Arcadia 11

Three

After Mark had woken up, his body numb and uncooperative from exhaustion and the medications, Jackson had insisted he rest, carrying him to bed himself. If Mark thought this was weird he didn't say anything, instead loving the fuzzy feeling that came with Jackson caring for him. They'd stayed in their shared room, laying in bed, Jackson humming his and Jaeboem's song U & I, knowing it always calmed the elder. Mark had spent the night awake clinging to Jackson as his torso started to gain feeling. His brain telling him to slip, but also telling him what a terrible idea that would be.

The next few days were tense, the usually lively dorm was silent, the members walking on egg-shells whenever the eldest was involved. They were told not to directly confront the eldest, since that could make him feel threatened and defensive, that was the last thing any of them wanted. Everyone had been taking care of the silent male and Mark was secretly loving the attention, his Little side basking in the feeling of being cared for, but he was constantly drained emotionally and physically as he fought off his mindset. Fearing how the others would react if they found out. He was always on his toes, which made healing from these wounds that much worse. 

Jaeboem had been more affectionate, holding hands and patting his head whenever Mark ate his food, hoping the positive reinforcement they'd used with Youngjae would work with Mark as well. So far he didn't have many problems, the American male eating, but not enough to get his weight back up. This was Jaeboem's biggest worry, he never thought getting Mark to eat would be a challenge. When reapplying the medicines and wrapping the wounds he'd have to hold in his anger, clenching his jaw in the hopes Mark wouldn't see, but Mark was too observant for his own good. He could see the strain it took on Jaeboem to stay calm, it hurt him knowing he'd been the cause of the leader's feelings.

Jackson hadn't left the male's side,  when questioned he told the elder that his solo album was scraped because of his lyrics so he'd have to rework them. Jackson had been sleeping in the same bed as Mark, noticing how cold the other always seemed to be, knowing he ran at a higher temperature than most. He was also carrying Mark everywhere, claiming he didn't want to blisters to open and start bleeding, which freaked Mark out enough to have him clinging to his friend. He hadn't told anyone about the "Little" conversation he had with Jisoo, instead going online when Mark was asleep and no one could see what he was doing. He'd found out a lot about Little space and it's community, he would admit the sexual side of it made him uncomfortable. However, now that he knew more about it, he could see all the signs pointing to Mark being a 'Little'. However, being with Mark all the time was starting to stress the poor man out, he had been so used to blending into the background and doing his own thing that having Jackson with him twenty-four/seven was grating on his nerves.

Jinyoung had become a little distant, not that he intended to, however he was the only one unable to get out of his prior commitments and was currently filming for a new drama. The poor male was exhausted by the time he came home, and if Mark was awake he'd talk with him about his day. That was the most he could do.

Youngjae had become Mark's own personal music box, he would show up randomly and sing mushy love songs to Mark, getting that signature high pitched laugh out of him. When he wasn't singing love songs he was humming tunes softly to keep the eldest calm, they'd learned that Mark was prone to stress easily if he thought the others were too busy and that he'd often keep the pain he was experiencing to himself. Youngjae had become his soothing balm, taking in all of Mark's facial expressions and reading his body language as if it were Hangul. This inly caused Mark to start hiding things better. He would let Youngjae take care of small things, like him being hungry or thirsty, his scabs itching, or his butt hurting from sitting for so long; but he wouldn't let him in on the pain he was dealing with inside.

BamBam and Yugyeom would entertain Mark, telling him stories or dancing around wildly. Their hyung's couldn't even get mad when they'd go over the top as long as Mark was smiling. BamBam had taken to interpretive dance, Yugyeom singing stupid lyrics to a song he'd made up while BamBam would dance along. Again, the smiles were faked, the laughs holding no joy, and his head pounding. All he wanted to do was join in the silliness and dance along, but he was supposed to stay where ever they'd set him and pretend he was okay.