[M] Leather And Gold 3/3. Mar (1/1)

"It was just like that, as easy as passing the page or adding a dot at the end of a paragraph to start a new one."-BamBam was gone.It was the shortest, briefest, simplest way to word it, but left too many unanswered questions and crumbs of confusion for anyone to actually accept it, zip it up, chew it down and calmly move on with their lives.BamBam, recently kicked out of his house and moved into his actual, welcoming home with his own trash and socks to mark the place with Yugyeom, was gone. Ironically, the deliverer of bad news and worse luck was the latter, with a letter and bouquet of out-of-place roses that seemed to be selected not by its beauty, but by the number of thorns on them - the more the better -  and stung Yugyeom, making him bleed like he had never ever bled before.It was a six p.m on a Friday.Six p.m on a Friday. Uncomforting and gloomy, yet there was no rain or gray clouds to colour in the picture - it was painted with yellows instead from the sun, different shades of brown from the dessert-like landscape palette they became familiar with. A sight you´d expect to say in dooms day films or Western movies with aliens in them. Though, the only aliens around on a six p.m Friday afternoon, in a gasoline station that served more as the birthplace for memories than for filling up cars, were the boys themselves. “He left.” He said. “BamBam, he left.”The group looked up at him, urging, wanting, begging him to continue without opening their mouths, to explain, to bring some of the piercing sunshine outside of the station, up in the sky inside to light up the storm of their upcoming confusion.That´s when he gave them the letter, a letter with some bloodstains on it from when Yugyeom held the roses too tight and read the paper too slow before noticing the itching, stabbing pain in his hands. The letter said a whole lot of nothing, yet a whole lot for Yugyeom with a big “thank you all” at the end of it, written with red marker and a heart. The letter ended with with no address or promises,It ended, just like that.With a dot and no more space left for words.It came to its natural end.“I called him - he´s in Thailand. With his grandmother.” They clicked their tongues just to make some noise, and Jackson felt like his breathing was a burdening sound in the silence they fell in - everyone looked at the ground, at their shoes, at the dirty tiles, at their hands, the corners of the room suddenly becoming the most interesting thing they´ve ever been blessed to see.“Oh.” Jinyoung said.And although nobody mentioned it, they knew it was the beginning of something much bigger than that; it was just BamBam who took it upon himself to start the chain. After that, Yugyeom stopped going to the gasoline station.-“Jackson, there´s a surprise visitor for you here and it´s not the landlord to kick your homosexual ass.” Jaebum announced, and Jackson immediately looked up from his schoolbooks, Intro to Economy II or something, to see Mark standing against the doorframe of the room.He smiled, and Jackson wondered how he got so lucky.“Landlord…?”“He´s not about the gay lifestyle and is constantly up Jacksons throat about who he brings to the apartment - Jesus, close your mouth you look stupid.” He couldn´t help it, he was a victim to Marks imperfect perfection and the beauty that had so many flaws he was secretly thankful for. Red sweater that was too big for his own good, sleeves hanging way over his hands than must´ve been comfortable, skinny jeans, a mouthful of cheesy chips leaving crumbs on around his mouth and fingers and God damnit, he shouldn´t have looked so attractive, but he so did. “Mark…”Mark shut the door. That day, they made-out as if to kiss out the frustration over their friend away, how sad and, though they would never outright admit it, how fucked over they felt by his sudden goodbye told in ink rather than in words; the completely out-of-the-blue note he left on; they just kissed, kissed a lot, and rather than fuck it out and call it a day, they spoke.About BamBam. About growing up. About life itself.“Everything is changing as the Spring comes, baby.” Mark had said, his legs sprawled over Jacksons, staring at the ceiling. Final exams and people preparing for the next step in their lives, level-up and move on. Jackson was never good at growing up, never good at dealing with changes; he was scared of the future, and Mark hugged him tight and promised him he´ll be with him.For that night, those words were enough, and it was only around ten p.m when Mark went back to his shared apartment, humming with his clothes straightened out rather than crinkled up.He opened the door slowly, softly, in case Jinyoung was with a friend or making important calls; something he did a lot of nowadays, mostly with a collected tone of voice that belonged to an adult, to an actual adult they were expected to become. Jinyoung was extremely good at playing the part.Expecting him on the phone, Mark, however, found him sitting by the kitchen table. The refrigerator buzzing, so annoying yet they got used to it - the flickering, small while light making everything seem brighter, the familiar smell of their home,Of nicotine and fresh-baked cakes.Jinyoung was sitting by the kitchen table, smoking, looking out the window that led to a small space where they´d hang their laundry and smoke weed without being too suspicious - he could hear the neighbors bustling about with guitars and laughter on the second floor, a dog barking on the first, he was sitting by himself with a can of beer, though, on the third.“Hey.” Mark said.And Jinyoung could barely return his smile - he tapped on the table nudging Mark to sit down in front of him; Mark, although not religious, never had been religious, prayed on the spot hoping it was the typical banter. The typical rejection, the typical story of a cute girl leaving him hanging. Hopefully it was something selfish like that.“What´s up?”“The ceiling.” Jinyoung tried, and Mark noticed he was still wearing the clothes he left with - leather jacket and boots, white shirt and ripped jeans. He gulped. Then coughed. Then sat down.“Alright…”“I- I´ll get straight to the point.” He pressed the cigarette down. “Mark? Are you listening? Please look at me.”He did.“A company noticed me during our final project…I´m moving to California. Silicon Valley, to be exact. This is hu- Oh my God, Mark?” Honestly, Mark had only gotten out of breath a handful of times in his life before - one was when his mother left for the airport when he was six years old, and he was convinced he´d never see her again, but Jinyoung explained it was just a business trip, the second was when he failed his middleschool entrance exams, and ended up in the worst school in the district, and it was Jinyoung who tutored him, the third was when he aced the retakes, and Jinyoung celebrated by buying their first ever can of beer, the fourth was when he lost his virginity with a boy, and it was Jinyoung who yelled at him for getting drunk, the fifth was when Jackson choked him in bed, and for once, Jinyoung didn´t do anything about it, Mark secretly wondered if he even noticed.And now, the sixth time Mark had ran out of breath, literally ran out of breath, no oxygen reaching his brains or his  limbs, feeling like the lingering smoke from the cigarette took over his every pore, it was because of Jinyoung. Because Jinyoung, his Jinyoung, was going to leave him.No red flags of warning and zero heads up.The next time Mark opened his eyes, he was in his own bed between his own monochrome covers, and Jinyoung was right new to him. “Jin…?”It´s okay, go to sleep.”"But...""It´s okay, Mark. It´s okay."-“Shit, man, the flat is so empty without your stuff.” Jaebum commented, putting one of  the many boxes on the cart to carry downstairs.“Half of it is shit he doesn´t even need.” Mark said.“He´s not lying, I don´t like throwing things away - every item in this place carries a piece of my memory, y´know?”“So you´re taking our memories with you, too?” Jackson sighed. Not appreciating how petty and childish Mark was being right before driving off to the airport. “Come on Mark, let´s go out to buy lunch.”Mark complied far too easily, mumbled and murmured and muttered under his breath in what Jackson briefly thought was Latin and temporarily worried he was cursing Jinyoung while putting his jacket on and huffing and puffing before entering the elevator, not looking at Jinyoung once for the entire morning; when the door finally closed and Jaebum was juggling two boxes at once, sweat on his forehead and arms exposed, Jinyoung grabbed one to help him out.“Thanks, Jaebum.” He said. “Uh, can I ask you something?”“Uh-oh, sounds serious.”He bit his tongue and huffed just like Mark was doing earlier, taking the boxes and setting them in their place.“Well, can you keep an eye on Mark for me? He´s totally holding it against me - probably thinks everyone is going to leave him here.” Jaebum sighed, and before he could say anything, Jinyoung continued voicing his concerns still concentrated on the weight of his boxes; this one with a big obnoxious sign which said "fragile", and probably had his dead ancestors ashes in it, or something, even though he doesn´t even own a vase.“But he´ll forgive me, eventually, he always does. Can you keep a secret? I´m sure you can. You´re like a sponge." He thought about it. "You´re a sponge person, you know that?”Jaebum wasn´t sure how he felt about someone qualifying his as a "sponge person," but figured he´d stay quiet and let the other say the the words he wanted, needed, had to say out loud before it´d get locked up in there and drive him insane. So he just continued to set the box on the cart.“We used to kiss and make-out and stuff - Oh, oh God, don´t misunderstand. Our bond was much deeper than that.”“Ah, the infamous Tuan blowjobs.” He couldn´t help it.“Right. I mean no. His ex was part of our group and once asked me if I have a thing for Mark - I don´t. But I know that falling in love with him would be too easy if I let myself. I just don´t... don´t want to.” Three boxes on the cart. He took the tape. Bit on it. “He´s perfect. Absolutely perfect. But I don´t think I can devote so much attention to one person regardless of who it is.”Jaebum nodded.“So even though we´d kiss from time to time and got each other off, we never ever talked about it. Mark is extremely good at avoiding things, y´see, and plays it off with smart comments instead. He thinks he´s slick, but he´s so obvious.” Jaebum knew, of course he did.“But anyway. His ex asked him out and Mark said yes. I don´t think Mark actually liked him at that point - I wasn´t even that bothered about it, really, and-” He paused, turned his back to Jaebum to grab another box but hesitated a bit. “And the kissing still continued behind his back. I hate his ex, so much. He beat the shit out of Mark once. And to this day he claims it was the only time he touched him but I don´t believe it. We fell out around last Summer, and Mark was meeting him separately more and more - until he got busted for cocaine possession. Which is why I was suspicious of Jackson. Mark has a terrible taste in me-”He stopped, stopped walking and stopped talking and froze on the spot, just his eyes lingering over Jaebum, who was listening the entire time with scissors in his hand, cutting off the tape.“Wait, wow, you really are a sponge. No comments? No advice? No prying?”“Nah.” He said. “Did the kissing continue with Jackson in the picture?” Jinyoung considered faking his answer. He didn´t - sucked in a breath, but his lip, suddenly feeling watched by a million cameras, thankfully he was never camera shy.“Yeah.” He admitted. “Yeah it did.”And with that, Jaebum smiled. Suddenly everything made a lot more sense, suddenly everything was seen in a while different light, the boisterous voice of Jackson which could be heard from the hallway was almost mocking and ironic.“You know,” Jaebum said hastily. “I think your group is a lot more vulnerable than I thought it was.”So Mark and Jackson walked in, bags in their hands and beaming about cheap chicken with fries. They made a good couple. Definitely, and Jaebum never once doubted they really do love each other. He looked at Jinyoung, and Jinyoung just continued cutting his tape."You into guys?""As heterosexual as the day, Jinyoung."-“Don´t kill yourself.” Jinyoung held his arms out, and it took Mark a good twenty seconds before sighing out loud and uncrossing his arms, looking at the ceiling and then hugging him - tighter than he had ever hugged  before, warmer than a blanket and more meaningful than a poem.“You better fuckin´ bust your balls out there and make it.” He whispered.And Jinyoung knew it was his way of saying he was proud of him.“I´m sorry.” He said one more time.“It´s okay.” snickers Mark swore were from his cold and not from tears, a good last huff of Jinyoungs scent - the familiar scent of leather mixed with copious alcohol that has dropped on it over time on their juvenile escapades, Mark wondered if he was going to take it off and wear a coat instead, someday.Of course. Of course leather doesn´t last forever.He just wished he could keep the jacket.Just to remember the good old days.-That night Jackson stayed with Mark after he pleaded him to - that was also the night they had the most vocal and primitive sex they´d ever had before.Moans, grunts and mewls - dirtytalking was a talent not even Jackson knew he had; he called him all sorts of things, degrading when he was making a show out of it, sweet