JB opened the door to the dorm of all 12 boys.  Since it wasn’t definite who was debuting or when they were debuting, they all stayed in one large room in order to save space and money.

“Ok guys, who has extra space in their room for Mark?” JB asked.  All 10 boys looked at each other trying to figure out where to put the new English dominant speaking trainee.  Wonpil, Junhyuk, Seongjin, and Jehyung all shared one room that was soundproof and fit all their instruments as they were known to practice loudly into the night.  Junior shared one room with Youngjae, Younghyun and JB, thus leaving Bambam, Yugyeom and Jackson as the only group without a fourth person.  Jackson smiled cheekily as he realized the fortunate occurrence.  He went up to Mark and put his arm around Mark.

“We have space, hyung.  It’s works out fine since we were friends back home.  I’ll help him assimilate to everything.  Min texted me a while ago that Mark’s stuff is in our room so he has to come with us anyways.”  JB smiled at Mark and gestured towards Jackson.

“You go with him,”  Mark smiled and bowed slightly to show he understood.  Bambam and Yugyeom went to their shared room to begin moving their stuff.  Jackson and Mark followed in suit as all the other boys went to their respective rooms to rest for the night.  In their room, Jackson pulled out a mat from the closet meant to be Mark’s temporary bed rather than him just staying on the blanket.  Mark and Jackson pushed their mats together and started to unpack their things.  Bambam tried to test his English every now and then with Mark by naming as much things he could that came out of Mark’s bags and boxes.  The small attempts at English made Mark smile, allowing him to get more comfortable with yet another member of the trainee group.  After a while, they had gotten most of their clothes unpacked and organized.  The two young ones left to the kitchen to eat some ice cream and practice more Korean for Bambam’s sake as Thai was his strongest language and pronunciation was still a major problem for him.  Jet lagged, exhausted and alone, the two lied down on their mats to rest.  Jackson curled up in Mark’s arms and rested his head on his chest.  Mark wrapped his arms around Jackson and the two just laid like that.  After a while, Mark spoke what had been on his mind for a while.

“Why didn’t you tell me you auditioned?” Mark asked.  

“I didn’t think I would get in and if I did, I wanted to surprise you.  And besides, you were worried enough about your audition.  I didn’t want to burden you.”

“That’s ridiculous.  I wouldn’t have been burdened.  If anything it would have put my mind at ease knowing we could both get in.”

“Sorry.  I should have told you, but when I didn’t hear from the company I thought it was better that I hadn’t told you.  Then you got in and - “  He started to tear up but held it in.  Jackson sniffled and nuzzled his head in the crook of Mark’s neck.  Sensing his melancholiness, Mark hugged Jackson tighter.  It took Jackson a few moments to compose himself, but with Mark holding him he was able to get himself together fairly quickly.  They talked into the night.  The last time Mark checked his phone the time was 1:57AM.  They were so far from home, but to them, home was in each other’s arms.  Mark suddenly looked around the room to see if Bambam and Yugyeom came back from their ice cream adventure and was relieved to see that it was just the two of them alone.  Can’t have them finding out so soon, he thought.  He saw a light emitting from the door as it was slightly open and overheard the two youngsters speaking.

“Bambam-ahhh.  I can’t get up.  We ate too much ice cream.”  Bambam only groaned in response.  “Let’s just sleep here for the night ok?”  Bambam burped in response and slowly got comfortable on the couch to continue watching the movie they had on.  Awesome, we got the whole night together.  Mark went back to sleep peacefully with Jackson next to him.

Jackson woke up with Mark’s hair in his face.  Mark’s back was to Jackson, but he could tell that Mark was still asleep.  Jackson threw his leg over Mark’s body and rested his chin on his shoulder.  Mark shifted slightly, turning away from Jackson.  Unsatisfied with his results, Jackson set out on a mission to wake Mark up.  This time he kissed Mark’s neck.  In a low voice, Mark grumbled, “Jackson stop.”  

Jackson used his best aegyo voice and said, “Mark~~~~~!  Wake up~~~!”

Before Jackson could say anything else, Mark turned around and pulled Jackson with him.  He rolled onto his back with Jackson lying on top of him.  

“Fine.  I’m awake now.  Happy?”  Mark asked.

“Yes.  Heehee.” Jackson giggled.  His hyena like laugh made Mark laugh.  Jackson leaned down and lightly kissed Mark on the lips.  Then he did it again.  The third time, Mark held Jackson in place.  The two were in the middle of a very serious make out session when the door opened and Min walked in without knocking first.

“Hey guys - Omo!” Min exclaimed.  She stopped short, shocked by the scene she was witnessing.  Mark pushed Jackson off of him and scrambled to sit up.  Jackson rolled over and saw Min standing in the doorway.  He covered his mouth and stared at her as his eyes got bigger.  Both boys just stared back at Min with equally shocked expressions.

Jackson tried to recollect himself and reached over Mark to get a pair of scissors.

"Ha...uh I was just trying to cut a tag on Mark's shirt," he said cautiously. Min just continued to stare between the two of them, wishing she had the scissors to stab her eyes so she didn't see what she saw. God, now they'll never talk to me and always be uncomfortable around me, she thought, it's just like Amber and me all over again.

“Uh, yeah," she said slowly. "Just wanted to let you guys know that breakfast is in a few and then there’s practice … ok bye."  Min rushed out the room and leaned against the door.  Breathing heavily, she turned red.

Without noticing him, BamBam tapped her.

"Noona, are you ok?" He looked at her with his big doe eyes like usual. Oh kid, I wish.

"Yup, don't worry about it sweetie." He smiled and walked away.  Min looked at the door again and sighed before she walked away to help set up breakfast.

Back in the room, Jackson was freaking out while Mark was relaxed, fixing the wheels of one of his skateboards.

"You don't understand Mark, we could get fired from a job we didn't even get yet."

"What's the big deal with us being together?"

"Well, for one, dating is not even allowed, period. Two, we just got accepted, not even 12 hours ago. Three, we are guys.  How would we explain it to the company?" Mark just looked at him, coldly.

“So then why did you come out here?  You came here for us to be together while living out our dream but now you want to hide?!  Were you just gonna forget about us?” Mark said angrily.  He was almost yelling, something he didn’t do often.

“No!  Of course not!  It's just too early to bomb the guys and the company with this kind of news so early in our almost career, you know?" Mark softened up and nodded.

"Fine, so what do we do?"

"Well, only Min has noticed us and she seemed more nervous than us. So, let's not mention it until she does and not to anyone else until our spot is secure in the new JYP group.  Cool?" Mark nodded again.  Jackson smiled softly.

"Thanks babe." Jackson kissed Mark on the lips and went to get dressed.

After 10 minutes, Jackson and Mark walked out of their room together and went to the kitchen to eat and see their new roommates for the next couple of years.  Hopefully.  Surprisingly, JB, Junior and the other trainees were in the livingroom.  JB greeted Mark and Jackson when they walked out of their bedroom.  Yugyeom smiled at them while BamBam shied away when he made eye contact.  Min was leaning on the sink staring at the floor, obviously avoiding eye contact with the 2 boys she previously encountered.  JB tried to get her attention by waving his hand and she snapped back into reality.  He started saying things in Korean while looking at Mark and Jackson.  They both only managed to catch a few words like "welcome," "oldest," "JYP," and a few connecting words.

"He said 'Welcome to the JYP trainee dorms.  I'm the second oldest here, so yeah.  We'll do our best to help you guys and let's get along well.'" Min translated in English to them and BamBam who was still learning Korean as well.  The two looked at Min nervously while she avoided eye contact with them.

"I'm here to help you guys settle in and translate until you guys know enough Korean to get by," she explained, "I've been here since BamBam got here, like a few months ago."  They looked at BamBam who smiled at them.

"Hi, I hope we get close," he said softly and in a really high voice.  Probably still going through puberty, Jackson thought.

"How are old are you?" He asked.

"15." Jackson looked at Mark with wide eyes. Well .

"Ok, so you're younger by 3 years to Mark and 2 for me."

"So," BamBam looked at Min, "'hyungs?'" Min nodded and he turned back to look at them.  "Mark hyung and Jackson hyung."  The older ones smiled and nodded, then looked back to the rest of the members.

"So let's eat?" They all recognized that and smiled, proceeding to eat.  After some good food and little conversations to learn more Korean, they started to get ready to leave.

"Yugyeomie!" JB shouted.  The young one turned to look at his elder and pouted.  The elder responded with a smile and patted his back.  Yugyeom then went on to wash the dishes.  JB looked at Mark and Jackson who looked confused.

"Maknae."  They realized and showed less pity for the youngest child.  Min went up to them to explain that the youngest members of groups were usually the ones who did the cleaning and little labor stuff to just tease and pick on them.  They nodded in understandment.

"Hey, I need to take you to a separate place than the others.  You guys and BamBam will be attending Korean classes while the rest train.  So just meet me downstairs and we'll get going right away.  The rest of them leave in like an hour."  

"Well, we're ready," Mark said.  Min nodded and gestured them to follow her down.  They got into a car with Min in the front and the two of them in the back.  She looked through the rearview mirror and saw that the two of them were more quiet and distant. , is it because of me? She turned around to speak to them.

"Um guys?" They looked up at her. "You guys don't have to be all quiet and distant with me you know?  You don't have to hide in front of me either." She paused to look at them.  Jackson was expressionless while Mark looked curious.

"What are you talking about?" Min sighed.  Come on Mark, don't start our friendship with lies.

"Don't.  Don't lie.  I promise I won't say anything.  Dating in this industry is hard and being gay makes it harder since this country is so conservative.  You can trust me."

"If we happened to be, which is insane, how could we trust you?" Asked Mark.  Jackson shot him a look as to say, What are you thinking?  Min looked hesitant, but decided to go through with it.

"Because I'm lesbian, guys.  I know what you're thinking, how you feel, and what you'll go through."  Min looked at them, scared. "Please don't tell anyone even if you guys aren't."

"Why did you tell us?" Mark questioned.

"Well because I feel that I can trust you guys even if you're not together. You wouldn't want me telling your secret and I wouldn't want you guys telling mine right?I don't want to start this off with lies.  Plus, I feel like I can talk to you guys since you both stayed in America.  You won't judge me too."

"Do you swear you're not bullting us?" Mark said cautiously.  Mark, what are you doing, Jackson thought, where the hell is BamBam? Min looked at Jackson.

"He takes forever don't worry about it."

"Can you read minds too?" Jackson asked wide eyed.  Mark and Min chuckled at Jackson’s cute question.

"No.  You just looked towards the dorms in panic so I assumed and got it right," he nodded embarrassed, "but to answer you Mark, yes I swear I'm not bullting you guys.  You can call Amber." The both of them looked at her with their jaws hitting the floor.

"Of f(x)?" She nodded and smiled.  Mark looked at Jackson, wondering what to do.  Jackson just nodded his head while Mark smiled in response.

"Ok...we are.  But you are the only person we are telling since we eventually will need to talk to someone and since we'll be together for a long time."  Mark hugged Jackson hard and whispered a thanks to him. Jackson tried to pry him off, but Mark's grip was too strong.

"You guys are so cute."  Soon, BamBam opened the door and Jackson scooted to the middle near Mark to make space.

"Sorry noona, my little sister called.  I had to pick it up," she nodded and winked at the other two, "anything happen?"

"Nah, don't worry about it sweetie," she turned back towards the front.  She smiled at the driver who was coming into the car and started the engine.  As they pulled out of the JYP parking lot, she looked back into the rear view mirror and saw BamBam staring obliviously out the window while Jackson and Mark were holding hands.  Now, don't screw up guys.  You have a long way to go.