The Adventure (Tomark)

Chapter 13

A/N: PSA: This chapter and the next one will explore Mark's POV. I love writing this story through Tom's eyes (and will continue doing that!), but switching to Mark's perspective at this part of the story just seemed fitting. I hope you like it! And isn't this picture of Mark absolutely gorgeous? 🥺

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"I... I'm going to take a shower real quick," Tom mumbles as he gets up quite suddenly, slipping into his boxers and leaving the room hastily. As soon as he has entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him, he sinks to the floor and leans his head against the cold wall. For the first time tonight he feels not only humiliated, but actually furious. "Fuck you, Mark," he whispers as he brushes a tear from his cheek.

***

While Tom is sitting on the bathroom floor of his parents' house in Poway, a considerably hungover Mark has just left the shower in a different corner of San Diego. Still naked, he enters his dorm room again, snickering at the shocked look on Patrick's face. "Oh god, Hoppus, put that away!"

Mark raises an eyebrow and looks down on himself, pouting. "My dick you mean? The one you couldn't get enough of tonight?" he wants to know, provocatively swinging his hip from left to right.

"Mark Allan Hoppus. I'm serious, man. What if someone comes in?"

"Who? My roommate?" Mark, still amused, wants to know. "Oh come on, this is nothing that Scott hasn't seen before." On second thought, Mark is convinced that the majority of his classmates have already seen him in his birthday suit. There is a game called 'Mark glows in the dark' after all that they like to play with the freshman students; a game where the lights are turned off to demonstrate Mark's alleged superpowers. Once it becomes clear that the magic trick is not working for some reason, the lights are turned back on and some poor soul in the room will have Mark's wiener right in front of their face. Mark is convinced that this is one of his best ideas to date – and he doesn't mind walking around naked either as he basically has no sense of shame. However, since Patrick is less depraved and obviously freaking out about being caught, Mark finally grabs a fresh pair of boxers and slips into them.

"Why are you still here, anyway?" he wants to know nonchalantly while holding two shirts up and pondering which one to wear. Patrick points at the blue Billabong shirt and Mark nods, throwing the other one back into his drawer before getting dressed.

"Wow, charming as always, Hoppus. I'm not even getting breakfast?"

Mark shrugs. "Never done that, never will," he replies unimpressed. Still, he sits down on the edge of his bed and playfully pokes Patrick's chest. "I could do with another round, though? After some coffee and Tylenol, that is." He woke up with a throbbing headache this morning that is getting worse by the minute. From today's perspective, that second joint and eight beer really were a bit too ambitious, but of course Mark never learns.

Patrick sighs and looks at the other boy contemplatively, but with a certain arousal in his eyes. Mark has long been accustomed to Patrick's insecurity and doesn't really mind. If anything, it is kind of cute – as long as Patrick's self-doubts and repression don't lead to problems, like Tom catching a black eye earlier this year.

"All right, I'm game," Patrick quietly replies after a while.

"Fuck yeah!" Mark chuckles and gets up, putting on his beige Dickies. "Be right back then, gonna grab some coffee and call my sister real quick. Just wanna make sure that she got home safely."

***

One heated argument with the constantly broken coffee vending machine later, Mark leaves the dormitory and walks across campus towards the phone booth. Autumn is in full swing by now and it is really starting to get chilly. Mark didn't bring a jacket, but the cold air actually feels nice and helps with his hangover. It is idyllic outside and he likes the red and yellow leaves that are falling occasionally, making way for winter. Mark takes a sip from his cup as he enters the phone booth, throwing in a coin and dialing his parents' number. Seconds later, Anne picks up the phone.