Friends? Septiplier

Reuniting.

Sean's mom came back and told them the school will suspend the two while the investigation takes place. She calls the police and an officer arrives shortly after. He sits with them in the waiting room and begins asking basic questions.

"Has this been going on for a while?"
"Yes, it put him in the hospital before today." Marzia answers.
"And did you see them hurting him the second time around?"
"Yes." The group answers.
"Can you describe the scene for me?"
"We were walking home from the mall when we walked past Sean's house. We heard a scream so I immediately ran to see what it was, that's when we saw Sean getting hit continuously by the man and his ex-girlfriend was just watching and smiling." Mark says in complete disgust.
The officer nods solemnly and writes something down.
"I'm not really supposed to say this but if you press charges they won't have much of a case against you."
The group smiles at that.
The mom chimes in, "I'm definitely pressing charges I can't see them stopping anytime soon otherwise."
The officer asks more follow-up questions and leaves after making sure he had all the information correct.
At about midnight the group had fallen asleep in the waiting room.
In the morning they woke up with pain in their necks, well except Marzia who got to lay her head on Felix's shoulder. Mark cooed at the two.
They went into the hospital's cafeteria and had breakfast.
"Y'know this isn't too bad for hospital food," Ken says with a mouthful.
"Gross, Kennnn, at least swallow first!"
Ken chuckles but complies with Mark's whining.
They throw their trash away and take their seats back in the waiting room. They take turns using the bathroom and brushing their teeth with the hospital's given toothbrushes and toothpaste.
When Ken walks out and sits down with the freshly hygienic group, the doctor walks out and calls out, "People here for Sean McLoughlin?"
The group stands up quickly anticipation and fear written clear on their faces.
"Come with me, please."
They comply and are lead to a room in the far back.
"Before we go in, I would like to update you on everything going on with him. We have already told Mrs. McLoughlin so no need to worry about that. He isn't suffering from anything too serious. His body has done an amazing job at recovering. He has severe bruising but thankfully the guy who hurt him wasn't able to break anything or cause any brain damage. Sean is a very lucky guy considering the circumstances."
The group nods and the doctor opens the door. They pile in and stare at Sean who is awake and sipping on water. Mark just wants to hold him, but he knows he can't do that.
They find chairs and surround the man and the doctor speaks, "If anyone needs me, there's a button on Sean's bed." With that, he leaves and the group puts their attention back onto Sean. Mark is at the end of the bed and tries not to gape at the man too much.
"Fuck, dude, I'm so glad you're okay." Felix sighs.
"I don't know if I would've been if you guys didn't show up, you guys even risked getting in trouble by attacking him! You didn't have to do that. I definitely don't deserve it." Sean replies.
"You do deserve it. You could've spat in my face after and I'd still be glad we stopped them." Ken says sternly.
Sean sighs, "I really don't want to get hit anymore. It doesn't get any better. I wanted to fight back but I knew it'd only make it worse for myself, but he didn't pack a punch half as strong as yours Felix!" Sean snorts.
Felix's face turns red, "Oh stop it!"
Mark smiles at the banter but turns his gaze down to his hands, he can't get over this boy and he knows it. "Um, I'll be right back." He blurts out, shoving his chair backward and leaving the room.
They gaze at the door after him, but no one dares run after him.
"Is he okay?" Sean breaks the silence.
"I don't know, he's been going through a lot but this might just be breaking him," Felix replies knowing not to spill too much.
"I miss him," Sean says so quietly they almost miss it.
"I'm sure he misses you, too, but he's damaged. You gotta work passed that." Marzia stares at him with unreadable emotion.

On Friday all of them get to school on time. Sean even met up with them at the park beforehand. Mark hasn't really talked to him. He's afraid of having another mental break down.
Sean and Felix head to their first class and sit together. They fall back into usual antics and Felix swears he finally sees Sean falling back into his normal self. He doesn't have a dead look to his eyes anymore and he looks brighter.

Lunch finally comes by and the group all sit together. Mark is quiet, he just sits back and observes how much happier everyone is to have Sean back. Mark wasn't. He was scared. He was so deeply in love he knew it couldn't be good to have to be around him now. No one cared to notice, so Mark continued the silence.
When lunch ended, he didn't say bye and walk with his friends till they had to separate. He just went to class and kept his head down.

Sean noticed. Mark didn't know that, but Sean noticed. It broke his heart that Mark had completely shut himself down. Mark was the life of the group. Without him, they wouldn't have the backbone to love them when they need it or to cry with.
He knew Mark didn't see it that way. When they all got to their last period of the day, Sean made sure to sit next to Mark. He kept including Mark in conversation and even made him crack a smile a few times.
They all decided to hang out at Ken's tonight so they dropped off their bags in their lockers and were on their way.

Mark was dreading it. It was hurting him to force himself to look okay. He just wanted to be okay.
He hung back from the group again but wasn't bitter about the groups' enjoyment of each other. He just wished he could go lay in his own bed and hide away from his feelings. He knew they would eventually all decide to stay over tonight so he tried to think of excuses not to but they all knew his mom too well so he really didn't have any good reason.
Mark was enjoying the cold weather, though, everything about it made him happy. It felt like he wasn't the only thing that felt cold on the inside. It snowed overnight which was something Mark had been waiting for.
Mark smirked to himself. He stopped walking and bent down to grab some snow. He squished it up in his hands until it formed a ball. He then jogged to catch back up to the group and launched it directly at Felix. When it made contact and the snow exploded all over the backside of Felix, Mark burst out into genuine laughter. Felix turned around with a smile on his face,
"Oh, now you've done it."
Felix ran towards Mark and tackled him and they both fell into the snow.
Mark gasps from the sudden cold surrounding him.
"Oh, you bastard!" Mark exclaims but takes in a mouthful of snow.
All of them except Mark can't breathe from laughter once the two stand up, again.
Mark swallows the snow after it melts and pouts.
"That was so much colder than a simple snowball!"
Felix smiles at him and hugs him close, "It'll be okay we are almost there and you can cuddle up in a blanket you big baby."
They continue walking and soon after arrive at Ken's place.
Mark reluctantly goes inside and when the group all sit together he sits in the recliner closest to the wall. Mark watches as they all laugh together and he just feels hollow. His eyes continuously land back onto Sean.

Mark leans back and shuts his eyes for a few minutes and before he knows it he's fallen asleep.
Felix looks to him and then turns back to the group, "He has gotten really distant." He sighs.
Ken nods in agreement, "I've noticed that but I have no idea how to approach it and ask him what's going on."
"When we are all awake tomorrow I'll try talking to him, but I'm not pushing him too far." Marzia says.
They lay out a bunch of blankets and turn some random show on Netflix and talk until all of them have fallen asleep with 'Friends' playing in the background.

The next morning the group all wake up around the same time, well because when Felix tried to get up quietly he knocked over everything on the coffee table next to Ken's couch.
They met in the kitchen after the appropriate steps to get ready for the day and Ken's mom already had breakfast ready.
"Man, I missed your mom's cooking!" Sean says his mouth practically watering.
Ken smiles and focuses back on the delicious food.

Later on, they went to the mall and enjoyed a bunch of random foods from the food court. They even walked around and bought stuff for each other no matter how much the other would plead them not to.
When they left they felt satisfied with how they spent their day together. Mark was just glad to go home.