wingate gardens -got7 ✓

43- bleary confusion

a/n

hey lads, sorry it's been a while... i was definitely putting off this scene bc .... IM BAD AT WRITING DRAMA

so it took a while

butttttt it's here now :)

the passageways into wingate, just as la had, looked exactly the same, aside from maybe a few new graffiti tags sprawled across the wall. the same tangy smell hung thick in the air, the soles of his shoes stuck to the cobblestones in the exact same manner, and every twist and turn was still memorized in the back of his mind.

this familiarity, however, did absolutely nothing to calm mark's jostling nerves.

there was something so obviously wrong, and from what he had gathered from the messages from his friends, it sounded like it had something to do with jinyoung. that thought alone was enough to send spiralling worry into the pit of his stomach.

what had jinyoung done?

all mark had wanted was to be happy, would that be impossible now?

he didn't know, and would have no way of knowing until he made it to the courtyard.

dread.

it settled like a fog behind the backs of his eyes, and he started to wish he could turn around and walk away. but, deep down, he knew he couldn't.

he couldn't walk away from his home.

that didn't stop his hands from shaking as that familiar iron gate came into view, the letters still rusty and rough, the g still lost somewhere in the dust below.

immediately, he noticed jackson through the gate, who was leaning against the wall of his apartment block, smoking a cigarette. the curling grey smoke dangled gently in the frozen morning air, so calm, so opposite to the way mark's insides were twisting.

it didn't take jackson's wandering eyes long to find him, they flitted lazily to where mark was standing below the gate almost as soon as mark's feet came to a standstill. at first, jackson didn't seem to really notice, probably lost in whatever was making him look so pensive. but then the cogs turned in his brain, and he looked again to mark, this time with a shocked, dazed expression.

the cigarette fell from his mouth.

at once, jackson rushed over, a flurry of hasty movements and surprise.

"mark?!" he said, his voice travelling across the empty courtyard, "you're back?"

mark nodded, unsure of what to say, expecting jackson to give him a quick nod, or smile a little uncomfortably at him. instead, he was pulled into a bear hug, pushed into the smoky smell, and warmth of jackson's shoulder.

"i can't believe it." the man spoke in his gruff voice, happiness evident.

perked up a little by jackson's sudden affection, mark smiled warmly, "me neither! i'm so glad to be back home."

and then jackson's face fell.

"oh fucking shit."

mark at once remembered his text messages, and jinyoung.

"what? i read your message, something's wrong with jinyoung? is he ok?" his words were fast and nimble, and as he spoke jackson only seemed to look more and more uncomfortable.

"he's fine, yeah. let's just go find the others, we can talk then."

no time was wasted, jackson was already walking away, paranoid eyes scanning the courtyard as they always did. mark followed, mind worrying at a mile a minute.