Archive of Our Own

People born with powers are not supposed to show their skills in public. Mark knows that, he really does. For his own safety, he shouldn’t walk around shapeshifting into animals just because he can — he’s very much aware, mind you. But when you’re capable of doing things like that, it’s really hard not to. Especially when you spot a drunk stranger bothering a young looking girl in school clothes, and especially when that scene happens right as you’re walking home, in a badly lit alley.

So really, it’s not like Mark can help it. It’s hard to push back your inner hero streak when you’re born with extra special skills that could very easily prevent and/or moderate situations like that. And so he does. Throws common sense out the window and dives head first into the conflict.

“Hey!” is what he yells, not that it’s creative in any way, but it manages to startle both the victim and the aggressor. The girl takes that as her cue to leave and quickly sprints towards the busiest end of the pathway, taking one last look behind her before disappearing around the corner. The man turns to Mark, his mouth parted on a lazy grin you only ever see in people a little past tipsy, the kind of expression that walks the thin line between amusing and threatening. “You should’ve just minded your business, kid,”

Mark stands awkwardly by the wall. He doesn’t plan on doing anything until the situation escalates somehow, so all he can do is wait, or maybe just leave since his initial goal has already been accomplished. The stranger gets closer to him though, so close Mark has to choose between taking a step back and smelling the man’s disgusting breath.

“I’ll teach you a lesson,” is what the other says, “So you’ll learn not to stick your nose into things that don’t concern you.” Then he places a hand on Mark’s shoulder and shoves him backwards, movements a little clumsy due to the alcohol. Mark doesn’t waste another second. Closes his eyes, and lets the prickling feeling of uncontained energy expand all over his face. He concentrates so it flows better, and prays for it to work perfectly. To be honest, even though Mark has been aware of his power from a young age, he doesn’t get many changes to practice, hence the occasional sloppy and unsuccessful transformation. But it’d really suck to embarrass himself right now, especially when he could potentially get the life beaten out of him by a fairly drunk man in his thirties. He knows it worked when he opens his eyes. A roar comes deep from his chest before he can even think and then the aggressor is tumbling back, falling to the ground on top of scattered trash bags, with eyes so wide Mark fears they might pop out of their sockets. The man’s terrified yelp echoes off the walls and Mark winces at how loud it sounds, hoping no one walking by is curious enough to take a look at what is going on inside the alley.

Another yelp as Mark sighs and morphs his face back to human features, then he feigns his best concerned expression and clears his throat. “Are you alright?” he looks down at the man, who has his arms crossed to his chest and is clearly shaking.

“Y-your… your face...“ he croaks, voice hoarse “A lion… I-I just…”

Mark half-chuckles and steps closer to the curled up figure. “What? Are you sure you’re okay, sir?” The man shrieks and shifts farther away from him, pressing himself even closer to the wall. Mark shrugs and turns the other way, not before quickly changing his eyes so they resemble those of a reptile and hissing at him.

He morphs his pupils back to normal as he reaches the end of the alley, dusting his clothes off with his hands. Mark walks out looking pleased with himself but still has half a mind to check for any bystanders who might have seen too much. His breath hitches, however, when he learns there is in fact someone waiting for him outside of the dark path. The boy wears a leather jacket with the collar pulled up and a sly smile. Mark has never seen him before.

“Phew,” the stranger whistles lowly, “That was pretty impressive, even for a Mutant.”

Mark stills and his eyes widen, hands fidgeting nervously with the hem of his shirt. Mutant. That’s what people like him are called by the general public — when not exchanged by the classic monster or freak, that is. Mark doesn’t care much for the word, but the boy doesn’t say it mockingly, his tone is just naturally curious.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,”

The boy chuckles and a sudden breeze dishevels his dark hair. “Of course, my mistake.” He chuckles at himself some more and slides into the alley Mark had just walked out of, raising his eyebrows as if asking to be followed. Mark can’t help but get intrigued. This boy could be a million things, varying from a onlooker with a knack for the supernatural to a government bounty hunter, but his guts are telling him to trust the kid — and really, if there was ever a time to start thinking rationally, it certainly wasn’t going to be now. Nevermind being aware that the stranger might cause him harm, Mark is too enticed by him to really consider that possibility. And so he shakes his head and follows the boy back into the dark. The drunk man from before is nowhere to be seen, likely having scrambled off to somewhere else. The other boy is humming now, hands in pockets and head tilted towards him.

“Keep a secret for me?” he says softly, but leans closer to whisper the last part before Mark can answer. “I have a skill too,”

Mark swallows. He can’t really tell if the other is joking or not, but the possibility of meeting someone who might be the same as him makes his heart speed up a little. There aren’t many Mutants in Seoul. Not many that he knows of, at least. And none of them are as young as him — save Kang Daniel, a senior in his school who is rumored to be a waterbender, but it’s not like they’re close, so Mark isn’t sure it counts. That’s why it’s almost comforting to think there might be one close to him in age, right here and right now. “You’re serious?”

The other smiles again, eyes turning into crescents, and Mark would be lying if he said it wasn’t endearing. “Watch,” he says, scans the ground and picks up a metal can. The boy holds it with his left hand and motions with his index finger from the other hand, spiraling up. The cylinder follows his movement and simply floats, suspended in the air. Mark’s mouth drops open. He’s pretty sure it’s telekinesis, or whatever that’s called. The dark-haired boy spins his finger in a wide curve so the piece of metal circles both of them and stops inches away from Mark’s chest, who sticks his hand out to grab it as the other let’s his arm drop. “See? I’m Jeno, by the way.” and there it is again, the smile.

“I’m M-mark” he stutters and gives himself a mental flick to the forehead.

“So, you are a shapeshifter, right?”

“Uh, yeah. You could say that,” Mark says slowly, weighing his words. Jeno hums and nods thoughtfully.

Jeno looks around the alley and squints like he fears someone might have appeared out of thin air to listen to their talk. He shifts his position and leans so close Mark shivers. “You’re not tracked, now, are you?”

Mark knows what he means. Jeno is talking about a government initiative to have every Mutant in South Korea registered into a program that allows authorities to track their whereabouts. However, that’s not everything. Rumor has it people have started to go missing. The tracking system also makes it possible for Mutants to be called upon by federal laboratories — and that’s mandatory, like the project itself is supposed to be. If you’re convoked, you have no other choice —, but more often than not, those who are called never make it back. Mark had known better than to register. Something about having the government know all your shit just didn’t sit right with him. “No. Are you?”

Jeno sighs in relief and shakes his head with his lips curled upward.

“Do you know any other Mutants?” He has this look in his face like he’s just had the most incredible idea and speaks over Mark, barely allowing to finish his shrug. “Well, would you like to?”

Then Jeno’s eyes had sparkled and his lips had curled into a grin once again, making Mark’s stomach flip over. Damn pretty boys and their stupid pretty faces, he thinks. But oh well, here they are. Facing a two-story house painted a dark beige, Jeno patiently waiting for Mark who hesitates in taking the first step up the entryway stairs.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to come in,” chirps Jeno, studying the other’s face “I was just rambling and maybe got a little too excited. It’s not like I’ll force you,”

His words make Mark reevaluate. It’s true he has just followed a complete stranger to a house in a part of the city he’s never been before, but to be fair, where else would he go? The institute, probably. But he figures they won’t miss him much if he’s late for dinner by a couple hours. Or days. And it’s the last year he’ll be residing there, anyway, because they boot you out the minute you turn twenty and that moment is quickly approaching. Mark has lost count of how many times he has ran away from there. Nothing ever changes when he comes back, though. No one says a thing and the workers treat him like they don’t see the police vehicle he’s just been escorted out of. In Seoul, you can be arrested for wandering in the streets late at night — especially if you happen to be a Mutant, but that’s something Mark has worked hard to hide from everyone in his life. Until now, at least. But naturally, as a recurring runaway, Mark is more than acquainted with the patrol forces. He cleans his throat, trying to ease the awkwardness settling between them. “Why exactly are we here?” Mark asks quietly and Jeno shifts his weight from one foot to the other, pulling at them hem of his jacket.

“I was hoping to introduce you to my friends,” Jeno tuts, and then adds some context. “I’m part of a group with a bunch of other Mutants and we all live together for, well, protection, and convenience. Just thought it might be something you’re interested in?”

Mark almost takes offense. Does he look like a stray? Ultimately, he shrugs off the thought. “Maybe,” Mark worries his bottom lip between his teeth for a second, the prospect of meeting even more people like himself sounding appealing but nerves still getting the best of him. “But I don’t really need a place to stay right now.”

“Sure, but a little company won’t do you any harm. You don’t actually have to live here. If you decide you want anything to do with us, visiting every now and then is enough.” Mark nods at that, then Jeno does it back, reassuringly, and starts climbing up the steps. Mark sucks in a deep breath, takes one last look at the outside of the house and follows him inside.

Honestly, when Jeno said the house belonged to a group of Mutants, Mark’s imagination had gone a little wild. He’d pictured rooms filled to the brim with people levitating, running around with super speed and doing all sorts of cool things. So he can’t help but feel a bit disappointed when he learns the house is actually pretty normal on the inside — looking just like your regular fraternity house, just a little neater and emptier. Mark barely has time to take a proper look though, because Jeno walks pretty fast and heads towards the back of the house, where there are voices coming from.

———

When they walk into the kitchen, there’s a big round table and four people sitting around it. Dark brown, red, blond and pink on their heads respectively. Mark is surprised by how young they look, though he figures they’re all probably around his age. They seem to be in the middle of a very intense game of Uno, loud words bouncing off the walls, but Jeno cleans his throat in a greeting and catches their interest, their bodies turning almost completely in sync. Mark can’t help but feel a little bothered for getting stared at — the entire room gives him weird vibe, actually — but the boys couldn’t care less about being shameless and don’t even try to hide the curiosity.

“Who’s this?” it’s the one with red hair who speaks first.

“This is Mark and he’s got something to show you guys,” Jeno chimes from where he’s standing close to the door and sounds very proud of himself, somewhat like a child showing off schoolwork to their parents.

Jeno nudges him with his shoulder, biting his bottom lip expectantly. “Come on, show them. It’s alright.”

The boy who spoke before is staring at Mark with such intent he can almost feel his gaze boring holes into his clothes. His eyes carry a heavy feeling Mark can’t quite describe, but it makes him feel defensive. The blond one is looking at him too, but his stare is different. Thoughtful, calculated, no strong impressions involved. Mark realizes now, what about the room sets him off. There are too many energies in there, like all of those people were never meant to be at the same place at once, but they are, and it’s so conflicting he half expects to hear static in the air.

Jeno’s voice brings him back to the moment: “No rush, take your time.”

Mark takes a deep breath and concentrates, channeling his energy and visualizing what he’s about to do. He feels the buzzing on his ears and expects the cracking and twisting on his bones that follows, but it doesn’t come. He tries again, dumbfounded, but nothing happens. Mark is panicking now, the pressure of showing his skill to complete strangers crashing down on him. The guy with the blond hair raises his eyebrows at him, unimpressed. Blood rushes to his face and he knows his cheeks will be bright red in a few seconds. Confused, he opens his mouth to try and explain what’s happening but Jeno beats him to it.

“Nana, stop it. He’s getting embarrassed.” he says with a certain amusement to his voice.

The pink haired boy on the opposite side of the table chuckles and the action makes the corners of his eyes crinkle. The whole table snickers as they catch on with him and Mark understands he’s been left out of some kind of joke.

“Right, sorry. You can go ahead now,” right as the boy finishes the sentence, the energy comes flowing through Mark’s veins and it’s so strong he tumbles forward, taking an extra step to stop himself from falling.

“What.” Mark blinks time and time again, trying to understand the progression of events. Jeno full on laughs this time. “That’s just Jaemin’s thing. He can nullify other people’s abilities and likes to use it when you’re not expecting it, just to mess with you,” Jaemin smiles again, half apologetic and half smug. “But don’t worry, he’s gonna let you do it now.”

Mark nods, still very taken aback. His ears buzz and he feels his spine start to compress, bones cracking and bending and twisting and his skin stretching like it was supposed to happen the first time. He closes his eyes because he has learned the process is easier that way, and in a few seconds he’s relishing in satisfaction with the awed exclaims from the table. He squints to get used to the light and then it kicks in. His newly enhanced feline senses adjust to the setting and he just marvels on the sensation. The colors aren’t quite like he seems them through human eyes and it takes a bit longer to get used to the new depth perception, but Mark loves it.

“Dude!” the boy with dark brown hair jumps up from his chair and all but shouts, “He’s a tiger!”

The room just stares in absolute amazement, even the boy who didn’t seem very pleased with his presence looking somewhat impressed. “What the fuck...” is what he says lowly, although not enough to go unheard.

“He’s a fucking tiger. Oh my god, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” the one standing up rambles.

“Mark’s a shapeshifter, actually. He can turn into any animal” Jeno butts in.

Jaemin’s mouth falls open. The blond boy doesn’t look that excited but somewhat intrigued instead, Mark notices. He chews on his lip and looks at Mark in a questioning way but his stare feels far, like he’s deep in thought. Jaemin notices it, too, and rubs his shoulder in a way that borders on intimate.

He then decides he has shown them enough and slowly let’s his body find its way back to his human form, the tingling feeling washing over him.

“Aw man, can’t believe Jisung isn’t here to see this,” the loud one sighs.

“Where is he, by the way? Did he tell you anything, Yukhei?” asks Jeno.

The other — Yukhei, apparently. All these new names are about to give Mark a headache — just shrugs. “School.”

“No way.” From the other side of the table Jaemin scoffs loudly and shakes his head, unbelieving. “No way! I’d bet my pinky finger he’s actually at Chenle’s right now.”

“Well, yeah but that’s just what he told me,” Yukhei huffs. “Don’t, uh, shoot the messenger or some shit.”

The exchange gets a laugh out of the blond, who doesn’t look as disturbed anymore. Jeno taps on Mark’s shoulder and tells him to go and sit on an unoccupied seat at the table, then he goes through the same door they walked in minutes before to look for a chair for himself. Everyone is back to the initial chatter by now — the red haired and the blond working together to organize the Uno cards in a pile, since they’re done playing —, and Mark uses the opportunity to really look into how they all interact with each other. The atmosphere in the room still feels slightly off but at least the others aren’t arguing anymore. The red haired boy is staring from across the table. Mark tries to stare back but the other’s gaze doesn’t waver in the slightest so he just looks away quickly. Jeno comes back with a foldable chair under his arm and settles himself next to Mark. “Well. Why don’t we go around and introduce ourselves? Like say our names and describe our abilities. Maybe show something if you can.” Jaemin says something about how that makes them look like they’re in a AA meeting, but other than that, no one opposes to Jeno’s suggestion. “Great. I can start, then Yukhei and we go like that until it’s Mark’s turn, agreed?” They all hum positively and Mark props himself straighter in his seat. Whatever it is that he’s about to hear, it’s going to provide him with some information. Mark has always had a knack for knowledge or something. He likes to think he can adjust to any situation as long as he’s given enough to work with, and this isn’t any different.

“I’ve already told you all of this but, yeah. I’m Jeno, I’m eighteen and I’m telekinetic.” To illustrate his words, Jeno swipes his index finger upwards and the Uno card at the top of the pile levitates about two inches from the table.

The order follows along to Yukhei, as Jeno had pointed, and he shakes the dark brown hair out of his eyes before speaking. “Hi,” a chuckle. “The name’s Yukhei, I’m nineteen and I have superhuman strength.” Then he looks a little puzzled in how he’s supposed to demonstrate that, but the blond boy quickly gets up to grab a metal spoon and hand it to him with a nod. Yukhei exclaims adorably — Aha! — and picks up the utensil between his index finger and thumb. He brings his fingers together and Mark can only gape when the spoon bends into a v-shape as if Yukhei were handling paper instead of thick metal. Alright, that’s really cool, is what he thinks, but he also can’t help thinking it’d be really fucking terrifying had it been used in another scenario. The boy looks up at Mark and flashes him a very child-like smile, bright and wholesome, then looks down again to concentrate on straightening out the bent spoon.

The red haired boy is next and he exhales softly before speaking, glancing around the table like he’s hesitant. Mark unconsciously leans forward a little bit in order to hear him better.

“I’m Donghyuck, I’m eighteen and a firebender.” he states quietly, but his voice sounds imposing. It’s a weird combination.

Donghyuck, huh. The name seems to match him well. The boy sticks his hand out towards Mark with his index finger pointing up, then, on the millisecond Mark blinks, a small flame appears dancing on the other’s fingertip. The sudden brightness reflects on the tanned skin of Donghyuck’s face, his eyes looking fiery. He rotates his wrist and opens his hand so the flame slides down to his open palm and grows stronger. Even though Mark is sitting on the farthest position from Donghyuck — directly across from him — he can still somewhat feel the heat from the fire in his cheeks. Donghyuck closes his palm and the kindled flame disappears. Mark can’t stop a whistle from spilling from his lips and the firebender half chuckles at him with a smile on his lips. That has Mark wondering if the red haired could finally be warming up to him, but seconds later said boy’s expression turns intense and guarded again so Mark just shrugs and leaves the thought alone.

“Hi,” Jaemin speaks promptly without missing a beat. “I’m Jaemin, I’ve just turned eighteen and I’m a Nullifier, as you know, meaning I get to block other people’s powers and I’m also unaffected if a Mutant tries to use their skill on me.” His voice is cheerful and has a playful undertone to it. It just sounds really happy, and Mark decides he likes it. They all wait for a couple seconds more to see if he wants to demonstrate, and the introductions move smoothly to the last boy when Jaemin doesn’t.

The blond kid is seated on Mark’s left and has remained quiet since Jeno spoke for the first time but he looks directly at Mark now and offers him a half-smile. Something about him is just… unsettling. His features are too relaxed for how tense the rest of his body looks. He sits with his back very straight and it reminds Mark of the way one would hold on to their seats in a roller coaster right before the drop. “My name is Renjun,” he starts, tone polite and practical with the slightest hint of a chinese accent. “I’m eighteen. I can’t really show you, but I’m clairvoyant and also an empath. Meaning I can somewhat see variations of the future, and I can also perceive emotions through touch.”

Wait. What? First of all, that’s pretty cool. But. How in the hell does that kid have two abilities? Is that even a thing? Mark’s bewilderment must show on his face because Renjun laughs and adds: “Two separate skills, yes. It’s not common, but it's not impossible.”

Mark gets lost in thought for a moment there and Jeno has to remind him it’s his turn to introduce himself. Although they all know his name already and have seen his power firsthand, Mark does as he’s told, feeling a bit uncomfortable having the room’s undivided attention to himself.

“Okay, uhm, I’m Mark. I turned nineteen last month and I’m a shapeshifter.”

Jaemin grins at him, encouraging him to continue. Mark plants both his hands on the table and everyone holds their breaths, expectations high for whatever’s coming. His fingertips feel like they’re being nipped by lots of tiny needles and the rest of his hands just feel kind of numb. The bones of Mark’s fingers start to grow longer, and the skin swells up and expands, feeling prickly all over now. He chuckles lightly when he hears someone wince and then it’s done. What had been his hands mere seconds ago, are now huge paws like those of a feline. He had even remembered the claws, and Mark wasn’t one to brag but it did look pretty damn cool.

“Whoa,” Yukhei draws out. “Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Nah, not really.” Mark shakes his hands and rotates his wrists, skin and bones settling back to their usual places. “It did hurt when I first started doing it, but not anymore. Now it just feels kinda funny. Like, it tickles a bit.”

“When you shifted into a tiger earlier, why didn’t your clothes tear apart?” It’s Jaemin’s turn to ask.

“I… I don’t know.” Mark shrugs. “My clothes are always okay when I morph back to my human form but I don’t really know why. I believe it has something to do with a second layer of skin my body produces, so it kind of covers my clothing, if that makes sense. I’m not sure though.” Jaemin hums at that, seemingly satisfied with the wonky explanation.

“Can you shift into humans? Like, could you turn into one of us?” Donghyuck eyes sparkle and he looks pretty excited about the idea. Mark figures it probably does sound really amazing, like something out of science fiction.

“I mean, I could,” the shapeshifter starts. “But it’s way harder, so I usually stick to animal transformations.”

“Ah. Alright.” Donghyuck sighs with a pout.

After that, he answers a bunch of other questions like what is his favorite animal to shift into — felines, obviously. And specially tigers — and whether he’s tried to turn into a bug before — he has. no further comments. Naturally, Mark also manages to sneak in some questions of his own. He asks Jeno whether he can use his telekinesis to levitate or not, and is delighted to learn that yes, he can, although Jeno says it doesn’t feel like flying at all. Mark also discovers that Donghyuck is immune to all kinds of fire, not only the one he produces, and the biggest thing Yukhei has ever damaged on accident was a bay boat when he was a child (he doesn’t elaborate). Then Mark wonders, half-jokingly, if Renjun could show him a glimpse of his future. Renjun just smiles at him and states calmly: “You wouldn’t want that.” That freaks Mark out a little bit and he decides he’s done asking.

Before it gets awkward, Jaemin chimes in suggesting they go out to grab dinner. Mark is startled at the mention of dinner, but looking through the window he notices the sun is already done setting, few stars shining brightly outside. Time passed by pretty quickly while they were all absorbed into the conversation, apparently. Jeno ends tagging along in Jaemin’s quest for Thai food and Mark is almost sad to see him go. Jeno might still be a stranger — their time knowing each other no longer than a couple hours —, but he’s the stranger who reasoned with Mark’s guts. Also, he’s a little scared of being left alone with the other boys. Renjun and Donghyuck are both very intimidating and Yukhei is just loud, like those people who try to make you comfortable by talking a lot but just end up scaring you more.
Initially, Donghyuck had wanted to go upstairs — where Mark assumes the bedrooms are — and stay by himself but Yukhei convinces him to stay down with them, then Renjun suggest they all start playing Uno again and it’s settled.

Twenty minutes into the game, Mark feels kind of bad for not wanting to be with them earlier. Truth is they’re way nicer than he’d thought and he’s actually enjoying it a lot. Sure, Yukhei tries to cheat and immediately gets caught about a million times and Donghyuck isn’t exactly talking to him yet, but Mark has got to admit: they’re pretty fun to be around. Renjun wins for the second time in a row and Donghyuck scoffs with no real bite to his tone: “Of course you’re winning, Jaemin isn’t here to play mediator. We’ve got nothing on your clairvoyance bullshit.”

Yukhei cackles at that and Renjun feigns an offended gasp. “You’re doubting my Uno skills? I’m a natural!”

“We all know Jeno is the reigning Uno champion in this house, though.” Yukhei states and both Renjun and Donghyuck look like they’re going to deny it for a split second but then they do a mental double take and just go along with it.

“I mean, yeah.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Donghyuck is about to start giving out the cards for another round when they hear the front door open. Jaemin and Jeno walk in with ungodly amounts of food in bags hanging from their arms; little plastic containers full of pad thai and tom yang kung, along with other dishes. Mark wonders how they’re able to afford all of that but ends up pushing the thought aside since he’s busy diving into the meal. They eat in midst of chatter and amicable laughs — Yukhei is telling a story about a phone call he got the other day and Mark is not familiar with the person he’s talking about but he has to admit his impersonations are hilarious.

After they’re all sated and satisfied, Jaemin speaks up, saying someone should show Mark around the house, since there’s nothing else to do and they will all probably be off to bed soon.

“I can do it!” Yukhei promptly chimes, but Jaemin cuts him off.

“Not you though. You’re on dishwashing duty today.” The darker haired whines and deflates comically, throwing a disheartened glance towards the sink full of used utensils. Mark watches as Jaemin and Renjun exchange a look that feels more like a full on conversation, the blond nods and the other smiles pointedly after long seconds of wordless banter.

“Alright. I’ll do it.” Renjun articulates, raising his eyebrows at Mark and getting out of his seat. “Come on.”

———

Mark follows Renjun out of the kitchen and into the living room silently. His strategy to avoid things getting awkward consists in letting Renjun do all the talking and it’s totally going to work, except it doesn’t because Renjun asks him a question as soon as they pass through the door, and Mark really doesn’t want to be rude.

“Are you actually considering staying here?” The blond is a few centimeters shorter than Mark expects, the top of his head reaching a little over Mark’s eyebrows. “You don’t have to answer now, we could arrange things for you to stay here until you make up your mind if you want. Or you could go back home. That’s cool too.”

Oh. As logical as it is, it hadn’t yet occured to Mark he’d be living in the house already. He is surprisingly okay with the idea, despite everything being pretty last minute and a small part of his brain going haywire with the fact he is about to spend the night with people he’d met on the same day. Whatever. To be quite honest, Mark has been in worse spots. And it’s a house full of teenage Mutants for God’s sake, what could possibly go wrong?

“Thanks. I’d like to stay here, if that’s alright.” Mark replies hurriedly, realizing he was taking too long.

Renjun spares him a glance and starts going up the stairs, Mark hot on his trail. “We’re not a gang, if that’s what you’re thinking,” It really isn’t, but Mark shrugs and waits for him to finish. “But keep in mind we are, in fact, affiliated to one. Is that gonna be a problem?”

Mark swallows. Not that he knows a lot about gangs or anything, but Renjun does look a little too scrawny to mess with things like that — though it explains why they have so much money. And then again, who is he to judge?

“No,” He says, trying to sound as nonchalant as he can. “I don’t mind.” Renjun has his back turned to him but Mark can swear he sees a corner of his mouth lifting up.

The rest of the tour goes smoothly. Downstairs, Renjun walks him through the garage — they have a car, surprisingly, and Mark discovers Yukhei is the only one with a license, although Renjun implies that doesn’t stop the others —, the laudry room and the small washroom. There are seven rooms upstairs and two more bathrooms, one at the end of the main hallway and another inside Jaemin’s room. Mark doesn’t get the logic behind Jaemin being the only one with a suite, so he shrugs. Maybe they drew straws to decide?

The rooms go in the following order: Jeno’s closest to the staircase, then Jisung’s, who Mark has yet to meet, Renjun’s, Yukhei’s, Donghyuck’s, then finally Jaemin’s at the end of the hall and closest to the other bathroom. Renjun apologizes and tells Mark he’ll be staying in Jisung’s room for the night since they didn’t have the time to fix the spare one for him, but should be able to do so in the morning. And then it occurs to both of them Mark hadn’t brought any clothes — or anything, for that matter — with him. The clairvoyant eyes Mark for a few seconds before leaving the room and coming back moments after with a pile of folded clothing in his hands.

“I’d lend you my own clothes but I don’t think they’d fit. So here, these are Jeno’s.”

Mark motions to grab the pile and his thumb brushes against Renjun’s skin, very, very briefly but the other flinches anyway.

“Sorry,” The word is out of Mark’s mouth before he can react properly.

“Whoa. I’m sorry you feel like that.” Renjun says quietly before slapping a hand over his mouth. “Sorry. Forget it. It’s none of my business.”

“Like what?”

He bites his lip. “It’s so… lonely. And hopeful. So hopeful it hurts.” Renjun shakes his head viciously. “Never mind. Sorry again. Goodnight.” Then he storms out of the room and closes the door behind him.

Mark stares at the door and then back at his hands, stunned. He also feels somewhat embarrassed, but mostly intrigued. Turns out having someone take a look at your feelings does that to you.

Jeno’s clothes fit him quite well. The gray shirt is a little baggy, but Mark doesn’t mind and the shorts are very comfortable. The whole room is pretty nice, too. There are some books on the shelf above the bed, a computer and a sheet of paper taped to the wall with three blue butterflies drawn on it. Other than that, there are very few personal belongings on sight and it seems like the room isn’t used all that much, despite it being said to belong to Jisung. Mark assumes he mustn’t live in the house, like Jeno had told him earlier.

Mark turns the lights off and pulls the covers to his chest, trying to find the best position to settle in. It takes about half an hour for him to finally fall asleep, distracted by his mind going over the events of the past hours. He thinks of each one of the boys and thinks about the choices he has made. When he slips into unconsciousness, Mark does not dream.

———

In the morning, Mark wanders downstairs to find Jaemin making pancakes and everyone — except for Donghyuck, who shows up minutes later looking extra disheveled and drowsy — sitting around the kitchen table. They welcome him with warm greetings and Mark joins them, claiming a chair for himself. The pancakes smell really nice and the table is full of different toppings for him to choose from and he thinks it kind of resembles those picnic tables from commercials. Sunlight comes through the open window and bathes the whole scene in brightness and warmth.

It’s not until Yukhei asks him to pass the strawberry syrup, however, that something inside of Mark stirs.

He feels safe.

It feels like the start of something great.