Chapter 19: Why late night talks are the best

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Jackson spends the night at JB's house because they're still handcuffed together.

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The first time Jackson had seen a guy almost nearly was when he was in high school. It was a school trip, and he was sharing a room with Bambam. They were supposed to go to the pool, so they were getting changed in their room, and Jackson was going to suggest that one of them change in the toilet, while the other change in the room when Bambam just stripped down to bare skin, and pulled on his swimming trunks like it was nothing. Jackson had almost gotten a heart attack right then and there. Bambam hadn’t known he was gay back then, and all Jackson could do was pray that he doesn’t realize how flushed Jackson had gotten before he had turned away to hide his face.

He’s not sure why he’s suddenly remembering this right now, but as Jackson tries to pull on his underwear and pants with one hand, he wonders if it’s because he had noticed JB’s slightly flushed skin earlier. He wonders if JB is feeling the same way he had felt so many years ago when he had accidentally seen another guy almost . Because the immediate flush on JB’s skin after his head had slightly jerked up could only mean one thing: he had caught sight of Jackson’s body outside the shower.

Pulling the curtains open, Jackson asks for his t-shirt back, and JB passes it wordlessly over their handcuffs so Jackson could pull it over his head. He puts his jacket back on too, though the bathroom is a bit too hot at the moment.

“What do you usually do before you sleep?” Jackson asks, following JB around to the house (not that he has much choice, with the handcuffs and all) to check that all his doors and windows are locked.

“Hmm? Whatever strikes my fancy, I suppose. Watch some videos, maybe listen to some music.” JB stops to runs his fingers by Nora’s back where she’s sitting by the window ledge, and Jackson slowly reaches his hand out, hoping the cat will let him pat her. She does, although she doesn’t mew like she had when JB had touched her, but Jackson’s contented all the same. Good girl.

There’s a low chuckle beside him, and Jackson turns to JB covering his mouth, laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. It’s just. You were making cooing faces at Nora,” JB manages to say between spurts of low laughter, and Jackson makes a face at him (a non-cooing sort. Preferably intimidating, but probably just an ugly pout.)

JB just shrugs, before he holds Jackson’s hand more firmly in his, and continues further into the house. Jackson hasn’t seen all of JB’s house yet, but from what he had seen so far, the guy seems to keep his house neat and clean, with minimal decorations except for the cat related items scattered everywhere (and in the weirdest places too). When JB opens the door at the end of the corridor, Jackson can tell immediately that this is JB’s bedroom, because there are some articles of clothing on the floor and on the bed, and even if it’s still mostly neat, it definitely looks more lived in and relaxed than the rest of the house. There’s a large king sized bed in the centre of the room (thank goodness it’s not a small bed, or how will Jackson sleep later tonight?), and a sleek white computer to the side of the room by the window.

“Maybe we should vlog this,” JB mentions as he kicks his loose clothing to a corner. “Show the internet that we’ve managed to shower with handcuffs and now we’re getting ready to chill a bit and go sleep.”

“Yeah, we should,” Jackson agrees, “But you know, you’re totally cheating by straightening up your room before I press record on the camera. We need to show people your room as it is.”

“Tch, do you really think people really ever show their rooms as it is before they film?”

JB’s voice is teasing, and Jackson grins easily at it. He switches the camera on anyway, recounting what had just happened (only the gist of it, the internet-appropriate version, skipping over their awkward shower hiccup), careful not to include the crumpled mess of clothes in the corner of JB’s room.

They end up sitting in front of JB’s computer to watch some videos before they sleep. It’s still kind of early, so JB opens up Youtube, and the first thing on JB’s subscription is a video of Mark.

“Oh hey, you’re subscribed to Mark’s personal channel?” Jackson exclaims, only realizing after a beat how he had recognized Mark’s personal channel name and profile picture too easily (so maybe he had stalked Mark’s channel more than a few times since the Buzzfeed K-pop video. But Mark’s cute and funny, so Jackson’s excused).

JB doesn’t seem to think anything strange of it, just smiles, and deadpans, “Duh, we’re friends,” clicking on the video to watch. Jackson shifts a bit on his seat, trying to get closer to the centre of the screen because the reflection from the side blocks his view of the whole video, and he vaguely registers that his shoulder is touching JB’s (it’s not weird right? JB hasn’t pushed him away anyway. And it’s not like they’ve not already been holding hands the whole day …)

The video Ma