Pain, excruciating pain enveloped Mark. For a few split seconds, that was all he felt. The agony spewed into him in torrents, encompassing his very being. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t. Then, as quickly as it came, it left. Nothingness trickled all around and into him, seeping into him in little rivulets. He couldn’t move or open his eyes. He felt light, like the clouds had picked him up, and were floating him with him up in the sky. The clouds flew and hovered around him, playing hide and seek with one another. He could feel their soft tresses tickle him all over as they giggled and chased each other. Mark knew the clouds were taking him someplace far far away, he could  hear the winds whispering, telling him about a place situated high up, above everything, even time itself. Despite going up higher and higher, he felt pleasant and felt a gentle heat from the sun warming him. He didn’t know for how long the clouds and winds had been travelling with him. Sometimes he thought it may have had been only a couple of minutes, and other times it felt like it had been years, an eternity.

Minutes or not, he missed Jinyoung and the others.

So up and up he went, going up higher and higher, and the further he went, the more at peace he got. The sereneness had spread from his chest to the tips of his fingers, and into his very core. He didn’t know when, but at one point he had dozed off. The light and soothing caresses of the wind lulled him into a comatose state of complete and utter relaxation.

Mark woke up to the sound of muffled laughter and the gentle rush of water running down a stream. He could feel soft grass underneath him and little drops of dew on his face. Despite being on ground now, he still felt weightless. He twitched around for a bit, trying to get some feeling back into his limbs, and then slowly fluttered his eyes open.

Stars. Thousands and millions upon stars littered the night sky, glittering and twinkling about, showing off how bright each and every one of them could be. Galaxies and nebulas floated across the sky lazily, watching the younger stars play about. Planets gilded about leisurely, some of them glowing in the night light. Mark felt tears prick his eyes as he looked up at the otherworldly sight, completely mesmerized.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it? Every time I think I’m used to it, it takes my breath away the next time I visit, like clockwork. It’s like its mocking me for thinking that anyone could ever be used to its beauty,” he heard someone next to him say, their voice laced with something warm.

His heart lurched painfully in his chest, and Mark shot up as he turned to look beside him. A lone figure sat there spread eagled in the shimmering grass, his dark hair blowing about from the light gusts of wind and his eyes shining in the starlight, as if they held galaxies of their own. Mark let out an incomprehensible whimper as he tackled the figure to the ground, gripping onto the other as he buried his head into the crook of their neck. He lay on top of the figure trembling as the other chuckled warmly. Finally Mark lifted his head up, and looked at the figure below him.

“Hi,” he said, his voice thick as he ran his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair.

“Hi,” Jinyoung replied, his eyes crinkling around the corners as he lifted his head up to peck the redhead on the nose.

Mark grinned and leaned his head to plant a soft and slow kiss onto Jinyoung’s lips, his hands cupping his face tenderly. As he pulled away, Mark left small pecks on his eyes, nose, cheeks and forehead. Jinyoung giggled as he clung onto him, a small blush covering his cheeks.

“You know babe, as happy as I am to see you, I really think you should look around, and see where we are,” said Jinyoung flicking him on the forehead in mock annoyance.

Mark clicked his tongue but sat back up, and felt the breath get knocked out of him. In front of lay field after field of glowing flowers of all colours imaginable, forests of lush trees dotted the far horizon, and merry little streams flowed all across the place. Fireflies floated about leisurely, darting about and in between the flowers, and golden butterflies fluttered around. People sat about on the grass or up on trees, laughing at chatting with one another, looking completely at peace. Each and every one of them supporting looks of tranquility and joy. He turned to Jinyoung with wide eyes, a warm smile lit the other’s face.

“I know what you’re thinking, and yeah, we made it. Although you sure took your sweet time to get here, we’ve been here for quite a bit already, we all reached before you slow ,” the younger said, putting his head on Mark’s lap, looking up at him with a small pout.

Mark turned his head to the side, his brow quirking up in confusion.

“What, how? How long have you and the others been here, that makes no sense,” he muttered looking up at the sky.

Jinyoung laughed and reached up and grabbed one of his hands and played with his fingers, pecking them occasionally.

“To be honest I don’t know, it felt like months, hey- don’t look so horrified, time runs different here, or to be more accurate actually, time isn’t really a thing, or at least time as we know it. To me it felt like months, I missed you so much, but to Jaebum it only felt like a few hours, I don’t know how to explain it really,” he said lacing their fingers together and bringing up the elder’s hand to kiss it.

Mark smiled tenderly at Jinyoung before leaning his head down to place a kiss onto his lips. Just as he pulled away, Jinyoung wrapped his hands around the redhead’s neck and pulled him back down, deepening their kiss. Mark hummed in appreciation, tilting his head to get even closer, their lips moving languidly against one another, both trying to mold into the other. Mark bought a hand to Jinyoung’s face, cupping it as he nipped the younger’s bottom lips. Jinyoung groaned and purred in appreciation, huffing against the elder’s lips. Mark slowly moved from his lips to his down his jaw and neck, leaving open mouthed kisses and a trail of fire behind. Jinyoung moaned as he clutched onto the redhead’s shirt as Mark on his adam’s apple.

“Damn can you both keep it PG for once, this is like me walking into you both going at it in our car once again, except that you’re not , so I’m not going to be as scarred,” an amused voice said, interrupting them.  

Jackson stood behind them, leaning onto the trunk of a tall, glowing Sakura tree, shaking his head.

Mark groaned in annoyance, but continued to nip and at Jinyoung’s neck despite the other looking mildly embarrassed through his lidded eyes at the interruption.

“Ah- You’re one to talk Jackson, as if all of us haven’t at least once walked into Jaebum ing you somewhere around the house, although nothing- , Mark- nothing was as bad as me walking into the kitchen to see you both ing on top of my side of the kitchen counter,” said Jinyoung breathlessly as the elder left marks all over his neck.

“I beg your pardon, listen, I walked in on them in the bathroom on one Halloween night, and trust me, nothing is as bad as seeing Captain America ing The Hulk,” said an Mark amused before he latched his lips to Jinyoung’s collarbone. Jinyoung mewled at that, his back arching off Mark’s lap as he threw his head back in pleasure.

“Jesus christ STOP, please for the love of god,” cried out Jackson covering his eyes.

Jinyoung sighed in annoyance, but put a hand on Mark’s chest, gently pushing him off. He frowned but Jinyoung shook his head.

“Later on ok?” Jinyoung whispered into Mark’s ears, nipping it.

Mark bit his lips nodding, his eyes dark. He then sighed and stood up, pulling Jinyoung with him. The younger clung onto his arms and put his head on Mark’s shoulder. Jackson grinned at them as he enveloped Mark into a hug.

“Dude you took so long to get here, it felt like months, and how come you appeared where Jinyoung was, we all came here alone, though I was like super close to Jaebum. Anyways, we found each other soon enough though, not that I’m surprised about it,” said Jackson as he looked at Mark fondly, his golden hair glowing in jewel tones from the luminous flowers surrounding them.

“Of course Mark appeared where Jinyoung was, they’re like soulmates n’ ,” Bambam said appearing right beside Jackson without a warning, surprising him to the point where he leaped into Mark’s arms.

“Jesus Jackson, you almost killed me,” Mark said indignantly.

“Well tell Bam to stop teleporting out of nowhere, just because he can do it now,” said Jackson whacking Bambam on the back of his head as he got down from Mark’s arms.

Jinyoung sighed in exasperation. Bambam whined as he rubbed his head in annoyance, glaring at Jackson.

“Don’t be jealous, you’ll learn soon enough,” said Bambam.

Jackson rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out. He yawned and sat down, leaning against the tree once more, lazily playing with the shimmering Sakura petals strewn about on the ground. The others followed suit, Jinyoung cuddling up to Mark once more.

“So, what’d y’all know about this place?” Mark asked hooking his chin onto Jinyoung’s shoulder as he trailed his eyes across the night sky and the rolling hills below it.

“Well, this is one of the many afterlife or spiritual realms n’ stuff, they all shift in between one another. We can go from one to the other by just wishing to do so. Like right now Jaebum and the other two are in one of the snow realms, they love to play about there. Also mini cool fact, we can’t excruciating feel cold or hot, so yeah! Anyways, this one’s the night realms that Jinyoung barely leaves, not that I blame him though, it’s gorgeous up here. Mr. Nerd here sits here all the time and flips through the star charts he got from one of the libraries and reads about all the stars ‘n ,” said Jackson patting Jinyoung on the back.

“Hey! I do spend in the other realms, I only come here sometimes,” Jinyoung replied frowning.

“Yeah but when you do come here you don’t leave for ages,” said Bambam grinning.

Mark’s ears perked up at that and he turned to look at Bambam.

“Wait so time went slow for the both of you too?” he asked, intrigued.

Bambam nodded.

“Yeah, for the three of us it felt like months had passed till you got here now, for Jaebum it felt like hours and for Yugyeom too, so they’re fresh just like you hehe. For Youngjae he said it felt like a couple of days,” he younger replied.

“Don’t worry about it man, time is weird here, it doesn’t run the same, it basically doesn’t matter. Something that feels like an hour to you could feel like a day or a few seconds for someone else. Although that’s only if you’re both not in the same realm. If you’re together, time will run the same for you,” Jackson said noting the look of confusion on the elder’s face.

Mark hummed as he ran his fingers through Jinyoung’s hair, the younger now asleep on his lap, his breaths coming in soft huffs. He smiled at the sight, something warm spreading across his chest. He leaned in and kissed Jinyoung’s forehead. The younger’s brows furrowed for a second before a small smile appeared on his face, and he burrowed himself further into Mark. The light from the Sakura petals danced across Jinyoung’s face, hitting him in angles that made him look even more otherworldly beautiful.

“You really are whipped, aren’t you,” said Jackson, snapping him out of his stupor.

Mark sighed nodding, humming under his breath. The blonde smiled, a fond look on his face.

“He really missed you, you know. He would look for you a lot, zapping from realm to realm. They say we can’t feel negative emotions here, but he looked so incomplete without you,” said Jackson.

“Well, maybe because he was incomplete without Mark. I’m not joking when I say that they’re soulmates. If one’s not there, the other feels incomplete, I heard some people talking about it,” said Bambam.

Mark felt his cheeks heating up at the comment. Bambam noticing, sniggered along with an amused Jackson. Just as Mark put his middle finger up at the laughing duo; three figured appeared in front of them covered in flakes of snow. Mark smiled brightly up at them but put his fingers up to his lips and pointed at the sleeping Jinyoung on his lap below. Jaebum bounced forward to envelope Mark into a back hug, the other two doing the same.

With their cheeks heated red from the snow Jaebum, Yugyeom and Youngjae jumped about, showering him with questions. Yugyeom squeezed in between Bambam and Mark, pushing his best friend further into the trunk of the tree.

“Dude stop, there’s so much space around, stop stealing mine you ,” Bambam snapped smacking Yugyeom’s back.

“Shut the up Bam, I want to sit beside Mark, I missed him,” said Yugyeom not even flinching as Bambam slapped him again.

Mark chuckled ruffling Yugyeom’s hair. Pleasant chatter and laughter ensued between them, all talking to one another with bright eyes and warm smiles.

Time passed by like that.

Things hadn’t changed much from the once existing world below, but they felt more joyful. Bambam and Jackson still bickered non stop, Youngjae still sang loudly surprising everyone around him, Jaebum still talked to his cats, Yugyeom still danced about with Mark under the night sky. Jinyoung and Mark still spent countless nights staring up into the star filled skies with the younger’s head his lap, his eyes shining with wonder.

Mark had never felt so much happiness before. Maybe the younger ones did annoy him to no end sometimes, and maybe sometimes he did still walk into Jackson and Jaebum going at it in inappropriate places (he once saw them behind an elderly people’s library), but he felt content.  

They were together. They would now be together for eternity. That’s all that mattered to him, he had the most important people in his life with him forever. Nothing could tear them apart.

7 or never.