Happy Vampire Birthday (1/1)

A/N: Guys it's finally here. I rewrote so many parts of this chapter so many times. I don't know why I was struggling so much with this chapter, but I think I'm finally satisfied with it. Sorry for taking so long. Tell me what you guys think!---Get in touch with me!Insta: @moonjin_cosplayTumblr: moonjin-mxTwo years laterMark woke up to the rattling of his doorknob and groaned. He could hear the soft giggling from outside the wooden door, the slow creak that signaled someone trespassing into his bedroom. He’d expected some sort of surprise from his friends just as they had done last year, but he couldn’t help hoping they’d somehow forgotten what day it was. He’d been praying that somehow he’d be able to skip his classes that day without anybody questioning him, that nobody would complain or be concerned if he just stayed under the safety of his comforter all day. But that was just wishful thinking. Of course they’d remember, and of course they’d have no way of knowing that Mark would really just prefer to be alone on this specific day.They never knew the full extent of what had happened on this day two years ago. Jinyoung had picked Mark up from a playground in California in the middle of the night, and he’d never asked any questions. None of the three had ever asked questions actually, even though he was sure they wanted to know what had changed his mind so resolutely in such a short period of time. They were probably waiting until Mark was ready. He wasn’t ready to talk then, and he still wasn’t now.So they didn’t know that Mark almost killed the love of his life two years ago today. They didn’t even know that Mark had been in love for most of his life, that he was still in love now with somebody who couldn’t remember him anymore. Because Mark couldn’t talk about it, didn’t want to think about it. But he thought about it a lot anyways.Jinyoung poked his head in the room though the crack in the doorway and grinned when he saw that Mark was awake. Mark shook away his dark thoughts, blinking his bleary eyes back up at the intruder. Jinyoung threw the wooden door open with a dramatic bang, strolling into Mark’s room with all the excitement of a kid on Christmas. He was followed by the equally thrilled Jaebum and BamBam, the latter of which held something large and glowing. Mark had to squint at it a moment before his vision adjusted to the brightness well enough to make out what it was–a round cake heaped with chocolate frosting, miniature flames burning at the tops of two protruding candles.Jinyoung counted to three with a wide grin on his face, and then Mark’s friends began a very offkey rendition of the English version of Happy Birthday. Mark forced on his best fake smile, the one he always plastered on anytime his anxiety started to eat away at him from the inside out. Jackson had always been able to see through that smile.“You bought me a cake?” Mark asked with a chuckle once they’d finished their song. He hoped that he sounded convincingly upbeat. “I can’t even eat cake.”BamBam winked playfully. “No, but I can. And you can blow out the candles.” Mark raised an eyebrow in question. “Are you really going to eat that whole cake by yourself?”The witch mock gasped, holding a hand over his heart as though he were offended. “You don’t think I can? It’s only been two years, did you already forget how good chocolate cake tastes?”Mark felt his smile droop. “It wasn’t as good as blood.”“Well anyways, challenge accepted,” BamBam said, his words rushing out in an attempt to quickly change the subject. He knew that he’d struck a nerve. “I’ll have that cake gone before the week is over. But first you have to make a wish.”The witch extended his hands toward Mark, holding the cake right in front of his friend’s face. From that close, Mark could now read the icing on top of the cake: “Happy Vampire Birthday” in fancy red script along with a cute little drawing of a pair of fangs. Mark could only imagine what the cake decorator had thought of the request.“Adorable,” Mark said sarcastically, but he could feel the corner of his mouth twitch up just a bit.BamBam bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, the cake wobbling and threatening to fall right into Mark’s lap. Mark was unnecessarily nervous about something as trivial as a birthday wish, especially when it wasn’t even his real birthday, but narrowing all his hopes and fears into one singular wish was weighing heavily down on his shoulders.“Go ahead, make a wish!” BamBam said encouragingly when Mark didn’t seem to be showing any signs of action.Mark closed his eyes, and as the darkness washed over him one distinct thought swam its way to the surface. I wish this emptiness inside would go away.He almost felt bad for admitting that he felt so empty. It seemed like such an insult to his friends who treated him so well and worked so hard to make sure that he was happy. But Mark just couldn’t shake that feeling, that hole inside of himself that he wasn’t sure could ever be filled.When Mark opened his eyes again, the bright lights danced in front of him. He took a deep breath in, and as he exhaled he imagined that he was blowing away all of his troubles. His eyes followed the trails of smoke curling up toward the ceiling from the now snuffed-out candles, and his chest felt just a bit lighter.BamBam carefully placed the cake on Mark’s nightstand before leaping onto the bed beside Mark, tucking his chin into the crook of his friend’s neck and throwing an arm around him. “I hope you get everything you wished for and more.”The sweet moment was interrupted by Jinyoung suddenly throwing his weight on top of them. Mark groaned as Jinyoung’s knee connected sharply with his gut, and BamBam beside him was screeching nonsense about being severely wounded.Jinyoung just laughed and pinched Mark’s cheeks, and when Mark looked up he saw Jinyoung’s catlike eyes gazing at him intently. He looked so serious for a moment, but he quickly replaced it with a more cheerful expression.“I can’t believe my cute little son is already two years old,” Jinyoung cooed sweetly. “It seems like just yesterday that I brought you into this world.”“You didn’t bring me into the world, you killed me,” Mark deadpanned.“It seems like just yesterday that I brought you into this world,” Jinyoung repeated, reaching up to ruffle Mark’s freshly-dyed platinum blonde hair.“You’re so annoying,” BamBam grumbled, throwing his fist hard against Jinyoung’s back which sent the vampire crashing into Mark’s chest.“Hey, watch out, you’re gonna suffocate me,” Mark grumbled as he squirmed to try and escape from underneath Jinyoung.“Suffocate? You don’t even need to breathe anymore, you just do it out of habit,” BamBam said indignantly, voice muffled from under Jinyoung’s arm. “I’m the one you should be worried about, I could legitimately die from lack of oxygen.”“You’re so dramatic,” Jinyoung whined, “if you were really worried about suffocating, you could just do a spell to hold your breath.”Jaebum chuckled softly from where he stood watching them and came over to sit on the edge of the bed. “Come on, let’s give the birthday boy some space,” he said gently as he pried Jinyoung and BamBam off of Mark.The two boys begrudgingly untangled themselves from the pile of limbs and moved to sit cross-legged on the bed across from the birthday boy. Jaebum used the opportunity to place a strong hand Mar