Haechan was being a ing tease. 

 

He was straddled on Mark's lap, the two in their heated makeout session when he would every now and then roll his hips down on Mark, releasing a moan that was most definitely making Mark go hard.

 

Mark watched as Haechan start ing the cute little white blouse he was wearing, tossing it the side of the bed as Mark reached up to pinch his s, Donghyuck's moans getting louder and louder-

 

"MARK!!!" 

 

Mark sat upright on his bed, gasping for air, his sheets a tangled mess. Meanwhile, Haechan ran over to his best friend's closet, pulling out a pair of jeans and throwing it on the bed. 

 

"God, how many times do I have to tell you to go to sleep early?" Haechan scolded him, grabbing one of Mark's black hoodies and throwing it next to the jeans. "We're going to be late, just wear this, gosh, Mark, I'm gonna have to sleep over everyday at this rate."

 

That didn't sound like a bad idea to Mark at all, but he continued to let his best friend rant as he pulled his sheets off to get up-

 

Oh .

 

"-and I brought pancakes for the karaoke today- Mark, what's wrong, are you okay?" Donghyuck went to stand next to Mark and put his hand on Mark's forehead. "You're really sweaty. Did you have a bad dream?"

 

Mark quickly covered his body with the bedsheets again. "I think I'm going to shower."

 

"Guess I'm getting kicked out, then." Haechan grabbed his backpack from where he had thrown it earlier and walked out the door. "Be quick, we'll be late!!" he yelled before slamming the door shut.

 

Mark threw the covers again, sighing at his morning wood. It was really hard being in love with your best friend. 

 

---

 

The two weren't going to make it to school by walking (thanks to Mark), so they were forced to take a bus ride instead, the two choosing to sit next to each other at the seats all the way at the back.

 

Mark was glad to have picked the window seat, even though the window was too cold to lay his head on it. He couldn't help but think about Donghyuck in his dream earlier. It's not the first time that it's happened, but it occurs more frequently and Mark just wants them to stop.

 

He knows Haechan here is never going to return his feelings for him, and that's okay. Haechan shouldn't be forced to be with him, but it was just really sad to think about. 

 

Lee Donghyuck was literally the most lovely person in the world and Mark couldn't help but fall for him everytime he saw the younger, like now for instance. Donghyuck had been conversing about his trip with Chen Le the day before but the way that he spoke, his hands moving excitedly as he continued to talk, his soft brown hair combed a certain way yet his fringes would cover certain parts of his eyes-

 

"-and then the mannequin moved so we started screaming-" Donghyuck had been telling him before stopping, since at that moment Mark decides to sweep his hair away from his eyes. 

 

Donghyuck's face was turning red, staring at Mark with his mouth partly opened, dumbfounded. Mark yanked his hand back, pretty sure that Donghyuck would notice his blush. 

 

"So-sorry, I thought you couldn't see," Mark stammered out. "What were you talking about?" 

 

Donghyuck hesitated before continuing. "The mannequin was moving so we screed," he spoke softly, his voice having quieted down. "It turned out not to be a mannequin and- yeah…"

 

Mark, embarrassed, turned his head away to stare out the window. "Cool, cool."

 

The two stayed quiet for a while until Haechan spoke up again. "You're going to homecoming, right? Chen Le said he wants to go as a group."

 

"Of course I am," Mark said. "I wouldn't miss it at all. Is everyone going to go?"

 

Donghyuck nodded. "Everyone except Jaemin, as always. You know, I really want to help him out but I don't want to come off as insensitive."

 

Mark nodded. "Yeah, especially if we tell Chen Le about it, man, he's so ing rich."

 

Donghyuck tried to stifle a laugh. "Don't say it like that! But yeah, Chen Le is… well off. You should have seen the clothes he was trying on yesterday, even worse, I had my ratty black converse on-"

 

"Your converse?" Mark laughed. "I've told you not to wear those when you go shopping with him! Remember how you had on a jacket with holes when he bought the Saint Laurent bag as a gift to Jeno?"

 

"And you with your ugly Android when he bought the newest Apple watch-"

 

"Don't make fun of my Android!" Mark yelled, Haechan continuing to laugh with tears in his eyes. "At least I can download music illegally."

 

"You own Spotify and Ukiss is on there-"

 

"Say one bad thing about them and I'll delete Marina and the Diamonds odd your phone-"

 

"YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"

 

***

 

It was… a bit daunting to show up at school that Friday, knowing his evening's plans.

 

He really didn't expect Jaehyun to have feelings for him romantically, it was really unexpected. Did Jaehyun ever flirt with him? Not really, Jaehyun was just a really nice person.

 

Maybe it was a dare? That would explain why it happened so suddenly. However, Jaehyun didn't seem to be that type of person though…

 

Whatever the case, Taeyong had to make sure he looked extra good today. He always dressed his best when it came to school, but he had never been on a date before. His mother told him to just wear a nice dress shirt and slacks, but he had a whole array of those and didn't know how to narrow it down. He had to wear the outfit not only to school, but then straight to a meeting with a teacher and then the 127 meeting and the date. He had a lot of stuff to do today. 

 

Last night, he had finally settled on a white button down shirt and his black jeans, his newly-cleaned converses pairing the outfit. It was a bit preppy for school, in his opinion, but it was still presentable. Hopefully he won't be oozing sweat throughout the day and he'll be fine. 

 

After grabbing his grana bar for breakfast, he quickly stuffed the bags of chips and cookies into a plastic bag, tying it shut. He also added cans of various sodas into his backpack, being careful that they don't ruin any of his homework. He was being snacks for the meeting later today, as he figured that the group would be very stressed and could use a break. 

 

He grabbed the bag and his backpack and left the house, locking the door before heading to the sidewalk. There at the end of the street was the bus at it's last stop before coming to Taeyong's house. 

 

Usually when he arrived at school, heading to his lockers Jaehyun would always greet him asking how his day has been going and if he's looking forward to today. How Jaehyun was going to act today, Taeyong had no clue, and he had less than an hour to prepare in his head what he was going to say to the latter. 

 

---

 

Jaehyun was pretty sure he was going to chicken out. 

 

He couldn't believe it. He had actually asked out Taeyong the other day, and now they were going to see each other after school. Well, after after school, considering how they still had the meeting. 

 

He walked through the hallway up to Taeyong's locker, where the latter was putting his books and a bag inside, not noticing Jaehyun behind him. 

 

Jaehyun cleared his throat, startling Taeyong who dropped his math book on his converse. 

 

"Oh, sorry, I-" Jaehyun bent down to pick up the book and hand it to Taeyong. "I didn't mean to startle you."

 

Taeyong nodded, his hands shaking as he took the book back from Jaehyun. “It’s okay,” he reassured him. “It’s nothing, really.”

 

The two remained in silence, not making eye contact with other. Jaehyun kept shifting his weight on his feet while Taeyong started playing with the hem of his shirt, suddenly feeling self-conscious about his clothing choices. Were they okay? Were they a bit too much? Not enough? Jaehyun didn’t even tell him where they were going for dinner. 

 

Jaehyun was the first to break the silence. “I’ll see you later, then, hope your classes go well,” he said. “Don’t forget, it’s Friday! Last day before the weekend, after all.”

 

Taeyong couldn’t help but smile; it was, after all, Friday. He could have many things to do, but by the end of the day, he will be able to take a shower, finish his pocky and snuggle underneath his blankets until he goes to sleep.

 

Taeyong waved back to Jaehyun as the latter was leaving. “See ya,” he muttered. 

 

***

 

The observatory in Korea was marvelous. 

 

The only places where Jihoon had ever worked for astronomy had been in the astronomy departments in his colleges and, of course, his current state of work, NASA, but it was really cool to see how different this place was, from their equipment and staff to the different projects that they worked on. 

 

The employee had given Soonyoung and Jihoon a tour of the place before taking them to the workstation, where the two worked together on some paperwork. 

 

It felt really different talking to others in Korean. Soonyoung was the only person that Jihoon ever talked to in Korean, other than his parents when he was little; it was usually them scolding him in secret while they made drug deals to their clients. He had to continue studying it online through years with the help of Soonyoung and crappy websites from back then to make sure he didn’t forget it. 

 

As the two continued their work, with some employees milling around every now and then to continue their work, Jihoon went to throw away some papers when one in the recycle bin caught his eye. 

 

It had been an observation disregarded as a fluke with its evidence attached to it. However, there were some anomalies that didn’t quite fit. 

 

Jihoon grabbed the papers and took them back to his desk to look at them more closely. Soonyoung must have noticed his puzzled face, since that’s when he started peppering Jihoon with questions. 

 

“Why do you look mad?” he laughed. “Did you find something?” 

 

Jihoon ignored him, flipping through the papers back and forth. He took out his notebook and flipped to the page from a few days ago, comparing the results until Soonyoung’s third ‘hello?’ knocked him out of his trance. 

 

“Yeah, you were saying something?” Jihoon asked, looking up at Soonyoung. 

 

“I said you looked mad about something,” Soonyoung reminded him. “Is something wrong? You have that face again.”

Jihoon frowned. “I don’t have a face.”

Soonyoung wanted to call him out but push down the urge to do so. “Well, you discovered something. What is it that you’re looking at?” 

 

Jihoon handed Soonyoung his notebook. “You see these calculations we made from a few days ago? They’re not matching up, it means that the celestial object moved, but unlike other celestial bodies, it’s not following a trajectory path, more like-“

“It’s gone,” Soonyoung finished. “It landed.” 

 

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “That’s not funny-“

“No, Jihoon, I’m being serious.” Soonyoung went through the folders scattered on his desk until he pulled out one near the bottom, showing Jihoon some coordinates. “It must have landed, some organisms or some that landed here, it explains the unpredictable movements and why they suddenly disappeared-“

“That makes no sense, if it would have landed here, we would have discovered it when it entered our atmosphere, plus it would have been in flames and caused a commotion,” Jihoon argued. “And I really doubt it’s aliens-“
 

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Soonyoung said. He typed the coordinates on the computer, which revealed to be in a forest behind a high school in Seoul, called the Neo Culture Technology School according to Naver. “Do you remember what time we get out?”

“Around four,” Jihoon reminded him. “Wait, what are you planning?”

“You’re gonna have to wait.”

***

 

Xiaojun was really excited to watch the movie. 

 

Since they had agreed on six, he had a bit of time until they agreed to meet at the classroom, so he decided to sit at one of the benches around the outskirts of the school to do his homework in peace while he waited. 

 

It wasn’t even ten minutes into his dreaded math homework when he received a text from Kun, asking what the latter was doing. Math could wait. 

 

Xiaojun sent a quick reply to Kun telling him where he was when he noticed some rustling coming near the forest next to the school. Probably some high school students, class did just let out a while ago. 

 

He continued to work on his homework, doing some problem with cotangent and what not (when was he ever going to use cotangent in his life, does he even remember what his last career choice was?) when he continued to hear rustling from behind him. It was starting to creep him out; the school said that no dangerous animals lived there but what if they were wrong? The last thing Xiaojun needed was another snake bite; his ex had a python and Xiaojun often wondered if that thing was going to swallow him whole every time he carried it, he didn’t need any more nightmares, thank you very much. 

 

Sighing, he set down his books to go check it out. It was probably just an animal that got injured. His mother told him the other day that one of her co-workers told her that many people used the forest to abandon their animals and pets, which sounded awful to Xiaojun’s ears. It’s probably want was causing the noise. Hopefully he’ll be able to save them in time. 

 

He entered the opening of the forest, trying not to step on any debris as to cause a commotion and startle the injured the animal. His phone ringed but he ignored it, deciding to respond to it in a minute. 

 

It wasn’t until he was about 50 feet in that he saw a person standing behind a tree staring straight at him. His face lacked emotion and its eyes didn’t appear to be in focus. 

 

“Uh, can I help you?” Xiaojun asked him quietly, confuse as to what this person was doing. 

 

The guy suddenly lunged toward Xiaojun, wrapping his arms around the latter as Xiaojun struggled to get out of his grasp. Only he would be dumb enough to check out a noise in the forest, how stupid could he be? And now he was going to die.

 

Xiaojun tried to pry the guy’s arms off him but immediately felt something sharp pierce his upper arm, causing him to go limp from the pain. He could already feel his arm get numb-

 

He could hear someone shouting, and the guy let go of him, causing Xiaojun to fall onto the ground as he fell unconscious.