The day of the departure they’re all at the building entrance, putting their stuff on the cars. Mark and Youngjae are going to share the car with Jungkook and Seokjin. When they finish they start to hug their friends as a goodbye. When Youngjae stops in front of Jaebum, he smiles at him and before he can say anything the elder is pulling him into a hug. Youngjae blushes but returns the hug.

“I’ll miss you” Youngjae whispers, almost wishing that Jaebum hasn’t heard it. When they break the hug, Jaebum smiles at him and whispers an ‘I’ll miss you too’ before giving him a little squeeze on his shoulder.

Youngjae feels like he’s about to cry, so he walks to Shura and hugs her. When they’re all done they get in the car and Seokjin starts driving, Jungkook giving him indications visibly excited about the journey while Mark and Youngjae sit on the back.

They head to Namjoon’s remodeled second house, which now is a second base for the pack. It looks similar to the pack’s residence, but is a bit smaller. When they arrive they take their things and go to their respective rooms. Youngjae and Mark are sharing one while Seokjin is sharing with Jungkook. They don’t mind. Seokjin and Jungkook are living together for 8 years already while Mark is more comfortable with Youngjae by his side. They enter and unpack everything. They’re only staying for a week, but Youngjae has packed a lot of things like he’s spending a month in there. His suitcase is full with ‘just in case’ things. Mark laughs at how caring and careful his younger friend is. He reminds him of his best friend, and he starts to feel guilty. Has he the right to call him ‘best friend’ when he’s sure he’s not going back? He left him behind. Maybe he should return and beg him to come with him, but he’s sure that if he goes back he would get caught and be locked again.

He’s out of his thoughts when Youngjae pulls him out of their shared room to go to the main area where Seokjin is about to give an introduction speech for them. Usually, it’s Yoongi who does it, but this year he has gladly given the chance to his friend. They spot Seokjin at the front of the room and he waves at them.

“Where is Jungkook?” Youngjae asks when they reach Seokjin.

“He’s setting everything in the room. I had to leave first, but he should arrive by now”.

Just when Seokjin finishes talking, Jungkook appears at the door and searches for him. Seokjin doesn’t see him, as a guy has approached him to ask him something. Youngjae and Mark spot the younger and wave to him. Jungkook sees them and looks around him worriedly. Youngjae and Mark feel like something is wrong, but Jungkook starts to walk to them. The place is getting crowded and Jungkook has to be careful with his moves. 

Mark and Youngjae stare at him, then they look at each other in disbelief and Youngjae pokes slightly Seokjin’s broad shoulders. The elder looks at him and hums to let the other know he’s listening.

“Is anything wrong with Jungkook?” he asks. Mark and he are looking at Jungkook with worried faces. Youngjae points at the front and Seokjin’s jaw falls wide open.

A group of girls approaches Jungkook and he almost jumps far away from them, just to stand besides another group of girls. He quickly walks away from them, his face full of terror. He keeps avoiding girl groups, and by the time he arrives with the others, he’s actually panting. Seokjin forgot about Jungkook’s little problem with girls. For some reason he’s afraid of them. Seokjin thought he had got over it since he’s friends with Bonnie and Shura; but he hadn’t. He face palms himself for being that stupid to put the younger on that situation and gives him an apologetic look. Jungkook notices and smiles at him, letting the latter know that he’s okay. Youngjae hands him a bottle of water while Mark pats his back to comfort him.

“Thank you” he says.

They remain silent until Seokjin finishes his speech. Jungkook is amused seeing Seokjin managing the situation so well. They have lunch and since it’s the first day, they decided to just go around the house and relax for the day.

Two days has passed since they arrived and they have been training since then. Mark spends a lot of time with Youngjae. They are both mated at practice while Jungkook is helping Seokjin monitoring everything while keeping a safe distance from girl groups.

It’s been more than a week since Mark left the company, and he’s missing his friend more than ever. He keeps asking himself if the other is doing well, if he’s worried for him, although he’s sure he is. Youngjae has noticed the way Mark spends his time staring at the infinity, like he misses something. He’s aware of it since the first day, he has the feeling that the elder is keeping something from them, but by his sad face Youngjae could tell it’s nothing that can put his friends in danger, so he lets it go. Youngjae is fond of Mark. Even with all, he’s sure Mark has suffered a lot, and Youngjae truly wants to help him and make him happy.

The third day Youngjae comes a bit late from the practice, and Mark is currently showering. He messages Shura, knowing that she’s working and he can’t call her yet. He’s laughing at some bad joke his friend made when he hears sobs coming from the bathroom.

Mark has lost it. He has been keeping this feeling for so long it has burst finally inside of him. Mark has cried before, when they hurt him and did experiments with him. But he stopped crying thanks to his friend. And now he is doing it again because he lost him. He thought he could endure it, but in fact, he misses the other more than he has expected. After all, the other is the first person he had ever loved.

Youngjae’s heart breaks a little by hearing his friend cry. He wants to open the door and hug Mark, but he knows he can’t. So he returns to his bed and pretends that nothing has happened, while Mark is currently sitting on the shower cubicle, letting the water go and also his tears.

The next day he can’t concentrate on the exercise, and Youngjae hits him hard unintentionally. Mark loses his balance and falls to the ground. Youngjae bends down and starts to panic even when Mark tells him that he’s okay. The rest of the people are so busy with their own things to notice. When Youngjae pulls Mark up, the elder hisses in pain. Something on his hip is not right. Youngjae panics even more and drags Mark to the infirmary where the nurse gives him some treatment and tells Mark to rest. Youngjae accompanies him to their room and leaves Mark on his bed. He grabs some water and puts it besides Mark.

Youngjae goes to shower while Mark tries to rest. But he can’t, his mind always shifting to his precious friend he left behind. Tears start to roll on his cheeks again, and he tries to cover them from Youngjae. By the time the younger comes back, Mark has calmed himself a bit, but is unable to rest yet.

“Are you okay?” Youngjae asks.

Mark wants to say yes, but Youngjae’s worried look reminds him of his best friend, and he starts to sob again. This time, Youngjae quickly runs to his side and embraces the other taking care of not hurting him. He keeps repeating to the elder that everything is going to be okay, even when he doesn’t know what it is. Mark lets everything go out and sobs harder on Youngjae’s shirt.

A few minutes later Mark relaxes still in Youngjae’s arms. The other starts humming a song Mark doesn’t recognize but makes him relax. When Youngjae finishes, Mark whispers a ‘thank you’ to him, obtaining a bright smile on response.

“Are you better now?” Youngjae asks.

But Mark shakes his head. He feels that he can trust Youngjae, and even if he’s wrong about it, he’s going to tell him the truth. He breaks the hug and stares at the other right in the eyes.

“I lied, Youngjae. I’m sorry” Mark says, closer to cry again. Youngjae pats his shoulder aiming him to continue, and Marks tells everything to him.

Youngjae listens carefully to everything Mark says, and he can’t be mad at him. He can see by the way Mark is telling him his story that he has suffered a lot. He understands him, and if he was on his position he probably had done the same thing. Now he is sure that they have to protect Mark no matter what.

“I feel really bad for lying to you, but I was afraid you would reject me and I really like to be there with you, with a real pack. It really feels good and I feel finally free”.

“Honestly, I knew something was wrong with you” Mark looks at him, worried about what Youngjae is going to say next, “because sometimes you keep staring at nothing like you lost something”.

Mark sighs, more relaxed.

“And I lost something. I lost my best friend. He’s like you; he has a special power and was always taking care of me. He can heal people; do you know how amazing it is?” Mark smiles while remembering him, and Youngjae stares at him amused. He lets the elder continue speaking about his friend. “E