translucent [markson]

[Fourteen] Vacation

"Performance Week" was what the students called the week of showcases, the week where nearly everyone got to show off their skills. For most students, it was the best and worst week of the semester. On one hand, there was nearly no academic work in any classes -- even classes that didn't perform encouraged students to watch by giving less homework. At the same time, that meant a lot of stress towards perfecting performances and a lot of embarrassment if something went wrong.

Mark, who wasn't participating in any shows, made sure to go to all of the showcases he could. He prioritised his friends' shows, but, when he had the time, he went to random shows throughout the school. Seeing how talented his classmates were made Mark regret keeping such a narrow mind on out-of-school activities. He thought that maybe he shouldn't have been happy to quit piano lessons when he was younger, but there wasn't anything he could do about it anymore.

He had to admit that he was more than impressed with BamBam, Yugyeom, and Jackson's performance. The three were very obviously familiar with each other, and their teamwork was evident in their unity. It was like the three took on completely different personalities on stage. Yugyeom had surprised him most, the innocent and sweet boy suddenly turning into a dead serious machine.

JB had done a solo dance and participated in a photo gallery, both of which Mark had gone to. If JB's b-boying abilities weren't surprising enough, his photography skills had certainly caught Mark off guard. Mark had gotten to know JB as a chef and a baker and, even though he knew about JB's other hobbies, he had never seen JB do anything else firsthand. The photos JB took were mostly around the school, the same aesthetic theme kept throughout them all. A couple were of BamBam, since BamBam's modeling class and JB's photography class sometimes did projects together. BamBam's natural talent as a model was nothing new to Mark, but he was still impressed with his roommate.

Once performance week ended, time flew by. Before Mark had realised, it was suddenly winter break and he was left as one of the only people still at school. All of his closest friends had gone back to their family while Mark couldn't afford a ticket back to America. It was a little sad watching them leave one by one; BamBam had left right after school on the last day before break, followed by Youngjae and Jinyoung the next day, and JB the day after that. He was left alone, and he was undeniably lonely as hell.

Jackson was in the same situation, even if Mark ignored it.

Jackson, too, had watched his now only friend head back home. After the trio's showcase, Yugyeom was all Jackson had, as BamBam had finally fully cut off his connections Jackson. When he watched Yugyeom walk out the doors of the school, he couldn't help but wish that he hadn't so strongly disagreed to going home with him. However, he really didn't want to bother Ms. Kim by invading her home another year, even if he hated being alone.

Spending the holidays alone was a familiar situation to Jackson, whereas it was completely new to Mark. Mark was very close to his family and spent much more time with them than Jackson ever had with any single person. It was sad for Mark to realise that he'd be celebrating his first Christmas without them, but he knew they'd make sure to call him and keep him company, via the internet. In Jackson's case, he could only hope that Yugyeom would remember to send him a text once in awhile.

By the first Monday of break, Mark had decided that he needed someone to talk to. Unfortunately, he didn't want to approach complete strangers and the only people he knew were Jackson and a sophomore named Sehun Oh. As much as Mark didn't want to talk to Jackson, he was no longer comfortable approaching Sehun after Mark's poorly timed visit. Mark wouldn't be able to look at him in his computer science class without the image of Sehun masturbating plaguing his mind.

That's how Mark found himself in front of Jackson's dorm. Having learned from his previous mistake, Mark listened for any signs that told him to come back later before deciding that the absence of noise was a good enough signal to knock. The couple of moments that he waited for the door to open, he began to regret coming, but it was too late. The door had opened by the time he was about to walk away.