#barry cotc

It’s been okay so far. Mark knew how to read and write already but his hand got clumsy sometimes, he didn’t mind practice. And he certainly didn’t mind all the praises! 

The journey to school was his least favourite. Kids from all grades living in the suburbs boarded the school bus, and while they rarely waited on the same stop, so Mark didn’t have to worry about being pushed around on his way up the two stairs, the ride itself was rather loud and unpleasantly lively at all times.

He refused to hop on the first day of school, and had his dad drive the car instead. He didn’t understand why that couldn’t work for the rest of the year—up until then, dad would drive him everywhere! It was a dumb rule, that kids have to take the bus, when the bus is so loud. 

But it’s been a week and Mark’s gotten used to the commotion. He always sits in the second row by the window, as far away from all the hustle in the back rows and entertained by the scenery. He’s memorised it by now. 

Now that he found a place of his own, maybe going to school won’t be so bad… 

That’s what he tells himself, anyway, as he steps onto the bus that day. Skips towards his favourite row. And finds it… occupied. 

Two girls a little older than him, sharing a journal between them. 

He coughs to get their attention but his voice comes out squeaky when they meet eyes as he tries to claim back his spot. “Bus seats are public property,” the one with glasses informs him. “So we can sit wherever we want.” 

Mark scoffs. “I called dibs.” 

“And so?” the other girl with pigtails raises her eyebrow in challenge.

What? Everyone knew about dibs! 

“So it belongs to me!” Mark reasons. 

“So it doesn’t,” she sticks out her tongue. She also folds her legs up, and Mark watches in horror as the dirty soles of her sparkly shoes rub his favourite seat. 

Not fair! They’re not respecting the rules! You have to play along! 

He’s about to give them a piece of his mind when he hears his name being called. “Maaark!” 

He turns, giving the two girls one last frown. 

(When he’s older, Mark is going to make sure that all kids follow game rules properly. And don’t put their dirty feet onto his stuff!)

About three rows to the back, on the opposite side of the bus (his frown deepens), sits Barry. They met yesterday over a Bring Out Your Beast duel. He talked his ears off on the way home about Pirates of the Dark Water, a cartoon they both happened to like. That instantly nominated him to a friend. 

Mark waddles towards him in defeat. Barry scoots over to let Mark occupy the window, just how he likes it. So it came to be… at least he found his new friend. If they talk about cartoons at least the bus ride will pass quickly. 

“Mark!” Barry exclaims again, hands slamming against the leather seat, as he grins from ear to ear. 

“Barry,” Mark responds with a smile of his own. 

“Daviiid!” another voice yells from the row in front of them, followed by a white bucket hat and pair of wide eyes peering at them from above the headrest. 

Oh. Yeah. Mark met David too, a few days back, during recess. They bonded over butterflies. David’s eyes were sparkling as Mark told him all the trivia he knew from books he read with his mom. Mark felt proud for amusing him. 

“I heard there will be science today!” David informs them. “I hope it’s about bugs and flowers!” 

“Or about volcanoes! They’re so cool when they go BOOM!” Barry exclaims, and slams his hands down again. Barry sure had spirit like no one else. 

“I’m pretty sure science is about building robots,” Mark says. He saw it on TV.

“Like Dexter’s laboratory!” Barry cheers, at the same time as David chants: “Powerpuff Girls!” 

The bus sizzles as the doors close and soon it starts moving—David, with feet still planted on the bus seat, holds with all his might to not tumble over. Mark and Barry giggle. His sweater paw sleeves hug the seat for leverage as he pulls himself a little higher, revealing his crooked nose and bucktoothed grin. 

“Hey! There’s three of us, we could play Powerpuff Girls!” His bucktooth makes him lisp, and Mark doesn’t understand half of what he says, but David’s eyes are sparkling with excitement, so Mark nods nevertheless. 

Someone yells at them from the front then, sit down and use the seatbelt!, and David’s head finally disappears. His voice doesn’t, though—and so the bus ride flies as the three friends chat to their hearts’ content.

It was a sunny afternoon at the creek the day when the Elder’s rock was busy outdoors. For the longest day of summer the three friends prepared a special celebration—a campfire and a sleepover under the rock with a few special guests to shelter. 

Omar, despite being quite the youngest in the group, captured the hearts of the elders easily through his love of comics and videogames. Now that the Overpass didn’t need a guard and he had free time to spare, he found himself frequently showing up at the Elder’s rock borrowing manga and listening in on the DnD campaigns. He didn’t quite have the confidence to join in. 

David insisted Tabitha and Courtney would be invited to commemorate their friendship formed from sharing the pain of part-time at the smoothie bar. Mark wasn’t quite thrilled about it—and was still taking his time to get used to David’s new passion for the Goth lifestyle. But the wound of almost losing his friendship over a petty grudge was fresh and so he caved.

Then there was Annie. While her anime consumption was more casual than the elders, her passion for singing OSTs and her cheerful intrigue for all things nerd made her a favoured company. 

And wherever Annie went usually followed… Jackie. 

Currently looming above David who has just excitedly been telling Annie about the new shop he found online selling all kinds of clothes to fit his new aesthetic. 

Mark observed from a distance. 

The cold stare of his glasses that reflected nothing, the panic in David’s eyes as he trailed off mid-sentence, the smirk that bloomed on Jackie’s face at the reaction, and finally, how it faded into a much gentler smile when Jackie took the spot next to Annie. He extended his hand towards Annie, pinkie, pointer and thumb sticking out—Annie copied the gesture as she slotted her fingers alongside his. 

Mark didn’t understand what it meant. 

Correction: he knew exactly what Jackie was showing was jealousy. Admittedly, he was familiar with that, even though he didn’t have a cute date to justify it. He just didn’t know what the sign meant. 

He looked at David again. He recovered from the scare quickly and was now back on his excited monologue, fists held up and his whole body bouncing as he talked. It was less noticeable than what it used to be when they were younger but Mark knew what he was looking at to notice it. 

Past the logs they collected around the campfire, Barry has just emerged from the woods carrying a couple of sticks to roast on. Omar was right at his tail carrying rocks to circle the campfire. The kid was taking his contribution so seriously. 

Tabitha and Courtney arrived a minute ago with loads of snacks and cola. Now they sat across from Annie and David and chatted among themselves. 

Mark has tasked himself with tidying up the rock to welcome so many people—it was gonna be stuffy anyway but putting away some manga shelves and life sized replicas was the least he could do. Now that’s done he found himself watching the life around him. 

It hasn’t been that long since the fight after which he spent weeks alone at the rock before he packed up and started hanging out at home instead where his messy room and the internet would distract him from the sorrow and guilt eating him up. 

He was just going to the Elder’s rock to borrow the last volume of Two Piece when he found Barry sitting there all by himself. He feared the moment but found relief when Barry said he wasn’t mad anymore. Mark apologised regardless. Spending that afternoon with Barry gave him courage to reach out to David too. 

He didn’t realise how much he missed them both. 

---☀---

“As the good hosts we are,” David spoke with enthusiasm, “we should introduce everyone. I’m David and I work at the smoothies with Tabitha and Courtney. Who wants to go next?”

Barry took the spot next to him and greeted everyone, claiming his turn. Mark scanned the circle to see where he could sit—they prepared more logs than necessary to use them as spare tables for board games. The other side of David was still empty even though Mark would need to carry a log all the way over and he didn’t want to look that desperate. There was space next to Jackie on the fallen tree log but Mark wasn’t so fond of that kid. He didn’t even invite him. 

He chose to sit on one of the spare logs in between Tabitha and Jackie. It gave him a direct view of David… 

David and his ripped off sleeves and just one of many chokers Mark definitely hasn’t been keeping track of. His hair started growing out even more now that he didn’t trim it to fit under the old helmet, and Mark recalls how he mentioned wanting it pink eventually. 

It’s been weeks. It feels like they met again in college—it feels like seeing Kenneth on that phone call. He changed so much. He grew up to be popular and handsome and not into anime anymore. David grew up to be popular and handsome too. 

With pink hair and edgy clothes…? 

Maybe that too. 

He looked really happy and confident in his skin. Sure he had been before—walking around the rock topless despite not being the type to work out required that kind of confidence already. 

Ah. He never really cared for anyone’s opinion. David always cared about personal joy and harmony first and foremost. 

Mark had to admit that he was happy for him, seeing him like this. Even if he was in two minds about his own feelings towards the new gimmick. 

He still loved anime and Mark’s DnD campaigns. If he wanted to play as a sorcerer instead of a bard now, that was not Mark’s place to complain. 

He smiled to himself.

Then he looked up, disturbed from his thoughts by the sudden silence. He noticed David’s eyes on him. His heart skipped a beat. And then he slowly realised everyone had their eyes on him like they expected him to do something. For a brief moment he panicked if he wasn’t saying all that aloud, but David soon cleared the table, cheerful as ever: “It’s your turn!” 

“Oh,” he scratched his neck awkwardly as he willed away the scarlet of his cheeks. “I’m Mark. I am the expert of all things anime… and…” his gaze travelled to David who listened to him too intently for someone who already knew him. “And I’m sorry I’ve been an asshole to you David.”

“Aw… We’ve been over that,” David waved his hand in dismissal. “But your apology is appreciated. I’m happy we’re friends now.” 

Mark swore he heard coos from at least one of the girls present and felt his cheeks heat up at the attention. If either one of them decides to tease him about it, or about how he stuttered through his apology when his attention stuck on David’s eyeliner, he will consider drastic measures. 

Next was Jackie. He waved at everyone and pointed at himself. Then he gestured with his hand what Mark assumed was his name because Annie filled in the silence with a verbal introduction. He signed more and Annie translated that he likes swimming and baseball. 

At the end he turned to her with a sign akin to a blown kiss.

Mark never had a reason to learn ASL but he wondered how hard it is. If it was any different from learning Japanese like he did in his free time—a completely new sentence structure and a thousand of signs so unlike the english alphabet.  

“My name is Annie. I like to dance and sing and… a lot more things… but singing OSTs with the guys is what brings me here tonight.” She smiled and gestured at Jackie, as she continued to sign the rest of her introduction. “Jackie is my boyfriend, I hope no one minds him here. We’re both from the other side of the creek.”

“What is it like on the other side?” David inquired. “That’s where Kenneth is from.” 

The sudden mention of Kenneth’s name had unwanted thoughts flashing through Mark’s mind. His dyed blonde hair and blue contacts. His room, bare of any trace of his origins. He was almost unrecognisable. And the crushing reality of David keeping contact with him and yet he never reached out to the rest. 

It wasn’t surprising it was David whom he remained friends with. Who wouldn’t… It hurt nevertheless. 

“Pretty chill after King Xavior was overthrown.” Annie said, then turned to Omar, “We thank Omar and his friends for that effort.”

Omar set his can of soda aside and wiped his mouth on his sleeve while keeping eye contact with Annie, then her boyfriend. “We faced Jackie in combat back then. So pardon my uneasiness. It’s been a lot to get over after all those years.”

Annie tapped Jackie to make him focus as she signed what Omar said. She smiled as she watched Jackie sign back. “He says it was fun and that he will be better prepared for a future water balloon fight.” 

He smirked at Omar and nodded. “We’ll see that fair and square.” 

Annie continued. “It wasn’t a matter of choice to be on Xavier’s side. No one believed Xavier could be defeated. If Jackie turned his back on the king he would be in serious trouble afterwards. And being a champion wasn’t so bad—he could keep doing what he loved.” 

“Where were you during the war, Annie?” Omar wondered. “I don’t think we passed you in our search for the flag.” 

“I was casted out of the creek before the war began…” she laughed. “I might have punched Xavier. More times than I can count. It was… uh… deserved… but it wasn’t so bad. My only connection to the creek was Jackie, which allowed me to sneak in and before that, to get away with more than a regular kid could. I can’t blame him for sticking to the king to the very end.”

“Hold up— What?” Tabitha drew everyone’s attention to herself. “You guys had a monarchy in the creek? Dude that’s— What.” 

“It’s kinda been a thing for a decade now. We grew up into the system, messed up as it is.”

“Queen Cheyenne was chill.” Annie narrated Jackie’s signs again. “If there was a problem we sought help with, she would help, otherwise she was just a teen hanging out with her best friend at the royal tree house. She took her status seriously and wished to expand her rule across the overpass but she wasn’t that persistent about it. Xavier was crowned a couple of years ago and that quickly turned into a whole tyranny.” 

“What happened to that Cheyenne?”

“The worst possible thing—she concluded she was too cool for the creek.” Annie rolled her eyes. “Could never be me.” 

“No one is too old for the creek,” Barry exclaimed. A chorus of agreements came from everyone while Tabitha and Courtney shrugged their shoulders. 

“I can stand behind that,” Mark joined in. “Except for when we’re in college somewhere far away. Because you guys have plans or whatever.” 

Tabitha and Courtney exchanged grimaces. “Yeah, let's not talk about that.” 

“Let’s dive into the juicy part.” Tabitha cheered, getting up to pass around the plastic bag. She sat down throwing her legs over Courtney’s lap. 

Her girlfriend grabbed a can of cola from her hands and popped it open. “Literally, we bought smoothies. But you have to pay in gossip!” 

“Yeah. Barry—has someone captured your heart recently?” 

“Uh. No…” Barry scratched his neck awkwardly. “My heart is being crushed by advanced bio summer homework.” 

“Booring…” Tabitha complained with an exasperated sigh. “You guys really do your summer homework?” she shook her head in disbelief. “David, you tell us what you’ve been up to.” 

“Well… I’ve been experimenting with my clothes. I really like the stuff you picked out, I never thought I would be so comfortable in this.” He smiled bashfully as he twirled a hair between his fingers. “It’s really growing on me.” 

“It looks really cute on you,” Annie said. Jackie gave a thumbs up. Barry also muttered something encouraging. Mark felt his voice stuck in his throat. 

David curled into himself but despite that he glowed with all the praise. “Thanks guys.” 

Even when the rest of the circle shifted attention towards the next person in line, Mark’s eyes lingered on his friend. He had to agree with the compliments. 

“Annie, what about you and Jackie? How did you two become a thing?” 

Mark wasn’t particularly interested in that but he found himself following the story as Annie spoke animatedly. “To be honest… I was never gonna tell him that I liked him. I would say so out loud because I knew he wouldn’t hear but I couldn’t let him know.”

That made Mark pause. It was beyond him why Annie thought she needed to keep her feelings hidden. It wasn’t like it would be weird to like him. They have been friends for years and Jackie was clearly interested in her if he kept coming back. 

David never had to ask him to show up under the rock on his birthdays or to speed watch his latest anime favourites so they could spend the next few days discussing them. But they also simped for anime girls together. It didn’t make sense. It brought so many questions Mark didn’t have answers for. 

“…All until Elisa noticed my crush. She thought it would be fun to tease me, to make me insecure, that Jackie would never like me back. I was so frustrated and Jackie noticed. I had to tell him. I didn’t know how to sign it at that time, so I just drew a heart on his chest and he returned the gesture.” 

“Aww that’s so sweet!” Courtney cooed. 

Tabitha howled beside her. “That bitch can suck it! Look who’s got a boyfriend now!” 

“Language Tabi! There are kids with us!” Courtney calmed her down.  

“Huh?” Tabitha threw a look at the circle until her eyes landed on the hoodie kid. Her gaze darkened and her sharp teeth flashed in a dangerous smirk. “Oh. Omar?”

Mark watched in disinterest as the kid’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Nothing of that sort.” 

Jackie signed something with a snicker that only Annie understood and chose to not share. If Mark had to guess those two knew of some non supporting evidence for the kid’s statement. Not that he cared. 

Could kids like him already have crushes? 

Mark didn’t even remember when he… no, nevermind. That wasn’t a crush. Whatever it was, which he couldn’t name, it was not a crush. He would have noticed sooner. 

“Does David want to share his romantic discoveries?” 

Mark shot his eyes towards his clearly panicking friend. “No. David doesn’t want to.” 

That was both a relief and a concern. He was better off if he didn’t have to hear about whoever David was interested in but the answer made him wonder—what was the point of such defensiveness if there wasn’t someone in his mind? 

He really, really shouldn’t have thought of that. 

---☀---

Annie tore a pack of chips open and threw a couple into her mouth. “Should someone set up the games?” 

“Suit yourself. What are we playing?” Mark jumped to his feet, happy to distance himself from the conversation. He lifted the tower of board games he carried outside the rock for the occasion. “The choices are endless.” 

“David promised us he would show us your DnD business,” Tabitha shouted from the back. 

Annie shook her head as she mindlessly reviewed the game collection. “We should play something non-verbal. Like double.” 

Annie lifted her head with a grin as she signed her idea to Jackie who signed back quickly. “You’re right I’m unbeatable. Not even Keun Sup could outspeed me.” 

“What about uno?” Tabitha suggested. 

“Do we want to have a good time or do we want to scream at each other until sundown?” 

“We could play cards?” Omar tried. 

“Have any of you heard of Kent?” Annie asked then. A couple of people shook their heads while Jackie showed a toothy grin. “We send codes to our teammates when we have collected an all-symbol combination and try to not be caught by the other teams. Sounds good?”

An excited chorus followed. 

“Grab a teammate and come up with a secret code.” Annie instructed. “I’m with Jackie!” 

“Calling dibs on Courtney!” 

Mark looked around hesitantly. The choices were running out quickly. Even Barry already teamed up with Omar by the time Mark made up his mind to ask him. 

Which meant the only person left was… David. 

“So what code should we pick?” David beamed at him. His voice dropped into an excited whisper. “A wink?” 

Very predictable, the code and the mannerism that had Mark leaning away for personal space all the same. “Uh… oh… Sure. Yeah. A wink will do.” 

Annie and Jackie set up the cards while the rest of the teams were discussing strategies, likely already having a vault of different codes to switch between as they played. Mark expected no one could compete with the excited duo but he held some naive hope he could win at least a few games once he grasped the rules. He hadn’t spent his entire life playing games for nothing. 

The game itself was more about attention than the cards. 

In the first round Mark had his last ace snatched from under his palm. It meant two things—he was left to observe instead of collecting like all the rest, and that Omar who swept his card was out of the round with him. 

The game was also about knowing people. 

He called out Barry pretty easily when he rapped his fingers on his thigh out of nowhere. That was a classic impatient Barry thing. 

Annie fared just as well in terms of catching people red handed. 

“Courtney, your make-up is so pretty today.” 

“Out! Tabitha is out!” Annie would exclaim cheerfully. 

“What? Not fair! Can I not compliment my girlfriend?” 

Somehow the banter only added to the pleasant experience. It built Mark’s competitive spirit and brought laughs and had the time fly so fast. 

“What’s your code even supposed to be?”

“We will never tell!” 

---☀---

The sunlight soon faded too much to see the cards in front of them properly and so the group of friends moved on to the main event of the night. Barry and Tabitha crouched by the campfire with crumbled newspaper and a lighter. Omar sharpened the roasting sticks quietly in the corner. Annie and Jackie set up an actual table to place all their food on. 

David and Courtney sat back engrossed in a conversation. 

Mark stood there idly as he tried not to look at them too much. 

He spent most of his childhood with Barry and David and Kenneth. He never looked to make more friends—he already had company that shared his interest in anime so what more could he gain. Not like he expected to ever lose either of them. They were supposed to be inseparable, if not for their shared hobbies then for the fact there wasn’t anyone else they would turn to. 

Now David had actual friends outside of the Elder trio. Mark was happy for him. At least he tried to be. 

But… It seeded a worry that David would no longer need his old friends when he found another place to belong like Kenneth did, would no longer need to settle for someone who’d been so hurtful towards him without realising. Mark wanted to turn back time and make sure David didn’t set foot out from under the rock on that fateful day. 

Would that mean he’d still sit here in front of them shirtless with his cape warming him against the chill of the evening and his helmet set down on his lap so he could lean his forearms on it and support his head? 

The mental image competed with the sight before his eyes until they faded into one. 

David with one knee supporting his head, hiding his choker and the front of his shirt. His hair flowing down the sides of his face, untamed even as he tucked stray strands behind his ears. The eyeliner only made his wide eyes more noticeable. Like it wasn’t hard to look away from them already. 

---☀---

As darkness covered the clearing and dimmed the view, Mark found it easier to keep his eyes and thoughts away from David. The campfire added a nice layer of warmth to the summer night and the roasted bacon and marshmallows brought the same warmth to Mark’s stomach. 

There was program as well—Courtney and Tabitha telling spooky stories that allegedly happened in the creek. Mark knew half of them from his own childhood, being scared while Barry and David always rushed into the adventure of finding out its truths. It was mostly Barry. David was curious and eager to learn but not so much a brave soul, sweaty palms always enclosing Mark’s wrist or sleeve. 

An innocent soul, even now. He was so easy to push around that Mark hadn’t even realised he had been doing so. 

---☀---

At some point during the night David pulled out a ukulele. Mark recalled hearing him practise at the rock a few years back but David back then was terrible and he couldn’t stand the noise. He must have practised a lot since then because he was nothing like the awkward off key performances of ninth grade. 

He played a melody that everyone at the circle knew as they all hummed along but among all the voices only David stood out to his ears. That part of his performance was still… less than charming. 

Mark supposed that was good. It was familiar. It was his David. 

---☀---

First yawn of the evening and the emptied supply of food slowly moved the program inside. 

Jackie slid under the rock with ease and extended his arms towards Annie whose eyes were already falling shut as she crawled in. He took off his cap and glasses before he climbed into his futon. It looked like they were both done for the night. Not like anyone else here could use ASL to help him keep up with the conversations. 

Omar set his futon underneath the anime figurines shelf. He flipped through the comics scattered nearby as he waited for the rest of the group to settle down. It wasn’t long until he was snoring nose deep in the pages. 

Tabitha tried to play cool as she challenged the rest to stay up the latest but ended up falling asleep in her girlfriend’s lap early on as well. 

Soon it was just Courtney and the elders. 

They formed a much smaller circle and kept their voices hushed so as to not disturb the rest. It felt weirdly intimate to huddle up—especially with David leaned against the wall by his left, not exactly leaning into him but close enough to let his mane brush over Mark’s shoulder now and then. 

Speaking in a whisper, David’s voice was much more stable and calming. “Is this the part when we tell each other secrets?”

“I don’t know. This is the part for anything that felt too out of the left field in the sun.” Courntey replied and yawned. “If there are any thoughts you want to share, the floor is yours.” 

David seemed to think about it for a long while. His eyes always wandered off when he was deep in thoughts—a habit that was rare, for David’s mind usually worked at a speed unmatched by others, but prominent nonetheless. At one point it was clear to Mark he was no longer caught up in his thoughts. Rather, waiting for a cue to speak. 

When no one else took the spotlight, he finally spoke up. “I was really sad and hurt when I left this place behind. I feel that bitterness at the back of my mouth now that I’m back. It’s on my mind all day.” 

Mark averted his eyes in guilt. 

“But it’s being rewritten by new memories, both here and at the smoothie place. And it helped me push myself to meet new people and try out new things. I would have never dared to show up like this to the creek. At least… not now. I’m still exploring how I like to see myself.” 

He fidgeted with his sleeve. It caught Mark’s eye and urged him to reach out. He didn’t know where that action would have ended so he suppressed it quietly. Maybe he wasn’t quiet enough. 

David looked up at him. Mark swallowed. “When you walked up to the counter and saw me and still wanted me to come… I care about what you think. It frustrated me when I realised how much I let myself be stomped on because of it.” 

The lump in his throat grew more uncomfortable as he listened to David’s words. I care about what you think. That was a new one. Something he might have only figured out recently, or didn’t feel like saying when they first spoke about the argument. 

Mark had thought about his own apology too, how he could have been more open. “I never meant to make you feel… to hurt you. I was really happy that I had you by my side. I took that for granted.” 

The rest was a familiar tune on the tip of his tongue. “It felt terrible to be here alone too. Like when your favourite show never airs its final arc. All you’re left with are the hopes of what could have been.” 

And lastly, what fell out of his mouth when David reached out for his hand and he felt like he was staring for too long: “I don’t know if I like this… everything… but I’ll get used to it. I promise. It’s okay to change. Just don’t ditch me again. Please.”

“Listen to me when I tell you that you’re pushing too hard. Okay?”

Mark shut his eyes. “I will. I promise.” 

The silence was unnerving—so much so it led Mark to open his eyes again. He didn’t want to face David’s reaction but he couldn’t stand being left in the dark about it. 

David was looking at him with an expression he couldn’t read. It was uncommon, David wore his heart on his sleeve, or so Mark thought until now. 

Soon David’s gaze softened as he reached out with open arms. Mark was never so relieved to hear someone speak. “Come here, I missed you…” 

Everyone who grew up with Mark knew he wasn’t one for hugs, for any physical affection really. He didn’t like getting up and personal. Still he found himself clutching onto David’s waist and enjoying the warmth the simple gesture brought to him, like he was still at the campfire. 

As they pulled away their gazes lingered on each other. It was Mark who looked away first, weak against the gentle smile on David’s lips as well as suddenly aware of Barry’s presence. He looked at him but couldn’t think of what to say. The apology was meant for him as well… Mark was just completely scooted by the heat in his chest that he kept for his best friend. 

Barry seemed to understand what was going through his head, patting his shoulder and letting Mark’s palm rest on the back of his hand to thank him for the silent understanding. 

Mark’s heart soared with relief. Like they haven’t had the same heart to heart a few weeks ago. Like he hadn’t heard them accept his apologies half a dozen times already. 

David hugged them both back then, hesitant but earnest. It was the same and yet so different when he hugged Mark a moment ago. It felt intimate. Like it was meant for only the two of them. Like there was no one watching. 

David never cared about who’s watching. Mark had always adored that about him. How he existed in his own bubble sometimes, savouring happiness and completely oblivious to the world around him, by choice or otherwise. Mark felt being a part of that bubble just now. 

No one has spoken a word since David invited him for a hug. All the same people could be shouting right into his ear and Mark is sure he wouldn’t hear a word of it. 

He stared ahead until David’s cheeks gained a scarlet colour and he finally looked away sheepishly. Mark felt his face heat up as well. 

“Well, I’m out,” he announced abruptly, getting onto his feet. “Do whatever you want but I shall head to sleep.”

David leaned backwards. “O-Oh. Yeah. I’ll follow suit.” 

Mark felt his eyes leave a warm trace on his back as he walked over to his sleeping bag. He didn’t bother turning around even when he heard hesitant footsteps. 

“Okay, let’s tuck you in then…” that must have been a whisper by Courtney, probably awkwardly manoeuvring Tabitha off her legs. Not Mark’s problem. 

He turned to face the wall. He could hear the rustling of the sleeping bags and some whispers. It had never been this lively at the Elder’s rock before—not ever since the three friends used to stay the night from time to time in middle school. It certainly never was this crowded. Mark’s mind was never so restless.

He internally laughed at himself, at how the evening with friends and extended company and plenty of distraction still led his head to wrap around David. He probably thought about him so much he’ll think of him in his sleep too. For the better or worse.