Mark stood, aghast and paralyzed as fear seized his soul and a look of solemnity appeared on his flushed face. He was scarcely aware of Tae standing right next to him, glancing back and forth between Mark and Jinyoung but at this moment it didn’t matter. He could only focus on Jinyoung's distraught expression in the dark, his eyes filled with disbelief as he stared at Mark.

He helplessly watched as Jinyoung started walking backwards slowly, and it felt like his heart was being stabbed repeatedly with each step he took away from Mark. He knew what this meant. It meant his nightmare was his reality, it meant his fears weren’t baseless and it meant that Jinyoung will not accept him. He wanted to say something, go after him but his body was frozen, not allowing him to move even a step forward.

After a few more steps, Jinyoung disappeared and Mark remained where he was with a hollow look in his eyes.

‘Mark’ He could hear Taehyung calling but he couldn’t bring himself to reply, or even acknowledge his presence. Eventually the younger sighed at the lack of response and thought it was best to leave since Mark clearly had things to sort out and he wasn’t the one to talk about his problems.

‘Hey, I think I’ll leave….but let me know if you need someone to talk to’ Tae said gently, and was taken aback when Mark looked at him with a pained expression and nodded weakly.

Tae gave a small smile and left Mark standing in the alley alone.

After what seemed like ages, Mark found the strength to start walking, his stoic demeanor masking his shallow breathing and pounding heart as he made his way to his apartment. Their apartment. His brain turned into mush and he couldn’t figure what was supposed to happen next. He didn’t plan on Jinyoung finding out about his uality ever but today his carelessness probably cost him his best friend. A part of him wanted to be optimistic and think that Jinyoung was probably just shocked and would scold him for being careless in public but the other part of him knew that this wasn’t the case, and Jinyoung’s wasn’t distraught because of his PDA, he was distraught because of who he was doing it with.

He wondered exactly how much things were going to change from today because he was sure nothing will ever be the same again.

The door wasn’t locked so he entered the apartment quietly and saw Jinyoung sitting on the couch, his face was turned the other way so Mark couldn’t see his expression. Not that he needed to anyway, the suffocating silence was enough to clue him in as to how it was going to go down. He walked slowly, trying to brace himself for whatever was going to come his way. They had to talk about this, he needed to know Jinyoung’s stance in this regardless of whether or not he would be able to live with it.

Jinyoung looked up when Mark came closer and moved away, signaling Mark to sit next to him but the older remained standing. Mark felt a surge of hope at the gesture though and was partially relieved not to see any hint of anger or malice on Jinyoung’s face. Could he be okay with it?

‘Hyung?’ Jinyoung cut his train of thoughts with his quiet voice and Mark saw how concerned Jinyoung’s eyes were and for some reason it made Mark feel uncomfortable. He averted his eyes from the younger.

‘Hyung, a-are you and him’ Jinyoung swallowed and Mark didn’t miss the look of discomfort on the younger’s face ‘like together?’

‘No’ Mark managed to breathe out ‘He kissed me’

The look of relief in Jinyoung’s face made him feel funny.

‘Oh thank god, I thought…I thought’ Jinyoung trailed off, chuckling slightly and Mark knew he had to tell the whole truth instead of beating around the bushes. It’s now or never.

‘He kissed me’ He tried again 'but I liked it’ Mark stilled after saying that and observed how Jinyoung’s expression morphed from confusion to shock and then to….disgust?

‘Hyung what are you saying?’ His voice was a tad bit louder and was filled with shock and disapproval.

‘I like men’ Mark answered quietly, not letting any emotions come in the way because he knew that would