Black and Blue | Markmin

𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎.

The wind blew through Mark's hair, his legs dangling over the edge of the school rooftop. Thumping his heels against the brick in a 'one-two' rhythm, Mark tapped his fingers against the concrete next to him in a syncopated pattern.

He held his right hand out, a shared cigarette placed between his fingers and he brought it to his mouth. Inhaling. Taking the drug away. Exhaling. Smoke drifting into the air.

Mark look over at Renjun who was standing next to him, his feet on the rooftop instead of over the edge. He placed the cigarette in Renjun's waiting fingers and looked out over the courtyard.

"Why'd you take me out of class?"

Mark thought for a second, drumming his fingers and sucking in a breath of the fresh air. Then he shrugged. "I felt like it."

He looked over at Renjun who was already looking at him, the boy raising his eyebrows in a disappointed fashion. He passed Mark the cigarette butt and switched his position so his back was leaning against the roof's edge.

"That's bullshit and we both know it Mark, so cut the crap and tell me what's really wrong," Renjun looked over at Mark and he sighed, stubbing the burned out cigarette into the concrete, adding to the scorch marks that were already there.

"It's all getting worse," he started, leaning back on his hands and staring off into the distance, "all of it and I don't know what to do."

He heard his best friend sigh. "Well, talking about it is a start Mark. And you're opening up a lot more than when we first met. That's for sure." The comment elicited laughs from both of the teenagers, reminiscing their first meeting.

"It's just, I hate that I can't control myself," Mark commented slowly, part of him wishing that Renjun didn't hear him. "I don't even have a valid reason. Someone wants to fight me? I fight them. I'm in pain but I don't know why because I'm so well off."

And that was true. Mark lived in a middle class family. He wasn't rich but he wasn't poor. He had a father who worked a 9-5 job and a mother who taught in an elementary school. He had a little sister who loved him more than anything. His parents weren't strict. They loved him and he respected them.

But that didn't stop him from developing into...whatever he was. He smoked. He fought countless kids in the school and had gain the reputation of a 'rebel'. Sometimes he drank too.

He suffered from horrible mood swings. Anxiety gripping him so tightly in its grasp and then egotistical bravo spouting from his mouth the next moment. Happy another moment, hanging out with Yuta and Renjun. Then so sad that he would like to do nothing more than drink into oblivion and throw himself from the rooftops.

And there was absolutely no valid reason why he was like this. He just...was.

A hand touched his shoulder and he looked down to see Renjun giving him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, it'll be okay soon. You just have to find your soulmate." The younger boy wiggled his eyebrows and laughed as Mark took a swing at him.

There was nothing Mark hated more than the idea of soulmates. They were incredibly rare, so much so that Mark really didn't think they existed. From what he knew, not a single person in their school had a soulmate. But the television interviews always proved him otherwise.

Still, the idea that whatever physical harm came to you was also given to your soulmate? What kind of fucked up ideology was that?

"Fuck off Huang," Mark yelled at the boy who was flipping him off from across the rooftop. He let out a small laugh though, swinging his legs around the side and hoping onto the roof. "Come on, school's almost over."

Renjun jogged back over and the two boys grabbed their backpacks before wrenching open the rooftop door and descending the dark staircase.

Walking down the hallway, stares followed the two boys who were infamously know. Mark for beating up anyone who 'crossed' him. Renjun for being the only friend of the 'lone rebel'.

It was annoying. Mark felt his face harden as stares continued to follow him, his hand clenching into a fist. What he would have given to live a normal life instead of this shallow reputation that looked over him.

"What are you doing after school?" Renjun's voice rang over the students rushing to get home, the hallways just slightly clearing out. Mark shrugged. "You can come over to my place if you want. My parents aren't home for the first time in months so there wouldn't be a problem."

"Yeah that sounds fine." Mark commented with a tone of carelessness but both knew it was just for show, one of the nearer students shrinking away from the duo.

God I hate it here. Mark rolled his eyes as the two boys walked out of the school building.

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