Meet Jackson, aspiring Olympic fencer who dropped everything and flew all the way to South Korea for a shot at stardom. The boy grew up in fencing, all he has ever known, all he needed to know, he knows from fencing. And that includes girls and dating. Growing up in a team sport and spending all the time he had training and joining championships, girls he has ever met, he met through fencing. It was natural. Everyone in his team are either dating girls from school or girls from fencing, some of his seniors have even stepped into marriage with these girls. “Fencer family”, that was what they call it. Jackson has never given much thought about it.

So imagine his confusion when he met, made friend, and lives with Mark, the quiet South California boy who has this laidback aura around him, and eventually debuted together as a group.

Mark has always been quiet and chill, only getting excited over random things he deems worthy of his high-pitched squeals and laughs. Otherwise, his presence is hardly noticed. But Jackson notices. He has always notices everything and anything Mark is doing or feeling. Whether Mark is homesick, giddy, nervous, arches a brow, quirks his lips, anything really, Jackson notices. Jackson reasons that it is because of his athlete sensitivity, his senses are conditioned to pick up tiny little movements across his field of vision. Or maybe because Mark is his best friend, and they have always been sticking together since they have been introduced to each other as trainees in JYP.

But one thing Jackson cannot explain though, is why he has the urge to glomp Mark everytime the Californian flashes his eye smiles or squeals in happiness. Plus it doesn’t help that the male is so petite. Mark is in every sense a healthy and fit SoCal beach boy but compared to the other five group members and Jackson, he is noticeably smaller in physiques – shoulders and hips narrower, limbs slender, heck even his face and head is smaller. Every part of his body screams fragile to Jackson, and Jackson wants nothing but to put Mark in protective gears and slaps everyone out of his way when they are out for fanmeets and activities.

It wasn’t until Jackson comes across a plethora of fanfictions tagged under “Markson” that he understands what he has been feeling. Eyes widening as he reads, a virtual lightbulb lights up above his head when he realizes crush does not happen in binary. You can like a boy, date a boy, love him, marry him and it is fine, just maybe not everyone is as accepting. Jackson reads on, feeling like he has entered a new world when he absorbs all that can happen between two males. He is mildly surprised he is not disgusted but he figures he has always been open to new things, even though homouality has been around for ages.

Jackson is now very cautious around Mark, to the point he is sometimes avoiding the older boy or fleeing the scene when he meets him. Because as much as Jackson is happy that he has finally figured out his feelings, he is also well aware that there are people who cannot understand homouality and are repulsed by it. Jackson does not know what Mark thinks of homouality but he has inwardly decided that it is better not to know lest the knowledge breaks his heart.

Mark notices though. Even if he is sometimes like a log, even if he does not say anything to everything, even if he sometimes shuts himself off from the world when it gets too chaotic for him, Mark notices that Jackson is avoiding him like a plague. Has Jackson noticed though? Because Mark has always been very careful. Mark has always been able to control his emotions and subsequently his actions well. Mark is not naïve, he grew up in America. Mark conceals his true self because he knows so much, too much.

Meet Jackson again, the impulsive boy who is always rash with his decisions. The fact that he cracks first is not even a surprise. Jackson is sick of running away. Avoiding Mark has been draining his livelihood away. It is like a dog person who met this adorable puppy but can never pet the puppy. It hurts. So Jackson relents. His confrontation happens in the form of locking the bedroom door and sitting on his knees on bed facing Mark, back straight and face solemn. Mark tries to hold his smile, as funny as a serious Jackson is, the atmosphere is tensed and it makes him nervous. Mark has thought that he would be able to get away.

Mark wakes up to Jackson’s sleeping face a breath away. He smiles. Jackson closes his sleep crusted eye as soon as he peeks it open, humming in content at what he sees and burrows his head deeper. Mark lets out a giggle that was too high-pitched to be considered a laugh. He snuggles closer to the younger boy. Last night has happened in Jackson’s direct “I like you and hit anywhere but my face”, Mark’s slow realization and a eating grin – pretty canines and smize, and Jackson glomping Mark just like how he has always wanted.