A/N: This is going to be 3 parts :D Hope you enjoy~

 

 

1. Danger Ahead!

 

“So,” Jaebum said, finally meeting Jinyoung's eyes for the first time since they'd sat down to lunch together twenty minutes ago. “I think that we should just be friends.”

 

He should have seen this was coming. Jaebum loved to eat, but he hadn't even touched his heaping plate of chicken since setting it down on the table. In fact, he'd pretty much spent the last twenty minutes blankly swirling it around in teriyaki sauce without eating it. It was most likely an over-saturated mess by now. Which was too bad, a complete waste if you thought about it. Jaebum had paid for it out of pocket, and now he'd probably wind up throwing it away.

 

Jinyoung wondered why he was thinking of that instead of the fact that he was being rejected in the school cafeteria, but wasted food was an easier thing to face up to, he thought. Wasted money was bad, but not so upsetting as six months wasted wanting someone if it was only meant to end like this.

 

Jinyoung set down his chopsticks and looked back at Jaebum. “You have someone else you like?”

 

“That and this are two different things. I’m trying to answer you honestly, not bring someone else into it.”

 

“Then...”

 

Jaebum looked at him seriously. “I’m really sorry. And I’m incredibly thankful for your feelings. But I really do think of you as my friend, in the best way possible. Like this, I don’t think it’s possible for me to date you.”

 

Jinyoung stared at him.

 

“I mean, if you don’t want to be my friend anymore, I totally understand,” Jaebum said quickly. “If that’s not what you want, I’ll leave you alone for a while. But I would like to stay close. If not now, maybe later? That’s probably selfish, I’m sorry.”

 

What was he supposed to say? Yeah, you're right, that's selfish? I really do like you, and I have no idea what I’m going to do around you anymore now that I know you don’t like me? 

 

Jinyoung picked up his chopsticks and stabbed into his chicken. “All right,” he said flatly. “We can be friends. I hope you find someone wonderful.”

 

Jaebum didn't say anything for a long time. “You're mad at me,” he finally said, his voice quiet. “But you’ll find someone, too. Someone perfect for you. Please don’t let anything get in the way of that.”

 

Jinyoung glared, but said nothing. Easy for you to say. Your heart isn't broken by this. This has been, and always will be, a love I fell into alone.

 

0

When he made it back to the dorm room, he practically body slammed into the bed. His roommate BamBam—or so he called him since it was less of a mouthful than the alternative—glanced up briefly from the bag of chips he was demolishing, then decided to ignore him. Jinyoung wasn’t in the mood to be ignored. He grabbed his pillow and started beating it, muttering uncharacteristic curses under his breath.

 

BamBam pulled out his headphones. “What are you doing? Did you get dumped?”

 

Jinyoung scowled at him. “I hate you.”

 

“Eh? Oh wait, you DID get dumped? By who? You were dating someone?” To his annoyance, BamBam looked more thrilled at the prospect of gossip than sympathetic over his broken heart.

 

“Wasn’t. Just had a self-destructive crush on them that wound up blowing up in my face. That’s all.”

 

“Oh.” BamBam attempted to look solemn. “Well. At least now you know where you stand.”

 

“I really, really hate you.”

 

“Sorry!” He bit his lips. “It’s whoever’s loss, anyways. I’m sure there are a lot of people at this school who want to date you.”

 

“Oh yeah? Like who?”

 

“And I’m sure you’ll have fun finding them.”

 

Jinyoung sat up. “Your friend Yugyeom is Im Jaebum’s roommate.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Does he know if Jaebum is seeing someone?”

 

“Why would he tell me?”

 

“Have you noticed someone coming over a lot when you’re visiting?” Jinyoung persisted.

 

“Other than you, you mean?”

 

“Obviously.”

 

“Let’s see…” He tilted his head. “Choi Youngjae from his bio class. Oh, and Mark.”

 

“Mark? I didn’t know they were close.”

 

“Yeah, he’s been over a lot recently. He’s really cool, isn’t he? He lets me use his ripboard when he and Jaebum are busy.”

 

“Busy with what?”

 

“I don’t know. I have to leave the room to use the board safely, you know.”

 

Jinyoung sighed. If Jaebum didn’t want to date him, there had to be someone—but Mark? The two weren’t exactly close, even though it seemed things were heading in that direction if BamBam was at all to be believed. But why would it be Mark, of all people? Jinyoung had shared classes with him last year, and though he’d found Mark to be as uncommunicative as a brick wall for the majority of the semester, out of nowhere he'd started revealing an upbeat side no one thought existed. An upbeat side that had mainly entailed pulling random pranks on Jinyoung and then cackling like a maniac over them. Jinyoung had thought he was a really weird guy.

 

No way someone like that is Jaebum’s type, Jinyoung thought. I’ll find out who it really is and make sure they know I absolutely won’t lose to them, no matter what.

 

0

 

But, inexplicably, Mark Tuan was sitting at their cafeteria table right next to Jaebum the next afternoon. The two of them were leaning over an open textbook on the table, chatting comfortably between them. Jinyoung stood there awkwardly. He knew he was being irrational, but it felt like Jaebum was replacing him. It even made sense a little. Even if he was returning to their lunches as if nothing was happening, there was no way to go right back to the easy comradery they’d once had. By confessing to Jaebum, he’d changed that. Of course Jaebum would want someone else around to make the situation less awkward.

 

But why Mark?

 

Just as he thought, Jaebum looked surprised to see him when he finally looked up. “Ah, Jinyoung? Come join us. This is—”

 

“Mark,” Jinyoung finished for him. “We know each other.”

 

“Hey.” Mark gave him a mock salute. “Long time no see.”

 

“How are you?”

 

“As good as ever.”

 

Mark had a nice smile. Jinyoung had to give him that. He had straight, white teeth and had a very pleasant look about him when he was actually making the effort to look happy. It was a nice touch, considering how persistently grumpy Mark had looked when they’d first known each other. He was someone who improved with time and took a while to get used to the people around him. Which Jinyoung supposed meant Mark was used to him, to a degree. He wasn’t sure if they were friends, but they were at least close.

 

“We’re in bio together,” Jaebum explained. “We’ve been working on a project, and it’s kind of creeping into all hours of the day. We’re almost getting there, right Mark?” It didn’t escape Jinyoung that Jaebum gently poked Mark’s chin as he said this. Or that Mark smirked playfully back at him. Bio or not, how did they get so close?

 

“Yeah, only a few more late night work sessions,” Mark said lightly. “I swear, Yugyeom is beginning to feel like my own roommate.”

 

“Better him than your real one.”

 

“Don’t let Jackson catch you saying that!”

 

“Who is Jackson?” Jinyoung asked, feeling left out.

 

“Only the most wild and y man ever formed,” Jaebum said dryly. “Or at least that’s what he’d let you think.”

 

“My roommate,” Mark explained. “You kind of have to see him to get him. Or more like listen to him. If you can handle listening to him for more than five minutes.”

 

“He doesn’t sound like you at all.”

 

“Actually he kind of explains the amount you talk,” Jaebum said. The two of them laughed. Why does Jaebum need to put his hand on Mark’s shoulder when he does that? Is Mark touching him on the leg?

 

“Oh, look,” Mark said quietly all of a sudden. He didn’t seem to be looking at anything himself, but Jaebum glanced over his shoulder towards the cafeteria line.

 

“Ah, that reminds me, I wanted to get a tea bottle,” Jaebum said quickly. “Want me to get you anything, Mark? Jinyoung?”

 

They both declined. Mark’s eyes followed Jaebum as he walked away, and his lips quirked up in an odd smile. If Jinyoung wasn’t deluding himself, it was almost fond. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like Mark looking at him that way. Jaebum was his, and who was someone who barely knew him to take that away?

 

After a minute, Mark’s eyes shifted over to Jinyoung and his glare. “What?” he asked innocently.

 

“What do you think you’re doing?”

 

“What do I think—” Mark looked even more confused. “Well, um, I’m sitting here…” He twiddled his thumbs. “Now I’m, you know, twiddling my thumbs.”

 

“Cute. I mean, why are you sitting with us?”

 

“Didn’t I explain? We have a project we’re working on.”

 

“You like Jaebum, too, don’t you?”

 

Mark blinked. “Too?”

 

Jinyoung blushed, but looked back at him defiantly. Mark muttered something under his breath that sounded like ‘could have mentioned that,’ while shaking his head.

 

After a moment, he’d collected himself and was looking back at Jinyoung with a wide smile. “Yeah? So what if I do?”

 

“So what?”

 

“I mean… if he wanted you, you’d already have him, right? So he must not be interested. I don’t see why I shouldn’t have a fair shot like you did?”

 

Jinyoung huffed. “You’re not his type. At all.”

 

“And you are?”

 

“…” Jinyoung folded his arms across his chest. “Look. I’m sure Jaebum doesn’t want to date me right now because he’s worried it’ll mess up a perfectly good friendship. If I just had more time…”

 

“…I could steal him away while you’re waiting.” He pointed to where Jaebum was standing in line, chatting brightly to Youngjae, who was buying cup ramen to go next to him. “I mean, just look at him. What a nice, happy guy. If you seduce him in just the right way, he’d be great wouldn’t he?”

 

“Shut up!”

 

“What? We want the same thing, so why should I have to be the one to shut up?” He leaned in towards Jinyoung. “In fact, you better watch me carefully. If you’re not around, who knows what I’ll do.”

 

“Ah! You wouldn’t!”

 

“Why wouldn’t I? Should I become a nun, Jinyoungie?” He grinned. “Actually, I like a good competition.  Let’s both go forward whole heartedly!”

 

Jinyoung clenched his fists. He wanted to prove himself worthy of Jaebum’s love, but what if competing with Mark backfired on him? Jaebum had already rejected him; he hadn’t rejected Mark. What if Mark was the one he was interested in, after all? The second Jinyoung allowed him an opening was the second he’d lose the person he wanted forever.

 

“Just don’t,” he said heavily. “Please.”

 

Mark’s smile faltered a little. He looked about ready to say something, but was interrupted by a very perky Jaebum returning to the table.

 

“Back~” He trilled. “Hey, what’s wrong with you guys? You look depressed.”

 

“Nothing,” they both said a little too quickly. Jinyoung looked everywhere but Mark’s eyes, but it felt like Mark was still looking at him.

 

“Nothing,” Jinyoung said again, trying to sound more certain than he was. “Nothing at all.”

 

0

 

Once he was back at home, he wallowed. It wasn’t fair. He’d fallen for Im Jaebum six months ago during the last school year, when the two of them had been paired up for a school level choral competition. They’d known each other before that, but thanks to the event, they’d been together constantly, and Jinyoung instantly found himself feeling more and more comfortable with him. Jaebum was funny and a great singer and interesting, and no matter how you looked at it, they had so many things in common. It hadn’t been long before Jinyoung started going out of his way to meet Jaebum, and had become his best friend under the guise of actually wanting to be much closer.

 

But now? He kicked his bed covers in frustration. Getting rejected was bad enough. He didn’t want to have to watch Jaebum dating someone else on top of that. Especially not someone he knew. Especially not Mark. He wasn’t sure why it couldn’t be him, especially, but it just couldn’t. He couldn’t allow it to happen, and that was all.

 

“Stop whining and get the door,” BamBam said, also whining. Jinyoung hadn’t even heard anyone knocking, but sure enough, there was a repetitive beat against the paneling. Groaning, he pulled himself out of bed and threw it open.

 

Jinyoung blinked. Mark was standing right in front of him, holding a ripboard in his hands. “Hey,” he said nonchalantly.

 

“Mark!” BamBam leapt right out of bed. “Can I use your board again? Pretty please?”

 

“Oh, you were Jinyoungie’s roommate? Go right ahead.” He passed the board along to BamBam. “Just have it back in, um…” He looked at Jinyoung. “Two hours?”

 

‘You’re staying that long?” Jinyoung asked coolly.

 

“Why not?” He plopped down on Jinyoung’s bed as BamBam scampered out of the room. “We were actually friends before this whole thing started today, remember?”

 

“We were?”

 

“Jeez, you’re blunt.” He tapped Jinyoung on the nose. “I don’t talk to people I don’t like or don’t feel myself comfortable with. Remember?”

 

“Oh.” Jinyoung stared down at his feet. “But I’m sure you’d have somewhere you’d rather be.”

 

Mark wrinkled his nose. “That’s why I’m here. I was going to go to Jaebum’s, but you just looked too pitiful this afternoon, and I felt bad for you. I figured you’d be all broken up if I went to Jaebum’s, so I considered that it would only be fair to offer you the chance to entertain me instead. If you don’t want to, I’ll go where I originally wanted to go. So what do you say? Stay? Go?”

 

Jinyoung remained stubbornly silent for a few token seconds. “Fine,” he said grudgingly. “You can stay.”

 

“Awesome.” Mark glanced around the room. “It’s very…neat.”

 

“Yours isn’t?”

 

Mark snorted. “Jackson’s always bringing friends over and eating chips all over the place. It’s homey, at least.”

 

“You’re fine with that many people around?”

 

“It’s not so bad. Jackson’s a friendly guy, but he doesn’t befriend just anyone, if that makes sense. He wouldn’t attach himself to bad people, I mean.” Mark grinned. “I say that, but he still drives me crazy, half the time. That project with Jaebum wound up being a good thing as far as getting me out of the house goes. Yugyeom’s much less of a pain. When BamBam or Youngjae’s there, it’s just an added bonus.”

 

“You know Youngjae?” He paused. “Wait, why would he be over there if you’re busy with Jaebum on schoolwork? He’s Jaebum’s friend, not Yugyeom’s.”

 

Mark smiled. “Well… he’s a bit of a bio dunce, isn’t he? He needs as much observation as he can get.”

 

“Ah.” Jinyoung paused. “Wait, you weren’t even alone with Jaebum to begin with?”

 

“It depends. I was known to distract the other boys with my ripboard to get some alone time…” Jinyoung clocked him over the head with a pillow.

 

“Anyways, forget about them,” Mark continued. “Want to play a game or something? We may as well get on with this competing thing.”

 

“BamBam should have left something in the console.” He checked. "Mario Party."

 

“Sounds perfect.”

 

Jinyoung had forgotten how much fun that game could be. They started off incredibly rusty at the mini-games and wound up being trounced by the NPCs, thanks in part to whatever efforts they did take being more to sabotage each other than to accomplish the mission of the game. They spent the majority of those first few face-offs yelling their heads off at each other for cheating or not playing fair, even thought it was pretty obvious they were both doing their best to cheat.

 

The next game they landed on was voice recognition. Complete the race using verbal commands.

 

"God, I hate these!" Mark yelled. "Switch to another game!"

 

"I don't know how. Plus, isn't that cheating?"

 

"I swear to god, I'll switch out the next game you don't like if you do this for me."

 

"What's the big deal? Sounds easy to me."

 

Mark simply grimaced.

 

The game started innocently enough. The timer went off, and they both started shrieking "RUN!" into their microphones, the characters on screen mimicking their commands by dashing across the screen. It was actually pretty cool to watch, and Jinyoung had no idea why Mark disliked it so much. An obstacle appeared on his screen, and Jinyoung shouted "JUMP!". Luigi nimbly cleared it and continued on with the race.

 

Mark didn't seem to be having such an easy time next to him. "JUMP!" he yelled, pushing his face up to the microphone. "JUMP! JUMP! JUMPPP! JU-MP. J-UMP. JUM-P! J-U-M-P!" Toad remained running uselessly against the barrier as Mark cursed. "JUM-PEU! JEOM-PU! JUMP, GOD DAMN IT!"

 

Jinyoung was laughing so much that he thought his sides would split. No matter what Mark said, Toad kept running in place, which only made Mark angrier. For one second, it looked like Toad had finally registering the command and taking off, but he was just a bit shy of actually clearing the barrier. Mark almost looked hopeful as he yelled "JUMP!" a second time. Naturally, Toad did nothing but run in place.

 

"GOD. DAMN. IT!!!!!!!!"

 

Jinyoung was laughing so hysterically that the voice commands couldn’t recognize what he was saying either and assumed he was the one who wanted to jump, leaving Luigi bounding enthusiastically in place while Toad repeatedly ran into a wall behind him. They both ended up near the start of the race when the timer ran out.

 

“Oh my god,” Jinyoung said, choking. “You’re horrible at this.”

 

“Hey, it’s not my fault I have an accent. To be fair, we should take those challenges out.”

 

“And miss out on my entertainment? Not a chance!”

 

As if to punish him for speaking too soon, Jinyoung landed on the Bowser space and then the “unlucky” space one right after another. This time, Mark was the one cackling as Jinyoung lost all his earnings. Jinyoung stuck his tongue out, but he was honestly having fun. Hitting a rough spot only wanted to make him win more.

 

Hours later, BamBam poked his head in. “I brought the ripboard back late, I’m sorry, Mar-” He blinked, noticing they were still playing their game. “Oh, can I keep it longer?”

 

Neither of them answered, since Mark was too busy yelling about Jinyoung jumping on his character’s head, and that wasn’t what they meant by “buddy bounce.”

 

Half-an-hour later, the game had finally ended with a narrow victory by Mark, and Jinyoung, embarrassingly, had almost lost to an NPC. They both pestered each other about it, but ended with an overall good mood.

 

“JU-MP!” Jinyoung yelled, mimicking Mark’s earlier yelling. “Goddamn it, JUMMPPP!”

 

“All that, and I still won.”

 

“Your dice rolls were lucky.”

 

“Or maybe yours were just unlucky.” He laughed.

 

“By the way, I’d forgotten you were from America, originally. When you’re not yelling like that, your speech is really good.”

 

“Yeah? I’ve been here for a while, now.”

 

“How come?”

 

He shrugged. “It’s the same in America that it is here. It’s a sign of distinguishment to study abroad. I already knew English and Mandarin, so I decided to come here and learn a language I didn't know. And after I got used to it, I thought I might as well stay.”

 

“So easily?”

 

“Oh, it wasn’t easy. People haven’t always been that nice to me. But most people have. I’ve known Jackson since coming here, and he’s looked out for me and has been pretty nice in his own way. You probably don’t know this, but you were one of the first people I was able to get along with, too.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Really. You’re a good person, aren’t you?” He grinned. “You care a lot about people, and you mean it very genuinely. I liked that. I didn’t want to be treated like a handicapped friend because I wasn’t fluent in Korean and didn’t get a lot of the cultural stuff, but you didn’t treat me differently even though you still helped me a lot last year. Maybe the circumstances aren’t great, but I think it’s cool to see you again.”

 

Jinyoung flushed. It embarrassed him a little bit that he’d forgotten all this and had jumped right on Mark for their shared crush on Jaebum. Maybe it would be better—healthier—just to put it behind him and try remembering what it was like to be an unselfish friend.

 

Mark looked across the bed at him. “It works out better this way, right? You won’t have to worry about me taking Jaebum this way. Because we’re friends, I won’t cross that line, if you don’t want me to.”

 

“Really? You won’t?”

 

He nodded.

 

“Even though you like Jaebum too, you won’t?”

 

“Fair is fair.”

 

“Then we can have a truce?” He extended his pinky finger, and Mark locked his around it.

 

“Truce.”

0

 

Jaebum wasn’t at the cafeteria the next day, but Mark was there in their regular place. His eyes lit up when he saw Jinyoung and he started waving him over, even though it was Jinyoung’s seat to begin with already.

 

“Where’s Jaebum?” Jinyoung asked.

 

“Long story,” Mark said, grinning. “Let’s just say that Jackson tried to pull a little prank on him and Youngjae in bio while we were dissecting frogs, and the two are still in the nurse’s office recovering from the shock. Jackson got a detention. My lab partner is such an idiot.”

 

“I thought Jaebum was your lab partner.”

 

“No. I’m with Jackson, Jaebum’s with Youngjae.”

 

“So you deliberately switched with Youngjae for the project to be with Jaebum?”

 

Mark rolled his eyes. “No. The project partners were assigned randomly. Not that I’m complaining. The last person I wanted to work on with that with was Jackson.” He poked Jinyoung in the forehead. “Anyways, I told you. We have a gentleman’s agreement. No going after Jaebum.”

 

“You said you wouldn’t,” Jinyoung said stubbornly. “I never said I wouldn’t again.”

 

“Why you little…” Mark playfully grabbed him in a chokehold and rubbed his scalp with his knuckles. Jinyoung laughed and batted him away.

 

“Anyways, they’re okay, right? Youngjae and Jaebum?”

 

“They’re just fine. Although I can’t promise Jackson will be fine once the two of them get out of sick bay. I kind of want to watch.” He tapped his toes on the ground. “Hey, you’re done with classes for the day,  right?”

 

Jinyoung bobbed his head. He usually had choir after lunch, but since it was Friday, his day ended early.

 

“Want to do something?”

 

“Like what?”

 

“I don’t know. Oh, come with me to the mall to pick out new sneakers. Mine are wearing through the toe.”

 

“Why should I have to come with you?”

 

“Because it’s boring by myself. And… if you don’t go with me, I’ll have no one else to ask but Jaebum, right?”

 

Jinyoung grimaced. “Fine.”

 

“Great. You can help me pick out something nice. You look like you have a discerning eye.”

 

Of course, when they actually got the shoe store, Mark wound up knowing a hell of a lot more about the latest styles than Jinyoung, who wore sneakers mainly for practical purposes over athletic. Still, Mark’s enthusiasm was very catching. In spite of his shyness, he had a very active personality, and enjoyed everything from skating and snowboarding to hiking and fishing. If anything, Mark’s quietness seemed to come from getting enough out of his surroundings without needing to fill it with unnecessary things as much as it came from his natural reserve.

 

“You aren’t on any sports teams, are you?” Jinyoung asked. “I don’t remember that you are.”

 

Mark shrugged. “I prefer taking lessons over doing organized competitions. I’m learning taekwando and hapkido now. I can do a pretty mean flying kick, you know.”

 

“Can I see?”

 

“…in the middle of the store, Jinyoungie?”

 

“…oh.” Jinyoung laughed. “Another time, then.”

 

“Yeah. I mean, I owe it to you to see it, right? I did go to your choral competition last year, after all.”

 

“You did?”

 

“Yup. We were in math together all that year, so I heard you singing your duet song under your breath all the time. I got curious, and since it wasn’t too far from campus…” He grabbed another sneaker and studied it. “Really good job, by the way. You’ve got a lot of…” He waved his hand abstractly. “In your voice.”

 

“Real expressive.”

 

“Exactly. Jaebum was also excellent, but that was before I knew him, I guess.”

 

“Maybe that’s when you started falling for him,” Jinyoung said, smiling to himself. “That was it for me. He just becomes so incredible when he sings, doesn’t he?”

 

Mark tilted his head. “Jaebum?” He cleared his throat. “You know, you two seem a bit weird as a pairing. And I’m not just saying that as a rival. You’re just both so…” He waved his hand again.

 

“Once again, really expressive.”

 

“You’re just so…agreeable?”

 

Jinyoung snorted. “You think Jaebum’s agreeable? Since when was that one of his good points?”

 

Mark also laughed. “Okay, he can be a bit rough, but he’s still a nice guy. And you’re nice in a similar way. You both seem like the kind of people who, I don’t know, like to nag the people they care about. It doesn’t seem as balanced.”

 

“As balanced as…?”

 

“As balanced as… those New Balances over there I want to try on. Go get them for me.”

 

Jinyoung rolled his eyes but hopped over to the next aisle to snag the pair Mark wanted.

 

“They’re looking at you,” Mark commented absently as he took the sneakers from Jinyoung.

 

“Who?”

 

“Those girls shopping with their friend or brother or whatever over there.”

 

Jinyoung looked indifferently over his shoulder. “Could be looking at you.”

 

Mark grinned wryly. “No. I would know.” He extended the two pairs of sneakers in his hands. “Which one for me, do you think?”

 

Jinyoung pointed to the red pair in his left hand. “Wearing these would make your spin kicks stand out, I think.”

 

“Really?” He looked pleased. “I’ll buy them, then.”

 

Why does this feel so coupley, anyways?, Jinyoung wondered belatedly as Mark went up to the register. He wondered if he was doing it on purpose. He was blocking Mark from Jaebum, so Jinyoung was the stand-in for the person and things he really wanted to be doing. Oddly, it made him feel a little bit lonely. He liked the happy look on Mark’s face, but at the end of the day, it was just a pale comparison of the real emotion.

 

He glanced at himself in the reflection of the store mirror. Was it the same for him? He ran a finger across his lips. Really, it was a miracle he was doing this okay just days after being rejected by Jaebum. Even if he still had hope, realistically he knew Jaebum had been telling him the truth when he said he’d wanted to stay friends. Perhaps that could change, but most likely, it wouldn’t.

 

But he was still standing and living and breathing. He was even a little bit happy. Was that a betrayal to his heart? Was he doing something wrong by being too okay?

 

Mark bought him a pizza slice on the way home as a thank you. Jinyoung wasn’t sure what exactly he had done to earn one, but he took it anyways. It was just one more part of this unexpected friendship he didn’t really get. He liked pizza, though. Maybe not every part of not knowing had to be bad.

 

0

 

When they made it back to campus, Mark asked Jinyoung if he wanted to drop by his dorm room. “Actually, I just don’t want to be alone with Jackson,” he said. “He’ll be antsy after being on house arrest, and… well, yeah. You don’t know how he gets yet.”

 

“Should I find out?” Jinyoung asked anxiously.

 

“Uh… well, actually, I think you’ll like him. He’s interesting… entertaining…annoying…”

 

“What was that last part?”

 

Without further ado,  Mark pulled open the door. Before Jinyoung realized what had happened, someone had vaulted themselves on Mark and knocked him onto the bed nearest to the door.

 

“MARK! MARK TUAN!” a shorter and stocky boy was straddling Mark on the bed, whacking him with a black snapback. “YOU SAID YOU WOULD GET ME FOOD! FOOD! SOUND FAMILIAR!?” The boy—Jackson, he assumed—was speaking in English, but Jinyoung could just barely understand the gist of what he was yelling about.

 

“Jackson, stop,” Mark groaned as Jackson start tickling his waist.

 

“Shut up, Mark! You promised me pizza, like, four hours ago. Where were you?”

 

Jinyoung cleared his throat. Jackson kept tickling Mark for a few minutes before realizing someone was behind them and stopping abruptly. He quickly got off of Mark and sat alertly on the bed. “I mean ‘Hello, Mark’s friend, nice to meet you!’” he said in sing-song, accented Korean. The quick about-face made it almost impossible for Jinyoung to hold back his laughter.

 

“Jackson, he isn’t going to believe that’s actually what you meant to say. And by the way, I never said I was going to get you food. I said I would think about it. And I thought about it… and decided to get pizza for Jinyoungie instead.”

 

Jackson’s eyes filled with crocodile tears. “I would die for you, man. If you had wrongfully been given a detention, I would take it for you.”

 

“No you wouldn’t. And who wrongfully got a detention?”

 

Jackson blinked away the tears but left on a long suffering look. “Dude, I was trying to do Jaebum a favor. It’s not my fault he made himself look like an idiot.”

 

Mark rolled his eyes but didn’t respond.

 

“Anyways, this one is Jinyoung?”

 

“Yeah. Park Jinyoung. This is Jackson Wang.”

 

“Nice to meet you,” Jinyoung said politely. It was hard to imagine someone like this living in close quarters with Mark, but the thought was amusing in its own way.

 

“So you’re MARK’S friend,” Jackson said loudly, smacking Jinyoung on the back. “Isn’t MARK just great? A real stand up guy!”

 

"Really? I thought you were mad about him not getting you pizza?"

 

"Oh, but it's okay if it's me. Mark understands. I am a saint when it comes to Mark, I put up with all his so you don't have to. That's like my motto. But to you..." He placed his hand over Jinyoung's heart. "I'm sure Mark's the perfect angel. Is there anything more I can have him do for you? Shine your shoes? Buy me-- us-- a pizza?"

 

“What the hell are you doing?” Mark asked, pulling him off of Jinyoung.

 

“If I don’t talk you up to your friends, they’ll all run away.”

 

“They’ll all run away from you, maybe.”

 

“I won’t run away, I swear,” Jinyoung said, laughing. “Just…calm down.”

 

Jackson didn’t seem to be done yet. “So, what do you think of MARK?”

 

Mark looked like he was thinking about hitting Jackson, but since he didn’t do it, he and Jackson both just wound up looking at Jinyoung expectantly. Jinyoung sighed. He wasn’t good with these kinds of situations. He knew Jackson was trying to be funny, but he wasn’t sure if he should say something funny back or if Mark or Jackson actually wanted him to be serious.

 

“You guys are actually a lot cleaner than I was expecting,” he said, taking the safe—and evasive—road.

 

“MARK, have you been telling LIES about me?”

 

“Not at all,” Mark said. His voice really was starting to sound ten times quieter than it normally did now that he was next to Jackson.

 

“Speaking of which, what are supposed to do about the fact that I haven’t eaten in six hours?”

 

“There are snacks throughout this entire room.”

 

“I ate them all.”

 

“You just said—”

 

“C’mon, those don’t count.”

 

Mark made an exasperated noise. “Just put on a hat or something and go down to the Student U. It’s not like Professor Song is going to know, anyways.”

 

Jackson looked genuinely annoyed that he hadn’t thought of that first.  “Looks like you two get the room to yourselves for a little bit,” he said. “I’d ask you if you wanted anything, but revenge, you know?” He plunked his hat down and gave them a wave.

 

Mark collapsed down on the bed as soon as Jackson had left. “Isn’t JACKSON just GREAT? What did you think of JACKSON?”

 

“Interesting.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Good luck with the rest of your semester.”

 

“Thanks.” Mark leaned back and closed his eyes.

 

“Are you tired? Should I leave?”

 

“Nah.” He cracked his eye open. “Really, I still don’t want to be alone when he comes back.”

 

“Fair enough.” Jinyoung splayed out on the bed beside Mark. To his surprise, Mark rested his head on his shoulder.

 

“Jinyoung is nice,” he hummed. “Nice, peaceful, and quiet. And warm.”

 

“Are you making fun of me?”

 

“No way.”

 

“Hmph. You’re quiet, too.”

 

“So I’ve been told.”

 

“I’m not making fun of you, either.”

 

“I know.”

 

It was kind of strange, the more he thought about it. Jinyoung was a warm person, but he still only got close to people by degrees. And he knew Mark struggled to get close to people at all. What were they doing, moving into each other’s space so quickly like this? They were rivals. Even with a gentleman’s agreement between them—or at least on Mark’s side—there was no getting around the fact that the object of their heart was the same thing. If that became a problem later on, what if they couldn’t be friends anymore?

 

Maybe it would be okay, maybe he would just go back to the way he was before. But he understood the truth, even if he didn’t want to admit it. Mark was the reason he’d been able to carry on the past few days after Jaebum had turned him down. Even liking Jaebum himself, Mark had set that aside and put him first, distracting him, keeping him entertained, even taking the bitter edge of his hurt off by making their shared feelings for Jaebum a light hearted competition. He hadn’t known Mark had respected him to that extent, and it felt good. But what happened when that stopped? Would everything start coming crashing down? Would they be able to stay like this, then?

He felt Mark’s fingers teasing against his forehead, probably brushing down the more stubborn ends of his bangs. It felt like a promise of comfort, even a little bit like protection. It was nice, soothing. But all of Mark’s sentiment belonged to someone else. And so did his own. He couldn’t afford to forget that. Even if he didn’t want to, a day would have to come where they drew a firmer line.

But not now. Right now it was fine, it was okay, it was healing for his heart. He felt himself drifting off to sleep with Mark’s fingers still brushing against his skin and felt a little bit less like whatever he’d fallen into was something he was facing alone.

 

0