead.

Jeno leans into his touch and smiles, fully aware of who it was waking him up. His eyes flutter open to meet his boyfriend’s doe ones.

“I’m all sweaty, Na Na.”

“It’s okay,” the younger assures, fingers twirling a lock of hair. “You done?”

Jeno nods. He wraps a hand around his boyfriend’s wrist, bringing his arm down and pressing his lips softly to the back of his hand. He laces their fingers together and gets up from the floor, grabbing his bag with his free hand.

He doesn’t start making his way out of the studio, however. Instead, he randomly pulls Jaemin into his arms, pressing another kiss to the younger’s lips, hands resting on his hips.

Jaemin is of course shocked by his boyfriend’s sudden display of affection, but chooses not to complain. He opts to bask in the moment, hands clutching the collar of the older’s damp shirt.

Their eyes flutter close, simply enjoying being in each other’s arms. The boys have been so busy preparing for the orphanage’s “remodel” that they barely have time to spend with each other - be it going out to have fun or simply sitting around in each other’s company.

Hence there they stood, showing one other just how much they miss just simply holding each other. But the beautiful moment is cut short when poor little Jisung walks in on them.

“Oh God, hyungs!” The young one groans, his unusually large hands flying up to cover his innocent eyes. “Not here, please, we dance here!”

Jeno and Jaemin reluctantly pull away from each other, chuckling at the sight of Jisung standing by the doorway with his palms pressed on his eyes.

“Okay, Jisung ah. We’re done.” Jeno assures the young boy, chuckling once more when he peeks between his fingers to make sure the older wasn’t lying. “I thought you left to wash up already.”

Deciding that it was safe to take a step further, Jisung puts his arms back by his side and trudges towards the chair by the speakers. He picks up the black snapback sitting idly on the seat and throws it on his head.

“I forgot my cap.” The youngest explains, grimacing when he turn around and catches Jaemin giving his boyfriend a soft peck on his jaw. “Get a room, hyungs.”

“But we do have a room, Jisung ah,” Jaemin playfully banters. “Just that we all share it.”

Jisung merely rolls his eyes, silently thinking if there was anything in the room that he could throw at his disgusting hyungs without killing them.

“Just hurry go get ready,” He opts to say instead, marching towards the exit. “We’re meeting Ren Jun hyung and Chen Le hyung at the usual place at seven.”

“Aye aye, captain Park~” The couple playfully salutes, giggling when Jisung shuts the studio door loudly on purpose.

The two face each other once more with love filled eyes, grinning stupidly when they lock gazes at the same time. They stare lovingly into each other’s eyes as if to say I love you.

“Come on,” Jeno whispers softly. “Let’s stop being such saps and go get ready before Chen Le throws a fit about punctuality.”

Jaemin hums in agreement, swinging their linked arms as they exit the studio.

-

The seven boys sat in a huddle at their usual spot, the little dock by the lake. The sun had long gone down, their stomachs satisfied from the barbecue dinner they had together. They stared wordlessly out into the night sky, hair whipping uncontrollably in the autumn breeze.

“It sure is nice out tonight.” Ren Jun comments. “I feel happy.”

“Everything is nice to me when we’re all together.” Mark adds on poetically. As if on cue, the other boys turn to look at him weirdly with raised brows. He sighs. “Too deep?”

He receives numerous continuous nods from the six of them. He shrugs, going back to playing with Donghyuck’s fingers on his lap.

“Can’t believe it’s been two years already.” Jeno voices out, memories of the past two years casually flashing by in the back of his mind.

“Yeah I honestly thought we’d all grow old and rot in the orphanage, playing pranks till our backs broke.” Jaemin jokes.

“The selfish part of me would’ve loved that, honestly.” Mark mentions with a slight laugh. “Growing up is kinda scary.”

There is a collective hum in agreement before the atmosphere falls pretty quiet once more, the sound of rustling leaves taking over. It doesn’t matter though, because even though the dream team consisted of noisy, troublemaking kids, silence like this allows them to simply enjoy each other’s company.

They rarely hang out as seven anymore, what with the preparations at the academy and the two Chinese boys only being able to visit when they’re free. But it’s okay, because despite being apart sometimes, the love they have for each other is always there.

“I hope we’ll all keep in touch still when we’re like, forty or something.” Chen Le utters, the rest of them were slightly shocked at the Chinese boy’s sudden sentimental words.

“Don’t worry Le,” Donghyuck assures the younger with a smile. “Nothing can separate the dream team.”

“Yeah,” Mark agrees, thumb softly running over the back of Donghyuck’s hand as he says so. He catches his boyfriend’s eyes and gives him a loving smile. “Nothing can.”

Jisung beams to himself, hand digging into the inner pockets of his jacket to pull out a black marker he randomly brought out that night. He leans over slightly and scribbles something on the surface of the worn out wooden planks of the dock, ending it with a cheesy heart.

He beams wider from ear to ear, plopping the marker back into his pocket and turning back to his hyungs to join in the conversation.

Dream Team ♡

-

It was a bright April afternoon when the doorbell of the academy rings throughout the house. Seeing as he was nearest to the front door, Jaemin hops off the couch he was reading a book on and skips to the large mahogany door.

Probably some parent coming to pick his or her kid up, he thinks.

The doorbell rings again before Jaemin could even touch the door knob. He shouts a perky coming! and grips the bronze door knob, but when he pulls the heavy door open, he is met with a vaguely familiar face.

Jaemin gasps when he finally recalls who the grown man standing before his eyes is.

“Yuta hyung?”

 

- fin -

 

kekeke did you really think it was over? *evil face*

not proofread as usual because i and i'm lazy as what's new right hahaha

AAAAND THATS A WRAP!!! The Lost Boys is officially finished! How did you guys like the ending? ;) hohoho I wonder what that means eh~ Anyways, I really really wanna thank all of you for wasting your time to support this fic! This is like the first ever fic I completed after idk how many years of attempting to write HAHAHA. I really hope you guys love this fic as much as I do, and I'm sorry if it didn't live up to your expectations! Comments are always loved! See yall soon! ♡♡♡

(Also I'm starting a new jaeno fic and it's x-men au yall I'm eggcited.)

 

xx