Jinyoung found looking at Jackson's picture becoming a part of his daily routine. It hurt him to see Jackson, he was a constant reminder of what he couldn't have. He ignored the pain.  He couldn't go a day without it. He began to worry that he was becoming obsessed. Jackson didn't, and wouldn't, know he existed, so why was he wasting so much of his time pining over a guy who would never like him? He hid this from his friends, not wanting them to judge him, he buried he burden deep within himself.

There was just something different about Jackson's smile that he didn't want to share with his friends, that was a hidden bond that only he knew about. 

He would laugh with his friends, but each night he would take of the mask he'd been wearing all day and think. Think about all of the possibilities that would never come to him because he was Jinyoung. Just Jinyoung.

~~~

"Jinyoung." Jinyoung looked up from the book he was reading in his usual spot in the library basement. 

"Hey Jaebum, what's up?" Jaebum sat down across from him, eyeing him cautiously. 

"What's going on with you?" 

"What do you mean?"

"You don't think I haven't noticed the way you've been closing yourself off more and more as each day passes. What's wrong? What are you hiding from me?"

"N-nothing." Jinyoung looked down at his book.

"You're lying."

"No I'm n-not."

"Then look me in the eyes and tell me that you're okay." Jinyoung looked up hesistantly, immediately putting his head back down when he was met with Jaebum's intense gaze. "This has to do with Jackson, doesn't it?"

"W-what?" Jinyoung screeched, looking up in horror.

"That's what I thought. Jinyoung, why don't you just talk to him. You know I'm on soccer with him. You could just come to one of the practices and talk to him after."

"And say what? Oh hey, I think you're attractive, I can't stop thinking about you. Oh and you appear in my dreams sometimes too?" Jinyoung blurted this out, breathing heavily after he finished. "D-don't tell anyone I told you that." He panicked.

"Jinyoung-ah, why can't you just introduce yourself to him, I don't like seeing you like this over someone you don't even know."

"I don't even understand why he has such a hold on me. I wish he didn't. I hate liking someone. Jaebum...do you know how painful it is to like someone and know you don't even have a chance?" Jaebum just looked at him. "Do you?"

"N-no." 

"Then please don't try and convince me that I have a chance when all it will do is backfire in my face, okay?" Jinyoung started to pack up his things, upset that his quiet time had gotten interrupted for this conversation.

"B-but, Jinyoung..."

"Save it." Jinyoung swung his backpack over his shoulders, leaving Jaebum there to sit by himself in the basement.

~~~

Jinyoung tried to avoid everyone for a couple of days. But he couldn't really avoid Mark since they were roommates, and since Mark was friends with Jaebum too, he couldnt' really avoid Jaebum either. So he settled for burrowing himself under his covers until they left the room. They often tried to get him to go out, but he just ignored them.

It was one of these nights when Jinyoung was alone in his room when there was a knock on the door. He got up from his desk, putting down the book he had been reading to answer the door. 

He opened it, revealing the same face