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“Shouldn’t you be packing?” Mark asked his flat mate who was currently lying on the couch with his face buried into the cushions.
“Yep,” Jackson answered, voice coming out muffled.
“Aren’t you going to?”
“Nope.” Maybe he would just fly to Hong Kong without any luggage. He’d survive. Packing meant getting up, and he was definitely not up for that.
Jackson could hear Mark sigh deeply – and very obviously exaggeratedly, no one sighed that loud – before the couch next to his head sank in a bit.
“You wanna talk about it?” his best friend asked, amusement shining through in his voice.
“Nope,” Jackson repeated, though he turned his head to the side a bit. He did need some air to live, after all.
“That’s too bad, because Bambam’s going to be over in a bit, and you know he won’t let you off that easily. Sure you don’t want to talk to me first? You won’t be able to keep your mouth shut, anyway.”
“Try me.” No way in hell was Jackson going to tell those two hyenas about his problem. Especially not both of them together. If it had been just Mark – maybe. Very big maybe, because as quiet and reserved as the elder seemed to strangers, he could be just as annoying and pushy as the youngest member of the AmeriThaiKong trio – named by Bambam.
“Have it your way,” Mark answered, yawning, and got up. “I’m going to throw some random clothes into your suitcase, alright? I don’t think your mom would be pleased about you walking around in the same clothes for two weeks.”
“Whatever.” Jackson mumbled, closing his eyes. He could basically see Mark shaking his head at him but he chose to ignore him and save his strength for the hurricane to come.
Said hurricane destroyed their living room only twenty minutes later, bursting through the door and flinging himself onto Jackson’s unsuspecting back from a dead run. While Jackson was still busy fighting for air, their younger friend pushed him off the couch.
“What the hell, Bam?” Jackson growled, sitting up and giving the boy a death glare while rubbing at the skin on his hip which would surely sport some bruises tomorrow. He was lucky the younger hadn’t broken his back with this stunt.
Bambam only grinned in response, making himself comfortable on Mark’s and Jackson’s couch. “Mark said you had a problem. Spill.”
“Mark probably also mentioned I don’t want to talk about it,” Jackson grumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His resolve to, for once, not tell them about his secrets was still going strong. He would never hear the end of it if he did.
“Oh come on,” Bambam whined. “You know you’re going to tell us eventually anyway. Why not make it easier for all of us? I promise to keep my mocking to a minimum. I’ll even come up with a plan to help you. And my plans always work, you know that.”
Jackson raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Right. Always. I could start telling tales about your grand failed plans now and we’d still be sitting here tomorrow.”
Bambam rolled his eyes at him. “That’s just because there are so many of them. If you would start talking about my grand successful plans, we’d still be sitting here next year!”
“Which is the day after tomorrow, Bam,” Mark remarked, an amused smile on his lips. He sat down next to their younger friend, pulling his feet onto the couch. “Started talking yet, Jacks?”
“Nope, and not going to,” Jackson answered, expanding his glare to take in both of them. “You would laugh at me, and then proceed to thoroughly embarrass me with some stupid idea you come up with. And have the fun of your life while you dance on the broken pieces of my pride.”
“That bad, huh?” Mark asked, the smirk still visible. “You really think it was a smart idea to tell us that? Bam’s never going to leave it alone now.”
Jackson groaned. He had half a mind to just make a run for it – he only needed to grab his purse from the kitchen table and then he’d be back in two weeks and they would hopefully have forgotten about it – until he noticed Bambam hadn’t said anything in almost two minutes.
That was not a good sign. Quiet Bambam meant thinking Bambam, and thinking Bambam was way more dangerous than obnoxiously loud Bambam.
Indeed, when he finally returned his attention to his younger friend, he found him staring at him suspiciously.
“If you’re so scared we’re going to embarrass you, there has to be someone you don’t want to be embarrassed in front of,” Bambam observed.
Fuck. “Yeah. The whole damn human race,” Jackson tried to save the situation with sarcasm.
Bambam ignored him. “Which means there’s someone special.”
Mark’s eyes widened a bit, the smile falling from his face. “Jackson! Are you dating someone? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“No, I’m not!” Jackson protested but his voice jumped a few notes higher.
A fact Bambam didn’t fail to notice. “Not dating? A crush, then? Who?” he pressed on relentlessly.
“You don’t know him,” Jackson tried again, licking his lips nervously.
Mark narrowed his eyes at him. “You’re lying. You really need to work on your nervous habits.”
Bambam began to jump up and down on the couch excitedly. Jackson was getting really scared of him. “So it’s one of our friends? Wait, you’re not crushing on Mark or me, are you?”
“No!” Jackson protested. “You’re getting really absurd, Bam.”
A few seconds of silence fell over them. Jackson could see them both mentally going through a list of their mutual friends, crossing off names.
Bambam quirked an eyebrow at him. “Jaebum?” he guessed.
Jackson shook his head. “I never admitted to crushing on anyone,” he protested weakly.
“Jinyoung?” Mark asked.
Jackson flinched.
Bambam burst out laughing. “Jinyoung! Really? How did that happen? If you were ever to fall for one of us, my bet would have been on Mark or Jaebum.”
The blonde on the floor blinked, momentarily distracted. “What? Why?”
The Thai shrugged. “You have the tendency to turn into a puppy whenever you’re around Jaebum. And Mark… Well, he’s Mark,” he said as if that explained it all.
Jackson scrunched up his face in disgust. “Sheesh, no way. Jaebum is straight, I know better than that. And Mark… Umm. Mark.” He stared at the elder, slightly tilting his head. “Sorry, dude, you know I love you, but not like that.”
Mark gave him a tiny smile. “It’s okay.”
Bam looked at the eldest of the group thoughtfully before turning back to Jackson. “But why Jinyoung? You two go at each other’s throats every time you are alone together!”
Jackson felt like crying. “I don’t know!” he whined. “It just happened! It’s just that… He’s so… He makes me mad, okay? But the way he stands up to me, it’s… kinda hot.” The last few words came out as a mumble.
For a few moments, they were all quiet. Then Bambam started laughing again, shaking so uncontrollably he nearly fell off the couch. Only Mark’s quick hand on his shoulder kept him from greeting the floor face first.
Jackson would have let him fall.
“Come on, Bam, knock it off,” the elder murmured, though his lips were twitching as well.
Jackson hated both of them. “Great,” he growled. “Now that we have all had a good hearty laugh at my expense, can we drop it? I need to start packing.” He got to his feet, aiming to just walk out on them and save the last of his bruised pride.
“Wait, not so fast,” Bambam wheezed, grabbing his wrist. “As if I’d just let you go after that!”
Jackson looked down at his friend in dread. “My suitcase…”
“Is already packed,” Mark finished, his eyes glittering. “I did that for you, remember?”
“But…” Jackson was desperately looking for a way to escape. “Maybe you forgot something! I should check it. And then I need to get going anyway, don’t want to miss my flight, right?” He pried Bambam’s hand off his wrist and practically fled the room.
“That’s not going to save you, Jackson!” Bambam yelled after him. “You’re only gone for two weeks. We’re going to have the perfect plan ready by then!
Exactly fifteen days, two hours and twenty-seven minutes later, Jackson left the airport, dragging his suitcase behind him. He blinked, turned on his heel and tried to reenter the building when he found himself faced with his two best friends, one of them with a big, scary grin on his face, the other smirking slightly.
“Okay, rude,” Bambam commented to his back. “And that after we went through the trouble of coming here because we missed you so much.”
Jackson sighed and stopped, turning slowly with dread pooling in his stomach. “Don’t lie. You were just bored and decided it would be fun to ruin my life.”
Bambam thought about that for a moment, tilting his head slightly, before he shrugged. “Maybe that, too. But,” he added, lunging forward to grab Jackson’s arm when the blonde tried to escape again, “we really want to help you. We have a plan. It’s going to be awesome. Spectacular, even.”
“Of course you do,” Jackson mumbled in defeat but didn’t resist when Bam dragged him back to where Mark was waiting.
“Hey,” the older boy greeted him, obviously trying hard to suppress a laugh, and moved to hug the shorter boy. “How was your trip home?”
Jackson stared at his housemate accusingly but returned the hug anyway, dragging it out a bit longer than necessary because he enjoyed the warmth of the slightly taller boy. “You know, when I first met you, I thought you were a nice, calm, and sensible person, not the type to go along with whatever bullshit this idiot proposes.”
Mark just grinned and shrugged, grabbing the handle of Jackson’s suitcase. “Sorry to disappoint, then. Let’s get you home, shall we?”
“No. No way.” Jackson was sitting on the floor of their living room – again – staring up at Mark and Bambam who were sitting on the couch – again – and shaking his head furiously. “Never going to happen.”
Mark was sitting cross-legged, leaning back against the cushions and content with letting Bambam do all the talking.
The younger whined. “Why not? It’s perfect! I’m about 92.5 percent sure it’s going to work!”
“No, it’s not!” Jackson couldn’t believe it. Of all the idiotic ideas Bambam could have come up with, he hadn’t expected this. It wasn’t even creative. “Pretending to date Mark to make Jinyoung jealous? That kind of stuff only works in stupid romance movies meant for thirteen years old delusional girls!”
“And that is where you’re wrong,” Bambam answered, holding up a finger and wagging it in front of Jackson’s nose. “If it were one of those movies, you’d end up falling for Mark instead and you would be disgustingly in love for the rest of your lives. After the compulsory misunderstandings, heartbreaks and some random race against time that no one understands the purpose of, of course.”
Jackson just stared. He had the ridiculous urge to take the younger’s finger which was located about five inches from his face and stuff it into Bam’s nose. Or Mark’s, since he seemed to be on board with this ridiculous plan, Jackson really wasn’t that picky. “Do you even hear yourself?”
“Oh come on, Jackson!” Bambam pouted at him. Damn the boy for being so adorable. “What do you have to lose?”
Jackson raised one eyebrow and sat up straighter, ticking his points off on his fingers. “My pride, sanity, self-respect, friendship to Jinyoung-”
“Now you’re just being ridiculous,” Bambam cut in. “Are you that afraid of falling for Mark?”
Jackson’s mouth dropped open. “What? No!” Distractedly he wondered why his heartbeat seemed to pick up its tempo but maybe that was only because his best friends were trying to ruin his life.
“Aww, I’m hurt,” Mark said, grabbing his chest dramatically. “You could have at least hesitated a bit, you know?”
“Jackson,” Bambam whined. “It’s going to work.”
“I really want to high-five you guys. With a chair. In your face.” Jackson buried his face in his hands, the perfect picture of despair.
Bam made an offended noise.
“Put in a little more effort, Jackson,” Mark teased. “You’re usually more creative with your comebacks.”
“Fine.” Jackson growled into his hands, sound coming through muffled. “I really want to hug you guys. With a straightjacket. Better?”
“A bit. Five out of ten, I’d say.” Mark sounded highly amused.
Jackson glared at him. “Why are you okay with this, anyway?”
Mark shrugged. “Dunno. Seems like fun.”
Jackson hated himself. No, scratch that, he hated Bambam. And maybe Mark because his housemate had laughed at him when he had finally crumbled after being confronted with Bambam’s pout and ridiculously adorable huge eyes.
So now they were standing in front of Jaebum’s apartment for his late birthday get-together and as soon as that door opened, Jackson and Mark would be a couple. Well, at least pretending to be. Jinyoung was going to be there. Jackson wanted to run and hide.
“Lighten up,” Mark whispered while Bambam rang the doorbell. “You’re not convincing anyone if you look like a deer in the headlights and jump every time I look at you.”
“I am not a deer!” Jackson hissed back. “And please remember that I don’t even want to do this.”
“You agreed already; might as well go through with it, don’t you think?” Mark asked with a grin and wrapped his arm around Jackson’s waist when the door opened. Jackson’s stomach did a funny twist.
“Happy birthday!” they chorused brightly, although Jackson’s smile was a bit forced.
“Though it’s kinda late,” Bambam added, giving their friend a hug before slipping by to greet the rest of their small group.
Mark stepped forward, pulling a very reluctant Jackson with him. “Happy birthday,” he said, smiling. “Well, actually we have seen each other since your birthday, but who cares.” He handed a bag of snacks to the birthday boy since he had threatened to lock them out if they dared to bring gifts.
Jaebum grinned. “Thanks.”
“Happy birthday!” Jackson parroted, gladly using the excuse to break away from Mark, because he wasn’t sure his heart would be able to handle it if Mark kept his arm around him any longer, and hug the older boy. “Sorry I couldn’t be here for the actual day.” As soon as he stepped back, Mark linked their fingers. Jackson’s heart almost jumped out of his chest.
“Thanks,” Jaebum repeated, raising an eyebrow when he noticed their hands. “Come in.” He stepped back, giving them a last glance, and left them to find their way on their own.
“Breathe,” Mark whispered while stepping out of his shoes. “If you hold your breath any longer, you’re going to faint.”
“Maybe that was the idea,” Jackson grumbled. “This is going to be a disaster.”
Mark just grinned and wriggled his fingers in front of Jackson’s face. “Come on, darling, there’s someone just waiting to be jealous.”
For a moment, the younger contemplated punching Mark in the face and leaving, but then he just sighed and laced their fingers together, trying to ignore the soft, warm tingling in his stomach.
The elder smiled at him.
Someone – Jaebum or Bambam – seemed to have warned the others, because when they stepped into the living room of Jaebum’s apartment, all talking ceased and everyone stared at them in silence.
Jackson tried not to look at anyone, especially not Jinyoung, while Mark pulled them forward and greeted the others cheerfully.
“So, is that official?” Yugyeom asked, pointing at their hands.
Jackson wanted to disappear.
Mark flashed him a grin. “Yeah,” he answered, shrugging, and flopped down on the couch.
Jackson took a quick glance around the room, noticing that the couch was full and the only other free spot was an armchair – not next to Mark. His eyes lit up but just when he tried to let go of Mark’s hand, the other gave it a quick, forceful tug, and suddenly Jackson found himself sitting. In Mark’s lap.
He flushed a scarlet red, eyes wide, and found himself directly staring into Jinyoung’s eyes.
The younger looked surprised and slightly amused. Not jealous. At all.
Then he felt Mark slip his arms around his waist and press a kiss to the skin of his neck, and suddenly he couldn’t concentrate on anything but the loud pounding of his heart.
Youngjae and Bambam burst into synchronized fits of squeals and giggles. “Aren’t you adorable?” Youngjae was grinning from one ear to the next.
“No, we’re-” Jackson began but was interrupted by Mark.
“Thanks, Youngjae.”
Jackson could hear the grin in the elder’s voice.
“Well, I’m not surprised,” Yugyeom announced. “I’ve been waiting for you two to start dating since I knew what dating meant.”
Bambam snorted and rolled his eyes at the youngest of the group. “Yeah. As if.”
“No, I agree,” Jinyoung threw in, smiling sincerely at the two guys. “I think it’s been obvious they like each other for years. Congratulations on finally making it.”
Ouch. Jackson looked down on his hands, for once unable to think of a comment, and tried to ignore the way his heart contracted.
He’d called it. This had been a stupid idea. An extremely stupid idea.
But then there was Mark’s breath on his ear and almost inaudible words whispered to him. “Relax, Jackson.”
A moment later, Jackson forgot all about stupid plans and aching hearts because Mark began to draw tiny circles on his thigh and how was he supposed to concentrate through that?
A few more minutes of teasing the newfound couple followed before the others got bored with it, mainly because Jackson was barely answering. Instead, their friends could watch the blonde slowly melt into the slightly taller boy, relaxing against him until he sat sideways on Mark’s lap, leaning against his chest, his head resting in the crook of Mark’s neck. The elder wore a very self-satisfied smirk which Jackson, of course, couldn’t see.
To be precise, Jackson didn’t notice much in general. At some point, Mark’s fingers had slipped under the hem of his shirt, tracing patterns on the skin of his hip, and that turned out to be very distracting. He didn’t even notice Yugyeom and Youngjae giggling at him until Jaebum hit them over the head and told them to come and help him get drinks for everyone.
Bambam tagged along, nagging about how he wanted chocolate which left only Mark, Jackson, and Jinyoung in the room.
“So…” Jinyoung’s voice broke the silence. “How long have you two been together?”
Jackson blinked and sat up a little straighter.
“Oh, only since Jackson got back from Hong Kong, right, Jacks?” Mark answered easily. “We would have told you otherwise.”
“Yeah,” Jackson replied uncomfortably, using the opportunity to slip down from Mark’s lap, sitting next to him on the couch instead. He didn’t look at Jinyoung.
“That’s nice,” Jinyoung said with genuine warmth. “I’m happy for you.”
“Yeah,” Jackson whispered, fingering the hem of his shirt with little, nervous motions.
That was, until he felt a warm finger under his chin, turning his head to face Mark.
There was a little spark in the elder’s dark eyes and a small smile on his lips. “Yeah,” he said. “We’re happy, too.” With that, he leaned forward.
Jackson’s eyes widened. That was going too far. That hadn’t been part of the deal. It hadn’t worked, anyway, Jinyoung was about as jealous of them as the plant in his room.
He should put a stop to this, he should – but he couldn’t move, and a moment later, there were soft, warm lips on his, and his eyes fluttered shut.
Had Mark’s little touches before been distracting, he now forgot everything around him. He forgot that his other friends would be back any minute. He forgot that Jinyoung, the guy he’d been crushing on for three months, was in the room and watching them. He forgot that the boy he was kissing was actually his best friend. Or maybe he just didn’t care.
The kiss stayed soft and sweet, their lips barely brushing against each other, before Mark pulled back. “Yeah,” he breathed. “We’re happy.”
“Oh, get a room,” Bambam snorted, plopping down on the couch on Jackson’s other side, an open bottle of beer in one hand and a bar of his favorite chocolate in the other. “We all know you’re in your honeymoon phase but that doesn’t mean you have to rub it in for all the single people in the room.”
Jackson blushed and turned to glare at the younger.
Bambam winked at him.
“I think it’s cute,” Youngjae announced, handing a beer to Jackson while Mark got one from Jaebum.
“Well, you’re a sappy romantic,” Bambam mumbled under his breath.
“Says the guy that cries every time he watches ‘The Notebook’,” Jackson mocked, grinning at Bam’s mortally offended expression.
“Excuse me, that’s a classic and I happen to have feelings, too!”
Mark chuckled lightly, tracing over the inside of Jackson’s wrist with the fingers of his free hand.
Jackson bit his lip and tried not to shiver.
“Let’s toast to Jaebum, how about it?” Jinyoung stepped in, an amused tinge to his voice.
“Yeah, to Jaebum!” Yugyeom shouted, and they all raised their bottles.
After that, their conversation found different topics, and if Mark leaned over every few minutes for a short kiss, Jackson found himself minding it less and less with every kiss, hour and beer. It didn’t even matter to him that Jinyoung was still in the same room, still smiling, and still indifferent.
Had someone asked him how and when he had ended up straddling Mark on the couch, kissing his neck, he wouldn’t have been able to answer.
Their group had broken up into several smaller conversations, Bambam talking to the birthday boy, Jinyoung to Yugyeom who had a softly snoring Youngjae leaning against his shoulder. The general atmosphere was subdued, warm, and lazy.
Jackson had a happy buzz going for him, his thoughts were slow and Mark’s body felt good against his. It should have felt awkward, it should have felt wrong, but it felt just right.
Mark’s hand was caressing his neck lightly and it sent shivers down Jackson’s back. “Jackson,” he whispered fondly. “What are you doing? Jinyoung isn’t even watching.”
“I know,” Jackson murmured, straightening up. “I don’t care.” Biting his lip, he brushed a few strands of hair out of Mark’s face before he leaned forward to capture the older boy’s lips in another kiss, the first one initiated by him.
Mark certainly didn’t mind, and neither of them cared about Bambam shrieking his characteristic “Ew!” at the display.
The next morning, Jackson woke up cuddled to a warm body. A lazy smile spread on his face when he looked up at the person next to him. He was warm, relaxed and perfectly content.
“Hey, sleeping beauty,” Mark whispered with a smile. “How’s your head?”
Jackson scrunched up his nose. “I wasn’t that drunk, thank you very much.” His voice was still soft and sleepy.
“Drunk enough to make out with me, though,” Mark remarked, slightly amused.
The younger stretched and yawned. “Yeah, I may have had a realization or two about that last night. Somewhere between my second and forth beer.”
Mark’s smile grew wider, flashing a row of perfect white teeth. “And which realization would that be?”
Jackson shifted a bit, leaning closer until there were only inches between their faces. His voice was soft. “The first one was that I don’t care about Jinyoung when I’m with you.”
“So?”
“I have a much bigger crush on you than I ever had on Jinyoung.” Their lips were almost touching, Mark’s breath stroking over Jackson’s skin.
“And?”
“I think I’m in love with my best friend.” Jackson was only whispering at that point, staring into Mark’s warm, dark eyes.
Their lips brushed against each other before Mark closed the distance completely, holding Jackson by the back of his head to keep him close.
Jackson moved his lips slightly, a warm, tingling feeling spreading from his stomach to his fingertips, making him wonder how he hadn’t realized all of this much earlier.
At some point, Mark broke the kiss, leaning their foreheads against each other. “I think Bambam may be a genius after all,” he said softly.
“It worked, it worked!” Bambam was basically dancing through the room. “Bow to me, worship me!”
Jackson groaned. “Next time, just tell me you like me, alright?”
Mark smirked. “But it was so much more fun this way.”