Work Text
(excerpt from Mark's journal)
12.04.18
1:27AM
Another day of school, another day of feeling like a failure. I got another calculus exam back from my professor, and once again the score was below 50. I’m a fraud. My parents are going to kill me. I don’t think I can keep photoshopping my grades for much longer.
But what can I do? They’re paying for my tuition. They sacrificed everything so I could go to university. I can’t let them down.
But I have. And I will continue to let them down. I wish I could switch majors, or just drop out, or something. I’m not cut out to be an engineer, nor do I think i’m even cut out for university. I’m nothing.
And Hyuck.. Oh, Hyuck. Bless his heart. He tries so hard to lift me up when I’m down. I don’t deserve him. He deserves a friend who can actually be there for him in the same way he’s here for me.
Why can’t I be more like him? He has it all. Good grades, job security, fame. And to top it all off, he’s happy.
That’s really all I want. I just want to feel like I did when I was a kid, before everything got so… hard. Now… Now I know there’s nothing left.
1:27 AM, once again. I don’t think I can go on any longer. Tonight’s the night.
Please, someone, anyone, give me a sign. Give me a sign that I’m making the wrong decision.
Please.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mark opens the door to see his backyard literally on fire, yet he can't bring himself to care. What he finds instead confuses him to no end: a giant banana-shaped spaceship, and a tall man furiously waving his coat at it. He closes the door. --- The second Mark opens his front door he's tackled to the floor by a sobbing Hyuck, refusing to let him go. The boy is literally beating on his chest, tears streaming down his face as he utters a string of curse words to his best friend.
"Mark fucking Lee I swear to god don't you DARE ever scare me like that again do you hear me I'm NEVER letting you out of my sight ever again I love you so much don't you know that you can't leave me don't leave me I swear I'll-"
"Hyuck. My backyard is on fire." Mark deadpans. "Your WHAT is on WHAT?" Hyuck is immediately up and running to the backyard, opening the door, when he also spots the giant spacebanana and the tall man. He closes the door. --- "Mark Lee, you have thirty seconds to explain yourself right now. What the hell is going on in here on this day?" Hyuck has his arms folded, hip popped slightly, and he's staring at his best friend disapprovingly. "Well.. Your suspicions about what I was going to do were… correct.. But then I heard something crash into my backyard and well, here we are now." Mark scratches the back of his head shyly, eyes cast to the ground. Hyuck points a finger in his face. "We'll discuss what you were about to do later. Right now we have to figure out what's going on.." he gestures to the backyard, "out there." The two hear another strange noise outside, and when they look into the backyard again, the fire is gone. Suspicious, they leave the house, to find the backyard no longer on fire. The tall man is waving around a white wand, with a glowing green block at the end. The two watch in awe as the fire in the backyard slowly shrinks, fading into nothing. "Oh, you're here! Splendid!" A voice rings out cheerily. The two boys startle as they realize that the man with the block wand is now staring at them and waving them over. Warily, they exchange a glance and walk towards the spacebanana. "Who the hell are you?" Hyuck asks, phone out and recording the situation, just in case. "Pleased to meet you!" The tall man bows. "Johnny Seo, Space Pirate. Just kidding, I'm not a space pirate. I'm a space cartographer." "A what?" "A cartographer! You know, I travel all around the galaxy to document everything it has! It's quite a journey." Johnny flashes them a smile and finger guns. "But as you can see, I seem to have.. what is it you Earth kids say? 'Taken an L?'" Hyuck scrunches his face up in disgust. "Oh my god, never do that again." Mark, however, has his interest piqued. "So you need to repair your.. space.. banana?" "Space banana, don't be absurd. It's a banana ship. My banana ship. I call it John's Banana." Hyuck still isn't buying it, but when he looks to his best friend he sees stars shining in Mark's eyes. His expression is so full of life, an expression that he hasn't seen on the boy's face since they were kids. He decides not to say anything that might change that. "Anyway, kiddo, would you like to help me out? I need a hammer, a screwdriver, and.. Do you have lavender oil?" "I do! Give me one second!" Mark and Hyuck go back inside the house, the former excitedly skittering around his kitchen to look for the items. Hyuck checks his watch, seeing that it is now almost 2:30 in the morning. He stops his best friend, fatigue starting to take over his body. "Markiepoo, I'm going to go home, okay? I have class in the morning. If something bad happens, you call me right away, understand?" he plants a firm hand on the boy's shoulder. Mark looks down to him, smiling gently. "I promise, Hyuck. Thank you for coming over and checking on me. I love you so much." Hyuck's brows furrow and his mouth twists into a frown, tears threatening to spill from his eyes once again. He engulfs Mark in another bone-crushing hug. "I love you too, you idiot!"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mark comes back to his backyard with the requested items threatening to spill out of his hands. Johnny's eyes light up and he accepts them gratefully, disappearing behind the banana ship to tinker away at the parts. Mark stands still, dumbfounded.
“Hey… Johnny,” he says, eyes casted to the ground, “tell me more about this space cartography thing.”
“Well,” Johnny pokes his head from behind the banana ship, “I just started. I’m from a planet called EXO planet. We’re a special race that is responsible for documenting the history of the galaxy. Usually when we’re old enough we’re turned out of the planet and sent to other planets to learn about their culture and map the surface of the planet.”
“So you’re supposed to just go to one planet?”
“Well, yeah, but i’m a little ambitious. I don’t want to just learn about one planet. I want to see everything the galaxy has to offer.” he goes back to tinkering away at the ship. “So I just visit the planets, learn a little bit, and then I go.”
Mark sits down on the grass, curious. “How many planets have you been to?”
“Just this one.” Johnny grins at him. “Hey, can you hand me the lavender oil?”
Mark raises an eyebrow, but hands him the tiny bottle of oil. Johnny opens it, taking a deep inhale and sneezing immediately.
“Love the smell of lavender. Accidentally made myself allergic to it.”
If there was a camera, Mark would’ve looked directly into it right now.
Johnny dumps the lavender oil onto his block wand, and it starts glowing a bright neon green. He points it towards the banana ship, and a beam of light shoots out, illuminating it.
Suddenly, the banana ship slowly rises off the ground, various mechanical sounds filling the air. Mark’s jaw drops.
Johnny throws his hands in the air. “FANTASTIC! Good as new.” he turns to Mark, shaking the bottle gently. “Good thing you had this stuff, lavender oil cures everything.”
Mark’s eyes are shining with excitement at the sight before him. “Where are you going to go now?”
“Don’t know yet. Still have to write my report on Earth.” Johnny stops for a moment, pondering. “Say, would you like to come with me?”
Mark blinks. “What?”
“You helped me save my ship. It’s the only thing I can offer as thanks.” Johnny’s smiling brightly at him.
“… Well… it’s not like there’s anything left on this planet for me anyway.” Mark looks back to the ground. “I’m just a disappointment to everyone I meet.”
“Not to me!”
Mark looks up and meets Johnny’s unwavering smile. He feels a flicker of emotion in his heart.
Maybe this is what he needs.
“… Okay. I’ll go with you.”
“Great! i’m adopting you now. You’re my honorary junior space cartographer!” Johnny wraps an arm around his shoulder, laughing. Mark already feels a huge weight being taken off of his shoulders.
“One question though. Does your ship have wifi?”
“The best kind of wifi. Intergalactic Space Wifi. Best signal in the galaxy.” Johnny shoots finger guns at him.
“Perfect. I have an idea.”
The two walk underneath the hovering banana ship. A beam shoots out from the center, and suddenly they’re inside the ship.
Mark’s eyes light up once again as he takes in the scenery around him: a wide clearing, random furniture, and a large monitor towards the end littered with various buttons and switches. He scampers around the area, awestruck.
“Johnny hyung, this is so cool!” Mark pauses for a minute. “Wait, no, I don’t want to call you that. I’m going to call you Galaxy Hyung.”
“Works for me.” Johnny heads towards the large monitor, flipping a couple switches. A few options pop up onto the monitor.
“So,” Johnny turns towards Mark, “all of time and space at your fingertips. Where do you want to start?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The trip lasts about an hour (5 minutes in space time), and Mark spends the entirety of it telling Johnny all about his life. He literally starts from the beginning, where his parents had high expectations of him since childhood, to how he developed anxiety and depression as a result of wanting to make them proud, yet always feeling like he wasn't doing enough to get to that point. Johnny couldn't help but listen, heart broken as he realized he might have picked up one of the saddest kids on Earth. He's reminded of the struggles he went through in space school, the constant need to please everyone and fit in. One day, everything in him snapped and he just let go of everything he knew. He didn't have any support, and he didn't want Mark to turn out the same way as him, so he made a promise to himself to protect the boy with his entire heart and soul. The two fall silent after a moment, and as they look out the window they see a turquoise planet on the horizon. Mark glues himself to the window, and next thing they know, they're descending into a bright green field. Mark's jaw drops as he sees hundreds of colored balls in the field, rapidly shifting hues. He grabs Johnny by the shoulder and points. "What're those, hyung?" "Oh, those? Those are space sheep. I used to have one when I was a kid. They're so much fun." the space cartographer remarks. He taps his watch and a blank screen pops up, titled FT_0701. He speaks a few words into it, taking notes on the planet. Mark watches as the space sheep disperse in a panic as the ships gets closer and closer to the ground. His brows furrow as he realizes there's a chance he may not be able to breathe on the planet, and he turns to Johnny in a panic. "Wait, hyung, can I breathe on this planet? What if I die?" he asks, worry clouding his expression. Johnny just grins at him and throws an arm around his shoulder. "Hold out your hand." "What?" "Just do it!" Mark holds out his hand, and immediately feels a small prick. He winces and looks up at the cartographer incredulously. "What the hell did you just do?!" Johnny lets go of him, twirling the block wand in his other hand. "I implanted a chip in you. Now I know where you are, and you can breathe on every single planet we visit." With one swift motion, he puts the block wand back in his pocket. "It's not that I don't trust you to not get lost, kiddo, but I wanna make sure you don't get lost, ya know?" "That makes no sense." "I'm from EXO Planet. Nothing makes sense over there." Johnny moves toward the front door to the ship. "We've landed, are you ready?" "Hold on, I have to make a post." ----------------- There's a chorus of baas as the space sheep scatter throughout the field. Mark cautiously takes his first steps off of the banana ship, breathing in deeply to see if he's going to die. Luckily, he doesn't feel his lungs tightening up, and he breathes out a deep sigh of relief. He's immediately hit with a gust of wind so strong that he falls to the ground. His eyes widen in fear as he realizes there's a chance he could die on this planet. Johnny, however, steps out of the banana ship with grace, completely ignorant of Mark's situation as he talks notes into his watch. "Fascinating," he mutters, "I've never been in this part of the galaxy before. The sky is such a lovely shade of turquoise, don't you think, Mark?" He looks around for his junior cartographer. "Mark?" "Down here…" Mark lifts a hand from his spot on the ground. "I can't get up because the wind is so strong." "Is this what you Earth kids call an SMH? You're so weak. Here." Johnny pulls out his block wand again and gently blows on the end of it. (I swear I'm not 13yo) A bubble comes out of the green end, detaching from the wand and floating towards Mark. The bubble moves to absorb Mark, and he sits up rapidly, beginning to panic. "Hyung! What the hell are you doing to me?!" "Relax, it's a special bubble charm I developed that protects you from the weather." He mutters some more notes into his watch. "I built that when I was still in school, and I never thought I'd get the chance to use it. Neat!" Mark finally stands up and takes in the scenery around him. The sky really is a beautiful shade of turquoise, and the rustling from the long stalks of grass surrounding them adds to the peaceful atmosphere of FT_0701. That is, until he hears fire. He and Johnny turn around in surprise to find two angry humanoids staring back at them, one very clearly radiating fire off of his body. Mark's eyes widen in fear as Johnny immediately brightens up and walks towards them. "Oh my goodness! Nice to meet you!" Johnny sticks out a hand for the clearly angry, clearly on fire humanoid to shake. "Johnny Seo, Space Cartographer. This is Mark Lee, my human." "Hey, what the hell? I'm not your pet. Try again." Mark pouts in his bubble. "This is Mark Lee, my junior cartographer. He's afraid of you guys." The angry, on fire humanoid clenches its fist. "If I were you guys," it growls, "I would get the hell off of this planet right now. There's nothing here for you." "Understood. We're leaving. Thanks for having us." Mark immediately turns around to get back into the banana ship, but Johnny stops him, eerie smile on his face. "Are you nervous?" Johnny looks back to Mark, winking. "Don't be, Markie. You see, these two fellows here are in a bit of a predicament. It seems their herd of space sheep have scattered, and since there's only two of them, they can't quite possibly herd them all by themselves, can they?" The second figure walks up to Johnny, eyebrow twitching. "It's your fault that they scattered, Space Man." "You can call me Galaxy Hyung. Cute ears, by the way." Ears? Mark looks at the second figure to see that he indeed has… cat ears. Fluffy cat ears, twitching rapidly as the figure blushes at being called cute. Mark pulls on Johnny's sleeve gently, and whispers, "Oh my god, they're furries." Johnny, however, has no concept of subtlety. "What's a furry?" Cat Ears lets out a sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Yu, they're not gonna leave. And he's right, we could use some help herding our sheep." He sticks out a hand for Johnny to shake. "Jaehyun. Nice to meet you. The dude on fire behind me is Yuta." As if on cue, Fire Man defuses, fox ears popping out of his head, and a large bushy tail waving around behind him. Mark blinks rapidly as he processes what's happening in front of him. Yuta walks straight up to Johnny and snatches the block wand out of his hands. "You're not getting this back," he growls, "until you herd all of our sheep. Understand?" "What?" Johnny's jaw drops in disbelief. "How do you expect me to herd all of your sheep without my Be Square Stick?" Jaehyun throws an arm around Mark's shoulder. Mark feels his stomach drop as Jaehyun's tail curls around his wrist. "Should we take this one instead? I'm sure he'd be great food for our cows." "Oh my god.. Space cows.." Mark mutters under his breath. Sure, he's scared shitless, but he's fascinated by the idea of space cows. "No, no, that's fine, Mr. Cute Cat Man." Johnny immediately pulls Mark out of Jaehyun's grip, raising one hand to salute them. "We'll take care of it immediately. Cartographer's honor." "Call me cute one more time, see what happens. I dare you." Jaehyun hisses. "I'd love to see what happens, but I'm afraid we have a task to take care of." Johnny winks at him. "How about you go take care of the rest of your duties, and let us worry about your sheep?" Mark runs his hands through his hair, stress radiating off of his body. Johnny just laughs as the two humanoids leave the area. "Is it.. Is it seriously called the Be Square Stick?" "I named it that when I built it in college. Brilliant, isn't it?" Johnny strikes a pose. "Now, let's get to herding these sheep!" "How are we going to do that, hyung?" Johnny runs straight into the banana ship, flicking a couple switches as he searches through a database on the monitor. "I have a database full of info on everything. There has to be something in here that can tell us how to herd sheep." Mark also enters the ship, collapsing on the nearest couch he can find. He muses over the fact that this couch looks like it came from IKEA, or… would it be SPACEKEA, maybe, as he pulls out his phone and gets ready to update the Galaxy Hyung account. "I wonder if this will work." Johnny pulls a microphone off of the dashboard and presses a button. ATTENTION PASSENGERS, THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN, JOHNATHAN SEO SPEAKING. WE'RE ABOUT TO HERD SOME SHEEP, SO BUCKLE UP!" Mark covers his ears at the obnoxious sounds that begin to pollute the area. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" he yells at Johnny. Johnny grins back at him, fuzzy earmuffs covering his ears, and a second pair in his hands, that he tosses to his junior. "Space sheep mating sounds! Isn't it brilliant?" "WHY DO YOU HAVE SPACE SHEEP MATING SOUNDS IN YOUR DATABASE?" "No clue!" --- The space sheep mating sounds continue for a few more minutes as Johnny and Mark sit in the banana ship, watching patiently through the window. Slowly, but surely, the rainbow colors begin to bleed back into their view, convening in the area. Johnny pushes a couple of buttons, and the banana ship scans the entire area, counting the space sheep for them. He frowns as he realizes the numbers don't add up. "How unfortunate. We're missing one." Johnny murmurs, folding his arms and pouting as he leans back. His back misses the rail and he stumbles a bit, quickly regaining his composure and hoping Mark didn't see. Mark saw. "Smooth." He hops off of the couch and stands next to Johnny, examining the screen. "How many are we missing?" "Just one. Knowing our luck, it probably ran into the forest over there." Johnny points to the forest directly to their left, radiating creepy energy. Mark shivers. "Do we… Do we have to go get it? What if Yuta and Jaehyun just.. don't notice they're missing one?" "Oh, they'll notice. And if we want to get back my Be Square Stick, yes, we have to go in there." Johnny huffs. "It's too dense to drive the ship through, so we're gonna have to walk. I hope you exercised when you were on Earth!" Mark side eyes him as they step out of the ship and begin walking to the forest. ------- The forest is dark, their path lit by Johnny's watch, and silent except for the crunch of the leaves below their feet. There's no denying that the overall vibe is extremely creepy, but it's hard to be fully immersed in it when Mark's aggressively typing away on his phone. Johnny stops in his tracks, holding an arm out for Mark to stop. Mark bumps into his arm. "What's happening?" he looks up from his text conversation with Hyuck, but Johnny hushes him. Mark strains his ears, but he can hear faint baas coming from somewhere above them. The two walk a little further in silence, Mark's full attention on their surroundings as he watches for excessive color shifting. The baaing gets louder the deeper they trek, and then Mark spots it. The space sheep in question is currently stuck in a tree, a large red balloon attached to it. Mark wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t this, so he snaps a picture and uploads it to their twitter. Johnny pulls a knife out of his pocket and hands it to Mark, effectively freaking the boy out. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this??” he asks, shaky eyes looking up at the cartographer. Johnny points to the sheep. “Go climb the tree, and cut the balloon. I’ll catch the sheep.” Mark looks Johnny up and down. “Are you strong enough to do that?” “I could snap someone in half, Mark. I just choose not to.” Johnny grins. “Now get your butt up there!” Mark swallows and starts to climb up the tree, nervous. To distract himself, he starts chattering about how he used to climb trees when he was a kid, and before he knows it, he’s staring the space sheep in the face. “Hyung! It’s eyes change colors too!” “Really? Strange. That’s not supposed to happen.” Johnny quickly opens up his watch and makes a note of that. “Okay, cut the balloon! I’m ready to catch it!” Mark is about to cut the balloon, but then he notices a strange message written on it. He pulls out his phone again and snaps a picture.
All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream.
“Hello?! What’s taking so long?!” Mark shakes his head rapidly. “Hold on! There’s a weird note on the balloon!” he gets closer to the sheep, knife in hand. “Are you sure you’re going to catch it?!” “Yes! Cut it already!” Mark cuts the rope, and immediately, the space sheep and balloon dissolves into a storm of bubbles. The two say nothing, silence and confusion taking over. “…. What… What just happened, hyung?” For once, Johnny actually looks dumbfounded. He mutters some more notes into his watch and shakes his head. “I… I don’t actually know, Mark. Come on, let’s go back to the ship. Maybe I.. Miscounted?” “But that doesn’t make sense..” ———— When they return to their ship and the field, Yuta and Jaehyun are already there, taking care of their space sheep. Johnny skips over to the two, wide smile on his face. "We're back, Mr. Cute!" he strikes a pose in front of the cat boy, who just looks back in confusion. Yuta is seen in the background, clenching his fist, a small flame beginning to burn around it. Mark shuts his eyes for a second and pulls Johnny back. "Hyung, you're horrible at reading the atmosphere." His statement is confirmed when Johnny looks to him in confusion, then back to Jaehyun, then back to Mark, to the ring on Jaehyun's finger, then finally to Yuta's angry expression and closed fist. "…Ah." Mark bows deeply to apologize for the cartographer's behavior, smacking him so he bows too. "I am so sorry, you guys, he's really dense." Jaehyun shakes his head, tail moving back and forth to express his amusement. "Don't worry about it. Yuta is just quick to anger because he's been having nightmares lately." He smiles and pulls the Be Square Stick out of his back pocket, giving it to Mark. "Thanks for this. Sorry again for causing chaos on your farm." Mark smiles back at them, Johnny's expression still blank. "No problem. Just get the hell off of our farm, please." Yuta growls, fox ears signaling his irritation. Johnny waves goodbye and turns to board the banana ship, but Mark stops him for a moment. "Wait.. One question. How many sheep do you guys have?" "100. Why?" Jaehyun tilts his head in confusion. "… Are you sure? We only counted 99.." "The last one was in the barn with us," Yuta replies, "It's sick, so we had to take care of it." Mark and Johnny exchange a look of confusion, but say nothing. Instead, they exchange intergalactic contact info with each other, in the event that they may need to come back one day, and Johnny makes a few more notes about the planet. Mark shows them the Galaxy Hyung twitter account, and they say their goodbyes, boarding the ship. When it's just the two of them, Johnny plops on the couch, letting out a loud sigh. Mark folds his arms and leans against the railing, looking at him pointedly. "How did you not catch on that they're married?" he asks, "The ring was right there the whole time." "I don't know, Mark. I just really like cats, they're so cute." Mark raises an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're one of them.." "One of what?" "… Never mind. There's weirder things happening here." Mark opens his phone to make some tweets on their account. "Do you think the note we saw in the forest and Yuta's nightmares are connected?" Johnny leans up, scratching his chin. "They might be. What makes you say that?" "Well, doesn't it seem weird that the note we saw explicitly mentioned dreams, and that the space sheep we saw was probably with them the entire time?" "It does, actually.. Maybe it's a coincidence. I don't know. I'm just sad I didn't get to take Jae on a date." Mark ignores that. "Where to now, hyung?"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The moment they step out of the ship, Mark feels like he's back on earth. They've landed in a high school parking lot, swarms of students rushing into the campus in front of them. Not wanting to draw attention to the banana ship, Johnny flips a switch that disguises the ship as a normal car. Mark looks at him incredulously. "How do you space people know what earth cars look like?" "Do you think that no one besides me has visited earth, Mark? We've been around just as long as you guys have, if not longer." Johnny grins. "Although if I'm being honest here, I would've just thrown a large sheet over the ship and called it a day." Mark raises an eyebrow at him as he speaks into his watch, taking notes on the planet. His eyes travel all over the parking lot, taking in the beautiful orange sky, the eternally warm-colored trees, finally taking a closer look at the people. He blinks as he realizes that everyone has a pastel skin color, nothing like the usual beiges and browns of earth. A smile reaches his lips as he realizes how fucking cool that is. "Oh my god, there you are! Hurry up, we're going to be late!" Mark's smile disappears as he realizes there's a tiny pastel green hand grabbing onto his wrist, dragging him in the direction of the school. He looks up for Johnny in a panic, but then he sees the cartographer is also being pulled away by a short man with bright red hair. Before he can even say anything, he's pulled into the school by someone he doesn't even know. ------- When Mark comes back to reality, he's in a theater, the green person in front of him panting, hands on their knees. Mark blinks as he sees the bright green hair. When the person looks up, their face drops. "Who the hell are you?" "Who the hell are you?!" Mark retorts, taking a step back. "You're the one who grabbed my arm and dragged me here!" "You're not who I.. Who I thought you were. Oh my god." The green person sinks to their knees, holding their head in their hands. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Mark suddenly feels a little guilty, seeing how the person in front of him is distressed. He squats too, so they're at eye level, and holds out a hand. "It's okay. I'm Mark, nice to meet you. I'm from Earth." The person in front of him looks at his hand, then up to Mark's face in confusion. "… I'm Chenle. We don't greet people with handshakes here." "Oh, okay," Mark retracts his hand. "Well, why did you drag me here?" Chenle collapses onto the floor, head tilted back and staring at the ceiling. "I thought you were one of my other friends.. He was supposed to help me with a dare, but he suddenly stopped talking to me last night, and I don't know why." Mark finds that a little weird, but he says nothing. "Well, I can probably help you with the dare. I don't actually go to this school, but I have nothing better to do.. What's the dare?" Chenle grows shy, cheeks tinted emerald. "I have to ask my crush to the school dance…" Cute. Mark is suddenly reminded of the time he almost asked Hyuck to their senior prom, but never had the chance because someone beat him to it. Suddenly, he's filled with a burning desire to help the kid out. He stands up and claps once. "I'm in. How do you wanna do this? Are you gonna make a big poster, sing a song, do a little dance?" He cringes at that last phrase as he's vaguely reminded of Johnny. Chenle looks up at him, eyes wide and mouth open. "Really? You'll help me out?" "Yeah!" "Thank you.. Thank you so much! But the problem is.. I don't know what would be best.." Chenle scratches the back of his neck, embarrassed. Mark scratches his chin thoughtfully. "It's okay, we can figure it out. How much time do we have?" "Until the end of this week. The day is halfway over, though. I probably have to go back to class soon, too." Chenle pouts. "That's more than enough time. Can I come with you?" Mark grins. "Sure! It's an art class, let's go!" Mark follows Chenle out of the theater, wondering how things are going with Johnny. ----------------------------------------- "Mr. Jung?" Johnny blinks in confusion at the short red man in front of him. And when he says red, he means bright tomato red. The man is in a navy suit, and he looks expensive and important. His tomato hair is swept back in an undercut and Johnny can feel himself swooning. His brain actually catches up with his mouth today, though. "Who are you?" Sexy Tomato Man looks at him in confusion. "You're a substitute teacher here, aren't you? You're filling in for Mr. Oh, the art teacher." "… I think you have the wrong person.. I'm not a teacher, I'm a -" Sexy Tomato Man puts a finger to his lips, and silently gestures for the cartographer to follow him. Dumbfounded, he shuts up, quickly scanning the area for Mark. He sees Mark being pulled away by a bright green kid, and realizes they're probably going to be on this planet for a while. If that's the case, might as well have some fun. Johnny sighs and nods, following the short man in front of him. A few minutes later, they're in an office, Sexy Tomato man standing over his desk and sighing, running a hand through his hair. Johnny shifts a little in his spot, very taken aback by the pure power radiating from someone so much shorter than him. He shakes his head and comes back to reality. "Who the hell are you? It's obvious you know I don't work here." "Forgive me for that. Allow me to introduce myself." he adjusts his tie and holds out a hand for Johnny to shake. "Moon Taeil, principal of MFAL School of Arts." Johnny shakes his hand. "Nice to meet you. Johnny Seo, Space Cartographer. What does MFAL stand for?" "Doesn't matter." "Many fish and limes? My fat ass leopard?" Taeil shoots him an irritated look. "I said it doesn't matter." "Okay, cool, I'm at My Fat Ass Leopard School of Arts. Neat." Johnny grins and leans in the doorway, missing and stumbling to regain his balance. "How can I help you, Mr. Moon?" Taeil shuts his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Mr. Seo, I know you don't actually work here, but I need your help. One of our teachers, Mr. Oh, went missing a week ago, and rumors are circulating among the students that he might have been kidnapped by space pirates." Johnny chokes on his spit. "Space pirates are real?" "Yes, they're real, and they're a force to be reckoned with. Around the same time last week, intergalactic news had said they landed here and stole several artifacts from Mr. Oh's museum, and when police went to investigate, Mr. Oh was nowhere to be found." "Wild. So how do you need me to help?" "Well, I'm not going to expect you to jump in and teach his class, because," Taeil gives his outfit a once-over, "You're clearly not an artist yourself.. However, I do think you'd be able to help us find some clues as to where Mr. Oh may have gone. Do you have experience with detective work?" "No, but I was an engineer for a little bit in college. I can solve any problem." Johnny winks and strikes a pose. Taeil looks at Johnny pointedly. "I'm seeing someone, Mr. Seo." "Yeah, well, I wasn’t flirting with you. I'm like this with everyone." Johnny pouts, and Taeil rolls his eyes. "Classes will conclude in about an hour, and then you'll be free to explore Mr. Oh's room. Thank you again for your support, Mr. Seo. You are dismissed." Johnny grins. "Yes, sir!" ------------- Johnny strolls into the art classroom as the last of the students take their leave, the school day finally coming to its conclusion. Mark waves to the cartographer, who waves back and lays an array of items out on the table where they're sitting. "Hyung, this is Chenle. I'm going to help him ask out his crush this week." Mark gestures to Chenle, who bows his head slightly. "Chenle, this is Johnny hyung. He's a space cartographer from EXO Planet, and we travel around the galaxy to document everything it has." Chenle's eyes immediately light up. "Really?! That's so cool! What's it like on other planets? I've always wanted to travel across the galaxy." "Why can't you? Have you never left this planet?" Mark asks. "Intergalactic law states you can't get a space-travel license until you're a certain age," the student replies, and Mark looks over to Johnny incredulously. "You mean to tell me.. I've been travelling illegally?" Johnny's eyes widen in alarm, and he opens up his watch to access the DataSpace and fact-check Chenle. There's a moment of panic before he sighs in relief, wiping imaginary sweat off his forehead. "We're good. It says the space-travel license is only for people piloting spacecraft." Chenle pouts. "So my parents lied to me?" The cartographer pats his shoulder sympathetically, and Mark stands up to assess the items laid out on the table. His brows furrow as he realizes they're nothing but ordinary objects. "Hyung.. these are art supplies. What are we supposed to do with these?" he folds his arms in disapproval, looking to the cartographer in confusion. Johnny looks back, grinning as he picks up a paintbrush. "Oh, my dear little Markie, these aren't just ordinary art supplies. I built these back in college for fun, and they're detective tools." Johnny replies, "Detective Johnlock Holmes is on the case!" He turns off the lights in the classroom, and stumbles his way over to the easel in the front of the room, accidentally bumping into a few tables and swearing under his breath. With one tap of the paintbrush on the easel, the entire room is lit with a light blue-grey grid, mapping out every surface. Chenle and Mark's jaws drop. "Woah, hyung.. What does this do?" Johnny has a childlike grin on his face, eyes shining as he takes pride in his invention. "This device travels back in time to pinpoint objects that have been misplaced. I used it in college every time I lost my pen." "Why would you invent a device to find one pen when you could easily just go out and buy a new one?" Chenle asks in confusion. "It was my favorite pen, okay? Someone very important to me gave it to me." There's a flicker of some unreadable emotion on his face, and then he shakes his head. Johnny taps the paintbrush again, and the whole room is illuminated by a white light, from ceiling to floor. Mark watches in awe as a few grid tiles around the room light up in red, and Johnny gestures for the two boys to go to those areas. With another tap of the paintbrush, and a soft beep!, the grid disappears, leaving only the red tiles. Johnny stumbles back over to the light switch, and when the lights are back, Mark is holding a book in his hands, while Chenle is standing in front of flyers. "Alright kids, what do we have?" Johnny asks as the three convene in the center of the room. Chenle reads the flyers, scanning for any information that might be helpful, and then handing them to the cartographer. "It looks like these were advertisements for an exhibition at Mr. Oh's museum last week." "Perfect! Now I can navigate over there without having to ask your sexy tomato man of a principal where it's located." "Hyung, that's disgusting. I can't believe you just said that." Mark drags a hand across his face in second-hand embarrassment. "It's fine. I know he's not into me, so I have no shame." Johnny remarks. "Markiepoo, what do you have?" Mark opens the book and skims through it. "It's a guide to the older history of the universe, before Earth started space travel. There's a page dog-eared in the middle about the existence of.." he falls silent. "Of what?" Chenle asks. ".. Of space pirates." There's a moment of silence between the three of them, Johnny blinking rapidly as he tries to register the newfound information. "Wait," the cartographer starts, "Space pirates are real? You're telling me I could have actually been a space pirate that night I was in your backyard? My god, I could have killed you." Mark shoots him a look of confusion, and continues to read. "Apparently the most feared pirates in the galaxy are rumored to have been stealing and pillaging for hundreds of years.. There's seven of them and they go by.. Vision..?" Chenle's eyes light up, and he jumps up and down. "Wait, The Vision?! No way. I thought they were just a comic book series! We talk about them in class all the time." Johnny's eyes screw shut as he tries to make a connection between the two objects. "… Maybe Mr. Oh started to get uneasy about this whole Vision thing and he started doing research.. And since there was an exhibition coming up at his museum, he was thinking of ways to protect the artifacts..?" Mark folds his arms and looks to the ceiling thoughtfully. "It makes sense, actually. Are you going to go over to the museum tomorrow?" "Yeah, I probably will while you and Chenle figure out how to ask his crush out to the dance. Make sure it's cute, okay? Back in my day we used to paint these huge posters and ask each other out in the cafeteria. Everyone would clap." Chenle makes a face. ".. We are not doing that, I'm a shy boy." Mark laughs. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out for tomorrow." Chenle's phone rings, and he sees a notification from his parents. His eyes widen as he realizes he stayed way later than he was supposed to, and he grabs his things, ready to rush out of the room. "I have to go now! I'll see you guys tomorrow morning, thank you again for all your help!" Johnny and Mark don't even get the chance to give him a proper goodbye before he's gone. The cartographer laughs as he reminisces on his past. Mark looks to him in confusion. "You seem so dead set on him having success, too. Is there a reason why?" He asks. Johnny's gaze lingers on the door entrance, eyes out of focus and a pained smile on his face. "When I was in school, I had a lot of friends and dated a few people, but nothing ever felt.. real. It felt like people didn't really like me. This little cabbage boy you've made friends with, I can sort of see my past self in him, and I don't want him to go through what I went through." Mark's confusion softens, eyes also traveling to that spot Johnny was trained on. "… Me too, actually. Hyuck always had so many eyes on him, was always so popular with everyone, that I knew he'd never fall for a guy like me. He's too successful." "I bet if you told him what you were doing now, he'd fall for you. People tend to realize how much they love someone after they've lost them, though." Mark offers a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "He never wanted me like that in the first place, hyung." Johnny feels an arrow hit him in the chest. ".. You never know, Mark. Let's just go back to the ship so we can tackle this in the morning."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
DAY 2, LUNCH TIME Chenle peers at Mark through curious eyes. "How the hell do you keep getting on campus if you don't even go here? You don't even look like you're from this planet." Mark shrugs, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Maybe everyone thinks I'm your friend who hasn't talked to you in a while. Speaking of which, have you heard back from him yet?" "No, actually. I'm starting to get a little worried." Chenle's eyes widen in realization. "Oh my god. What if he was kidnapped by space pirates." "Wait, you guys believe in gods?" "No, I've just heard the phrase on lots of earth reality shows and I thought it was funny." Chenle grins. "Ever heard of Jersey Shore?" Mark chokes on his sandwich as he realizes that his suspicions have been confirmed: Jersey Shore was 100% created for intergalactic entertainment. He looks up to the cabbage boy, whose wide smile makes him smile in return, and next thing he knows, they're both laughing. Chenle puts down his lunch and moves to pull a very detailed list out of his backpack. The two boys start going over his plans to ask his crush to the dance: the idea was to get hamster plushies and green flowers, and ask him during a one-on-one moment. Mark's heart went soft at the idea, but as he looks around at their surroundings, he realizes this plan would be a little more complicated than he previously thought. "Where do you plan on getting green flowers, Chenle?" he asks. "I don't know if you noticed, but it looks like all the plants on this planet are shades of reds, oranges, and yellows." Chenle shoots him a look. "We go to the flower shop, obviously. Did you think that these were the only kinds of plants to grow here?" Mark raises his hands in defense. "Excuuuse me, I didn't grow up here. Earth has all kinds of plants of all colors, and some of them change to the colors on this planet during fall." "… What's.. 'fall?'" Chenle asks, eyes full of curiosity. Mark's confused, but he starts to explain the concept of seasons to the cabbage boy, whose eyes shine brighter at the idea of a different planet. "That's.. That's amazing. I want to visit earth one day." Chenle remarks when Mark finishes his lecture. (Maybe he did learn something in that geography class he took last semester.) "I know I'm going to a performing arts school, but I really want to travel the universe. There's so much out there that I want to see." Silence falls over the two of them, Chenle lost in his thoughts about intergalactic travel, and Mark thinking about how lucky he is to have gone on this adventure with Johnny. The moment doesn't last very long, though, because next thing he knows, someone walks towards them on the rooftop, greeting Chenle. "O-oh, hi Jisung!" Chenle scrambles to hide the list from view, a deep green blush blooming on his cheeks. Mark looks up to see this mysterious boy turning his friend from a cabbage to a kale, and as he observes, he connects the dots. Jisung is a tall, gangly boy, with bright orange hair, deep apricot skin, and an unexpectedly deep voice. Mark sees him and is reminded of a hamster in a few ways, now understanding why Chenle wants to give him hamster plushies. Judging from their interactions, it seems that Jisung might have a crush on Chenle too. The boys chat excitedly about their classes, Jisung finally reconnecting with Chenle after a long week of dance rehearsals. Mark gathers from their conversation and body language that they've known each other for a while, possibly even since their childhood. Jisung looks over to Mark, eyes wide in surprise. "Forgive me, I thought you were our friend Minhyung. My name's Jisung - I'm in the year below Chenle." Mark blinks as he registers that he's being spoken too, and he bows his head slightly out of habit. "Mark.. I'm from earth. Nice to meet you." "I had a feeling. You look like you belong on those earth reality shows that me and Chenle watch all the time." Jisung replies smoothly, but he can hear the slight shakiness in his voice. Mark guesses that Jisung must be feigning confidence to look cool in front of Chenle. He pretends he doesn't see it, and continues a conversation with the two boys for a few minutes, taking note of their interactions between each other. Mark makes sure to ask several questions about the two of them, their friendship, and their shared interests, seeing if there's anything else he can add on to Chenle's plan to make sure it goes smoothly. The bell rings, signaling the end of lunch, and Jisung's eyes widen as he realizes that he took too long of a break. He wishes both of them a good rest of the day and scampers back to the school's dance studio, leaving the two of them alone once again. Mark turns back to Chenle, who's staring in the direction Jisung left, a soft smile on his face and a faint green blush on his cheeks. Mark wonders if this is how he looked whenever he finished watching one of Hyuck's videos.. He probably did look like that. How embarrassing. "Is that your crush?" he asks, and Chenle startles, blush deepening. "M-maybe.." the cabbage boy stammers, eyes turned to the ground. "He's literally perfect, Mark. There's no way he'll say yes to me." "You'd be surprised. I think he's pretty into you too, Chenle." Mark clicks his tongue and leans back on his palms, looking up to the orange sky. "I'm kind of jealous." "Why? We're both younger than you, weirdo." "No, that's not what I mean." Mark laughs. "Back when I was on earth, I was miserable, but there was one boy who meant more than anything to me. I just wish he returned those feelings." "Well, if what you're saying about Jisung is true, then that boy probably felt the same way about you. You just don't see it, the same way that I'm convinced he'll never accept my proposal." Mark peers at Chenle, smile threatening to break on his face. "Maybe so, but my chance with him passed the moment I left with Johnny hyung." He sighs and closes his eyes, a faint breeze ruffling his hair. "It is what it is. I'm gonna make sure the same thing doesn't happen to you two." "Well, I have a half day tomorrow. Meet me at the school entrance same time, and we can go to the flower shop. Okay?" "Got it. I'll see you then." Chenle gets up, waving goodbye to Mark as he goes to his next class. Mark stays on the rooftop for a moment longer, watching the rest of the students pack up their stuff and head to their classes. His eyes linger a bit too long on a boy with bright red hair and rose skin, laughing with two of his friends. It strikes him as odd, because the laugh sounds so familiar… Oh. Mark shakes his head and closes his eyes once again, trying his best to ignore the ache in his heart. It never would have worked between the two of them. He keeps telling himself that so he can move on, but he can't help but be overwhelmed with regret. Frustrated, he flips open his phone to text Johnny, seeing if the cartographer has any updates on the Oh situation.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mark arrives at the museum and is greeted by the same assortment of detective tools, now splayed out across an even larger surface area. He cocks an eyebrow, eyes scanning for any signs of the cartographer, with no luck. A sudden loud crash causes Mark to jump, and he looks around more frantically, even more worried about his hyung. He manages to choke out a shaky “J-Johnny?” to which he receives another loud noise, followed by a swear. Johnny appears, covered in cobwebs and clutching his head. He waves at Mark, a goofy grin on his face. Mark rushes over to him in even more confusion, dusting the cobwebs off of his head. “What the hell happened?” he asks, voice heavy with concern. Johnny stares at him blankly before shaking his head and removing the remaining cobwebs. “I was poking around using the tools and I found a secret door, so I went inside.. And I might have bumped a few of the artifacts, that’s probably what you heard.” he replies. “Come on, let me show you what I’ve found.” The cartographer leads Mark to the main exhibit area, which is littered in even more yellow tape. There’s a few empty spaces on the wall and around the room, clearly from where the space pirates looted. Johnny points to an area behind a painting of a space cow, where the wall has been slid to the side to reveal a secret passage. Mark swallows in fear, and looks up to the cartographer for reassurance. “Don’t worry, it’s not gross in there. I think I got all the cobwebs stuck in my hair.” Johnny grins, patting Mark on the shoulder. “Do you want to go in first, or should I?” “… You go first. I don’t want any space spiders attacking me.” Mark folds his arms and waits patiently. The cartographer laughs and crouches down to enter the passage. Luckily for both of them, the passage is only small at its entrance, and after a few seconds of crawling on their hands and knees, both of them are able to fully stand up. When they assess their surroundings, they find that they’re in what appears to be a small art studio, littered with sketches and paintings. Mark takes a step forward, mouth open in awe at all of the works of art around him. They’re all of landscapes, with various color compositions despite the main color being blue. “These are beautiful,” he remarks, fingers tracing over the sketches on the table in front of him. “Do you think Mr. Oh painted made all of these?” Johnny peers over his shoulder, and his mouth falls open too. “He probably did.. I mean, if he owns a museum then he would have to be an artist himself, right?” “Not necessarily, he could just have a lot of money…” Silence falls on the two as they forget their main goal, opting instead to walk around the area and observe all of the artwork. Mark walks to the edge of the room, towards a bookshelf full of various paints and brushes. Suddenly remembering he runs a twitter account, he pulls out his phone and snaps a few pictures, only to be snapped out of his trance by the sound of johnny’s voice. “Mark… come look at this.” he looks up, to where Johnny is bent over a table, brows furrowed in confusion. “Do you remember that phrase on the balloon on the space sheep? What was it?” “Uh… all that we see or seem..” “… is but a dream within a dream.” Johnny finishes, reading a sketch on the table. “Come take a picture of this, it might mean something.” He goes to the table and snaps a picture, and as soon as Johnny tries to pick up the sketch, it comes to life. In what is quite possibly the weirdest ten seconds of their lives, the paper folds itself into an origami butterfly, levitating in the air and flapping its wings as it flies into the darkest corner of the room. Johnny and Mark share a look of confusion, and the cartographer rushes over to the corner to try and find the butterfly. It’s not there, but he hears something similar to muffled yelling. He presses his ear close to the wall, and pulls out the Be Square Stick, analyzing the area for another door. “Mark.. I think we found Mr. Oh.” the Be Square Stick glows bright green and casts a light over the corner, outlining what appears to be a door. He tries to push it open, with no luck. “Help me open this door, come on!” “Okay, on the count of three.. One, two….” The two barrel all of their weight into the door, forcing it open and landing in a pile on the floor. Both of them groan in pain, but when they look up their eyes widen in shock. There’s a man in front of them, gagged and tied to a chair. “Mr. Oh?!” Mark exclaims incredulously. The man nods and struggles in the ropes, signaling for both of the idiots to stop looking at him and get him untied. The boys snap out of it and untie Mr. Oh, who looks completely fatigued, but relieved to see them nonetheless. “Oh my god, are you okay?!” Mark asks, despite knowing that no, Mr. Oh is definitely not okay. “Johnny, call Principal Moon!” Johnny blinks and pulls up Principal Moon on his watch. Mr. Oh is dazed for a few moments, but he finally stands up and speaks. “Thank you boys for rescuing me.. But how did you find me?” “I’m Mark, and that’s Johnny. He’s a space cartographer, and he built a bunch of weird machines in college and those helped us find you.” he grins. “Did you use this studio often? We got in here through a secret passage.” Mr. Oh looks at him in confusion. “What secret passage? This is my normal studio. There’s a door right there.” The teacher points towards the opposite corner of the room, where there is very clearly a door that wasn’t there before. “What…??? Hyung, was that there?” “No, that was not there. There was a secret passage right..” Johnny walks to the area they entered.. Where there is no longer a secret passage. “… What the hell…?” “It must have been those fucking pirates..” Mr. Oh clenches his fist in anger. “One of them specializes in mind-altering magic. They stole my artifacts and locked me up in here!” Johnny turns to the teacher, eyes shining. “Space pirates?!” “They called themselves WayV.. I don’t know what they plan on doing with what they stole from me, but I want it back.” “We actually travel around the galaxy. Maybe we could get them back for you?” Mark offers. Johnny’s eyes widen at the idea of an intergalactic treasure hunt. “Don’t make any promises yet Markie. Let’s report back to Principal Moon before we do anything.” “I cant believe you’re actually calling him Principal Moon and not Sexy Tomato Man.” “Just go with it!”