Flicker // johnmark

six

The unpleasant sound of yelling wakes Mark. He's still in Johnny's bed, snuggled under the cheap blanket as the afternoon sunlight seeps through the windows.

There's a dull pain in his ass and back when he stretches. He grabs his clothes from the floor.

With a limp, he leaves the bedroom, fully clothed. Right when he walks into the living room the front door shuts aggressively, causing the walls to shake a little.

Johnny rolls his eyes, pacing around in a circle, not wearing a fucking shirt again. Mark's cheeks get warm - he can see faint red nail marks and scratches lay across the skin of his shoulders.

"What was that about?" Mark asks out of curiosity, watching Johnny light a cigarette.

"That was the landlord again." there's bitterness in his low voice. "I might have to sell all my shit or just leave."

"Oh." Mark doesn't know what to say.

"I'm thinking the second option, I'm fucking done with that lady." Johnny inhales, taking in the nicotine.

It gets silent, both of them deciding to sit down on the carpet like they did yesterday. Mark winces as he straightens when he sits, and Johnny visibly gets concerned.

"Are you sore?"

Mark nods, inhaling the taste of nicotine.

"Sorry about that. I don't have any meds." he continues. "But we can get some?"

"That would be great." Mark agrees, placing a hand on his back as he gets up. Johnny walks over to him, and at first Mark's confused, then he feels hands slide under his knees.

"What-"

"Let me." Johnny lifts the boy against him. Mark wraps his arms around his neck for stability.

"Can you at least put on a fucking shirt?" Mark's tone has a slight annoyance in it as his cheeks burn even more.

"I forgot about that."

After Johnny puts on his goddamn hoodie, he picks up Mark again and they leave the apartment.

The streets aren't that busy. Mark looks over Johnny's shoulder, the apartment complex growing further and further away.

"We're out of packs, let's go to the dealer house too." Johnny speaks up as they stop at a crosswalk. "How about we stop at your apartment to get some money?"

"Yeah." Mark's reply is muffled against the fabric of Johnny's hoodie.

They walk into the grocery store, and Johnny immediately goes to the pharmacy section.

"Which one?" he asks, holding Mark with one hand as the other holds up a bottle of pain medication.

Mark turns his head, squinting at it. "I think that will do."

Johnny hands it to him, and Mark slides it into the hand pocket of his hoodie. They also steal a bottle of water as well.

When they get a little further away from the store, Johnny places Mark down carefully, as if he's a fragile object. And in a way, he is, considering how frail his limbs are.

Mark takes the pills and downs the water, giving Johnny the rest of the water when he doesn't finish it.

"Let's head to your apartment now. Are they there?"

Mark knows exactly who he's referring to, and he shakes his head no. They're at university, thankfully.

Johnny lifts Mark again, insisting that it takes half an hour for the medicine to kick in. Mark doesn't complain.

He uses the spare key to get into his apartment. Even though his roommates aren't here, the air still seems to be suffocating.

Mark now realizes how much he actually hates being here.

He goes to his room, Johnny following behind him and standing in the doorway. There's an old and empty dresser in the corner, he forgets it's even there sometimes.

He slides open the top drawer, containers of chapstick and pens are rolling around in there. It looks completely innocent to a person who's just snooping around, but he takes a random pen (one that he used to write with when he was still in university) and untwists the top.

Multiple rolled up twenty bills spill out of it, and Mark sighs in relief, thank god he still has enough. He shuts the drawer and snatches his phone from the floor, realizing that he he left it when he stormed out.

He grabs Johnny's hand and they leave the apartment.

Next stop is the dealer house. It's a longer walk, since Mark's apartment is further from it than Johnny's.

Mark glances up at him, messy hair peeking out from under his hood. Last night, those strands were sticking to his sweaty forehead as he was pounding into him.

Mark unconsciously shivers.

He thinks if he feels down more often it will happen again. Not gonna lie, it was the best sex he had in his life.

Once they get to the dealer house, Johnny hands her the money, and they're out of there in less than three minutes. Mark clings to Johnny's side the entire time, nails digging into the material of his sleeve.

What, they have sex once and Mark's already this possessive? Johnny isn't even his.

He wishes, though.