The room was lit up by the small desk lamp, the scratching of pen on paper filled the otherwise silent room. Mark sat at his desk, head bobbing to the music playing through his earphones. A chemistry text book was splayed out as he answered questions for his homework.

It had been a month since he had dreamed of Jaemin, he was relieved that he had not been plagued with many of the dreams since. Life almost seemed normal, he was quickly catching up on his schoolwork, if he kept it up he was sure he would be able to move up a year. The other students were still avoiding him, but really he didn't mind, he had Jisung and Chenle in a few of his classes (hopefully soon he'd be moved so there was a larger chance of having someone in his class, after all Donghyuck, Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun were all in the year above) and the rest of them sat with him during lunch so he didn't mind anyone else avoiding him (even if it was the majority of the student population).

The worst time was night, despite not having many of the dreams he still fears sleeping, the idea that he would have to watch another friend die was too much. A little relieve came from Mark not having to watch out for Jeno and Jaemin as much, they might not have noticed it for themselves but they had been so touchy for the last few weeks, Mark was sure they would look after each other, no matter what happened.

Mark stopped writing, he leaned back in his chair closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair to try and relax, he focused on Wendy's calming vocals which filtered through his ear phones to try and stop his mind from over thinking. After a few minutes of just sitting there he opened his eyes, almost flying out of his chair when he saw Donghyuck standing by the door.

"What the hell, Donghyuck!" Mark exclaimed clutching at his chest to try and calm his heart. "You also scared me to death"

"Sorry" Donghyuck rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly but quickly recovered, apparently not feeling like he should be taking the blame. "I did knock, it's not my fault you had your earphones in" He said shrugging the incident off. Mark sat there in disbelief for a minute but then rolled his eyes, remembering it was Donghyuck he was speaking to, he shouldn't have been surprised by the response.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"What? Am I not allowed to visit my best friend for absolutely no reason?"

"It's not that you're not allowed, but you don't do things for no reason. So, tell me what I can do to help you?"

Donghyuck gasped in utter disbelief. "How dare you, peasant. What do you take me for?"
"Lee Donghyuck" the elder deadpanned. "Now tell me what you want or leave."

Donghyuck huffed but leaned forward, a mischievous smile presenting itself as he did. "I'm on a mission"

Mark raised an eyebrow, leaning his head on his hand as he looked at the boy. "Right, so what is that mission?"

"Now that would be telling, but it involves you giving up on that-" he leaned over slightly to see the work on the desk, scrunching his nose up in disgust at the subject "-chemistry work and going out with me" Donghyuck said, as if there was no room for argument.

They looked at each other for a few seconds before Mark slid his earphones back in and turned back to his work, leaving Donghyuck looking absolutely scandalised at the action. After recovering from the shock of Mark's defiance, he surged forward, yanking the earphones for the older boys ears and spinning the chair around so they looking directly at each other. Mark felt his face heat up when he realised how close they were, jerking back so fast he was sure he gave himself whiplash.

Donghyuck scoffed at the older boy "Wow, don't hurt yourself" he said as he moved away from the blushing older boy, leaning back folding his arms to his chest, smug look on his face. "Let's play a simple game of rock, paper, scissors. If you win I'll leave you alone, if I win you have to come with me" Donghyuck said, ignoring the constant vibrations from his phone in his pocket.

Mark frowned, he knew this was a trick, everyone knew that the one thing he couldn't do was win stupid games like this (well that and cooking, he wasn't even allowed in the kitchen after almost setting the place on fire), but he couldn't reject the deal either, he would be taunted non-stop until he agreed anyway. "Fine" he agreed begrudgingly.

Hesitantly he stuck his arm out, hand clenched into a fist.

"Rock, Paper, scissors!" The game was fast, the results to be expected. Mark had his hand spread out as paper, Donghyuck grinned victoriously as he held out scissors.

"I won!" Donghyuck noted coolly, clearly not surprised in the slightest. Mark sighed, mentally cursing his horrible in these games. "Yeah, yeah. I got it, so where are we going?" Mark asked unenthusiastically, his back straightening and his body shivering when Donghyuck chuckled darkly.

"On a date"

Mark raised his eyebrows at that, Donghyuck had gone through all that trouble for a date? Mark wasn't buying it, not in the slightest.

"Right....and I'm guessing that date involves my other five boyfriends as well as you since I can hear them talking to Taeyong downstairs" Donghyuck pouted, unhappy that his teasing had been cut short. "Fine" he said, exasperated. "We wanted to all hang out at the old skate park, just like we used to".

"You could have just told me that from the beginning you know. I'll go, it's been a while since we all hung out together when we are not at school or at home" Mark said leaning back in his chair, pen dangling from his fingers as he looked at the boy sitting across from him. Donghyuck felt a smile tug on his lips, he wasn't sure the older boy would agree that easily.

Mark stood from his chair, stretching his tired muscles as he did. "Well let's go and collect the rest of them from down stairs then, they are probably eating all my food anyway". Mark spoke, his voice filled with nothing but endearment at the thought of his friends.

Leaving the room, Mark walked lazily down the stairs, Donghyuck following slowly behind him as they both made their way to the noisy kitchen. The room was full of laughter as Taeyong and Taeil were placing food down on the table for the group of noisy boys sitting around it.

Mark coughed loudly as he reached the doorway, the noise gaining the attention from some of the quieter boys in the room, namely Renjun, Jisung, Jeno and his brother. Jisung quickly waved him over when he saw them, a gummy smile on his face as he looked at his older friends. "Mark-ah, are you going with us?" Jeno asked as the other boy sat down next to him, ignoring the pointed look he received from Jaemin.

"Well I was, but you guys seem far more occupied by the Kimbap on the table" Mark said sarcastically. Jeno laughed, eye smile in full bloom as he reached across the table for another piece of food, only proving the older boys point further. "Taeyong hyung does make the best food" he spoke, his voice deadly serious, but his eyes sparkling in mirth.

"I won't fight you on that one" Mark said, his laugh loud and happy. Taeyong smiled hearing the noise, he always did love his brother's laugh, and it was good to hear it sounding so sincere again.

The meal was lively, Mark missed it. He couldn't remember the last time there had been so much positive energy around. Ever since he had returned everyone had been so careful, in a sense he was thankful but he also wanted just wanted it to be normal. He didn't remember being away but everyone did and he couldn't help but feel sorry for that, it was his fault after all.

He didn't dwell on his thoughts, instead choosing to enjoy the atmosphere around him until the end of the meal.

"Make sure you wear warm clothes, we're moving into spring but it still starts to get colder later in the day, okay?" Taeil informed sternly as he grabbed their coats and scarfs from the coat cupboard by the door. Handing them to each of the boys, stopping at Mark and wrapping the obnoxiously green scarf around his neck, wicked smile on his face as he moved to give Jisung his things. Mark sulked slightly but still found a tiny (almost unnoticeable) smile on his face on his face, the action was so very Taeil and he was thankful for that.

After they were all geared up in their outdoor wear, Taeil opened the door for them, standing slightly to the side with Taeyong. "Okay children, you may leave this warm environment to do whatever it is you silly kids do now-a-days" Taeyong said jokingly as he watched the group of teens leave through the door, promptly closing after saying a finally 'good bye' so he wouldn't let any more heat out.

Taeil started shuffling towards the living room, stopping only when he noticed the younger boy was still standing facing the door, calling him, he watched as the man turned to him, a frown etched onto his perfect features.

"What's wrong?"

Taeyong shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure, something just doesn't feel right".

Taeil frowned at the words, honestly they worried him a little. The last time he heard those words were two years ago. The day Mark went missing. "I'm sure they'll be fine" he said slowly, "they're only going to the skate park, it literally just down