"Hey there."

-2-

Mark woke up that morning a few minutes before his alarm went off, which already made his day start off irritating. He unlocked his door, walking through the house like a zombie. His dad worked a twelve-hour shift from five in the morning to five at night, so he could move freely about his house in the morning before school without watching his back. 

Getting dressed with fresh bruises on his arms was inconvenient and irritating, and Mark probably called his father about every name under the sun. For a drunk, his grip was incredibly strong. It didn't help that Mark bruised so easily, either. 

He left his house early, forgetting his phone and having to turn back. If his father happened to come home during the day and went through his phone, he would probably just have to run away or hide at his brother's place. He was incredibly against being gay, and Mark's conversations would give him away instantly, as well as his friends. He didn't want that to happen, and thus was so paranoid that he would risk missing the bus for his phone.

But, Mark made it somehow, and put in his headphones so that no addict would ask him for money for drugs, not like he had any to start with. He liked the commute, though it was an hour long and the bus often smelled of cigarette smoke and other not-so-pleasant smells, it was peaceful. He could watch the city zoom by, imagine the lives of other people passing by. 

Mark ran into Yuta on the way, seeing as he grabbed him from behind at the station while he was waiting for the bus that went by his school. 

"Yuta! Don't do that, man, I could have elbowed you in the stomach." Mark rolled his eyes, playfully shoving Yuta off of him. He did have a miniature heart attack before he realized that it was just Yuta. However, he couldn't actually get mad at him because he did have a habit of doing that. So, Mark let it slide for now.

"Oh, come on, you should know that it's me by now, I'm the only person that does that to you." Yuta stood next to him. Nakamoto Yuta was a transfer student from Japan two years his senior, but they often ate together, texted and hung out. Yuta doted on him much like he was his own younger brother, and Mark let it happen, because once Yuta got attached there was no stopping him. 

"Yeah, yeah, alright, I'll give you that. Did you bring anything for breakfast? I was running late and didn't have any time to grab anything." Mark was hungry, and if anything, he knew Yuta was usually carrying some food. Sure enough, Yuta pulled out a sandwich and broke it in half, giving one half to Mark. "Thanks, dude, I was probably gonna die of starvation before lunch."

"No problem, I wasn't feeling that hungry but I had a feeling you would be." He ruffled Mark's hair, teasing him. Mark rolled his eyes as he finished his half in no time, feeling better now that he had some food in his stomach and was with Yuta. 

"Oh, whatever, dude." They got on the bus together, going through periods of ignoring each other in favor of their own things and chatting. In Yuta's case, it was last-minute homework because Yuta wasn't responsible at all, and in Mark's case, it was checking scholarship opportunities. 

They said goodbye to each other at the school gates, Yuta having to speed off to go say good morning and annoy the pretty Chinese boy who'd just moved there. He said he was simply trying to make Sicheng think about him, but Mark wasn't so sure annoying him was the way to do it. Sicheng had already snapped and, according to Mark and Donghyuck's friend Chenle, started calling Yuta all manner of names in Chinese.

He met up with Donghyuck, Chenle, Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun next. Jisung was evidently gone (or skipping their meetup in favor of getting a few extra minutes of sleep.)  Chenle, Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun had all skipped a grade, and as a result, in Mark's grade when they should still be in middle school.