Monster

35

Jinyoung is the first to wake, eyes and throat dry and painful. He walks into the bathroom and splashes his face with water, swallowing a few mouth fulls in the process. He doesn't remember much of Yugyeom's and Jaebum's fight, or even of ending up in his own bed.

Jinyoung thinks about meeting Mark for the first time. He was wearing ripped Maroon jeans, had blood red hair, and the sharpest smile Jinyoung had ever seen. Jinyoung hadn't hit his growth spurt yet, so Mark was a head taller. Mark was also, although just as malnourished as Jinyoung, more muscular.

He scared the hell out of Jinyoung when he came through the door and just said hello. Jinyoung wasn't used to people addressing him just because and he had thought he was alone. He pressed himself against the railing and waited, staring wide eyed up at him, for him to attack. But Mark didn't, and he didn't look like he was going to.

"You're jumpy, huh" Mark said, cocking his hip out and flashing that smile. "Are you hungry?"

Jinyoung shakes his head quickly, bristling like a cornered cat.  Kris is the only one Jinyoung has to answer yes to, when asked that question.

"Are you sure? Its not much, but I have this," He pulls out a bag of trail mix, the 7-11 kind, already half eaten. "you can have it"

Jinyoung blinks in surprise, he wasn't expecting to be offered actual food.

"Take it" Mark takes a step further, but backs off when Jinyoung puts a foot up on the ledge. "Look it tastes good" Mark shows him by sticking a few raisins and peanuts into his mouth and chewing. He makes a face. "Well, actually, I don't like the raisins, but I eat them anyways, because if Jaebum found out I was wasting them, he'd kill me"

"Jaebum?"

"You can talk!" Mark laughs "Yeah, hes kind of like my boyfriend, I guess, do you want to meet him?"

Jinyoung kind of does and really doesn't. He wants to be able to say he doesn't go strange places with strange people, but that's almost his job. He shakes his head slowly, even as hes stepping off the ledge and holding his hand out for the trail mix.

He's heard the name Jaebum before, just like he recognized Mark right when he saw him. Just whispers, rumors, but they painted a picture.

"Doesn't Kris pay you?" Mark whispers as Jinyoung devours the bag, whether he likes the taste or not.

"Why would he do that?" Jinyoung asks and Mark furrows his eyebrows.

Jinyoung ended up following Mark that day, he can't exactly remember what changed his mind, but he went and met Jaebum, and Namjoon, and realized why he had been about to leap from Kris's own building. He thought things would be better when Kris saved him, but they were a lot of ways the same.

Mark offered him something better.

He remembers meeting Jaebum for the first time. How Mark had lead him a few miles away to a condemned house and pushed through the door. Inside was Jaebum, his eyes lit up for a second but narrowed when he saw Jinyoung.

"Who's this?" He asked.

"Jinyoung, you've heard of him, I invited him over—"

"Take him back"

"But—"

"If Kris finds out he's here, we're dead"

"He won't find out," Mark assures, turning back to Jinyoung "come on, I have some games"