ɪ sᴀʏ ɪᴛ ᴅᴏᴇsɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ (ʙᴜᴛ ɪᴛ's ᴋɪʟʟɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ)

7 || ᴍʏ ʀᴇᴀʟɪᴛʏ ɪs ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ, ɪ ɢᴜᴇss ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴅɪғғɪᴄᴜʟᴛ

Mark never got involved in fights. He was a sort of peaceful person when it came to that. When he was younger and someone insulted him on Facebook - yes, he was born in the generation that used Facebook first - instead of meeting them in school and having a fight over it like everyone else normally did, Mark simply deleted their comment and pushed down the horrible feeling of self-doubt that crept up in him. It was a nasty feeling that made Mark feel sick and want to bury himself in his blankets and cry his eyes out. But he tried his best to forget it. There was nothing wrong with being a peaceful person, Mark believed, in fact, he was doing people a favour by not getting involved in anything, but even he knew his limits.

Watching Donghyuck get bullied throughout primary school was something he regretted doing, maybe if he helped Donghyuck wouldn't have become so anti-social and scared of interacting with people. But then again, if he helped him, then people might have started looking at him differently as if there was something wrong with him to have defended Donghyuck. (They did that to some kid that once told them to stop and Mark never heard of the kid again - apparently he moved).

He knew it was wrong - Donghyuck was his best friend at some point, he knows. But then what would people think of him? He couldn't risk being looked at the same was Donghyuck was looked at; looks of disgust and disappointment.

However, Mark did have his limits. As he walked through the school building, discovering a hallway he never knew of before, he heard yells that sounded familiar round the corner. So with a curious mind, Mark crept around the corner to find Jaemin glaring at Jisung, but it wasn't only them. Behind Jaemin was Donghyuck leaning against the wall, blood trickling down his chin and a grimace plastered over his face. Renjun was holding onto his arm with an unsure Lucas awkwardly patting his head. Mark had no idea what was going on, but he hoped he wouldn't get involved.

"What's your problem? Why can't you leave Donghyuck alone?" Jaemin hissed, his hands clenched into fists, knuckles were white and Mark was actually scared of him for a moment.

"You wouldn't understand because you're just as weird as him," Jisung scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Just as weird as him?" Jaemin mocked. "What are you, a primary school kid, going around and calling people names because you have nothing else to do? How pathetic are you to be beating someone up for no reason?"

"I have a reason," Jisung retorted. "He pisses me off."

"How?" Jaemin sighed out of frustration.

Mark blinked at the scene in confusion and glanced over at Donghyuck. His knuckles were bursted and Jisung's bottom lip was bleeding. Donghyuck had fought back. He never did. Only when it included his parents. Mark felt sick again.

"He has two dads," Jisung finally spat out, looking down at Donghyuck in a condescending manner. "That's not okay."

"And who are you to say that?" Jaemin chuckled, the underlying anger in his tone making Mark shift on his heels uncomfortably. Donghyuck took a deep breath, his fists clenching at the mention of his parents. "Who are you to judge Donghyuck or his parents? Who are you to say it isn't okay? We're living in twenty-twenty for God's sake, why are you acting like a nineteenth century, homophobic old man?"

Jisung shut his mouth at that and chose to settle on glaring.

"And how long has this been going on for?" Jaemin turned around to look at Donghyuck. "Why haven't you filed a report against him yet? Why haven't you fought back."

"I don't care," Donghyuck answered and even Mark's eyebrows raised at that. (He never truly knew why Donghyuck never complained about Jisung and his friends). "It's his way to feel better about himself and me reporting him will only feed his ego, the fact that he managed to make me go over the edge."