Black and Blue | Markmin

𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗.

Jaemin was pouting, furiously cursing the cold air as the first weekend in November had come around. In his two bare and exposed hands he was carrying one bag full of various candies.

He grinned now, despite the stinging and bitter cold, hurrying down the sidewalk back towards his house. His brother was finally coming around to see his house, the first time he would have seen his brother in three years. Well, technically his adopted brother.

His eyes glazed over the park, focusing for a second on the empty swing set before moving past them to see the figure that had suddenly popped into his mind sitting at a park bench. Slowing his steps down he was about to call out to the boy but he stopped.

His heart twisted as he heard a sob sound out followed by a series of sniffles. Was Mark crying? He rushed over, standing in front of the older boy with concern thrumming through his veins.

Why was Mark crying?

Said boy looked up as he saw someone stop in front of him, quick to look back down in an attempt to hide his red and puffy features. Jaemin sat down at the bench next to the crying boy and put the bag down, his hand moving to rub Mark's back.

He had comforted dozens of crying children, this shouldn't be too different - right?

The older boy flinched away from the touch at first but then he seemed to get used to or, at least, tolerate the soothing gesture, beginning to cry again as Jaemin sat next to him with no intention of leaving. His brother could wait.

Soon enough the boy calmed down and was only letting out irregular breaths. Jaemin's hand still rubbed his back.

"What happened Mark?" Jaemin said softly, the brown-haired boy wincing at the words. He sniffled again, looking at Jaemin with a torn expression. Instead of answering his question, Mark asked his own.

"Why do you always catch me at my worse moments?"

Jaemin startled, not expecting, of course, a question in response to his own question. He thought for a second, laughing softly before answering. "Maybe because you need me in your worse moments." He teased, the older boy rolling his eyes at the cheesy remark.

"Whatever," the older boy responded and went quiet, Jaemin realizing that he wasn't going to answer the question. He sighed then, standing up with the bag now in hand again. He looked down at Mark who was looking up at him.

"Why don't you come over to my place? You can calm yourself down before you do something stupid like smoke again," Jaemin smiled softly and Mark raised his eyebrows. The older boy scoffed and stood up.

"Yeah, I guess I need a genuine person right now," he said lowly, probably not meaning for Jaemin to hear the last part. So Jaemin ignored the remark and began to walk down the street with Mark trailing a little bit behind him.

They both walked all the way back to his apartment, Jaemin a little bit glad that he didn't see his brother's motorbike out front yet. He then wondered if his brother was still riding that hunk of junk around. Still, he wanted Mark to relax before he saw someone else.

They still didn't talk as Jaemin led Mark up to his front door, pulling out his key with freezing cold hands and struggling to fit it in the lock. He finally fit the key into the lock and gave Mark a defensive look. "Not a word Lee."

Mark smiled a little and nodded, obviously still out of it from whatever had happened. Jaemin pulled the door open and gestured for Mark to go in first, shutting the door behind him. He flicked the light on and began to take off his outerwear, telling Mark to do the same.

"Welcome to mi casa," Jaemin declared and opened his arms up, gesturing to the small and dingy space. The living room (that consisted of one couch and a coffee table) was connected to the tiny kitchen. From there two doors went off from the side, Jaemin's bedroom and the bathroom.

Mark looked around with a confused expression. "Your house? You don't live with anyone?" Jaemin shook his head.

"No, I had to move out around a year ago," he explained as vaguely as he could. He couldn't exactly tell someone he barely knew that he suffered from an extremely toxic and suffocating household in their first official hangout.

That would just scare them away.

"Ah okay," Mark said, leaving it at that and looking around awkwardly. Jaemin just stared at him before laughing. Mark crossed his arms defensively. "What?"

"Don't look so uptight man," Jaemin laughed and moved into the kitchen, "Do you want some coffee to warm up?" Mark nodded and followed Jaemin into the kitchen, standing rigidly by the countertop.

Jaemin patted on the marble counter as he took out two mugs and his bottle of instant coffee. "Don't be stingy, you can sit on the counter. I'm not too worried about formalities."

Mark looked skeptically at him before placing his hands on the counter, heaving himself up to sit on the counter. Jaemin gave him a bright smile as he put a small kettle he had filled with water onto the stove.

He then moved next to Mark, heaving himself up onto the counter to sit next to the boy. He looked at the uncomfortable boy. "Mark, you don't have to tell me what happened but if it's something that I can help with I'll gladly help."

The boy scoffed bitterly, looking at Jaemin with spite. "You can get rid of rumors about me saying that I'm dating a pedo?"

Jaemin's mouth dropped open and his eye widened. "Huh? W-what? Rumors about what?" He screeched at the end, Mark's face morphing into surprise.

"You don't know?" He asked curiously and Jaemin shook his head furiously.

"Holy shit what?" Jaemin said in disbelief. "There are rumors like that?" He said, his gut sinking at the fact that Mark was going through something so horrible like this. His thoughts briefly lingered on the fact that Mark beat kids up for fun but he shoved that thought deep deep down.

"Well, this one kid was hiding outside of the mechanic shop where me and Yuta, the supposed 'pedo', work and he told me he wanted to see for himself," Mark ranted and Jaemin clicked his tongue disappointedly.

People were really so cruel.

And again he shoved the lingering thought that Mark had broken a kid's leg deep deep deep down. He had to express empathy, not judgement.

"Hm well I'm guessing from your distressed state that these rumors aren't true," he earned a glare from Mark, "So maybe just wait for the rumors to die? I mean kids our age get bored with things fast so this might just be a momentary thing until they realize that of course it's not true, ya know?"

Mark nodded and fiddled with his hands before speaking again. "I'm just worried that it's going to affect Yuta's business." Jaemin nodded in response to the boy's worries.

"I know it's hard, especially when this guy seems very special to you, but I think the best thing to do for now is to wait for it to pass," Jaemin finished and Mark looked over at him, a relieved expression on his face.

"Yeah, thanks."

The kettle began to whistle so Jaemin hopped off of the counter, quickly making the coffees and handing them to Mark as he jumped back onto the counter. Mark handed him his drink and they slowly began to sip at the warm beverage.

The peaceful state they had created was relaxing, which was why it was all the more surprising when Jaemin's front door opened, scaring the living daylights out of the duo.

Jaemin cursed as he spilled his coffee on his hand, wincing at the burning sensation. Mark jumped too, placing his cup to the side as he looked worriedly at Jaemin. That was, before he cursed himself, looking down that his own hand where an angry burn mark had formed.

Jaemin sucked in a breath at the pain but his face paled as Mark's hand moved away from his own wrist, an identical burn to Jaemin's in plain sight. Jaemin's heart thudding dangerously against his chest as he looked up into Mark's shocked face.

"Oh, uh, what's going on here?"

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