DATING BLIND

Mark glanced around the cafe, then back down at the text message Jaebum had sent him that morning. Look for the one in the blue button down. He looked again. Well thank you, Jaebum, but there are no girls wearing blue button downs in this place. At all.

 
He double checked the address, but he had that right, and the time as well. Was Jaebum playing a trick on him? Mark hadn't even wanted to go, but Jaebum had been strangely insistent on it, claiming that this time's blind date would be The One. He'd been on enough blind dates arranged by Jaebum to be suspicious of these claims, but Jaebum had a gift for pulling out favors Mark hadn't even remembered owing him and forcing him along on these events of his. Maybe he'd gotten tired of Mark turning down all of his female friends and had sent him on a fool's mission to teach him a lesson. He rather thought Jaebum would enjoy ing about him to all his failed dates, but it turned out a better portion of them were actually more upset at not getting his number at the end of their meetings than ticked off. And Jaebum was much less disposed to mopping up tears than ing.

 
Still, it was his own fault. He knew Mark was picky. He also knew Mark couldn't give out his number after meeting once, given that he didn't open up that easily. Mark wasn't at all interested in the resulting phone call, where he'd be doing only .999% of the talking, a pointless presence during the “getting to know you phase.” He knew at least thirty things about each girl he was set up with. They left knowing his name and age and maybe which school he went to, and that was about it.

 
The cafe door opened, but the girl who walked in definitely wasn't wearing a blue button down. Mark sighed. Should he text Jaebum or just go home? This was a colossal waste of time, especially since chances weren't even that good that he'd wind up dating whoever Jaebum had picked out this time, either.

 
He'd been standing in the middle of the cafe glancing around for a good six minutes now, so he wasn't surprised that he could feel someone staring at him. He turned his attention to a booth by the window where he felt the most persistent of the gazing, finding the pair of eyes that had been following him for the past six minutes. They belonged to a boy about his age or younger who was spooning the whipped cream from his hot chocolate into his mouth while ignoring the book he'd brought along with him in favor of Mark. He was a familiar face as well. Mark had seen the photos on Jaebum's phone enough to recognize that this was Jaebum's childhood friend Park Jinyoung. And Park Jinyoung also happened to be wearing a blue button down.

 
Is Jaebum trying to set me up with a man?

 
He wouldn't put it past Jaebum, although he would have hoped his friend would have done him the courtesy of alerting him to it first. Then again, had Jaebum even suggested this was a date date? Mark racked his brain. Jaebum had definitely said something along the lines of “There's someone I'd like you to meet" and "it will be someone you'll really like this time," but there had been no more specifications other than that they were set to meet up at the cafe on Saturday afternoon. He'd been meaning to introduce Mark and Jinyoung for ages, insisting that they'd get along perfectly with each other, so that could be it. Mark still had to wonder why he hadn't just come out and said that, but Jaebum was nothing if not a pain in the friend.

 
Mark crossed the room to Jinyoung's booth. “Hey, you're the one Jaebum wanted me to meet, yeah?”

 
Jinyoung blinked at him twice, as if he hadn't actually expected Mark to come over. “Yes. That would be me.”

 
“Great.” Mark dropped into the booth, relieved not to be standing like an idiot anymore. “Why didn't you come over and get me?”

 
“I...I wasn't sure it was you.”

 
“Jaebum didn't tell you what I'd be wearing? He mentioned your shirt to me.”

 
“I guess he forgot.”

 
“He's never showed you a picture of me? Or anything?”

 
Jinyoung shook his head. “Not... not exactly.”

 
“Not exactly?” He sighed, deciding it wasn't worth it to press the point. It wasn't this kid's fault that Jaebum was proving to be an airhead on top of everything else. “I'm Mark Tuan, by the way.”

 
“I know. I mean... I'm Park Jinyoung.”

 
“I'm glad Jaebum told you something about me, at least. I know plenty about you.”

 
“Oh, he's told me things. Only good things, too. I've wanted to meet you for a long time.”

 
“Oh?” Mark smiled, since Jinyoung seemed nervous. If he remembered correctly, he was definitely younger than Jaebum and himself, and was probably a bit edgy about meeting an unfamiliar senior by himself. Oddly, his eyes kept shifting to the door, either as if he wanted to bolt at any minute or he was expecting someone else to pop in. Maybe Jaebum was planning on coming to smooth their introduction. Mark glanced over his shoulder to check.

 
“Um!” Jinyoung said loudly as soon as he did. Mark whirled back around. “So, I heard you're from America, right?”

 
“Yeah, this is my second year here.”

 
“Do you like it?”

 
“It's pretty good. Well, now that I've learned the language at least.”

 
“You're very good, if it's just been two years. I've been studying English since elementary school, but I'm still pretty terrible.”

 
“Really? Say something to me.”

 
“Er... 'I want to go see LA, would you visit with me?'”

 
“Not bad. Did Jaebum tell you that's where I was from?”

 
Jinyoung bobbed his head.

 
“Hmm. I might consider going with you. I would like to visit again.”

 
“Ah... I don't think I could actually afford to go. I'm just a student, hyung.”

 
“It's never too early to start saving. I'm just a student too, myself, although I guess my parents pay for me to go home from time to time.” He picked up the cafe menu and flipped through it. “So, you're Jaebum's neighbor?”

 
“Yes. Jaebum hyung and I have known each other for ages. I thought we'd be going to high school together, but my mother stuck me in this stuffy prep school all by myself.”

 
“Not the best place for Jaebum, I guess. I couldn't imagine him following that kind of dress code.”

 
“Definitely not. I'm jealous of him. He always sounds like he's having fun with you and your other friend-- Jackson?-- while I'm stuck studying with all my honor student friends.”

 
“Hey, we may have fun, but it's not like we're at the bottom of the class or anything, if you wanted to have non-honor roll, moronic friends.”

 
“I wasn't suggesting that!”

 
“I know, I was just joking.” The waitress dropped by their table, and Mark ordered some French Toast and a hot chocolate to go with Jinyoung's. Jinyoung ordered pancakes.

 
“You know, you're different from what I'd thought you'd be, hyung,” Jinyoung said. “Jaebum hyung said you don't talk a lot.”

 
And so I don't... Mark had barely realized he'd been keeping up with this conversation a lot better than he did with most. “I can't leave my junior carrying the whole thing by himself,” he said, shrugging.

 
“That's nice of you. But feel free to be comfortable... not that I don't want you to talk!” Jinyoung's eyes darted to the door again, and suddenly he'd jumped up to his feet. “Um... just a moment...”

 
He darted forward so quickly that Mark barely had time to register the movement. He turned to look after him, wondering what had distracted him so much. A pretty older woman with short bobbed hair was standing in the doorway, dressed in stockings and heels paired with a form fitting black skirt and a tan trench coat with a sky blue collar peeking out from underneath. Jinyoung had rushed up to her and was talking to her too quietly for Mark to hear. The woman looked confused and at one point even glanced at Mark and pointed to him. Jinyoung shook his head and kept talking to her until she eventually shrugged and walked out of the cafe.

 
“Sorry about that,” Jinyoung said, returning to his seat.

 
“Who was that?”

 
“My...cousin. I'm supposed to be studying and stuff today, so she wanted to get me to go back home.”

 
“Oh? You shouldn't have caused trouble for yourself on my account.”

 
“No, no, I absolutely didn't want to waste the day studying. This is better.”

 
“All right. How did she even know you were here, anyways?”

 
Jinyoung shrugged helplessly. “I don't know... I like going here, I guess.”

 
“Lesson one to skipping out on studying: never go somewhere obvious.”

 
“Right...” He laughed tentatively. “Anyways, what were we talking about again?”

 
It amazed Mark a little, how easy Jinyoung was to talk to. Sure, he knew plenty about him already thanks to Jaebum, but there was also plenty he didn't know, and he surprised himself a little by being interested enough to ask outright. He was curious about what Jaebum had been like as a child, but somehow even more interested in what Jinyoung had been like. He laughed right along with Jinyoung's stories and shared some of his own from back home, barely even noticing when their food arrived.

 
The French Toast was excellent, but he still found himself sparing more attention to making Jinyoung laugh. His eyes wrinkled cutely with amusement whenever he found something humorous and he had a neat little laugh; nothing too loud, but simply endearing. Mark thought it was fortunate that they'd had this meeting without Jaebum, after all. If there was someone more familiar with Jinyoung around, Mark would probably be tempted to revert to his quieter, more prone to listening self, but this way he was fully engaged, sharing of himself rather just sitting there and absorbing.

 
“Do you have anything else you're doing today?” Jinyoung asked out of the blue.

 
“Not really.”

 
“Oh, then let's go out or something! Jaebum mentioned something about you skating. Let's go to the roller rink, I haven't been in ages.”

 
“Don't you need to be studying?”

 
“Hyung, please don't be responsible.”

 
“Fine, fine, you win.”

 
He polished off the rest of his French Toast and glanced down at his watch. They'd been at the cafe for about two and a half hours.

 
This, he realized with a little shock, was so far the longest he'd ever lasted on a 'date'.

 
0o0

 
Mark had no idea how good of a skater Jinyoung was, so set the good example of putting on knee and elbow pads, even though he rarely fell himself. Jinyoung got a little bit turned around with all the straps, so he lent a hand with those, even as Jinyoung stubbornly insisted he wasn't having any trouble. To make up for it, he helped Mark buckle into his blades. He seemed like the type who enjoyed spoiling others more than being spoiled, so Mark decided not to point out how unnecessary his help was. It was kind of cute, in its own way.

 
Jinyoung wound up being pretty decent, if a little wobbly. His unsteadiness seemed more the result of getting back in the swing of it than any lack of talent, so Mark waited for him to get used to the motion of going around the rink before increasing his pace and showing off a little by skating backwards and doing a few spins and small jumps. It wasn't often he got to do this, since he was friends with Jackson anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-wilder-and-ier Wang, so he relished Jinyoung's shock over all the tricks he could do. He liked how Jinyoung's eyes got big when he was excited, how he tended to gape a little. It was flattering, but more so than that, it was adorable.

 
Thinking someone's adorable in the middle of a date already, maybe you were onto something with this, Im Jaebum.

 
It wasn't a date, though. All the skating couples at the rink made it a bit difficult to remember that, and his train of thought certainly wasn't helping.

 
As it got closer to evening, the crowd grew and it got harder to skate without bumping into other people, particularly the newbies who were less certain of what they were doing. Jinyoung almost suffered from a couple of spectacular wipe outs, none his own fault, but it seemed to cut into his confidence a little bit and bring some of his wobbliness back.

 
Without thinking, Mark latched onto to Jinyoung's wrist to hold him steady. “You okay?”

 
“Y-yeah...”

 
“Don't let the other people around here shake you up. It's like driving, you need to be aware of the dangers around you, but respond to them instead of letting them slam into you.”

 
“I don't actually know how to drive.”

 
“Well. You're with someone who does.”

 
Jinyoung turned to him and smiled, his eyes crinkling beautifully at the corners. Oh yes, he liked this smile. He wanted to keep making it happen; was that a normal urge? Probably not, but that didn't change the fact that it was what he was feeling. They both got a little wobbly after that, which gave him an excuse to keep holding on to Jinyoung's wrist, so they could find their center of balance again.

 
0o0

 
Once their legs were tired out, they stopped by the snack counter and Mark ordered them a boat of fries, which reminded him a bit of home, though they weren't half as greasy as he'd get in LA. As they ate, they watched the skaters going around the rink, enjoying the change of perspective where they could watch people catching their stumbling dates or show off just as Mark had earlier. He noted that most of the people doing so were guys trying to impress their female dates, and hoped that Jinyoung wasn't noticing the same thing.

 
“You sure you don't need to go home?” Mark asked.

 
“Do you want me to?” Jinyoung sounded a bit wounded.

 
“Not at all. It's just that your cousin came to find you personally, and as I said, I don't want you getting in trouble on my account...”

 
“Isn't it good that I'm here on my own account, then?” Jinyoung continued looking out into the quickly moving circuit of skaters. “You know, I really thought I knew so much of you from Jaebum. But you're so different.”

 
“Really? What on earth does he say about me?”

 
“I said, only good things? Well, I think it started out as bragging. The first I heard of you, it was him going on about how he had helped out two international exchange students who were having trouble settling in-- that was you and Jackson. It was like he was preaching his good deed of the day and wanted me to give him a gold star or something.” He rolled his eyes. “But then you guys all became friends and his talk about you became warmer. I mean, he whined about not getting Jackson to shut up and not getting you to talk, but I could tell he really liked you both. You in particular always sounded so cool in his stories. I don't know why I thought that. I can't remember anymore.”

 
Mark frowned. Jinyoung could no longer remember why he'd found him cool after meeting him in person? That was hardly promising. “What do you mean?”

 
“I mean that I don't remember the person he talked about anymore, because there's you right here. That person was only in my head.” He smiled, still looking out into the distance. “It's the first time I felt like I wanted to steal someone else's friend, though.”

 
“Eh? Are you sure you weren't just jealous over Jaebum getting new friends?”

 
“Not at all. I don't know what it was. Like I said, I don't remember. But...” He grinned sheepishly. “It wasn't just the stories, you looked cool in the pictures he had of you, too. I liked your red hair.”

 
Mark paused, torn between acknowledging the fact that his pulse had reacted a little-- a lot-- to that, and pointing out that it didn't match what Jinyoung had said earlier. “You said you'd never seen pictures of me before, that's why you didn't know it was me waiting in the cafe.”

 
“I lied.”

 
“Then why didn't you come get me, really?”

 
“I was afraid.”

 
“Of...?” He was almost nervous of Jinyoung's answer. He didn't want it to be because I thought you wouldn't be as good as I'd imagined you were.

 
“Of not being able to stop staring at you.”

 
Oh.

 
0o0

 
When it got late, Mark eventually insisted on walking Jinyoung to the station to go home. “Your family's going to bust me for kidnapping at this point.”

 
Jinyoung pouted a little, and Mark pouted back at him to be funny. It had to be a personal best record of reaching this point of comfort with someone. Even Jackson had to wait a month before earning any cute displays.

 
They were taking different trains, so it was already time to part ways when they reached the station lobby. “So,” Jinyoung said, tapping his foot against the ground. “Are you going to give me your number?”

 
“That depends,” Mark responded. “It kind of slipped my mind... did Jaebum say that he intended for this to be a date?”

 
Jinyoung looked a bit surprised that Mark didn't know the answer himself. “Yes... that was my understanding.” His nervousness looked like it had made a return.

 
“Good. Give me your phone.”

 
The look on Jinyoung's face made all the previous failed dates where he'd kept this piece of himself back worth it. He'd waited for the right person, after all.

 
0o0

 
“So,” Mark said, dropping down next to Jaebum at the cafeteria. “I think I might be biual or gay or something, so thanks for that, I could have had a warning or something before you pushed me in that direction.”

 
Jaebum almost spit out his cola. “WHAT? The date was so bad it turned you gay? I even got you a real babe this time.”

 
Mark looked at him incredulously. What gave Jaebum the right to call his Jinyoung a 'babe'? Wait, there was no way Jaebum would say that. And why would a 'bad' date with a guy turn him gay, in Jaebum's words, shouldn't a good date do that? What kind of misunderstanding were they having now?

 
“You didn't arrange for me to meet up with Jinyoung ah?”

 
“Jinyoung? You mean Park Jinyoung? Why are you bringing him up, you don't even know each other yet?”

 
Aha. “Okay, then. According to your plan, who was my date supposed to be?”

 
“A real knockout this time, I swear. She's an older woman, a university student. She's really interested in international studies, and seemed really sold on you.” He tilted his head. “And you're saying you didn't meet her? And what's this about you being gay or bi?”

 
The gears in Mark's head started turning quickly. “Does this woman you're talking about have bobbed hair?”

 
“Yeah, that's her.”

 
Jinyoung's 'cousin,' then. “And did you happen to tell Park Jinyoung anything about this date? Like what the woman would be wearing, where it was and stuff?”

 
Jaebum pursed his lips. “Oh... yeah, now that you mention it. When he heard what I was doing, he asked for all the details. He even came up with the idea of asking me what she'd been wearing so you'd know how to find each oth-” He trailed off. “Wait...”

 
Mark started laughing. “I knew I liked him for a reason. He completely hijacked my date.”

 
“Oh god. Oh god, Jinyoung interfered and now... you and him... him and you...” Jaebum looked completely lost. “Man, you can't just spring this on me!”

 
“Well, it kind of got sprung on me, too. I gave him my number.”

 
“Okay. All right. Fine. Yeah. You and Jinyoung.” Jaebum scratched his head. “And you gave your number. To him. Huh. I guess this might explain why the other dates didn't work. Right. Well, congrats and stuff, I need to work on a way to think of this as not being completely awkward, but okay.”

 
“It'll be all right.”

 
“Yeah. You look happy. Good.” Still, he wrinkled his nose. “That Jinyoung... the balls of that kid.”

 
Mark could only smile. “I wouldn't have it any other way.”