Chapter Text
Mark remembered the day it happened to what he had for breakfast. Mum had made eggs instead of his regular cereal because they were going away for the week and he would be staying with his older brother Johnny. Mark didn't really know Johnny the best as Dad had said he was studying at college and lived near there and didn't have time to visit Mark apart from holidays. Johnny gave him a Triceratops for his last birthday although it was a basic herbivore he did prefer them to carnivores and was glad Johnny didn't get him a T-Rex. Mark used to love dinosaurs, he could talk about them all day and he did in class because work was boring and he didn't want to pay attention, even though his parents told him to pay attention so he could go to college like Johnny.
After lunch that day when mark was most restless, he could barely sit still and often someone would make a joke about him having 'ants in his pants' but mark didn't like thinking about ants crawling around his pants. His maths worksheet looked endless and the questions looked boring so he tried to draw a stegosaurus on the back of the sheet, he tried to draw the plates sticking out its back but at six his doodling skills were quite limited and it ended up looking like odd pentagons with wobbly lines. His teacher was definitely going to yell at him for not trying so he decided to turn the sheet around and try the first one.
Before he even had the opportunity to start as the office lady with gray hair and almost fifty wrinkles walked in and called for him to bring his bag. Saved by the bell his dad would've said. Mark didn’t really understand all these phrases people would throw at him and often took them more literally than he should do but then again no one took the time to explain it to him so in the meantime he was okay with having a little idea of what they mean.
He followed the lady down to the office, staring at all the bright drawings in classroom windows as they passed. He could see how people found her intimidating, she didn’t speak once as she took him to the office, only showing him a crooked smile as she told him to sit and wait for Johnny to come pick him up
Marks little legs struggled to reach the floor so he sat swinging them while humming. He wondered why Johnny was coming so early in the day. Maybe he had something on later and wouldn’t be able to pick mark up when school ends? maybe he thought school ended now? Mark laughed at that one, his older brother can go to college and graduate but doesn’t know when Mark’s school ends.
When Johnny finally arrived Mark noticed he had a sad look in his eyes yet he was trying to smile despite of it. Mark wanted to ask what was wrong yet Johnny just lifted up Marks bag and wrapped his arm round Marks back before leading him out the school to where his boyfriend Taeyong was standing.
Taeyong gave Mark a sympathetic smile as he took the bag from Johnny and put it in the boot of their car. Johnny crouched down to Mark and he stopped trying to smile.
“Markie.” Mark wouldn’t forget how his face collapsed. “Mum and Dad....” he took a second to recover. “They got in a car crash baby.” He broke out sobbing.
Mark didn’t know what to do, his parents were meant to be home at the end of the week, they were meant to take him out to dinner for not being there, they were meant to be home. They were meant to be Alive. He collapsed on Johnny’s shoulder, crying hysterically. He didn’t care if anyone was to see him crying his parents had just died goddamn it.
Johnny strapped him into the car seat before getting in the back with him and let him sob on his shoulder the ride to Johnny’s house, not quite home yet.
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Mark spent the rest of the week cuddled under a blanket with Johnny and Taeyong watching movies to distract himself from the hole looming inside his chest. He hadn’t been home to get his stuff to move into Johnny’s place yet but he made a deal with Taeyong that they’d go on the Friday as long as Mark got dino nuggets for dinner.
He hasn’t been in the car since the Monday he found out and all he could think about was johnny telling him in the car park and him bawling his eyes out. Taeyong even let him move his car seat to the front of the car because they were officially on ‘big boy business’. Johnny wasn’t able to join them which made Mark anxious but Taeyong let him talk about dinosaurs the whole ride there. Mum and Dad would’ve told him to be quiet after five minutes.
Mark liked Taeyong, he let him talk for hours and made really good kimchi. Plus he made Johnny really happy and Johnny needs someone to make him happy.
“Markie can you show me to where your room is i wanna see all your cool stuff?” Mark giddied up, his room was so cool he practically sprinted to it completely missing his parents room. He had to hand it to Taeyong he was smart at distracting.
They ended up leaving the house with most of Marks belongings, Taeyong reassuring him that he didn’t need to go back, and a few photographs for Mark to remember his parents and one of Johnny looking like an emo teenager because Taeyong found it funny.
Mark slept on his own bedsheets that smelt like home with his own toys from his bedroom around him and his stomach full from the dino nuggets and for the first time in a week he feel asleep staring at the glow in the dark stars and he felt good.