“Hey,” Jaebum said, his mouth full of half-chewed pretzels. “Pass the chips.”

“You're already shoving your face, what do you need them for?” Jinyoung asked, clinging to the bag stubbornly.

“I'm not planning on asking again, Park Jinyoung,” Jaebum said, cracking his knuckles. It was an obvious bluff—neither of them were ones for physical fights—but Jinyoung lobbed the bag over to him anyways. Jaebum was in a grouchy mood today for whatever reason, and there was no point in poking the bear.

“What's bothering you?” Jinyoung asked, picking himself off the floor a little. “Did you fail a test or something?”

“No.”

“Then...?”

“Nothing.” Jaebum shoved a handful of chips into his mouth, then glared off into the distance for a moment. When he'd finished his loud, crunchy chewing, he turned his gaze back to Jinyoung. “I need to talk to you.”

“Uhhh... I'm right here, nothing's stopping you from talking to me?”

Jaebum grunted. “I was talking to Jackson today. You know, planning our little summer camp thing? The one there's absolutely no way to get out of?”

Jinyoung groaned. Jackson had recently applied for a special summer program to bring together Korean and international high school students and give them an opportunity to experience/share Korean culture firsthand, and he had gone ahead and signed Jaebum and Jinyoung up too without their permission. Ignoring the fact that Jaebum and Jinyoung were terrible at speaking English, passionately hated camping, and weren't even that good at making friends in the first place.

“What about the camping thing?” Jinyoung asked testily. He didn't even want to think about it.

“Nothing. That's just what we were talking about when he brought it up again.”

“Brought what up again?”

“The fact that you and I would make a great couple.”

“Oh.” Jinyoung didn't know what else to say. People had been saying that to them all throughout high school—and junior high, looking back—and he'd gotten so used to it that he'd stopped thinking about it years ago. He and Jaebum were close and had always been close, so people inevitably came to that conclusion about them from time to time, especially considering that neither of them had been in another relationship. Which hadn't been from lack of trying, Jaebum often reminded them. Jaebum had asked a few people out over the course of the past few years, and had always been turned down because “I could never take you away from poor Jinyoung!” Jaebum had eventually given up asking, though Jinyoung was pretty sure he hadn't given up liking other people. He just couldn't do anything about it, short of completely cutting off his years of friendship with Jinyoung.

“Frankly, I'm getting tired of hearing about it,” Jaebum said. “Especially from Jackson. He's downright obsessed with the idea of me and you, so much so that he won't...” He trailed off, toying with the silver chain around his neck, one of his nervous ticks. “Anyways, he'll never shut up about it until we start dating. No one will. So I was thinking...why the hell aren't we at least giving it a try?”

Jinyoung blinked up at him. “Giving it a try?” he asked dumbly. “It being...dating? Each other?”

“Yeah.”

He still thought he was somehow hearing this wrong. “Isn't that a terrible idea?”

“Why? Look, Jinyoung, literally everyone thinks we're soulmates. Maybe we haven't thought that way about each other, but what if we're the ones who are wrong and we just haven't figured it out yet? I mean, it's not like you and I are ever going to be able to date anyone else the way it is now because no one wants to break us up, so why not just, I don't know, figure out if what everyone thinks about us is actually true? Isn't it better than being single-and-just-friends for our entire lives?”

“God, Jaebum, we're only in high school. Seriously, in a few years girls or guys or whoever it is you want will be begging to date you regardless of what they think about our relationship.”

“We said that in Junior High, and look what happened.”

“True...” Jinyoung trailed off. “But if we were actually, really soulmates, wouldn't we have figured it out by now? We've known each other since we were kids, and I've never thought about you like that. If it was going to happen, I think it would have happened already.”

“You're obviously reading the wrong comics or watching the wrong dramas. Plenty of people fall in love after years of knowing each other.”

“Is that why you're asking me? Because you've fallen in love with me?”

Jaebum bit his lip. “No.”

“Then why?”

“Because I don't think it's impossible for me to fall in love with you. And I think if it makes sense to so many people, there must be some sense in it.” He paused. “Plus, it would make Jackson pretty damn happy, wouldn't it?”

“I suppose...” Jinyoung pursed his lips. The thought of dating Jaebum wasn't repulsive. It was just hard to imagine. They'd only ever been friends. He was pretty sure he liked it that way.

But at the same time, he understood Jaebum's point. So many people saw something between them that it would be a little weird if there was nothing there at all. Maybe Jinyoung and Jaebum were just blind to it. And if they were, wouldn't it be worth finding out?

“I'm having trouble processing this, OK?” he said finally. “Can we talk about it theoretically for a minute?”

“If that helps,” Jaebum said.

“If we started dating... would we be kissing and stuff?”

Jaebum wrinkled his nose instinctively, then straightened it out. “Er... I don't see why we would have to start off kissing each other? We'll do it if...when...well, whenever we start feeling something for each other or whatever.”

“OK.” That was a relief. As terribly attractive as Jinyoung found Jaebum, he couldn't yet wrap his head around the prospect of putting his lips on Jaebum's chip-and-pretzel-crumb covered mouth. “But we'd do dating stuff, right? Or else it wouldn't be any different from what we're doing now.”

Jaebum considered. “I guess when we go out, we could do date-like stuff instead of going to movies or concerts all the time. I was thinking that with going to camp and all... there will be romantic stuff, maybe? Star gazing or something like that.”

Jinyoung snorted. “Star gazing? Im Jaebum would go on a star gazing date with me? Will this be a relationship or a personality change?”

Jaebum shot him a withering look. “I'm making an effort, here.”

“All right, then. I guess that's kind of charming in its own way.” Jinyoung studied Jaebum for a moment. “Still speaking theoretically, what if we broke up? I don't want to lose my best friend over something stupid.”

“Same. But I was thinking if we tried it and nothing about our feelings changed, we could just go back to normal, right? I mean, if we're not kissing or anything serious, it's not like it'll be that awkward, will it? Besides, we can finally tell everyone who bothers us that we actually tried dating and we're not soulmates after all.”

“But... what if one of us falls in love and the other doesn't?” Jinyoung hedged. “There's no way to get out of that being awkward.”

Jaebum finally looked stricken. He apparently hadn't thought of that.

“If that happens,” he said after some thought, “we're just going to have to handle it like grown ups, won't we?”

Jinyoung didn't like the sound of that. Wouldn't it be better to stay as they were and never figure things out between them than to risk only one of them falling in love?

Jaebum must have realized Jinyoung's mind was wavering since he finally leaned closer, putting his (greasy) hand over Jinyoung's. “Look. I know this is a risk. I know it. But I want to figure this out. I'm very serious about this. So whatever you answer, could you be just as serious?”

Jinyoung exhaled. It really was a risk, but maybe it was worth finding out. If it was this important to Jaebum, then it was important to him as well.

“OK,” Jinyoung said, sticking out his hand. “But if I fall in love with you, you better love me back, all right?”

“I promise,” Jaebum said, pumping his hand. “If you do the same.”

“Promise.”

They went over to Jackson's house the next day to help him pack for the camping trip. Jaebum didn't waste any time informing him of the new development between them as soon as Jackson opened the door.

“Hey,” he said. “I took your advice, and this guy and I are dating now.” He jerked his thumb towards Jinyoung.

Jackson's eyes widened, and he did one of his overexcited high pitch squeals. “Ohmigod, I called it!” he said, pumping his fist. “We all knew it was gonna happen, but god it only took you forever!” He grabbed Jinyoung and Jaebum's hands. “So, how did you pop the question? How does it feel to be in loOoOove?”

“Look, nothing crazy happened over night or anything,” Jaebum said, looking annoyed. “We're not even in love yet. We're just giving it a try.”

“Ugh, are you trying to be boring?” Jackson heaved a dramatic sigh. “But that just makes it even better, I guess. I'll get to watch the love story unfold up close and personal at camp. I am so looking forward to this.”

“You seem pretty confident about the whole thing,” Jinyoung said.

“Because you two just happen to be a match made in heaven. And you're gonna be over the moon when you realize it, too.” He squeezed their hands, then dropped them. “By the way, the info pack went online last night. Did you guys check it out?”

“No, we're actually still pretending like this entire camping thing is not going to happen,” Jaebum said.

Jackson poked his waist. “All right, sour puss. Anyways, the camp is divided by genders—the girls are across the lake, and we're really not supposed to interact with them much to avoid any hanky-panky the camp might be liable for. No loss to you guys, anyways. There are two cabins on the boys' half of the camp. Both are going to be 50% Korean natives, 50% foreigners. And guess what—we're all in the same cabin!”

“Joy,” Jinyoung said.

“I know right? I think you guys know the other two Korean natives from our cabin already. One is Choi Youngjae from school, the other one is that really tall guy who part times at the BBQ restaurant down the street.”

“Yugyeom,” Jinyoung supplied.

“Seriously, Youngjae's going to be there?” Jaebum groaned.

“What's wrong with Youngjae?”

“He's one of the people who turned me down cold because of you!” Jaebum imitated Youngjae's otter-like smile. “Oh, Jaebum, I think you're so cool, but you're just so perfect for Park Jinyoung, I just couldn't imagine actually going out with you!”

“And now that ship has sailed on to another port, so you missed your chance, bud,” Jackson said, smacking Jaebum on the back. “But it's OK, because Youngjae was totally right. You and Jinyoung are destined.”

“So who are the foreigners in the cabin with us?” Jinyoung wondered. He still didn't want to get into the subject of destiny while settling into the idea of dating Jaebum in the first place.

“Well, there's me of course. Some Thai kid whose name I can't pronounce. And two guys from California. Jae and Mark.”

“I can't wait until the part where we won't be able to talk to anyone else but you because we don't know English,” Jaebum grumbled.

“No, no, no, it's fine, I swear.” Jackson said. “I looked them up. Jae's family is from Korea, he's just living here for the first time long term. Thai Guy is an advanced Korean language student, and Mark is intermediate. You guys will be all right.”

Well, that was a relief, at least. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as they thought it would.

“Not that you shouldn't practice your English, anyways,” Jackson said. “You're going to be paired up with one of the foreigners for the camp buddy system, so you might need to use it. Maybe one of you will luck out and get me, but maybe not. Honestly, I'd prefer it if you paired up with each other~”

“There's a buddy system?” Jinyoung yelped in alarm. “Why didn't you warn us about this earlier?”

“I gave you two brochures. You were the ones who chose not to read them. Anyways, it's not that big of a deal. There's one buddy x buddy event per day, plus you have to help them if they're having issues or need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. That's all.” Jackson wiggled his eyebrows. “And don't worry, I'll totally maneuver it so you two can get plenty of alone time. It's going to be a summer of love. I can tell.”

“It's only going to be one week,” Jaebum pointed out.

“A lot can happen in a week. Magic can happen in a week. A week is more than enough time to fall in love. You'll both figure that out before the week is over, I believe that 100%.”

“I'm glad you're happy,” Jaebum said after Jinyoung had left to go home and get some early shut eye. “I was hoping you would be.”

Jackson gave him a once over. For someone who had just gotten together with his life's soulmate, he was surprisingly calm. But that was Jaebum for you—always chic, always cool. At least until you melted him a little bit, which Jinyoung was usually pretty decent at. Jackson had been fully anticipating a completely melty, gooey duo when they finally got together, but apparently they were aiming on taking it slow. For now.

“Of course I'm happy,” Jackson said. “I've been rooting for you two a long time. But it's more important that you two are happy. You are, aren't you? I'm hoping you're just doing a really bad job of showing it.”

“I don't know if 'happy' is the right word for it,” Jaebum said vaguely. “It's more complicated than that. I'm investing too much into this just to be happy-go-lucky about it, OK?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. But it's a relationship, not a job. It wouldn't kill you to smile a little bit. Loosen up.”

“I'm not you, Jackson.” Jaebum fixed him in a steely gaze. “I don't think you really get it. It's more important than anything to me that this works out. Because if it doesn't after hearing people telling me my whole life that this is the perfect thing for me, I'm going to be pissed. Not at Jinyoung. Not at myself. We've done nothing wrong by being friends for all this time. I'm going to be pissed at people like Choi Youngjae who wouldn't even give me a chance because they decided on their own that I was in love with someone else, but most of all I'm going to be pissed at you.”

“Me?” Jackson asked innocently. “What exactly did I do?”

“Even less than Youngjae.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Luckily I don't have to tell you. I've decided to stop caring.” He leaned back on Jackson's bed and closed his eyes. “Anyways, trust me, you don't want me to be pissed at you for this. So I'm looking forward to seeing how you're going to make me and Jinyoung a thing during camp.”

“You two are already a thing. You just have to open your eyes to it.”

“So I've been told.” Jaebum's eyes fluttered open for a moment, and he turned them to look at Jackson. “But why is it always me and Jinyoung who have to open our eyes? Why does no one else have to? Why don't you?”

“Hey, man, my eyes are wide open all the time. They don't call me Eagle Eyes Wang for no reason.”

“No one calls you that.”

“Well, they should.” Jackson grinned. “Look, I just think it's an amazing thing that you got to grow up together with someone who's so amazing and good for you. Meanwhile the rest of us are all left searching in the dark on our own. You're a lucky guy. I just want you to wallow in your luckiness. I want you to be happy.”

“Yeah,” Jaebum said. “That's really why I don't want to be pissed at you. Because you're like this. So damn well-intentioned.”

“Does someone want me to be a jerk?”

“Nah. I just wish you could be as observant as you are well-intentioned.” Jaebum sat back up again. “So me and Jinyoung, yeah? An honest to god couple by time camp's over, you think?

“If you're not making out by time we're heading home, I'm the biggest idiot who ever walked this Earth, Im Jaebum. I'm betting on it.”

A/N: Wooop, mini hiatus in over! I've settled back into the frigid, ice wasteland that is Ohio in the winter, unpacked, answered 5,000 questions from my family members about Japan, and got my very first sister-in-law! Now that all that excitement is over, I'm ready to start posting again.

So let's begin with the winner of my blog poll, Fic #1! Thank you all who voted, and I hope you enjoy this fluffy tale of Markjin & Jackbum goodness!