Black and Blue | Markmin

𝚃𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢-𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗.

Mark stuck his tongue out and let out a breathy laugh as a snowflake landed on it, instantly dissolving but bringing some semblence of joy.

His breath was thicker in the air now and he felt his nose run a bit, tugging his knit hat more firmly around his head. It was the middle of December now, snowflakes a rare occurance even in the winter season.

"Markie, Markie, Markie! Look! Look! Look!"

Mark's attention turned back towards his little sister who had now accumulated a very small ball of snow from the very small amount of it beginning to layer on the ground. Mark smiled and watched as his sister ducked around a pole in the playset and came running towards him, careful not to trip and fall over the wooden border of the public playground.

"Wow JiJi, that's great!" Mark cooed and smiled brightly at the little girl who was holding her ball of snow out proudly, "Now you have to find someone to throw it at!" The girl laughed and drew her hand back, Mark gasping in shock as the cold began to seap through the jean fabric of his pants.

The girl let out a screech, followed by a series of giggles as Mark jumped off of the bench he was sitting on, lunging out to grab her and throw her over his shoulder. "Markie, Markie put me down!" the girl squealed and Mark couldn't help the smile that broke out across his face as he began to twist the girl around, causing more shrieks of laughter.

He carefully put her down after a moment or two, the girl stumbling for a moment at the dizziness that had been caused by the crazy movements. He reached out and placed a hand on her head, keeping her still and steady as the girl continued to laugh. He let out a small laugh of his own, turning his head as he heard another sound of laugher.

Mark felt his heart clench in his chest as he looked at the boy standing near the edge of the park. He walked closer to the duo, ruffling his newly dyed pink hair and holding carefully onto a shopping bag in his hands. A squeal from girl and she had run towards Jaemin, throwing her arms around the boy's legs which were now covered by a long and heavy winter coat.

Mark swallowed thickly, smiling as the boy looked down at his sister with a huge smile on his face, ruffling the girl's hair as she jumped up and down in excitement. Then he walked closer to Mark, that easy and attractive smile resting on his face as he pushed his hair out of his face again.

"Hey Mark, how's it going?"

Mark gave the boy a genuine smile in response. It had been roughly two weeks since he had burst into Jaemin's door, cried, and then had a very personal talk with the boy in the morning. After that, something had shifted in their relationship. Mark felt...something indescribable towards the other boy. It wasn't love, at least not yet, but it was some other level of trust that he had put in Jaemin.

It was reassuring and comforting that he could go to the younger boy any time of the day or night and he would be there to listen to Mark. It made Mark want to help and comfort Jaemin as well, not wanting to take the younger boy's support for granted.

"I've been doing okay, how's school been?" Mark asked the pink-haired boy as they both moved to sit down on the bench, Jaemin shivering slightly from the cold snowflakes. JiJi had run off towards the playground structure again, most likely to gather up another snowball.

Jaemin let out a groan at the question, sending Mark a pained look, "I can't wait for this week to be over, then winter break. I'm barely surviving under the amount of work and tests my teachers are giving me." Mark nodded, giving Jaemin a sympathetic look.

"I know, I'm ready to just chuck all my books into the fireplace," Mark complained and Jaemin laughed, the joyful action leading Mark to let out a small laugh of his own. Mark tucked his hands between his legs for some semblence of warmth, Jaemin shoving his own hands in his pockets. Mark glanced down at the bag that was now placed between Jaemin's booted feet. "What's in the bag?"

Jaemin looked down at it and shot a sly look over at Mark. "Wouldn't you like to know?" Mark was taken aback. Was he alluding to the fact that he had gotten Mark something? The holiday season was upon them and Mark felt panicked and flustered for a moment, mind whirling with the question of if he needed to get Jaemin a present in return.

"Is it-" Mark began before a shout cut him off, both heads whirling around to see Jisung running towards them with red cheeks, bundled up tightly in winter outerwear. Mark felt relief settle in his stomach that it was Jisung, not letting his mind wander to the hypothical situation of if it had been one of their other friends.

"Hey guys!" Jisung said happily and came to stand in front of the two, suddenly frowning. "Are you sure you guys should be meeting out in the open like this?" Mark shot an apologetic and somewhat embarrassed look towards Jaemin, the younger doing the same.

"Sorry I should have been-"

"No, no, I shouldn't have come up to-"

"You really don't have to apologize it's my faul-"

"No, No! It's not but I really should be-"

"Yeah, no yeah of course, go ahead."

"Okay, alright, well, I-I'll see you later o-or some other time then," Jaemin stuttered out and began to walk away from the two. The snow seemed to be coming down harder now and it reminded Mark of something he had seen on the news that morning.

"Oh Jaemin, be careful with the snow storm coming, I heard it was going to be a little rough for our area. Call me if anything happens," Mark said and Jaemin seemed startled for a moment before smiling brightly.

"Of course, you stay safe too. Bye Mark, bye Jisung!" Jaemin gave the duo a small wave before running off down the street to his apartment. A moment of silence passed between Mark and Jisung before the taller of the two laughed and hit Mark's shoulder.

"Dude, you're so whipped for him," Jisung chortled and Mark's face began to burn, immediately hitting the younger boy's arm in protest.

"No I'm not," Mark grumbled and he felt a tug at the pant of his leg, looking down to see JiJi looking grumpy.

"Markie can we go home, I'm cold," the toddler whined and Mark nodded, leaning down to pick the girl up who wouldn't make it even a couple of feet if she were to walk. He looked over at Jisung who nodded and waved as the two walked away, turning to walk in the same direction that Jaemin had run off in.

JiJi was asleep in a matter of minutes, Mark careful to walk gently in order to not wake the exhausted four-year-old. He gave her a light shake as they walked throug the doorway of their house, quick to help the girl out of her coat, hat, gloves, boots, and scarf so she could go take a nap.

He made sure JiJi had actually made it to her bed -- which she did -- before making his way to his own bedroom. He looked around for a moment, shivering at the cold that seemed to stick to him and he walked over to his bed to grab a blanket before sitting at his desk.

"Might as well finish up my school work before class tomorrow," Mark muttered under his breath and opened his laptop. Fifteen minutes hadn't even passed before he found himself under the rest of his covers, snuggled under the layers of blankets with a movie playing on his laptop in front of him.

He could hear the wind rattling against the window pane and he burrowed deeper into his blankets, eyes focusing and unfocusing on the movie. He was almost finished with the movie, darkness obscuring the snow storm raging outside, when his sister barged into his room with the utmost urgency.

"Markie Markie Markie," she said and ran over to his bed before jumping on it. He let out an 'oof' and paused the movie, looking over at his sibling who was jumping up and down on his bed.

"What JiJi?" he said in an annoyed tone. She jumped up and down somemore before launching herself to lay down next to him. He felt a sharp pain shoot up his leg and he jerked at the sudden feeling, looking down at his leg before his thoughts went to Jaemin. Why-

"Mom and Dad were talking, they say the power went out in a bunch of apartment complexes a couple of blocks down! I don't think we're going to have school tomorrow!"

But that certainly wasn't what was going through Mark's head as he slammed his laptop closed and threw the covers off of him, beginning to race to the front door.

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