Jackson threw himself beside Mark on the sofa. He curled up against the older boy with an exaggerated squeal – something Jackson often described as expressing his ‘heart fluttering’ – and glanced at the screen. “What are we watching?”

“Something…” Mark drawled, unsure himself as he scrolled through the channels. It was a surprise that Jackson paid for all the channels he had, especially when he didn't have a job.

“I have like, every channel in the world, just pick.” The younger whined and tugged on Mark’s jumper.

“That’s probably why it bothers me, you don’t even have a job.” He sounded a little more bitter than he intended and evidently Jackson was disturbed by the way he retreated away from Mark.

Nobody ever took him seriously, he figured they were all jealous – that he achieved a job he enjoyed before the age of 21 – but never had he expected Mark to be one of them. “I do have a job,” he frowned, thick brows lowering as his arms s around each other. “You’re just like everyone else. Why don’t you take me seriously? I hit seven million the other day and you know what my dad said to me? ‘Well done, now find yourself a real job and that will be an achievement’.”

Jackson huffed, stepping off the sofa and walking to his room leaving Mark alone. 

The older was left, stunned, as he stared off at the TV screen. Guilt quickly overcame him and he dashed into the bedroom. “Jacks, I’m sorry I–”

“Doesn’t matter, I get it. You think it’s stupid but it’s my life. My subscribers – all those real people out there – they like me for me. They support me. I just thought that having near enough the population of Hongkong following me, from all across the world, would be the most recognized achievement of mine but now I just feel… ashamed.

Mark stared at the other, biting his lower lip. He felt ashamed too, but for a something rational. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that, I guess I am jealous.” The young Chinese boy crawled to the edge of the bed, sitting down with his legs crossed, parallel to where Jackson had slumped under the quilts. “Come out, Jacks, I’m sorry.” 

There was a moment of shared silence, then a sniffle. Mark knew Jackson was upset but to cry meant that it was something serious. Feeling as though he had caused devastation to several countries, having upset their favorite YouTuber, Mark was appalled. How could he upset his best friend of seventeen years? Scratch that, his soul mate.

Advancing, Mark clambered close and wrapped his arms around the lump of limbs wrapped in a plush black duvet. He gave the other a moment to calm down while running circles around his body focusing on his honey thighs and lean back.

“Look, if it makes you feel any better, I’ll do that video I keep putting off.” Mark subsided, eager to gain redemption.

“…I don’t want to make you do something you don’t want to.” Came a muffled reply.

“I want to. I really want to.” Mark assured. Finally, Jackson came out of hiding, quickly wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Good, because it was getting stressfully stuffy in there,” he snorted and Mark gave him a playful hit to the chest.

Few minutes later and the set up was ready, Mark sat on the edge of the bed swinging his feet nonchalantly while his host counterpart cleaned up in the bathroom. He stared at the camera and gulped, already feeling the creeping sensation of ‘stage fright’ tinging his ears red.

“They really like you, you know.” Jackson said as he entered the room, his bangs wet, tousled and framing his olive skin. Mark couldn’t help but smile at the sight, his shoulders lowering but his brows soon knitted with the confession.

“What do you mean, I’ve never agreed to feature before?” Mark’s eyes narrowed.

“Oh yeah,” Jackson laughed, “about that…” his voice faded off and Mark threw a poop-emoji pillow at the younger.

“What video footage have you put out there without my permission, !” He hissed, “I can get you arrested for this.”

“…But you wouldn’t, right?” Jackson’s gaze turned wide and unsure.

Mark rolled his eyes and it gave some kind of hint that he at least might have been joking.

“It was just a few seconds, in my daily vlogs. You didn’t say anything the whole time, or at least I cut out everything just in case and you were in maybe fifteen percent of the whole video, the rest was The Beauty of Thailand,” Jackson began explaining as he sat beside Mark, dropping in the name of the vlog while taking the towel from around his neck and rubbing it against his hair.

Mark scoffed, in awe and not in the good way. He was ninety-nine percent sure he looked terrible as for half of their vacation he didn’t try because ‘he’d never see the locals again’ and donned a hat and face mask almost 24/7.

“But guess what?”

“What?” Surely, it couldn’t get worse…

“That vlog became my most popular for a long time and literally none of the comments were about Thailand. They were all about you.”

He was frowning but Mark couldn’t hide the red hue on his cheeks.

“…What about me?”

“Just everything, from your perfect skin, to your perfect hair, to your perfect eyes. The only thing they complained about was how quiet you were and most of all, they demanded more.”

“Of me?”

“Of you.”

“So, this video…” Mark quirked a brow, “Is going to make seven million people reach cloud nine?”

“Something like that, ah– I’m so excited. Are you ready?”

“No.”

Jackson didn’t even give the older time to calm down, even more pressure placed on him as the camera began rolling. “Now don’t worry about mistakes, I can always cut them out. Just think of it like rehearsal in our drama class at high school.”

“That was like five years ago!” Mark squawked, glancing down at his fingers, his aura descending to subzero, his voice barely audible.

“You’re going to have to speak up, man, my microphone isn’t that great.”

Clearing his throat, Jackson adjusted the settings on his camera and looked over the viewfinder. Once he was satisfied with the way they looked side by side. His room, although pretty basic, had a feature wall just behind his bed. Everyone left comments about how pretty it was, despite the shelving being full of clutter – it was cute clutter like the giant Pikachu plush Mark had won him in Thailand.

Mark’s throat had gone dry and he couldn’t even work up the saliva to make his voice heard. He had no clue what to do and he natural grabbed onto Jackson’s larger bicep.

“Just follow my lead and try to relax.”

Mark was trying. 

Despite Mark’s sudden reluctance, Jackson was eager to begin so he quickly straightened up, ran his fingers through blonde hair and smiled brightly. “Ann-yeong-ha– Say YO!” he began his (lame) intro and suddenly became very offended when Mark didn’t make an effort to join in and just sat beside him. “Hey, I thought you said you watched my videos?”

Mark’s eyes widened now that he was suddenly on the spot and he began to flail, looking back at Jackson. “I do, I do. I wasn’t ready.”

“Let’s try again,” Jackson sighed. The two straightened up.

“Ann-yeong-ha– Say YO!” They chimed in unison, Mark looking chipper as he posed with a V-sign against his eye and Jackson wiggled like a bashful teen as he greeted his viewers. 

“–with Jack…” the two faded to a stunned silence and Jackson shoved Mark to life. Mark laughed and straightened up.

“What? This isn’t usually how your videos go, how am I supposed to kn