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As time goes by, Mark is slowly picking up on the other boys’ relationships and habits and makes himself comfortable around them. Renjun and Jaemin are dating — have been for quite a while apparently —, Yukhei and Jeno are close with pretty much everyone and Donghyuck is still very intimidating but Mark likes to think he’s made some progress. The one thing he’s still not used to, though, is how much all of them fight. Just like an actual family, sometimes they’ll bicker, and sometimes they’ll start full on arguments which end more often than not in yelling and some very dramatic exits. On the other hand, Mark is astonished to see just how unbothered the ones who are not involved get while there’s a fight going on. Like that one day when he could hear screaming coming from upstairs and then a really loud bang, like someone had just smashed a door into the wall but Yukhei, sitting next to Mark on the couch, just sighted and grabbed the TV remote to turn the volume up.
Truth is, Mark can never anticipate when an argument is going to escalate so it just keeps surprising him every time. Needless to say, he’s not expecting it that day when he walks downstairs after a shower to find Donghyuck and Yukhei red faced, not really yelling yet but aggressively gesturing to each other in the living room. Jeno is sitting on the couch before them and looks like he’s only barely paying attention to the commotion — much more focused on the National Geographic documentary about whales he’s watching — while Jaemin stands by the kitchen doorway fidgeting with his phone.
“—still none of your business!” Mark catches Donghyuck in the middle of a sentence from where he’s still frozen at the bottom of the staircase.
“It is, though! You can’t go around doing things like that, Hyuck.”
Donghyuck steps dangerously close to the other, leaning in towards his face. “And what makes you think you can tell me what to do?”
Yukhei inhales very slowly before speaking lowly: “I’m the one you made a promise to.”
A promise. That seems to be a reoccurring topic around the house, Mark notices. And it’s the one thing they all take very seriously, for some reason. Ever since he first arrived, it has come up many, many times in conversations — most of them hushed and out of context, just like the one taking place right now.
At the brown haired’s words, Donghyuck huffs and takes an extra step forward, forcing Yukhei to take a step back and then he shoves him hard enough to make Yukhei stumble a bit. “You’re not the only one.” Yukhei scoffs and breaks eye contact. Donghyuck raises his eyebrows and shoves him some more, until Yukhei’s back hits the wall. Mark eyes the rest of the room nervously; Jeno looks slightly more concerned now, body half-turned towards to the commotion, but he still hasn’t made a move and Jaemin still has his phone in hands, seeming completely oblivious. Renjun had gone out right after breakfast and still hasn’t returned even though it’s a little past six in the afternoon. Also, it’s a Sunday meaning they don’t really have places to be — not that Mark knows of, at least.
Suddenly, his brain comes up with a very unreasonable thing to worry about but Mark really doesn’t know better and indulges the thought anyway. For the briefest seconds he worries he might have accidentally shapeshifted into a small bird or something — wouldn’t be the first time, actually — which would explain why Yukhei and Donghyuck haven’t spared him a single glance since he came into the room and also why things seem to be happening in slow motion. In a quick look down, Mark is relieved to find out he’s human still, and his other questions can easily be answered with 1) they’re a little busy arguing so of course they wouldn’t bother and 2) maybe he has just been watching a lot of those old action films lately.
While Mark goes ever his internal monologue, Donghyuck does actually look at him. It’s quick and annoyed, like the way you would look at the person being loud behind you at a theater. Yukhei uses the second — literally. It could not have been any longer than that — of distraction to nudge the firebender and put some space between them. Donghyuck catches himself before he loses his balance and the look on his face is almost offended. He steps forward, pressing the other against the wall once again. Yukhei is cornered and brings both his arms to his chest in a defensive motion, ready to take the blow. Donghyuck is staring him down, one of his own fists raised and ready to let out the fire. The red haired’s expression is so tight Mark worries he might lock his jaw from clenching it too hard. Donghyuck opens his fist on a rotation and then. Nothing.
On a heartbeat, he turns to Jaemin who has finally let go of his phone and looks like he’s focusing hard from the other side of the room.
“Stop it, Jaemin,” Donghyuck speaks through gritted teeth, consequently stepping away from Yukhei. “Stop it! If you use that shit on me again, I’ll kill you.”
Mark didn’t think it was possible, but Donghyuck’s expression turns even darker, eyes glinting viciously.
“You’ll kill me? I’d like to see you try!” Jaemin spits back after a second and all hell breaks loose. Donghyuck lunges forward and leaps across the entire room to get to Jaemin, turning swiftly to get a clean hit to the other’s mouth. The nullifier tumbles back and wipes his blood-wet lips on his shirtsleeve, then he produces a sound similar to a snarl from the back of his throat and swings a fist of his own in Hyuck’s direction, the punch landing right below his cheekbone. Yukhei has moved away from the wall he was backed up into and stands next to Mark, looking pretty stunned. They don’t really know how to react; Mark suspects Renjun is usually the one making amends when things escalate like this but he’s not here right now and Mark is way too intimidated by both of the boys fighting to even think of intervening. Luckily, he doesn’t have to.
Jeno moves from his seat on the couch, sighs, and walks towards the commotion, expression unreadable, until he’s centimeters away from them. Then he raises both his hands and sets them apart sharply to opposite sides of the room. Donghyuck and Jaemin are yanked away by Jeno’s telekinesis with such force they each hit a wall with their backs — Jaemin barely missing being thrown into the kitchen —, sliding to the ground with a pained huff. Besides Mark, Yukhei holds his breath. Jeno struts towards Donghyuck and his expressionless face finally clears up, giving way to a really pissed off ensemble. Eyebrows knitted together and neck tense all over and Mark shudders because he’s never seen him like this.
Barely raising his gaze from the floor, Donghyuck mutters loud enough for the room to hear and Mark is startled at how genuine he sounds. “I’m sorry, Jen,” Yukhei whistles at that and moves to sit on one of the bottom steps. Mark joins him, finally having eased his nerves enough to do so. Seconds later a similar apology comes from the other wall and Mark turns his head in time to see Jaemin sigh and spit out the blood in his mouth. Jeno helps Donghyuck back on his feet but says nothing — his stillness gives Mark the creeps and intrigues him at the same time. Did he miss something? Did he not read the situation right? He tries to think of anything that might have caused Jeno to react like that but nothing comes to mind. Mark makes a mental note to just ask Yukhei about it later. Jeno leaves the room without so much as a word towards them and Mark hears it when he marches up the stairs and closes his bedroom door.
There’s this awkward pause in which nobody seems to know what to do, and then Donghyuck moves to the kitchen. Surprisingly, Jaemin follows him, scurrying himself up from the floor. Yukhei seems busy making the room look neat again, picking up things that had fallen to the ground during the fight, so Mark, too, walks into the kitchen. Because really, what else can he do?
Jaemin and Donghyuck aren’t looking at each other but they don’t seem too unfriendly either. Donghyuck looks mildly annoyed at most and Jaemin is quiet. Mark walks in as Donghyuck hands the nullifier an ice pack from their freezer. Jaemin, as a reply, hums: “We fucked up.”
“Yeah,” Hyuck hums back, and sighs in relief, pressing another ice pack to his own cheek. “I’ll talk to him,” Then both of them walk out again, not before Jaemin tells Mark to just order a pizza for them if he gets hungry, because he’s not in the mood to cook anymore. Mark nods, too stunned to do anything but that. From the door, Mark sees Yukhei and mouths him a very expressive “What the fuck?”. The elder shakes his head and flashes him a half smile.
—
“It’s just something that happens sometimes. Jaemin instigates and Hyuck is easy to rile up, so yeah.”
“You’re saying it’s normal that they go out with fists swinging every now and then? Should I get used to having blood stains on the carpet?”
“Jesus, Mark. It’s not like that.” Yukhei sighs and rubs his chin. “I’m just saying they argue a lot. But don’t think they hate each other, ‘cause that’s definitely not that case. Renjun and I think it’s because they’re way too similar, actually, so that’s why they clash so often. They’ve been like this ever since they met.”
Mark slumps into his chair. They’re sitting at the kitchen table, Yukhei lazily sipping on a glass of iced tea and Mark watches as the ice cubes float on top of the liquid.
“Why didn’t you just push Donghyuck away from you? I mean, you’re the one with super strength.” Mark voices the point that has been bothering him. It’s true that sometimes he forgets all about his powers and it doesn’t occur to him that he actually has them until he needs them, but Yukhei sure could have used some extra help at that moment. Not that it would be that hard for him to overpower Donghyuck. In theory, Yukhei is much broader and taller than the other, therefore, probably stronger, but you know. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover or to quote Selena Gomez, everything is not what it seems.
“Huh?” Yukhei seems genuinely confused, like the question doesn’t quite make sense to him. “Why would I? He wasn’t going to hurt me.”
“He… had you backed into a wall and was about to incinerate your face. Like, you know, a firebender would.”
“Oh but he wouldn’t.” Yukhei finishes his iced tea, slurping soundly. “Donghyuck would never hurt any of us like that.”
Something about his tone keeps Mark from questioning further. Instead, he studies Yukhei’s face as the other stirs the nearly melted ice cubes in his cup with a straw — a metal one, instead of plastic. Save the turtles!
Yukhei has a face like the one of a supporting actor in a coming of age movie. Maybe even the love interest, with his big eyes and thick lips. He’s pretty, and Mark acknowledges it like a dull fact. Grass is green. The sun is hot. Yukhei is attractive. No big deal. The realization comes with a side of relief. Mark admires Yukhei like the most good looking friend he has ever had, but a friend nonetheless. It’s nice, he thinks, to have someone like that.
“You’re staring.” Yukhei states, more teasing than anything.
Mark shakes his head while his brain struggles to recover the string of conversation from minutes ago. “I don’t think Donghyuck likes me very much.”
Yukhei looks amused. “Why do you say that?”
“He doesn’t look too happy when I’m around. I don’t know. He’s isn’t that friendly either.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll come around. It was like that for me too.” Yukhei gets up to place his cup on the sink. “We’re getting pizza, right? I’ll go upstairs to check for their preferences.”
———
When Renjun finally gets back home, it’s about eight p.m. and the pizzas have just arrived. He beams at the warm boxes for a few seconds then eyes Jaemin with his split upper lip and Donghyuck with his bruised cheek, pecks Jaemin softly and lets out a sigh that is way too heavy for a teenage boy. There’s also this weird exchange between Renjun and Jeno — who still hasn’t said a word since the fight from earlier — in which Renjun pats the darker haired on the shoulder lightly and tells him something Mark can’t quite make out. If he were a betting man, though, he’d say Renjun was thanking Jeno.
Everyone settles down around the kitchen table. They eat calmly and conversations flow easily and nicely. Until it doesn’t, that is.
Suddenly, Renjun drops his fork and the sound of it hitting the plate rings for a few moments on Mark’s ears. The blonde slides back on his chair violently making his shoulders bang on the wood and his head lolls backwards. Beside him, Jaemin spits out a curse. Mark watches, open-mouthed as his eyes roll back in their sockets twice and then Renjun stills, gaze fixated on an invisible point ahead and tiny spasms going through his body every few seconds.
“Shit,” mutters Donghyuck, quickly getting up from his seat and frantically rubbing his pizza-greasy hands on a napkin. “I’ll go grab the bucket.”
Jaemin has not left Renjun’s side, but refrains from touching him — hands hovering above the other’s bare arms but not close enough to make contact — even though he looks like he’s worried out of his mind.
“What’s going on?” Mark asks, looking at Jeno on the opposite side of the table but he doesn’t answer, so he tries again, louder this time. “What’s happening?”
“He’s having a vision,” Yukhei jumps in from his left. “Renjun’s mind is travelling through another timeline right now, but he should be back in a couple minutes.”
Donghyuck enters the room again and places a plastic pot in front of the blond. He also says something to Jaemin who shakes his head negatively, gaze still glued to his boyfriend’s jittery features. Other than Jaemin, no one else looks that panicked but Mark can definitely feel the tension, like the group were collectively holding their breaths.
“Does this happen a lot?” Everyone seems to have eased back onto a semi-relaxed state so Mark figures now is as much of a good time to ask questions as ever.
“Uh, not recently, no,” Yukhei talks again, probably because no one else is willing to. “It used to happen a lot more frequently before Donghyuck and Jeno joined us, but then the episodes got more spaced out and they’re pretty rare now.”
Mark hums in acknowledgement, still feeling restless. Renjun’s spasms are much stronger now, his body trembling with such force Mark can feel it through the table. He turns to whisper to Yukhei because the room has fallen quiet and Mark is starting to feel a little self conscious about his voice being the loudest sound in the space. “Can’t Jaemin just snap him out of it? With his power?” Having heard him somehow, Jaemin glares at him from the other side of the table. Mark gulps.
The corner of Yukhei’s mouth twitches and Mark can only hope his question wasn’t too stupid. “It’s not that easy. If we wake him up, we end the connection. That’s like waking up a sleepwalker. So, uhm, how do I put it… What’s happening right now is that his mind is traveling through a channel that allows him to look into different timelines, yeah? So if we end the connection on this side, he might not be able to come back. He’d wake up, yes, but he probably wouldn’t be Renjun as we know him. That’s why all we can do is wait until he ends the connection himself.”
It’s unsettling to hear Yukhei talk like this. The one who’s always so hyper and energetic, speaking so calmly and in his element. Makes sense, Mark thinks, that he had been the first to join Renjun when the group was formed. Yukhei has probably had to deal with situations like this many times before, and likely by himself until Jaemin came along.
Donghyuck clears his throat. “It’s taking too long. Jaemin, maybe you should—“
Jaemin cuts him off before he can finish the sentence. “Just wait.” his words sound harsh, though that’s probably the worry speaking. It has absolutely nothing to do with their fight, Mark is sure, because they have both been acting like it didn’t happen at all — Yukhei, on the other hand, had dragged Donghyuck to the kitchen earlier and they talked it out apparently, because they look pretty chill now — Donghyuck shrugs and eases back onto his chair, tapping his fingers onto the table. Jeno still hasn’t said anything but it doesn’t seem too awkward, given everything. In situations like this, they really seem to fall into place — even if it’s not a perfect match. Sometimes they pull or push too hard and it’s like they’re holding on by the skin of their teeth. But still. They hold on, together. Even Donghyuck, who Mark had judged not to fit together with the others, plays his part and helps without clashing with anyone. He doesn’t quite understand why Jeno is acting the way he is, but no one else looks concerned about it so he shrugs it off as just one of the many things he doesn’t yet get about the group’s dynamic.
A sharp sound startles Mark out of his thoughts. Renjun lunges forward in a dry heave that makes it seem like he’s choking and Jaemin moves quickly to place the bucket next to his head. The blonde grabs it hurriedly and the table watches as Renjun gets rid of every piece of food in his stomach. When he’s finished, his shoulders tremble with the effort of taking deep breaths and he wipes the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand. As Mark notices, Renjun has his eyes closed the whole time. Donghyuck grimaces and takes the bucket off the table and onto the floor.
Jaemin taps Renjun’s shoulder lightly and he seems to relax under the pink haired’s touch. “Are you okay?” His tone is gentle and rehearsed like he’s used to asking the same questions many times. Renjun tilts his head back and opens his eyes, taking another deep breath and nodding slowly. It is only then that Jeno gets back to acting like himself. The raven-haired cleans his throat and quietly hands Renjun a glass of water. Donghyuck glances at Jeno for a split second with something resembling worry in his eyes, but it’s so fast Mark can’t be sure of whether he really saw it or not.
Renjun nearly chugs the water all at once and Jeno promptly fills the glass again, but he’s biting his lip and it almost looks like he’s doing that thing where you concentrate very hard on a specific action just so you won’t think about anything else. Renjun goes through two and a half cups of water with Jaemin rubbing his back as a reminder to slow down at times. When he’s done, everyone kind of props up expectantly, waiting for him to talk. Renjun doesn’t, just stares down at his own palms and the silence grows until Donghyuck can’t stand it anymore and blurts out: “How bad was it?”
Renjun blinks as if he had only now come to acknowledge his surroundings. He takes a look around the table, stopping very briefly at Mark’s direction and his mouth parts in the shape of an “O”. A nasty shiver runs through Mark’s body and he’s pretty sure the hairs on his nape are standing up. Donghyuck repeats his question and Yukhei starts saying something about how Renjun doesn’t have to say anything if he doesn’t want to, but the clairvoyant speaks anyway.
“Something changed.” He states simply, his eyes finding Mark’s again and the air feels charged somehow. No one looks that enlightened by the declaration but they accept it anyway, probably already used to not getting details. “Yukhei. Have you got any classes tomorrow?”
“Uhm. Just one at like, five something. Why?”
“I’m going to see Kun, and I’d like some of you to come with me.” There’s a slight note of commanding in there, even though his voice shakes a bit, just a little less flexible than a polite request.
Now that gets a reaction out of them. Donghyuck raises his eyebrows, Jaemin looks startled and Yukhei whistles lowly. Mark doesn’t know who this Kun person is, but by the looks of it, they must be important.
Just like that, Renjun resumes eating — although a little hesitant — and the others follow.
———
Jeno is already in the kitchen when Mark gets there in the morning. He’s handling the dishes from last night’s dinner and turns to smile at him from over his shoulder when he walks in. “How’d you sleep?”
Jeno’s good mood makes the room warmer, and Mark is immensely glad. To him, Jeno’s voice sounds incredibly soothing in midst of all the astonishing things that have happened over the past week, though his odd behavior the night before still confuses him a little. “I thought it’d take me longer to fall asleep. I was gone as soon as my head hit the pillow though,”
Jeno turns to him again to chuckle. “Any nightmares?” Mark shakes his head negatively, so he continues. “That’s good. Some of us have them pretty frequently.”
On the back of the other’s neck, Mark notices a small scar. It’s a thin horizontal line and it has a pale pink color to it, indicating it’s probably a mark from long ago. Jeno is finished with the dishes by then, so he starts arranging things for breakfast. They both just bask in the comfortable silence for a while, then Jeno starts humming to a song Mark doesn’t recognize. The shapeshifter allows his leftover questions to fill the void. His mind bubbles with new pieces of information from all things last night but no matter how hard he tries to make them fit, there are still a couple of crucial details missing.
“Have you made up your mind yet?” Jeno inquires, not looking at him this time. Mark swallows. That’s the question it all comes back to. Some nights before, Renjun had sat down with him — not really. They had had that conversation while walking around the house, but still — and explained the choices he had. He could either live with them and become a gang associate, most likely on the run from the police or he could go back to his life and forget about all of them. Looking at it like that, it seemed pretty simple. Live normally instead of in hiding with a bunch of renegades. But for once, Mark felt like he belonged, and it was a feeling he’d never want to give up for as long as it was possible. He shakes his head and gives Jeno a half answer. There is still time to decide. “I need more time to think.”
“That’s alright,” he flashes him another smile. “Take as long as you need,” The smell of eggs and some kind of meat fills the room, sizzling sounds coming from the pan in front of Jeno. “How do you like it here, though? Are you and the others getting along?”
“Uhm.” Mark starts and stammers for seconds too long so Jeno laughs. “I guess. I don’t know.“ Then comes the urge to share every little observation he’s made in his short period in the house. Perhaps it’s because Jeno had asked so gently and Mark can barely stop the words spilling from his lips, keeping the rambling to a minimum. “No offense, but watching you guys, it feels off balance sometimes. Like there’s something missing.”
“Maybe it’s you.” Jeno says quietly. “Maybe it’s you we’re missing.” He doesn’t turn to look at him this time and Mark is grateful because he can feel his soul leave his body for a couple seconds. Was it just him, or did that sound flirty?
Jeno resumes his humming and they fall into silence again. It’s nice, Mark thinks, to be like this. The house silent with only Jeno for him to pay attention to. It’s not like he doesn’t like the others. He does — even though not all of them seem to like him —, but they’re overwhelming sometimes. Everyone else has very contrasting energies and watching them all at the same time is just a lot. Jeno is… safe. He doesn’t nag and leaves Mark alone with his thoughts, but entices him at the same time. Like Mark himself is surprised to find out, despite his very little time around him, Jeno presence has come to put him at ease.
“Do you… Do you need help with anything?” Mark pulls himself out of the weird train of thought he was following.
“Hm,” Jeno ponders for a few seconds, “Well, maybe you could go upstairs and knock on everyone’s doors to let them know breakfast is almost ready. Only if you want to, though.”
Mark complies and takes a second to think about whether he should ask Jeno if he’s okay or not, but shakes it off before he can really decide and moves quickly to make himself useful.
On the second floor, Jeno’s room is closest to the staircase. The door is wide open and, well, Jeno is obviously not inside, so Mark walks past it and moves to the next room. (Not before taking a slight peek, naturally. Mark is all about privacy but is not like he’s going through Jeno’s stuff or anything. A look is just a look, no biggie.)
Jisung’s door is closed and the room is empty. Mark still hasn’t met him, and at this point he’d be pretty sure Jisung was a made up entity if it wasn’t for that one picture the other boys showed him. Aside from the fact that Jisung is the youngest among them — and by that Mark means Jisung looks like he’s twelve, although Yukhei assures him he is an actual teenager like the rest of them —, Mark knows virtually nothing about him, his ability included.
The next room is Mark’s own! Not borrowed but entirely his, with clothes scattered all over his bed, a funky green mat he got from Daiso just because he could and a drawing of a tiger Renjun made him taped next to the window. In the span of a week, that room already feels more his than his old one at the Institute ever did. He doesn’t share it with three other kids, for starters. Anyways, yeah, it’s pretty cool.
When Mark knocks on Renjun’s door, no answer comes. He tries again and still, nothing. He figures Renjun is probably pretty tired judging from after his episode last night, when Jaemin had to help him up the stairs because his legs felt too weak to carry his body properly. Mark had asked about it because it didn’t make sense to him that a Mutant’s ability would weaken them instead of giving them enhanced skills. Donghyuck just gave him a really nasty side eye but didn’t comment and Yukhei cleared his throat awkwardly before clarifying rather nicely what could be summed up like this: Renjun’s legs felt weak due to a perfectly natural human reaction called fear, caused by whatever he saw while he was away traveling through another timeline. So regarding not wanting to be out of bed before nine in the morning: completely understandable.
Yukhei is the first to actually come out when Mark knocks, though he isn’t sure if it counts because Yukhei was already kind of leaving his room. The door opens exactly as Mark bangs his fist on the wood and they have this really weird moment with both of them being surprised by each other’s presence. “Uh. Morning.” Yukhei says with his voice cracking, still rough and scratchy with sleep.
“Jeno is almost done making breakfast downstairs.” Mark says way too quickly and moves away from the door frame so the taller can pass through.
At the mention of Jeno cooking his eyes light up and he looks about a hundred times more awake than before. Yukhei turns to close the door behind him and then all but slides down the stairs gleefully. Mark chuckles to himself and keeps on walking.
Donghyuck’s door is always closed, and this morning is no exception. It’s the only room Mark has not yet seen the inside, and it’s almost comical how fitting that is, for that specific bedroom to belong to most closed-off person out of all of them — kind of, because Renjun is pretty secretive when he wants to be, but Donghyuck just seems a little hostile. Yukhei says it’s not about him and Hyuck usually takes a long time to warm up to people but Mark, like the good Leo he is, takes it personally anyway. The dark wooden door is slightly scorched at the bottom, as if burned briefly by flames coming from down under. Which has Mark a little confused because as far as he knows Donghyuck is supposed to be able to control his fire completely. So unless he wanted to burn his door, that shouldn’t have happened. But well, as it turns out, there are a lot of things about Mutants Mark doesn’t yet know.
Mark knocks and a half muffled answer comes from the inside. He doesn’t understand it, but figures he doesn’t have to since his job is simply to get everyone up. Jaemin’s room is last, the farthest away from the stairs and closest to the end of the hallway. The door is closed, and Mark assumes it’s locked but then he finds out it actually isn’t because at his softest touch the door slides open with the loudest creak he’s ever heard in his life. Like a deer caught in headlights, he drags his gaze very slowly towards the inside of the room and the string of apologies is already spilling from his mouth when he notices there’s someone else on the bed.
Jaemin is there, yes, but so is Renjun — sound asleep, at that, head resting on the other’s chest and one arm draped across his waist. Mark can feel himself flushing a bright red as Jaemin raises his head and shushes him with a smile on his lips, pointing vaguely to Renjun.
“I— Uhm. Sorry.” Mark blurts out and immediately trips over the words “I… B-breakfast.”
Jaemin snickers. “It’s alright.” Renjun shifts a little closer to him and the pink haired pauses to look at him fondly. He only resumes speaking when the other has settled again. “Thanks. We’ll be down in a minute.” Mark nods frantically and takes it as his cue to leave, closing the door behind him as quietly as he can. Once in the hallway and away from Jaemin’s amused stare, Mark presses his back to the wall and lets out a long groan. He closes his eyes to try and shake off the embarrassment, and it is in that exact moment that Donghyuck decides to walk out of his room, all flattened red hair and baggy sweatpants, the bruise on his cheek faded to an ugly dark purple color. He stops dead in his tracks seeing Mark standing there, looking pretty stunned. The firebender gives him a once-over and raises a single eyebrow.
“You okay?” his voice is thick with sleep still, and he speaks slower than usual.
“I… kind of walked into them just now.” Mark replies, motioning towards Jaemin’s room — Renjun’s too? Maybe that explains why they get to have the only suite in the house.
“Oh. What were they doing?”
“Cuddling.”
“Yuck.” and he sticks his tongue out to illustrate the fake disgust.
Mark laughs softly and Donghyuck surprisingly chuckles along, rubbing the back of his neck. Though it’s probably because he’s still drowsy with sleep, Mark can’t help but feel excited about having a proper conversation with Donghyuck without things being awkward — and laughing together? Say what? Progress! The feeling almost washes over the utter embarrassment from minutes before. Almost.
———
Hours later, they’re all riding in Yukhei’s red Kia Morning (except for Jeno, who volunteered to stay at the house since all of them wouldn’t fit inside the car). Renjun is riding shotgun and Mark finds himself in the backseat squished between Jaemin and Donghyuck. It’s nice, he thinks, because the the AC is set to the maximum and the breeze blows right on his face. They had to move some textbooks and stack them under the front seats because Yukhei mostly uses the car to commute to college throughout the week — he’s majoring in elementary education, which is unexpected but somehow fitting — and his things are a little scattered, but they make it work.
They’re headed to meet Kun, who Mark had learned all about over breakfast. Apparently, he’s the head of the group they’re supposedly affiliated with, and he also seems to be someone Renjun trusts a lot because when questioned about the reason of the visit the clairvoyant had simply said “guidance”, which is as vague as it is ominous. Also, it’s everyone’s first time meeting him, as Renjun has always preferred to do these kind of things by himself. Today is different, for some reason, and the changes leaves them all a little tensed up. It’s a twenty minute ride until they parallel park — it takes Yukhei three tries to get it right — in front of a three-story commercial building.
Renjun walks in front and punches in a long code on the electronic panel on the side of the glass door, it slides open with a sizzle and they all go in. From the security cabin, the doorman — security, maybe? It seems odd to believe gang syndicates would have regular gatekeepers working for them, but hey. What does Mark even know about gangs, anyway — nods at them and presses a button in front of him.
The elevator’s doors open to the inside of an apartment directly, a very sumptuous one at that, with minimalistic decoration and neutral toned tapestries on the walls. A man greets them as soon as they enter the space, he is wearing a navy blue suit jacket and Renjun calls him Guanheng. He leads them to another, bigger lounge with a long meeting table at the very center, checks if they need anything and then leaves, closing the doors behind him.
“Ten? Where’s Kun?” Renjun’s tone is guarded referring to the figure seated at the head of the rectangular table. A man wearing a black dress shirt and many, many silvery piercings on his ears.
Behind himself, Mark can hear as the other guys enter the room, and he can also hear when one of them gasps viciously. Ten’s eyes glint with interest.
“Xuxi, hello. It’s been a while.” His voice is contained but there’s still some sort of wicked curiosity to it, something Mark can’t quite name.
Xuxi. The name isn’t familiar to his ears but as he turns around Mark discovers Ten is actually talking to Yukhei, who has stepped towards the back of the room and looks like he’s trying to get behind Donghyuck, despite their obvious size difference. “Don’t call me that.” His reply comes as a shaky mutter, and Hyuck sticks his arm out in front of Yukhei in a vaguely protective motion. “I want nothing to do with a traitor.”
Ten scoffs at that. “Oh, darling. You really are never getting over that, are you?”
“You mean you almost getting me killed? Yeah. It’s not something you forget easily.” Mark almost lets out a laugh at the way Ten looks stunned for about two seconds and then rolls his eyes. Like an actual eye roll. Like a thirteen-year-old-throwing-a-fit-to-their-parents eye roll.
“I don’t know how many times I’ll have to tell you this: I didn’t know they were gonna do that.” Ten looks serious now, eyes almost pleading but not quite.
It’s Yukhei’s torn to scoff. “Bullshit. What exactly did you think was gonna happen when they sent Jungwoo, of all people, after me? Did you think he’d give me a goodbye kiss? A hug?” Then he switches to Mandarin and Mark can’t follow the conversation anymore, but judging by their tone that keeps on rising and Renjun’s shocked expression, things are getting pretty wild.
“Well, I’m sorry if I wasn’t willing to die for you, Yukhei. What else could I have done, really?” Ten finally goes back to speaking Korean and he sounds more exasperated than ever.
“You could have come with me.” Yukhei’s tone edges dangerously in a way that tells Mark the two of them have had this conversation before.
“I couldn’t. You know that.” Ten sighs.
“But you’re here now.”
“I came because the syndicate fell. I’m a creature of opportunity, as you like to say.”
Silence falls upon the room.
“What do you mean, it fell?” Yukhei looks as serious as Mark has even seen him “Don’t fuck with me, Ten.”
“God, it just fell. Cops crashed down at the house and took people away. It happens.” Ten shrugs, but he looks just a bit disheartened too.
“For how long—” Yukhei starts but Renjun intervenes clicking his tongue and speaking over him before he can finish the sentence.
“That’s enough. We just came to see Kun.”
Ten rolls his eyes and Yukhei pursues his lips, then sulks, stepping back next to Donghyuck. “He’s not here. You’ll have to talk to me, ‘cause he left me in charge.” At that, Mark catches Renjun whispering under his breath, something that sounds a lot like a very intricate string of curses. Then he pulls himself together and shrugs, complying.
Ten motions for them to take seats at the table. Renjun ends up taking one of the chairs next to him, and Mark gets to sit on his other side as Yukhei refuses to do so, Jaemin is established beside Renjun and Donghyuck has already claimed the chair opposite to Ten‘s. The latter frowns at Jaemin for a second, tilting his head. “You’re a Nullifier? Huh.” The pink haired boy just nods slowly, his stance defiant. “Well,” Ten starts again, clasping his hands together and turning his attention to Renjun. “What is it that you wanted to talk about?”
Renjun leans forward, resting his crossed arms on the table and in that moment Mark can’t help but think he looks much older than he really is. The lighting in the room comes directly from above and it stretches long shadows below Renjun’s eyes, giving him a wary and tired look. “It’s about a recent vision I’ve been having. Something has changed, that’s why I needed Kun. To talk about it and clear my head.” He glances at Mark for a second, so fast he wonders if it happened at all. “But we have you instead, so you can go ahead and take a look for yourself. It’s too long of a story to tell right now.”
“Sure,” Ten raises his eyebrows. “But you’ll have to tell your boyfriend over there to stop shielding you first.” Then the realization hits Mark. A couple minutes too late, everything clicks together; Ten knowing things they hadn’t mentioned before and Renjun quite literally telling him to take a look inside his head. Ten is a mind reader, Mark is stunned to realize. Mark didn’t know what to expect when Renjun had told him they were meeting the leader of the gang syndicate they’re affiliated with, but he sure wasn’t expecting there to be any Mutants among them. The dark haired man chuckles at him and suddenly Mark is very aware of everything going through his mind. The sudden rush of panic makes him want to try and hide his thoughts but it consequently makes him think about them, leaving everything out in the open. His brain feels a little fuzzy, and his thoughts become jumpy, accelerating like in a roll of film inside of one of those old cameras. It takes Mark another two seconds to understand that’s Ten scavenging through his head. The commotion stops at a memory from hours before, of Jeno smiling at him in the kitchen, sunlight decorating his features. The same feelings he felt in that moment come back and hit him full force — the warmth, the fondness inside his chest. Mark is mortified when Ten smirks at him knowingly, and he can only hope his cheeks aren’t too red.
Renjun’s voice saves him from further embarrassment — bless him. “It’s alright. He’s just going to take a look.” The blond has his eyes on Jaemin, who doesn’t seem very sure but presses his lips together and undoes whatever it is that he’s doing, because Ten nods, sliding back onto his chair and concentrates, the only sound in the room being the anxious tapping of Yukhei’s foot underneath the table. A minute later Ten taps his fingers to his own wrist and whistles: “Uh-oh. That doesn’t look too good.”
They all turn to look at Renjun, who sighs. “I know.” he glances around the table worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. Jaemin places his hand on top of the other’s and starts rubbing his knuckles. “Do you… Do you perhaps know how to avoid it? Stop that scenario from happening?”
Renjun is staring very intently — If Mark didn’t know better, he’d describe the look in his eyes as bordering on desperate — at the mind reader, who gulps. “Look. The future is the future no matter what, but what you see are only possibilities, are they not?”
“Sure, but—“
“So it might not happen at all. I’d say just keep doing what you’re doing now. Keep everyone within your line of sight and it should be fine. Isn’t that why you brought them all here today?”
“Yes, exactly.” Renjun nods.
“We’re not all here.” Donghyuck butts in looking like he’s been thinking for a while.
“Right.” Ten half-smiles “Jeno.”
“Okay.” Renjun gets up from his chair and steps away from the table, Jaemin only a beat behind him. “We’ll be going now. Thanks for the talk, it wasn’t as shitty as I thought it’d be.”
Ten shrugs nonchalantly. “What can I say? Kun’s wisdom rubs off on me. Perks of being his favorite.”
Renjun scoffs at that but the smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “In your dreams.”
Before they can exit the room, however, Yukhei asks very quietly, almost like he’s afraid of what the answer might be. “Ten? If the syndicate fell… What happened to Sicheng?”
The other looks startled but then his eyes soften and his expression shifts to something much more amicable. “He’s alright. I can’t tell you where he is, but I promise you he’s safe.”
Yukhei just takes a deep breath, and then nods.
———
During the ride home, Mark expects there to be a whole lot of charged silences. Instead, questions spill from Donghyuck’s mouth from the second they get inside the vehicle.
“Will you tell us what this was all about?”
“No, I’m sorry. I’ll tell you afterwards, if it doesn’t happen. I don’t need you to worry about it.” Renjun replies without looking at them.
“But if it’s something dangerous, shouldn’t we be aware?”
“No, I—“
“Does it have to do with Jeno and the laboratories?”
“What? No!” the clairvoyant chokes out. “Why would you even say that?”
“If there are agents coming for him again, I should know. If that’s what it is, you have to tell us, Jun.” Donghyuck blurts out way too quickly and his tone rises, all of his worry seeping through.
“What…?” Mark wonders out loud but the sound is immediately swallowed by the other two.
“That’s not what it’s about!”
They all huff in surprise when Yukhei hits the brakes abruptly, scurrying to get a grip on anything, really, and stop themselves from tumbling over one another.
“What the fuck—“ Donghyuck mumbles rubbing his chin after banging it on the front seat.
“Stop it, both of you. I’ll crash this fucking car.” Yukhei spits out as he pulls over. “First of all, stop yelling — if you burn my seats, Hyuck, I swear to god. And it doesn’t matter what Renjun saw, as long as we’re all fine.” He pauses to take a breath. “Second of all, poor Mark looks like he’s seconds away from a meltdown. It’s really rude of you to discuss things he doesn’t know about, so can someone please fill him in already? Jesus,”
“Thanks?” Mark hums, a little startled still.
Jaemin, who has remained quiet throughout the whole thing, clears his throat somewhat awkwardly. “Years ago, Jeno used to be part of the government’s tracking program for Mutants. And he was convoked, you know, to go to the labs. But nobody knew where he was at that time. They just took him, without saying anything. Jeno wasn’t living with us at that point, but Donghyuck was and he was on the verge of losing it after not hearing from Jeno for over a month.” There’s a pause and Mark’s mind goes to the scar he had noticed on Jeno’s neck. It must have been where the tracking device was placed. Jaemin shakes his head as if to clear his thoughts. “Well, it was hard, but we managed to bring him back. With a whole lot of help, but still. To this day, we still don’t know the details of what happened over there, but Jeno still gets nightmares about it. It was just, bad.”
“That’s why we can’t let it happen again.” Donghyuck completes, and Mark can just tell he’s frowning at Renjun.
“It won’t happen again.” Yukhei turns to stare at the firebender. “Alright. Are we good?” That time he’s speaking to everyone, and they all chant out an affirmative. Yukhei huffs, re-starts the engine and drives on.