Gift for everyone

Gift from ?????

Title of the gift: Let me hold your hands

Pairing: MarkBum

How many words: 2961

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Note to my giftee: happy holidays and I hope you enjoy this gift~♡

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Let me hold your hands

 Another day at school. Another hours Mark was dreading. Not like hours spent outside of school weren't dreadful by themselves. Like every other day, he arrives earlier, before everyone, so that at least he can take his stuff from his locker in peace. Sometimes bullies surprise him and wait for him already, but this morning he was safe, for a while. Until the next breaktime at least.

 Silently, he picked his books for the first class of this morning, English literature. Messily closing the locker, hurriedly he walked down the hall to the bathroom. He used it as his safe place, and for even his on surprise, bullies never touched him there. But in his way, he bumped into someone, all of his things falling to the floor. Crouching down and picking up the books and notebooks as fast as he could, he whispered a barely audible “sorry” before hurrying down the hallway. Could one morning pass without giving trouble to other people?

 He hid in the bathroom in no time, breathing heavily, clutching his things to him as hard and as close as he could. This day already had a bad start..

 After a few minutes, Mark walked with his head down to the classroom, being the first to arrive. The rest of the students filled the room one by one and in small groups, his bullies being the last to enter, smirking, silently indicating what will happen later, the minute they step out of the class. Mark was ready to cry.

 No matter how much he tried to slip away from the class, those boys catched up to him and slammed him against the lockers that were right outside the classroom. They waited for their teacher to pass, and then whispering to his ear, they promised of waiting for Mark after school. Shivers went down his tiny and skinny body, he really couldn't wait. For the rest of the day they left him alone, which only made it worse. It only meant his bullying will be much more harder than he hoped for.

 After leaving his stuff at his locker, dreadfully he walked down the hall to the school entrance, his head down, trying to hide behind the mass of students. Listening to gossips and whispers, apparently Seohyung (his bully) and his gang ended up at the principal’s office after the classes ended, which meant he's surviving today, but that makes tomorrow even worse.

 He arrived home quickly, even earlier than h

he usually does, leaving his backpack in his room right away and diving into preparing some lunch for his parents. His dad came home an hour later, food warm and ready, waiting for him on the table.

 “Well, well, well. What have I done to deserve this fine treatment son?” he asked teasingly.

 “J-Just felt like it. Please don't eat it all, save something for mom!” And he run up the stairs, shutting the door of his own room.

 Wednesday morning came as any other did, only more dreadful than yesterday. Like always, Mark showed up early at school, his head low, passing through the halls. And like yesterday, he bumped into somebody, just this time he wasn't in a hurry and for a second looked up to see who the person was. Staring right back at him was Im Jaebum, his crush since freshman year, and they were juniors now. His face paled. He muttered a silent apology and sped up down the hallway. Jaebum didn't even have time to say sorry himself.

 He stared at the boy running down the hall and thought he seemed kinda familiar.

☆☆☆

 Mark was maybe bullied, but he wasn't friendless. His best friend was Park Jinyoung, also a junior like him. They had been friends since Jinyoung moved to their neighbourhood and they started 7th grade together. He was almost everything Mark wasn't. He was confident, he stood up for himself when other students tried to bully him. Headstrong, he had his opinions and never let people stomp over them. And he was beautiful. Black fluffy hair, big round eyes and soft edged face. His lips were big and soft, and his smiles one of the prettiest Mark has seen. Jinyoung always said Mark was beautiful as well, maybe even more than he was, but Mark had denied every time, he never believed those words.

 One of his friends was also school’s sports star, Jackson Wang. He was a basketball captain, Jaebum being one of his teammates. Mark met him through Jinyoung, as Jackson approached him first day of freshman year with cheesiest pick up lines and maybe (but don't tell Jackson that) won his heart a bit.

 Those two were his closest friends, ones who fought off bullies any time they were with him. But they couldn't be around 24/7, they had their own classes and different school extracurricular activities. After all, Jinyoung was a drama club president and student council vice president and Jackson a head of sports club. Mark wasn't a member of any club, as he avoided people as much as he could.

 He “met” Jaebum over Jackson, well, when he and Jinyoung went to watch one of the basketball games. Mark's eyes fell on him immediately and he couldn't look away. Since then his crush formed and he had liked Jaebum for over two years now. Only Jinyoung knew about it and never said a word.

 Lunch time ended and his friends had to leave him for their classes. Jackson walked him down to Mark's and then continued to his own. He entered the classroom, Seohyung already sitting at his designated seat, two desks down from Mark's. He was silent, only looking at the chalkboard. Mark gulped. This never meant something good.

 English passed in a blink of an eye, leaving only one more class until school ends. Mark hurried out of the classroom to his locker because silent Seohyung was the worst Seohyung.

 Managing to avoid trouble for now, he went to his last class of the day.

 History was boring, but at least it was peaceful. What scared Mark the most was the moment when he would step out of the school. Putting all the unnecessary books in his locker, he threw his bag over his shoulder. Walking through the building entrance and around the school grounds, Mark felt the strap of his bag was tugged and next thing, he was being dragged. Looking up, it was Yonghae, one of Seohyung’s “minions”.

 Throwing him to the wall at the back of the school, Mark hurt his head and hissed in pain. Someone above him snickered. Of course it was Seohyung.

 “You got away yesterday, pretty boy. Today we're making it double.” And he punched him right in the stomach.

 Walking peacefully down the silent hallway, Jaebum got distracted by his own thoughts to notice anyone in front of him, he bumped into a boy who whispered out a barely audible “sorry” while Jaebum didn't even have time to apologise himself for not paying attention where he was going. He stared at him, realising he looked familiar, and then almost slapping himself for not figuring out it was Mark right away.

 Mark was his team’s captain's close friend. He never missed not one game of theirs, always sitting on the bleachers next to Jinyoung, another one of Jackson's friends, but also his crush. Jaebum always thought he was cute and pretty and well, maybe he had a tiny crush on him. They shared a lot of classes together and sometimes Jaebum joined them when lunch came around, so he got to see Mark quite a lot. Not that he minded.

 For him classes passed faster than ever, end bell ringing across the school grounds. Not hurrying anywhere, he strolled to his locker, pushing the books inside and taking his windbreaker. In the meantime all the crowd passed, so he didn't had to push around to get out like he usually does.

 As always, he goes all the way around to the other school's gate. Only this time he encounters something he never does and wish he didn't. Jung Seohyung and his little “crew” were bullying Mark, pushing him against the wall and throwing his bag around. The last straw was when one of them kicked Mark in the back.

 He approached them in the speed of light, straight up punching in the face whoever he got a hold on first. It was Seohyung.

 “J-Jaebum!?”

 “You ing er.” And he punched him once again. The rest of the group paused whatever they were doing while Jaebum beat up Seohyung. What stopped him was a light touch of a hand. He turned around and saw Mark standing next to him with pleading eyes. His clothes all ruffled up and ruined. He was clutching his bag close to him.

 “Fine.” He turned towards the other bullies, anger still evident in his eyes. “If I see you touch him, no, touch anyone once again, I'm beating you up until you turn into a pulp.” They all nodded their heads, picked up Seohyung and ran as fast as they could with him over their shoulders.

 Mark and Jaebum stayed in their place, awkward silence surrounding them.

 “S-So–”

 “Let's go, I'm buying you ice cream.”

☆☆☆

 Jaebum took Mark to the closest ice cream parlour, making him order anything he wants and not to worry about the price. Mark's bag was carried by him and he almost, key word almost, picked up Mark too and carried him.

 As they found a place to sit and ordered, Mark spoke up. “I-I want to th-thank you for today,” his cheeks and ears flamed up.

 Jaebum sighed. “Please don't. There's no need to thank me for something that needed to be done.” He stared at Mark as he searched through his school bag for his ringing phone. Once he found it, he picked the call up right away.

 “Hey Jinyoung. No, I'm not home yet, why? Don't worry, I'm at some ice cream place. Why, do you need anything? Ahh, well I can call mom and tell her you'll stop at ours to take that book, she should be home around now. Tell Jacks to shut up, I can't hear you. Sure, I'll give her a call. In an hour? Okay, okay. No, you don't have to wait for me at home. Do whatever you want.”

 “Tell him I said hi.”

 “Jaebum says hi.”

 On the other line there was a loud screech and a yell of something like “since when do you hang out with Im Jaebum!?!?” before Mark cut the call. Surely messages would come right after so he silenced his phone after informing his mom Jinyoung would stop by to get his geometry book back.

 Jaebum laughed out loud and Mark was starstruck. He was so pretty, no, beautiful that Mark couldn't help but stare. He regained his calm when their ice creams and shakes came, so Mark snapped out of it before Jaebum could notice him watching.

 The silence continued for some time, this time comfortable as they enjoyed their desserts. Jaebum was thinking through about what happened today and so he made a decision.

 “From now on I'm following you home.” He said it so calmly, Mark almost just hummed in response, until he realised what Jaebum said.

 “W-What?” he almost dropped his spoon full of ice cream.

 Jaebum sipped on his shake. “Do you really think that after today I'll allow you to go home by yourself? Plus, we basically have the same classes and live close by.”

 “H-How do you know where I live?”

 Jaebum looked up from his ice cream. “Jackson.”

 Since Mark realised there would be no point in arguing with Jaebum, he just sighed, nodded his head and mumbled an inaudible “okay”. Jaebum hummed to himself in satisfaction.

 After the little conversation, they continued to eat their ice creams and drink their shakes in a comfortable silence. When the time to pay came, Mark felt bad and so he wanted to pay for himself, but Jaebum beat him to it as he already prepared his money, guessing what would the other try to do. The satisfactory smile on his face made Mark's heartbeat a little bit faster. Picking up their backpacks (Jaebum basically taking Mark's from his hands and carrying two), they left the parlour. The rest of the day they've spent in a park near the ice cream place, but also not far from their neighbourhood.

 They were sitting on some bench they first found empty. Jaebum continuously made Mark laugh, he himself grinning, enjoying the other's sound of laughter. They talked about anything and everything. Dreams, goals, plans for the future. Jaebum said how he plans on studying music production, while Mark wants to major in English literature and become a writer someday. After a while, silence fell around them. Comfortable and undisturbing. Only then Mark noticed how close Jaebum actually sat next to him. Their arms pressed together, hands almost holding. Jaebum took his palm into his, Mark's face blushing, red as a tomato. He just turned his head on the other side while waiting for his face and ears to calm down.

 Jaebum never let go of his hand, tightly holding it even while he was carrying two backpacks. Mark's heart was beating at the speed of light, he thought he would die from a heart attack. They were going down the street, sun slowly going down, leaving the sky in beautiful shades of orange, pink, purple and blue. Mark found himself staring at the sky, Jaebum watching him without him noticing.

 Not long after they came close to Mark's house, both of them still holding hands and just awkwardly standing there. Neither wanted to let go of the other’s hand, Mark felt like he would just wake up if it happens. Jaebum gave him his backpack back, putting one strap onto his shoulder with his free hand.

 They stood next to each other, Jaebum staring at Mark like he would never see him again, and Mark looking all around, face red in embarrassment.

 “So uh…” It was Jaebum who spoke first. But, not wanting to say goodbye, he tugged the other closer by his hand, until Mark was completely in front of him. Without a warning, he pressed his lips against Mark’s, holding the kiss just for a few seconds. He felt his little gasp and a clench on his hand.

 Jaebum released the kiss, panting just a tiny bit, but catching the missing air right away. Mark's face was stunned, surprised, but in a second he was blushing like crazy. Jaebum learned he loved his blushing face a lot.

 “W-Why d-did yo-ou kiss-ss m-me!?” Jaebum found this so cute, it sounded more like hiccups than stuttering.

 “Because.”

 “Only because!?”

 “Because I like you,” and then he grinned. Mark had a heart attack.

 Jaebum continued. “I always noticed you on the bleachers when we had matches and you never missed a single one. I know that's mostly because of Jackson, but it was nice to always see a familiar face. Then I saw we share almost all classes, so I got to see you around a lot. I always thought you were pretty, and cute, and beautiful, so I had, well still do, a little crush on you. Jackson knew, but he never told anyone,” he looked down, a bit of red decorating his cheeks. “S-So, when I witnessed what I witnessed today, I just had this urge to protect you and never leave you alone. The k-kiss was un-unplanned,” his face was all red now, including ears.

 Mark stared, silently. He was stunned. He never expected for Jaebum to say something like this. Then he realised he was quiet for too long and that he should answer.

 “I-I,” he gulped. “T-This was a-a s-surprise. I never guessed anyone would like me, let alone you,” he scrunched his forehead in thought. “I like you too.. Have liked you since freshman year and the first game I attended. Only Jinyoung knows, but he found out cause he knows me way too well and notices every little thing-”

 “You- you like me,” Jaebum mumbled, not realising Mark never stopped his speech.

 “He likes me,” he continued his mumbling while getting closer to Mark again. This time he kissed him longer, releasing their clasped hands and hold Mark by his waist while tugging him closer to himself. Mark put his hands around Jaebum’s shoulders and neck, playing with the ends of his hair.

 After awhile, Jaebum broke their kiss, their faces still close to each other. Still catching his breath, he asked “Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

 Without thinking Mark said “yes” and Jaebum kissed him again.

 Once they stopped, both noticed the sky and how dark was getting near. Jaebum frowned, he wanted to stay more, but they would see each other at school. Then he remembered.

 “I live down the street so, from now on we're going to school together. Home too.”

 Mark reddened. He still couldn't believe everything that happened, he will have long phone conversations with Jinyoung tonight. After that call he probably had million missed calls and messages from his best friend.

 “O-Okay.”

 Jaebum reluctantly gave him a kiss on the cheek, not wanting to leave. But he had to, he didn't want his mother to get mad at him. While still being near his ear, he whispered the time he would wait for him in the morning and then leaving down the street until he was at his house.

 Mark stood there with a smile on his face. This was probably the first time he arrived this happy home from school.