Head Down

◤twenty three◢

Jaemin thinks it's ridiculous, the amount of times Mark has gotten beaten up since he's moved here.

A normal person wouldn't involve themselves in as much conflict as Mark does.

But then again, Mark isn't a normal person.

Mark is being stupid. And even Jaemin knows that. What he didn't know, however, is how to get Mark to realize what he did, since he's pretty sure Mark is just a bit clueless on why Jeno had come at him completely sideways. Jaemin thinks that Mark probably doesn't understand why Donghyuck is feeling... Whatever he's feeling, to as certain of a degree that Jeno had almost killed him (maybe).

So he sighs as he fixes up his best friend, placing heating patches and bandages all over him. It's a shame that Mark is always covered in bruises and cuts and plasters, he's quite handsome.

"So," Jaemin starts, not looking at Mark as he busies himself with packing everything away. Mark has been unusually quiet this entire time, not even hissing or letting out the occasional grunt when Jaemin presses the cotton swab covered with antiseptic a bit too hard on his cuts. "Say thank you."

"Thank you." Mark says monotonously, and it's almost sarcastic. Jaemin wants to roll his eyes and pester Mark until he thanks him properly for cleaning up his wounds, but then the elder is speaking again and the words die in Jaemin's throat after hearing what Mark says. "Thank you for cleaning up my cuts. But no thank you for taking Jeno off of me as quickly as you did."

Jaemin's eyebrows furrow at that, and he's stopped packing away his medical stuff. He looks at Mark, who's sitting on the counter with his hands in his lap, head down to look at them. The younger places one hand on his counter, the other on his hip, as he looks at Mark with confusion written all over his face.

"Why?" He simply asks, as anyone would. Jaemin had just saved Mark from acquiring more serious injuries, and Mark wasn't thanking him for it? Jaemin wasn't full of himself, but he hardly thinks he's in the wrong for wanting some gratitude being shown for what he'd done.

"I deserved it," Mark whispers as he stops twiddling his thumbs. He finally lifts his head up, albeit slowly, and looks Jaemin dead in the eyes. The younger is surprised when Mark glares at him. "You shouldn't have stopped him."

And yeah, this is why Mark and Jaemin are best friends. Because they're similar. So similar, that even in this sensitive scenario, he feels his blood boil because of Mark.

"Are you kidding me?" Jaemin barks out sarcastically, keeping his eyes trained on Mark, just so that the elder knows how upset Jaemin is. "You're my best friend Lee, and Jeno's my fucking boyfriend. He was beating you to a pulp! And you just expect me to watch?" Jaemin scoffs. "Do you think so lowly of me? You don't even know what you did wrong, I wasn't about to stand there and let you take a beating!"

Mark stays quiet, only for a second, before he's firing back at Jaemin just as passionately.

"Of course I deserve it! Did you not hear Jeno? I broke Donghyuck! I broke his step brother, Jaemin! I know what I did."

"Yeah? What did you do then? I'm pretty sure whatever it is shouldn't have prompted Jeno to try to kill you! You're both in the wrong for this one—"

"Jaemin. You don't get it," Mark interrupts, voice so small that it's almost a whisper. "I'm the reason he's hurt. I know what I did."

And Jaemin just shuts his lips in a tight line, and he doesn't even bother to ask Mark about what he did. Because if Mark is hard headed, Jaemin is observant. Mark doesn't really like people prying into his problems, so he lets the elder be as goes back and continues to clean up his medical materials.

"Well. If you know what you did I'm sure you can figure out how to fix it too." He simply says, not once raising his head to look at Mark.

The other boy doesn't say anything, just sits there and takes in all the words Jaemin had said, thinking about them in his head.

Mark knows that he did wrong, he hurt Donghyuck's feelings. He disregarded them and treated them like they were invalid. But Mark, more than anyone, knows that it's the worst feeling. It's the worst feeling to have your feelings pushed to the side, to have someone treat them like they don't matter.

And he knows that he's the only one to blame, because even if Donghyuck had been hostile with Mark when they had first met, and first started interacting, Donghyuck was the one who started to treat Mark like a proper person first. Like a proper high school student. Like a proper friend.

And what did Mark do with that? He did exactly what Jeno said he did. He left Donghyuck.

So yeah, Mark is immature, and despite popular belief, Donghyuck is mature. He's way more mature than Mark, who avoided the weird feeling that bloomed in his chest and stomach whenever he was around Donghyuck. Mark is the one who ran the other way when he realized that things with Donghyuck could become more complicated than they already were.

And that scared him. Because he's a coward.

Jaemin, noticing his silence, sighs and puts down his now completely packed medical kit, and cups Mark's cheeks. He raises the elder's head, making sure Mark makes eye contact with him before he speaks.

"I know you think you deserved what you got today. And since I don't really know what you did, you might've. But Mark Lee. You're a smart person. You already know what you did wrong. And I believe you can fix it, okay?"

Jaemin's words are strangely soft for someone who's annoyed with him, but Mark would be lying if he said they weren't encouraging.

However, as encouraging as they were, Mark can't even fathom the thought of patching things up with Donghyuck before he sorts his own thoughts and feelings.

Mark has a lot to think about before he can even think about Donghyuck.

He nods, nonetheless, at what Jaemin had said, and sends the softest smile the younger's way in replacement of a thank you.

Jaemin takes it, understanding that Mark wanted to stay mum for the time being.

"Take your time," Jaemin says, letting go of Mark's cheeks and grabbing his medical box. "But remember; Donghyuck doesn't need to wait for you."

And with that, Jaemin leaves Mark's house, while also leaving Mark with one more thought added into his already cluttered brain.