translucent [markson]

[Twenty Seven] Trust

As Mark sat at his lunch table, his heart was racing. There was a heavy silence between him and the other two he sat with and he didn't know what to do. He wanted so badly to just find out what was up with Jinyoung, but the atmosphere around his table was too grim for him to muster the courage to speak.

"Is something wrong?" Jinyoung asked, taking a tentative look at the two. Suddenly BamBam burst into tears, wrapping his arms around Mark and hiding his face in Mark's shoulder.

"Bam? What the..." Mark was about to shove BamBam off him, but he could feel tears beginning to soak his sleeve.

"BamBam, what happened?" Jinyoung asked, carefully taking BamBam into his arms.

"My dad," he choked out. "He's dead. He was sick when I visited this Christmas but now... now he's really gone."

"Holy shit, I'm so sorry," Mark mumbled, scooching over to join the hug.

"And all my dad wanted was for me to be happy." BamBam's cries got louder as his emotions begins to flood over all his senses. "But I'm not happy. I'm not happy with what I've done. I want things to go back to the way they used to be."

"Don't push yourself right now. You don't have to tell us everything right now," Jinyoung whispered, gently running his hands through BamBam's hair.

The change in Jinyoung's behavior was really throwing off Mark. Jinyoung was an asshole sometimes, but Mark new that deep down he really cared about his friends. However, Jinyoung had been especially soft recently and Mark was worried about what could have possible happened that made him that way.

"No, I need to say this," BamBam insisted, pulling away from Jinyoung and  sitting up straight. He wiped the tears from his cheeks and continued, "I miss Jackson and Yugyeom. I'm a fucking idiot for letting them go, especially when those are the two people most likely to understand how I feel right now."

"What you did will be hard to forgive," Mark deadpanned, his sympathy disappearing.

"Mark, shut up," Jinyoung scolded, slapping Mark's leg.

"He's right, though." BamBam's shoulders slumped and more tears welled in his eyes. "I can't just run back to them thinking they'll forgive me because my dad died. Besides the fact that I've been a complete ass to them, they've gone through much worse. They won't accept me back even if it was only out of pity."

"Did you know them that well? You've never talked about them like that before." Jinyoung's eyebrow raised in curiosity; Mark could see the gears turning in Jinyoung's head.

"I... Yeah. We were best friends," BamBam admitted. Jinyoung opened his mouth to say something, but the bell rang and BamBam just about sprinted away.

"The hell was that?" Jinyoung snapped, grabbing Mark's arm and preventing him from leaving.

"What was what?" Mark gave Jinyoung an innocent look, even though he knew exactly what Jinyoung meant.

"Every time we mention Jackson, you get all pissy. What's up with you?" Jinyoung's eyes held an annoyed fire that Mark gladly returned.

"What about you? You're suddenly acting like an angel when we all know you're not," Mark fired back. Jinyoung hesitated, trying to find words that were safe to say.

"So what if I want to try to be nicer? What's wrong with that?" Jinyoung seemed satisfied with his answer, but Mark knew what to do.

"Being nicer doesn't entail asking for tutoring in a language you're almost fluent in. What are you trying to do with Jackson?"

"You know about that?" Jinyoung's facade fell for a moment as he thought of how he could get out of Mark's sudden—and true—accusation. "I just want to get better. How do you know about that anyways?"

"Yugyeom told me. And something neither of us can figure out is why you'd ask Jackson for help when you could have just asked me. It's especially weird to think about when you consider all that's happened recently." Mark waited for Jinyoung's to crack, only for Jinyoung to begin smirking.

"You mean everything that you caused? All the drama and cruelty that was caused because you made a scene when all he did was confess to you?" Jinyoung retorted, nearly laughing as Mark's face fell into a frown.

"I... We should go to class," Mark spoke under his breath, looking away from Jinyoung and beginning to walk away. Before he could get out of the cafeteria, Jinyoung grabbed Mark's arm and roughly pulled him in so their faces were mere inches from each other.

"I know something's up between you two. Don't think you'll be able to hide it from me any longer," Jinyoung growled. He threw Mark's arm back down, causing him to stumble and nearly fall. "And don't think you can stop me, either."

~

"Jacks, what are all these papers?" Yugyeom took a look at all the papers spread around the desk and, with just once glance, he knew exactly what they were.

"Just study plans and stuff," Jackson mumbled, distracted by whatever he was writing. His glasses were slipping down his nose, giving Yugyeom an excuse to go over and push them back up.

"Undoubtedly," Yugyeom read slowly, in his thick accent. "What does that mean?"

"It's kinda like 'for sure' or 'certainly.'" Jackson was about to give an example sentence, but a thought struck his head. "Why are you suddenly interested in my tutoring?"

"Why can't I be interested? English is cool." Yugyeom took a seat on the desk, taking time to admire the boy he saw as his older brother. He was closer to Jackson than his own family, which only fuelled Yugyeom's desire to find out what was up with Jinyoung.

"I never said that. It's just sudden." Jackson shrugged as he looked up to Yugyeom, who was suddenly joke pouting.

"Why did you never teach me English?"

"You never asked. Besides, your accent is too cute to lose." Jackson stood up, quickly squishing Yugyeom's cheeks before gathering up his papers.

"But why Jinyoung?" Yugyeom bit his lip, worried he was being too straightforward.

"Why Jinyoung what?"

"He's basically fluent in English already. What is there left to teach?" Yugyeom watched Jackson neatly place all his books into a small backpack.

"He just wants to improve. I don't see what's so wrong with that. Now I have to go to our study session, so I'll be on my way." Jackson made a move to walk out the door and Yugyeom hadn't gotten the information he wanted, so he decided to take desperate measures.

"He's been so mean to me. I'm just worried that he might be mean to you," Yugyeom blurted out. And that was the truth. No part of that statement was a lie, and Jackson knew it.

"Don't worry about me, Yugyeom. I can handle myself." Jackson grabbed the door handle but suddenly paused, Yugyeom's statement finally sinking in. "Wait. Jinyoung was mean to you?"

"He's been quite rude the past few times we've seen each other," Yugyeom admitted, suddenly unable to look at Jackson. He was worried that Jackson would get angry at Jinyoung and Yugyeom didn't want that; he just wanted to get to the bottom of Jinyoung's behavior.

"But he's been so nice to me," Jackson stated slowly, only very slightly doubting Yugyeom's words.

"Just..." Yugyeom paused, finding it difficult to find the right thing to say. "Don't believe everything he says or does, okay? Be careful around him."

And Jackson could only nod as he made his way out the door.