Chapter Text
Colors blended under Sicheng’s fingertips. He was careful with the glitter, and made sure to brush away the stray pieces before they could migrate to the corner of Mark’s eye. “You can open,” he murmured, and Mark blinked twice before focusing.
“I still have to do the pattern,” Sicheng began, and Mark nodded.
“Of course—it looks perfect. Thank you, Sicheng-ah.”
Taeyong’s head—but none of his body—suddenly appeared around the corner of the bathroom doorway. “Are you two almost done?”
“Almost, hyung. I just have to get the flowers on Mark and then we’ll be set.”
“Sounds good, Winwinnie! Meet you by the front door as soon as they’re on.” Taeyong grinned at Mark, who couldn’t help but wonder if he was making a terrible mistake. “Looking good, Mark-ah.”
Mark wanted to shake his head. He could barely recognize the eye-lined and glittered man he caught glimpses of in the mirror in his periphery, but then Sicheng was approaching again—armed this time with the pieces he was going to stick to Mark’s skin for the foreseeable future—and Mark had no choice but to swallow and get on with it.
Much as he expected, once the final leaves had been added, Taeyong was waiting right by the front door, surrounded by everyone’s packed suitcases. He’d had to pick a spot where all the many residents could see him, but the result was rather ridiculous looking to the others. “Alright, I think we have everyone….” Taeyong went silent for a moment, and Mark knew he was doing mental addition. “Yes, looks like it—all ten present and accounted for. Now, I know none of you are looking forward to this, so I’ll keep it brief.”
Taeyong, as per usual, was not wrong. Mark tried hard to listen, but he could see several of the older and more experienced residents were dozing off. “A few ground rules before any of us step foot out of this door: no illegal substances; no tattoos if not fully in a present state of mind—and yes, absolutely none if you’re one of the kids, that’s illegal; only virgin drinks for the kids; keep track of each other and don’t go anywhere without someone else; and please try not to make any terrible life decisions. Oh, and please, please, do not break the law. I do not want to have to bail any of you out of jail. Again.”
Taeyong was decidedly not glaring at Doyoung, Johnny, and Taeil when he said that last bit. Not at all. Then again, the whole incident with the kidnapped goat kid and the glow-in-the-dark-paint hadn’t quite been their fault, although the authorities originally believed so....
This had officially been a terrible idea for Mark.
Mark was stuck in the back with Jeno and Jisung, as per usual, but it was a much longer car ride than the ones the group usually took. Jeno, seated by the window, was kind enough to let Mark rest his head on his shoulder and sleep for the majority of the drive. It was a testament to how little sleep he’d been getting that he was able to sleep straight through Jaehyun’s and Johnny’s “DJing” (read: yelling) .
“Don’t touch his face, Jisung,” Jeno said with his own eyes still closed, not needing to see what the maknae was doing to know what was happening. “Winwinnie spent a long time working on his makeup, so let’s leave it as is.”
“Come on, Mark.” Caught in a dream a while later, Mark’s subconscious protested at being woken. “We’re here. We’re at the festival, Mark-ah.”
It was Taeyong, so Mark determined he shouldn’t ignore it and sighed only internally. The group’s de facto leader was sliding a pair of LED cat ears into his hair when Mark opened his eyes, but was quick to step away so Mark could climb out of the vehicle.
They’d parked a ways away from the entrance, so when Mark jumped out and took a look around he could see streams and streams of festival-goers walking to the front gates. It was almost enough to be overwhelming, but then Jeno stepped up next to him and wrapped an arm around Mark’s shoulders. Taeil watched the two with surprise but eventually shrugged, turning away to talk with Dongyoung instead.
“Mark, Jeno,” Taeyong called, making both straighten up and Jeno’s arm fall. “Make sure you stay with Jisung-ah the whole time, okay?” They didn’t have to be reminded— it was Jisung’s first festival, although it was not theirs. Mark would have preferred to stay home, but as per usual, the babysitting fell to him.
“You’ve got it, hyung,” they replied, and Jeno gave Jisung a wink.
“Cell reception might be terrible, so just know that unless I find someone I’ll be at the main stage for most of the night.” Mark nodded at Taeyong’s comment; it was something they’d already suspected, but was kindly just confirmed.
“Yuta and I will be in the forest,” Sicheng added as he applied his own pair of LED ears. These, however, were horse ones, complete with a glowing unicorn horn between them. The others couldn’t help but be beyond thankful they hadn’t been forced into anything similar, but poor Mark’s relief would prove short-lived. Yuta shoved a pair of light-up bunny ears onto his head, and although Mark’s spirits sank further, he knew better than to try to take them off.
“I think we’ll wander,” Mark said after a moment, and Jeno and Jisung nodded. “Find Jisung-ah’s favorite stage and maybe see some of the art.”
“You should come with your hyungs to the main stage first,” Doyoung suggested, and Jisung was quick to agree.
Jisung gawked at practically everything on the way to the front gates, so much so that Mark and Jeno had to nudge him along whenever he stopped. Neither could really blame him; there was beyond a universe to look at between the rainbows of brightly colored clothes and lights and sculptures and art installations and performers as far as the eye could see, and in the distance the many bright stages and their strobe lights flashing through the night.
“Come on, take my hand,” Mark suggested, and Jisung did as he was told. Jeno took Jisung’s other and the trio slipped into the flood of bodies all moving towards the home of the main acts.
“Where will Johnny be playing?” Jisung asked, and it was barely audible over the already pulsing bass.
“Main stage!” Jeno exclaimed, having to shout now. “But that isn’t until tomorrow. What do you want to do tonight?”
“When does it end?” Jisung asked again, and Mark sighed in despair.
“Six,” he replied, “and not six in the evening. Of course, we can leave before then…. if we get one of the hyungs to go with us to the car and drive us to the rental house.”
“Can we visit all the stages, and then maybe get food and go back to our favorite?”
“Of course, Jisung-ah.”
The three stayed directly behind their hyungs, which had the benefit of keeping the group together for the time being. Taeyong’s kitty ears were rather easy to follow, even amongst a sea of neon and lights worn on bodies, and made for a nice landmark in the crowd.
“Whoa, look at them!” Jisung was gaping at some of the dancers along the main walkway who were twisting and shimmering in time with the many beats. Jeno and Mark exchanged a glance, but then both broke into wide smiles. As much as Mark hated the music, he certainly loved his friends’s enthusiasm for it. “Do you think Taeyong would let me wear a tutu tomorrow?”
Mark almost choked. “You can certainly ask him,” Mark responded rather warily, but Jisung’s expression lit up even more. “But be aware, he doesn’t like to go out of his room until after at least two on festival days.”
Jisung turned quite honestly curious. “Why, hyung?”
“You’ve only met mom Taeyong.” Jeno swallowed hard, already partially dreading the rest of the three-day weekend. “Just wait until you meet festival TY for the first time. He’s….. uh….. the life of the party? Nothing dangerous, though—just a little wild at times.”
“Oh,” Jisung said, and the two elder teenagers felt rather badly for having to be the ones to break it to him. “Well, thank you for the warning.”
“I wish I could say, ‘you’re welcome,’” Jeno muttered, giving Jisung’s palm a reassuring squeeze.
“Oh,” Jisung said once more, but it was no longer directed at Taeyong. It was directed at what was in front of Taeyong: the massive main stage of the festival, surrounded by enough speakers and lights to seemingly shake the moon from the sky.
Taeyong turned to the trio, smile wide and presence wider. “You ready, kids?”
“Ready and waiting,” Mark replied, and Taeyong made finger guns at him.
“If I don’t make it home—which is not part of the plan, but who knows what will happen—please tell Taeil that he’s in charge.”
And then the hyungs led the trio further in and the crowd closed ranks around them, stranding them as islands in a dark-to-neon sea. Jisung craned his neck up, up, up, and Mark found himself mirroring the action. The detailing on the scaffolding and speakers was exquisite, and Mark couldn’t help but wish it was slightly lighter outside so he could properly appreciate it.
Taeyong’s ears appeared a ways ahead of them, but Jeno was not worried. They would be able to find their way back to the main gates, after all, and the group wouldn’t leave until everyone was accounted for in one way or another.
They stayed a while at the main stage, losing themselves in the electric whirl of the place. Mark was the only member of the trio who didn’t love it, but he got his own joy from watching Jisung finally pull out the moves he’d been saving for the right time to use for a while now. Jeno, too, seemed to love it, and by the time Mark had decided he’d had enough, his friend had garnered three new bracelets around his wrists. “Look hyung, it’s a Pikachu kandi!” Jeno exclaimed, pointing to the black and yellow creation strung around his right wristbone.
“I see that,” Mark said, trying his hardest to be pleasant.
“Hey,” Jeno shouted in Mark’s direction, “Are you okay? Do you need some space? We can go with you on a walk.”
“No, no, you two should stay here. I’ll meet up with you here shortly, alright?”
“Alright, hyung. Take care of yourself, please?” Jeno wrapped Mark in a one-armed hug before he left, and Jisung decided he had to hug Mark’s other side. As much as Mark softened at the attention, the rest of his brain needed space, and it needed it now.
Mark pushed and flowed his way to the edge of the crowd closest to the food vendors and crouched down next to a drink cart. The lady staffing it watched him carefully but didn’t comment.
A group of teenage girls bumped into him, sending him skittering to the side. They apologized and he did as well, but it took him a moment to recover his wits about him.
Mark hated festivals, and he especially hated dance music.
He was crouched with his forearms against his knees and head ducked when a hand came to rest on his shoulder. “Excuse me, are you alright?”
Mark looked up, and up, and wow, he was a lot closer to the ground than he’d expected to be. Standing above him was a festival-goer he couldn’t see a lot of, as most of them was silhouetted against the bright white lights of the jellyfish art installation behind them, but what stood out to him were the shiny wings they were wearing. They offered Mark a hand back to fully standing, and he could get a better look at them from a normal perspective.
Fairy wings was a boy probably a few years younger than Mark, with wavy purple hair, black or dark-colored clothing (Mark couldn’t exactly tell in the spotty backlighting), and a star wand in his right hand. “Please don’t cry. I’m Chenle, Zhong Chenle.”
Now Mark could hear a clear accent; it helped give him something to focus on. “Thank you, Chenle,” he said, and the boy ducked his head. “I’m alright, I think—I’m Mark. I just needed a break from the crowd at the main stage, but I’m not sure how I’ll find my friends again now.”
Chenle hummed and fiddled with the wand as he thought. Mark’s subconscious supplied him with several similar costume ideas for Jisung, all ridiculous enough to amuse him and lift his mood some. Pirate? Maybe. A very cranky Tinker Bell? Even better. “I came with my friends as well, and they’re at the main stage, too. I know where they are, so maybe you could hang with us until we can help you find your friends!”
“You’d really be willing to do that?” Mark asked, rather incredulous. The other festival-goer blinked, and then slapped his own palm with the wand.
“Of course we would,” Chenle said. “Follow me, follow me!”
Mark’s next observations on Chenle were: a) he walked quickly, b) he talked quickly, and c) he had a lot of energy. This wasn’t necessarily a negative, and proved to be useful, as it filled in the silences the two shared. The festival itself did not make talking conductive, as talking generally didn’t carry and shouting did only sometimes. As the repetitive bass line grew louder, Chenle carefully took Mark’s arm so they wouldn’t be separated in the crowd and steered him in the right direction.
Eventually, Chenle pulled Mark the final few feet and tapped a dancing boy on the shoulder. He turned and gave Chenle and Mark a soft smile, which made Mark smile as well.
Don’t blame Mark, alright? It was an infectious smile.
“Lele, who’s this?”
“This is Mark, hyung. He went to get some air and got separated from his friends.”
“Oh no! That’s happened to me a few times. I’m Haechan; let’s see if we can help you find them. Jaemin!”
“He isn’t always this sociable when you first meet him, and he doesn’t even like dance music anymore.” Chenle shouted into Mark’s ear. “He must like you.”
As if he knew what was being said, the red-haired boy turned and gave Mark another smile before shouting for his friend again.
“Aish, Jaemin wandered off again,” a new boy said, inserting himself in the space between Haechan and Chenle and Mark. “Someone cute caught his attention, apparently.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Haechan sighed. Mark couldn’t help but relate on a spiritual level. “I should have known.”
Suddenly, Chenle’s posture straightened. “Look, there he is right there!” As the younger pointed, both Haechan and Mark turned to look. Then, two things happened as one:
“JAEMIN! Get back here!”
“JENO?!”
Jaemin and Jeno froze at the noise, looked somewhat sheepishly at each other, and shrugged before Jaemin led the way to Mark’s new group. “Where’s Jisung-ah?” Mark demanded as soon as Jeno could hear him at a slightly more civilized tone of voice.
“I’m here, hyung!” Mark’s heart smashed into his chest harder than the bass line was making it pound as Jisung’s shout came from nowhere behind him. “I found you first!”
Mark heaved a sigh of relief, and Jeno’s face looked similar to how he felt inside. “Thank god, Taeyong won’t kill us tomorrow morning.” Jeno made the sign of the cross and Mark took back his sigh of relief.
At his other side, Chenle’s excitement had grown to new levels. “Hi, I’m Chenle!” He exclaimed, and Jisung beamed at him.
“I’m Jisung.” If Chenle’s wings had been real, Mark thought, they’d be beating so fast he’d be hovering in place.
“I hope you don’t mind my saying this,” Chenle started, and Haechan caught Mark’s eye— both were somewhat wary of what would come next. “But you’re very cute.”
Haechan’s jaw dropped, and Jeno started wheezing. Only Mark was somewhat unsurprised.
“Why, thank you!” Jisung flipped—yes, flipped— his hair “over his shoulder,” achieving the desired effect of making Chenle giggle.
“You know,” Jaemin began, and Haechan turned to him with an expression of pure murder. “Jeno, you’re pretty cute as well.”
Jeno pretended to flip his hair over his shoulder, and Mark facepalmed so hard he wondered if his fingers would ever come unglued from his nose. “Joking! Joking! AAHHH JOKING I’M TOO YOUNG TO DIE—“
“Do they all have death wishes?” Haechan asked Mark—once Jaemin had been properly reprimanded, of course—who shrugged.
“I mean, seems like it?”
“Hey Haechan hyung, where’s Renjun hyung?” Chenle rested his head on Mark’s shoulder, making one of the fairy wings hit Mark’s other.
“He went to get food—want to join him?”
“FOOD?!” Jisung shrieked, making everyone around him—even the dancers not in their group—flinch and glare. “Please, please, can we get food?”
“I don’t see why not,” Mark replied, and the others nodded. He, for one, was excited to be getting out of the realm of house music and (in Mark’s opinion, clichéd) bass drops for the time being.
The line of six snaked out of the crowd to the food vendors, all being required to hold on to each other regardless if they’d just met to keep from being separated in the vast sea of people. Haechan seemed to know where he was going, so Mark let him steer him in the right direction while the others followed Mark. Eventually, they reached a booth selling churros and stopped next to the boy third in line from the front.
“Oh, hello again!” It was the boy who had first commented on Jaemin, and Mark had to say that he was pleased to see him again. “I was going to get everyone a churro, is that alright?”
“Thank you,” Mark said, “I can pay for ours.” He motioned with his head at Jeno and Jisung, his wrists being held captive by Haechan and Jisung respectively. Even at the vendors, it would be easy to get separated.
“Nonsense,” Renjun replied, placing the group’s order before Mark could get another word in. “Here you go,” he said, handing each of the six their sweets before biting into his own.
“Where are we going next?” Chenle asked, having grown bored of playing with Jisung’s hair. “Haechan hyung and Mark, do you have a preference?”
“Somewhere not the main stage,” Haechan muttered, and Mark distinctly agreed.
“Mark here hates EDM,” Jeno said, slightly out of the blue, and Jisung, Chenle, Renjun, Jaemin, and Haechan all stared at Mark with surprise.
“Then why come?” Mark knew Haechan meant no harm by it, but the question still stung a little.
“Jeno and I are supposed to babysit Jisung at his first festival, and Taeyong—he’s one of our friends—trusts my leadership more than Jeno’s, so I got sent along. Also, one of our friends is playing a set tomorrow, so I want to support him.”
“Hm.” Haechan picked at the side of his churro, going after some of the stray sugar. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m only here because I bought the tickets months ago, before I changed my mind on the music, and I’m cheap and didn’t want to waste them and didn’t want to be the only one of my friends not going.”
“Changed your mind on the music?”
“I don’t listen to it anymore. Please don’t ask why.”
Alright then. Mark looked away from where Haechan had stopped chasing sugar, and chose to focus on the bright bracelets covering Jeno’s wrists instead. Those weren’t so bad, he thought, and Mark wondered if he’d ever get one of his own.
“Have you visited the bass stage yet?” It came from behind the group, spoken by one of the pair who had been in line for churros behind them. “If most of what you’ve been exposed to is the house played on the radio, then you might find it refreshing. I know I wasn’t expecting to like it, but this ‘dark’ creature here converted me.”
“You could show a little more respect, Felix-ah,” the other said, elbowing Felix in the side.
“I always respect you, Changbin hyung!”
They were both about Mark’s age, he guessed, more or less, and wore similar black outfits. Felix had a decided accent (Australian, Mark suspected), and was striking with his bright personality and vibrant strawberry-blonde hair, especially when seen next to his friend. Changbin, by contrast, was just as dark as his clothing was, but not in a dangerous way—just in a powerful way.
“Thanks for the suggestion—can we try there?”
Jeno gave Mark a disbelieving look, but then thought about it some more. At this point, basically anything would be worth a try to see if it would cheer up his hyung…. “Of course,” he said, and Mark finally gave him a true, small smile.
“We’re headed back there next, so you can go with us if you want,” Changbin suggested, and Haechan nodded.
“If you don’t mind, I think we will. Sound good, everyone?”
If Chenle’s energetic wand-waving was any indication, it certainly did.
The bass stage had—surprise surprise—a lot of bass leaking from it. It made the group’s collar bones vibrate as they followed a skipping Felix to the stage, and all could tell they were entering a new domain.
“It’s so dark here,” one of the younger members of the arm-holding line whimpered. The music was loud enough that Mark couldn’t tell which one it was, but he hoped everything was alright. “Dark and hypnotic and creepy.” Jisung shivered next to Mark as the words were being spoken, so Mark reasoned it must have been Chenle. Perhaps the wand-waving had been a protest?
“It draws you under like a riptide,” Felix shouted back, and Jisung rapidly shook his head.
“It’s like it’s throwing me off balance,” Jisung screamed to him over the buildup, and Changbin, second in the line behind Felix, turned to flash him a smile that glowed fluorescent white in the darkness of the tent.
“It’s the riptide from hell!” Changbin added with glee, and Chenle paled even more.
The air inside was more stagnant than outside, and Mark had a moment of worry when it enveloped him and the rest of the group. Then he saw the glowing décor, felt the beats he had heard earlier come alive, and realized he could do this .
Attached to his left hand, Haechan had a similar thought.
Felix led them into the depths of the crowd, to where a bubble large enough for all nine of them had formed in a direct line of sight to the booth. Changbin dropped Haechan’s arm as soon as he was able, but kept holding on to Felix.
Jisung let go of Mark and stood still for a moment, the waves of the music still foreign but gradually becoming more familiar. “Come on, Jisung,” Chenle shouted to him, “we can at least dance, right?”
So dance they did. At one point, Jeno and Jaemin slipped away to get drinks for the group and returned with water bottles, which all accepted gratefully. The younger members had begun to warm to the music, and Mark found himself hypnotized by the sound of it. When Jeno tapped his wrist and slid a blessedly cool water into his hand, he gave Mark a knowing look.
Eventually, Jisung grew a little bored. “Can we climb the mushrooms?” He asked, pointing at one of the art installations in the corner of the tent. It had a small sign next to it reading, “feel free to climb me,” but was currently unoccupied.
“Let’s go!” Mark shouted. Haechan, who had been dancing beside him for the past few hours, froze. He hadn’t been able to hear what Mark had said, although most of the others had. “Come on,” Mark said, extending his arm to him. Haechan barely had to consider before taking it and letting himself be pulled at the end of a long chain towards the mushroom statues.
“Hold my phone, hyung?” Jisung asked, and Mark agreed. He took a few pictures when the younger was settled before handing the device back to Jisung, who nodded approvingly. “Nice! Can I post those on my Instagram?”
“I don’t see why not,” Mark shouted back to him, and Jisung gave him a thumbs up.
Felix leaned against the base of one of the statues, closing his eyes for a moment. Changbin was there, too, and handed him one of the water bottles Jaemin had bought for them. “If you want to go on to other stages, you can,” Felix called to the rest of the group, who listened carefully to pick out the words from the underlying bass and noise. “I think we’ll stay here for the rest of the night.”
“Thank you, Felix and Changbin,” Haechan shouted to them, and they nodded. “I don’t think we would have come here had you not suggested it.” Felix laughed, inaudible but obvious and bright in the neon lights.
“You’re very welcome. See you here tomorrow? Or, should I say, later today?”
“Of course! See you then!”
Haechan grinned at Mark as Chenle and Jisung leapt down from their perches on the artwork. “Can we go back to the main stage to track down the hyungs?” Jisung asked, and the others shrugged.
“I’d love to meet them,” Jaemin said, and Jeno smiled brightly.
This, of course, led to several false starts, as they accidentally found multiple ladies wearing cat ears, but no Taeyong. “Are we sure he’s still here?” Chenle eventually shouted to the group, and Mark swallowed.
“He probably is, unless he’s found someone already.” Mark pulled out his phone and stared at the white numbers on screen. “It’s about two, so that’s possible, but we should probably keep looking.”
“Hey, I see cat ears! They’re red, right?”
Mark’s head shot up at Renjun’s shout. “Yes they are!”
This time, miraculously, it was Taeyong. Jeno burst into relieved laughter when the group saw him, but that quickly ended when he saw that Taeyong was indeed dancing with someone.
“OH My god,” Mark sputtered, grabbing onto Chenle and covering his eyes. Across the small space from him, Haechan did the same and blocked Jisung’s sight.
“Okay, crisis averted,” Jeno shouted after a moment. “It isn’t as bad as we feared!” Jisung ripped Haechan’s hands from his eyes, and the elder gave him an intense glare. Mark was much calmer and simply took his hands away from Chenle’s face.
“Oh, hyung’s just being a cat. That’s fine,” Mark determined, and Jeno nodded. They watched for a moment as the stranger played with Taeyong’s hair behind the “ears” he was wearing.
“Should we leave them be?” Haechan asked over Mark’s shoulder.
“Probably,” Mark replied. “Hey Jeno, should we go visit Yuta and Sicheng over in trance land?”
“We should! Alright everybody—next stop, another set of hyungs!”
Trance land was less off-putting to Mark than the main stage. Haechan, too, lightened along with the rising melody. Thousands of fairy lights led the way down the path, and the elders watched as Jisung and Chenle raced ahead, the backs of their shirts—and fairy wings in Chenle’s case—alternating between silver and white as they ran.
“We see Sicheng!” They reported as they returned, grins wide. This seemed to be much more of their style, Renjun thought. He had to personally agree, honestly, but then Jaemin and Jeno were grabbing ahold of him and the entire group was racing towards the LED landmark in the crowd.
Sicheng and Yuta were still together, their smiles matching when Chenle and Jisung ran up to them. “Whoa, I love your headband!” Jaemin exclaimed, and Sicheng thanked him. It glowed white, casting his hair golden-blonde in its light. Yuta wrapped an arm around him and held him still for a moment, and Jeno snickered softly somewhere behind Mark.
“I know! Isn’t Winko adorable?”
And then Haechan was grabbing onto Mark, making both Sicheng’s and Yuta’s eyes widen. “They’re almost as cute as yours, Mark,” he said, reaching up to bat at the bunny ears Mark had blessedly forgotten he was wearing.
Yuta and Sicheng were staring at each other now, and Mark was positive he did not want to know what they were saying without words.
They stayed at the trance stage for the rest of the night. Mark and Haechan had decided it was a fair compromise, as Chenle, Jisung, and Renjun hadn’t found the bass stage to be their favorite and yet they’d spent a good amount of time at it. The chiller, lighter yet still hypnotic pull of the trance seemed to be enjoyed more.
All too soon the sun began to color the sky to the east, and Mark surprised himself when he realized he really didn’t want to leave. Haechan was still beside him while Renjun was with Chenle and Jisung and Jeno danced with Jaemin (again, although it was slightly less surprising than the first time the others had seen them), and everything fit.
As the light climbed, the sets climbed, and the rest of the time flashed on by.
Before he knew it, Mark was standing in front of Haechan and the rest of Haechan’s group at the front gates. Jaehyun and most of the others were standing a ways up the path, waiting for Mark, Jeno, Jisung, Sicheng, and Yuta to finish saying goodbye.
“Thanks for looking out for me,” Mark said, and Chenle gave him a long hug. Jeno raised an eyebrow and Mark knew he’d definitely be hearing about it later.
“Of course…. may I call you hyung?”
“Yes, Chenle-yah,” Mark replied, and felt Chenle smile against his collarbone.
Jeno and Jaemin were in the process of exchanging contact info when Chenle let Mark go. Haechan took Chenle’s spot in front of Mark and extended his phone to him.
“Trade?” He asked, and Mark nodded. He didn’t trust himself to say anything else, but Haechan seemed fine with it.
“See you later today?” Mark ventured, and Haechan gave him the same smile he’d seen when they’d first met.
“See you then,” Haechan said, and guided his three out of the festival grounds.
“Well, I see someone had quite the night,” Yuta commented as the group filed into the van, and Mark chuckled at himself.
“It was more fun than usual,” he replied, and took his old seat between Jeno and Jisung in the back of the van. Yuta and Sicheng exchanged another look, but Mark simply leaned his head against Jeno’s shoulder again and dozed off.
The drive to their rental was much shorter than the drive to the festival, so it wasn’t long before Jeno had to wake Mark. “I heard our housemates are here already,” he said as Mark blinked sleepily at him. “And Taeyong and the guy he danced with are here, too, and the guy’s friends. Apparently they won’t take up much space, though, and are paying TY for the room.”
Mark groaned at the sunlight that assaulted his eyeballs when Jeno moved out of the van’s doorway, and his friend patted him on the head in sympathy.
“I take it you don’t really want to hear about that and just want to sleep, so I’ll point you to your room.”
Jeno led a stumbling Mark into the house. Mark didn’t pay any attention to his friends moving around him, but everyone stayed out of his way, clearly noting his about-to-fall-on-the-floor state. “You’re this second one on the left,” Jeno told Mark, who thanked him in a mumble.
The two twin beds had been shoved together some time before Mark arrived, and they were occupied by what appeared to be a pile of orange in different shades. Mark sighed, staring at the new roommate he never suspected he would have, before stealing the pillows left at the foot of the beds and lying down on the floor. They’d have a talk later.
* * *
Mark rolled over onto his back with a groan in search of his alarm clock and met yet more carpet. He knew instinctively that it was late, probably close to noon or one, and the awake part of his brain told him he still had summer reading to finish.
He opened his eyes and his heart stopped beating. His roommate was kneeling on the edge of the beds, much too close and staring down at him in amusement. “You talk in your sleep, you know.”
“Haechan?”
“Donghyuck.” Mark stared blankly at him, and Donghyuck grinned and leaned back to stare out the uncovered window. “My real name’s Donghyuck.”
Mark lay in stunned silence, but decided to roll with it. “Well, hello again, Donghyuck.” He stretched and rolled over to sit up, and Donghyuck didn’t look away. “And sorry about that, that happens…. did I say anything horrible?”
“Only that Jeno told you he secretly wants to be a horse.”
“I DID?” Mark was up in a flash, and Donghyuck started laughing.
“I’m joking, man. I couldn’t hear what you were saying.”
“You have some weird psychic abilities, then,” Mark replied, staring at him.
“That was just a lucky guess…. but Jeno really does want to be a horse?”
“Not a real horse, I think? I don’t know! I didn’t ask any more, okay? Some things are not meant to be questioned! Like, ever! ” Donghyuck laughed again, and Mark raised his hands to cover his darkening cheeks.
“Okay, okay, I believe you!” Donghyuck looked like he was ready to say more, but then the door to their room creaked open and Sicheng poked his head in.
“Sorry to interrupt, but Mark-ah, will you brave Taeyong with me?”
Mark nodded—that was one thing he could do. “Sure thing, hyung. Donghyuck, want to come with us?”
Donghyuck shrugged, but got off the pilfered beds anyway. Together, the three crossed the hall and went to the door closest to the exit of the hallway. Sicheng knocked and entered the room first. Mark went after him, and Donghyuck last.
“Taeyong hyung?” Sicheng whispered, and Taeyong’s red hair appeared from underneath the covers.
“Yes, Sicheng-ah?” Sicheng grinned at Mark. It was pretty smart, actually, for Sicheng to be the one waking Taeyong.
“There’s three strangers in Yuta hyung’s and my bathroom, asleep in our bathtub.” Sicheng had put his most pleading look on, the one he used to get Taeyong to buy him ice cream and to get Yuta to give him basically anything else he wanted.
Taeyong peeked his eyes over the top of the blankets to look at the three in his room. The fact that he didn’t even comment on Donghyuck’s sudden appearance said something about him right then, Mark thought.
“Those are probably his friends,” Taeyong mumbled. Sicheng and Mark exchanged a look, neither sure exactly who the ‘he’ being referred to was. “Are they clothed?”
“Yes, thankfully.”
“Is the water on? Are they in danger of drowning?”
“No.”
“Then I’d probably leave them be. It shouldn’t hurt them too much.”
“Thanks, hyung,” Sicheng replied, and the three left the room as quickly as they could.
“That went better than I thought it would,” Mark whispered as they gathered in the hallway. He took a quick glance down it and saw that all the other doors were closed, but after a second noticed the smell of frying eggs. “Wait, who’s that in the kitchen?”
Donghyuck and Sicheng looked at him and then at each other. They, like Mark, didn’t have any idea. “Let’s get Yuta hyung and go check it out.” Sicheng walked away and disappeared into his and Yuta’s room, while the other two stood rather awkwardly in the hall.
Yuta emerged before Sicheng did, looking infuriatingly well-rested and put-together. “Are the guys gone?” Sicheng asked him. Yuta shrugged.
“I don’t know. Didn’t check.”
“You didn’t check? And you were in the bathroom?”
“Are those eggs?” Yuta asked rather than replying, smiling either at that or at Donghyuck. No one— including Donghyuck—was exactly sure what it was aimed at, but it was a nice sight for the rather painful morning—wait, afternoon.
“We think so,” Mark said, and Yuta was off like a shot.
There was a stranger cooking in the kitchen. He looked oddly familiar to Donghyuck and Mark, who both thought it was probably because they’d seen him in the crowd some time last night/early that morning.
“Hello,” he said, turning at the sound of the group’s footsteps and reducing the heat on the pan. “I’m Ten!”
“Oh, you’re the person Taeyong danced with, right?” Donghyuck asked, leaning a little of his weight against Mark when they all stopped in front of the stove.
“I am,” Ten replied, pulling one of the plates from the stack beside him on the counter and transferring the four eggs from the pan to it. “Here, want eggs?”
Donghyuck’s eyes had literal hearts in them as he stared at the food. “You know the way to my heart,” he gasped, and Mark took the plate from Ten and held it out to him.
Right after Donghyuck grabbed the egg he wanted, a second person snuck in to grab the one on its right. Jeno gave Mark a slightly sheepish smile as he popped it into his mouth. “Oh my goodness, you’ve got to be my favorite of Taeyong’s guys if you can cook like this,” he praised after he’d finished chewing.
“Remember Johnny?”
“God, don’t mention Johnny,” Jeno shuddered. “That was doomed from the start.” Yuta laughed outright at that, and Sicheng smiled at the oil in Ten’s frying pan.
“We’re much better as friends, too,” Yuta said, and Mark definitely agreed with that. Sicheng huffed out something which was either slightly jealous or slightly amused.
“So, have all of you had dealings with Taeyong?” Ten was leaning against the counter, looking equal parts curious and slightly scared.
“Not us,” Mark said, motioning to himself, Sicheng, Jeno, and Donghyuck. “Because—well, besides Donghyuck here we’re basically his kids. Donghyuck we just met last night. But some of us, yes. It’s a pretty small portion of the family, though.”
“How many of you are in it? Total?”
“The family? There’s ten total, plus Donghyuck and his friends Jaemin, Chenle, and Renjun, and then there’s you and your friends who apparently scared poor Sicheng to death when he walked into his bathroom and found them in his bathtub.”
“Which, by the way, I’m never doing again,” said a new voice. A strange man wandered into the kitchen, drawn by the smell of the cooking. “Being stuck with Denjun and Jungwoo? In a bathtub? Whose idea was that?” The stranger stared at the eggs waiting to be fried, but Ten didn’t hand him the pan. “Dejun rolled over, kicked me out, hit the faucet with his elbow, and turned on the cold water all in his sleep . I love him, but Jungwoo is going to kill him.”
“Oh, so that’s what that thud was,” Sicheng said. “Huh, given that Jaehyun, Taeil, and Doyoung are sharing a room, I thought it might have been weirder than that.” Jeno fumbled a carton of orange juice as he was taking it from the fridge, and it hit the floor with a depressing splat.
“Jeno,” Mark groaned, and Jeno stared in sadness at the juice spreading across the tiles. “Sicheng hyung.”
“What?” They both said at exactly the same time.
“Here, I have some towels.” The strange man knelt down next to Jeno to help him clean up, and it was the second time Mark got a good feeling about the newcomers.
“Thank you….”
“Oh, call me Kun! Or Kun hyung, because I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other in the future.” There was a decidedly pointed look at Ten, who smiled sunnily in return.
“Sorry? At least we have a place to sleep.”
“I was looking forward to having a nice house. With a POOL. And not having to deal with the two idiots having a water fight in the bathroom of a house a mostly-stranger is renting from a complete stranger,” Kun replied, standing and washing out the saturated rag in the sink.
“Kun hyung, I have to take these eggs to Taeyong. Would it be too much trouble to feed the rest of Taeyong’s kids?”
“Since when am I a kid?” Yuta asked, completely seriously. No one responded.
“Since you apparently have to, I will,” Kun said, shooing Ten away from the stovetop. “Now leave my kitchen!”
There was silence as Kun started the next batch of eggs. Jeno traced the faint indentations the beads of his kandi had left on his arms. Donghyuck lifted his hand to adjust an earring Mark hadn’t noticed before. Yuta and Sicheng started leaning into each other until Sicheng’s head was on Yuta’s shoulder.
“Get yourself a man who makes you eggs for breakfast in bed,” Jaehyun announced, pulling up a chair next to Mark. It made an awful squeal, and most everyone flinched at the noise.
“Everybody wants a Ten,” Kun said as he poked at one of the eggs. “Because he’s a Ten out of Ten. Or so I’ve heard.”
“More like a nice solid five out of ten.” Kun whirled away from the stove to glare at the sources of the growing puddle of bath water just inside the kitchen.
“Morning, cause-of-this-lovely-bruise-on-my-ribs and disaster number two,” he said, and one laughed.
“Morning to you too! I’m Denjun, and this here is Jungwoo,” he said to the group gathered around the fresh plate of eggs as he both gestured at his friend and motioned towards the eggs with his other hand. “We are here to steal your food.”
“Go ahead,” Mark said, motioning towards it.
It was a mistake.
Fifteen minutes later, the kitchen was mostly clean; Jaemin had finished his shower, gotten dressed, made the twin beds, and arrived just in time to grab the last egg; and Jisung, Chenle, and Renjun were still nowhere to be seen.
“I went to sit on the couch,” was the first thing Johnny said when he stepped foot into the gathering, because of course that was what he’d do upon waking up at twelve-twenty in the afternoon, “and sat on someone. He was young and kinda cute and I think someone here probably knows him?”
“Brown hair? About my age?” Donghyuck asked.
“That’s right,” Johnny said in reply.
“Probably Renjun, then.”
The aforementioned Renjun appeared, but came to a complete halt when he saw there was nothing left on the plate. “I smelled eggs….” he began, and Jaemin tried to surreptitiously push the plate away from himself.
* * *
“You busy?” Donghyuck asked Mark as soon as they were back in their room together.
“......”
“Or not?”
“Depends,” Mark finally said, and Donghyuck stopped trying to make the beds while not separating them or moving them (he was feeling lazy, alright?) long enough to stare at him.
“On what?”
“On.... summer reading,” he said, and Donghyuck’s eyebrows climbed into his hairline.
“You’re kidding me.”
Mark swallowed, imagining Taeyong giving him his most unimpressed look. “Well, a little bit. But I really do have a lot, and university starts in two weeks and I haven’t started.”
“University?” Donghyuck chose to ask instead of anything else, having given up on fixing the sheets. “You’re in university?”
“My first year starts in two weeks,” Mark replied, and Donghyuck stared blankly at the wall with widened eyes. “You look…. shook?”
“That was terrible!” Donghyuck shrieked, and Mark laughed. “But yeah, I thought you were my age. Guess you’d be my hyung, then. Unless you skipped some years because you’re ridiculously smart, which I’m sure you are, and wow. Lee Donghyuck, stop talking.”
Mark laughed harder, and Donghyuck couldn’t help but join in. “Was that Donghyuck hyung? I’ve never heard that before, like ever!” Chenle was in the doorway with Jisung. Both looked even more plotting than Donghyuck, and Mark knew well enough already to be worried.
“What I was going to say before I was interrupted was, let’s go shopping.”
“What? Now?” Mark asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, why?”
“I still have something on the side of my face, I think, and I haven’t showered and you can’t be seen in public with me like this.”
“But then how will everyone know who you are?” Donghyuck asked, and Mark raised his eyebrows. “See, it says ‘M-A-R-K’!” With each letter, Donghyuck tapped a fingernail against the wooden bedframe, making Mark startle every time.
“It wasn’t my idea,” Mark replied, voice soft. “Sicheng hyung did it for me.”
“I like it.” Donghyuck was smiling the same kind of smile Mark had first seen on him. “But go shower then, hyung, and then we can go out.”
Mark rolled his eyes as soon as he was positive Donghyuck couldn’t see. “You aren’t going to shower, wash your face, or change your clothes?”
“What, with you in the room? Unless that’s your kind of thing?” he replied, and Mark groaned in despair.
“No, you idiot,” Mark said, and Donghyuck’s cackling haunted him all the way to the bathroom down the hall.
Shortly after, when he was shaking the water droplets clinging to the ends of his hair free, Mark felt someone brush by him. “Jesus,” he said, realizing who it was.
“It’s Donghyuck, but thanks.” The shower started up again, and Mark was careful this time as he left.
“Whatever, man. Maybe.... a little warning next time?”
Jisung was right outside, about to enter to use the sink. “I wouldn’t, if I was you,” Mark said, waving a finger at him as he pulled on a clean shirt. Jisung blinked, blinked again, and turned around and walked away. “Good choice, kid!” Jisung walked faster.
“I don’t have any money,” Sicheng whined as Jaemin and Renjun repeatedly poked him. “Seriously though, I’m broke. I can’t even buy myself ice cream.”
“I’ll pay for you.”
“Get yourself a Yuta,” Jaehyun said in an eerie parallel to that morning. Donghyuck and Mark exchanged a look, having already perfected some bits of silent language.
Kun sighed but tossed his credit card into Chenle’s waiting hands anyways. “You two’d better behave,” he warned, glaring at Chenle and Jisung. “Or you aren’t getting my card again. It’s just this once, remember?” Kun shook his head after a moment. “Seriously,” he mumbled, “I literally just met them and I’m already giving kids control over my finances.”
“Sure,” Jisung mouthed to Jeno, who muffled his laughter.
“Cat ears or crown?” Donghyuck asked the air, one of the choices in each hand of his. Mark peered over his shoulder at them in dread-mixed-curiosity. “Hm.” Mark stumbled back when Donghyuck whirled around, shoving the accessory mostly onto his head.
“Nyaaan~~” Mark said, closing his eyes and showing off his best sweater paws.
Silence. Mark breathed in, breathed out, and opened his eyes. Donghyuck was staring at him, and Mark honestly had no clue what kind of expression it was except for the fact that it would make a most excellent meme. “Owwkay, NO. NOPE.” Donghyuck finally said, and Mark pulled the ears off. “Let’s try the crown instead.”
Back in the relative safety of the food court of the shopping center, Jeno was the most popular guy. It probably had to do something with the fact that he was the one holding the French fries.
“Please, hyung? Just one? I’ll only take one?”
“Just one,” Jeno warned, and had to carry through with his threat when not Chenle, but Dejun tried to grab three.
“They were for Sicheng and Jungwoo!” Dejun protested, rather affronted, but Jeno simply snorted.
The music was better the second night. The moment Mark stepped foot in the festival grounds, something from Knife Party was kicking things off. Jeno and Jisung were clinging to him again, and the trio went to track down Donghyuck, Jaemin, Chenle, and Renjun by a large flower bouquet statue.
Sure enough, the others were there. Donghyuck was already dancing, and as the melody line ended and the drop built, Mark was certain he was making a fool of himself and his face but wow, okay, like how could a human–
“You okay, hyung?” Jeno nudged his shoulder, and Mark physically jumped.
“Yeah! Yeah! I’m good! Absolutely!”
“Don’t overreact, Mark,” Jisung deadpanned, and if Mark hadn’t been about to have a heart attack before he certainly had one then.
And then Jisung was mostly knocked-over by Chenle, who had ditched the previous night’s iconic wings. “Wow, you look great!” He exclaimed, seeming to be focusing on Mark.
“Thank you!” Mark shouted back over the music, golden crown securely clipped into his hair, and the noise caught Donghyuck’s attention.
“Chenle’s right,” he said, stepping over to Mark without losing the rhythm of the track. “You do look spectacular, hyung.” There was a pause as Donghyuck stopped moving and simply stared at Mark, but it was short and things went back to normal right after. “But not as spectacular as me, of course!”
“Don’t listen to Donghyuck, he’s the Devil,” Renjun said, and he was quite right. Indeed, Donghyuck had clipped a pair of small horns into his hair and a pointed tail to the belt loop of his skinny jeans.
“You got a forked tongue, too?” Mark teased, hoping the lights would be enough to hide most of his face.
“Oh, someone’s feeling bold tonight! Wouldn’t you like to know, though?” Donghyuck replied, dancing backwards.
“Holy—“ Donghyuck and Mark both shook themselves from the trance they’d fallen into as Chenle gasped and lowkey (read: highkey) flailed. “IS THAT A TUTU.”
Jisung flushed red, but the lights spilling from the underground tent were also red and hid it.
Well……. Almost.
“Yes,” he said, staring down at the kandi on Jeno’s shoelaces, and Chenle bounced over to him.
“Well, I love it,” Chenle shouted over the bass drop, and then he was grabbing ahold of Jisung by the wrists and making him dance.
“Is…. is that” Mark began, finally recognizing another song.
“UNICORNZOMBIEAPOCALYPSE” Jeno screamed, and Jaemin dropped the kandi cuff he was holding in shock, but before it could hit the floor Jeno caught it with the toe of his shoe.
“Whoa, dope!” Jaemin exclaimed, and Mark had no clue what was going on, but Jeno was balancing on one foot while trying not to let the cuff slip off his shoe and leaning precariously towards Renjun.
“Someone catch him!” Chenle shrieked, and he and Jisung ran to steady Jeno, but were beaten to it. Jaemin was already there, hands pulling on Jeno’s waist until he was centered again.
“Thanks, bae,” Jeno said, before abruptly hiding his face in his hands.
“Welcome, bae,” Jaemin replied, taking the kandi off Jeno’s shoe and taking his hand.
Jeno stared at him with deer-in-the-headlights eyes. “W….what?”
Jaemin laughed, rich and loud. “Trade, man!”
“Oh. OH.” Jeno stuttered before giggling at himself.
“Oh my god,” Donghyuck groaned, making a melodramatic facepalm. “Mark, we are surrounded by idiots.”
“At least we’re cute idiots!” someone screamed, and Mark felt rather like joining Donghyuck’s facepalm.
“Let’s go find Changbin and Felix!” Donghyuck called, and in a single wave the others gathered around him and Mark. The two exchanged a look, unsure if they minded the newfound leadership positions they’d gained some time while lost under the swirling strobe lights.