Monster

33

Jaebum broke after a day. When Mark didn't so much as call, Jaebum called Jiho, remembering how drunk Mark was when he left. He just wants Jiho to keep an eye out for Mark. Thank god he agreed, but the extra pair of eyes still doesn't make him feel better.

He hoped Mark would call, that maybe the police would have picked him up and called? Anything other than the very real possibility of Mark's dead body lying cold in a ditch trapped under his totaled car. 

Now a week later and Jaebum is having an internal meltdown. If anything happens to Mark he'll never forgive himself, they've been together since the beginning.

Jaebum wakes up with a start, sweat pouring down his back, he reaches behind him for Mark, his heart calming when Mark is still curled next to him. He is shivering now though, Jaebum's fit tore the blanket from him.

"You okay?" Namjoon asks, pushing some of Jaebum's sweat slick hair from his forehead. Namjoon is dripping wet, having just returned from a run, much earlier than he was expected.

"Yeah, just a bad dream, I'm glad you're back" Jaebum smiles up at him, relaxing back against the foam beneath him. Mark stirs, turning around and wrapping his arms around Jaebum's waist.

"Go back to sleep, I'm right here" Mark whispers, giving him a small dry kiss on the back of his neck. Mark knows what hes been dreaming about, its been the same dream almost every night for weeks.

Rain drips through the wilting cardboard above their heads, Jaebum turns onto his back, Namjoon and Mark both curl under his arms. Its unusually cold for April the rain making it worse.

Jaebum doesn't fall back asleep, listening to the rain hit the loose gutters of the surrounding buildings and the soft snores that Namjoon's broken nose emits.

He was awake when their pathetic roof caved in, dumping the pooling water and the fresh rain on them and their only blanket. Mark caught pneumonia that week, he almost didn't recover.

Jaebum remembers that night well, Namjoon never talked about what went wrong on his run and it had always bothered Jaebum. He asked a few times, but once Mark was on the brink of death, he stopped. He didn't care anymore.

He wonders now if Mark is sleeping in ally ways again, under weak cardboard, shivering wrapped in a single blanket, alone. Logically he knows he isn't. Mark has his own money now, enough for at least a hotel. It does little to ease his worries.

Jaebum gets up, shaking the memories and worries away harshly. He is trying to be strong for everyone else. Jinyoung blames himself horribly for Mark no longer being welcome here and Jaebum has been trying everything in his power to let him know that it isn't his fault. That he shouldn't feel guilty for just existing.

And if he's being honest with himself, he's been rather clingy lately. As a result, they have all been spending more time together. Almost every night they've watched a movie together after dinner, all six of them piled onto the couch. But its still quiet.

In just this last week, BamBam has opened up to everyone, seeming almost like a normal 17 year old. Or almost 18 year old. Their birthdays are in just a week, BamBam younger by just a few days. Jinyoung has been occupied with that, trying to find out favorite cake flavors without being too obvious.

Jaebum too, has been trying to keep himself occupied, work—people wonder where Mark is— and of course, investigating Kris. It's actually been pretty difficult. Without endangering anyone else he's tried to gather information but he's found out very little.

Kris has been looking for Youngjae since the very day Jaebum kidnapped them. Kris has gone through other channels, asked Lee to keep an eye on Yugyeom, (That information was not forth coming, but Yugyeom was happy to beat it out of Lee) and then started initiating the break ins.