"Best Friends"

Betrayal

Mark sat in the living room on his phone for what felt like hours as he tried to distract himself from Dark's miserable cries emanating from their shared room upstairs.

"Screw it, I'll try talking to him again." Mark decided as he tossed his phone next to him on the couch before standing up and jogging upstairs.

Mark paused outside the bedroom door before hesitantly knocking on it, biting his lip as he waited for a response.

The room fell silent.

"Dark?" Mark called out tentatively, pressing an ear against the door.

"G-go aw-away." Dark mumbled, his voice muffled by the blankets still covering his head.

"Dark please, just tell me what's wrong so I can help." Mark pleaded.

There was a moment of silence before Mark heard shuffling.

Soon the door swung open to reveal Dark, his eyes bloodshot and his nose as well as his cheeks a bright red.

Wordlessly, Mark followed Dark to his bed and sat next to him, waiting for him to speak first.

"Yo-you had news b-before, wh-what's up?" Dark asked Mark quietly.

"I'll tell you after you tell me what's up. You've been in here for forever, I'm worried about you." Mark admitted.

Dark let out a long slow sigh as his gaze dropped to look at the floor, pretending to seem interested in his feet.

"It-it's about A-Anti-"

"I swear to god if he hurt you, I'm gonna break every bone in his body." Mark snarled threateningly, catching Dark off guard.

"N-no, it's ok-okay." Dark hastily assured his cousin.

"What did he do then?" Mark prompted gently.

"He...be-before I c-could ask h-him out, he to-told me he a-already had a bo-boyfriend." Dark explained.

"What?!" Mark exclaimed in furious disbelief.

"Mark-"

"Who is it?" Mark interrupted, his voice strained with a forced calmness.

"Xilef." Dark stated, his eyes flashing briefly with anger.

"I'm sorry." Mark apologized lamely, unsure of what else to say to comfort him.

Dark shrugged in reply in a poor attempt to hide his sadness, clearly not okay despite his efforts to appear so.

"Wha-what's your n-news?" Dark spoke up, looking up at Mark.

"Oh yeah, I asked Amy out and she said yes! We're going to the dance together too." Mark announced happily.

"Th-that's good!" Dark cheered, managing to flash Mark a weak smile through his sorrow.

"Thanks." Mark nodded in appreciation.

"Well anyway, I guess I'll leave you alone now and head to pick up Amy unless you want me to stay and hang out." Mark added.

"It's o-okay, have fu-fun." Dark told his cousin, giving him a hug before Mark left the room.

Dark played video games for a couple of hours since he was home alone until his phone started vibrating, alerting him that he had a call.

It was Anti.

Dark debated whether he should answer it or not before he finally accepted the call.

"Hello?" Dark answered.

"D-Dark? Can you come to my house please? I really need to talk to you." Anti stammered, sounding like he was on the verge of crying.

"I'm on my way." Dark promised, hanging up before running outside to Anti's house.

He ran faster than he ever had in his life, his earlier despair forgotten as his heartbeat pounded in his ears like a drum.

Dark panted heavily as he skidded to a halt at Anti's doorstep and rapped his knuckles on the wood that separated him from his friend.

When he received no answer, his anxiety took over as he paced and waited impatiently for an answer.

He breathed out a sigh of relief as the door cracked open, his relief shifting to concern when he saw Anti.

His usually energetic, upbeat friend looked like he had been crying for hours like Dark had.

"C'mon in." Anti sniffled, shuffling back to allow Dark inside.

He trudged into his room and slammed the door shut once Dark was inside and sitting on Anti's bed.

"Wh-what's up? I t-thought you were go-going to the dance w-with Xilef?" Dark questioned.

"I hate that son of a bitch!" Anti yelled as he flopped into the bed next to Dark.

"We were at the dance, dancing to one of my favorite songs when Xilef says that he's going to get us some punch. I say it's okay, but then he's gone for ten minutes. When I went to look for him-"

Anti abruptly broke off as a fresh wave of tears threatened to spill from his eyes, the memory painful to recount.

"H-he was making out with someone else. He said that I m-meant nothing to him, that none of our time together meant anything at all." Anti stammered in a whisper.

"Anti." Dark sighed as he pulled the male into his arms, closing his eyes as he made a plan for when he would meet Xilef again at school.

Over the weekend, Dark visited Anti constantly to help him forget all about Xilef while Mark and Amy hung out more, neither one aware of what he planned to do on Monday.

When the day began, Dark arrived at school earlier and spotted Xilef talking to some random girl, his anger flaring up as he marched towards him.

Before Xilef even noticed Dark, Dark's fist was already swinging towards his face.

The force of his punch knocked Xilef to the ground, his expression dazed as the girl he was talking to ran away in fear.

Dark didn't even give Xilef a chance to fight back as he straddled him and continued beating his face in, feeling satisfaction coursing through his veins at seeing blood run down Xilef's face.

Dark suddenly felt hands drag him off of Xilef, holding him back from him as he wildly lashed out towards the now unconscious male.

"Dark please, stop." Anti pleaded as he wrapped his arms tightly around Dark to both comfort him and keep him still.

Dark suddenly felt all the rage from him disappear as if a switch had been flicked off inside of him, causing him to fall back away from Xilef.

"I...o-oh my god, wh-what did I d-do?" Dark whispered in shock as he watched teachers put him in a stretcher and take him to the nurse.

"It's okay Dark...everything will be okay." Anti promised his friend.