(A\N: I know there are probably Carats here, so just say it now.)
«»«»«»«»
"No, no! Kitty, no!" Mark shouted at the tiger, who was growling at Chenle's puppy. "Hey, he's a good puppy. You know, like Bella."
"He didn't like Bella at first," Jisung reminded him.
"Aren't you helpful." Mark glared at the younger before turning his attention back on his tiger. "Do you need food? Because I can get you food. Out here."
After about five minutes of fighting the creature, Mark managed to get Kitty back outside. Chenle sighed in relief before he heard hissing.
Jaemin was the first to react. "Jason, don't!"
There was a large snake peering over the couch, eyeing Chenle's adorably oblivious puppy. Jaemin grabbed it and hauled it outside to where Mark was.
"I swear to God, Fred's the only nice one." Shotaro muttered, looking over at the other snake that seemed to be using it self as a blanket, rolled into a little ball.
"That's why he's the only big animal allowed in the house for more than an hour." Jisung muttered.
Mark and Jaemin arrived a little while later, arguing. "Please, can't I take it off?"
"Nope." Jaemin smiled and popped the 'p.'
"How'd you even get him to wear those?" Jeno looked Mark up and down.
"The threat of aegyo!" Jaemin seemed proud of himself while the people who's known him longest groaned.
"I'm serious, is his aegyo really that bad?" Donghyuck flinched when Jisung scream a loud, "yes."
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Sungchan walked around the large house, looking for someone. He wandered for about an hour and a half, walking through the same hallways, over and over again.
"You good?" Donghyuck asked him after seeing him for the nth time.
"Yeah, have you seen Mark?"
"Oh, he went on a drive, why?" Jeno answered for him.
"Well, Johnny locked him out of the house a few months ago and Mark and I came up with a revenge plan."
"What's that plan?" Jeno ran a hand through his hair.
Sungchan looked around for the older before whispering to the two, "We started hiding his underwear in the plant pots and sometimes Bella buries them." He held up a pair of boxer shorts and pointing to a house plant in the corner of the room, "This one goes there."
He made his way over and started shoving the article of clothing into the soil. Jeno and Donghyuck were struggling to hold in their laughter as a certain, tall male came into the living room. Sungchan instantly dropped what he was doing and sat in front of the plant.
"Where the fuck is my underwear, small fry?" He glared at Donghyuck.
"Why me?"
"Because Jaehyun says that you're known to pull pranks and ever since you've joined us, my underwear started disappearing.
The three younger members burst into laughter. "I don't know who did it, but they're a fucking genius." Donghyuck wiped a fake tear.
Johnny groaned and stormed out of the room, settling on just stealing someone else's.
But, just as Jeno said, Mark was in the park, leaning against his motorcycle. He watched the sun start to set as a girl started walking up to him. Though, she seemed more interested in his mode of transportation.
"You need something, kid?" He looked at the girl as she puffed her cheeks.
"Fucking hell, I hate being short. I'm 17! I'm just five foot." She pouted.
Mark giggled, "Sorry, but do you need anything?"
"Could you drop me off at my friends?"
"And you need me to do that, because?" He raised an eyebrow.
The girl flushed red, "Because I want to ride a motorcycle? My dad's to overprotective to even let me near one. Also, it would be a twenty minute walk."
"Why aren't you taking a bike or something?"
"Because I snuck out? I don't know, I'm supposed to be grounded but I have to see her."
Mark thought for a while before allowing her to climb on behind him, giving her his helmet. "What's your name?"
"Taehwa, you?"
"Mark." The two started driving, Mark going slower than usual.
"Do you know how I could confess?"
"What do you mean?"
"My bestfriend, she's the love of my life and I like her a lot, but she's dating this bitch of a guy who constantly cheats on her."
"Do you have evidence?"
"Fuck yeah. He's got his own private insta and he posts pictures with this other girl. Nine times out of ten, they're kissing."
"Try to ease her out of the relationship. After they break up, wait a little bit before confessing, let her get over her past relationship, okay?" Taehwa nodded and listened.
When they pulled up to the house, Taehwa gave the older boy a hug, just as the door opened. "Tae? The fuck you doing? You're supposed to be grounded."
She ran to the girl in the doorway, giving back his helmet and said goodbye to Mark. She didn't forget tp complement the cat ears still clipped to his hair. Mark reached up and felt the soft fabric and flushed red. He yelled goodbye to her as he drove back to his own home.
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Renjun hobbled through the gate to the familiar mansion. He tried to run, but even walking hurt a lot. Bullet like raindrops pelted the ground and his body.
May God damn this fucking driveway. He thought to himself as he glared at the pavement with disdain.
He felt his pockets but he didn't have his phone on him, he had someone else's. He hasn't memorized any of his gang members phone numbers except Jeno's.
He sat down, the pain almost enough for him to faint. He dialed his boyfriend's number and held the phone up to his ear.
"Hello? Who's number is this?"
"Jeno. I'm outside. Please, help."
Jeno immediately hung up, but Renjun knew he was coming to him. His feet stung. His legs, arms, torso, neck, hands. Wherever the bites were. Wherever he had been cut.
Jeno came running into the dining room, interrupting a meeting between the older members; Taeyong, Taeil, Johnny, Doyoung, and Jaehyun.
"Yes, Jeno?" Jaehyun asked.
Jeno held up his phone. "Renjun called, he's outside."
Doyoung and Taeil stood up first and followed Jeno outside. Sure enough, they saw Renjun's small figure sitting down on the grass next to the road.
As Doyoung called yet another ambulance to their location, Taeil and Jeno ran to the young Chinese.
Jeno reached Renjun first and held his face. He almost cried at the sight of it. The older had cuts and bruises littered all across his face, like he'd been beaten up.
"Oh my God, Renjun." Jeno held him close to his chest as they waited for an ambulance to arrive, all four of the gang members outside drenched by the harsh rain.
«»«»«»«»
Sicheng slowly awoke to the sound of beeping; a heart monitor. His stiches had been redone. He slowly sat up and looked around.
Yuta was asleep by his feet, again, so he kicked the older awake. When Yuta finally woke up, he glared at Sicheng, who just laughed.
"Hey, what happened?" Sicheng place a hand against his wound.
"You woke up and started freaking out, I guess. Also, what did you mean by "it's Xiaojun?"'
Sicheng bit his lip, "Their real target is Dejun. The rest of us are just a mask to hide their real target."
"Why Dejun?"
"He's your main interrogator, right?"
"Yeah..."
"He once tortured two of their guys to death, on two different occasions, and tortured another until he went crazy. They want to get back at him."
Yuta pursed his lips and furrowed his brows. "I'm gonna tell Taeyong. Who are their men?"
"I don't know, but their gang name is Red Bullet."
Yuta made a sound of realization, "Oh, yeah. I remember those bastards."
He hesitated for a moment, a fierce, one minute debate between his mind and heart before he leaned in and gave the younger a small peck on the forehead. Yuta squeaked out a "thanks" and ran out the door.
When Yuta entered the hallway, he was greeted by Jeno, Doyoung and Taeil.
"What happened?" Yuta approached them.
"Renjun," was all Jeno could say.
Doyoung had an arm around Jeno's shoulders. "What about you?"
"Red Bullet. That's who's doing this." Taeil cursed under his breath and Yuta continued. "Their actual target is Dejun because he killed to of their men and tortured another into insanity."
"So what's the point of taking the rest of the China line?"
"It's to cover up their actual target."
"So their suffering for nothing?!" Jeno shouted and stood up. Taeil tried to hide himself from the people who were staring.
"Hey, I'm going to take you home. You have school tomorrow anyways." Yuta pulled Jeno's arm and dragged him to the elevator just a a nurse approached Doyoung and Taeil.
"He'll recover, the cuts are two small to be fatal, and the bites aren't too venomous."
"Bites? What bites?"
"The spider bites."
«»«»«»«»
"You can't keep doing this." Johnny said, referring to the constant arguments Donghyuck and Mark
"You can't keep doing this!" Mark gestured to the handcuffs that linked him and the younger.
"I'll continue doing that until you two learn to get along and date!"
Donghyuck stopped in his tracks, "What was that last part?" He gave Johnny a sickeningly sweet smile.
Johnny laughed nervously and left the room.
"You know, between the handcuffs and the cat ears you had on earlier, I'd say you're the kinkiest person I know." Donghyuck's words made Mark choke on nothing in particular.
"Don't say shit like that." Mark braced himself against his desk.
"Can't handle it?" The younger smirked lightly.
Mark rolled his eyes and sat on his bed.
"Hey, where were you earlier?" The younger asked.
"Out, why? You worried or something?"
Donghyuck didn't say anything and just laid on the bed. Mark had to manually rearrange their positions so that the both of them were comfortable.
Whether he meant to or not, Donghyuck couldn't tell, he was busy being all flustered, Mark wrapped an arm around Donghyuck's waist. He brought the tanned boy closer to him and pressed his nose against the nape of the younger's neck.
No one spoke for a while. There was a comfortable silence surrounding the two.
"You know, they found Renjun. We can visit him after school tomorrow."
Donghyuck didn't say anything, but his sigh of relief and the way he leaned into Mark's chest was enough to tell what he was feeling.
A few rooms down the hall, Jisung was attending to the wound on Chenle's head. Daegal was asleep on the youngest's bed.
"Guess what?" Jisung asked as he finished putting a band-aid over the wound. It wasn't bleeding, it's just become a scab, but it's so that Chenle doesn't start picking at it.
"What?"
"They found Renjun Hyung." Jisung felt his heart melt when he saw how Chenle's eyes lit up. "Taeyong Hyung says we can visit him after school."
Chenle threw himself onto Jisung, hugging to the point where the younger had to tap out. "Listen, I love you too, but I need to breathe." Jisung laughed but Chenle only leaned in closer.
"You love me?" Chenle smirked.
Jisung flushed a bright red and removed himself from Chenle's tight grip. Or, at least, he tried. Chenle held on too tightly for him to escape.
"Don't try and run away, my dear." Chenle pulled the younger onto the bed with him, careful to not fall on Daegal.
"Don't you think it's strange?" Sungchan laughed.
"What?" Jeno turned to him. He had just gotten back from the hospital, with Yuta.
"Up until a few weeks go, we were at each other's throats? We were ready to kill each other on sight and now, here we are. Sitting together on the same couch staring at a wall."
Jeno laughed at the younger's wording but nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is quite strange."
"Ahem," Taeyong cleared his throat. "I hope you two are aware of the fact that you have school tomorrow. Bed time, now." He jabbed a thumb at the staircase behind him and the two dragged themselves to their rooms.
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2k words
Chapter seventeen ✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧
Ngl... This isn't the best chapter •-• it's more of filler... Whoops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also... I've started another three books... Hlep... One's a demon au, tho 👀👀 another is a summer camp au, and the last is a predator and prey au.
Anygays, I hope you're having a good day and I hope you enjoyed your reading!!
-Scribbles
1.27.2021
PS here's a kiss ( ˘ ³˘)♥ and happy 127 day!!