#joshua & marcus 012

[graftisms]

JOSH & MARCUS — DAY TWENTY-EIGHT

location :   evening / post-challenge / pool

featuring :    @bluemmings @blondcs @inquixotic

context because i’m not posting it all :   they all jumped in the pool naked  ( except josh bc he’s lame )  after frankie and miles’ bet about who could hold their breath longest, resulting in most of them having to streak. they’re talking about where frankie ran off to, assuming miles, and then discussing miles and frankie together & separately.

JOSH

"he's into you too," he tells marcus, with a nod. "i told him you weren't really interested in guys though, sorry." that's not exactly what he said, but maybe he's trying to push some buttons, see how badly marcus wants it.

MARCUS

marcus can't blame miles for being into him, he's a catch. but josh's statement has him frowning. " just cause i'm not into you doesn't mean i'm not into guys, josh. " he snorts, shaking his head.

JOSH

"sorry, i had no idea. i haven't seen you with any of the ones here, so..." it doesn't bother him, because he finds this all pretty funny.

MARCUS

" i mean, i was with romi from day one so... " not so much a flex anymore but, his point still stands. " i don't think miles thinks i'm straight though, so, it's all good. " god forbid anyone think he's straight.

JOSH

"and obsessed with naomi the rest of the time," he shrugs, filling in the blanks that aren't there. deanna's choosing violence today apparently. "but yeah, you'll be fine."

MALI

she resurfaces for air, brushing her hair off her face, catching josh’s snide remark. “woah there,” she laughs, blinking at the two of them before glancing over at val.

MARCUS

okay... not where he expected this to go at all. " don't know what you mean by that but okay ... " he pulls a face, brows knitting together.

JOSH

"i don't mean anything," he shrugs.  "you were with romi from day one, but you kissed naomi a few days ago, so clearly you've had a thing for her for a while there. and then you only mentioned girls yesterday when we were talking about grafting, so."

VALERIE

“well you were all over naomi the other day too, weren’t you?”

MARCUS

marcus didn't actually know that josh knew about his ' kiss ' with naomi, so he does suddenly feel a flush at his cheeks, an uncomfortableness in his stomach. " naomi and i are friends. " he clarifies, this sudden shift making the water feel cold against his skin. " and that's 'cause i'm not into any of the guys... miles is a new guy, that's different. " his brows raise, interested to know what val means by her statement.

JOSH

"yeah," he says, voice growing a little cold, "you two are friends. got it." as if that couldn't be any clearer. josh glances over at val, rolling his eyes a little. as if she didn't have her chance to talk about this earlier, but... "we weren't all over each other," he says, "but we had a moment, yeah." he wants to say more to marcus, but this isn't exactly the crowd for it.

MALI

she sighs, a little annoyed she didn’t catch that herself when she glanced at valerie, smiling lazily at marcus. “he did say he likes trouble.”

MARCUS

" so... what, you ditch naomi for jenny, and now naomi's got dylan you suddenly want her back ? yeah, sounds like trouble to me. "

JOSH

"i never ditched naomi," josh scoffs, lifting himself up to sit at the edge of the pool. he needs to be the one on higher ground. "i basically begged for her back after lying to her about jenny, but she ditched me for dylan. it's not like how you randomly dumped romi after her prick of an ex made you feel bad."

VALERIE

she floats toward marcus, hands resting against his shoulders, massaging them a bit.

MALI

oh. drama. “maybe this is a conversation better had on dry land?” she suggests, more to josh than to marcus — what had he done wrong?

MARCUS

" well, i can't blame naomi for wanting out. " he says simply, 'cause josh shouldn't have done anything with jenny but oh well. he gives josh a look like really? once he brings up the romi stuff, rolling his eyes. he is grateful for valerie, if only to feel like someone's in his corner.  " i dumped romi 'cause they fucked maddox without a second thought about me. " he scoffs. " you know full well before that how much i was into her so don't act like i'm the one out of line here. "

JOSH

"alright, well fuck you too, man." josh rolls his eyes. so much for marcus being his friend, but this only basically confirms what he already knew. "you took a break with her because the dejan stuff got too hard. as if she hadn't spent the night crying outside because of that prick. she needed you, and you left her to immediately kiss naomi. i don't even like maddox, and nobody can blame her for doing that. you should be embarrassed by that, dude. i'm embarrassed by what i did to naomi, but i tried to make that right. i'm still trying," he adds. "but romi rather kiss me than naomi wants to kiss you, so... maybe i'm doing something right after all."

MARCUS

" we took a break 'cause neither of us signed up for dejan's shit. she decided to fuck maddox, and i kissed naomi— that was after. " and he doesn't think he'd ever even try it with naomi had romi not fucked maddox in front of him. he is embarrassed by that whole party, from maddox to naomi and everything in between, but he barely has time to linger on it before a scoff escapes him, eyes fixed on josh in disbelief. " romi kissed you ? " he'd like to not be surprised by it. after all, he expected it to happen ages ago, but he can't quite wrap his head around it all of a sudden now it's presented as a fact.

JOSH

“no, because you didn't sign up for it," he argues. "what, you decide you had too much of dejan, so you asked for a break? you think romi could just take a break from her shitty ex being here? you were just looking out for yourself," he fires back, getting heated now. he doesn't realize how much of this he was holding onto. "she kissed me because i punched that guy, which yeah, i shouldn't have done maybe, but it's far more than you ever did. you're supposed to fight for the people you care about. but it doesn't really seem like you cared that much to begin with. you certainly don't give a shit about our friendship, so, y'know. i just hope trying to shoot your shot with naomi was worth it."

MALI

now she does swim over to josh, touching his arm gently. “this is all really emotionally healthy to get out,” she says softly, “but i think you should take a breather, love. clear your head.” it’s clear he’s upset.

MARCUS

maybe he's getting so pressed because he knows in a way josh is right. he didn't really step up for romi like he should have, and he knows that as soon as he had doubts he was looking for a way out. it's just fucking impossible to do that on this stupid ass show without breaking things off.  he's not losing his cool with josh in a stupid fucking pool while butt naked, and really... he doesn't even know what he can say in response. he's lost and hurt and frankly tired of it all. " you know what ? fuck you, man. i'm done. " he shakes his head. " sorry, " marcus' voice turns soft for valerie, his hands reaching to find hers and gently moving them from his shoulders so he can jump out of the pool. he doesn't care that his dick is out or his arse, he just heads inside the villa to go anywhere away from josh.

JOSH

mali tries to gently get him to leave, but josh is pleased to see that marcus does it first, butt naked and angry. maybe he should feel bad, and a part of him kind of does... but the rest of him is a little smug, unable to wipe a small smirk off his lips. good. let marcus feel shitty for once. it's about fucking time. only when his bare naked is out of his view does he look at mali, finally feeling something different than that smugness. "sorry," he smiles sheepishly, not really sure what to say. "that was... a long time coming. i shouldn't have done it here, though." he takes a deep breath. "want me to grab you a towel?" he offers. save her some modesty.