[Soweoneul malhae bwa…]

When his phone rang and started playing ‘Tell me your wish’, Jason nearly dropped it on the cement car park.  That would have been a disaster. One, he would have smashed his phone and needed a new one. And two, most dangerous of all, he would leave Jessica-noona hanging.  Although, she seems cold in the beginning, he knew that the older girl was the dorkiest of his noonas and would probably whine about it for aaaages.

     “Hello?”

    “J-Jason, are you on your way home?” the voice on the phone trembled.  As if she was trying to sound normal, but failing miserably as nerves and fear got the best of her.  Jason was immediately on high alert.

    “I’ve just parked in front of the Apartment Complex. What’s wrong noona?”

    “I’m at the convenience store down the road...There are some really creepy guys outside and I don’t want to walk out alone.”

    “Don’t move. I’m on my way.”

He hung up, then locked his car.  Stuffing his keys in his pocket, he took off at a run.  SNSD had just come back from their latest concert tour.  And while he was happy and proud of them, three months of only phone calls and video calls were hard when he was so used to being in the same building as them.  Now that they were finally back, he was glad.  It meant he could see them again, but most of all...If they needed him he could help.  It pained him to be so far from them, even though he knew they would be in good hands.

He ran past the park, passed the few stores still open at night and crossed the next street.  The familiar neon lights of the convenience store greeted him.  Sure enough, right outside the shop he and the girls frequented, were a group of shady looking men.  Hanging around one of the lampposts to the right of the entrance, they were all rough stubble and cigarette smells.  Exactly the kind of men he dreaded to see anywhere near children and women.
Making sure to keep the five of them in the corner of his vision the whole time, Jason casually made his way into the store.  He scanned the shelves until his eyes landed upon the familiar form of Jessica.  Navy blue shirt, white pants and a basket of groceries by her side.  She was looking at a packet of noodles, but the way her eyes darted up at the men at odd intervals told him it was probably for show.

    “Hi noona,” he smiled and gave her a hug in greeting.  Making sure that the men could see him, and would associate him with Jessica.

    “This isn’t the time for greetings!” she whisper yelled, peeking over her shoulder and whirling back to face him.

    “If you act like that, you’re asking for trouble,” his easy smile never left his face, even as the words he said took on a hard edge, “Just act like nothing’s wrong and you were waiting for me on purpose.”

    “Oh...Here, you carry this then,” she handed him the basket of foods.

It was pretty heavy, he had to appreciate her arm strength. Sure, she liked to complain, but she obviously no weakling.  Jason shifted it to his other hand and turned to the rest of the aisle.  Together they gathered the rest of the groceries, with Jason grabbing a few things he had needed to restock on as well.  Tucked away from the windows, in the far most aisle, the two of them stuck their heads together.

    “We need a plan, noona.”

    “You have to be my boyfriend.”

He dropped the packet of chips he was holding, “What?”

Jessica rolled her eyes and picked the chips back up, “Pretend to be my boyfriend, so we can get away!”

His eyes darted around the shop hoping for another idea to jump out at him.  In the end, he sighed and agreed to her plan.  They moved to finish the rest of the shopping when Jessica spoke again.

     “I thought you’d be more scared,” she mumbled. He stopped in his tracks.

     “Why?” His brows scrunched in confusion, “I know I have more training than them. They can’t seriously injure me.”

She looked at him with her signature blank expression.  A heartbeat passed.  

     “Tiff told me you were jumped before,” he flinched, “She was worried for you...How can you be so confident when you were hurt badly last time?”

He picked a packet of ramyun off the shelf in front of him.  Trying to buy himself time, it wasn’t exactly a discussion he wanted to have.  The plastic crinkled in his hand as he turned it over, “Last time, I didn’t fight back.”

     “Why not?”

     “Last time, my best friend got involved with some really bad people. They told him, if he led me to them, they'd leave him be. He visited me, broke down in my living room and told me everything,” he sighed and looked at her with a flat expression, “So, when I got a call from him one night, asking for help in some dead area of town, I knew exactly what would happen.”

     "Why would you go??? You almost died and—"

     "That was the point!” the noodles in the packet cracked as his hand clenched tight in anger, “He had a baby on the way. And a girlfriend who didn’t know about any of it.  An innocent child,” he shoved the packet roughly back on the shelf and sagged, “I was their ticket to safety. Betrayed or not, he was my best friend for years before he joined the wrong crowd. What I did was like…My final favour to him before I cut all ties.”

    “That’s is why you moved to Seoul so quickly.”

     “I couldn’t exactly stay there and work, if I was meant to be dead,” he looked at her a little exasperatedly, sarcasm dripping from every word.

     “...You’re an idiot.”

     “Wha–” he spluttered indignantly. Had she not listened to a word he’d said???

    “You could have died,” she looked him square in the eyes and soldiered on, “We would never have gotten to meet you! And…and… You’re so stupid! You’ve only been our friend for a few months, but I can’t even… Imagine going back to a time when you weren’t a part of our lives! If you ever do something like walk into a DEATH TRAP ever again, I will kick you!”

     “I did what was right,” was his stubborn retort, unwilling to back down from this.  He had the scars and the consequences to live with, he didn’t need someone lecturing him about it.

     “I know!” that stopped him short, “But I–We can’t lose you. Just… please. Promise me you won’t be so reckless anymore. Please.”

The way she pleaded with him, the look in her eyes. There was nothing else he could say, “…..I promise.”

One look back out of the windows at their current predicament and he sighed, “It looks like those creepy guys aren’t going anywhere. We may as well head back now, noona.  The others will wonder where we are and come looking.”

     “You can’t call me noona,” Jessica stomped her foot petulantly. It was kind of adorable.

     “What? Why?”

     “Because,” she rolled her eyes, “it’d be weird if my boyfriend was calling me noona.  We have to make it believable!”

     “I don’t think we need to go that far…”

     “If we were in the States you wouldn’t call me noona. You would just call me Jessica.”

     “But…we’re not in the States.”

Jessica waved her hand dismissively, “Just pretend we are. Try it.”

     “Err…Jessica?”

A pause.

     “Hahahaha!” Tears of mirth were in her eyes, “Don’t be so awkward!”

     “But it’s weird!” Jason uncharacteristically whined.

Jessica pouted, “What if they don’t buy the act because of this?”

Jason sighed.  He smiled at her ruefully, “If they don’t buy it, you know it won’t make a difference whether or not I use an honorific.”

Her bottom lip jutted out even further, “It might~!”

Jason tried to look anywhere but at her quivering lip and big brown eyes.  He could feel her stare on him, “……Fine! Stop giving me puppy dog eyes and pout,” he grabbed her hand, “Let’s go, Jess.”

She followed him as he pulled her to the cashier, “Jess?”

     “If we were in the States and dating, I’d call you Jess,” they paid for the foods and walked to the exit, “Now, come on. Time to prove your acting skills.”

Cautious.  That was the only way to describe the way the two of them walked out of the store, hand in hand, while eyeing the sleazy group of men from the corner of their eyes.  Jason wrapped his right arm around her shoulders, and tucked her safely underarm.  Jessica burrowed further into the crook of his shoulder, enjoying the warmth and safety he provided.  He may have been younger than her, but he’s proven time and time again to be kind, reliable and capable.  She knew he’d protect her - it was in the way he angled his body to shield hers from the sleazy men, the way he automatically took the side closest to the road and in the way he kept anyone from bumping into her without fail.  

She knew it was silly.  Jessica was nothing if not perceptive, but a part couldn’t help but like and admire the man by her side.

Hi all! I'm sorry Jasonsica shippers! Thsi is going to be a Jasonfany fic. ^^ I hope you still read it, it's almost done!