The three of them had made their way to John's apartment. John angrily dragged Mark behind him. David followed the two, giggling. They took the underground and tram for about 20 minutes before they arrived in front of John's apartment block. Mark strolled behind his soul mate, his eyes fixed on the ground. Every now and then he stopped to spit blood on the ground. David grimaced a little when he saw that. Soon they arrived at John's apartment.

"I'll go again then, okay?" Asked David, who was still standing at the door. John turned around and looked at him sadly.

"Yes." He hugged David. "Thank you for calling me."

"No big deal." Grinned the youngest man in the room. "See you tomorrow." With that, he left the apartment again and closed the door behind him. Mark stood silently in the room.

"Don't stand there and look like someone threw a bucket of cold water over your head." John scolded and took off his shoes. He walked to the door of his bedroom, stopped and pointed his index finger at him threateningly. "And don't even think that you're sleeping in my bed tonight! The couch is enough for you!" With that, he went into the room. Mark lowered his head to look at the floor. "And don't think that I won't be mad at you tomorrow, damn it!" John shouted from the bedroom. The guitarist sighed. He had only wanted to teach Keller a lesson. Nobody would embarrass his soul mate like that in public! Mark was firmly convinced that he had done the right thing.

*

When John woke up, it was 4 p.m. in the afternoon. Since they hadn't gotten home until 8 a.m., he had immediately got into bed and gone to sleep. The bassist stretched across his bed, yawning, before suddenly hearing a strange noise. He was immediately wide awake and sat up in bed. Strange, that sounded like... John jumped out of bed in shock and stormed into the bathroom. He didn't like what he found there. Mark was sitting on the edge of the bathtub in just his pants and had thrown up in a bucket. There were lots of cotton balls and disinfectant around him. There was also a needle and thread and a pair of scissors. The bassist's eyes widened when he saw Mark's upper body. There wasn't a square inch that wasn't swollen. There were bruises and contusions all over his upper body.

"What the hell were you thinking!? He's much taller and stronger than you!" He shouted angrily. Mark weakly lifted his head out of the bucket. His hair was dishevelled. His left eye was bruised and swollen shut, his right eye just looked tired. "Damn it, Mark!" The bassist took the bucket away from him and put it to the side. "Why don't you think before you act?" Mark remained silent and dabbed the wound on his thigh with a cotton ball. "Give me that!" John shouted, still a little angry, and ripped the cotton ball out of his hand. He dabbed the wound with disinfectant and noticed that it was so deep that it was bleeding again. John took the thread, cut some of it and began to stitch the wound. Mark bit his lower lip hard and held on to the edge of the porcelain bathtub.

"That hurts!" He moaned as the bassist pulled the thread tight.

"Don't fuck with me." John threatened, raising his index finger. "It's absolutely your own fault that you're in this state." Mark grumbled a little and turned his head to the side. John took his chin in his hand and turned his head. "Shit, how can you be so stupid!?" John exclaimed angrily. He dabbed the blood from Mark's skin and stuck a cotton ball in his nose as more blood came out. Mark remained silent. John washed Mark's face and then combed his hair. The blond man screamed as John opened a wound with the comb and blood ran down his neck. "Damn it! Stop whining!" John shouted angrily and dabbed the blood away before brushing Mark's hair to the side and sticking a bandage on it. "What were you thinking, Mark!?" Mark winced as John started screaming again. "You should have talked to me about it! Damn it, we're not two people anymore, we're one! We belong together! If you have such stupid ideas, I expect you to tell me about them before you put them into action!" Mark raised his head a little angrily himself.

"John, you've been yelling at me since you got me out of the police station, but you never asked me why I did it!"

"What am I supposed to ask you!? I know you beat up Keller because you were mad at him! He said something about me and..."

"He made you look like a slut!" Mark shouted angrily and got up from the tub. His body trembled a little in pain. John looked at him with his mouth open. "He told the world that you were a slut who would sleep with any man who came along! That you would let anyone fuck you who came your way!" Tears formed in Mark's good eye. "You're my soul mate, what did you expect me to do!? Sit at home and let this happen to you!?"

"He insulted me, not you." John said a little more calmly.

"You just said it! We belong together! And if he insults you, he insults me too! Damn it, John! What did you expect!?" The bassist bit his lip. Mark hobbled into the living room and fell onto the sofa. John stood silently in the doorway, folding his arms in front of his chest.

"He really said that about me?" He asked quietly. Mark raised his head and looked at him. "I didn't think he...that he said something like that, I..."

"Damn it, do you think I'm stupid enough to get myself thrown in jail over something small?" Mark growled angrily. "I saw the interview and I spoke to the media. They took everything back and reported him for fraud. When that was done, I went and looked for him."

"That's why you didn't want to go to the park." John whispered, putting the missing pieces of the puzzle together.

*

One day before 11:33 p.m.

Mark Knopfler was on his way to a pub called: The Dancing Pony. He was angry. Hell he was going to tear that damn bum in two. The guitarist entered the pub and looked around before he saw the tall, black-haired man sitting at the bar.

"Hey, asshole!" He shouted. The crowd suddenly went quiet, even the radio was turned down and it was pretty quiet in the bar. Keller turned his head and looked at the slimmer and smaller man.

"Ah, there you are, Knopfler. I expected you to have no balls."

"My balls are none of your business." Mark growled.

"Ah. No, they're only the little slut Illsley's business. I bet he's sucked them a few times in the last few days, am I right?" Mark gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"John is not a slut. Your mother is!" A few people in the bar laughed, but immediately fell silent when the tall black-haired man angrily got up from his bar stool. Mark glared at him. "You told lies about John in the press and the media will report you for it. How dare you do something like that!? You're damaging John's career just because you're not his soul mate!? How dare you, damn it!?"

"Then why are you here?" Keller grinned. Mark hit him in the face so hard that the older man fell backwards between the bar stools, knocking them all over. A murmur went through the bar and people made room for the two of them.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget for the rest of your life, you son of a bloody bitch!" Mark shouted angrily and threw his jacket to the side.

*

Back in John's apartment

"So you...you were just defending me?" John asked quietly.

"Damn, what did you expect, John?" Mark raised his head and had to turn it a little because he couldn't see John, who was now sitting next to him, with his swollen eye. "I won't let this scum portray my soul mate as a bitch." Mark sighed quietly and took a deep breath before saying three words that made John's heart stop: "I love you." The room was dead silent. Mark had bent forward on his knees and was wringing his hands awkwardly.

"You... you love me?" John asked quietly when he was finally able to breathe again. He hadn't even noticed that he had stopped breathing until he was drawing oxygen into his lungs. Mark lifted his head and smiled crookedly at him.

"Of course, you idiot." He said softly. "I... I was just always hesitant to say it, I... I didn't know how I would handle it." Mark took a deep breath. "You know... before, when I did stupid things... I absolutely didn't care what would happen. What would happen to me. That's why I got into fights and got into trouble so often. I absolutely didn't care what would happen to me. But now... now it's not like that anymore. I don't just have to take care of myself, I have to take care of you too." Mark smiled weakly at him. He raised his hand and rubbed his swollen eye. "It doesn't matter what happens to me anymore. I was afraid to say those three words because they bring out the feelings I've been trying to hide for 15 years. I've...I've been telling myself for 15 years that you're just my buddy. I just didn't want to say those words. I don't know..." John stopped his rambling by pulling him into a firm kiss. Mark moaned weakly as John pulled him close, pressing their lips together so hard that their teeth clashed. As they pulled apart, John pulled the younger man gently to his chest.

"I love you, you idiot. I know you have trouble showing your feelings. And I'm sorry I was so angry with you, I...I was just worried and when I had to pick you up from jail...shit I was just devastated. I was scared for you and I guess the fear came out in form of anger." Mark nodded silently. "I love you, Mark. But you still shouldn't have done all that. You should have ignored Keller." Mark grinned a little, his swollen lip hurting.

"Keller will never get in our way again." John started to laugh.

"The policewoman read me the list of his injuries. Damn, you destroyed him." Mark laughed. John pulled him into another gentle kiss, careful not to squeeze Mark's upper body too much so as not to hurt him.