Afton Random Books

Medium AU: Simp

[Mark Halberg x Daniel McGarden]

-MD-

He looked perfect as usual today.

Mark glanced away from the corner of his eyes nervously, before he stared back at his book which was wide open in front of him, didn't read it at all. He glared again at the beige-haired and green-eyed man, sitting across from him and busy reading. They had their backs to each other, Mark wasn't worried that he would be caught stealing glances.

Then he heard a chair pull back, he glanced again and saw Daniel McGarden walking out of the library. He quickly stood up and came out too—actually he didn't intend to stalk, they just bumped into each other, thus he felt like he was about to sink into happiness.

After McGarden turned into the corridor on the right, he decided not to follow and continued straight toward the back of the main campus building. His friends were already there.

"Mark!" Simon called him out loud, he just nodded and approached the three of them who were occupying a bench near the big tree on the campus yard. "Where have you been?" Simon asked after that confusedly, Alec stared at him curiously while Michael was busy with his phone.

"Library," he answered, before clearing his throat. "You won't believe who I met there!"

"McGarden," Michael replied simply.

"Correct!" Mark smiled broadly and averted his eyes from his three friends who were now looking at him boredly. "I bumped into McGarden there!" He shook Simon's shoulders excitedly. "He looks really cute today ...."

"You—you're such a simp!" The dark-skinned man immediately let go of his hands that was holding his shoulders.

Alec giggled. "Why don't you talk to him if you like him so much?" he asked, tilting his head. "You like him from a long time but never dared to talk to him, you're a coward."

Mark scowled and frowned at Alec. "He's too perfect for—"

"For an idiot like you."

"Shut up, Mike." Mark hissed at that friend of his. "You have no right to talk about this matter at all."

The brown-haired man raised an eyebrow and looked at Mark in confusion. "How so?"

"Because you're just as stupid as me!" Mark snapped. "You allowed yourself to get mistreated with that stupid girl and you didn't notice at all! Who is more stupid now? Mike, Mary never give a shit about you at all!"

"That's none of your business Mark," Michael retorted in annoyance, he grunted incoherently after that and his focus back on his phone.

Simon and Alec just exhaled together, they gave up trying to make their friend realize that his relationship with that girl wasn't healthy at all, in fact toxic. Michael was too adamant, even so Mark haven't give up to slap Michael with reality, but never succeeded.

"By the way." Simon changed the subject. "Actually Alec is right, why don't you talk to him? Aren't you guys in the same major?"

"He's my senior, I don't have the same class as McGarden." Mark sighed tiredly, before he pursed his lips in irritation. "I really want to talk to him, you think I didn't try? It's just—I can't! Every time we look at each other, I can only freeze ... he is so charming." Mark held back his smile from widening and he grinned, before covering his blushing face with both hands.

Alec raised his eyebrows and smiled crookedly. "Damn ... you like him so much and act like you never had three lovers at once in the past."

"Hey!" Mark protested quickly. "That's just the past! When I was an asshole unstable teenager!" Alec laughed in response while Simon chuckled a bit, Michael rolled his eyes in boredom as he continued. "If I had the chance to date someone as beautiful and perfect as McGarden, or McGarden himself, I would never break his heart and would take good care of him until we got married and have two kids and grew old together and always love each other." Mark nodded his head confidently, not noticing the color on his friends' faces had faded slightly.

"Oh, uhm, thank you ...?"

Mark was shocked in place, his eyes widened in disbelief and he felt his body freeze instantly. He could see now how Simon and Alec were trying to restrain themselves from laughing while Michael muttered something like this is embarrassing while covering his face.

Mark slowly looked back, and he found the beige-haired man with green eyes looking at him strangely while holding a nervous smile. A blush immediately took over Mark's cheeks, he said frantically. "Mc-McGarden! I didn't know you're there—I didn't mean to sound like a creep I just—I just—I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable I'm not a freak I swear I just really really like you you're so perfect and you look amazing every day and you—then I—you—argh!" He pulled his black hair out in frustration, now the sound of Simon's and Alec's laughter was clear.

He could feel his face burning violently with embarrassment, even though his heart was now beating very fast, he couldn't look at anyone this time—his gaze dropped and he felt like he wanted to bury himself. Then he heard McGarden's soft giggle, making him raise his head in surprise and saw McGarden giving him a sweet smile.

"You are Mark Halberg, right?"

He heard McGarden call his full name, making his jaw drop for a second before he gave a quick nod. "Y-yes ...."

Then he saw McGarden taking something out of his sling bag; a piece of paper and a pen. McGarden briefly wrote something on it, before he withdrew his hand and handed him the paper. A number. Mark looked at the paper in dumbfounded, then he stared back at McGarden. "Call me later."

McGarden said nothing more than tapped him on the shoulder and walked away after giving him a wink. The blush on his cheeks grew thicker, he looked back and forth at the paper and the direction McGarden was leaving, his lips quivered and he felt happiness skyrocketed fast—too fast.

He didn't care about Simon who told him to calm down, he screamed heartily and pranced around in hysterics.