"jesus fucking christ mark! you look like you ran into a building with your face multiple times!"

mark flinched at jisung's loud voice, leaning his head back against the building's wall. "maybe i did."

"what happened?" jeno asked calmly, crouching down next to the male.

it was two days after mark's suspension had began and he hadn't seen dream. taeyong and jaehyun had made sure mark was constantly busy with the mafia as a punishment for getting suspended. finally, he got doyoung to cover for him that night and snuck out.

"got into a fight," mark chuckled, flinching and swatting the finger away as jaemin touched the bruise on mark's cheek.

"with who?" chenle pried. "that shit's bad."

"okay maybe multiple fights," mark shrugged like it was no big deal. "they came out worse."

"worse? what were they dead?" renjun asked, flabbergasted.

mark pursed his lips, "maybe."

the group all looked at him. "stop bullshitting."

mark internally scoffed. they were dead. not many people came out alive in a fight with nct. especially when nct was angry which they had been recently.

mark made his lips turn into a teasing smile, "why? think i couldn't kill someone?"

"no, you definitely could, but if you did, why would you tell us?" jeno answered. "we could rat you out like that."

mark watched as jeno snapped his fingers.

mark shrugged in response to the younger male. "don't know."

"who did you fight though?" chenle whined. "i hate suspense!"

mark thought for a second. it wasn't like he could tell the truth- that would jeopardize the mission and they would know he was part of nct.

"the new gang, dream," mark's lips turned down in a frown. "at least i think so. i couldn't get a good look at their faces."

dream all looked at each other confused. what was mark going on about?

"i doubt it," jaemin answered. "dream doesn't really fight."

"how are you so sure?" mark tilted his head to the side. "the media doesn't report a lot about dream."

"how are you so sure they do fight?" jeno retorted.

mark shrugged, leaning back against the building again. "i'm not, that's why i was asking."

"when do you come back to school?" renjun changed the subject.

"monday," mark answered simply.

"we'll see you then i guess," dream all got up.

"what?" mark furrowed his eyebrows.

"we have to go," jaemin responded, patting mark's shoulder. "it's almost curfew."

mark nodded, humming. he knew that wasn't why they had to go. "see you on monday then."

mark was uneasy all day. it was his first day back after his week-long suspension and he felt like someone was watching him.

"what's up with you?" jaemin nudged mark's side. "you look like you're about to punch someone."

"i think someone has been watching me," mark answered jaemin honestly.

jaemin looked around the area, "no one is looking at you now."

"well first of all, they're going to look away if they see you looking for them," mark hissed. "second of all, not in class. it's when i'm in the halls and during lunch."

jaemin hummed, leaning back in his chair and playing with the pen in his hand. "weird. i wonder who it is."

mark had an idea- well, more of a hunch. he thought it was donghyuck. it could be a stretch considering the fact donghyuck basically told mark to fuck off and get out of his life, but donghyuck was human and didn't seem psychotic. he had to have been feeling some sort of guilt for getting mark suspended.

"i don't know," mark sighed instead, leaning his head on his fist, his elbow resting comfortably on his desk. "oh well, we'll find out eventually."

it didn't take long to figure out that it was indeed donghyuck, a day at most. jaemin had found out as well and was constantly teasing mark about it.

it made mark roll his eyes and scoff when he thought about it. high schoolers were so childish.

"hey... mark, right?"

mark's eyes lazily slid to the side, seeing donghyuck standing there.

it was lunch time on wednesday and mark was hiding from dream, chilling in the bathroom and playing on his phone.

"what up?" mark asked, pocketing his phone and crossing his arms, leaning against the wall.

donghyuck was nervous and it almost made mark smile. the kid was so obvious.

"look," donghyuck mumbled, not meeting mark's eyes. "i'm sorry about not backing you up okay? i just- i can't get into that whole bullying thing again. it's happened before and i just can't do it again."

mark hummed, smiling at the male. "hey, it's alright. i get it. i'd probably do the same thing if i were you. it's a pain in the ass going through all that shit."

donghyuck met mark's eyes, surprise written all over the younger's face, "what? no, no, no i was a dick you should be angry at me."

mark shrugged, "meh. being angry all the time doesn't do anything. does it make you feel better if i said i was angry at first?"

donghyuck shook his head, "not at all! god, now i feel even worse. why do you have to be a good person?"

mark laughed, "me? a good person? i'm probably one of the furthest from it."

donghyuck sent the older a confused glance, "what?"

mark didn't answer, just kept the smile on his face.

donghyuck ran his hands through his hair multiple times, "can i do something for you? i hate feeling like shit."

"yeah, actually you can," mark's smile grew. "i'm tired of my friends- you want to go buy me some lunch and chill in the back of the school?"

donghyuck blinked once and then twice. "deal."

mark handed the younger some money and shooed him away. then, the older took his time walking behind the school and looking around, appreciating the incoming fall weather. leaves were starting to turn, but not fall yet, so the sky was filled with beautiful oranges, greens, and reds.

fall was mark's favorite time of year and a content sigh left his lips as he sat down at one of the tables.

there were people out there was well, mostly underclassmen trying to rush their homework or having animated conversations.

mark understood why people preferred it out here. it was so nice out and the cafeteria was always so crowded and loud.

"here."

mark turned to the side and saw donghyuck sitting in front of him, putting their food down.

"your money," donghyuck reached over.

mark glanced at donghyuck before grabbing it, "thanks."

donghyuck didn't answer, just nodded his head and started to pick at his food.

"where do you normally eat? i never see you in the cafeteria," mark asked the younger male.

"here," donghyuck motioned to the tables outside. "it's peaceful."

"definitely," mark smiled. "i might have to join you sometimes."

donghyuck stopped eating and froze. "what?"

"what? what's wrong?" mark asked, frowning.

"look just because i feel bad for being a dick and decided to be nice to you doesn't mean i want to be your friend," donghyuck spat out, his teeth gritted and his grip on his chopsticks tight.

yet he couldn't meet mark's eyes.

mark clicked his tongue, "who said anything about friends? i-"

"no," donghyuck interrupted, "no! i don't know what the fuck goes on in your brain and your friends' but i don't want to be any of your friends! i'm fine alone! i want to be alone! i..."

mark was silent as he watched donghyuck take a deep breath and run his hand through his hair.

"i just don't want it to happen again," donghyuck mumbled.

that guilt that mark had gotten used to feeling became overpowering. he was trying to get someone who had trust issues into a group just to break the whole group up. mark couldn't do this. he couldn't. not now, not ever.

"what the fuck is wrong with you now?" donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows at mark who had gone silent and was staring at the table, his nails digging into his hand and his breathing uneven.

"i'm sorry," mark whispered, donghyuck barely able to hear it. "i'm so fucking sorry. i'm sorry."

donghyuck got even more confused as mark continued to mumble apologies and slouch down.

"hey, are you okay?" donghyuck asked, reaching across the table and shaking mark's shoulder.

"yeah," mark breathed out, blinking rapidly. "i'm fine."

"no, you're not," donghyuck argued. his eyes widened and he spoke quietly, "hey, are you having an anxiety attack?"

mark couldn't focus on what donghyuck was saying, his brain running a mile a minute with the guilt mocking him.

"ah, fuck, what do i do?" donghyuck panicked, looking around.

"hey, it's okay," the younger stuttered, sitting next to mark and patting his shoulder. "it'll uh- be alright."

donghyuck awkwardly tried to calm mark down and, surprisingly, it somewhat worked.

"sorry," mark mumbled, embarrassed.

"why are you sorry?" donghyuck glanced at the boy beside him. "you can't help that shit."

a side of mark's lips twitched up. "yeah... thank you."

"do you uh," donghyuck muttered. "have some sort of anxiety disorder?"

mark sighed and shrugged, "don't know... probably. my parents never took me to be diagnosed for anything."

donghyuck glanced at the male, "my sister does too but her attacks are normally triggered by something..."

mark hummed, "mine too."

donghyuck didn't question it. "i'm sorry for triggering you."

"it's not your fault at all," mark immediately denied.

when donghyuck looked at mark, the latter beamed at the former in reassurance. "really. it's not."

donghyuck's lips turned up into a smile as well.

"oh wow you do smile," mark teased.

donghyuck's smile immediately dropped. "hey, wanna die?"

mark laughed, shaking his head. "no thanks, i'm good. not today at least."

the bell rang and the two males got up, silently making their way to their classrooms.

"hey, uh, mark?" donghyuck called before the two split up.

"yeah?" mark asked, raising an eyebrow.

"if you want to eat with me tomorrow that's fine," donghyuck flashed mark a small smile before walking off.

"where the fuck were you," jaemin questioned as soon as mark walked by his desk.

"i'll tell you later," mark smiled, shaking his head and continuing to walk to his desk.

mark pushed the thought of his plan to the back of his head and was happy to have just made a new friend. well, he hoped he made a new friend. donghyuck would be hard to truly befriend, but mark was stubborn. maybe a little too stubborn.

"mark," chenle drawled, the male hanging off of the oldest, "where were you during lunch? i missed you!"

"we all did," jaemin scoffed.

"i can't believe you ditched us," renjun scoffed. "we're like- the best people ever."

mark laughed at the over-dramatic behavior of his friends. "sorry, i decided to take a nap in the health office. i missed you all too."

the boys all said "ah," understanding.

"still you should've told one of us," jeno nudged mark.

"i will next time, promise," mark said.

"fuck," chenle slammed his head against his locker. "i still have detention."

"did you do something while i was gone?" mark asked, leaning against the locker next to chenle.

"chenji broke into the teachers lounge to get better snacks," renjun exposed the two.

"did you at least get the snacks?" mark asked.

jisung nodded, "they were pretty good."

"and free!" chenle cheered.

"well, not really," jeno snickered. "now you are paying with your time."

"we play rock paper scissors the whole time it's no big deal," jisung shrugged.

"only chenji would play rock paper scissors during detention," jeno mumbled shaking his head.

"yeah we play who can fall asleep the fastest," renjun scoffed. "and jaemin always wins."

"what can i say, i have a talent," jaemin beamed.

mark laughed at them all. "well if you have detention, you should go. it's going to start in two minutes."

"fuck!" jisung cried and started to bolt off in the direction of detention.

"hey wait for me!" chenle yelled after him, trying to catch up.

"well, it's just us now," jeno giggled. "what do you guys want to do?"

"not going to lie, i've ben craving ice cream all day," mark admitted.

"bet, i'm down," jaemin grinned.

"jaemin, you're lactose intolerant," jeno pointed out.

"yeah, and?" jaemin questioned.

"don't even bother," renjun sighed, putting his hand on jeno's shoulder and leading him out of the school.

mark smiled, sending a text to johnny saying he would be home late.

"dude are you coming?" jeno yelled, walking backwards to face mark. "at that pace you're going to have to pay!"

"no way in hell!" mark screamed back, running towards the other three boys who started to laugh and run out of the building as well.

listening to paint me naked while editing this is so weird but i'm obsessed-