07: what a mess
untitled
mark/jinyoung
unbeta'd
i can't write:the series
4430w
“Ladies and gentlemen, all eyes on me!”
A large explosion in the back attracts the attention of everyone in the hall-they scream, they get out of their seats, they demand to know what's going on-there's smoke billowing from the gaping hole in the wall and fallen debris blocking the exits. They all heard the voice, but the body from which it came is no where to be seen, all eyes on who? The hall suddenly becomes too small and there's too many people everywhere. They're scrambling to find a way out, panicked and nervous, yelling for the guards to do something, you incompetent bumbleheads! All the men and women dressed in their suits and dresses, carrying their expensive looking purses and holding their skirts, running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
All, but one.
There's one single person running across the stage to reach the giant fishbowl-like container in the center of the stage, ignoring all the commotion.
Sometimes he's thankful Jaebum recruited such an...attention seeking individual to the crew. Always with the flashy entrances and theatrics. Jackson has his uses, he thinks to himself as he quietly makes his way behind the “fishbowl” and hopefully out of the auctioneer's sight. The creature inside is frantically moving around in the water, thrashing his tail and trying to free his bound hands; the poor thing can't even cry out with the tape over its mouth. And even then, Mark couldn't take his eyes off of the being in the water.
When he first saw him, being hauled off a dingy boat in what looked like a crate, Mark didn't think much of it. He'd seen people get carried off to auction halls before, in ways probably worse than a crate, and he definitely heard more profane things than what the (rather) pretty young man was screaming. But instead of turning back to his small game of poker with Yugyeom and taking the younger's share of meat, the fish tail that replaced the lower half of the trapped man's body stole his attention away. He rubbed his eyes, once, twice, dropped the cards in his hand in shock and leaned over the deck to get a closer look. Mark wasn't dreaming, that tail was attached to the body and was moving as crazily as the upper half was. A shimmery, pale blue tail, that looked like it was glowing when hit with the soft sunlight-he couldn't make that up, Youngjae's cooking wouldn't make him hallucinate that hard.
He had heard stories of beautiful creatures that lived in the clearest of waters, with voices that enchanted all that came across their territories, and wept tears of precious stones. He heard stories about how their hearts granted immortality or something of the sort, and seen how many people set sail to find these creatures, to hunt them and reap the rewards. Story after story that they do exist, that people have seen them, even own them, but no one believed, or at least he never believed. Only more old fishermen's tales that he was rather sick of hearing every time they docked. Mark was sure his crewmates didn't believe them either. But there, there in the crate was a living, breathing, very much real, mermaid.
Past all the curious townspeople that began to crowd around and whisper, and the burly-looking guards keeping the people from getting too close, Mark caught the merboy's gaze. They were as dark as any human's eyes, but what caught Mark's attention was the way they glinted purple in the light. It didn't take a genius to figure out the emotion in the creature's eyes was pure anger and defiance, but there was an underlying fear and sadness that made Mark's heart ache. When the other broke the stare to go back to hissing at his captors and trying to break free, Mark continued to stare. He was fascinated, ignoring the questioning whines from Yugyeom asking him what was so interesting, he didn't even hear the low whistle Jaebum let out when he decided to look over the deck. He never thought in a million years that what those stories he heard actually had a truth to them, never thought that he would get to see one. And now that he has, Mark wasn't going to let that merman disappear from his life just like that. He was going to steal that creature away.
He could probably stand there and admire the stunning creature for a little longer, but someone could also recognize his face from one of the many wanted posters plastered all over and get arrested and that, that would be problem. (Jaebum would kill the guards, obviously, but then most likely kill him after.) So he taps the glass, tapping until the merman turned around, his eyes a little less angry and a little more scared. Mark didn't think the other would recognize the guy that did nothing but stare at him from atop a ship (he guesses the light brown hair helps to set him apart from the rest), but the way the young man's eyes widened-he didn't miss the brief flicker of hope-and the way he swam to float directly in front of Mark told him otherwise. He would've thought it was cute the way the merman was excitedly moving around, trying to speak despite the tape, but Mark forces himself to snap out of it and get back to the task at hand.
He steps back and holds his hands up, indicating to the other that he isn't leaving when he notices the merman start to trash around again. In the background he hears another explosion go off and a laugh that distinctly sounds like Bambam's, but then there's Jaebum's commanding voice and it soothes Mark's worries of having the whole hall come falling down on them. He points upwards, telling the other to swim up to the top. The merman gives him a confused look and holds up his cuffed hands as if to say I can't do anything with my hands like this! Mark wants to tell him not to worry, to slowly coax him out, but from the corner of his eye he sees a guard and the auctioneer, red in the face, pointing at him. There isn't time.
It seems the both of them realize what the situation is; they look at each other one more time, Mark holding out his arms, smiling in the most hopeful way he can. He watches the merman turn his head towards the guard running at them and back at Mark before swimming and leaping over the edge of the tank. (It reminds Mark of a dolphin, but hey, he didn't say that.)
Mark has to steady himself when the merman crashes into his arms, and he can't deny how surprised he is at how light the creature is. The water soaks his front, and it makes him kind of cold, but he really has no time to think about it, not when the one guard after him has suddenly multiplied into five. Normally Mark would be up for the challenge, outsmarting the dumb guards with their posh lifestyles was a highly entertaining pastime, but he wasn't there to pick fights. At the other side of the stage, Youngjae's waving at him with one hand, the other hand holding a heavy looking sack of money which Mark grins at, and he starts to run over.
“We gotta go, Yugyeommie's got the ship ready!”
They run towards the back, where Jackson's already waiting by the door-Mark tries to ignore the way Jackson looks from him to the merman in his arms and the eyebrow wiggle, but he can't say the same for his fishy friend. Although, he doesn't mind all that much when he feels the merman press up closer against him.
“Move, move, move!”
Jaebum round's the corner with Bambam on his shoulder, and a bag on the other. He has nothing to fend off the growing number of guards chasing after him, and he has to try and not get caught in the homemade bombs he knows Jackson has scattered all over the place. But, lucky for the resident leader, Bambam has his back (quite literally) and firing his guns like the trigger happy shit that he is. Mark would stare a little longer so he has some material to throw in their captain's face when they're back at sea, but it seems like the auction hall is going to come down soon, 5/6 of their crew with it if they didn't moving.
“Cute fishstick you got there!” Bambam calls out, still thrown over Jaebum's shoulder as the latter runs past Mark to the front of the group. He looks down to see the merman furrow his eyebrows together, assuming he's trying to figure out what “fishstick” meant. Mark throws Bambam an exasperated look like that's all he can come up with but, he'll get the younger boy back later, instead focusing on getting back to the ship and having Yugyeom take a look at the cuffs around his little rescuee's wrists.
He wants to tell the merman in his arms that everything's fine and dandy now, even though it's not at the moment and oh shit, Mark's basically kidnapping him from his kidnappers. That's not the greatest impression to make, but jumping willingly into his arms had to mean something. While he's having his epiphany, bullets are being fired at him and he's maybe having a little difficulty trying not to drop his new "friend" and keeping up with their speedy captain. If he wasn't as fast as he was, he doesn't know what he would do. He kind of wishes Youngjae didn't have his hands full, the kid has a better aim than Bambam did, especially since the little gunman is even more off with his current position and all. And where is Jackson-a giant explosion would really help right now, especially since the guards from inside the auction hall called reinforcements.
The poor merman looks shaken up, his eyes tightly shut and huddled up against Mark's chest, and Mark resists the urge to sigh-these are definitely terrible situations to meet someone. Was he okay being out of the water? He didn't even know his name and they're already running from the authorities together, kind of romantic once he thinks about it. Though a name would be really nice so he can stop referring to him as “the merman.”
“Into the sea, let's go!”
Mark barely catches Jaebum's command over Bambam's high pitched screaming; at first he doesn't know why until he sees Jaebum leap over the edge of the cliff and-oh. That's why. Jackson, who suddenly sprints past him, notices too late and skids to a halt right at the edge. He's in the middle of stabilizing himself and opening his mouth, no doubt to shout at Jaebum and ask what's wrong with him, when Youngjae catches up and shoves him off the cliff too. Mark can hear a noise that almost sounds like a dying cat and a “shut up, Jackson!” before he follows the rest of his crew. Falling isn't his favorite feeling in the world, especially not when he's falling into the ocean. He's glad Mr. pretty, wet, and fishy has his eyes closed, he can sort of imagine what the merman is thinking-why are humans so crazy, why is this guy insane, I'm going to die-or something like that. (Mark isn't good at calming people down while diving off a cliff.)
Eventually his bottom hits the hard wooden floor of their ship and the familiar comforting smell of the sea surrounds him. He doesn't realize he closed his eyes until he's slowly opening them to check his surroundings. Jackson's a few feet away, laying on his back and shouting at a disinterested Youngjae and Bambam had casaully made his way over to Yugyeom, like he didn't just jump off a cliff. Kids these days have no sense of fear, he thinks. He's brushing himself off when he realizes he's using his hands. His hands that are currently free and not at all holding anything or anyone.
Mark sits up a little straighter and looks around the deck, he must've let go when they landed, shit, he feels terrible. When he spots the merman, laying a little ways off with his back facing Mark, he scrambles over on his knees, worry written all over his face. Mark slowly turns the young man over to check for any injuries or bruises or any sign of damage, running his hands down the others sides, no time to marvel at the softness, up to where skin turned into scales, too concerned with the well-being of the merman.
He doesn't register Jaebum yelling at Jackson to get up or Yugyeom tackling Youngjae for the bags of gold, Mark's focused on his own “prize.” He doesn't know exactly what to do next, rescuing him was the only part in his plan he was sure about. His eyes moved to observe the young merman's face now that he has the opportunity, without looking creepy. The others hair was different when it wasn't floating around him in the water, splayed out like a halo, now it stuck to his forehead and the sides of his face. Mark uses a hand to brush the smooth strands of pitch black hair to the side, preventing it from blocking the man's closed eyes. He had a rather baby-ish face, not toddler-like like Bambam's, but like an innocent child? Mark doesn't really know, flowerly language was not his thing, but the merman had a very pure image. All smooth lines and curves, fair skin that practically glowed with the bits of water that clung to him, and-
And tape over his mouth.
Mark nearly slaps himself on the forehead for forgetting that the tape and handcuffs are still on, instead he was ogling the merman like he was some sixteen year old boy seeing a girl for the first time. He thinks about calling Yugyeom over to look at the cuffs, but thinks removing the tape would be a better idea; being able to speak would probably be a better thing to wake up to rather than not. But, Mark doesn't know how to make peeling tape off someone's mouth not hurt and hurting the pretty merman is something he doesn't want to do.
What if he peels it off and his skin comes off too? And the merman's mouth is like a shark's and eats him whole for ripping his skin off so cruelly? Jaebum would never forgive him for being eaten and bringing a man-eating merman on board. Bottom line, Mark is a wimp and really, really doesn't want to hurt the unconscious man.
Clearing his throat and getting his courage up, Mark holds the merman's chin to keep his face in place and grabs the end of the tape and tugs it as gently as he could. And maybe having been in the water for so long the tape is less sticky than it originally was, making it easier to peel off. Sure Mark had to tug a bit harder here and there, but he got it off. To match the merman's cute little nose was a cute little mouth. Plush, soft looking pink lips, slightly ajar to reveal pearly white non-sharklike teeth, much to Mark's satisfaction. He briefly wonders if mermaids needed mouth-to-mouth, because he honestly wouldn't mind. All part of the kind savior role, despite being a criminal or whatnot. (Details don't really matter, not to this band of guys, anyway.)
A groan snaps him out of thoughts, focusing on the man settled in front of him. He calls out for Yugyeom, also attracting the attention of the others. They didn't pay any attention to him before and now they do? What do his crewmates want anyway, Mark totally saw the merman first. Speaking of which, the latter's tail flicks to life and it jolts himself awake, staring right into Mark's eyes with a small gasp.
“You...thank you!”
Mark barely has time to blink when the merman throws his still handcuffed hands over Mark's head and pulling him into a tight hug. His face is pretty much pressed up against the other man's shoulder, and he can see Jackson's shit-eating grin, but all he can concentrate on is how good the merman's laughter sounds. He has to remind himself mermaids were known for their “enchanting voices” so he shouldn't be that surprised when the merman's voice was comparable to that of a siren. It's still nice to hear, though. It takes Mark completely off guard when a wet kiss is pressed to his cheek. He doesn't realize the grin on his face until he sees Bambam shaking and covering his mouth to stifle his laughter.
When Mark's finally released, his crewmates have all gathered around the two of them, staring curiously at man and merman. And Mark's staring at the merman, taking in the others smiling face. He himself is a little shocked at why the others initial reaction was to catch him in a hug and smile at everyone like everything was going just swell and he wasn't kidnapped and kidnapped again and carried off a cliff, but he thinks it really doesn't matter, no, not when that bright smile is thrown his way.
Mark swears he isn't that easy.
“Morning, Fishboy,” the captain says.
“Jinyoung,” he corrects, not even giving Jaebum a glance. Instead he moves his tail to curl underneath him and sits up a little more properly and grins up at everyone. “Thank you so much for getting me out of there!”
“T'was nothing, fishstick!” Yugyeom elbows Bambam for the nickname, and Mark thanks whatever gods are up there that the crew was blessed with such a level headed, normal guy. “But we don't deserve credit, it was all your knight in shining armor over there!” Mark barely has time to give Bambam a dirty look when everyone's attention is focused on him.
“I-it was nothing,” he chokes out, rubbing the back of his neck, a habit he developed whenever he was nervous. No one said a word, and while Jinyoung looks confused, the other five look at Mark expectantly. Today is not his day, all day he's been stuck not knowing what to do. It's when Jackson mouths “name” to him he finally gets it. “I'm Mark, by the way. And uh, we should probably get these off you,” he says, tapping at the handcuffs around Jinyoung's wrist.
Mark looks up at Yugyeom and the younger boy drops down to their level, raising Jinyoung's hands to his eyes, inspecting the cuffs. It's funny the way Yugyeom's face changes while he's thinking, brows furrowed, a little bit of tongue peeking out from his mouth and sometimes his nose wrinkles up-but he knows not to laugh lest he wants Jaebum to put him on mop duty for the rest of the month for hurting Yugyeom's feelings.
While he watches the youngest try to pick the lock with a thin piece of metal he pulled out of nowhere, Mark thinks that finding Yugyeom was truly a blessing. He looks around at his other mates, and sees their impressed faces at how the kid is working, and Jaebum's proud father look.
Yugyeom was and still is just a kid in Mark's eyes; he never went out with the rest of the crew on raids, instead opting to man the ship and provide an escape if things got bad. Bambam was the one that found him and brought him to the ship-it was funny to see a pipsqueak like him drag along someone nearly three heads taller than him-and told them he helped Bambam get away. They were the same age and Mark guesses it was one of the reasons Bambam became attached so quickly. Initially it was just Bambam that bothered to do anything with Yugyeom, the rest of the crew choosing to do their own things, but long story short, one by one fell to the innocent charm of their new addition. He made Youngjae and Bambam feel like they didn't have to be mature all the time and they goofed off together, he was smart and helped Jaebum navigate the ship and plan their next hits, he could make Jackson laugh and lift his mood, and for Mark, he gave Mark back the little brother he missed so much. Needless to say, Yugyeom fit right in and Mark couldn't think of the crew without him.
So when the cuffs click open and fall to the ground with a clunk, Mark reaches over and ruffles the younger boy's hair. “Good job, Gyeomie,” he says.
“Of course it's a good job, it's Yugyeom we're talking about!” Jackson exclaims, clapping the boy on the shoulder. Mark rolls his eyes at how much they baby Yugyeom, but he can't deny it either. Instead he turns his attention to Jinyoung, who's rubbing at at his wrists and rotating them to get the blood pumping again.
“Thank you, thank you!” Before Mark knows it, Jinyoung has Yugyeom's face in between his hands and he's kissing their youngest all over his cheeks. “Thank you Mark, thank you..”
“Yugyeom,” Yugyeom fills in, ducking his head to hide how red his face is. Jinyoung's incredibly happy, tail thumping up and down like a dog. “Thank you, Yugyeom! What about the rest of you?” He asks curiously, eyes looking the other members over.
“I'm Jaebum, the captain of this ship,” Mark's captain introduces himself, bowing his head down in greeting. Jackson, Youngjae, and Bambam all introduce themselves after him, and Youngjae impulsively asks if he can touch Jinyoung's tail. It's cute the way he covers his mouth as soon as the question leaves his lips, looking shocked and embarrassed it came out. Jinyoung just laughs, looking comfortable with his crewmates, and lets Youngjae do as he wants.
Later on, Mark's carrying Jinyoung like he was when they were running from the auction hall, but only this time he's walking through their ship to a room in the back. Well, the bathroom, actually. The others reasoned that since it was him that brought Jinyoung to the ship, it would only be right that he have to carry him around. And they figured the merman couldn't just lay on their dry, emphasis on dry, deck all day and scrambled to think of a temporary place for him to stay.
“Youngjae! Are you done?”
A muffled shout from inside the bathroom is all Mark gets in response. He sighs and shouts his question again. Jinyoung laughs and Mark has to fight off a smile. The door flings open, barely missing Mark's nose and Youngjae is standing in the doorway.
“I said,” Youngjae sighs exasperatedly, “Everything's good! Tub's all full and mats all over the ground to make sure the floorboards don't get too wet and start to mold.” He tugs Mark in, pushing him towards the tub. “C'mon, c'mon! Jinyoung's gonna dry up if you don't hurry!”
Mark's almost offended that Youngjae cares so much about the merman he just met a few hours ago more than him and that he would think Mark would let Jinyoung dry up. The latter doesn't notice the offended look Mark gives Youngjae, he just laughs and ruffles the younger one's hair. “Merpeople don't dry up just like that! Thank you for this.”
Youngjae smiles and excuses himself, something about Jackson needing his help to fix part of the mast. Mark stops paying attention to him after he says bye, so he misses the sound of a chair being propped against the door and muffled giggling. He's preoccupied lowering Jinyoung into their decent sized tub, stepping back when the water splashes over the edge of the tub.
Jinyoung looks pretty happy to be back in water, submerging his upper half and then sitting back up to get the water all over him. His tail is hanging off the edge of the tub, occasionally swishing back and forth to catch the water droplets he flings that way. He shakes his head, getting rid of the excess water in his hair and gets Mark wet in the process, and laughs at Mark's shocked gasp.
“Come on in, the water's great!” Jinyoung winks, laughing even harder at how red Mark's face becomes. Mark huffs, crossing his arms and look away, feigning anger. Being playful? Two can play at that game.
He gets some sort of satisfaction when Jinyoung whines that Mark's not paying attention to him anymore, that he's sort of sorry for splashing water on him and it's not his fault merpeople like water, and he didn't mean it so please don't be mad at him. It's after a few minutes more of Jinyoung's pleas that he turns around, and easy smile on his face. They stare at each other, and both burst out laughing at how ridiculous their prior exchange was.
“So, uh, where's home?”
Jinyoung's resting on top of his folded arms on the edge of the tub, swinging his tail absentmindedly, watching Mark play with a loose thread on one of the rags on the floor. He's seated right beside the tub,not wanting to leave Jinyoung alone yet.
“Can't this be my home?”
Mark's shocked, and he turns to Jinyoung so fast he nearly knocks his head into the tub. Jinyoung looks back at him, tilting his head in question. He really does look like a child, and Mark doesn't know what to say.
“You want to stay?”
Will Jaebum allow it? Where is he going to stay because they'll need the tub eventually? What's he going to do when they all have to go on land? Who's going to look after him? Can they just leave him in the bathroom? Is this what he really wants?
“There's not much I can do on board a ship, and I don't know where else I can stay other than your tub, but here, I want to stay here.”
Mark doesn't know what's in the future, he and the rest of them take whatever life gives them and make spontaneous decisions. Kidnapping a (rare) mermaid was definitely spontaneous, and Mark thinks the least he can do is see the whole thing through.
“Then,” Mark looks up and smiles at Jinyoung, happy that he returns it tenfold, “Welcome home.”
1431w
When Mark asked Jinyoung to come home with him for the holiday, he didn't think he'd get a yes. He was overjoyed of course, but shocked nonetheless. Jinyoung agreed to spend the entire holiday with him, as in he wasn't going home to see his family like all the other students were. He reassured Mark there was nothing going on at home like that, so he can relax. Jinyoung's parents traveled, and it just so happened they would be in Northern China for the winter holiday looking for dragons or something of the like; he would just be going back to an empty home. So yes, he would love to stay with Mark.
“Even if it's not in the wizarding world? And you have to meet my family?”
“Even if it's not in the wizarding world, and I'm sure your family's nice. If not, well, I'm glad I'll have you. Don't worry too much.”
His dad had some kind of fascination with the Muggle world after a trip he took to gather information for some random article he was writing for the paper. But not long after, he convinced his mother and sister to go with him. They overall had a good time, sans Tammy whining about the loss of her wand. Soon the rest of the family, including himself, got roped into a “family vacation” to a “nice, warm city called Los Angeles, the city of Angels! Angels, Mark! Isn't that amazing?” (Mark didn't even know what an angel was.)
The rest was history. So every once in a while, usually in winter, they would take a trip to California where it was plenty warmer than it was where they lived and stayed in a house his father bought on impulse. (They were all forced to do a little research on the Muggle world before they went, so they wouldn't seem too out of place.) The still celebrated Christmas as a family, with the tree and presents and eggnog, but without all the bulky layers they would otherwise have to wear at home.
Just this time, Mark is bringing a guest.
“The whole no magic thing is kind of weird, and some of the stuff people do for fun is a little strange I guess, but it's not hard to get used to. And uh, we'll probably hang out outside most of the time so we won't be around my family 24/7. They're a little weird, but good people, I mean not saying they're really strange like Filch strange, but sometimes they just do weird things ..”
“Mark, calm down! If I wasn't nervous about meeting your family I would be now because you're so nervous,” Jinyoung laughs, giving Mark's hand a small squeeze. He becomes a little red at the comment, he can't help it. It's been nearly two years and yeah of course he's talked to his family about Jinyoung, but they've never met. Well, not until now anyway.
He knows they like him, from the way he gushes in his letters home. Plus he's dating a freaking prefect, that's already a plus in their eyes. He's just nervous that something bad or embarrassing or possibly both is going to happen.
“Don't worry,” Jinyoung says, placing a soft kiss on Mark's cheek. “It'll be a good break.” It calms him down a little bit.
“Yeah...yeah,” He says more to himself to calm him down before placing the key into the door and turning it open. “Hello? Anyone home?”
Silence.
“Guess no one's home,” Jinyoung says, peeking his head inside. Mark opens the door a little wider so both of them can step in. Taking off their shoes, Mark takes Jinyoung's hand and brings him up to the second floor, where his room is. They walk past the living room, already decorated for the holidays. It's a lot of red and green, especially the tree-ribbons, ornaments, lights, everything decorated it. There are already a few wrapped gifts under it.
Mark ignores Jinyoung's giggling that he knows is at the stockings hung above the fireplace, complete with little paper cut-outs of the family members on them. Mark's has a broom stick in his hand and a sign above that says “The #1 Chaser!!” courtesy of probably his dad. He loves his dad, but really! His boyfriend didn't need to know his dad is his biggest fan.
“Aaaand, this is my room. And your room, too, I guess,” he says as he opens the door, throwing his bag down in the corner. It's a plain room, not much decorations since the family only came on holidays. A fairly decent sized bed by the window, a closet, a desk, and a few books here and there.
“Oh, no guest room to dump me in?”
“No, unfortunately. But if you want to be dumped on something..” Mark walks forward into Jinyoung's personal space until their noses touch, before he bends down and picks Jinyoung up, one arm under his knees and the other on his back. Jinyoung squeals and clutches the front of Mark more out of shock from suddenly being horizontal than anything.
“Mark!” he burst out laughing when the #1 chaser unceremoniously dumped on the bed.
“There you are, Mr. prefect, dumped onto a bed. Happy now?” Jinyoung just rolls his eyes, wide smile on his face, hesitating before he grabs the pillow and whacks Mark with it. “I don't need magic to hit you, you know!”
“Yeah, but now you can't blame “the wind blew the book into your face, it's wasn't me!” Mark raises his voice to mimic Jinyoung and gets another whack in the face for it. He's ready to retaliate, but puts the pillow down when he notices Jinyoung holding up a box.
“To Mark and Jinyoung...from your mom?” Jinyoung blinks at him, not expecting to find it under the pillow. “She got me something? Wait, she assumed we were going to be in the same room, that's why it's both of it right? But no, she got me something and I didn't get anything! How could I for-”
“Okay, now you need to calm down,” Mark laughs, taking one of Jinyoung's hands and entwining their fingers. “I'm sure they won't care, sometimes I forget to get them gifts too,”
“You're a horrible son,” Jinyoung interrupts.
“Whatever, I get them enough stuff other times, but anyway, they won't care. Having you here is gift enough.”
“Aren't you sweet, and you better not be lying or there'll be a lot of “strong winds” when we get back.”
“That would be unfortunate,” Mark teases, “Come on, let's see what mom got us.”
“It's not even Christmas day!” Jinyoung exclaims, scooting closer to Mark nonetheless, box placed in between them.
“Think of it more like...a welcoming gift, then!” Mark laughs and kisses away the frown on Jinyoung's face.
When they open the box, Mark rethinks the whole trip. He thought he was safe, that maybe yeah, everything will be great and they'd all have fun together-so fun that Jinyoung would be a regular in their holiday celebration next year, and the year after that, and probably forever. But now he wishes he has his wand so he could cast these things away and never look at them again. He and his siblings avoided these items for years now and Mark can't believe now of all times is when his mom decides to whip them out.
“Oh,” Jinyoung says, lifting one of the sweaters out of the box. A knitted navy blue sweater, with a “J” in the center, and what looks like Christmas trees lined along the bottom. The one sitting under it is its twin, a red sweater with an “M” on it. “I thought you said it's warm here?”
“It...is,” Mark says. He's staring at the Christmas sweater. He prays they're not the only ones with them, otherwise his siblings would never let him live it down. The gesture is nice, and he'll make sure he thanks his mom, but he's not wearing it out.
“I guess we can wear it when we go back, right?” Mark turns to face Jinyoung so fast to make sure he's not hearing things.
“What?”
“I've never gotten something like this before, but I wouldn't want to wear it if I'm going to die from heat, you know?” he says, smiling as he runs his fingers over the material. Mark just sighs and smiles, leaning on his boyfriend. So he takes it back, maybe he'll wear it out if Jinyoung is too.
“Mom's gonna love you.”
2070w
“We need to stop meeting like this, don't you think?”
“How about we stop meeting, period?”
“You wound me, wonder boy,” the person continues, walking a slow circle around the hero.
“Oh wonder boy, that's creative,” Mark bites back sarcastically. He tries to wriggle his way out of the binds that keep him from knocking the villain into next week, or at least throw him off the roof that they're on. The back-up throwing knives hidden in his boot are too far to reach, the rest having been thrown already chasing the absolutely insufferable criminal standing before him. It's not only that the other masked figure insisted on making conversation with him, but the fact that he got away. Every. Single. Time. Mark doesn't know how-he was, and probably still is, one of the top heroes, starting his career in the States and moving to South Korea to help out, but this guy, he just doesn't understand how he can slip away from between his fingers. His anger only fuels him to struggle against the ropes harder.
“Should I call you Red instead? Oh I made a rhyme!” He raises a hand to cover his giggles, ignoring the way Mark growls at him. What did he do for this type of verbal abuse, if only he was free or if his “partner” would show up and help him out. He watches the villain twirl the diamond bracelet he stole (among other things) around on his finger, rather carelessly considering the fact he intentionally went to go steal it. One thing that he doesn't get is that the entire safe of diamonds and money was emptied out, yet the man in front of him only had a single duffel bag and the single diamond bracelet. It never made sense to him-Mark would chase after him while Jackson surveyed the damage before following after him, but what Jackson tells him about how much was stolen, it doesn't match what he sees the other man carrying. There was never any indication that the rest was stashed somewhere, however, every time, there would always be a symbol of what looked like a rectangle, only two corners weren't joined. Like two backwards “L”s.
“It's humiliating enough you caught me, but do you really have to call me names too?”
“Where's the fun in that? It's proper hero-villain etiquette to have little nicknames for each other, don't you know! Red is much cooler than En Point, in my opinion,” Mark narrows his eyes, ignoring the jab at his self-picked choice of name, and continues to stall by indulging the other's penchant for conversation. He remembers the laser pen Youngjae, Youngstar rather, made for him buried somewhere in one of the compartments in his belt. If he stalls long enough, he can probably get it and free himself, and hopefully Jackson would come as his back up. He never took this long.
“Is it? Well it's a little difficult to come up with a nickname for my enemy if I don't even know your name.” It's with that comment the grin is wiped off the other's face, the first time he doesn't have his ips pulled into a smile, Mark notices. His mouth makes an “o” shape, and that's all Mark has to guess that the villain is shocked-masked eyes and such. It's the first time Mark really notices how pink and plump his lips are.
“You...haven't figured it out then? And I thought the amazing En Point would've figured out the name left behind at every scene would be,” the other man laughs, taking a step towards Mark. He reminds the hero of a cat, his steps are light and silent even with his boots, and all his movements looked purposeful and graceful. His costume only adds to the image, tight black clothes that leave nearly nothing to the imagination. But Mark has to remember that he's dangerous, he can't get too close or it won't end well. They never got into a physical fight, not with the way the other manages to keep at least five feet away from him at all times. Every time they met, it would be a conversation with words rather than fists or abilities. That's what makes Mark weary, he doesn't know what the other can do.
He's digging through his belt, eyes still on the figure in front of him, “What name? All that's left behind is a rectangle stamped on the wall!” His hand closes in on the thin pen, lifting it slowly to not attract the attention of the other.
“You should look more closely next time,” the villain chides. Mark notices him getting closer, and is about to step back when an explosion from the building next to them distracts them both. The other man, Mark notices, has his mouth turned down in a dissatisfied manner, like he knows something is wrong. It's another thing that doesn't make sense, the crime's already done and he's here with the stolen goods, what is he doing concerned about the explosion? It's Mark that should be concerned, was Jackson just blowing things up? At this rate he was getting close to having 200% switched as his partner.
Mark stops thinking when he activates the laser and cuts himself free from the ropes, taking the moment the cat-like man is distracted to tackle him to the ground. He goes to deliver a punch on his face when he realizes the man he just had pinned down isn't there anymore.
“Do you ever wonder why you've never caught me?” The voice comes from behind him, he turns to see the his enemy standing a few feet away, both hands clutching at the bag.
“Because you're a snake, escaping every time, sometimes even before we even get there,” Mark says, rising up to his feet.
“Is that what you think?” A smile plays on his lips, “I'm glad you hold me up to such a degree,” Mark wants to interrupt and say he's doing no such thing, he's just reluctantly acknowledging his loss. “But are you sure it's nothing else?”
Mark doesn't understand what he's getting at. He would've noticed if it was something else that allowed the person in front of him to get away, he's a hero. It's his job, to right what's wrong and bring those wrong-doers to justice.
“What are you getting at?”
“Do you ever wonder why you're so quick to chase after me?”
“Stop asking questions you obviously know the answer to! It's my duty to chase after you, if not what kind of hero would I be if I didn't?”
Neither of them move, staring each other down. Mark doesn't understand it, why he's still here, why he's still talking, why he isn't moving to take down the target that is right in front if him. He doesn't understand it.
“You know, you're really popular. You and your teammate, Thunder Strike, was it?” he laughs, “Always in the papers about how quickly you catch the criminals and leave them at the police's feet. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed.
“You would get to the crime scene so fast and put an end to what's going on, or chase after who ever it was without a second thought until they were on the ground and handcuffed. What a scary hero you are-”
“What are you getting at?” Mark doesn't know if he says it to make things go faster, so he can escape and Mark can go back and tell everyone he got away again, or if he's genuinely curious.
“Yet you aren't so quick to end things with me. You respond to me! I never thought you would, but you did.” The smile on the villain's face, makes Mark frown. He's never thought about it. “It makes me feel rather special.” He knows the other is intelligent, through their past conversations they've had. He's articulate, albeit playful in a way, he knows how to use his words. He's different from all the thugs he's seen, witty and still maintaining that shroud of mystery since the first time they crossed paths weeks ago. Maybe that's why he does it, to hear what he has to say, to see if he can uncover anything about the masked villain he knows absolutely nothing about.
“So tell me,” the masked figure is suddenly in front of him, and he notices that he's slightly taller and what he can see of his face is bright and clear, “am I special to you?” Mark swears their lips brush for a quick second and he can't breathe, but before he knows it, the thief is back where he originally was.
He's stunned, watching as the other man back his way up to the edge of the roof. He watches as he raises one hand in a strange salute; his thumb, index and middle finger up while the other two were down, reminding Mark of what little kids did to pretend they had guns. He feels like there's more to it and the other man wants him to figure it out, but what?
But before he can ask, it's already decided their time is up.
“I'll see you around, Red. Think about me, okay?” And he falls backwards off the roof top.
“Wait!” Mark reaches a hand out to try and catch up, but all he holds is air, just like every other time he's tried. He's leaning over the edge, to try and catch a glimpse of the masked villain or the glittering of diamonds, but all he sees is an empty alley way. They were up high, and there was no way he would've survived a fall that high. Maybe he really is a cat, he thinks. It's another mystery added that he can't solve.
He's going to get off the roof, maybe call some of the other heroes in the area to see if they know anything, but before he can a voice calls out to him from the alley he was just looking at.
“Yi-En!”
Only one moron would blurt out his real name like that. He stomps back to the edge to yell down at the person on the ground.
“Tell the whole world why don't you! What do you want, Thunder?” Mark knows Jackson is rolling his eyes right now.
“Did you see where the perp went? I was in the middle of fighting him when he just bolted!....Wait, why are you up there anyway?” It takes Mark a minute to process what Jackson relays to him-he was just fighting the...? It couldn't be.
“What are you talking about? I chased him up here the whole time!”
“No way dude, didn't you see that explosion? It was him trying to blow me up! How the hell would he have gotten on the roof if he was right in front of me the whole time?”
Then it clicked for both of them.
“Call Youngstar, 200%, and Bam%, we need to talk.”
Mark doesn't realize how long he stayed up last night talking to the others until he's sitting in his 9:30 class trying to keep his eyes open. It's a long hour and a half of trying to look like he's awake and taking notes, but he gets through it and nearly crashes into Yugyeom during the break they all share.
“Rough night, huh?” Kunpimook chirps, too chipper for Mark's taste. Youngjae gives him a pat on the back and hands him a can of coffee that he probably needs.
“I can't believe we didn't notice for this long,” Jackson groans, slapping his hand on his forehead.
“Don't worry, hyung. We'll help next time,” Yugyeom says.
Mark's glad they all somehow found each other, coincidentally all of them went to the same university in the day and patrolled relatively the same area at night. It's easier to rely on more than just one person, and maybe with a few more brains pooled together they can catch the mysterious duo that's been robbing the city little by little. Too busy keeping the younger ones from getting loud and staying awake at the same time, he doesn't notice the bespectacled boy with the diamond bracelet hiding under his sleeve walking towards the library or the boy with the diamond stud earring covered by his hair walking in the other direction.
2102w
When Yugyeom decided he would give up his breaks to help his hyungs out at the day-care, he wasn't expecting to become the new dad to five little persons-children, whatever. Youngjae says it's because he's so big and looks like a grown man rather than a university student, but he knows Youngjae is just bitter he doesn't need help getting stuff from the top shelves.
“Hyung, hyung help!” Yugyeom hears a voice behind him, momentarily forgetting every person he deals with from 9AM to 12PM is around four-fifths his size, and looks down. He inwardly groans.
It's little Kunpimook. Little Kunpimook from Thailand and his cute little face and big, big, big mouth. Nichkhun hyung warned Yugyeom about him, at first Yugyeom thought it was nothing-what's the worst he can do? Spill milk on me?-but he was wrong. Every time Kunpimook comes to him, an older boy by the name of Jackson is not far behind. That child, Yugyeom will never forget. Jackson's loud and kind of goofy, and is always up for jokes. Sometimes he pulls Yugyeom to the side to whisper a knock-knock joke to him or show him cool things he brought from home. Sweet kid, but awfully loud.
It was sort of cute how one came after the other, until Yugyeom realized the only reason Jackson was that close behind was Kunpimook liked to throw things. A lot.
Yugyeom plasters a smile on his face and bends down to lift Kunpimook up, grimacing at the glob of pink paint in his dark hair. (Good thing he never wears his nice floral shirts to this job.) He ignores the screeches of horror from beyond the rocking horse, knowing full well who is responsible for such noises.
“Hyung's here, what's the matter?” He makes sure to keep his head as far away without it looking weird to avoid the very wet paint on the child's head. But the world isn't smiling on him today and the child nuzzles his face into Yugyeom's neck, smearing pink paint over the underside of his face, laughing all the while.
“Nothing! Just wanna be up high so I can see hyung better!” Okay, he admits that's cute and maybe he can forgive Kunpimook for getting paint on his face. He almost forgets that any moment now Jackson's going to show up and start a screaming contest with the toddler in his arms.
From the distance Yugyeom can see Jackson with pink paint on his pants moving stuffed dolls around and checking under tables for Kunpimook, not looking very pleased. He's tempted to walk out of the room and ask Junho hyung to switch classrooms with him until a tug on his pant leg catches his attention.
One of the older kids, older than Jackson by a year and Kunpimook by two, Mark is staring up at him. Mark isn't a problem child, he's quiet, follows directions, and helps keep Jackson in line sometimes. He never really asks for much either, which Yugyeom is thankful for.
“Yes, Mark?” He wants to bend down to speak at eye-level with the boy, but Kunpimook's yelling in his ear that he wants to stay up, so Yugyeom settles for leaning down a little. Mark seems to understand as he waves to the younger boy.
“Is Jinyoung here?”
“Uh,” He looks around, trying to spot the boy Mark is looking for. Jinyoung was a kid that Yugyeom would be able to spot instantly, he smile kind of brightened up the whole room. Mark was usually with him too, so Yugyeom understands why he would ask where Jinyoung is. “I don't see him, Jaebum isn't here either. Maybe they'll be here later?”
He tries to give Mark some hope when he notices the little boy frown. “Okay, I'll wait.”
“I'm sure he'll be here soon, why don't you find Jackson?” Yugyeom ruffles Mark's hair and really hopes he takes his advice and go find Jackson. Mark nods and runs off, calling for the Chinese boy. Just in time, Yugyeom thinks, because only a second later and Jackson would've been running full force towards him and the boy in his arms.
“Hello, Youngjae hyung is here!”
“Hyung!” Surprisingly it's not the kids that greet him, but Yugyeom.
“I didn't expect you to be so excited to see me,” Youngjae laughs, looking at Yugyeom's pained expression. “You have a little, uh..” He taps the side of his face, staring at the pink on the younger's face.
“Yeah, yeah I know. Kunpimook had paint in his hair and launched himself at me,” he sighs. “Hyung help me.”
Youngjae only laughs, closing the door behind him and tugging on the little boy's hand he's holding inside. Yugyeom almost doesn't notice, tired from carrying Kunpimook around and having to calm Jackson down and withstanding the yelling that eventually did happen between the Thai and Chinese boys. Poor Mark had his hands over his ears the entire time.
“Hey-” He barely greets the boy before two voices beat him to it.
“JB!”
“Jaebum!”
Both Mark and Jackson run towards the door, early bowling Yugyeom and Youngjae over to greet their friend. Kunpimook makes his way over too, not liking that his two friends abandoned him.
Right, Jaebum, how could Yugyeom forget. He's one of the older kids too, same age as Jackson, but a lot more mature. Sometimes he wondered if Jaebum really was a five year old with the way he just commands the other kids. He's going to grow up to be a leader, Yugyeom thinks. Usually he's the one to calm Jackson down or suggest to do things, and their little group of Mark, Jackson, Kunpimook, and Jinyoung all listen to him. Well, now that Yugyeom thinks about it, Jinyoung listens to Jaebum and because Jinyoung listens Mark listens too. A bunch of toddlers' relationships is probably more complicated than his will ever be. Yugyeom's the youngest out of the workers at the day-care so by default he has to listen to everyone and that's the end of it.
Oh how he wishes he was a child again.
“Hey guys,” Jaebum greets, letting go of Youngjae's hands and going over to the blocks.
“He's rather late today,” Yugyeom comments, watching the four of them pile blocks up and burst out in giggles when it falls over. Jackson seems to have forgotten about Kunpimook throwing a block at him.
“Yeah, I was just talking to his mom before,” Youngjae says, pulling Yugyeom towards the sink at the back of the room. Well, Yugyeom guesses he's still kind of a child with the way his hyungs take care of him. Youngjae wets a paper towel before he starts gently rubbing away at the paint on his face. He thinks they paint a funny picture, considering Yugyeom's taller, but he doesn't mind because it's Youngjae. “Jaebum was waiting for Jinyoung, but he never came out. Turns out Jinyoung got sick so he's staying home.”
“Mark's not going to be happy,” Yugyeom blurts out, thinking about how the boy asked him earlier about Jinyoung.
“Can't fight sickness, Jaebum wasn't that happy either. I didn't know they were neighbors.”
“Really?” Youngjae tsks when Yugyeom moves, making him miss the last bit of pink on his face. His face is a little red from the rubbing, but at least most of the paint is off. He didn't have time to do it himself since he had to help Kunpimook get it out of his hair before Youngjae came in.
“Yeah, they come in together, don't you notice?”
Yugyeom shrugs. He's usually busy dealing with the kids that arrive super early to notice when others come in.
“Well you should, their group seems to like you a lot,” Youngjae mentions, throwing the towel out and wiping the excess water off his hands on Yugyeom's sleeve. (He makes a noise of protest, but it falls on deaf ears.)
“Yeah, well you're lucky Jaebummie told them why Jinyoung's not here today or I would've made you break the news to them.”
Jinyoung isn't back the next day either.
Jinyoung definitely makes his list of top five kids, sure there are other kids that didn't cause problems and easy to get a long with, but little Park Jinyoung is like that kid you wish was your little brother. He smiled a lot and it made a lot of the other kids smile too. He noticed Jinyoung held hands a lot, outside of the buddy system they had. It calmed other kids down and made them happy when someone else was with them, he guesses. Or at least Mark was always super smiley when they held hands. (It's a lot.)
And it was really hard not to cave when he acts cute to get an extra cookie during snack time or something. Yugyeom can see why the other four hang around him so much.
“Jinyoung's still sick, but he'll come back soon. Cheer up guys,” Yugyeom tries, kneeling down by the four boys who opted to just lay around on the carpet staring at the ceiling. He knows that feeling of just not wanting to do anything, he does the same thing when school is in session. “Come on, me and Youngjae hyung will play monopoly with you!”
“Monopoly's only four people, hyung,” Kunpimook moans. “I wanna play with Jinyoungie.”
“Me too,” Mark adds, pouting. Mark never pouts. Ever. This is already on dangerous levels of weird. “I miss Jinyoungie.”
“Mama says I can't visit him either. Why did he get sick?” Jaebum asks, turning his head to look at Yugyeom. Because when sicknesses attack your body, your immune system has to fight it off, but if your immune system is weak, then you'll get sick, is what he wants to say.
“Because it's almost winter, right? Jinyoung got cold so that's why he has to stay home and get all warmed up before he can come back,” he makes it up and hopes that they'll buy it. Yugyeom doesn't want to lie, but if he explained it, they probably wouldn't get it or cry. Or both. Yugyeom can only handle so many crying children before he starts crying and running to his hyungs.
“Oh.” Jackson is surprisingly quiet and it scares Yugyeom a little bit. Him of all kids, should not be laying around on the ground moping. He isn't even phased when Yugyeom ruffles up his hair-usually he makes a fuss about it and yells that he messed up his hair and now he's never going to look like the cool hyung on TV.
“They really miss Jinyoung,” Youngjae whispers to him when they're both off in the corner supervising the kids during snack time, munching on animal crackers and sipping dinky little apple juice boxes.
“Yeah,” Yugyeom says, “I miss him too.”
“Hi!”
Yugyeom turns around to see a little boy, his hat pulled down so much his hair blocks his eyes, but Yugyeom would recognize those little crescents and the little wrinkles that appeared around them anywhere.
“Jinyoungie!” He exclaims, lifting the little boy up, smiling at the giggles that came from him. He laughs at the smiley mouth mask Jinyoung has, and asks him why he's here so early.
“Wanted to see hyung and my friends! It was soooo boring at home,” the boy whines. “Did you miss me?”
A hand reaches out and pats him on the head, “Of course we did. Yugyeomie hyung was so sad without you~”
“Yeah, Youngjae hyung almost cried~” He sticks his tongue out at his hyung that appeared out of nowhere. Jinyoung just giggles.
“I love you, hyungs!”
Yugyeom watches as one by one Jaebum, Jackson, Mark, and Kunpimook come in and notice Jinyoung is back. There's a lot of hugging and yelling that they can all play together again, and a few comments about the cool mask he has to wear. He laughs and calls Youngjae over when out of nowhere Mark takes Jinyoung by the hand and drags him to the cubbies where they put all their belongings. The two watch from behind the bookshelf to see Mark take out his scarf from his cubby and wrap it around a surprised looking Jinyoung.
“So you won't be cold,” the two of them hear him say. Yugyeom almost doubles over, clutching his heart-that's cute. Youngjae almost hits him over the head for making a scene.
Jinyoung smiles and holds Mark's hand, walking back together to where the other three were.
“My heart, help me hyung.”
“I'll always help you, dummy. You don't even need to ask.”
aus i may or may not ever continue but i just wanted to get them out there bye
1. i don't know where this came from maybe i really wanted pirates maybe i just wanted jinyoung as a mermaid i don't know
2. it's not even christmas time and this is stupid
3. yeah their superhero names are fansite names except i changed mark point to en point bc yeah if you were wondering the "rectangle" is 「」 get it do you see what i'm getting at
4. LITTLE KIDS some maybe implied yugyeom/youngjae at the end but i didn't say anything
5. there actually is a 5 but it's the next entry i hate lj
mark/jinyoung
unbeta'd
i can't write:the series
4430w
“Ladies and gentlemen, all eyes on me!”
A large explosion in the back attracts the attention of everyone in the hall-they scream, they get out of their seats, they demand to know what's going on-there's smoke billowing from the gaping hole in the wall and fallen debris blocking the exits. They all heard the voice, but the body from which it came is no where to be seen, all eyes on who? The hall suddenly becomes too small and there's too many people everywhere. They're scrambling to find a way out, panicked and nervous, yelling for the guards to do something, you incompetent bumbleheads! All the men and women dressed in their suits and dresses, carrying their expensive looking purses and holding their skirts, running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
All, but one.
There's one single person running across the stage to reach the giant fishbowl-like container in the center of the stage, ignoring all the commotion.
Sometimes he's thankful Jaebum recruited such an...attention seeking individual to the crew. Always with the flashy entrances and theatrics. Jackson has his uses, he thinks to himself as he quietly makes his way behind the “fishbowl” and hopefully out of the auctioneer's sight. The creature inside is frantically moving around in the water, thrashing his tail and trying to free his bound hands; the poor thing can't even cry out with the tape over its mouth. And even then, Mark couldn't take his eyes off of the being in the water.
When he first saw him, being hauled off a dingy boat in what looked like a crate, Mark didn't think much of it. He'd seen people get carried off to auction halls before, in ways probably worse than a crate, and he definitely heard more profane things than what the (rather) pretty young man was screaming. But instead of turning back to his small game of poker with Yugyeom and taking the younger's share of meat, the fish tail that replaced the lower half of the trapped man's body stole his attention away. He rubbed his eyes, once, twice, dropped the cards in his hand in shock and leaned over the deck to get a closer look. Mark wasn't dreaming, that tail was attached to the body and was moving as crazily as the upper half was. A shimmery, pale blue tail, that looked like it was glowing when hit with the soft sunlight-he couldn't make that up, Youngjae's cooking wouldn't make him hallucinate that hard.
He had heard stories of beautiful creatures that lived in the clearest of waters, with voices that enchanted all that came across their territories, and wept tears of precious stones. He heard stories about how their hearts granted immortality or something of the sort, and seen how many people set sail to find these creatures, to hunt them and reap the rewards. Story after story that they do exist, that people have seen them, even own them, but no one believed, or at least he never believed. Only more old fishermen's tales that he was rather sick of hearing every time they docked. Mark was sure his crewmates didn't believe them either. But there, there in the crate was a living, breathing, very much real, mermaid.
Past all the curious townspeople that began to crowd around and whisper, and the burly-looking guards keeping the people from getting too close, Mark caught the merboy's gaze. They were as dark as any human's eyes, but what caught Mark's attention was the way they glinted purple in the light. It didn't take a genius to figure out the emotion in the creature's eyes was pure anger and defiance, but there was an underlying fear and sadness that made Mark's heart ache. When the other broke the stare to go back to hissing at his captors and trying to break free, Mark continued to stare. He was fascinated, ignoring the questioning whines from Yugyeom asking him what was so interesting, he didn't even hear the low whistle Jaebum let out when he decided to look over the deck. He never thought in a million years that what those stories he heard actually had a truth to them, never thought that he would get to see one. And now that he has, Mark wasn't going to let that merman disappear from his life just like that. He was going to steal that creature away.
He could probably stand there and admire the stunning creature for a little longer, but someone could also recognize his face from one of the many wanted posters plastered all over and get arrested and that, that would be problem. (Jaebum would kill the guards, obviously, but then most likely kill him after.) So he taps the glass, tapping until the merman turned around, his eyes a little less angry and a little more scared. Mark didn't think the other would recognize the guy that did nothing but stare at him from atop a ship (he guesses the light brown hair helps to set him apart from the rest), but the way the young man's eyes widened-he didn't miss the brief flicker of hope-and the way he swam to float directly in front of Mark told him otherwise. He would've thought it was cute the way the merman was excitedly moving around, trying to speak despite the tape, but Mark forces himself to snap out of it and get back to the task at hand.
He steps back and holds his hands up, indicating to the other that he isn't leaving when he notices the merman start to trash around again. In the background he hears another explosion go off and a laugh that distinctly sounds like Bambam's, but then there's Jaebum's commanding voice and it soothes Mark's worries of having the whole hall come falling down on them. He points upwards, telling the other to swim up to the top. The merman gives him a confused look and holds up his cuffed hands as if to say I can't do anything with my hands like this! Mark wants to tell him not to worry, to slowly coax him out, but from the corner of his eye he sees a guard and the auctioneer, red in the face, pointing at him. There isn't time.
It seems the both of them realize what the situation is; they look at each other one more time, Mark holding out his arms, smiling in the most hopeful way he can. He watches the merman turn his head towards the guard running at them and back at Mark before swimming and leaping over the edge of the tank. (It reminds Mark of a dolphin, but hey, he didn't say that.)
Mark has to steady himself when the merman crashes into his arms, and he can't deny how surprised he is at how light the creature is. The water soaks his front, and it makes him kind of cold, but he really has no time to think about it, not when the one guard after him has suddenly multiplied into five. Normally Mark would be up for the challenge, outsmarting the dumb guards with their posh lifestyles was a highly entertaining pastime, but he wasn't there to pick fights. At the other side of the stage, Youngjae's waving at him with one hand, the other hand holding a heavy looking sack of money which Mark grins at, and he starts to run over.
“We gotta go, Yugyeommie's got the ship ready!”
They run towards the back, where Jackson's already waiting by the door-Mark tries to ignore the way Jackson looks from him to the merman in his arms and the eyebrow wiggle, but he can't say the same for his fishy friend. Although, he doesn't mind all that much when he feels the merman press up closer against him.
“Move, move, move!”
Jaebum round's the corner with Bambam on his shoulder, and a bag on the other. He has nothing to fend off the growing number of guards chasing after him, and he has to try and not get caught in the homemade bombs he knows Jackson has scattered all over the place. But, lucky for the resident leader, Bambam has his back (quite literally) and firing his guns like the trigger happy shit that he is. Mark would stare a little longer so he has some material to throw in their captain's face when they're back at sea, but it seems like the auction hall is going to come down soon, 5/6 of their crew with it if they didn't moving.
“Cute fishstick you got there!” Bambam calls out, still thrown over Jaebum's shoulder as the latter runs past Mark to the front of the group. He looks down to see the merman furrow his eyebrows together, assuming he's trying to figure out what “fishstick” meant. Mark throws Bambam an exasperated look like that's all he can come up with but, he'll get the younger boy back later, instead focusing on getting back to the ship and having Yugyeom take a look at the cuffs around his little rescuee's wrists.
He wants to tell the merman in his arms that everything's fine and dandy now, even though it's not at the moment and oh shit, Mark's basically kidnapping him from his kidnappers. That's not the greatest impression to make, but jumping willingly into his arms had to mean something. While he's having his epiphany, bullets are being fired at him and he's maybe having a little difficulty trying not to drop his new "friend" and keeping up with their speedy captain. If he wasn't as fast as he was, he doesn't know what he would do. He kind of wishes Youngjae didn't have his hands full, the kid has a better aim than Bambam did, especially since the little gunman is even more off with his current position and all. And where is Jackson-a giant explosion would really help right now, especially since the guards from inside the auction hall called reinforcements.
The poor merman looks shaken up, his eyes tightly shut and huddled up against Mark's chest, and Mark resists the urge to sigh-these are definitely terrible situations to meet someone. Was he okay being out of the water? He didn't even know his name and they're already running from the authorities together, kind of romantic once he thinks about it. Though a name would be really nice so he can stop referring to him as “the merman.”
“Into the sea, let's go!”
Mark barely catches Jaebum's command over Bambam's high pitched screaming; at first he doesn't know why until he sees Jaebum leap over the edge of the cliff and-oh. That's why. Jackson, who suddenly sprints past him, notices too late and skids to a halt right at the edge. He's in the middle of stabilizing himself and opening his mouth, no doubt to shout at Jaebum and ask what's wrong with him, when Youngjae catches up and shoves him off the cliff too. Mark can hear a noise that almost sounds like a dying cat and a “shut up, Jackson!” before he follows the rest of his crew. Falling isn't his favorite feeling in the world, especially not when he's falling into the ocean. He's glad Mr. pretty, wet, and fishy has his eyes closed, he can sort of imagine what the merman is thinking-why are humans so crazy, why is this guy insane, I'm going to die-or something like that. (Mark isn't good at calming people down while diving off a cliff.)
Eventually his bottom hits the hard wooden floor of their ship and the familiar comforting smell of the sea surrounds him. He doesn't realize he closed his eyes until he's slowly opening them to check his surroundings. Jackson's a few feet away, laying on his back and shouting at a disinterested Youngjae and Bambam had casaully made his way over to Yugyeom, like he didn't just jump off a cliff. Kids these days have no sense of fear, he thinks. He's brushing himself off when he realizes he's using his hands. His hands that are currently free and not at all holding anything or anyone.
Mark sits up a little straighter and looks around the deck, he must've let go when they landed, shit, he feels terrible. When he spots the merman, laying a little ways off with his back facing Mark, he scrambles over on his knees, worry written all over his face. Mark slowly turns the young man over to check for any injuries or bruises or any sign of damage, running his hands down the others sides, no time to marvel at the softness, up to where skin turned into scales, too concerned with the well-being of the merman.
He doesn't register Jaebum yelling at Jackson to get up or Yugyeom tackling Youngjae for the bags of gold, Mark's focused on his own “prize.” He doesn't know exactly what to do next, rescuing him was the only part in his plan he was sure about. His eyes moved to observe the young merman's face now that he has the opportunity, without looking creepy. The others hair was different when it wasn't floating around him in the water, splayed out like a halo, now it stuck to his forehead and the sides of his face. Mark uses a hand to brush the smooth strands of pitch black hair to the side, preventing it from blocking the man's closed eyes. He had a rather baby-ish face, not toddler-like like Bambam's, but like an innocent child? Mark doesn't really know, flowerly language was not his thing, but the merman had a very pure image. All smooth lines and curves, fair skin that practically glowed with the bits of water that clung to him, and-
And tape over his mouth.
Mark nearly slaps himself on the forehead for forgetting that the tape and handcuffs are still on, instead he was ogling the merman like he was some sixteen year old boy seeing a girl for the first time. He thinks about calling Yugyeom over to look at the cuffs, but thinks removing the tape would be a better idea; being able to speak would probably be a better thing to wake up to rather than not. But, Mark doesn't know how to make peeling tape off someone's mouth not hurt and hurting the pretty merman is something he doesn't want to do.
What if he peels it off and his skin comes off too? And the merman's mouth is like a shark's and eats him whole for ripping his skin off so cruelly? Jaebum would never forgive him for being eaten and bringing a man-eating merman on board. Bottom line, Mark is a wimp and really, really doesn't want to hurt the unconscious man.
Clearing his throat and getting his courage up, Mark holds the merman's chin to keep his face in place and grabs the end of the tape and tugs it as gently as he could. And maybe having been in the water for so long the tape is less sticky than it originally was, making it easier to peel off. Sure Mark had to tug a bit harder here and there, but he got it off. To match the merman's cute little nose was a cute little mouth. Plush, soft looking pink lips, slightly ajar to reveal pearly white non-sharklike teeth, much to Mark's satisfaction. He briefly wonders if mermaids needed mouth-to-mouth, because he honestly wouldn't mind. All part of the kind savior role, despite being a criminal or whatnot. (Details don't really matter, not to this band of guys, anyway.)
A groan snaps him out of thoughts, focusing on the man settled in front of him. He calls out for Yugyeom, also attracting the attention of the others. They didn't pay any attention to him before and now they do? What do his crewmates want anyway, Mark totally saw the merman first. Speaking of which, the latter's tail flicks to life and it jolts himself awake, staring right into Mark's eyes with a small gasp.
“You...thank you!”
Mark barely has time to blink when the merman throws his still handcuffed hands over Mark's head and pulling him into a tight hug. His face is pretty much pressed up against the other man's shoulder, and he can see Jackson's shit-eating grin, but all he can concentrate on is how good the merman's laughter sounds. He has to remind himself mermaids were known for their “enchanting voices” so he shouldn't be that surprised when the merman's voice was comparable to that of a siren. It's still nice to hear, though. It takes Mark completely off guard when a wet kiss is pressed to his cheek. He doesn't realize the grin on his face until he sees Bambam shaking and covering his mouth to stifle his laughter.
When Mark's finally released, his crewmates have all gathered around the two of them, staring curiously at man and merman. And Mark's staring at the merman, taking in the others smiling face. He himself is a little shocked at why the others initial reaction was to catch him in a hug and smile at everyone like everything was going just swell and he wasn't kidnapped and kidnapped again and carried off a cliff, but he thinks it really doesn't matter, no, not when that bright smile is thrown his way.
Mark swears he isn't that easy.
“Morning, Fishboy,” the captain says.
“Jinyoung,” he corrects, not even giving Jaebum a glance. Instead he moves his tail to curl underneath him and sits up a little more properly and grins up at everyone. “Thank you so much for getting me out of there!”
“T'was nothing, fishstick!” Yugyeom elbows Bambam for the nickname, and Mark thanks whatever gods are up there that the crew was blessed with such a level headed, normal guy. “But we don't deserve credit, it was all your knight in shining armor over there!” Mark barely has time to give Bambam a dirty look when everyone's attention is focused on him.
“I-it was nothing,” he chokes out, rubbing the back of his neck, a habit he developed whenever he was nervous. No one said a word, and while Jinyoung looks confused, the other five look at Mark expectantly. Today is not his day, all day he's been stuck not knowing what to do. It's when Jackson mouths “name” to him he finally gets it. “I'm Mark, by the way. And uh, we should probably get these off you,” he says, tapping at the handcuffs around Jinyoung's wrist.
Mark looks up at Yugyeom and the younger boy drops down to their level, raising Jinyoung's hands to his eyes, inspecting the cuffs. It's funny the way Yugyeom's face changes while he's thinking, brows furrowed, a little bit of tongue peeking out from his mouth and sometimes his nose wrinkles up-but he knows not to laugh lest he wants Jaebum to put him on mop duty for the rest of the month for hurting Yugyeom's feelings.
While he watches the youngest try to pick the lock with a thin piece of metal he pulled out of nowhere, Mark thinks that finding Yugyeom was truly a blessing. He looks around at his other mates, and sees their impressed faces at how the kid is working, and Jaebum's proud father look.
Yugyeom was and still is just a kid in Mark's eyes; he never went out with the rest of the crew on raids, instead opting to man the ship and provide an escape if things got bad. Bambam was the one that found him and brought him to the ship-it was funny to see a pipsqueak like him drag along someone nearly three heads taller than him-and told them he helped Bambam get away. They were the same age and Mark guesses it was one of the reasons Bambam became attached so quickly. Initially it was just Bambam that bothered to do anything with Yugyeom, the rest of the crew choosing to do their own things, but long story short, one by one fell to the innocent charm of their new addition. He made Youngjae and Bambam feel like they didn't have to be mature all the time and they goofed off together, he was smart and helped Jaebum navigate the ship and plan their next hits, he could make Jackson laugh and lift his mood, and for Mark, he gave Mark back the little brother he missed so much. Needless to say, Yugyeom fit right in and Mark couldn't think of the crew without him.
So when the cuffs click open and fall to the ground with a clunk, Mark reaches over and ruffles the younger boy's hair. “Good job, Gyeomie,” he says.
“Of course it's a good job, it's Yugyeom we're talking about!” Jackson exclaims, clapping the boy on the shoulder. Mark rolls his eyes at how much they baby Yugyeom, but he can't deny it either. Instead he turns his attention to Jinyoung, who's rubbing at at his wrists and rotating them to get the blood pumping again.
“Thank you, thank you!” Before Mark knows it, Jinyoung has Yugyeom's face in between his hands and he's kissing their youngest all over his cheeks. “Thank you Mark, thank you..”
“Yugyeom,” Yugyeom fills in, ducking his head to hide how red his face is. Jinyoung's incredibly happy, tail thumping up and down like a dog. “Thank you, Yugyeom! What about the rest of you?” He asks curiously, eyes looking the other members over.
“I'm Jaebum, the captain of this ship,” Mark's captain introduces himself, bowing his head down in greeting. Jackson, Youngjae, and Bambam all introduce themselves after him, and Youngjae impulsively asks if he can touch Jinyoung's tail. It's cute the way he covers his mouth as soon as the question leaves his lips, looking shocked and embarrassed it came out. Jinyoung just laughs, looking comfortable with his crewmates, and lets Youngjae do as he wants.
Later on, Mark's carrying Jinyoung like he was when they were running from the auction hall, but only this time he's walking through their ship to a room in the back. Well, the bathroom, actually. The others reasoned that since it was him that brought Jinyoung to the ship, it would only be right that he have to carry him around. And they figured the merman couldn't just lay on their dry, emphasis on dry, deck all day and scrambled to think of a temporary place for him to stay.
“Youngjae! Are you done?”
A muffled shout from inside the bathroom is all Mark gets in response. He sighs and shouts his question again. Jinyoung laughs and Mark has to fight off a smile. The door flings open, barely missing Mark's nose and Youngjae is standing in the doorway.
“I said,” Youngjae sighs exasperatedly, “Everything's good! Tub's all full and mats all over the ground to make sure the floorboards don't get too wet and start to mold.” He tugs Mark in, pushing him towards the tub. “C'mon, c'mon! Jinyoung's gonna dry up if you don't hurry!”
Mark's almost offended that Youngjae cares so much about the merman he just met a few hours ago more than him and that he would think Mark would let Jinyoung dry up. The latter doesn't notice the offended look Mark gives Youngjae, he just laughs and ruffles the younger one's hair. “Merpeople don't dry up just like that! Thank you for this.”
Youngjae smiles and excuses himself, something about Jackson needing his help to fix part of the mast. Mark stops paying attention to him after he says bye, so he misses the sound of a chair being propped against the door and muffled giggling. He's preoccupied lowering Jinyoung into their decent sized tub, stepping back when the water splashes over the edge of the tub.
Jinyoung looks pretty happy to be back in water, submerging his upper half and then sitting back up to get the water all over him. His tail is hanging off the edge of the tub, occasionally swishing back and forth to catch the water droplets he flings that way. He shakes his head, getting rid of the excess water in his hair and gets Mark wet in the process, and laughs at Mark's shocked gasp.
“Come on in, the water's great!” Jinyoung winks, laughing even harder at how red Mark's face becomes. Mark huffs, crossing his arms and look away, feigning anger. Being playful? Two can play at that game.
He gets some sort of satisfaction when Jinyoung whines that Mark's not paying attention to him anymore, that he's sort of sorry for splashing water on him and it's not his fault merpeople like water, and he didn't mean it so please don't be mad at him. It's after a few minutes more of Jinyoung's pleas that he turns around, and easy smile on his face. They stare at each other, and both burst out laughing at how ridiculous their prior exchange was.
“So, uh, where's home?”
Jinyoung's resting on top of his folded arms on the edge of the tub, swinging his tail absentmindedly, watching Mark play with a loose thread on one of the rags on the floor. He's seated right beside the tub,not wanting to leave Jinyoung alone yet.
“Can't this be my home?”
Mark's shocked, and he turns to Jinyoung so fast he nearly knocks his head into the tub. Jinyoung looks back at him, tilting his head in question. He really does look like a child, and Mark doesn't know what to say.
“You want to stay?”
Will Jaebum allow it? Where is he going to stay because they'll need the tub eventually? What's he going to do when they all have to go on land? Who's going to look after him? Can they just leave him in the bathroom? Is this what he really wants?
“There's not much I can do on board a ship, and I don't know where else I can stay other than your tub, but here, I want to stay here.”
Mark doesn't know what's in the future, he and the rest of them take whatever life gives them and make spontaneous decisions. Kidnapping a (rare) mermaid was definitely spontaneous, and Mark thinks the least he can do is see the whole thing through.
“Then,” Mark looks up and smiles at Jinyoung, happy that he returns it tenfold, “Welcome home.”
1431w
When Mark asked Jinyoung to come home with him for the holiday, he didn't think he'd get a yes. He was overjoyed of course, but shocked nonetheless. Jinyoung agreed to spend the entire holiday with him, as in he wasn't going home to see his family like all the other students were. He reassured Mark there was nothing going on at home like that, so he can relax. Jinyoung's parents traveled, and it just so happened they would be in Northern China for the winter holiday looking for dragons or something of the like; he would just be going back to an empty home. So yes, he would love to stay with Mark.
“Even if it's not in the wizarding world? And you have to meet my family?”
“Even if it's not in the wizarding world, and I'm sure your family's nice. If not, well, I'm glad I'll have you. Don't worry too much.”
His dad had some kind of fascination with the Muggle world after a trip he took to gather information for some random article he was writing for the paper. But not long after, he convinced his mother and sister to go with him. They overall had a good time, sans Tammy whining about the loss of her wand. Soon the rest of the family, including himself, got roped into a “family vacation” to a “nice, warm city called Los Angeles, the city of Angels! Angels, Mark! Isn't that amazing?” (Mark didn't even know what an angel was.)
The rest was history. So every once in a while, usually in winter, they would take a trip to California where it was plenty warmer than it was where they lived and stayed in a house his father bought on impulse. (They were all forced to do a little research on the Muggle world before they went, so they wouldn't seem too out of place.) The still celebrated Christmas as a family, with the tree and presents and eggnog, but without all the bulky layers they would otherwise have to wear at home.
Just this time, Mark is bringing a guest.
“The whole no magic thing is kind of weird, and some of the stuff people do for fun is a little strange I guess, but it's not hard to get used to. And uh, we'll probably hang out outside most of the time so we won't be around my family 24/7. They're a little weird, but good people, I mean not saying they're really strange like Filch strange, but sometimes they just do weird things ..”
“Mark, calm down! If I wasn't nervous about meeting your family I would be now because you're so nervous,” Jinyoung laughs, giving Mark's hand a small squeeze. He becomes a little red at the comment, he can't help it. It's been nearly two years and yeah of course he's talked to his family about Jinyoung, but they've never met. Well, not until now anyway.
He knows they like him, from the way he gushes in his letters home. Plus he's dating a freaking prefect, that's already a plus in their eyes. He's just nervous that something bad or embarrassing or possibly both is going to happen.
“Don't worry,” Jinyoung says, placing a soft kiss on Mark's cheek. “It'll be a good break.” It calms him down a little bit.
“Yeah...yeah,” He says more to himself to calm him down before placing the key into the door and turning it open. “Hello? Anyone home?”
Silence.
“Guess no one's home,” Jinyoung says, peeking his head inside. Mark opens the door a little wider so both of them can step in. Taking off their shoes, Mark takes Jinyoung's hand and brings him up to the second floor, where his room is. They walk past the living room, already decorated for the holidays. It's a lot of red and green, especially the tree-ribbons, ornaments, lights, everything decorated it. There are already a few wrapped gifts under it.
Mark ignores Jinyoung's giggling that he knows is at the stockings hung above the fireplace, complete with little paper cut-outs of the family members on them. Mark's has a broom stick in his hand and a sign above that says “The #1 Chaser!!” courtesy of probably his dad. He loves his dad, but really! His boyfriend didn't need to know his dad is his biggest fan.
“Aaaand, this is my room. And your room, too, I guess,” he says as he opens the door, throwing his bag down in the corner. It's a plain room, not much decorations since the family only came on holidays. A fairly decent sized bed by the window, a closet, a desk, and a few books here and there.
“Oh, no guest room to dump me in?”
“No, unfortunately. But if you want to be dumped on something..” Mark walks forward into Jinyoung's personal space until their noses touch, before he bends down and picks Jinyoung up, one arm under his knees and the other on his back. Jinyoung squeals and clutches the front of Mark more out of shock from suddenly being horizontal than anything.
“Mark!” he burst out laughing when the #1 chaser unceremoniously dumped on the bed.
“There you are, Mr. prefect, dumped onto a bed. Happy now?” Jinyoung just rolls his eyes, wide smile on his face, hesitating before he grabs the pillow and whacks Mark with it. “I don't need magic to hit you, you know!”
“Yeah, but now you can't blame “the wind blew the book into your face, it's wasn't me!” Mark raises his voice to mimic Jinyoung and gets another whack in the face for it. He's ready to retaliate, but puts the pillow down when he notices Jinyoung holding up a box.
“To Mark and Jinyoung...from your mom?” Jinyoung blinks at him, not expecting to find it under the pillow. “She got me something? Wait, she assumed we were going to be in the same room, that's why it's both of it right? But no, she got me something and I didn't get anything! How could I for-”
“Okay, now you need to calm down,” Mark laughs, taking one of Jinyoung's hands and entwining their fingers. “I'm sure they won't care, sometimes I forget to get them gifts too,”
“You're a horrible son,” Jinyoung interrupts.
“Whatever, I get them enough stuff other times, but anyway, they won't care. Having you here is gift enough.”
“Aren't you sweet, and you better not be lying or there'll be a lot of “strong winds” when we get back.”
“That would be unfortunate,” Mark teases, “Come on, let's see what mom got us.”
“It's not even Christmas day!” Jinyoung exclaims, scooting closer to Mark nonetheless, box placed in between them.
“Think of it more like...a welcoming gift, then!” Mark laughs and kisses away the frown on Jinyoung's face.
When they open the box, Mark rethinks the whole trip. He thought he was safe, that maybe yeah, everything will be great and they'd all have fun together-so fun that Jinyoung would be a regular in their holiday celebration next year, and the year after that, and probably forever. But now he wishes he has his wand so he could cast these things away and never look at them again. He and his siblings avoided these items for years now and Mark can't believe now of all times is when his mom decides to whip them out.
“Oh,” Jinyoung says, lifting one of the sweaters out of the box. A knitted navy blue sweater, with a “J” in the center, and what looks like Christmas trees lined along the bottom. The one sitting under it is its twin, a red sweater with an “M” on it. “I thought you said it's warm here?”
“It...is,” Mark says. He's staring at the Christmas sweater. He prays they're not the only ones with them, otherwise his siblings would never let him live it down. The gesture is nice, and he'll make sure he thanks his mom, but he's not wearing it out.
“I guess we can wear it when we go back, right?” Mark turns to face Jinyoung so fast to make sure he's not hearing things.
“What?”
“I've never gotten something like this before, but I wouldn't want to wear it if I'm going to die from heat, you know?” he says, smiling as he runs his fingers over the material. Mark just sighs and smiles, leaning on his boyfriend. So he takes it back, maybe he'll wear it out if Jinyoung is too.
“Mom's gonna love you.”
2070w
“We need to stop meeting like this, don't you think?”
“How about we stop meeting, period?”
“You wound me, wonder boy,” the person continues, walking a slow circle around the hero.
“Oh wonder boy, that's creative,” Mark bites back sarcastically. He tries to wriggle his way out of the binds that keep him from knocking the villain into next week, or at least throw him off the roof that they're on. The back-up throwing knives hidden in his boot are too far to reach, the rest having been thrown already chasing the absolutely insufferable criminal standing before him. It's not only that the other masked figure insisted on making conversation with him, but the fact that he got away. Every. Single. Time. Mark doesn't know how-he was, and probably still is, one of the top heroes, starting his career in the States and moving to South Korea to help out, but this guy, he just doesn't understand how he can slip away from between his fingers. His anger only fuels him to struggle against the ropes harder.
“Should I call you Red instead? Oh I made a rhyme!” He raises a hand to cover his giggles, ignoring the way Mark growls at him. What did he do for this type of verbal abuse, if only he was free or if his “partner” would show up and help him out. He watches the villain twirl the diamond bracelet he stole (among other things) around on his finger, rather carelessly considering the fact he intentionally went to go steal it. One thing that he doesn't get is that the entire safe of diamonds and money was emptied out, yet the man in front of him only had a single duffel bag and the single diamond bracelet. It never made sense to him-Mark would chase after him while Jackson surveyed the damage before following after him, but what Jackson tells him about how much was stolen, it doesn't match what he sees the other man carrying. There was never any indication that the rest was stashed somewhere, however, every time, there would always be a symbol of what looked like a rectangle, only two corners weren't joined. Like two backwards “L”s.
“It's humiliating enough you caught me, but do you really have to call me names too?”
“Where's the fun in that? It's proper hero-villain etiquette to have little nicknames for each other, don't you know! Red is much cooler than En Point, in my opinion,” Mark narrows his eyes, ignoring the jab at his self-picked choice of name, and continues to stall by indulging the other's penchant for conversation. He remembers the laser pen Youngjae, Youngstar rather, made for him buried somewhere in one of the compartments in his belt. If he stalls long enough, he can probably get it and free himself, and hopefully Jackson would come as his back up. He never took this long.
“Is it? Well it's a little difficult to come up with a nickname for my enemy if I don't even know your name.” It's with that comment the grin is wiped off the other's face, the first time he doesn't have his ips pulled into a smile, Mark notices. His mouth makes an “o” shape, and that's all Mark has to guess that the villain is shocked-masked eyes and such. It's the first time Mark really notices how pink and plump his lips are.
“You...haven't figured it out then? And I thought the amazing En Point would've figured out the name left behind at every scene would be,” the other man laughs, taking a step towards Mark. He reminds the hero of a cat, his steps are light and silent even with his boots, and all his movements looked purposeful and graceful. His costume only adds to the image, tight black clothes that leave nearly nothing to the imagination. But Mark has to remember that he's dangerous, he can't get too close or it won't end well. They never got into a physical fight, not with the way the other manages to keep at least five feet away from him at all times. Every time they met, it would be a conversation with words rather than fists or abilities. That's what makes Mark weary, he doesn't know what the other can do.
He's digging through his belt, eyes still on the figure in front of him, “What name? All that's left behind is a rectangle stamped on the wall!” His hand closes in on the thin pen, lifting it slowly to not attract the attention of the other.
“You should look more closely next time,” the villain chides. Mark notices him getting closer, and is about to step back when an explosion from the building next to them distracts them both. The other man, Mark notices, has his mouth turned down in a dissatisfied manner, like he knows something is wrong. It's another thing that doesn't make sense, the crime's already done and he's here with the stolen goods, what is he doing concerned about the explosion? It's Mark that should be concerned, was Jackson just blowing things up? At this rate he was getting close to having 200% switched as his partner.
Mark stops thinking when he activates the laser and cuts himself free from the ropes, taking the moment the cat-like man is distracted to tackle him to the ground. He goes to deliver a punch on his face when he realizes the man he just had pinned down isn't there anymore.
“Do you ever wonder why you've never caught me?” The voice comes from behind him, he turns to see the his enemy standing a few feet away, both hands clutching at the bag.
“Because you're a snake, escaping every time, sometimes even before we even get there,” Mark says, rising up to his feet.
“Is that what you think?” A smile plays on his lips, “I'm glad you hold me up to such a degree,” Mark wants to interrupt and say he's doing no such thing, he's just reluctantly acknowledging his loss. “But are you sure it's nothing else?”
Mark doesn't understand what he's getting at. He would've noticed if it was something else that allowed the person in front of him to get away, he's a hero. It's his job, to right what's wrong and bring those wrong-doers to justice.
“What are you getting at?”
“Do you ever wonder why you're so quick to chase after me?”
“Stop asking questions you obviously know the answer to! It's my duty to chase after you, if not what kind of hero would I be if I didn't?”
Neither of them move, staring each other down. Mark doesn't understand it, why he's still here, why he's still talking, why he isn't moving to take down the target that is right in front if him. He doesn't understand it.
“You know, you're really popular. You and your teammate, Thunder Strike, was it?” he laughs, “Always in the papers about how quickly you catch the criminals and leave them at the police's feet. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed.
“You would get to the crime scene so fast and put an end to what's going on, or chase after who ever it was without a second thought until they were on the ground and handcuffed. What a scary hero you are-”
“What are you getting at?” Mark doesn't know if he says it to make things go faster, so he can escape and Mark can go back and tell everyone he got away again, or if he's genuinely curious.
“Yet you aren't so quick to end things with me. You respond to me! I never thought you would, but you did.” The smile on the villain's face, makes Mark frown. He's never thought about it. “It makes me feel rather special.” He knows the other is intelligent, through their past conversations they've had. He's articulate, albeit playful in a way, he knows how to use his words. He's different from all the thugs he's seen, witty and still maintaining that shroud of mystery since the first time they crossed paths weeks ago. Maybe that's why he does it, to hear what he has to say, to see if he can uncover anything about the masked villain he knows absolutely nothing about.
“So tell me,” the masked figure is suddenly in front of him, and he notices that he's slightly taller and what he can see of his face is bright and clear, “am I special to you?” Mark swears their lips brush for a quick second and he can't breathe, but before he knows it, the thief is back where he originally was.
He's stunned, watching as the other man back his way up to the edge of the roof. He watches as he raises one hand in a strange salute; his thumb, index and middle finger up while the other two were down, reminding Mark of what little kids did to pretend they had guns. He feels like there's more to it and the other man wants him to figure it out, but what?
But before he can ask, it's already decided their time is up.
“I'll see you around, Red. Think about me, okay?” And he falls backwards off the roof top.
“Wait!” Mark reaches a hand out to try and catch up, but all he holds is air, just like every other time he's tried. He's leaning over the edge, to try and catch a glimpse of the masked villain or the glittering of diamonds, but all he sees is an empty alley way. They were up high, and there was no way he would've survived a fall that high. Maybe he really is a cat, he thinks. It's another mystery added that he can't solve.
He's going to get off the roof, maybe call some of the other heroes in the area to see if they know anything, but before he can a voice calls out to him from the alley he was just looking at.
“Yi-En!”
Only one moron would blurt out his real name like that. He stomps back to the edge to yell down at the person on the ground.
“Tell the whole world why don't you! What do you want, Thunder?” Mark knows Jackson is rolling his eyes right now.
“Did you see where the perp went? I was in the middle of fighting him when he just bolted!....Wait, why are you up there anyway?” It takes Mark a minute to process what Jackson relays to him-he was just fighting the...? It couldn't be.
“What are you talking about? I chased him up here the whole time!”
“No way dude, didn't you see that explosion? It was him trying to blow me up! How the hell would he have gotten on the roof if he was right in front of me the whole time?”
Then it clicked for both of them.
“Call Youngstar, 200%, and Bam%, we need to talk.”
Mark doesn't realize how long he stayed up last night talking to the others until he's sitting in his 9:30 class trying to keep his eyes open. It's a long hour and a half of trying to look like he's awake and taking notes, but he gets through it and nearly crashes into Yugyeom during the break they all share.
“Rough night, huh?” Kunpimook chirps, too chipper for Mark's taste. Youngjae gives him a pat on the back and hands him a can of coffee that he probably needs.
“I can't believe we didn't notice for this long,” Jackson groans, slapping his hand on his forehead.
“Don't worry, hyung. We'll help next time,” Yugyeom says.
Mark's glad they all somehow found each other, coincidentally all of them went to the same university in the day and patrolled relatively the same area at night. It's easier to rely on more than just one person, and maybe with a few more brains pooled together they can catch the mysterious duo that's been robbing the city little by little. Too busy keeping the younger ones from getting loud and staying awake at the same time, he doesn't notice the bespectacled boy with the diamond bracelet hiding under his sleeve walking towards the library or the boy with the diamond stud earring covered by his hair walking in the other direction.
2102w
When Yugyeom decided he would give up his breaks to help his hyungs out at the day-care, he wasn't expecting to become the new dad to five little persons-children, whatever. Youngjae says it's because he's so big and looks like a grown man rather than a university student, but he knows Youngjae is just bitter he doesn't need help getting stuff from the top shelves.
“Hyung, hyung help!” Yugyeom hears a voice behind him, momentarily forgetting every person he deals with from 9AM to 12PM is around four-fifths his size, and looks down. He inwardly groans.
It's little Kunpimook. Little Kunpimook from Thailand and his cute little face and big, big, big mouth. Nichkhun hyung warned Yugyeom about him, at first Yugyeom thought it was nothing-what's the worst he can do? Spill milk on me?-but he was wrong. Every time Kunpimook comes to him, an older boy by the name of Jackson is not far behind. That child, Yugyeom will never forget. Jackson's loud and kind of goofy, and is always up for jokes. Sometimes he pulls Yugyeom to the side to whisper a knock-knock joke to him or show him cool things he brought from home. Sweet kid, but awfully loud.
It was sort of cute how one came after the other, until Yugyeom realized the only reason Jackson was that close behind was Kunpimook liked to throw things. A lot.
Yugyeom plasters a smile on his face and bends down to lift Kunpimook up, grimacing at the glob of pink paint in his dark hair. (Good thing he never wears his nice floral shirts to this job.) He ignores the screeches of horror from beyond the rocking horse, knowing full well who is responsible for such noises.
“Hyung's here, what's the matter?” He makes sure to keep his head as far away without it looking weird to avoid the very wet paint on the child's head. But the world isn't smiling on him today and the child nuzzles his face into Yugyeom's neck, smearing pink paint over the underside of his face, laughing all the while.
“Nothing! Just wanna be up high so I can see hyung better!” Okay, he admits that's cute and maybe he can forgive Kunpimook for getting paint on his face. He almost forgets that any moment now Jackson's going to show up and start a screaming contest with the toddler in his arms.
From the distance Yugyeom can see Jackson with pink paint on his pants moving stuffed dolls around and checking under tables for Kunpimook, not looking very pleased. He's tempted to walk out of the room and ask Junho hyung to switch classrooms with him until a tug on his pant leg catches his attention.
One of the older kids, older than Jackson by a year and Kunpimook by two, Mark is staring up at him. Mark isn't a problem child, he's quiet, follows directions, and helps keep Jackson in line sometimes. He never really asks for much either, which Yugyeom is thankful for.
“Yes, Mark?” He wants to bend down to speak at eye-level with the boy, but Kunpimook's yelling in his ear that he wants to stay up, so Yugyeom settles for leaning down a little. Mark seems to understand as he waves to the younger boy.
“Is Jinyoung here?”
“Uh,” He looks around, trying to spot the boy Mark is looking for. Jinyoung was a kid that Yugyeom would be able to spot instantly, he smile kind of brightened up the whole room. Mark was usually with him too, so Yugyeom understands why he would ask where Jinyoung is. “I don't see him, Jaebum isn't here either. Maybe they'll be here later?”
He tries to give Mark some hope when he notices the little boy frown. “Okay, I'll wait.”
“I'm sure he'll be here soon, why don't you find Jackson?” Yugyeom ruffles Mark's hair and really hopes he takes his advice and go find Jackson. Mark nods and runs off, calling for the Chinese boy. Just in time, Yugyeom thinks, because only a second later and Jackson would've been running full force towards him and the boy in his arms.
“Hello, Youngjae hyung is here!”
“Hyung!” Surprisingly it's not the kids that greet him, but Yugyeom.
“I didn't expect you to be so excited to see me,” Youngjae laughs, looking at Yugyeom's pained expression. “You have a little, uh..” He taps the side of his face, staring at the pink on the younger's face.
“Yeah, yeah I know. Kunpimook had paint in his hair and launched himself at me,” he sighs. “Hyung help me.”
Youngjae only laughs, closing the door behind him and tugging on the little boy's hand he's holding inside. Yugyeom almost doesn't notice, tired from carrying Kunpimook around and having to calm Jackson down and withstanding the yelling that eventually did happen between the Thai and Chinese boys. Poor Mark had his hands over his ears the entire time.
“Hey-” He barely greets the boy before two voices beat him to it.
“JB!”
“Jaebum!”
Both Mark and Jackson run towards the door, early bowling Yugyeom and Youngjae over to greet their friend. Kunpimook makes his way over too, not liking that his two friends abandoned him.
Right, Jaebum, how could Yugyeom forget. He's one of the older kids too, same age as Jackson, but a lot more mature. Sometimes he wondered if Jaebum really was a five year old with the way he just commands the other kids. He's going to grow up to be a leader, Yugyeom thinks. Usually he's the one to calm Jackson down or suggest to do things, and their little group of Mark, Jackson, Kunpimook, and Jinyoung all listen to him. Well, now that Yugyeom thinks about it, Jinyoung listens to Jaebum and because Jinyoung listens Mark listens too. A bunch of toddlers' relationships is probably more complicated than his will ever be. Yugyeom's the youngest out of the workers at the day-care so by default he has to listen to everyone and that's the end of it.
Oh how he wishes he was a child again.
“Hey guys,” Jaebum greets, letting go of Youngjae's hands and going over to the blocks.
“He's rather late today,” Yugyeom comments, watching the four of them pile blocks up and burst out in giggles when it falls over. Jackson seems to have forgotten about Kunpimook throwing a block at him.
“Yeah, I was just talking to his mom before,” Youngjae says, pulling Yugyeom towards the sink at the back of the room. Well, Yugyeom guesses he's still kind of a child with the way his hyungs take care of him. Youngjae wets a paper towel before he starts gently rubbing away at the paint on his face. He thinks they paint a funny picture, considering Yugyeom's taller, but he doesn't mind because it's Youngjae. “Jaebum was waiting for Jinyoung, but he never came out. Turns out Jinyoung got sick so he's staying home.”
“Mark's not going to be happy,” Yugyeom blurts out, thinking about how the boy asked him earlier about Jinyoung.
“Can't fight sickness, Jaebum wasn't that happy either. I didn't know they were neighbors.”
“Really?” Youngjae tsks when Yugyeom moves, making him miss the last bit of pink on his face. His face is a little red from the rubbing, but at least most of the paint is off. He didn't have time to do it himself since he had to help Kunpimook get it out of his hair before Youngjae came in.
“Yeah, they come in together, don't you notice?”
Yugyeom shrugs. He's usually busy dealing with the kids that arrive super early to notice when others come in.
“Well you should, their group seems to like you a lot,” Youngjae mentions, throwing the towel out and wiping the excess water off his hands on Yugyeom's sleeve. (He makes a noise of protest, but it falls on deaf ears.)
“Yeah, well you're lucky Jaebummie told them why Jinyoung's not here today or I would've made you break the news to them.”
Jinyoung isn't back the next day either.
Jinyoung definitely makes his list of top five kids, sure there are other kids that didn't cause problems and easy to get a long with, but little Park Jinyoung is like that kid you wish was your little brother. He smiled a lot and it made a lot of the other kids smile too. He noticed Jinyoung held hands a lot, outside of the buddy system they had. It calmed other kids down and made them happy when someone else was with them, he guesses. Or at least Mark was always super smiley when they held hands. (It's a lot.)
And it was really hard not to cave when he acts cute to get an extra cookie during snack time or something. Yugyeom can see why the other four hang around him so much.
“Jinyoung's still sick, but he'll come back soon. Cheer up guys,” Yugyeom tries, kneeling down by the four boys who opted to just lay around on the carpet staring at the ceiling. He knows that feeling of just not wanting to do anything, he does the same thing when school is in session. “Come on, me and Youngjae hyung will play monopoly with you!”
“Monopoly's only four people, hyung,” Kunpimook moans. “I wanna play with Jinyoungie.”
“Me too,” Mark adds, pouting. Mark never pouts. Ever. This is already on dangerous levels of weird. “I miss Jinyoungie.”
“Mama says I can't visit him either. Why did he get sick?” Jaebum asks, turning his head to look at Yugyeom. Because when sicknesses attack your body, your immune system has to fight it off, but if your immune system is weak, then you'll get sick, is what he wants to say.
“Because it's almost winter, right? Jinyoung got cold so that's why he has to stay home and get all warmed up before he can come back,” he makes it up and hopes that they'll buy it. Yugyeom doesn't want to lie, but if he explained it, they probably wouldn't get it or cry. Or both. Yugyeom can only handle so many crying children before he starts crying and running to his hyungs.
“Oh.” Jackson is surprisingly quiet and it scares Yugyeom a little bit. Him of all kids, should not be laying around on the ground moping. He isn't even phased when Yugyeom ruffles up his hair-usually he makes a fuss about it and yells that he messed up his hair and now he's never going to look like the cool hyung on TV.
“They really miss Jinyoung,” Youngjae whispers to him when they're both off in the corner supervising the kids during snack time, munching on animal crackers and sipping dinky little apple juice boxes.
“Yeah,” Yugyeom says, “I miss him too.”
“Hi!”
Yugyeom turns around to see a little boy, his hat pulled down so much his hair blocks his eyes, but Yugyeom would recognize those little crescents and the little wrinkles that appeared around them anywhere.
“Jinyoungie!” He exclaims, lifting the little boy up, smiling at the giggles that came from him. He laughs at the smiley mouth mask Jinyoung has, and asks him why he's here so early.
“Wanted to see hyung and my friends! It was soooo boring at home,” the boy whines. “Did you miss me?”
A hand reaches out and pats him on the head, “Of course we did. Yugyeomie hyung was so sad without you~”
“Yeah, Youngjae hyung almost cried~” He sticks his tongue out at his hyung that appeared out of nowhere. Jinyoung just giggles.
“I love you, hyungs!”
Yugyeom watches as one by one Jaebum, Jackson, Mark, and Kunpimook come in and notice Jinyoung is back. There's a lot of hugging and yelling that they can all play together again, and a few comments about the cool mask he has to wear. He laughs and calls Youngjae over when out of nowhere Mark takes Jinyoung by the hand and drags him to the cubbies where they put all their belongings. The two watch from behind the bookshelf to see Mark take out his scarf from his cubby and wrap it around a surprised looking Jinyoung.
“So you won't be cold,” the two of them hear him say. Yugyeom almost doubles over, clutching his heart-that's cute. Youngjae almost hits him over the head for making a scene.
Jinyoung smiles and holds Mark's hand, walking back together to where the other three were.
“My heart, help me hyung.”
“I'll always help you, dummy. You don't even need to ask.”
aus i may or may not ever continue but i just wanted to get them out there bye
1. i don't know where this came from maybe i really wanted pirates maybe i just wanted jinyoung as a mermaid i don't know
2. it's not even christmas time and this is stupid
3. yeah their superhero names are fansite names except i changed mark point to en point bc yeah if you were wondering the "rectangle" is 「」 get it do you see what i'm getting at
4. LITTLE KIDS some maybe implied yugyeom/youngjae at the end but i didn't say anything
5. there actually is a 5 but it's the next entry i hate lj