Yugyeom was bored sitting in his room by himself. He exited off Instagram and opened his contacts. He clicked on "Bammie <3" and put his phone up to his ear waiting for his best friend to pick up.
He got bored listening to the ring and was about to give up when a familiar voice sounded through the speaker. "Hey, whats up?"
Yugyeom noticed that he sounded kind of irritated, like he was just in the middle of doing something. "Um, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out? I'm hella bored."
"I would, but I'm busy right now. Maybe later."
"Oh ok. What are you doing?" Yugyeom tried to hide the disappointment in his voice.
"Nothing super important." He whispered something to someone he was with. "Uh, well I got to go now. Talk to you later." He hung up before Yugyeom could say anything.
Yugyeom sighed in defeat. That was weird. He would have to ask BamBam about it later. He went back to his contacts and pressed on Mark's name.
He answered after a couple rings. "Yo dude! What do you need?"
Yugyeom smiled. "Do you want to hang out?"
"Yeah of course! Do you want me to come over there?"
"Yeah sure that works."
"Okay, I'll be over in a few. Bye!"
"Bye!" Yugyeom smiled. Well at least someone wanted to hang out with him.
Yugyeom went back to scrolling Instagram until Mark opened his bedroom door. "Sup bitch," Mark was wearing a lavender hoodie and some ripped jeans. He plopped down onto the bed next to Yugyeom.
"I'm surprised you weren't busy with Jinyoung," Yugyeom laughed.
"I am going over there later. You should come."
Yugyeom sucked in a breath. "I would but Algebra is really kicking my ass. I seriously need to study."
"Fair enough. I should invite BamBam then," he joked.
"Good luck with that. I tried talking to him earlier but he was 'busy.' He's been really distant lately, like I feel like I haven't had a real conversation with him in a year."
Mark frowned. "Jackson's been kind of like that too. I wonder what the hell has been bothering them."
Yugyeom shrugged. He then stood to go sit on his beanbag chair in the corner of his room. "Do you think we should ask them about it?"
"I don't know. Let's just see how they are at school tomorrow."
Yugyeom nodded in agreement. He thought they should do at least something rather than sitting around, so he grabbed two controllers and tossed one to Mark. "Up for some fortnite?"
Mark grinned. "Hell yeah." The two set up the game and started playing.
About half way through, Mark mumbled something about it being hot as fuck in Yugyeom's room, so he stood up to take off his sweatshirt.
The shirt he had underneath stuck to the hoodie and exposed some of his stomach and ribs.
Oh shit. Yugyeom pretended like he hadn't seen anything and went back to focusing on his game as Mark sat back in his chair. Had he seen wrong? No there was no way.
When the game was done, Yugyeom decided to text Jinyoung.
yug-kyum
hey, mark is coming over there later right?
park-puppy
yeah why
yug-kyum
I think you should talk to him about something. just don't tell him I said anything
park-puppy
omg is it bad? should I be worried?
yug-kyum
maybe.
park-puppy
JUST TELL ME WHAT IT IS ALREADY
yug-kyum
ok so he's over at my place right. and we're playing some fortnite. he goes to take off his hoodie and his shirt kinda comes up with it. I pretty sure I saw some pretty nasty bruises under there? I just thought I should tell you.
park-puppy
I am going to fucking kill his father. did you say anything to him about it?
yug-kyum
no I didn't think it was my place. you think it was his dad? that bastard
park-puppy
it has to be. well thanks for telling me
yug-kyum
yeah no problem
Jinyoung shut off his phone and crossed his arms fighting off angry tears.
"Dude, you okay?" Jackson looked up from his phone.
"Remember that theory we had about Mark's dad?" Jackson nodded. "I think it might be true."
"Why what happened??"
"Yugyeom texted saying he saw bruises on Mark's torso. Like bad ones." Jinyoung got up and started pacing around the room. What could he possibly do to help the situation though?
"Oh my god." Jackson rested his elbows on his knees and put his face in his hands. "I hope he's okay. Should we mention it to him?
"Well first we have to confirm the whole situation. Mark should be over in about an hour. But we can't just outright ask him about the bruises." Jinyoung stopped his pacing and sat down next to Jackson.
"Maybe we could just ask him about why he always talks about his dad in the way that he does?"
Jinyoung thought about it. That might not be a terrible idea. But they would have to be careful about it. He told Jackson that he agreed with the plan.
Just thinking about someone doing that to his beautiful, amazing boyfriend made him livid. He knew Mark would never want to file a lawsuit. He sighed and rubbed his face with his palms.
Him and Jackson spent the next hour worrying about Mark. Jinyoung couldn't even imagine what kind of things Mark had gone through, with his dad being the way that he is. Yet he still acted happy and perfect.
When Mark entered the apartment and Jinyoung saw his innocent, beautiful face, he almost broke down into tears.
Mark went straight to Jinyoung to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Hey, Jinyoungie." He smiled and then went to hug Jackson. He finally settled in between them and put his arms around both of them.
Mark noticed that they both seemed tense. He tried to read their facial expressions, but couldn't gauge anything.
"So, what have you guys been up to?"
"Nothing really," Jackson replied. "Jinyoung's pretty boring to be around."
Jackson then got punched in the shoulder. "You love me," Jinyoung said.
"I love you? I didn't know that." The corner of Jackson's mouth lifted up slightly. Teasing him was so easy.
Jinyoung scoffed and wrapped his arms around Mark. "I don't need you. I have Mark." Jinyoung squeezed his boyfriend slightly.
Mark winced but tried to cover it up by laughing and agreeing with Jinyoung.
Jinyoung noticed, however, and quickly retracted his arms. Mark pouted but didn't say anything. He already missed the warmth.
Jinyoung cleared his throat. "So me and Jackson have been meaning to ask you about something."
Marks brows perked up with curiosity.
"Umm... Jackson you say it."
Jackson eyes widened and he stared at Jinyoung for a second. He coughed. "Um. We noticed that you... whenever you talk about your dad... it sounds like he might be a bad person."
Jinyoung scowled. Jackson was bad at wording things.
Mark turned serious and asked, "What do you mean by he might be a bad person?"
"Does he do bad things to you?" Jinyoung inwardly cringed. Apparently he wasn't good at wording things either.
Mark pursed his lips. "I-" he took a deep breath thinking about how he should say this. But he couldn't think of anything so he just nodded his head. He was not expecting to have this conversation right now.
"How come you never said anything?" Jackson asked. "Me and Jinyoung are here for you. And the rest of our friends are too."
"I just never thought of it as a big deal." The truth is, he just didn't want them to know about his weak spots. "Really, you don't have to worry."
"Do you really expect us to do that?" Jinyoung couldn't contain his anger. "I can't just-" he took a shaky breath. "We can't just sit back and do nothing."
"I am dealing with it. I promise. Please don't worry."
Jinyoung licked his lips and thought for a moment. " Is there anything I can do?"
"Just, don't worry about me. That's the only thing I want you to do."
Jinyoung sighed. There was no getting past Mark. But he would find a way. He didn't know how but he was going to. But for now he just nodded.
Mark breathed a sigh of relief. He shifted his focus on to Jackson, who until then was just letting them have their moment. He gave a questioning look, asking him the same thing as Jinyoung but without words.
Jackson nodded, silently promising that he wouldn't worry too much either. "I love you guys," he then said, before enveloping them both in a hug.
Mark laughed but hugged back. "Seriously it isn't a big deal. You guys are acting like I'm going to die or something."
Jinyoung huffed. "I wouldn't throw that idea out of the window." Mark just rolled his eyes.
Mark knew that they were still going to worry about him, but he hoped now that he told them he was fine, they would worry less.
He also hoped they wouldn't tell the rest of their friends, because he didn't need that many people worrying about him when it was unnecessary.
Because like he said, he would deal with it himself.
A/N: how is it possible for 7 men to be absolutely perfect? like I just don't understand