climax soon ;) and then the endddd... maybe around chapter 30? idk, just guessing haha
park stayed in mark's house for a long while. too long, if you asked mark. apparently, convincing him to betray jaebeom was a lot harder than mark had initially suspected.
he went on and on about how bad he would feel, throwing jaebeom under the bus. mark could only listen in growing exasperation as his hopes of getting yugyeom out of prison sunk until he was sure it would never happen. it was an odd feeling of sadness, something he had never experienced before, not even when he left joey. he felt almost useless, like there was nothing he could do to help his new friend.
but then, after at least a few hours of debate, park finally said, "he doesn't deserve prison. mark, i really will help you," and the conversation ended.
somehow, mark had a hard time believing him, he had seen his loyalty to jaebeom only hours prior. how could he trust that what park was saying was the whole truth? but it was past midnight, and he was just ready for park to leave as quickly as possible. he was ready to be alone, and to deal with the events of the night by himself.
so the last thing he wanted was to hear yet another knock at his door. even though the person had knocked lightly and shyly, it sounded loud through the silent room, making mark jump slightly. of course someone else was coming to disturb him, just as park was about to leave- it made sense, what with all his bad luck recently.
"again?!" he murmured to himself, illicting a loud burst of laughter from park. he sent park a glare as he stomped over to the door for what felt like the thousandth time that night, even if it was only the second. he pulled the door open, already wishing the person behind it to be gone. he didn't want to deal with any more people's problems that night- he had had enough.
but there stood bambam.
small.
shaking.
scared.
the boy collapsed into mark's arms, and mark stumbled backwards, immediately noticing the bandage wrapped around bambam's leg. it was drenched in blood. but as mark inspected it closer, it looked as though bambam had gone to the hospital, the bandages were too neat and tight to have been done by solar, the red's medic. she was the only one medically trained, but she wasn't that good. mark was glad that bambam had got some professional help, the cut had looked horrible, life threatening even.
even if he was relieved at bambam's physical state, it wasn't that that was worrying. more so, it was the way bambam had collapsed, light as a feather, into him. the boy looked helpless, like maybe his grief at potentially losing yugyeom had manifested itself somewhat into his physical strength. he was shaking so much, and mark was sure he would barely be able to support his own weight- he wondered how he had been allowed out of the hospital at all.
with new found adrenaline coarsing through him, mark's eyes flitted to park who remained seated, bambam wouldn't stop shivering and mark was getting scared. but park did nothing, just shrugged and averted his gaze. there was no reason for mark to be surprised, ever since he had arrived at wingate, park had been avoiding all his problems- most specifically his infatuation and loyalty to jaebeom.
however, the minute bambam started to cry into mark's shoulder, the previously uninterested park lept up from where he had been sat and peeled the two apart. the emotion held deep within his eyes was unreadable, even mark couldn't tell how he was feeling as bambam turned to look at him. bambam, however, made it very obvious. the tears dissappated from his eyes, to be replaced by a hard sort of anger that mark had never seen in bambam before. the boy visibly tensed as he glared park down.
"how dare you." was all he said, the words coming from deep within his throat, threatening.
park pushed his shoulders back, determined to keep what little dignity he had as he grovelled at bambam's feet (metaphorically of course), "bam... i really am sorry... mark and i have talked it out and i really think tha-"
"don't do this. don't pretend to be apologetic when you're not. it's obvious you're not, park. i've known you, what? 6 months? in that time, i haven't heard you apologize once, or even feel bad about anything. you're a ruthless, stone cold piece of shit who abandoned his team-mates... his friends for a pyschopath that was trying to KILL US! do you know how that makes you look? do you know how fucking upset i am? you've taken away the person i care about most over your petty crush on a guy who really belongs in a mental institute. park! what you did was unforgiveable. and i'm not easy like mark. he's a greenie, and lowkey wants to kiss you... so sure, he may have forgiven you, but i won't. understand that now, and stop trying to be all sappy and nice. you're not,"
it was weird, how park seemed to snap out of the state mark had seen him grow into that evening. it was obvious, when he switched straight back to the persona he had been playing ever since mark had arrived, that had only changed after.... the kiss.
"if you want me to be like that. i'll be like that." he said, with that same empty stare that mark had grown to know well, even over the course of a week. he was park again. the attempts to become jinyoung were once again forgotten. and whilst mark had agreed with everything bambam had said, he wished the boy hadn't voiced it. the progress he had made with park was unravelling right in front of him, as the two men in front of him stared each other down.
bambam shrugged, "just be yourself. be your same, evil lunatic self,"
park bristled, his shoulders widening, "don't speak to me like that bambam."
"or what?"
"i won't help yugyeom get out of prison." he paused, "he'll rot there, i'll make sure of it."
silence fell, leaving mark to chuckle awkwardly, in a desperate attempt to release some of the tension that had flooded the room, "that was... that was a joke right?"
bambam collpased further into his arms, the shouting match obviously starting to take it's toll on his weak body. as he did, park shrugged, and whilst it was just a slight movement of the shoulders, it held a deeper meaning. it looked like park was planning on going against his word, it looked like park was ready to side with jaebeom again.
mark shook his hands, at once grabbing bambam's attention, just what he wanted. and as the silence in the room grew, he slowly and subtely signed to bambam about the situation.
park really was going to help yugyeom. we were talking for hours. if you take back what you said, maybe he still will.
bambam looked up at him with wide eyes and nodded, almost immediately saying, "i'm sorry for snapping. i didn't mean it. will you please help us help yugyeom?"
whilst what he had said sounded forced and entirely unnatural, it seemed to be enough for park, who nodded and grunted, "okay."
mark wished it would be that easy, but he was sure that park would need a lot more convincing as time progressed and the police started to call them in for statements.
with the conversation about yugyeom drawn to a close, the three boys stared at each other awkwardly, until eventually mark spoke up, "hey bambam? why are you not at the hospital still? you look bad?"
this was greeted by a dry laugh from bambam, "it's too expensive, if i stayed overnight i'd never be able to pay it off. jackson's staying though, apparently his head injury was pretty serious, we're gonna have to team up to pay his bills,"
park nodded, but mark could only shiver and look down at the floor. he hastily dropped bambam as carefully as he could onto his mattress as he felt his own arms start to shake. he was used to it, every time he so much as thought about hospital bills, even just hospitals themselves, everything that happened in america would come crashing back down.
his eyes started to blur as his mind ran away with itself, conjuring images of joey, of his mother and father, of his own skinny frame as he cried in the mirror. everything. absolutely every painstaking second. for a while, he let it all climb over him, suffocating him as he remembered the debt and the panic and all the tests and trials and xrays. but then, he felt someone wrap their arms around him, and he was grounded.
park whispered in his ear, "shh.. it's okay, it's okay.." as bambam stared up at him in terror. they stayed like that for a while as mark tried to calm his beating heart and attempted to tame his wild, fast breaths: park with his arm's gripping mark tightly, bambam looking on in abject horror.
and when park finally pulled away, he didn't waste a single second in asking, "mark. what was that about?"
bambam followed, "you should talk about it.. y'know.. if it's getting you that riled up."
mark shook as he spoke, "i-i've never spoken about it before... the reason i came here..."
"do you want me to go first?"
it was then mark realised he knew nothing of bambam's life other than the fact that his best friend was yugyeom and that he lived in wingate. so, he took bambam up on his offer, still shaking as he thought about finally sharing his own story.
he had never wanted to speak of it again. but as bambam said, maybe it would help.
still, he could put it off for the time being as he listened to bambam's story.
and with that, bambam began, all the while avoiding park's gaze, the anger at his 'leader' still creeping up in his voice.
ever since i was young i knew there was something wrong with my family. not like park's where all that happened was his parents ditched him, not like whatever is wrong with your's mark... i knew they were criminals.
sure, we all came here for different reasons, but most, if not all of the other reds, are just losers. they were abandoned like park or fell out with their parents or something. nothing as bad as me
me, well, i've done some shit.
i told you a while ago, mark, that if i told you why i'm here you'd hate me- and i still stand by that. there's no doubt that you'll come away from this thinking that i'm an awful person.
i like to blame all of it on my family and the fact that i was young and impressionable, but truth is... my family were part of a gang in thailand. and, after a while, i joined it.
before you say anything, sure, i've sold and done drugs since i've been at wingate. but it's only been small scale, and it's only been for keeping myself fed and alive. it was nothing too bad.
but my family, we used to do it hardcore. and we used to kill people who stood in our way.
i've only killed once.
but once is enough.
once you kill one guy, that's it. you're a murderer. and i did it. i killed a supplier who decided one day that he would stop supplying. at age 15, i dug a knife into his throat as my father stood in the corner and instructed me.
it haunted me ever since. it was the moment i realised i had fucked up. before then, i was properly in the business, learning all i could, hurting all i could, being as bad and cruel as i could possibly manage.
but when i killed that guy. kim joonhyung. a switch flicked in my brain, like my conscience had finally kicked in. i realised what i had done, not only then but in the years before as well.
and from then on i waited for the perfect chance to escape. eventually it came and honestly, i'm a little rusty on the details but i managed to sneak onto a boat headed for south korea. i was 16 at the time and my family had no idea. they still have no idea.
anyway, to put a long story short, i lived on the streets for a while and occasionally was given a place to sleep by a few nice strangers and... some who had ulterior motives.
and then, at last, i found the estate agents, 5 months ago. and, as luck would have it, i could afford an apartment with what little money i had made from begging.
and the rest is history.
and park, don't look at me like that. i know you thought i was "innocent and cute bambam who doesn't deserve a single shred of pain or violence"... yeah... sorry to burst that bubble.
i've probably seen more shit than you.
bambam coughed, unable to make eye contact with either of them. mark could hardly contain his shock and, to be fair, horror, at bambam's story.
but bambam quickly shut off these thoughts, "so mark... your turn,"
well..