"What?" Troy raised an eyebrow as a look of confusion fell on his face. "What's wrong?"
At that moment, you debated whether or not you should tell Troy that Mary already had a boyfriend and that she was a cheater. While you knew that telling Troy would be the right thing to do, Troy also seemed like he was happy about pursuing a relationship with Mary.
You let out a frustrated sigh as you couldn't figure out what you should do.
"(Y/N), I'm serious." Troy continued to look at you with confusion on his face. "You whispered something after I finished telling you what Mary looks like."
You shook your head as you finally decided that you weren't going to tell Troy about Mary being a cheater and already having a boyfriend. "I was just saying that she was really beautiful."
Much to your surprise, Troy believed your lie. "Yeah, she was. I wish you could've seen her. You honestly would've been in awe over just how beautiful she was."
Oh, I wouldn't say that...
"Well anyway, let's go downstairs and get some breakfast." You silently let out a sigh of relief as Troy stood up and walked towards the door. "I'm starving."

*****

As you were downstairs eating breakfast with Troy, you couldn't stop thinking about how you had found out that Mark had traded his friendship with you for a girl that ended up cheating on him last night. You then suddenly remembered that while you were with August in the park, Mary had given her number to August. Thankfully, you had managed to take the piece of paper she had written her number on out of the hat so that August wouldn't see it so the only people who knew that she had done this are Mary herself and you. While it was possible that Mark knows that Mary had given August her number, it seemed very unlikely. Mary seemed like she was the type of girl who was good at hiding stuff. After all, she had successfully managed to get Troy to have a one night stand with her despite the fact that she had a boyfriend.
Wait, how the hell did she manage to talk to Troy for hours and eventually have a one night stand with him if Mark was at the party?
The question began lingering in your mind. Although, it didn't linger for long because you came to the conclusion that it would be better for you to not think about it because it would just make you really depressed. While it was very difficult, you would eventually have to come to terms with the fact that Mark had given up your friendship for a girl who had attempted to flirt with another guy by giving him her phone number and ultimately ended up cheating on him last night with a guy that felt like an older brother to you.

"Hey, did you hear about what happened last night?" Troy asked, pulling you out of your thoughts as he got up to get some more pancakes.
"No..." You trailed off, confused. "You do realize that it was a massive party last night, right? Tons of things happened last night."
"Fair point." Troy grabbed two more pancakes before he sat back down. "Well, did you hear about this kid who ended up having to go to the hospital when he had about half of a beer to drink?"
"No, I didn't hear about that."
"I saw it happen." Troy's eyes darted away from you as he began to recall the event. "The kid looked to be about your age actually. He was over at the drink table when this girl handed him a beer. I couldn't tell what the girl looked like because the room was kinda dark and there was so much fucking smoke in the room. But I remember that the kid had this electric blue hair that I actually thought was pretty cool and looked really good on him. I don't know any of his features though. His hair stood out like a sore thumb so it was pretty easy for me to spot. But anyways, I guess this kid was getting ready to leave because he took the beer from the girl, opened it, took a big swig of it, and then walked towards the door. I would say that about halfway on his way to leave, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and just collapsed on the ground. Of course, everyone started flipping the fuck out and the party was at a standstill as someone called 911 and God..." Troy paused as he rubbed his forehead. "I legitimately thought that that this kid wasn't going to make it. He was hardly breathing, he had almost no pulse, and there were several instances where he had seizures. It was really fucking scary. Thank God that a few people had a medical major and were keeping that kid alive. He wouldn't have made it if it weren't for them." Troy paused again. "Nobody really knows for sure what happened. But my guess is that he's allergic to alcohol or he has some sort of sensitivity for it because there's no other logical explanation for why this kid just suddenly collapsed on the ground."
"I can't believe I missed this." You whispered. "I mean, I know that I was clear upstairs and the loud music downstairs was muffled, but you think I would've heard the music suddenly going silent like that. I guess I was too upset about everything that happened last night to really pay attention to what was going on around me."
Troy shrugged. "Hey, it happens." He then sighed. "I'm just really hoping that that kid ends up being okay." After a few moments, his head shot up and he dropped his fork down on his plate. "Oh yeah! I managed to get a better look at the kid when he collapsed because I turned on the lights as people started to notice what happened. Along with his awesome electric blue hair that I would seriously get if I'd actually good with it, he was wearing glasses and a red flannel. He also looked like he was a bit Korean too."
Your heart dropped as you realized who Troy was talking about. Like Troy had done earlier, you dropped your fork down on your plate. "Troy..." You trailed off, finding it hard to let the words escape you. "The kid who collapsed last night... It was Mark."
"No fucking way!" Troy exclaimed as his eyes widened. "No fucking way that the kid who collapsed last night was Tom's little brother. Besides, Mark has pink hair. He doesn't have blue hair."
You shook your head. "He doesn't have pink hair anymore. He dyed it blue."
"So that means..."
You nodded, your heart feeling heavy as you did so.
"Damn." Troy whispered breathlessly. "Tom's gotta be worried as hell right now then. I feel bad. He already has enough things to worry about. The last thing he needs is to worry about his little brother possibly dying from what probably was an allergic reaction."
"Yeah, I'm sure being in your final year of college is stressful as hell."
"Oh, yeah..." Troy spoke as if he wasn't referring to that but was going along with it anyways. "It definitely is."
You raised your eyebrow. "Troy, is there something else going on with him?"
Troy let out a small sigh. "Yeah, there is something else going on with him. Not him directly, but it does indirectly involve him."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I... I can't tell you." A sad look fell on his face. "It's something that's really deep and personal and I was really surprised that he opened up about it to me when he did. All I can really tell you is that it indirectly involves Mark too."
"Does whatever's going on with those two have anything to do with them going out together on certain days?" You asked, recalling that Mark had told you that on certain days of the week, he would go out and do things with his brother. When you asked Mark what those things were, he would always avoid the question and never give you a direct answer while hoping to change the subject.
"Yes, it does." Troy nodded. "I'm not going to say anything more because I promised Tom that I wouldn't tell anyone about what was going on and I have the feeling that I've already said way too much."
"Okay, I understand." You nodded as well. "Well, I hope that whatever's going on with the two of them gets better."
"I hope so too." Troy whispered. "I couldn't imagine having to go through something like that."
"Troy?"
"Huh? What?" Troy shot his head up and looked directly at you. "Did you say something?"
"Are you okay?" You asked, feeling genuinely concerned about your friend. "You seemed like you were out of it for a second there."
"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied, sounding pretty convincing. "I was just thinking about what Mark and Tom are currently going through right now, that's all."
"Hey, speaking of Mark..." You trailed off, unsure if you were willing to actually go through with what you were about to tell Troy you were about to do.
Troy raised an eyebrow when you trailed off.
You sighed, knowing that you would have to finish your statement. "I was wondering if I could borrow your truck so that I can drive to the hospital and visit Mark for a little bit?"
"Really? You want to visit him?" Troy asked, surprise lacing his tone. "I thought that you didn't want anything to do with him after he stopped being your friend."
You sighed. "I..." You found yourself at a loss for words again. You felt angry at yourself for not being able to properly express and voice how you were feeling. After all, was it really that hard
"Let me guess." You felt relieved when Troy spoke up rather than allowing an awkward silence to hang between the two of you. "Even though you're mad at him, you still feel obligated to pay him a visit to make sure that he's doing okay because you're worried about him and you want to make sure that he's okay."
"I swear that you know me better than I know myself sometimes."
Troy laughed. "It's funny that you say that because I actually feel the same way about you. You read my emotions like an open book."
"That's what you do with mine." You couldn't help but laugh as well. "So, can I borrow the truck?"
Troy reached into his pocket and threw his keys at you in response. You didn't have enough time to react so the keys just fell to the floor.
"You could've at least given me a warning before you did that." You laughed a bit as you got up from your chair and picked up the keys.
"Don't complain." Troy laughed a bit as well. "I could've just not given you the keys at all."
"True." You shrugged. "Do you want me to come back here and pick me up?"
Troy shook his head as he smiled down at his phone. "Nope. I've already got a ride."
"Really? Who's giving you a ride?"
"Who do you think?" He looked up at you, still smiling.
You resisted letting out a groan. "It's Mary, isn't it?"
"You better believe it." It broke your heart to see how happy Troy was, especially since you knew that Mary was a cheater.
"Well, you have fun with that." You forced yourself to sound like you were excited for him.
"Oh, trust me. I will." Out of the corner of your eye, you saw that Troy had a small smirk on his face. That only added to how upset you felt about withholding the truth from him. Almost as soon as you saw him smile, you looked away and began making your way out to his truck. You knew that telling the truth was the right thing to do, but Troy would be upset by the truth and you didn't want to make him sad.
Just walk away before you end up blurting out the truth.

*****

What the hell are you doing? You asked yourself as you were making your way to Mark's hospital room. You just bought flowers for a guy you used to consider to be your best friend. Visiting him is going to be a mistake like visiting Julian was.
You sighed as you knocked on the door of Mark's room. You waited a few moments before you opened the door, knowing that it would be stupid to wait for a response from someone who was mute.

Your heart skipped a beat when you saw Mark. He hardly looked like he was even alive. Countless machines, from a heart monitor to an IV, were hooked up to him. His eyes fluttered open as you stared at him. When you looked into his brown eyes, you saw that the sparkle they once possessed was completely gone. Even though the sparkle he once had was barely in his eyes last night, his eyes had become completely and utterly dull. His now dull brown eyes only met your (E/C) eyes for a brief moment before they looked away and looked up at the ceiling instead.
"M-Mark?" You barely managed to choke out as you carefully held the flowers you had bought him close to your chest. "I.. I came here to see how you were doing." You smiled a bit as you saw a bouquet of white tulips sitting in a vase on the table that was beside his bed. "I see that someone brought you some flowers like I did. Who are those from?"
Mark slowly raised his hands and began using sign language to communicate to you. Thankfully, you had taught yourself sign language after suddenly being inspired to learn it about two months ago. Because you could actually understand what Mark was saying without someone having to translate for you, you knew that he was spelling out "Mary" with his hands.
"Oh, that's nice." You forced yourself to sound excited for him. After all, he seemed to really care about her, even though she had gone behind his back and cheated on him with someone who felt like an older brother to you rather than a friend. "They're very pretty."
I didn't think you would come. I thought you were mad at me.
"I heard about what happened last night and I had to come and see how you were doing." You carefully placed the flowers, which were red dahlias, down next to the white tulips as you spoke. "You very well could've died last night."
Mark shrugged. There have been many instances in my life where I could've died. During some of those instances, I could've died because of my own actions and not the actions of someone else. I do not fear death, (Y/N). Death is something that every single person on this planet has to experience one day so should it be feared?
You didn't really know what to say so you remained silent and allowed your eyes to wander around the room. After a few moments, your eyes wandered back over to Mark and you saw that he had started using sign language again.
I really appreciate you coming to visit me. It was a nice surprise. I also like the flowers that you brought me. They're very beautiful.
"I picked them out just for you." You grinned. You were surprised that he seemed to be oblivious to the meaning of the red dahlias that you had bought him, especially since he was the one who had taught you that flowers usually have symbols for something. "When I saw them, I immediately thought of you."
Mark smiled a bit before he let out a yawn.
"You seem tired." You walked away from his bedside table and stood near the edge of his bed. "I'm gonna go and let you get some rest now. Hope you don't have to spend too long in here and that you get better soon."
Without waiting to see if he would respond, you turned away from him and left the room. You didn't really want to spend a lot of time visiting him because you thought that things would just eventually become extremely awkward if you did. Besides, even though you didn't want to admit it directly to Mark's face, you were still angry with him for everything that's happened over the past few months. But, then again, you missed him.
You hated that you missed him.
You wished that you could just let go of him.
Your life would be so much easier if Mark Fischbach left your mind.
But no matter how hard you tried, the once pretty boy refused to leave your thoughts.

*****

A few days had passed since the party and all they did was drag on. School seemed more boring than usual and it wasn't until today that August was actually able to go out and get coffee with you. For some reason, you felt excited that you were hanging out with him again. You had had quite a lot of fun when you two had spent time together at the park and you hoped that today would be just as fun.
"I'm so glad that we finally get to hang out again." August said to you as he was driving to the cafe. "I had a great time at the park with you."
"I had a great time too." You looked over at him briefly and smiled. "And I'm hoping that today will be just as, if not more, fun as when we were hanging out at the park."

Once you and August arrived at Starbucks, he instructed you to find a table before he asked you what your favorite kind of coffee was. After you told him, he turned away from you and walked towards the line. You then followed his instructions and picked out a table that was right next to the window. It was the only window seat that was available and you were glad that you were able to have it because window seats were your absolute favorite. Even though you rarely ever went to Starbucks, you always enjoyed sitting near the window and admiring the view while taking small sips of your favorite kind of coffee on the occasions that you actually went.

"Here you go." August smiled as he placed your cup of coffee down next to you. "I got you just what you requested."
"Thank you." You looked up at him briefly and smiled as you slowly and carefully pulled the cup closer to you.
"No need to thank me." August continued to smile as he slowly took a sip of his coffee. After a few moments had passed, he added, "Holy shit, no wonder I was rarely allowed to drink coffee. This is so good. I could get addicted to this."
You couldn't help but laugh a bit. "I mean, coffee's okay. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either."
"That's not the case for me." August said right before he took a large gulp of his drink. "Without a doubt, mocha coffee with enough cream and sugar to more than likely induce a heart attack is my absolute favorite. I can't believe I'm just now realizing how much I missed coffee while I was in hiding."
"Oh yeah, I forgot that you were thought to be dead by most people until you suddenly appeared out of nowhere."
"Yep." August sighed as he wrapped his hands around his coffee cup. "I almost wish I didn't come out of hiding. All people ever think of me is Julian's older brother or "the not-as-cool-despite-the-fact-that-he's-older Julian." So far, no one's seen me as my own person. They've just seen me as the cowardly older brother." He sighed again. "I mean, maybe that's all I am. Maybe I'm stuck in the shadow of my older brother, never to escape. Maybe the good genes were given to Julian while I was stuck with all of the bad ones."
"Don't say things like that." You looked him dead in the eyes. His brown eyes showed the tiniest hint of a sparkle, but it was fading fast.
Why must you be so much like Mark? I know you can't help it, but you look and act like him. There are only minor differences between the two of you.
"August, the good genes were not given to Julian." You suddenly had the urge to grab ahold of his hands, but you pushed away that urge because the fear of making things awkward was quite strong. "Julian... Everything about him was fake. His muscles were fake, the act that he put on at school was fake, his "love" for me... That was fake too. He was never a genuine person. The only thing that he ever cared about was that he was loved and feared by many people. He had an intimidating height already going for him and he played off that by getting muscular and adopting a personality that would allow him to become the most popular at school and that would allow him to keep that spot. But it ended up being his downfall." You paused for a moment. "Think about it. Julian brought his fate upon himself and it's no one's fault but his that he's gone. Now, with that being said..." You trailed off. "August... Everything about you seems genuine. You seem like you aren't putting on an act and that you're just being yourself."
"I am." August whispered as he stared down into his coffee. "I'm so tired of hiding away and allowing my younger brother to shine while a shadow was being cast over me." He looked up at you for a split second. "Now that he's gone, I can be my own person. I can chase after the dream that I left behind after my parents were killed by Julian and I ran away upon realizing that he would more than likely be his next victim." It was at that moment he looked up at you again, but he didn't immediately look down like he had done last time. "I don't have to be just "Julian's older brother." I can just be "August.""
"You could've always been just "August" though." Your (E/C) eyes stared him down and you felt your lips curve into a smile.
"I know." His eyes darted away for a very brief moment. "But I was too afraid too. But now, I'm not afraid anymore. After I graduate, I'm going to go and chase the dream I've had ever since I was a kid and I'm going to make sure that people know who I am. Also, for the very first time in my entire life, I'm not going to let my past haunt me and I'm not going to let Julian or my parents or anyone for that matter cast a shadow over me. I'm going to be my own person."
You grinned. "That's wonderful. I'm really glad to hear that, August."
He grinned back at you. A few moments of silence, taking sips of coffee, and briefly glancing outside went by before he was the one to break all of it.
"So, I've talked about myself enough. I want to hear about you."
"M-Me?" You were surprised that he was expressing interest in wanting to know things about you.
"Yes."
"There's really nothing interesting about me, trust me." A small smile formed on your face as you spoke.
"That's a lie." August adjusted his glasses and continued to stare into your eyes. "I can tell that there are so many interesting things about you just by looking into those (E/C) eyes of yours." He smiled and you felt a bit sad as you noticed that his smile was quite similar to Mark's. "You've been through a lot like I have. And I wanna know as many things about you as possible."
You felt your face growing hot and you were certain that there was a blush forming on your face. "Well, I suppose that since you told me quite a lot of things about you, it's only fair that I tell you a lot of things about me."
August nodded as he finished his coffee. "I'm glad that you think so." He then shifted all of his attention over to you. "Now, tell me about yourself. There's so much that I want to know about you."