~~~~~~Later that Day~~~~~~

Practice had just ended and everyone was exhausted.  They had been practicing their dancing and everyone was a mess today.  The teacher would give them a step to do and they were to copy it as best they could and as in sync with each other as possible.  But BamBam would trip, or Youngjae would be too far behind.  Everyone kept messing up.  JB had left the room after he yelled at s to get their together.  It was an off day for Got7.  Jackson was sprawled out on the floor, Mark was sitting not too far from him drinking water.  Their dance teacher was standing in the back with his arms crossed.  He had quite the disappointed look on his face.  A few minutes later JB walked back in.  He had calmed down for the most part.  The teacher moved to the center of the room and the boys all got up and stood in a line facing him.  After a long lecture on how they need to work harder and stop messing things up, they were dismissed and told to go back to the dorm.  They all bowed and thanked their instructor and then one by one fell out of the line and gathered their stuff to go home.  

The mood in the cars home was still very tense.  No one said anything, they all stared out the windows or were on their cellphones.  Jackson was texting his parents, telling them how much he missed them.  It had been almost two years since he had seen them.  The last time he went back to Hong Kong it was for Christmas.  It was the first year he had moved to LA for his exchange program.  At that point he and Mark were very good friends but they hadn’t started dating yet.  

Jackson put his phone in his pocket as he got out of the car with everyone else.  They were all tired and sweaty but there was only one bathroom with a shower.  While it was unfair, after practice they always showered in order of age.  Mark was lucky, he was the oldest.  Poor Yugyeom had to wait for all his brothers to go before he could.  :’(.  Mark felt no remorse when he immediately got ready to shower.  After he showered, he went to the kitchen to get a snack.  There wasn’t much in the fridge but he saw a little watermelon and decided to cut it up for everyone.  Just as he finished cutting the fruit for the members, JB got out of the shower and Jackson ran in.  Mark stood at the counter for a little, munching on his snack and then went into his room to maybe take a nap.  

Mark had just fallen asleep when he was woken up by the ding of a phone.  He slowly sat up and looked around.  It was Jackson’s phone.  Mark checked the lock screen for the notification and saw that it was Jackson’s mom.  He looked over at the door to make sure Jackson wasn’t about to walk in and unlocked the phone.  At first he was just going to take cute selcas on Jackson’s phone, but text messages kept popping up from Jackson’s mom.  Curious, Mark looked at the texts.  As he read through them, he saw that both Jackson and his mom referred to Mark as “Jackson’s friend” or “that nice boy you met.”  Not once did he see the word “boyfriend.”  Mark was still scrolling through the phone when Jackson walked in.  Jackson was surprised to see Mark just standing there holding his phone.  He closed the door and walked over, taking his phone from Mark’s hands.

“What are you doing?” Jackson asked.  Not in an accusatory way, but in a confused way.

“You haven’t told your parents yet?” Mark asked, still staring at his hands as if he was still holding the cellphone.  He slowly looked up to meet Jackson’s eyes.

“Told them what?”

“That we’re dating?  . . .  That we’re gay?”

“Ummmm.”  Jackson just scratched the back of his head and messed with his hair.  

“Jackson.”

“Okay.  No I haven’t told them yet.”  Before Mark could get any more upset, Jackson put his hands on his shoulders.  “I was going to the next time I went back to Hong Kong.  I didn’t want to tell them over the phone.  And the last time I was in Hong Kong we weren’t even dating yet.  I’m sorry.”  

Mark looked away from Jackson.  “No it’s okay.  Don’t be sorry.  I should have realized.  Of course you would want to tell them in person.  I should be the one saying sorry for being so blind.”  Jackson pulled Mark close to him and hugged him.  But then he realized something and stepped back.

“Wait.  You told your parents?”

Mark scratched the back of his head and replied, “They’ve known for a while.  Even before I met you.  Sorry, I should have told you.”

“It’s okay.  And hey, I swear that the next time I see my parents I’ll tell them.”  Jackson lightly kissed Mark and hugged him.  Their misunderstanding was resolved.  They hung out with the other members, joking around and having fun despite the hard day of practice.

The next day during practice, JYP came to watch and see how much progress they boys had made.  They were practicing the song that JYP had written for them.  It was called “Girls Girls Girls” and it would be their debut song.  They went through it a couple of times and JYP gave them feedback.

“Jackson-ah, say it more casually.”

“Yugyeomie, you need to have more confidence.”

“BamBam, you have to work on the pronunciation more.”

After JYP assessed their vocal abilities, he monitored their dancing.  There was a teacher that had been working with them on the choreography.  With JYP watching, everyone tried their best but the nerves got to them and they kept making stupid little mistakes.  They finally got through the dance with only a few minor slip ups.  

JYP said, “Youngjae, you need to have more swag in your face.”

“Jackson, you have too much swag.  It’s distracting from the others.”

“Mark, you need to work on the cartwheel and flip.  It’s off beat a little.”

When their assessment was over, there was a collective sigh of relief as the door closed behind JYP.  Their manager applauded the boys’ hard work so far.  He was impressed with how far they had come as a team in the few months they had been together.

“You guys have worked really hard.  Let’s go out to eat tonight and eat something delicious.  What do you want to eat?” He asked.  Immediately, the boys lit up and yelled out, “meat!” at the same time.

“Okay, meat it is.”  

They all got in the car and drove to the nearest BBQ place.  There were only a few other people in the restaurant, which was understandable.  It was pretty late at night and most people were probably at home getting ready to sleep.  They all squeezed in so that they would all fit at one table.  They had to pull a chair over for their manager, but they all managed to fit at one table.  While their manager had ordered the meat and sides, the boys talked amongst themselves and joked around.  Jackson was sitting across from Mark, who was sitting between the wall and Junior.  He wished he was sitting next to Mark, but it was probably good for them to get to know the other members more.  After a little while, the meat and sides were brought out.  Everyone immediately looked at Yugyeom.  With a sigh, he started to grill the meat for s.  They were all having a great time.  Mark and Jackson were getting to know more about the other members.

At some point during their meal, someone had dared BamBam to put the spiciest peppers in his lettuce wrap.  He was boasting about how he was Thai and could handle any pepper.  However, when he actually bit into the wrap, his face started getting red.  They all laughed both with and at BamBam.  While Jackson was laughing, he looked over at Mark to see Junior feeding him a lettuce wrap.  The two were clearly having a good time and they both had wide smiles on their faces.  What shocked him the most was that Mark’s arm was wrapped around Junior’s shoulders.  Jackson tried to hide the shock and jealousy he was feeling and forced himself to smile again.  For the rest of the night, he couldn’t focus.  He kept looking over at Mark and Junior.  It was clear that Mark was having a good time and enjoying himself.  In fact, this was the happiest Jackson had seen Mark in the time they had been in Korea.

When all the members had eaten their fill, they left the restaurant and went outside to their car.  Jackson, still in a mood from earlier, was the last one out the door.  While all the other boys were energetic and having fun, he was more somber.  Which was quite unusual.  In the car, Jackson was still quite.  He had managed to sit next to Mark though.  That made him brighten up a little.  He had spaced out but Mark nudged him and he snapped out of it.

“Junior asked you a question.” Mark said.

“Oh, sorry.  I didn’t hear you.” Jackson gave an apologetic look to Junior, who was looking back at him from the middle seats.

“It’s okay.  I asked how you learned English, since you’re from Hong Kong.  Right?”

“Oh, I learned it at school.  I went to the American International School.  Then for a language exchange program I went to live in LA for a few years.”  Junior. seemed satisfied with Jackson’s answer and turned back around to talk to Youngjae.  Mark looked around to see if anyone was looking in their direction.  Yugyeom was asleep next to him and the other four were talking in front of them.  Jackson was looking out the window but he felt a hand on his leg and suddenly turned to face Mark, who was looking straight ahead.  Jackson put his hand over Mark’s and went back to looking out the window.  Mark looked down at their hands and felt a surge of sadness.  He wished they didn’t have to be so secretive.  Their hands stayed like that for the rest of the car ride, which wasn’t that much longer.