Chapter Text
If someone asks Jaebum what in the hell he's thinking attending some big shot party at some big shot campus he's practically just moved into, he’ll probably laugh himself to death—100% satisfied with the life he’s lived and with absolutely no regrets given.
In fact, he makes a mental note to thank his past self for whatever good deed he’s done for the world to reward him with the hottest guy on earth on his lap, and as of the moment, attached to his lips. Honestly he’s having some kind of out of body experience here.
Jackson makes a little noise, leaning back to breathe, but Jaebum apparently has tanks for lungs and doesn't feel the same need, so he tilts his head forward, chasing after another kiss.
“Hold on.” Jackson places a finger between them, blushed lips tilted into a soft smirk. He glances up for a short second before returning to Jaebum. The bass of the song playing in the background makes Jaebum's head throb, but Jackson's hands caress their way back atop his shoulders, the touch a soothing contrast to the distracting movement of Jackson adjusting himself his place over Jaebum's lap.
Jaebum breathes out, hands tightening over slim hips.
Jackson has the audacity to laugh. He also has the audacity to raise his eyebrows as if daring Jaebum to do something about it.
So he takes Jackson’s lips into a hard kiss, swallowing the gasp that follows as Jaebum’s hands pull closer, closer—until Jackson’s knees hit the dip between the back of the couch and the cushion they occupy. Jaebum pushes roughly into the kiss, using one hand to steady the back of Jackson’s head while his free one lowers towards a strong thigh, fingertips steadily trailing down.
Jackson wraps one arm firmly around his shoulders, the other sliding down to rest on his chest… his stomach… his belt…
Then he reaches behind himself to pull Jaebum’s wandering hand back up on his waist.
Jackson pulls away again, this time with a breathy chuckle. “That’s hot, but I’m not really into giving everyone here more of a show than they’ve already seen,” he slurs out, slumping forward onto Jaebum.
Dazed and still more than a little intoxicated, Jaebum runs a hand through soft, blond locks and presses little kisses on Jackson’s neck. To Jaebum's fond amusement, Jackson squirms at the feeling, ticklish and giggly.
“Wanna get out of here?” He delivers the line terribly. All slur-sloppy instead of awesome-cool.
It does get a laugh from Jackson though so he’s not entirely displeased. “Are you trying to take advantage of a drunk person, Mr. Im?”
Jaebum snorts. “Hey, I could be the one who’s drunk here.” He glances down at Jackson, brows furrowed playfully. “Are you trying to take advantage of a drunk person, Mr. Wang?”
“But I’m not the one who said the sleazy line!” Jackson protests, going cross-eyed as he brings their faces closer while maintaining eye contact.
“Okay, we’re both drunk,” Jaebum says, leaving a peck on Jackson’s nose before they're rudely pulled apart by one bitter and single Park Jinyoung.
“Why hello there, pair of lovers!” Jinyoung lifts Jackson off of Jaebum and onto the opposite end of the couch, plopping down in the space between them. “Was I interrupting something?” His voice is obnoxiously loud but Jaebum doesn't mind it this time because it actually helps his cause.
Speaking of, Jaebum discreetly—or as discreetly as a sloshed human being can get, meaning he knocks onto the end table beside him and spills beer all over the carpet behind the couch—turns around to sneak a peek to where Minah has been sitting and chatting with her friends.
And all the satisfaction in the world holds no candle over the utter victory Jaebum feels as he sees the obvious contempt colouring the girl’s features, her eyes set ablaze on the couch where Jaebum's pretending to flop around and help clean the beer-stained carpet.
This is it. No one can convince him otherwise—attending some big shot party at some big shot campus and making out with the hottest guy around?
Best decision ever.
<< 2 days ago >>
“Man, you gotta stop moping.” Jinyoung shoves a handful of popcorn in his mouth, eyes not moving from the TV screen. “Preferably sometime in this century.”
“I’m not.” He is. But Jaebum isn’t about to admit that to his best friend-slash-arch nemesis.
“Jaebum, we are watching Mean Girls for the fourth time this week,” Jinyoung says, finally peeling his attention off the annoyingly addicting film to match his tone with a look. Jinyoung lingers for a dramatic pause as if Jaebum's supposed to give him a reaction. “You’ve only been here for five days.”
Jaebum scowls, biting into his popsicle with much more anger than it deserves. He assumes the only reason that huge bite doesn’t give him brain freeze is because his head, constantly hot and full of rage, has the capacity to melt down the frozen treat before it even reaches his higher functions.
“So?” he says indignantly.
“So?! I can recite almost the entire film by heart now, Jae.” Jinyoung turns, gripping onto Jaebum’s shoulder. “I can’t… can’t stop quoting it. Everytime. Everywhere. In every situation.” He shakes Jaebum a little, looking like the maniac Jaebum has always known he is. “Do you understand what you’ve done?!”
Jaebum shrugs, dumping the whole bowl of popcorn over Jinyoung's head. It's worth the loss of food to hear Jinyoung’s shriek of horror.
“There was so much butter in those! What the hell?!”
“Calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!”
Jinyoung grabs a handful of buttery popcorn and rubs them all over Jaebum’s hair. He only has a second to process the shock before Jinyoung goes for the double whammy and whips a pillow smack dab onto Jaebum’s face.
Naturally, Jaebum retaliates with two pillows and a passionate war cry.
It’s close to half an hour later when the two boys finally settle down, the bed a mess of ruffled sheets and crushed popcorn. On the screen, Regina George is screaming bloody murder and ominously writing her name in the burn book.
“Wow,” Jinyoung mutters, acting as if he hasn't seen the movie a thousand times.
“Shut up, like you wouldn’t do the same.”
“Still. What a bitch.”
“The very definition of one,” Jaebum says, rubbing at his bare wrist and suddenly, Jinyoung knows that this isn’t about Regina George anymore.
“I never liked your ex, you know.”
Jaebum scoffs out a laugh, remembering the many times Jinyoung had been passive aggressively about the relationship. “Yes, you made it very clear.”
“I was right, after all.” Jinyoung allows a hint of smugness in his tone.
“Yeah.”
“You should’ve listened. I’m always right.”
“No you’re not, but yes, I know.” Jaebum sits up, grimacing at the slippery feel of his buttery… everything. “I should’ve done a lot of stuff but hey, I thought I loved her. So...” He laughs without humour.
“Jaebum.” Jinyoung sighs, sitting up as well. “You better put this on record because god knows I’m never repeating these words ever.” He sighs again, this time heavily, as if saying nice things to Jaebum is really that hard. “I want you to get over this—get over her—not because I’m tired of accompanying you and your pitiful mopey self, but because you deserve so much better than that.”
Jaebum's so shocked by what he's hearing that all he can do is stare with his mouth open, head nodding in a silent prod for Jinyoung to go on.
Jinyoung rolls his eyes. “We’re in our dream school man! We’re supposed to be having the time of our lives! You’re only twenty and, although not as handsome as I am, you’re not ugly!”
He resists the urge to strangle Jinyoung until he’s blue in the face. They’ll see who’s handsome then.
“But anyway, I don’t want you spending what should be the most glorious days of your life hung up over some girl who wasn’t even worth your time in high school. Seriously,” Jinyoung continues, brushing popcorn bits off his arms as he stands. “Don’t do this to yourself. Meet new people, enjoy the great outdoors, hang out with me without watching this!” He waves a hand at the television. “And I’m gonna keep annoying the hell out of you until you get over this horrible slump.”
The speech is oddly touching—and by oddly, Jaebum means that he's confused, but he does feel somewhat better. Like he can finally stop stewing over it alone because Jinyoung isn’t annoyed with him, he's just annoyed by the situation. Besides, if Jinyoung thinks Jaebum isn’t ugly despite the self-imposed zombiefication after the breakup, then Jaebum must be gorgeous in his normal state.
“Jinyoung, according to the senior yearbook and our mothers, I’m more handsome that you are.”
“Are you serious? Are you actually serious?! That’s all you got from my speech?!” Jinyoung throws his tenth dramatic fit of the day, stomping off to the bathroom to clean himself. Just before the door shuts, he sticks his head out and glares at Jaebum. “By the way, it’s your turn to do the laundry. Have fun.”
After a quick shower, Jaebum's forcefully sent down to the laundry room so he can wash Jinyoung’s popcorn soiled sheets—along with their whole week’s worth of dirty clothing. Jaebum doesn’t know what Jinyoung's harping about it being Jaebum’s turn to do the laundry when he’s only been in the dorm for a week. But because Jaebum prides himself in being a Good Friend, he lugs the laundry basket down to the basement with only some minor grumbling.
The laundry room isn’t empty like he hoped, but the sight of another boy sitting atop an unloaded washing machine isn’t unwelcome either. He has eyes after all, and said eyes have just laid upon the finest human being Jaebum has seen since he stopped thinking everyone in the world had cooties.
The guy’s dyed blond hair is ruffled, just as effortless as the hoodie and sweats he's wearing, yet everything seems to be working overtime in making him look like the prettiest boy ever.
The door slams behind Jaebum, what with him being too distracted to soften the impact. The sound startles the stranger enough to make him jump, one hand going towards his chest as he stares at Jaebum with wide eyes. How adorable.
Jaebum smiles, dragging his full basket behind. The stranger lets out a little laugh, uncrossing his legs and kicking out sock-covered feet. How very adorable indeed. “Sorry, door was heavy.”
Cute guy waves him off, returning his gaze back on his DS.
And so begins Jaebum’s struggle to shove all of their laundry into one load, hoping he's brought enough change to get the machines running. Somehow along the way, he manages to tangle one of his arms with the dirty sheets that caused the impromptu laundry trip in the first place. Jaebum watches in horrified misery as the washer lid (slowly, in his eyes) tips forward, heavy metal on its way to slamming full force on top of where Jaebum’s arm is still hopelessly stuck in the sheets.
No strange, final destination worthy death occurs, however, as the friendly neighbourhood cutie is suddenly beside him, pushing the fallen lid back up. The guy then wordlessly helps Jaebum out of the tangle he’s caught himself in, raising an eyebrow once he’s unfurled enough of the sheets to free Jaebum.
“Fun night?” he asks, stepping back with poorly concealed amusement.
Jaebum has enough presence of mind to realize that the questionable stains on the sheets can be misinterpreted as something else. “More like playing with popcorn on the bed gone awry. And not even the fun kind. Thanks by the way.” He shuts the washer lid with no other repercussions.
The boy laughs, loud and high-pitched and endearing as all hell. “No problem. I’m Jackson.” Jackson unloads the clothes inside one of the dryers and replaces them with new ones from the wash—Jaebum notices that, unlike him, Jackson’s laundry is properly segregated by dark and light colours.
“Jaebum.” He dumps a questionable amount of soap in the dispenser and feeds the coins into the slot, giving him ample time to glare down at the many tiny buttons before he gives up and picks random settings. Que sera, sera.
“I haven’t seen you around before, are you a freshman?” Jackson speaks again, now back on his previous perch.
“Do I look like a freshman?” Jaebum raises an eyebrow, smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Jackson actually scans him from head to toe. “Not at all.” And then he grins, bright and almost childish. “But you are new right?”
Jaebum nods, pulling up a chair and straddling it backwards so he can face Jackson. “Sort of. The first year of my program was held overseas.” He feels like he can spend the entire wait time just watching Jackson’s fringe tumble back over his forehead every time he brushed it away.
Jackson whistles in response, thumbing at his console for a second before looking up again. “Where’d you go?”
“France.”
“Were there a lot of hot people?”
Jaebum snorts. “Not as hot as the people here. Surprisingly.”
Jackson doesn't look up, but he does scrunch his nose in disbelief. “I don’t believe you. Stop keeping the hot people a secret!”
“I’m serious!” Jaebum pauses, feeling the metaphorical light bulb go off in his head at this very opportune moment. “None of them are quite as hot as the… blonds over here.”
It’s now Jackson’s turn to snort, one hand flying up to his hair as he looks up from his game. “Yeah?” He shoots Jaebum a very attractive, very playful smirk.
“Yeah. Definitely not.”
Jackson bursts out laughing, closely followed by Jaebum, who gets up from his chair to get closer to Jackson. A miracle has happened and he feels completely at ease with the guy even though they’ve literally only met a couple of minutes ago. Who knew bad flirting breaks some major ice? Maybe he's not so hopeless at this making friends business after all.
Jinyoung’s phantom voice inside his head is singing the national anthem, except all the words have been replaced with ‘I told you so’.
“What do you have there?” Jaebum leans back against the washer beside Jackson’s, nodding his head towards the console.
Jackson’s lips are formed in an endearing close-lipped smile as he tilts the screen a little. “Pokémon.”
“Do you have Sun or Moon?”
“Not yet.” Jackson is looking at him with an amused twinkle in his big eyes and Jaebum really wants to know what’s going on inside his head. “I don’t think my wallet is ready for that.”
“Same.”
“Then why’d you ask?”
“Just so I can pretend to know more than I do.”
That gets another laugh out of Jackson. Jaebum would fist bump himself if he could.
They spend the rest of their wait time huddled over the DS, taking turns playing the game (Jackson getting worked up over the opposing Pokémon trainer’s one-liner insults) and exchanging obnoxious flirty comments when the opportunity presents itself. Jaebum would be willing to do the laundry every week if he always gets Jackson as company.
But eventually, all their laundry do get cleaned and there's no reason for them to stay in their little basement room anymore.
“Which floor are you at?” Jaebum balances his basket with one hand. Now that the sheets and the clothes are neatly folded inside, he doesn’t struggle in keeping everything from spilling to the ground.
“5th, you?” Jackson reaches the elevator first, setting one of his large laundry bags (seriously, it looks like the guy had washed his entire closet) on the floor so he can push at the elevator button. Jaebum snatches the bag into his own hand before Jackson can take it back, ignoring the resulting protests.
“I’m on the 7th.” Jaebum dodges Jackson’s grabby hands with a laugh. “Come on, let me help you. This is my only workout for today!”
The elevator dings open and Jackson finally assents with only a small pout. “You don’t need any more workout.”
If Jaebum’s ears had hands, they’d be clapping enthusiastically from the compliment. “Why thank you.”
“Okay, this is me,” Jackson breathes out as he drops his bag on the ground, fishing inside the pocket of his hoodie for the room keys. Jaebum places Jackson's other bag down and steps back, looking behind him to see if the elevator doors are still open. “What, not gonna come in?”
Jaebum turns back around to catch Jackson’s raised eyebrow, bottom lip pulled between his teeth. He's obviously teasing and Jaebum responds in the only way that makes sense—he walks forward until their faces are inches apart, smirking down at Jackson’s amused expression before he whispers, “I don’t put out on the first date.”
He walks away to the sound of Jackson’s high-pitched laughter, satisfied with himself.
It’s only when he reaches his own door that he realizes he’s forgotten to ask for Jackson’s number, so he thumps his forehead on the hard surface over and over until Jinyoung opens the door, looks at him strangely, and none too gently shoves him inside for being a ‘filthy hoodlum’.
>><<
“No.” Jaebum flips to the next page of his very interesting and cannot-be-put-down novel. He has no time for people who are out to ruin his life.
“What do you mean no? This is an opportunity of a lifetime! Big cool party? To meet cool new people?” Jinyoung pauses in his current mission of ransacking the hell out of his closet. “You have to help me out, dude. I’m trying to prevent you from becoming a hermit over here.”
Jaebum scowls, he can be whatever he wants to be. Besides, he’s met one new person already and that fills his entire ‘new person’ quota for the year. “I don’t want to.”
“Don’t be such a wet blanket,” Jinyoung says, throwing a pair of jeans on the ground before picking them back up and looking at them thoughtfully. “Mark throws the best parties. And Jackson’s actually attending this one. Those two are like the fame. You have to come.”
Jaebum perks up, staring at Jinyoung with a wild look in his eyes. His best friend thankfully doesn’t notice the reaction, much too preoccupied with his many outfit choices. Jaebum wipes at his face until he’s at least half certain that he looks normal and tries to reply with the most nonchalant of tones, “fine.”
Jinyoung stops moving, a blue sweater hanging from his mouth.
“What? I said fine, I’m coming.” Jaebum gets up to stretch, willing his feet to move at a glacier pace so as to avoid suspicion. In his head, he's already running through every piece of clothing he owns that would be fashionable enough to maybe impress a certain someone.
Jinyoung continues to squint at him suspiciously. “Okaaay? Alright. Good. We’re leaving in an hour. Go fix your ugly face.”
Jaebum throws a ball of socks at him, locking the bathroom door shut before Jinyung can retaliate.
When he gets out of the shower, Jaebum attempts to look casual as his eyes search madly for a good ensemble. He’s clutching two shirts in each hand when he couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer.
“So this Jackson you’re talking about. He’s… the blond one right?”
He sees Jinyoung pause for the nth time this evening, eyes incredulous as he stares at Jaebum from the mirror reflection. “Yes… how do you know Jackson Wang?” Jinyoung resumes fiddling with his hair. “I didn’t expect you to keep up with these things.”
Jaebum ignores him, deciding to go with navy long-sleeves and a pair of black jeans. Might as well be comfortable if he’s going to force himself to socialize.
Jinyoung’s prescribed hour is up just as Jaebum finishes securing the last of his five hundred earrings onto his person and he’s only allowed another second to gel his hair up and away from his face before the two of them are out the door.
Their walk to the place is short. This Mark dude’s bachelor pad is very close to the campus and is no joke—Jaebum understands the hype now. Honestly, if all they do is lay around the carpet eating pizza, he'd still consider the party the best if only for the fact that the venue is insane.
“Nice, huh?” Jinyoung pushes at the open gates, letting themselves inside with a proud look on his face. Jaebum doesn’t know what he’s so smug about seeing as it’s not even Jinyoung’s—wait.
“How the hell did you manage to get invited here?” Jaebum asks, incredulous.
“My charm and sparkling personality, of course.”
Jaebum doesn’t believe him one bit, but the music has already reached them halfway through the front porch steps and he thinks he can make out the sound of loud whoops followed by water splashing. There’s a pool. Amazing.
The door is opened before Jinyoung even turns the knob, and their ears are immediately assaulted by a surprisingly good remix of some pop song.
“Jinyoung!”
The guy who opens the door stumbles out, evidently drunk. Jaebum wonders how long the party’s been going on—Jinyoung is just the type to show up late on purpose.
“Hey man!” Jinyoung returns the guy’s clumsy embrace and, in an act of utter bravery, Jaebum slides past them and into the pad alone. He can’t remember the last time he’s entered a stranger’s party without using Jinyoung as a human shield in front of him to ward off potential social situations.
And then he’s reminded of exactly why he doesn’t go to any strange places alone when he almost runs into a half-naked guy holding two bottles of whipped cream and screaming bloody murder. Jaebum turns tail and returns to his spot slightly behind Jinyoung, deciding that waiting awkwardly until Jinyoung and his friend are done making nice is the lesser of two evils.
Eons later (it's been two minutes but Jaebum has the right to exaggerate), the drunken stranger finally walks off someplace else and the newly arrived duo are free to roam the jungle by their lonesome. Jinyoung tells him to look out for a ‘gorgeous redhead that’s probably skulking around in a corner’ so that he can introduce Jaebum to Mark, but that detail goes over his head the moment he sees a white shock of hair that can only belong to one person.
Jackson's stood near the kitchen bar, head thrown back in laughter. Jaebum vaguely registers that there’s a redhead beside him, participating in conversation and not, in fact, skulking around in a corner. He doesn’t get to point this out, though, as Jinyoung is already dragging him in the direction of the small group.
“Hey.” Jinyoung slips into the circle smoothly, dragging a slightly dazed Jaebum along. There's a chorus of greetings in response but Jaebum’s eyes are locked onto wide brown eyes that switches from surprised to amused during the mere half second it takes for Jaebum to realign his thoughts.
“Hey Jinyoung.” Jackson's the last to respond, teeth biting into lips to prevent a grin from escaping. Jaebum’s eyes track the movement. “Who’s your friend there?”
Cheeky.
“Jaebum Im,” Jaebum answers, feeling more comfortable now that he’s got two people he actually knows around him. Jinyoung whips around to look at him with so much shock you’d think Jaebum is mute rather than selectively quiet. “Nice to meet you.” It's probably nicer to address the whole group as a whole but Jaebum can’t take his eyes off of Jackson.
Jackson grins, lips parting to no doubt smart mouth an answer back but before he has the chance, the redhead beside him speaks up.
“I’m Mark. That’s Jackson.” Mark straightens to his full height and Jaebum is pleased to note that the guy is still that little bit shorter than himself, though what he lacks in that area is very much compensated by whatever the hell is going on with the vibes he's exuding—the dude is seriously activating Jaebum's fight or flight response.
Especially considering that the posturing may have to do with a certain boy whose previously amused eyes now flicker between them in slight alarm.
There's a small awkward moment where Mark and Jaebum just stare each other off without a word, and the rest of the group stew in the tension with what the fuck written all over their faces.
“I’m Bambam!” Someone evidently can’t take the tension anymore and god bless Bambam’s little heart for it. Jaebum turns to him with what he hopes is a passable smile. Yugyeom chimes in next and then Youngjae, but Jaebum only manages half coherent responses as he notices Jackson pinching Mark’s arm and he has to hold back a snort of laughter.
Jaebum reaches over and takes a can of beer—he’s risked coming here in hopes of hanging out with Jackson more, but he should’ve known there's too much expectation in that thought. The universe simply doesn’t agree to plans made by people like him. Well. Screw it then. He grabs two full packs of beer from the mountaina of alcohol stored in the kitchen and wanders over to an empty couch.
He’s not going to stand where he's not welcome.
Jinyoung turns, ready to follow, but Jaebum shakes his head at him, knowing how much Jinyoung wants to talk to that douchebag Mark for some reason (okay he sees the appeal). Jinyoung looks conflicted but Jaebum scrunches his face at him which in turn makes Jinyoung pull the ugliest face back at him before looking away with a smile.
And so Jaebum, once again, in the midst of probably the best party this campus has to offer, is left all by himself.
Or not.
“Sorry about Mark.” The couch dips while Jaebum's busy fiddling with his second drink, chugging down the first one disturbingly quick. “He’s gotten more protective in his old age.”
Jaebum is already smiling before he even faces Jackson.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. He’s not usually like that, I promise.”
Jaebum shrugs. “Oh well.” He reaches down to share his stolen stash of beer with Jackson and the latter follows the movement all the way until Jaebum unceremoniously plops it into his open palm. Jackson runs a finger over the unopened latch before finally popping it and taking a sip.
“So. I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon, Mr. Im.” His eyes are still beautifully large and sparkling with familiar mischief. Even in an environment he’d usually find uncomfortable, Jaebum can’t help but feel as giddy as when it was just the two of them in that laundry room.
“You thought too soon, Mr. Wang.” If Jackson is surprised that Jaebum knew his last name, he doesn’t show it.
“You sound like a stalker.” Jackson mock frowns, scooting as far away as he could on the couch. “You’re not stalking me are you?” He points an accusing finger towards Jaebum who simply flicks it away.
“I’d pick someone more interesting to stalk.”
Jackson mocks an affronted expression, stealing one more of Jaebum’s beer cans in retaliation. Jaebum plays with the mouth of his own drink as he grapples for anything to say—he hasn’t expected Jackson’s popularity to be this vast (though, really he should have known better judging from Jinyoung’s reaction at the mention of the boy’s name) but watching Jackson get approached by a flood of people mere seconds in between lulls, Jaebum is seriously questioning his life choices. He could be sitting on his bed right now, blissfully alone with beautiful Netflix as company. Yet here he is.
“So.” Jackson is suddenly back by his side, much closer than he had been earlier, seemingly having dismissed the last of his battalion of acquaintances. “What is your opinion on dogs?”
Jaebum raises an eyebrow.
“Your answer will determine whether we should continue this relationship or end it all right here right now, Mr. Im.”
“And what kind of relationship is hanging on a thread here, Mr. Wang?”
“That’s a loaded question. Now. What. Is. Your. Opinion. On dogs?” Jackson leans over and their noses are almost touching now. However, the both of them are too preoccupied with trying to hold back laughter to care about the position they’re in.
“I love them.”
Jackson gasps dramatically, placing the back of his hand over forehead. “Oh no, not those three words! I’m snatched.”
Jaebum lets go of his laughter as he takes a sip of his beer, knocking his teeth with the beer can and succeeding in making a fool of himself once again. His curses and spilt beer only earn a loud bout of laughter from Jackson, though, so he guesses it’s fine.
“I have a cat back home actually. Couldn’t take her to the dorm with me cause of the whole no pets rule.”
Jackson perks up, eyes shining with sympathy. “I have a dog back home too. I wish I could see him more often, but alas, plane ticket costs are rising and I am but a lowly peasant.”
“Plane ticket?”
“Yeah, Boof is all the way back in Hong Kong.”
“Boof? You named your dog Boof?”
“Yes! He is majestic okay!”
But Jaebum is too busy laughing, hands sliding around recklessly as he grabs for another beer.
“What did you name your cat then?”
“Hm, Nora.”
“Okay… okay. But. Listen. Why would you name your cat a human name?”
“It sounds like a princess name!”
“No it sounds like the name of your first crush who also happens to be your neighbour and painfully unavailable.”
Jaebum half gasps half hiccups because he wants Jackson to know he’s offended by how close to the truth the boy is. How dare.
“No it doesn’t!”
They don’t stop arguing about the pros and cons of human names used on pets until Jackson gets distracted with fumbling for pictures of Boof on his phone. Jaebum takes this time to look away from the boy for seemingly the first time in hours and he realizes that, impossibly, there were even more people lounging around the flat.
And also their stash of beer is now empty and Jaebum doesn’t want to think about how much of the two dozen he’s consumed mostly because he’s feeling too light hearted at the moment but also because he's too light headed to do the math.
The sound of tinkling laughter registers in his brain and Jaebum hates himself for still being so accustomed to that sound that he even recognizes it at this level of drunkenness. He takes a huge swig of the drink in his hand to hopefully erase those thoughts.
But it doesn’t help and Jaebum inevitably turns his head to look at the source of that sound.
Minah is only a couple of feet behind, surrounded by friends, and looking to be having the time of her life. Jaebum immediately feels so bitter he’s practically the human version of black coffee.
Jackson tugs on his arm, phone back in his pocket (Jaebum feels a twinge of regret because he genuinely wants to see Boof). The boy’s eyes look glassy from the alcohol but there's a little bit of concern in those warm brown eyes and Jaebum can’t help but smile.
“Somethin’ wrong?” Jackson leans on the head of the couch, blinking slowly.
“Nah, I just hate seeing my ex all happy.” Apparently he’s lost all filter too. Nice.
“Wow, petty.”
“Yup.”
“Which one’s your ex?”
Jaebum nods his head behind them. “Light blue skirt.”
“Hm. Wanna level up that pettiness?”
Jaebum raises an eyebrow.
“I’ve a plan. 100% fool proof!” Jackson exclaims, crushing his empty can of beer a little as he clenches his fists in excitement. “How badly did your ex break your heart?!”
“Badly!” Jaebum slams his empty beer can against the couch as if to prove the point.
“How badly do you want revenge?!”
“Badly! Wait... what…”
“Don’t worry we won’t be killing anyone tonight.” Jackson shuffles impossibly closer and Jaebum doesn’t even give a single damn that the boy is almost on his lap.
Before he cab question the ‘tonight’ part of Jackson’s proclamation, Jackson suddenly jumps fully into his lap and Jaebum is just as suddenly at a loss for words.
“From now on we will be fake boyfriends,” Jackson whispers, smiling blearily down at him.
Jaebum stares dumbly back, hands absently running up and down the material of Jackson’s sweater. It’s so soft.
“How would that work?”
“Silly, we just have to fake date and fake cuddle and fake kiss in front of people! Your ex will see that you’ve moved on and you’ll be able to turn the tables!”
Jaebum is impressed by how coherent Jackson still is. But the idea doesn’t sound too bad when you put it like that. Not bad at all. He’s on board with having a hot fake boyfriend after the absolute disaster his last relationship had been.
“Sounds fun.” Jaebum grins, arms comfortably looped around Jackson’s waist. “When do we start?”
Jackson leans down and their noses brush lightly. “Now.”
And, well, Jaebum isn’t saying no to that.
<< present day >>
When Jaebum opens his eyes, he immediately feels like he’s back at that death metal concert he’d once gone to during his teenage rebellion years, stuck in an aggressively dizzying mosh pit and desperately waiting for the ringing in his ears to stop.
He groans, rolling over to bury his head in the nearest surface. An answering groan follows his own and Jaebum slowly blinks, trying to recall how and why he’s ended up with another person beside him. In some stranger’s bed. Both evidently having been drunk the night before.
He slowly turns to the side, trying not to aggravate his head and meets the squinty frown of one Jackson Wang.
And because Jaebum has always had good memories even after getting absolutely inebriated, the events of last night’s party slowly fills back inside the mothballs that made up his brain and his eyes widen into saucers. Judging from Jackson’s scandalized expression, the boy also remembers the shitty plan they’ve come up with.
Jackson snorts, snatching the pillow from below his head and covering his face with it to muffle the sound. Jaebum slowly follows, shoulders shaking as he tries to contain the laughter bubbling up his throat, but to no avail.
The pillow is no match against the sound of Jackson’s giggles and Jaebum half groans, half chuckles along because everything is just so god damn funny so he clutches his head as he laughs because it hurts like hell, but he’s drunk on something he doesn’t have a name for and he can’t, for the life of him, stop.