[huh, un-betaed]

There are three types of people in the wolrd.

Mark is going to bring you examples in order for you guys to understand better.

But before starting, he would like to point out that he's not doing this because he wants to influence you with his opinions (you will get what he's saying later, don't worry).

No, of course not.

He just wants to express his opinion and if you happen to think like him at the end, then that will be awesome. He's merely giving you tips.

So, let's start this over again: there are three types of s in the world.

Type A is the Jaebum-like . Or, generally called friends. This kind of people tend to do the exact opposite thing that you want. They are irritating, not really the best company when you want to be by yourself and all you desire is to stay in perfect comfortable silence while you think about life decisions, or just because you want to be alone and sleep.

Even though they're annoying, you surprisingly want them around you most of the time, if not always.

Because they may be s, but they're your friends and friends can be the worst thing sometimes, but it also true that they're always there when you need them. And honestly, why would you choose to sleep or choose to get depressed thinking about stuff (because it's scientifically proven that a big percentage of human beings prefers recalling awful things and ways they could have used to prevent those things to be awful when left alone) when there's someone willing to spend time with you by bothering you and making you forget about those bad thoughts and focus solely on the fact that you'd really like to kick their asses?

friends are the best.

Or maybe Mark is just being a little bit biased because he's kind of talking about Jaebum, and he knows that you'll agree with him if he says that Lim Jaebum is ing great. (But don't you tell the guy. Mark absolutely doesn't want Jaebum to get cockier than what he already is).

Type B is the Jackson-like , and to no one surprise, Mark's favorite. People like this are those who just look like they are s, but never judge a book by its cover. Once you get to know type Bs better, you will backpedal on your first assumption. Generally, s-because-of-their-looks are lovely, sweet people that you'll beg to have in your life. 

And yes, right now he's being totally biased.

Lastly, there is the type C that you have to avoid. Like, after recognizing a person as part of this sub-group, you have to immediately stop talking to him/her and do not even think about feeling guilty or rude.

Don't.

These type of s are not worth yout time nor your energy. Their negative characteristics are more or less the same as type As' with the difference that the latter have also a positive side while type Cs haven't got any. Forget about the looks can deceive wise words that Mark threw at you when talking about Jackson-like people. It doesn't apply on these ones.

He's going to repeat this: if you want to live your life easily without crap, you have to stay away from them.

WuFan is part of it too, but surprisingly, he's not the worst. He's not the undefeating champion of this sub-category. No, that's Ahn Daniel.

Mark doesn't need to ask you if you've heard of him. You certainly have because he's part of Jackson's gang and his name's got mentioned by the others a few times. 

Another thing that he supposedly doesn't need to ask is if you guys know that he hasn't got any idea on how this member of the group looks like. There's no need to say it again, but he's going to just in case someone has a really short memory: he gave zero s about this dude- -oops. He didn't mean to use a vulgar word. Not here at least.

It's just that the Ahn-matter is something that makes his blood boil. Mark's sorry (not so sorry).

Anyway, he was saying that he initially didn't care about Jackson's friends, and he's begun giving attention just a couple of weeks ago. For reasons that you're all aware of, and- -

- -yes, okay, you guys are right.

Absolutely right.

He should stop repeating things. It's not like you have amnesia or whatever.

Yeah.

He will stop. 

No, seriously, don't you raise that eyebrow like that because he's going to. Just watch him.

So, let's fast forward everything and go straight to the point when his life crosses paths with Ahn Daniel's.

(If you think that this happened some day after Jongin and Junior showed Mark the batcave, then you're so wrong.

It was on that same day.

His theory is still valid, see?)

-

Mark has never experienced this.

Never in his life has he kept a secret from Jaebum. Well, let's rephrase that: never in his life has he been able to keep a secret from his best friend Jaebum for this long.

(Oh, shut up, everyone. Yes, he knows that Jaebum suspects something and that it has to do with Jackson, but it's not like Mark has explicitly told him himself, so he's still hiding that something from Jaebum, yes? Listen, if you're still not convinced, well, tell him exactly where and why he's wrong. Until then, he's right. Ha!)

It usually does not take much for the other to make him spill the beans, but this time Mark is winning- -well, if you can call giving your friend money to feed himself and let Mark alone a victory, that's it. Lame. But what else can he do?

A part of him knows that he should be more concerned about his pocket-money because he has almost nothing left, but Jebum has promised not to follow him- -okay, so maybe Mark's a loser, instead- -and he's too excited to get to the Batcave, ready to attend his first, uhm, meeting as an official member of Jackson's group.

Enthusiasm is making him bounce lightly on his feet. Manly bouncing on his feet.

He mentally goes over the only two instructions Jongin and Junior gave him. Be alone. Successfully completed. Be right there before the bells ring. Double check.

Nobody's here yet, though.

Mark takes a moment to decide whether to go in without the others, or wait for at least one of them to show up.

He figures that it would be stupid to just stand looking at the door. What if someone catches me? This area of the school is always empty, but you can never know. And he can make them drinks while waiting. He was told that there's water, and fruit powder. Maybe an apple juice?

Still rocking his body back and forth.

Thinking.

Thinking.

it.

He grabs the handle, turns it, goes inside before he can change his mind, and makes sure to closer the door carefully behind him.

Woah. One thing is seeing the incredible mess-about-to-fall with Jongin and Junior making fun of him, another is having it hanging dangerously a couple of steps from his head alone.

"Ain't no one gonna take you to the other side. You can do it, you're a champion," he whispers to himself. You've got to encourage yourself sometimes. Compliment yourself. It boosts your self-esteem. And that's good. It really is.

Another advice: when you're doing things that can potentially end your life and there's not a soul around that you can call for help if, y'know, it turns out bad (mom, just in case, I love you), don't start wondering if you'll, indeed, die when you're already in the middle of doing it. Because you'll just get panicky, and actually die. And you don't want to die.

You have to think positively. Something like: wow, what if Jackson is already at the other side of this tunnel? Imagine a y guy or girl asking you to draw him like one of your French girls. That would make any go.

Jackson. The mere possibility of having just him there makes Mark's heart flip.

It does not and it will never matter how incredibly low his IQ falls wherever the guy's present, Mark wants him to be around- -he would gladly sacrifice half of his neurons just to keep Jackson at a handful distance, and it surely says a lot that he's only partly joking about it. (Jaebum is right when he says Mark is a teenager who's slowly "going nuts").

What he would have never ever guessed is that he will find a boy with ridiculously big lips, even bigger than Jongin's, and with the ugliest frown- -yes, worse than Wu Yifan's- -looking at Mark like he's the stinkiest piece of garbage on the planet.

"Stop."

What.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Can you leave right the now? Thankies," he deadpans at Mark, the expression still in place while talking. Mark does not have time to react that he's making shooing motions with his hand. "Are you deaf? Crawl back."

He must be joking.

"So?!" The boy shrieks. "Back, I said!" He's not supposed to talk that loud, is he?

Mark says nothing. He also ignores the protests because he's not even standing on his two feet. When he gets up, he looks at the other.

Yup, still glaring.

"I'm Mark," he offers.

"And I don't care," the boy snaps, putting his hands on his hips and giving him a once over.

"You asked for it," Mark points out. Strangely, he doesn't mind the hostility. Maybe it's because, well, big-lips looks so young. He's probably a first year. Who's not having a good day. So he's lashing out on a stranger right now?

Plus, Mark's is in a too good mood.

"I did not."

Did so. "Right before I could come out of there completely," he reminds, trying to keep his tone moderated, firmly in the "I am the rational quasi-adult who's trying to resolve this nonsense pleacefully" zone.

The boy misses his intention by a mile. Okay, he's a ing brat.

Still, Mark'll be damned if he lets this kid ruin his unusual optimistic attitude. "Can I at least know your name?" He asks.

There's a really long, long pause while he waits for the other guy to say something.

In the end, he receives a, "Daniel", paired with squinting eyes. His face still looks kind of pinchy, but not as murderous as he'd looked before; it's probably the best Mark's going to get from him.

"I heard about you." Mark says, "I'm part of the group too." Damn. Does it feel good to say it.

"Huh, of course? How would you find this place otherwise?" Daniel replies flatly. 

Right. Now, this is sort of becoming unsettling. Here is Mark pulling off a Wu Yifan-ish approach sans the intimidating aura, but not only it's not appreciated, he's getting treated crappy too. Is this karma working for the y secretary? What? This fast?

Daniel sniffs, folding his arms on his chest. "Who even made you part of the group?" He stretches the last four words. "I don't want you to be part of this group."

That's just plain rude, and Mark says so. "That's rude."

"Your face is rude." Daniel spits back right after. You would pay blood to have a face like mine, kid. He's going to have a heart attack if he does not calm down.

Mark does not like it when he has to be the reasonable one. It doesn't suit him. Now, he misses Jaebum. He's the person who usually deals with this crap. He would know that to do. Jaebum would not debate whether it's okay to thwack this Daniel boy in the head or not. He would just do it, and when confronted about it he would sound like needed to hit him, and nobody would blame him.

He sighs.

"Oh, really?" Daniel suddenly screams, and Mark looks at him, alarmed, because, the hell? "Now, you're the one suffering? Don't make that expression."

He's insane. Completely gone. Mark wants out of this. He feels an aneurysm coming.

Thankfully, he hears voices call their names. He turns for help, and finds it in a grinning Junior who's literally slithering out of the only entrance slash exit of the room.

"Cool, eh?" Junior points to himself cheerfully. "Youngjae once told me that I look like a being thrown out of its womb."

"Being thrown out?" They hear Jongin echo Junior before they see him. He doesn't snake out of the tunnel the same way the previous guy did. Instead, he takes his time. While dusting his knees, he says, "did you just call a baby an it?"

"Shut up, Gin-gin." Junior teases. Getting no retort, he looks around him, finger guns at both Mark and Daniel in greeting before physically putting himself between them. He leans on Mark, side-cupping his mouth with a hand, and whispers, "did you, huh, maybe, touch his, ya know?"

Mark is quick to shake his head.

"No?" Junior asks, deflating a little, as if he was almost hoping for a yes. "Not even a bit?" His eyes are begging now. "An itty bitty bit?"

Lost, Mark looks at Jongin, but he finds the latter tensed up. "No?" He finally murmurs.

"Great." Junior claps his hands like teachers do when they're trying to get their students' attention. He does this thing where he's glancing now and then to Jongin, as if telepathically having a conversation with him, and then Mark sees Junior gulp, Adam's apple going up and down.

The heck is going on?

"We thought you were still sick, hyung. We're so happy to have you back. Like, uh. Very happy. Overjoyed. Pleased. Thrilled." Junior babbles immediately after rotating on his hill to face Daniel who's been quiet since the two's arrival. "I heard. From Youngjae. That you- - maybe. Heard about Ma- -"

Jongin coughs.

Mark stares in confusion.

"- -ma?" Junior halts. He peeks at Jongin again before continuing. "Yes. So, mama. Youngjae hyung's mama is. Uhm. Having a- -" more glances towards Jongin "- -cake?"

A small whine comes from Jongin. Daniel catches it too, it seems, because he shifts his attention to him.

"She baked a cake for you." Jongin clarifies.

At that Daniel finally opens his mouth. "She did?" He's in awe. He looks speechless.

"Yes?" Junior squeaks.

"Yes." Jongin supplies.

They're terrible liars. Mark is ten times better than them and that says a lot. He's pretty sure the entire thing would have had a different outcome if it was delivered solely by Jongin, though.

Daniel perks up. "Only for me?"

"That's what Youngjae said."

"Really?" Daniel sounds almost cute. He looks happy. It's adorable. Ish. Except then, his lips flatten in a line. "Do you think I'm that stupid?" He asks vehemently.

"It was his idea!" Junior yelps, pointing at Jongin. "I have nothing to do with this. All those things I said? He told me to say them. He led me to say them. I would never ever deceive you, hyung. I was forced. I respect you too much to- -"

"Hush, Jinyoung." Daniel orders him, and said guy zips his mouth. "You!"

Jongin looks like a deer caught in the headlights. "There is really a cake!"

"Kim Jongin, don't you dare- -"

"She baked it," Jongin repeats. At this point, it sounds like an absurdly stupid plan. It's obvious that there is no cake. Mark would have just admitted everything. In no way he would risk having this Daniel yell at him like a chicken on drugs.

"Why don't you ask Youngjae when you see him?"

Daniel's eyes narrow at that. "Why don't I!" He repeats. "Rest assured that I will, Kim Jongin. We'll see."

"Fine, we will." Jongin challenges, tipping his chin up. His response is weak, though. Poor him. He's probably imagining his funeral. Mark so not envies him.

In between this entire exchange of, eh, now, they're offending each other, Mark's left out. He does not mind at all. He's glad he's not included. 

He still has no idea what is going on. Only one thing is certain: Daniel is a capital A . The biggest of the world.

As if to confirm it, there's more shouting, and Junior starts rubbing his eyes, they're red, and his lower lip is quivering as he's about to burst crying. Mark so doesn't want to witness that.

The worst part of this all is that he will have to spend a lot of time with this Daniel. If he doesn't get kicked out. Since, apparently, the kid does not want him here.

He connects the dots some seconds later as a sudden realisation hits him, and when he looks again at Jongin and Junior getting in this heated confrontation he feels grateful even though he doesn't know if they did it to rescue him or to help themselves.

He hopes that a kid not liking him won't make any difference. 

Mark's throat feels dry at the mere thought.

He's fine. He's fine.

Maybe he'll get finer after drinking a glass. He wishes Daniel doesn't catch him and makes a scene out of him stealing water.

It just happens for the bottles to be next to the pile of Naruto manga. He doesn't touch any of the volumes. He simply looks at them at first.

Jackson does not have the whole collection. He probably bought them randomly. Or, he has the ones he could get his hands on. Mark has asked about its plot from a classmate yesterday just to have a general idea, but couldn't bring himself to actually read it once at home on his laptop. The whole Naruto, blonde fox dude, who's chasing after the emo blue-haired Sasuke guy hits too much home for his liking. He would have taken a look at the other titles if only he remembered them.

He picks one up and starts flipping through the pages quickly. As he does, a piece of notebook paper flies off of it.

Mark takes it before it can fall. Uhm. It's full of doodles. They're not good. They're horrendous. Jackson is not good at drawing. There's what vaguely looks like a dog. Some spirals Mark draws too when he's bored.

He turns the paper.

Shiii-iiiit. He's skeptical at first. Like, nah, this is not what he's seeing. It's not. He looks at it some more. 

Seriously, super . He swears under his breath because thinking about it is not enough.

He's looking at a math problem. An advanced math problem. Is this really Jackson's? Not that he thinks Jackson's dumb, but it's common knowledge at school that he's not really someone who spends his time sitting diligently in class. Definitely not someone who brings done homework the next day. He's never heard anyone say that Jackson excels at some subjects either.

"What's up, dirty mouths!" Speaking of the devil.

Angel? Because witth a face like that Jackson could be one. But then, wasn't Lucifer the most beautiful out of them? And Lucifer's the Demon? Also a fallen angel, so still technically an angel- -his thoughts aren't making any sense. It is, however, nothing new. 

Jackson is grinning widely, hair covering an eye. He brushes it away. He doesn't have his cap with him today which is strange. He carefully deposits the skateboard under his arm at his feet. It does not take much for his expression to disappear and make space for a questioning look instead.

In fact, Junior isn't crying, thank God, but his eyes are swelling.

"Jinyoung, hey, what's up?"

"You let someone in without asking me is what's up," Daniel quips before the other could utter a word. He's bitter rather than venomous. Mark sees him blink, his features soften then and when he adds, "it's like you forgot about me." He sounds devastated. The person who was once throwing tantrums upon tantrums is not the same Mark's looking at right now. 

Jackson can only retort with, "you were sick, Jongin and Jinyoung like Mark, and Mark had already passed the test- -" before he gets interrupted.

"Yes, but don't you remember the rule?" Daniel accuses, and at that Jongin and Junior grimace. "You said that we should all agree before letting anyone in. That's what you said. Therefore, the test is meaningless."

From the expression on his face, Jackson does not recall. His brows furrow, probably trying to recollect some memories of those words leaving his mouth. He comes with nothing, though, because Mark sees him shake his head a little, an adorable, "no?", getting past his lips before he's scratching his cheek.

"Did I?" He's perplexed, looking around him for confirmation or disagreement.

First, at Jongin. Then at Junior.

They both look like they have something to say, but be it because they too have no flashbacks of that moment, or be it because they do, but they're scared of Daniel's reaction if they contradict him, they remain silent.

Not finding help from his friends, Jackson looks at Mark whose heart so does not start pounding against its ribcage quicker. He's so cute. He would do anything for him, he swears, but this he cannot. 

To his dismay the next thing he hears Jackson say is a defeated, "what do you have in mind?"

Daniel looks like he was just waiting to hear that. Like, he knew already that it was just a matter of time before Jackson would give in.

It's with clarity that Mark understands that his position in the gang is indeed, compromised.

Because of this kid.

And, look, hate is a strong emotion. Mark has only truly hated a few things in his life.

Worms because they're just straight up disgusting. He can't stand the sight of lumbrici, and he shivers at the mention of those big white larvae with black eyes that he's seen once in Vietnam. He used to hate the condescending tone his parents or any adult would use on him when he was younger. He hates the boys that made his sisters cry- -he'd rather be tortured, skinned alive, you name it, than admit it. His sister is strong. She did karate and judo, and she can take care of herself. She's stronger than Mark, she can kick asses, but he'll be damned if he didn't hate boys that made her sad, let alone cry. It's his sister we're talking after all.

Daniel's eyes are dancing with mirth. "Let's see what you've got, Mark, mm?"

I truly, madly, deeply hate him. Oh so much.

-

First impressions are important. It's true.

Think about it. 

When you meet someone you unconsciously start forming an impression of them in a matter of seconds. You basically start judging who's in front of you. You begin asking yourself what are they like? Will you two get along? Do you find them interesting? In just a snap of fingers- -okay, exaggeration, maybe a little more time than that- -you have already decided how the other is beyond an interaction. 

Mark has read that based on what is called "the primacy effect" we tend to value more what we learn of the person initially, than what we learn about them later. The impression you make works as a filter: you'll mostly look at behaviors that enforce the image you've created in your mind and largely overlook what contradicts it.

And as much as we like being right all the time, our assumptions are almost always incorrect. At least, it's proven to be bound to faulty in long term relationships.

When we meet someone for the first time, our impression of them is based on a lot of factors. It could be the circumstances in which we meet them, our state of mind, sometimes we have such a strong opinion of somebody and it's all because of third people's stories.

But one thing that can assure everyone who's been misjudged upon first encounter is this: first impressions matter, they're important, but substance has the final word. Besides people are not black and white, we're all shades of grey.

This is exactly what Mark is reminding himself of when looking at Daniel. He doesn't want to jump to conclusions too soon. Doesn't want to label him as the worst without getting to know him better.

Sure, they did not hit it off, but maybe if they get to know each other more they'll start getting along. Simply not wanting to bolt at the idea of being with the guy would be acceptable too.

For now, it's trasparent that Daniel does not want to talk to Mark any more than Mark likes listening to him.

"I'll text you," Daniel says, flashing a row of teeth. If Mark were to declare which was the fakest smile he's seen in his life, that would absolutely triumph above all. 

Great. He's this close to just delete the new contact. Well, it seems like he can't really escape his faith, huh? Lady Luck, c'mon. Just once.

Mark closes his eyes and tries to picture something soothing or whatever the hell is able to make him stop thinking that he really went and dyed his hair in an obnoxious color for nothing.

Let's not forget that he is going to receive a punishment from Mister-twin-eyebrows for breaking rules.

"We're sorry," he hears Junior say.

Mark would like to blame them for this, but when he feels a touch on his shoulder, he just huffs.

Let's be rational about it. Even if they waited for Daniel, Mark doubts he would have given them his approval. Sure, the entire hair situation could have been avoided, but Mark would have been equally called by their crappy school Justice League by the end of it. 

"Nah, don't worry about it," he says, cracking his eyes open.

Oh. Call an ambulance.

Because his ears must have failed him. He heard Junior- -who's actually next to him- -talk, but the apple of his eye, Jackson Wang, that's who (if someone did not get the memo), is now squeezing his shoulder in a display of affection gesture of encouragement.

"I'm sorry too," Jackson is telling him. Then, with his other hand he's jabbing at Mark's chest, while blabbering stuff- -Mark's stupid head goes boom, so he can't really hear most of the things that are being said. A "don't" and "can do it" go past the thunder inside him.

"Okay?" You're so beautiful.

Mark wakes up before Jackson can call him out on it, and being the pinnacle of the human intelligence he merely gives him one nod. 

Which is an enough answer for the guy. Like a coach giving his pre-talk to his athletes before sending them off to the match, Jackson gives Mark several pats on his arm with the hand that was on Mark's shoulder, and then gives him a thumb up with the other. 

"Then, go, tiger!"

Would you look at that. He even chose the animal Mark usually compares himself to.

-

"And you just said yes?" Jaebum is incredulous.

Mark can work with that. "What else was there to do? They apologised- -"

"- -and you just said yes because they said they're sorry?" Now he's getting upset. 

The only thing Mark can do is make him forget about it by luring his attention with- -he opens the cabinet - -a sandwich? But they do not have ham nor cheese in the fridge, his parents are doing the shopping right now. They do not have peanut butter, nor marmalade. Much less Nutella.

Aha! "Want to eat take out and while we're waiting play some games?"

"Yes." Jaebum drags on. He adds, a second later, shaking his head, "but just so you know agreeing because Jackass said he's sorry makes you an idiot." As if he doesn't repeat it enough times already.

-

The very next day, the group discuss it again. 

By a majority decision (which means everyone minues Daniel), it's settled that Mark is a temporary member ( it, kid). He already knows about their biggest secrets ("he even has the WiFi password," Junior points out) and unless he magically forgets about them, there's nothing much that can be done. Needless to say that he would never tattle on Jackson & co if he eventually gets kicked out, but he keeps quiet because no one's asking, and his track record distinctly says that things go better when he keeps his mouth shut.

However, after another three hours of intense debate, many "we're so sorry" from Jongin, Junior and Jackson to Mark, they can't help but agree that an inititiation ceremony has to happen and Daniel will be the one to choose what kind.

The three guys have told Mark that they tried persuading Daniel on just letting Mark be, but the guy was adamant on the matter. Youngjae didn't faze Daniel, either. It's hazing or nothing.

Mark didn't refuse their apologies the day before, so there was no reason for him to do it today. Besides, the guys went all out. Sadly, it did not pay off, but he recognizes the effort.

In the meantime they're waiting for Daniel to come up with what he thinks will be a more proper proof of worthiness than red hair, Mark's asked not to come to the Batcave.

Understandable.

What is not is Daniel making him wait decades.

One day is fair, two is okay, three maybe, but by the end of the week Mark thinks a double murder will occur: Jaebum will mostly likely stab him with a pencil in the center of the forehead because Mark's been complaining to him everyday, but not before Daniel being mysteriously pushed down from an open window. Hey, the latter deliberately wanders off the topic when brought up. Daniel's basically asking for it.

"He does that," Junior grumbles. It's Friday, they're watching Jongin's basketball match- -they are winning by a large margin on the opposite team. "He loses it when we don't talk things with him first. But it's so hard to tell him, he always makes everything so difficult".

Jackson is not with them. He did not go to school. Some family related things. They didn't elaborate, and Mark, because he's in a sour mood or because he senses they won't tell him anyways, just leave it at that. Which says a lot.

The Anti-christ is not with them either.

"He's a piece of ," Jaebum pronounces, reading Mark's mind. He's the best. Mark is instantly grateful that he decided to come with them when Junior asked.

Junior knits his brows. "Maybe," he concedes slowly. They hear another faint cheer, a futile point scored by the other team. He breathes out. "We shouldn't talk like that about hyung, though."

"It's not talking bad when you're stating facts, though," Jaebum presses, with a small shrug.

Junior scowls more at that.

"He's not the easiest person to deal with," Youngjae, who has only occasionally given them a smile every once in awhile since he got there, says placidly. He offers them some of his crisps.

Jaebum takes one. "But?" He prompts.

"Well." Youngjae says, as Junior grabs a handful from the bag and stuffs his mouth. "He's demanding, stubborn, and he always wants to be right." He's a son of a , he's too loud, and he becomes another person when h'es talking to Jackson. His eyes crinkle with laugh lines at the corners. "But try to get to know him, and you will be surprised."

"You know one time I asked him if he wanted to hang out with me after school, do you know what he said?" Junior asks conversationally, chips crumbs flying as he's talking. Without missing a beat, he continues, altering his voice to what he thinks resembles Daniel's, "I'm afraid I'll have to decline. My poor head can handle stupidity only until lunch".

It's too hilarious. They all laugh at that.

Mark quickly schools his expression back to neutral once he catches himself. Never laugh at anything your enemy has said or has done. He's being so petty, but Daniel is- -impossible. 

He checks his phone even though he hasn't heard it beep nor felt it vibrate once since the last time he looked at it. Nothing. He's getting more and more discouraged as minutes go by. See? How is he supposed to deal with someone like Daniel?

To be expected, Jongin wins. They celebrate the victory with slushies. Mark looks for texts or a missed call while the girl is getting his order down; still nothing.

Later, he finds out that Jongin and Youngjae are rich kids.

Jongin's dad comes to collect his son and friend with "his Friday to Sunday's car", Junior informs them, animatedly, "he gets picked on with a yellow Bmw on Mondays and Tuesdays, and then with a Suv on Wednesdays and Thursdays," he barely finishes before a flustered Jongin ushers him in and they wave goodbye.

Jaebum and Mark exchange astonished looks.

Then, they do not know how they miss it arriving, but when they hear Youngjae gently tell them that he'll see them at school, they turn their heads to say the same. A limo is there complete with a driver in a uniform opening the door.

Apparently, Youngjae is filthy rich.

They cannot, but dream about having that much money on the way home.

Mark is in a relatively better state when his mom tells him that they're going out for dinner in their favorite restaurant. Nichkhun often skips it, but Victoria is having a night with girls, he's done studying, so he's coming too.

He is pretending to be still choosing from the menu- -he either goes for spaghetti alla carbonara or pesto. He'll go for the second today- -when he sees the screen illuminate and then the phone keeps on vibrating until he unlocks it.

Tomorrow 8pm. Here's the address.

-

Mark's never been asked too many questions when he has to go out.

His parents don't pry into his business. His sister doesn't care at all where he goes. Only his older brother sometimes does.

He thought it was because his mom and dad trusted him wholeheartedly, but the answer is actually that they rely on Jaebum being there to literally punch some senses into him before he rushes doing something fatal or that he'll regret. (They admitted it a couple of years ago when Laura was complaining about their dad texting her too much while she was out and Mark bragging that he'd never had that problem). 

When his mom finds out that his best friend from whom he's been inseperable for years is not coming, she frowns. His dad quirks an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Is Jaebum sick?" She's concerned.

Mark blinks. "No," he replies, "he was not invited." And more, "it's a different group of friends."

"Dear," his mom intones solemnly, "why aren't you including Jaebum? I'm sure your new friends will like him just fine. He's a lovely boy."

Here is the trap: if he says that Jaebum can't come, his mom will know that something is going on. If he says that Jaebum doesn't want to come, his mom will equally know that something is going on.

He's in a corner.

His dad saves him from answering. "Are they good friends?"

Mark thinks of Daniel, the gang's not really exceptional reputation at school, and a massive "no" appears in his mind. But then, he thinks of Youngjae who's pretty quiet, but a cool guy. Then at Jongin and Junior who are both great.

He thinks about Jackson. 

"Yeah."

His mom gives him a pointed look. "If you don't answer after two missed calls, and to my first three texts, I'm calling the police."

Four hours later- -well, maybe the police will call Tuan's home.

-

Nobody is questioning his presence. At least not for now.

Mark figures that as long as he looks like he knows where he's going, he'll avoid being hassled by the bored woman behind the cashier and the other boy who's working as a security guard, lurking circumspectly in every hall, keeping attentive eyes on potential thieves.

Like me. Mark erases the thought.

He's not going to lie, though: the more he gets closer to the alcohol department, the more the sensation of anxiety, of being caught, increases. 

What did go through his mind? Jongin was coaxing Daniel into making Mark do another type of challenge. Youngjae too was trying, he said to find something else. 

But, ugh, Daniel had the audacity to taunt Mark with a, "why not this? You scared?" and something inside of Mark twitched at that. He marched into the mini-market without thinking. 

And now he's here with no idea which bottle- -can? Or, cans?- -he should grab. The only instruction he was given was to take (actually steal) some poison without getting caught. If it wasn't specified, Mark guesses he could just choose a random one- -definitely a small. No, the smallest can. Yeah. Ball in his court. He'll hide it under the baggy sweater that he not proudly wore for the occasion.

Everything will go smoothly.

Mark finds the alcoholic beverages pretty easily. He inspects the shelves.

There is a huge variety of liquors and beers, but he's already made his decision.

He takes a can of beer from the shelf.

It's in his hand. Oh, my God. He's holding it. 

Mark stops, feeling the stress nearly humming through his body. The rising fear is making his palms itch. He knows what he has to do. Look left and right, be sure nobody can see him, put the beer under his clothes. There are no cameras in here. He just has to act quickly.

He forces himself not to picture terrible scenarios.

He draws in a long breathe.

When he releases it, two things happen.

One, the can gets taken from him. Two, because of the previous point, Mark freezes, getting drowned by an overwhelming wave of panic. 

They caught me. Stealing from a mini-market. My parents will be called. They are going to be mad. And disappointed. Very disappointed. Oh, God, he won't be able face them. Nichkhun will get mad too. And Laura. And Jaebum. He'll make his mom cry. Laura cries too when she's very upset. God, his mom.

If he wasn't so terrorized he would realize that he actually hasn't done anything illegal yet. There should be no reason for him to start hyperventilating. 

"I thought you were smarter than this." It's Jackson's voice.

When Mark blinks, he sees Jackson's face too. It is looking reproachfully at him. Is it real? Jackson wasn't there before. He was the only member missing, because, again he had very significant things he needed to take care of.

The can of beer gets deposited back on the shelf, occupying the only vacant spot on the line. 

It takes some time for the situation to click, and when it does Mark registers that he's sweating even though the air con is weirdly on in mid December. 

"What were you thinking?" Jackson is saying through gritted teeth. His eyes are stormy. He's furious. "When it comes to doing something like this, you say no!" Each word is punctuated by a jabbing finger in the air. 

Mark does not say anything. His mind's a mess, thus he cannot think straight.

Of course, he knew that he was in the wrong, and if he could come back in time, he would just flip Daniel off. That was what he should have done from the beginning, instead of stubbornly going here.

He feels guilty, obviously, but on the other hand, he's particularly joyed that it was Jackson who found him, and not the security guard.

He cannot but exhale in relief.

"You're a ing idiot," Jackson grunts. He looks at Mark, his expression is now mostly blank, but his eyes are still hard. He's quiet when he flings an arm around Mark's shoulder and drags him out of the mini-market.

In another situation Mark would have given it a lot more importance, but since he's quite shocked, ashamed of himself and happy all at once, he can't even fantasize about this.

When they find the others, Jackson lets Mark go to start bickering with Daniel. 

"I did not think he would really do it," Daniel boredly deflects the blame from him while polishing his nails on his shirt. He purses his lips, before he petulantly continues, "he could have said no- -"

"Hey, no. Cut him some slack, okay?" Jackson interrupts him.

They stare tersely at each other, while Mark being the that he is, registers just now what's happening. He's been watching inattentively, but then it hits him: Jackson is taking his defense. He's on Mark's side. 

"I don't care anymore about all this ." Jackson is speaking slowly and clearly, leveling each of them with a death look. " No more, you hear me?"

Junior nods, so does Youngjae. Jongin who's leaning with his back against a car doesn't do nor say anything, just keeps on listening. Daniel, stoic, is eyeing down the side-walk, but Mark can see him digging his ring finger nail on his thumb.

"Mark is part of the group." Jackson declares in a tone of finality. 

Mentioned guy is too busy gawking looking to acknowledge the sudden change of atmosphere and the several "yay-s" that follow the statement. His mind is whirring. There is a riot inside of him. He knows he's looking fixedly at Jackson with a dumb expression- -he can feel it in his facial structures. Oh, God, hopefully he won't go all gooey right here. (Eh. As if he could do that. Not to look like a moron. He tries, but. But. You know).

"And Daniel," Jackson calls, "we don't do stuff like that, you know it." He proceeds on saying how they only do things for pure fun. They do not want to go against the law. He doesn't want anyone committing minor crimes.

Yes, supposedly, there is a limit that they do not want to cross. That explains why Jongin went absolutely livid before. And it's reassuring and at the same arguable since Mark is pretty sure some of the jokes they did at school could give them some serious repercussions. 

Jackson's not done, though. "I want you to apologize," his voice is steady, "to Mark." it a million times. 

The kid's about to object, but there's a raised hand anticipating his outburst.

"Hyung," Daniel groans. He looks like he'd rather walk in a burning house and stay there. The don't do this to me is hidden in the single term. He only gets an expectant lifted eyebrow from Jackson.

Mark's taking immense pleasure in this. He feels vindicated. It is ten times more satisfying that he hasn't had to lift a single finger- -yes, okay. Except that he was this close to delinquency. He's sorry for that. Immensely. After what happened, though, you can excuse him for gloating at the kid's and his now reversed situation.

"Hyung," Daniel pleads.

Jackson doesn't falter.

Junior stands next to Mark. Totally out of the blue, he comments, "the sooner, you say it, hyung, the sooner we'll start having fun". He's probably trying to be encouraging in his own way. "Repeat after me: Mark, it was the stupidest stupid of me. I'm very very sorry. You have no- -"

"Shut up." Daniel growls menacingly.

Mark sees Junior hide behind him after squeaking.

Daniel is glaring at the boy, then his gaze goes to Mark. After some endless time, in which he starts looking sourer and sourer, he turns his head away. "Sorry," he murmurs, screwing up his face. He immediately storms off once the word's said.

Youngjae goes after him.

Jongin whistles in appreciation at the scene. "Good job, boss." 

"Yeah, dude," Jackson simply tells him. His previous demeanor vanishes, replaced by a weary look. When he sees his two friends disappear inside the near Starbucks, he fully rotates his body to the three remaining guys. "I wish you'd at least try reasoning with him." He says to no one in particular.

"That's what I always do," Jongin counters, "he never listens." He finally detaches himself from the car. "He only ever listens to you. You should tell him no more often."

Jackson pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue. He shuts his eyes briefly. "Whatever." Throwing his head back slightly and tilting it to his right, he searches for Mark's gaze.

Which was obviously already on him. Duh. Oh, guess who's slowly recovering?

"Aw," Mark whines when Jackson punches him on the shoulder. It didn't hurt, but it caught him off guard, thus the complain. 

"Don't do it again." Jackson repeats. His stern index is almost touching the bridge of Mark's nose.

Mark inches just a bit away. "I'm- -sorry." Because it doesn't feel enough, he also promises, "this is the first and the last time." You can be sure, you'll never see him pulling a stunt like this again. He feels utterly embarrassed of himself- -he was really thinking of stealing from a mini-market. Just because he's brainlees and felt threatened by Daniel's provocation. 

He does not know if he would have done it in the end, but he's profoundly grateful that Jackson intervened before he could muster enough courage. 

"You better not because I swear I'll ing kick your ," Jackson states with a small sigh of irritation. He reaches out, and, unexpectedly, he places his palm on the side of Mark's neck. He squeezes quickly once. Five seconds later, he's throwing his arms up.

 He roars, "celebration time!"

Junior mimics him right away, hands pumping in the air. "Celebration tiiiiiime!"

Mark's too stunned. It happened so fast, but his neck still feels hot from the warmth coming from Jackson's touch. Holy . His heart is thundering. He feels like he's in heaven. I'd do anything for you, he starts thinking, "if you told me the sky's green, then it's green because I would paint it green for you."

Don't judge him, okay?

-

We already stated that Jackson's a puppy. Well, if he were to be a mythological creature, Mark is pretty sure he would be a faerie.

Think about it.

He is, uhm, too mischievous to be an angel, and he just can't be a demon.

Faeries, on the other hand, are known to be tiny, delicate, ageless and beautiful winged entities who are tricksters. When they take a liking on a human they start secretly following them, making well-intentioned interventions on their life with their magic power. Like, Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, maybe?

Mark hasn't even finished his first glass of wine. He does not know why he's already thinking these things. But he's sitting across a Jackson who's enthusiastically watching his friend Namjoon- -Rapmon, the guy has introduced himself before. A nickname whose origins are unknown to Mark- -throw the two dice, and then tipping his head back in a delighted laugh when Namjoon goes straight to jail.

They've been playing for almost an hour and half now.

When they talked about throwing Mark a party (Jackson faerie/puppy Wang's idea. Just how aww is it? That's not an adjective, right? Who cares) to welcome him in the group, he thought about fake IDs, dancing in clubs and because he's back to being his old self, being escorted out with cuffs around his wrists because they're all underaged.

But he's found himself in Jongin's sweet home slash mansion slash Mark wonders if he'll ever live in a house like this in the future, having wine from Jongin's mom's expensive wine glasses and a toast to his name, and then playing Monopoly with many of their buddies outside school.

To say that he is left dumbfounded by this turn of events would be an understatement.

They got into pairs of two and tree sans Namjoon and Junior, because there are only 8 monopolies on the board.

Jackson is with Mino while Mark's been paired with SeHun, Jongin's childhood friend. Silent guy. Very classy looking. His hair seems like it's been styled with dedication by a hairdresser. Very handsome fellow.

He, Jongin, Youngjae and a guy so pretty Mark mistook him for a girl named Taemin, all sip their wine. They're elegant.

Whereas Junior, Jackson, Namjoon, and three others, Mino, Bobby who has Jackson's fashion style, and Zitao who's Chinese, chug it like it's water. Most of them don't even hold the glass properly and are leaving fingerprints on the bowl.

Mark has had alcohol before with Jaebum, but usually, it's beer. The cheap kind that their dads buy and have after a long day at work. He's had wine only once before this- -Nichkhun let him try his at the restaurant. It's good, but his palate is just of a commoner's. He likes things that are less sophisticated. 

He started drinking only because everyone else was. He only noticed later that Daniel (who was already at Jongin's when they arrived, ugh) wasn't having any. 

"You're a ," Namjoon says, shoving Jackson. The latter only guffaws louder. Either a puppy or a faerie or a hybrid of the two, the one thing that's a constant is that Jackson's the embodiment of adorableness. Isn't he?

"Money, money, money," Daniel sing-songs, collecting the dice from the table, "you can nothing against my 30 bajillion hotels." He hands them to Youngjae while still gloating.

They are indeed winning. Taemin and Jongin behind them.

Ironically, Namjoon and Junior, those who proclaimed themselves invincible when they did not have companions who would take decisions for them during the game, were losing. To be fair, though, they're Player 7 and 8 respectively. It was foreseeable that they would struggle buying anything.

Mark isn't into Monopoly much. Nor, into any other board game to be honest. He's mostly letting SeHun play for them both. He'd have preferred being partnered with Jackson, of course, but being able to observe Jackson all grins and hearty laughs is fun too. 

Mino, who's already quite intoxicated given that he's had a whole bottle for himself, has been sharing some funny stories.

For example, about the time he and his friend Taehyun went skying, "drunk as ", and at some point, they decided that whipping their es out to pee in the snow when there were like -13 degrees in Canada would be suuuuper dope. Apparently, they spent too much time howling at their because-of-the-cold-shrunk-too-much members, and at the fact that they couldn't bring themselves too pee because it was, again, too cold, that their hands literally froze with them being around their s. They managed to come back home somehow, and their parents drove them to the nearest hospital.

"I quite enjoyed it that time when you called me in the middle of the night to ask if my mom could take you and Junior out of the police station," Sehun shares with a little chuckle to Jongin.

Said guy closes his eyes, groaning. "That was all your fault!" He boasts, once he has them open, pointing at Junior who slowly blinks at him.

"Excuse me?" Junior says while dramatically putting a hand on his chest in affront. 

"Oh, don't do that, you- -" Jongin straights his back. "Taemin, you were there too! Tell them what happened!"

Everyone turns their looks on Taemin who gets caught in a fit of laughter before he can even start. Recovering, he says in between giggles.

"So, they were totally wasted. Taecyeon hyung was taking the car. We were told to wait for him, but Junior and Jongin started bickering rather loudly and I could see some lights of the houses around us being - -it was like around 3.30 in the morning. An old man started shouting to go somewhere else and Jongin- -"

"That was not me," said guy mumbles.

"- -started picking a fight with the old man. A police officer was nearby." Taemin chokes on an incoming laugh. "He approached the three of us, and Jongin and Junior didn't even stop. They started getting louder and louder even if the police officer were trying to calm them down. So, the police officer got fed up. Took his note pad and asked for names- -"

A tee-hee. "The officer's like, so what's your name? and Junior to Jongin: don't tell him, Jongin." Taemin mimes writing with a hand. "The police officer started writing down on his notepad: Jongin. Jongin then went: oh, great, Junior! and the officer continued: and Junior and then Junior went like, Ha! My name is Jinyoung!"

They almost bust a gut. Some fall and start rolling on the ground at Jongin's expression.

Two rounds of the game later, Mino's cracking up at Zitao's dejected face as he lands Bobby and himself in jail, and Mark finds that he's absentmindedly finished his wine.

Being content with drinking just that, he's putting the empty glass on the table near the few houses he and Sehun have left, when Jongin takes it from his hand and tells him to follow him to get more.

Mark is shaking his head. "I'm fine."

"Can you help me carry some bottles?" Jongin asks. He taps Junior on the head. "You too, klutz. I need more hands. The door of the winery is hard to open and close. My dad will kill me if I leave it unlocked."

Junior agrees easily. He points at the single house he's been able to buy. "Don't steal it," he tells Namjoon, still at 0, giving him the 'I'm watching you gesture'.

The leather sofas he's been slouched in is very comfortable, but Mark cannot really say no to Jongin because it'd be rude since he's opened his house for them, gave them drinks that are probably years old and cost twice more than everything Mark owns.

His back cracks, his neck too, joints realigning when he gets up.

Jongin and Junior have already cleared the table of the finished bottles, and they're moving.

Mark throws a quick look on Jackson now engrossed on Bobby whose most likely another airhead or trying to launch a new trend, what with wearing a pair of two different colored Converse. Namjoon headlocks Mino and takes part in the mocking. They're loud. Mark wishes he could join them, but his fashion style alone would get him rejected by the quartet.

In movies, wine's usually stored down in a huge basement. Here at the Kim's residence, they're in the back garden in a wooden house that Jongin narrates needs a renovation, but hasn't got it so far because it was of his grandpa's father before he got lucky with his investements. It's a symbol, so unless the ceiling collapses, Jongin's dad won't get it touched by anyone.

They really have to push the old door hard for it to open.

Mark only peeks inside since Junior doesn't seem like he's going in. There are wall mounted racks on all sides. It reeks of fermented grapes. Duh. The aroma is so strong that he turns up his nose first and then he just decides that it's better to move away.

"I know, right?" Junior says in understanding upon seeing him, showing an identical expression. He's sitting on the ground a couple of steps from the storage. He pats the ground next to him, gesturing for Mark to join him. "It will take some time," he explains, as he starts plucking strands of grass, that their legs will just get tired waiting because Jongin can take only duplicates of the cheap wines and he has to look for them. Jongin's dad travels around the world, and buys all kind of bottles. From inexpensive 5 euros boxes in Italy to 7000 dollars or more in the US.

He grins. "Don't worry we're worth at least some hundreds." 

Mark is left open-mouthed. "Oh, Jesus," is the only comment he can make. That must be bull. C'mon. "Really?"

Junior just gives a quick bark of laughter in confirmation. "Ah, ah!" Once, he recomposes, he starts squirming, apparently to take his phone from his pockets.

They were using the dim light coming from the opened door of the house up until now so the sudden bright light of the screen when Junior presses the home button makes them both squint their eyes.

Mark's lids are still adjusting when Junior, without preamble, feels his thigh.

And, oh God, no. Look, the guy's nice, he makes good jokes. Kind of manic, he needs to keep it down a notch or two. Junior's not ugly, but he's definitely not the person Mark wishes would, uhm, him?

The gear in his head is working, looking for the best way to handle this situation.

One thing to take note of is that this is more likely happening because of the alcohol.

There are all kinds of drunks. Jaebum is a human rubbish bin: he rummages the fridge and eat whatever he can find. Mark's a denier: he insists he's not drunk even if he really really is.

And Junior is probably the horn type. No need to explain this one. You probably all know or have picked up what it means by now.

Mark's not judging. It's not a problem. Weeeell. Actually, it is, but, again, it's not Junior Junior, it's the wine in Junior.

"Bro, your phone, where is it?"

Mark clues in. "My phone?" He parrots, and then it all falls into place.

Okay, so, yes, he is a big idiot. Who doesn't check facts and assume things. It's true. All true.

He's glad he's at least realized he was not gettting avances before he could call Junior out on it. That would have been mortifying. Today's been full of narrow escapes. He's going to forget he even thought about all that.

"I've got it." It's in the back of his blue jeans. "Here." He hands it to Junior, but instead of taking it, the latter fumbles with his own.

Junior tells him a phone number and Mark starts typing it without needing to be told. "Got it?"

"Yeah."

Junior looks happy with that. "That's Jackson hyung's number."

Huuuuuuuuh. Mark doesn't get to react properly because Jongin emerges from the winery with one bottle on his right hand while he has two others just pressed to his chest with his left arm. 

"You gave it to him?" Jongin asks to the two of them who scramble to their feet and immediately takes the wines he was only half-hugging. This guy really. Handling expensive stuff like this. "Good, because it's the least we can do. We couldn't do anything against Daniel. We knew that he'd kill us if he found out that we let you in without asking him. We knew, but we still thought we could get away with it in a way or another. We were awfully wrong." He sounds resigned, if the humorless chuckle that follows is any indication. "Plus, we promised we would help you out with Jackson, but we haven't been cupid-y at all."

The past few days were nerve-wrecking. Mark's just a boy who's still trying to figure out how to control his teenage ego. When he feels his young man pride hurt, he just acts. The only reason he wanted to be part of this group so badly was, is, Jackson, but at some point it felt like he himself was trying to show how tough he was to Daniel. We've all been young and did things we're not proud of. Everyone can relate.

He honestly doesn't understand why these guys keep considering themselves guilty. Mark doesn't hold them responsible for anything. In fact, he feels grateful.

Junior notices that someone is jogging towards them. 

It's Jackson. He points behind his back. "Mino is at it again," he informs them, not out of breath at all. That's nice to know. Mark compartimentalizes this new information as 'important'.

Jongin groans. Junior cheers.

"He's lost his shirt and I'm pretty sure he'll drop pants and boxers too if SeHun keeps throwing Wons at him". 

"I've got to stop him."

"I gotta see this."

Jongin and Junior say at the same time.

They're about to go. Jackson makes 'hold on' hands, and they stop.

Mark hasn't moved a single muscle, partly because in his mind he's still dancing victoriously since, hey, see this cute guy? He can text him. Or call him. Now that he's thinking about it, why exactly hasn't he himself asked for Jackson's number sooner? Save the answer for yourselves.

Anyways, a small part of him is also trying to process the image of Mino stripping while SeHun throws him money. SeHun. Like, who would have thought that?

But the big question is: is it real money or Monopoly money? Damn, now he wants to see too.

"Hyung arrived earlier than expected. He's already waiting at the train station." Jackson reports, and Mark can see Junior closing his hands in fists and trembling in trepidation with an ear to ear smile plastered on his face. "Aunt will pick him up, and y'know, it's late, Yugyeom can't go. No one's home- -"

"Okay, you need a ride? I can call dad and- -" Jongin offers, half sentence drowned out by Junior's bousterous, "hyung's here?! Can I come too? Can I?"

Right. Jongin's parents. They literally took the car so they could leave their entire house for their son to have fun with his friends. Damn. So lucky.

"Nah, she's coming to get me first. She'll be here in less than 10, man," Jackson declines, clapping a hand around Jongin's forearm. And then to Junior, "yeah, dude."

Mark thought the latter would burst in an ear crushing shout, but instead Junior hisses a "yes" and then karate-chops the empty space in front of him, bottle of wine still secured in his hand.

His celebration doesn't last long, though.

"Too bad you can't go, Jinyoung," Jongin pronounces.

They watch Junior do a semi-pirouette, stop to face his friend and ask, shocked. "What. Why?"

Jongin snorts. "How? When?" He delivers in a dry monotone, rolling his eyes. "Because I need you here."  

"Heeeeh. What for?" The other demands.

The question doesn't get an answer. Jongin shoots Mark a knowing look, and, Mark can get straight As. Maybe. Probably. If he wanted to? Point is, he's not slow, but this, he doesn't get at all.

"Mark is quite gone." That's a blatant lie, he's drunk the littlest amount among all of them, and he's definitely not the one who was unleashing his inner Bruce Lee a few seconds ago, but let's see what's coming next.

Jongin points to Jackson then to Mark. "Why don't you bring him with you?"

Oooooooooooh, dang. That definitely surpasses the phone number by miles. If things keep going like this he might declare Jongin as his new best friend. And nope, he doesn't feel bad at all for thinking that. Thank you for all these years Jaebum. Now you're free.

They ignore Junior's squeak.

Jongin is putting on a very good act. He gestures towards Mark casually. "His parents were yelling at him on the phone, and you know how the guys are. They'll make him drink 'till he passes out. They're very convincing."

Disclosing his mom's outburst is a bit on the line, but since it's for a great cause, Mark will let it slide.

As a matter of fact, he supports the other's revelation by nodding a little and trying to look distressed. He's never been a good actor to be honest, but Jongin is pointing at him with an open palm while communicating at Jackson through his eyes, 'see?'. Not only he's loaded, has looks, he also has talents. Kim Jongin is the full package.

"Bring him with you, let him sober up a bit."

Jackson swings his stare to Mark. He doesn't look convinced. "I have to babysit Yugyeom." He says as if secretly asking if it's alright.

"I- -I am good with kids." And if Mark wasn't, he will be. Oh, gosh. Since when is he so cheesy? Like, he knows he has weird thoughts all the time about Jackson, but they're almost never to this extent. Or are they always like this? If so, is this why Jaebum hates when he's talking about Jackson to him? Has Mark been subjecting him to this kind of torture for so long? No wonder then that Mark gets hung up so often.

"Oh, then, okay."

-

The guys are more or less all half . Like, Mino's bared- as Jackson had told them, and for whatever reason he's using a very gleeful Taemin as a pole dance. Mark doesn't know why he was even curious about this, now he's scarred for life. 

Zitao is performing some sort of seductive dance on his chair while a Namjoon dressed in shirt and briefs is spitting paper balls at him with what looks like a stainless straw that they don't know where he got from. All of this while SeHun's making money fly and Youngjae who Mark now knows is heir of a multi-millionaire hotel magnate is picking all the cash from the floor. 

He, Junior and Jongin were absent for no more than half an hour. Mark doesn't get how these people could descend into this chaos in such a short amount of time.

None of them were expecting the situation to turn out like this. Jackson's eyes gleam at his friends, Junior breaks into an euphoric 'WOO' as soon as he sees the party.

For how Jongin was talking before, Mark thought he would yell at everyone to cut it off, but he just walks towards the table to take the corkscrew, opens the wine he brought with him and then drinks it straight from the bottle.

Mark is at a loss for words. What. The. . He can't help, but gape when Junior too start taking one piece of clothing off per bill he can't catch. 

It's only when he hears Jackson finally bidding his goodbyes that Mark can finally tears his gaze away, remembering that he too has to go. 

The guys are devastated, literally devastated, when they hear that, but they also all start jumping up and down, chanting 'hyung is back' when they learn about Jackson's brother.

Yes, folks, Jackson Wang's not an only child. Jongin had explained while they were walking back home that the person in question is Jackson's older brother who's working out of town. Gosh. Mark hopes he's a mature looking Jackson. How hot would that be? Oh, and if when they meet he's wearing his work suit? Mark would go insane.

"Jacks-hyuuung," Bobby drawls, shirt gone. He drapes his arms around Jackson's waist. His eyelids are closed. He looks like a lazy cheetah. "You coming back?" He slurs, nuzzling his nose on Jackson's neck.

"Don't ing touch me," Jackson says with no animosity. The other's hand starts wandering south and he catches it, and then pushes Bobby away with a laugh. "Seriously. Stop."

Mark hasn't regarded Bobby much before because the guy hasn't said many words. But the surge of jealousy born from this sight makes him go rigid.

He's so- -annoyed? ing hell. Did you see that hand? It was roaming on Jackson's body. What the actual . He feels like he will implode with- -rage?

It's probably nothing again. Like, Jackson treats Junior with care and Mark saw green because of that. He was envious of Jaebum too before which was laughable.

Mark can't control this stirring emotion, though. He would if he could. Really. But- -but, c'mon, this time, even if Jackson isn't giving it any importance and is actually trying to kick Bobby away, it's legitimate. Bobby was rubbing his nose on Jackson's neck.

And his.

ing.

Hand.

That's how he finds himself studying the guy: Bobby has really small and very almond shaped eyes that turn into wet moons when he's smiling. Right now, he's showing them with a silly half-grin to Jackson while saying, "you love it." He ing doesn't.

Bobby has big front teeth too, one of his incisors is crooked. He's not handsome, Mark's more attractive face-wise, but the six pack, his pants hanging low almost on half of his , the arrogant set of his jaw, the way he's barely carrying himself, swaying left and right, even the stupid Converse make him look, uhm, cool? Swag?

It doesn't matter if Bobby has ing finally chosen to throw himself at Namjoon. Is practically pressing himself to the other's back, and that he's visibly -faced, Mark has decided that he ing hates this rabbit guy with his rabbit teeth and his rabbit abs and his rabbit shoes.

There's a tug at the back of his shirt.

Jackson has his phone on his ear. "My aunt is here." 

-

Appearances can be deceiving. Men are not what they seem. 

A more accurate sentence to describe Jackson doesn't exist.

His clothing and haircut scream bad boy. He's that good looking dude that teachers force to sit next to the class' golden kid in hope that the latter's quietness and behavior would rub off on him. Jackson walks with sure, strong strides, he doesn't flinch, he oozes over-confidence, charisma.

Mark has always known- -or, perhaps he's always felt like it was only a part of Jackson. That there was more to him. His eyes are just too cute, his wicked grins that Mark sometimes catches him making too adorable. He can't be all bad, he's told Jaebum many times.

There's Jackson strolling around the school with his group of friends looking suave. There's Jackson who demonstrated that he has good morals and had stopped Mark from committing a crime. A kind Jackson, a Jackson who's a leader and can be assertive, a Jackson who's all laughs and jokes.

There are a lot of shades of him. Yeah, like, 50 shades of Jackson. 

Uhm.

Delete that. 

Delete that.

Let's pretend he never thought that.

The Jackson inside his aunt's car is holding his younger cousin Yugyeom's hand. The car seat the kid makes it impossible for Mark and Jackson's knees not to touch. Not that I'm complaining.

To a certain degree, the wine has helped. He's only a little buzzed, enough to relax himself. When asked he answers that he's only got a glass and half. His body is loose, his hair ruffled and while he's sporting the same smile he had at Jongin's, he seems just content, serene. Mark's biased, but he thinks it's a good look on Jackson.

Then again someone could argue that Mark has yet to find something that doesn't look good on him.

"I spent more time laughing at all the Mino was saying," Jackson gushes. He puts an arm behind his head, leaning on it. He bursts into an adorable giggle upon recalling something. "When we were leaving Jongin was trying to make him wear at least his boxers, but Mino, like, did a high kick and he was and- -."

"Jackson," his aunt calls in an berating tone, but she's smiling from the rearview mirror. She beamed when she saw that her nephew was with a friend and her delight steadily grew when she's told Mark's going with them. She's kind. 

Jackson doesn't seem to realize what he's being disapproved of. He throws a questioning side-look at Mark while making an 'I-don't-know-what-she-is-talking-about' grimace.

His heart cannot resist this. Adorable. Mark helps by mouthing the curse word the other had said.

Jackson blinks. "Aaah." He chuckles. "Whoops. Sorry, aunt." He doesn't look the slightest bit apologetic. "But Chubs here knows more bad words than I do. Don't you, Yugyeomie?" He asks while tickling the boy.

Yugyeom is a chubby (thus the pet name), cute kid who's too tall for his age. No, really. He's above Mark's knee in height and he's supposed to only be three years old. He's quite shy. Mark has caught him looking several times and even though Mark winked or gave him a smile, he always hid his face behind Jackson's arm. Apparently, being adorable runs in the family.

"I don't," the toddler giggles.

Jackson pft-s. He teases, "you only say that because auntie is here." It makes Mark's heart feel a little funny how he just beams at himself without receiving a reply from his little cousin who's now just looking out of the window. He's got a bit of color on his face: pink are his cheeks and red his lips. Delicious.

"I hope you and Daniel will learn to get along, man. Oh, and I hope you liked the party." He's addressing Mark. "We could have done something bigger, but Taecyeon hyung and Junho young had papers to write. Junsu hyung said he couldn't come either, so." He ends with a shrug.

"I liked it," Mark responds, purposely evading the first part so he wouldn't be lying. He's not saying no, but for the time being he feels like it will be a hardship even breathing the same air with Daniel. He will try though.

As for the second matter, if we exclude the last disturbing moment that had Mark almost chewing his fingers, it was enjoyable. Maybe a bit traumatic when it reached to almost everyone waltzing with barely anything to cover themselves. Taemin and Mino. Dammit.

"Yeah, huh." And at that Jackson does this movement with his head, angling it just a bit. A small satisfied lopsided smile form on his mouth. Partner that with soft lash-framed eyes and Mark feels like he forgets how to breathe. "Chill sounds more like your thing, anyways, right?"

Mark doesn't know how, but he manages to stammer out a, "y-yes."

"Ah," Jackson says, looking amused. He touches his index and thumb together and holds his chin with that. "Am I that handsome that you're always stuttering?"

He would be preoccupied that he's been found out. That his big, fat, turning too-quickly-into-infatuation crush has been found out, but Jackson gives a chortle making it obvious that he's only joking before he can feel the slightest bit of agitation. Mark could reply, make his feelings known- -he knows, he's not kidding anyone. Besides, even if his entire self didn't feel like disintegrating at the mere thought of an impromptu confession, he wouldn't still do it. He wouldn't be at ease in a secluded space where Jackson's cousin and especially his aunt can hear too. Imagine the awkwardness that would come after. Yikes.

"Too handsome for words," Jackson extracts from his silence. You're absolutely right.

Maybe he's more than tipsy. Although, Mark figures the aunt would say something if his supposition was right.

She remains quiet, driving, eyes on the road and then throwing them a quick smile. So, he formulates another assumption, that being Jackson just feeling happy after spending time with buddies and now waiting for his sibling to come home.

Yugyeom chirps faintly that he'd like to hear some "mu-f-ic". Child's a marshmallow. So soft and sweet.

Of course, his mom obliges.

Jackson titters when Baby Shark plays in the car and his cousin, after a while, forgetting about Mark being there with them, starts singing along, words turning cute because of his lisp.

Because Jackson is a little - -Mark has to give Jaebum this one- -he joins the kid in singing just to mimic the mispronunciation.

Yugyeom makes a noise similar to an animal getting squished at that, making Jackson explode into laughter and, Mark's sorry for the kid, but he can't help but chuckle too.

They see Yugyeom give them a stinky look before turning his eyes down on jointed chubby hands with a pout.

Aw. "Aw," Mark has to voice out. However, instead of apologising afterwards, he turns immobile.

Jackson is comforting Yugyeom with some baby talk.

And no, that is not the reason why he's remained motionless. Although, that's freakingly cute.

It's because Jackson's arm is behind Mark now, his fingers grazing his left shoulder, occasionally pinching lightly Mark's hoodie. Holy.

Mark gulps ever so slowly just because he feels his throat close up. If he does something, not that he can, but if he could, Jackson might stop and he doesn't want that. If only someone could hear his palpition; he swears it's like the galloping of a horse. 

He can depict Jaebum cackling as he struggles to keep as still as possible until Jackson eventually takes his hand off and moves to console Yugyeom. His ears are going to melt for how hot they feel right now. This is the best day of his life.

-

Nichkhun was the one who introduced him to the wonderful world of hub, while it was with his best friend, yes, Lim Jaebum, that Mark navigated in a lot of of other sites. (Fun anectode: one day the computer they were using started to lag and it got stuck on the page of a brunette giving oral to this gorilla with a leg for a dong, and they asked Jaebum's dad if he could do something about it, saying that, oh, oh, my gosh, ew, what's that, it popped up out of nowhere, take that away from me, ew, ew, in the middle of them, uh, playing Spyro? Poor fools. Back then they did not know that deleting the browsing history was a crucial part. They thought they got away with it, but Mark remembers that Mister Lim was giving them a -eating grin when he came back with the machine fixed).

Technically speaking it's only when your enters one's- -well, everyone here knows. We can skip explanations, can't we? But if you still don't know, look it up? Or not? Uhm, it's up to you. Just so you and Mark are clear, you don't need to in order to keep reading this story. I think.

Mooooving on. Mark has done it. Not many times, but he has.

Maybe he hasn't specified it before that he only had  with two people, and maybe by doing so he implied that he had many hooks up in the past. So what? It's just a small piece of information that had no effect on the flow of the story.

Other occasions presented after those, but there was always something or someone that prevented it from happening. With this one boy, it was a cousin getting off work and arriving home right when Mark was receiving get-in-me eyes. With this other girl, she came from the restroom saying that it was that period of the month. What can he do? Some people have all the luck, not him.

Anyways, the point being is that he hasn't had a ual in a while. Not that he can't survive without getting any. Like, before losing his ity, he pulled through how many years with his hand alone (yes, he knows, too much info)?

He can manage.

But, hey, if he's asked and the person who's asking happens to be someone really special? You can rest assure Mark won't let the opportunity pass.

-

Aunt deposits them on the side-walk. She doesn't get off the car, just waves at them and tells them to not wait because it's already too late.

It's only eleven thirty, though. 

Jackson's home is a small villa, just like Mark's, and the latter feels rather relieved it's not another castle.

It's cozy looking. Jackson opens the dark green door, and there's an entrance where they leave shoes. A couple of steps and there are stairs that bring to the first floor in front of them. On the right, there are on one side the TV area complete with a couch and a loveseat, on the other a table where they probably have meals. On the left, Mark can see the kitchen sink.

"It's a really good thing you're here," Jackson blurts out, interrupting Mark's reverie. Well, that's nice to hear. He starts sniffing his own shirt. Mark doesn't remember him smelling bad, but Jackson's expression implies otherwise. "Yeah, I reek- -"

And then he starts undressing right there before even finishing his sentence.

Think about Mark's reaction before. Now, try to imagine his actual condition.

Every fiber of his being is screaming at him that he wants to touch. But no. . That is not in any way happening. He's allowed to imagine how good Jackson's skin would feel, though. Isn't he?

The world could come crashing down around Mark's ears while the other guy all but talks to him and Mark would only be standing there doing nothing, feet rooted to the ground and eyes glued on the exposed body, chest to waist, in front of him.

And to think that he only had a minor collapse of a few brain cells in between some chats with Jackson, but nothing severe. Like, admit it, you thought he was doing good today. Well, guess what now? Oh, God.   

"Wanna have one too?" Jackson is asking him. It's a shower. Right. He was talking about washing himself. Don't picture that!

This guy has no chill and has no mercy for poor Mark. Because he literally starts ing his jeans, and Mark forces himself to look at Jackson's face. Has to tell to his ogling orbs to go up.

Eyes are on his. "So you too?"

"Huh, with you?" Mark blurts out. He was not even planning to answer. It's just that he does have no control over his mouth. Great. Now, he'll kick you out of his house. Not that he's trying to defend his own idiocy, but how is he expected to think coherently, though? Like, he's sure not enough oxygen is reaching his brain at the moment.

Jackson stares at him.

Mark hangs back awkwardly, locking his tongue in the cage of his teeth for it to stop running off and putting him in unwanted situations. 

He can't go on being like this.

Jackson stifles a laugh. He shakes his head. But now, Mark is having an inner argument with himself. Part of him is relieved, another heartbroken that the other thinks the proposition wasn't serious. Don't ask him- -he can't understand himself, either sometimes. The weird case of M. Tuan.

"We can afford you having a shower." It's nice to know that they can pay for it, they're economically able to provide for water bills, but at the same time, that . No, okay, he got to stop.

Mark just shakes his head.

"Kay. Can you look after Chubs?" He's being asked. "It will take me ten to fifteen minutes tops."

He has everything he has wished for before him. So close yet so far. Why does he have to see s? Jackson's s? Mark swallows.

"Y-yes, of course." It is degrading how Mark could put Mariah Carey to shame with how high he utters the last word. I hate myself. He cannot even be considered a human disaster anymore, he's a human error.

To make things better (sarcasm is back, peeps), he's trying so hard to keep his eyes above shoulders- -hell, not under Jackson's nose level, and it shows that he's doing a poor job because the other guy looks confused.

Jackson makes to step closer to him- - with that body. Mark's going to have a meltdown- -but stops.

"Maybe eat something," the other proposes, and then starts saying how they have food, or if Mark's about to vomit there's another bathroom at the end of the kitchen. He's attribuiting Mark's creepiness- -wait, no. Big no. Why is he calling himself that? We've established already that he's no creeper- -to Mark being sick because of the wine. 

In the meanwhile, Mark is looking at, uhm, an earlobe? Since he figures that looking vacantly at Jackson's nose is infinitely worse (he won't even get mad if you're finding this amusing or you're dying laughing at him. He's aware of that. Oh, and, just so y'all know: science has proven that taking pleasure in other people's misfortune is healthy. You're welcome. Again). Why is it so hot? He's listening. And hoping that this torture, although very sweet, will come to a conclusion.

Look at those s, a voice hisses in his head.

No.

Mark won't.

Can't.

He is better than that. 

Except that he's not. Mark's a weak person.

And so he peeks. God. . . He wants to those s.

"Chubs is a good kid," Jackson reassures him, "just put Brave on, give him cereals and you'll be free for an hour and half." After more unheard explanation from Mark's part, he finally goes upstairs.

Thank you. Don't get Mark wrong those were the best five minutes in his mortal and afterdeath life. Because unless Heaven is tailored after his biggest fantasies, he doubts it would be as enjoyable. However, he wouldn't wish to anyone- -maybe to Daniel, and why not, Bobby too- -to have to literally train their  in front of their crush.

Have we ever talked about how teenager-ly "crush" sounds, though? He should maybe find another word for it, but nothing over-the-top like 'the love of his life', or some other nicknames he used in the past and- -not really the right time to bring this up.

Right. But hold on that thought.

Anyways, what he was trying to say earlier was that his blood have travelled south, so now he's dealing with a semi-. Needless to say that it makes him uncomfortable and hiding it was hard. Huh. No pun intended.

Best effective way to instantly kill someone's mood and whatever is happening in someone's lower body's garment is to think about something disgusting. Or, simply, to distract one's self with a task.

Mark does just that.

In the meanwhile he's waiting for the monster to go to sleep- -you know what, ew. That was a bad one. Forgive him- -he goes to the kitchen to look for the cereals.

He doesn't have to search for long, and fortunately there's only one brand, the same Nichkhun has in the morning. Meaning he doesn't need to guess which Yugyeom likes. Can always ask him. Whatever. He pours them in a plastic bowl that he gets from the cupboards.

Ten minutes or so later, relaxed with the beast asleep (no, okay, it really doesn't work. Ew again at Mark, okay), Mark finds Yugyeom in the living room sitting on the couch with his thumb in his mouth. He accepts the food when offered, curls in on himself, and then positionates the bowl of cereals precariously on his knees, but they seem to hold it just fine.

"Thanks," he says, unawarely changing the th with an f. Mark will lie if he denies he didn't smile at that.

They have a lot of Disney movies. But he walks to the DVD player and takes a Blue-ray that's on top of it as he very vaguely recalls being told to.

Mark doesn't recognize the cartoon from the cover. He knows classics like The lion King, Mulan, Cinderella. This one must be new.

He is taking the disc to put it on, that he guesses must be one of the kid's favorite, when he hears a small complain.

"I don't want to watch Brafe," Yugyeom says timidly. 

"Okay," Mark relents. Then, "what do you want to watch?"

Yugyeom takes his time to think about it. His eyes scan the many titles. "Spiderman," he settles in the end.

"Nice one," Mark appreciates. Kid has got good tastes.

He has seen the first installment of the trilogy so many times he could recite all the dialogues by heart. It's always a nice night when they show it on TV. He'll never grow tired of it. Sam Raimi did his hero's story justice. What a phenomenal director.

Mark sits down on the other side of the couch and, with the same fascination he had 28 times replays ago, watches the bite by the genetically modified spider.

It's around Peter Parker fighting in the underground tournament, ignoring his Uncle Ben's "with great power comes great responsabilites" (iconic. Simply iconic) that he feels the dip of the couch with the weight of Jackson's body. The guy's hopped over the back of the furniture, and plops down in between Mark and Yugyeom.

Mark, well, he has to look at Jackson now.

It's not deliberate. Like, he usually cannot take his gaze off the television when there's something he loves on, but his eyes are pulled on Jackson by a magnetic force. 

Okay. Fine. When the guy's around it always happens. So what? Also, wanna know another thing? 

Jackson's finally wearing a green plain shirt and shorts. His hair's still wet, and he's drying it with a medium sized towel. And Mark is so not counting the drops that are falling on his face.

Having his visional focus somewhere else doesn't mean he doesn't know what's happening in the movie, though. It's Spiderman, after all.

The TV says, "you could have taken that guy apart. Now he's getting away with my money," and automatically, Mark repeats at the same time Tobey McGuire does.

"I missed the part where that's my problem."

Jackson does too.

He wraps his towel around his neck and turns to Mark with an open smile. "Watched it a hundred times." We're just meant for each other. Inclining his head towards Mark, he whispers, "why is he watching Spiderman?" referred to his cousin.

Whatever inner peace Mark has found thanks to the short meditation and then the TV vanishes at the smell of a fresh and clean Jackson. Apple & cinnamon. Very inviting.

He's becoming hyperaware once again.

"Ah," is all Mark can say. He gives a small shrug.

"He likes princesses and like that," Jackson mumbles, darting behind to Yugyeom, "he's told me before he hates Spiderman and such. Weird."

Mark's mind rakes. It's because he's actually familiar with what shampoo the other's using. He knows it.

Before he can connect to whom or where that scent came from, though, Jackson's already leaning away, this time putting the side of his face directly on Yugyeom's head while stealing some cereals from the kid's bowl.

Aw, come back. But of course he doesn't say that out loud.

-

Yugyeom falls asleep on the couch.

And then Jackson says, "wanna see my Marvel figurines?"

To which Mark obviously answers, "yes."

That's how they got on the first floor. Because the collection were there in Jackson's room. A moment and they're looking at a display of different Captain America-s and other superheroes, another they're laughing about something and their faces are now close.

Mark clears his throat first, and settles his eyes on the only DC character. "Batman."

"Superman didn't either, but he's not worth money." Jackson replies.

Silence falls.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

Mark looks at him. He nods.

"Earlier," Jackson says, looking back, "you looked interested."

"There's a position," Mark says, panting. He s one time, hard, to hear Jackson moan before staying still. He stares at the other's back, and leans down to plant a kiss on it. "There's a pose in yoga where you keep your legs crossed one over the other and you sit on your feet with your ." The churning on his stomach doesn't let him wait for an answer. He hisses as he tries to shove more of his lenght inside. "Hey, do it."

But instead of having Jackson move on his own, Mark directs him, putting legs as he wants them and telling Jackson to keep his head lower.

Happy with the position, he starts pushing again. "Now, I can put it all inside you," he explains quickly. Ah, yes. This is what he wanted to accomplish, this is the sensation he was looking for- -

-

Mark opens his eyes. No, no, no, no, no. How could this be?

He's on the couch of the Wang's house, meaning that he was the one who fell asleep?

It certainly looks like it. When he moves to pop his neck, he notices that they put a blanket on him. Which is a nice gesture, and it would put a big smile on his face if it wasn't that he still cannot believe that the was not real.

Like, he knows minds play tricks like that. That dreams are largely connected to emotions, and Mark was feeling a lot towards Jackson yesterday night. That they're manifestations of your desires. And- -and oh, my, that felt so real.

Touching Jackson was- -amazing. For lack of better words.

And the feeling of being inside of him- -Mark groans at the thought. 

"Not a good morning, huh?"

He might need a check up for his neck, beacuse he just keeps snapping his head left and right too fast, and now it is actually kind of painful. And while he's there, he might want to ask the doctor to take a look at his heart condition as well.

It's punching straight to his ribcage in answer to the voice. 

"Good morning," is Mark's response, sounding like he has a frog stuck in his throat, but he can blame that on having just woken up. Not because his next move- -if he didn't get surprised like this- -would have been to give some kind of attention to his morning wood. 

Because he definitely has one. Well, with that dream, who wouldn't? 

"Hyukjae," the guy says. He's giving Mark an amused look. "Have I startled you?" You don't say. He asks, pointing his finger, "Mark, right?"

Mark nods. Come to think of it, he should be thankful he was disturbed immediately, or he would have been caught doing nasty stuff by Jackson's older brother himself. That would have been the worst.

He thinks of asking for a handshake, but then doesn't. Like, he can't. He was about to use his right for- -for, you know what. 

"You gonna sleep more, or?" Hyukjae asks. "I was thinking of starting the day with some coffee."

"Coffee sounds good." But not after splashing himself with super cold water. "Just gotta use the bathroom first."

"Ah, sure." Hyukjae says easily. Mark thought the other was going to leave first, but he doesn't. Instead he hangs back as if waiting. "Uhm- -?"

It takes a full minute for Mark to remember that they would need to walk in the same direction because he'll need to walk in the kitchen to reach the downstairs bathroom. Would it be awkward to ask to use the one on the other floor? 

But Hyukjae is staring at him now.

Here goes nothing. Mark gets up, letting the blanket slide off his body. He doesn't take a look at himself to see how bad the situation is. It's not like he cannot feel the head of his rub against the fabric of his clothes, anyways. Oh, why do these things always happen to him?

Hyukjae goes after him and if he notices the problem, at least he doesn't mention it. Hopefully he won't be a dickhead and tell his brother about it later.

A dickhead.

Mark sighs internally. He's so not trying to be funny.

-

Hyukjae and Jackson look nothing alike.

They've got 0 resemblance with each other. If Mark did not know, he would have never been able to guess they were relatives, much less that they were brothers.

Hyukjae has more strong facial structures. His cheekbones are very accentuated, his jawline too. His eyes are very small. His hair compliments the rest of his face well, though. 

The guy turns around completely to address Mark. "You want one or two eggs?"

"Just one, thanks." Nice skin. He doesn't have a single pimple.

"Scrambled?"

 "Yes, please. Thank you." Mark sips from the mug. The coffee is too sweet for his liking- -the few times he drinks it, he takes it black. As bitter as possible. He won't complain, though. From the long trip to the bathroom, he was welcomed with an already prepared beverage. That's kind.

"Oh, wow," Hyukjae muses, "I haven't heard those two words coming from one of Jackson's friends in decades." He has a gummy friendly smile to which Mark finds himself easily replying with a small one of his.

Overall, Jackson is objectively more handsome.

And Mark should stop thinking these things. Like, this isn't nice at all, especially since Hyukjae is nice enough to also cook him breakfast even though they've just barely introduced to each other. Especially since he had that impure dream about the other's younger brother.

The things he did to Jackson.

They were fabrications of his mind, and unless he sabotages himself, Hyukjae won't ever know about them. But still. 

Mark also wonders if Jackson has a very American name while Hyukjae's very Korean because of their parents. Maybe one of them is from the USA? The other has to be Chinese/Korean.

Speaking of that, he has not seen their mom nor their dad. Only an aunt. 

"Here you go," Hyukjae says some minutes later, dropping a plate of egg and bacon in front of Mark. He waves with the spatula. "You can start eating if you want."

He is feeling hungry to tell the truth. Fortunately his tummy doesn't grumble when he replies, "I'd rather wait for Jackson." Good manners, that's what his mom has always told him to never forget.

Okay, he'll cut off the farse, he just wants to have a meal with Jackson's company and he's willing to wait for that. courtneousness. Can you blame him?

Mark sees Hyukjae frown. Uh-oh. 

"Say," the other starts, careful in his voice, "that little jerkface," he says, nodding his head in the direction of the stairs, "he is not bullying you, right?" 

Out of all the questions that was the least he thought Hyukjae would ask him.

The ? Mark doesn't break the eye-contact. 

"No," he says hastily, hoping he still managed to sound confident. With more certainty, "no, no, he isn't."

Hyukjae sets down the spatula on the counter. He scrutinizes Mark, eyes looking at any sign that he's lying it seems. But why? Jackson may not be the greatest student, but Mark's sure he's never bullied anyone. He would have heard about it otherwise.

"You're really different from those brats," Hyukjae tells him. He isn't brandishing the kitchen tool in Mark's direction anymore. He's put it down on the counter. "They're either arrogant little s with too big mouths or just crackheads."

"I'm- -" A new friend? A new member of Jackson's gang? Does Hyukjae know about it, though? Your brother's future boyfriend? Mark's mind comes to a stop.

Hyukjae looks at him for some time. When from his peripheral vision, he sees Yugyeom sleepily stagger in the kitchen, he abandons everything to kneel and scoop the toddler up.

"Morning, Chubs." Oh, so he calls him that too.

Yugyeom yawns. "There crack-fer?"

Mark watches Hyukjae raise his eyebrow in question. "Mm?"

"Crack-fer. You said crack-fer." 

Hyukjae lets out a brief chuckle. "What? I never said that." He cuddles the kid more before settling him on a chair. Then, he looks at Mark. "do you mind waking Jacks up?"

"Huh," Mark doesn't at all, "no." Because he's not set to antagonize himself this morning unlike all the other days, he doesn't blabber about the indecent thought that were slowly, but surely coming back to re-populate his head at the sole mention of Jackson's name. Before he turns into the state where he needs to hog the bathroom for an indefinite amount of time, he scrambles to his feet and starts heading towards the stairs.

It occurs to him that he doesn't know which one is Jackson's room.

When he's walking on the second floor, he encounters two open doors. They're the second restroom, and from the used bed with sheets and pillow thrown near the window, the other is Hyukjae's room. 

There are two other closed doors.

Mark knocks on the first and it opens a couple of seconds later with a Jackson already wearing a shirt and his yesterday shorts. You don't need to ask: yes, he was hoping to see some bare skin.

Not that it's the requirement for making him flustered. There's no need to remind him about how he can't even formulate a sentence because of the guy's mere presence.

This time, just Jackson's wide grin, telling him, "hey, sunshine," playfully is enough for the blood in Mark's veins to rush in his ears and leaving Mark stumble on his words like the loser he is.

Now, he does he recognize himself.

"H-hey- -ah, hey." Should he say sunshine back?

Would that be weird? It would, right? Guys, don't freaking laugh. Help. If he called him Buttercup, would it earn him a spit on the face? What about Cookie? Wait, no, that sounds like a dog name. Darling? Gorgeous? Too bold. Hunk? Uh, no, for some reason that makes him think about hookers.

Doll face? Oh. He likes the sound of that. 

But when he tries to actually say the nickname out loud, his tongue feels too heavy and Mark knows he's once again imitating a fish.

Jackson snorts, but he's smiling. "Poor poopy-pie. He can't handle my handsome-ness early in the morning," he teases, patting lightly Mark's cheek.

We've already established that he's no and he's had his fair share of- -uhm, dates? Nonetheless, his whole face starts heating up at that. Just that. If you asked old him what he thought he would be doing at his age, he'd probably reply living the best life along with Jaebum, but no, he's here with his eyes turning into two hearts while helplessly following Jackson.

With long strides he goes after Jackson who's moved towards the stairs. The other's talking, seemingly thinking that there was someone behind listening to him.

Fortunately, when he semi-turns back, Mark's already there. Too bad he's also just snapped out of his reverie, so when he's asked, "you in?", Mark goes, "yeah, of course."

He doesn't know what he agreed on. Hopefully nothing bad. Who's he's trying to fool, though? Like, we all know he'd never be able to say no to that cute face of Jackson. Oh, gosh, he's such a freaking sap. At least all this cheese is inside his head and won't get out of it.

Probably. 

Jackson's aunt is entering the house with a tray of made brioche for the occasion when they're reached the first floor. 

"She bakes only when hyung's here," Jackson tells Mark with a small wink, purposely rising his voice when he adds, "he's her favorite."

His remark gets ignored by his aunt. She smiles. "Good morning, Mark. Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning- -ma'am." Don't think about the dream. Not the dream. Not the dream. Do not look at Jackson right now or you'll be thinking about the dream. "I did." Yes! Compliment him because Mark has also managed to summon a smile. Bravo me.

She waves off. "Call me aunt Misun," she tells him, "or auntie. Everyone calls me auntie." She then starts calling for Hyukjae to take the tray from her. "It's burning my hands, Hyukjae!"

"You know, she flirts with hyung's friends when they come over," Jackson gossips. He leans in on Mark as they stop at the door frame of the kitchen from which Hyukjae emerges with Yugyeom beside him, gripping his cousin's shirt. "She really likes Siwon. She's always here when he's in town."

Mark can't really focus because he's got Jackson's bicep on his chest. His coherency shreds at the touch. Oh, my, the dream. The ing dream. Not now.

They're literally a step away from the kitchen. If he keeps excusing himself, they're going to think he has some stomach problems. Can't let that happen. Not really ideal since it's his first/second-ish time at Jackson's.

It does not help that he can still smell the tempting flavor from the late shower on Jackson. Don't think.

"She had a thing for hyung's tutor, JiHoon hyung too," Jackson recalls. He straightens his posture, finally distancing himself from Mark, albeit there are still just a close space between them. "But that was okay, I guess. They were almost the same age."

They get called.

If Mark's still preoccupied by the appearing then, he can stop worrying now, as when they walk in the kitchen Bobby of all people is there helping himself with a pastry and a mug of coffee. With only basketball shorts and shoes, no socks, on.

This is not Mark's house so he doesn't get to ask what the hell the guy's doing here.

"Man," Jackson greets, holding up a hand for Bobby to highfive or whatever.

The latter raises his arm, Jackson's palm connects briefly with that. Bobby notices Mark who's standing there looking at him. He smiles. "Hey, morning! You spent the night?"

Mark hopes he's not grimacing right now. "Huh, yes." 

Bobby grins. "But you didn't come back," he whines petulantly, "you said you would."

"We fell asleep." Jackson reveals. He plops down on the chair next to Bobby and because Mark's coffee is on the other side of Jackson, making that Mark's previous sea before he was asked to wake Jackson up, Mark slips there.

"You missed him drunk texting Seokjin," Bobby says. He cackles.

"Oh, - -"

"Jackson," Aunt Misun quickly scolds.

"- -what would he say?"

"Let me touch your ."

"Jiwon!" Aunt Misun hisses. She starts shaking her head when she receives laughters from her two nephews and Bobby whose real name Mark has learnt is that. Jiwon.

And this time he has to care.

Mark has circled his now cold drink with a hand. He's simply observing. Hyukjae is still frying more eggs even though there's already a plate with a pile of them on the table. Yugyeom is simply munching cereals from a bowl full of milk this time, with aunt Misun making sure her son won't stain his white t-shirt while eating with a baby bib. 

He doesn't know much, and yes, he jumps often to wrong conclusions, but from the look of it, Bobby being here isn't a surprise to anyone. Look at what he's wearing. (They're most likely neighbors. He has to live nearby). Actually, it's like he's always been here. Having him over is part of the day. It's normal. 

Daniel's an enemy- -maybe, fine, but dude's an . You cannot deny that. But Jiwon- -no, Bobby. Bobby who's now raking his hands through Jackson's hair in order for them not to go in his eyes and consequently making Mark frown- -well, Bobby might be a rival.

Jackson points to the milk and even though it's far from his spot, Mark is the one to get up to hand it to him. He does get a half-smile in return, but then his boy goes back to chatting with Bobby.

Mark has to up his game if his insinuation is right. He might have started getting close to Jackson, what from Jackson joking with him and being more friendly and smiling, but these two are already very comfortable with each other. His apple juice can't compare to Bobby nuzzling Jackson.

Plus, when it comes down to it, Bobby has a body to die for while Mark has, yes, a flat stomach, and yes, his teeth are okay, but would you pick him? Be honest, guy, would you choose him over Bobby who's stylish-ish and has abs?

Would you?

Damn. Mark can taste bitterness in his mouth.

"Did you really leave your house in just your shorts?" Aunt is asking, rather exasperated, noticing the lack of upper clothe on Bobby just now. Her eyes become so big Mark's afraid they're going to fall off, when Bobby gets up to bring his plate to Hyukjae and she realizes she can see the guy's grey underwear. "Bobby-yah, pull up your shorts. Aish, this kid, really!"

Jackson cackles. So do his brother and Yugyeom, cheeks full of cereals. 

Despite everything, Mark lets out a silent laugh.

"What a man!" Hyukjae comments sardonically, clapping his hands once in delight.

"Yeah," Jackson agrees. "Bobby namja!" He exclaims in a very husky voice that has Mark gulp internally.

Bobby smiles his rabbit smile. In a raspier tone he says too, "namja!"

"Bobby namja!"

"Namja," Yugyeom joins cheerfully.

"Yeah, right." Aunt drawls the last word, rolling her eyes at the four.

After that, Hyukjae re-heats Mark's mug without the latter asking, and after more bacon and two eggs, they're all finally sitting down eating in companionable silence.

"Hey, hey," Jackson says, trying to have Mark's attention. "Remember when we first met and you were an to me?"

It comes out of nowhere.

It catches Mark completely off guard that he nearly chokes around a mouthful of meat. What the heck. He was being dramatic about it just a couple of days before, angsting because he thought Jackson did not have the slightest idea that the school ground wasn't the first place where they saw each other, and now Jackson brings it up.

He replies immediately, "that was a big misunderstanding!"

Jackson a disbelieving eyebrow at him. my life. "I fell off Lady and you laughed at me- -"

Bobby cuts him off with a laugh muffled by what he was chewing. 

"I almost broke my wrist!" Jackson snaps at his friend sharply, banging his hand on the table. The hit earns him an admonishment from his brother.

"But you always fall, hyung!" Bobby counters happily after swallowing everything in his mouth.

Jackson glares at him in annoyance. "You can't help it when you're learning new tricks!"

"I wasn't making fun of you," Mark urges. The possibility of clearing up that situation has risen up and you bet, he's going to grab it. "I wasn't laughing at you- -" Except that he cannot really say that reaction was elicited from him by the other's cuteness, can he? "- -I don't even remember why, but I was not laughing at you." 

Lame. He's doomed.

"Right," Jackson says, dry. So doomed. He purses his lips.

Mark insists, "really."

"Okay, fine," Jackson concedes easily around a shrug.

"If it were me," Bobby meddles in, but he's already laughing before he can finish his sentence and everyone else with him.

"I hate you," Jackson tells Bobby with no vehemence.

At this point, Mark doesn't know if he should keep saying that he didn't do what he's being accused of, or leave it at that. What's sure is that he won't make a good lawyer.

"Hey, hey," Jackson whispers to him some time after, completely abandoning the previous matter. Should we mark it as a case closed now? He's also kicking Mark lightly with his bare foot, and the latter has to look down to check if it's really happening before he meets Jackson's eager face. "Can you stay for dinner?" 

He's already nodding because- -uh, yes? Jackson's inviting him to stay. I'd stay forever. Okay, delete that. Jesus Christ, what's wrong with him? Poor Jaebum, really.

But then it hits him.

Oh. My. ing. Hell.

Mark gets up suddenly, knocking his chair down in the process.

He hears Jackson curse under his breathe. "You fu- -freaking scared me. What's wrong?"

. His phone is in his pocket. Mark can't bring himself to take it out. Mom is so going to kill him. 

-

Do you want to know what happened? 

Of course you do.

There were a lot of texts coming from his mother. They started with asking where Mark was to her threatening to call the authorities to a final one saying that Mark doesn't care about them, and they're lucky Jaebum's there. Why? Because the bestest friend ever told them Mark dropped by around midnight, he fell asleep while Jaebum was watching one of his American Tv series, and obviosuly forgot to inform his parents about it. Mom and Dad bought it. 

Mark is for the next week indebted to him. And for the next decade too. Best friend ever. 

"Jackson's not what you think," he's telling Jaebum on the phone, "he has layers."

"He's an onion?"

Mark snorts. "No, really, give him a chance. He might grow on you."

"Yeah," Jaebum answers, sounding disgusted, "like a fungi." He's still an , though.

[A/N] It's been a while, huh? I'm pretty sure most of you have forgotten about this fanfic and I would too, it's been a freaking lot of time. The reason why this fanfic took so much to be updated is that my old laptop broke and the chapters and all the fics I spent so much time writing were gone with it, and when I managed to extract all the files from my broken laptop, my hard drive broke and by that time I was like, "you know what, I'm done writing." 

But last week I tried to connect my hard drive and boom, magic! It was working. I transferred everything that was on there to a new hard drive. When I had more free time, I started reading my old fanfics and OH, MY G. Some were trash. Garbage. But some had nice plots. Old!me had a lot of imagination, and it saddens me to admit this, but current me has none. Not a of it. Nada. Tried to write a Jackbam/Bamson a couple of weeks ago and ew.

I found all the chapters of "of skateboards" in a folder and, with my friends begging while threatening me to update, I did. It might take me two weeks or so, or more to post because I'm an adult now. Yay *cringes* Gotta work, have a social life et al, but I'll post.

And I remember someone making a review of this fanfic and calling it "weird". For the way it's written to its characters to the reviewer not understanding if this fanfic is about MarkSon or not because Jackson doesn't appear much. To answer that person, this fanfic is about a lot of things, but mostly friendship and romance. And yeah, I know my writing style is weird so I'll take it as a compliment and Mark, my dear Mark, is a teenage boy who's trying so hard, but almost always "failing". Does that make him weird? Lol I wish I could say I'm sorry for writing him that way, but I'm not because I really like my Mark. He's clumsy and he has his moments of insecurity and no, he does not have his priorities straight like Jaebum does. I find him young, kind of fool-ish, and adorable. Haha!

I hope you'll like this chapter.

Comments, as usual, are highly appreciated. Reading what you guys think about what I wrote has always given me motivation to continue. Thanks in advance!