Hey, its been a while.....lol a long while. I didn't even mean to go on hiatus I swear but I am back now. I just finished packing out from moving from my dorm. So I'll update everything. Thank you to my subscribers who are still here and still support this :). This was quickly thrown together sorry :')

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* Normal font is Korean and Bold is English Italics are thoughts :)

It’s been 3 years since Mark and Jinyoung haven’t seen each other. Jinyoung can still remember the day they met but to Mark, the baby Jinyoung he knew, unbelievably wasn’t a child like he thought.

***********

Mark had just transferred to Jinyoung’s middle school into the 8^th grade half way through the first semester but unluckily Jinyoung was in 6^th grade at the time.

Since Jinyoung lived in one of the less occupied provinces of Seoul, it didn’t take long for him to hear of the beautiful brown-haired teenager.

However, each grade had different times to eat lunch and apart from that, the brown-haired lad was always picked up from school directly after being let out and was dropped off within 10 minutes of class starting, so Jinyoung never had a chance to see or meet the foreigner unless it was a chance encounter in the hallway when they were switching classes where he couldn’t help but stare at him.

Jinyoung was biting the tip of his pen and staring out the window while his history teacher droned on about World War II. He was trying to figure out a way to approach the new foreigner but didn’t know how. He sighed because all of the plans he was thinking of wouldn’t work and because his other classmates Jackson and Youngjae kept whispering to themselves distracting him.

Since he had nothing better to listen to, he listened to them talking about some kid named “Mark” whose probably another one of Jackson’s random crushes. However, after they mentioned that he was the foreigner he was interested in he started actually paying acute attention.

“Yea, he’s from LA man” Jackson exclaimed in English to Youngjae who made up his face at the only other foreigner in our school for the use of the foreign language.

“And?” Youngjae responded not as interested.

“You know that just makes him so cool!! He’s supposed to be super laid back and chill and have that American swag. I’ve heard from everyone he’s really quiet and mysterious. I just need to find a time to talk to him so he doesn’t feel alone like I did.” Jackson said switching back to Korean but still interchanging some English words in his statement.

Jinyoung and Jackson were close from the day he transferred so he knew Jackson’s story about feeling isolated since his Korean wasn’t that good. Luckily, Jinyoung had always wanted to learn English since he was young so he was already pretty fluent. Which made him and Jackson best friends from day 1 since he was the only one who could communicate with him.

Though why Jackson chose to sit him in all classes but next to Youngjae in history and leave him next to the emo Jaebum was past his reasoning.

“Hyung, you know it would be difficult. Unless you sneak out of class or something.” Youngjae said while doodling in his notebook drawing back Jinyoung’s attention.

“OMG, Youngjae you are a genius!!” Jackson exclaimed and quickly hugged Youngjae who looked horrified.

“Hyung I didn’t mean-” Youngjae tried to plead but Jackson already stood up and raised his hand.

“You can’t just leave and not come back hyunggg~” Youngjae whisper whined as the teacher turned around and noticed Jackson.

“Yes Jackson?”

“I feel sick and want to throw up. Can I go to the nurse?” Jackson said while pretend holding his stomach in pain.

Jinyoung facepalmed. He can’t really think this would work when the teacher saw him fine and laughing earlier.

“Yea sure, go. Just stop whispering and disturbing my class.” The teacher said lackadaisically waving his hand and going back to the lecture.

Jinyoung’s eyes widened twice its size as Jackson practically skipped out of class causing Jaebum beside him to snicker.

“What?” he harshly whispered to Jaebum who just smirked at him and went back to texting whoever he was texting under the table.

Jinyoung huffed and glared at Jaebum for a bit who just threw him an annoying smirk. Once he got tired of the eye contact fight, he glanced forward at Youngjae who at that time was waving to get his attention. 

Jinyoung made a questioning face to the boy who just pointed to his phone.

He reached in his bag to take out his phone and opened his KakaoTalk to see a message in their group chat from Jackson saying “Today is the day guys. I will meet Mark Tuan” and another from Youngjae to him personally saying “He’s your best friend, go stop him from getting in trouble.”

Jinyoung sighed and ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. Even though he wasn’t paying attention to the lecture, he was already the top student in his grade next to 8 piercings boy beside him. He didn’t quite need to be in class either, but skipping would be something he has never done before.

He was just about to put away his phone and not respond and deal with it next period when another message came in from Jackson, “I got into the 8^th graders lunch period time. Target spotted.”

His eyes widened again but this time in awe. How had Jackson got passed the security guards??

Jaebum tapped his shoulder and slid him a note. “Go after your crazy foreigner. I’ll distract the teacher.”

Jinyoung looked up at him questioningly not only wondering why the emo boy wanted to help since they barely ever talk and how he would even succeed at distracting an entire class from him leaving the room.

The second answer came faster than the second as the other pulled a small snake from his bag and threw it to the girls table beside them.

Immediately screams and panic took over the class as Jaebum beside him let out a loud evil laughter.

Jinyoung just shook his head and grabbed his bag and took the opportunity to sneak out of class. He would have to think later about why that boy casually carried a snake around in his bag.

Jinyoung hid in the crevice in the hallway as a majority of the security ran by him towards the classroom he just left. As soon as the coast was clear, he ran to the cafeteria to find Jackson. As soon as he reached the room, he could hear Jackson’s loud hyena laugh and someone’s slight protesting noise. He glanced around out of breath and could see the blonde clinging to someone who kept trying to pull away.

“WANG JIAER JACKSON!!” he yelled getting more than just Jackson and Mark’s attention.

Jackson looked a bit scared and hid behind Mark who just stared at him surprised. It wasn’t often that he got upset but when he did it was truly to be feared. He didn’t care if other people were staring, he stormed towards Jackson who just whispered something to Mark that made him smile and that made Jinyoung’s step falter and caused his anger to half dissipate.

He still made it over to them and stood in front of them with his arms crossed. Mark looked at him amused and it almost made him not remember why he came down here in the first place. I mean who can be that beautiful anyways? How could Mark be that flawless? How does hair even seem that shiny and perfectly styled messily? Why are his eyes so sparkly? Eyes don’t sparkle. There was not even any direct light to cause that. How did the ugly uniform fit him so nicely?

“Jjinnyeong” Jackson said cutely in the way that usually melts his upset heart but it distracted him from staring at Mark and that reminded him he was supposed to be upset. He switched to English as he always did when he was upset at Jackson.

“Come here. Now.” Jinyoung commanded and Jackson just hid more behind Mark who was now shocked.

“Stop hiding behind the innocent new student and come here now Jackson. Do you know you just made me skip class for the first time in my life??? I needed help from the emo psycho Jaebum who threw a snake, and yes I said a snake, in the middle of class to cause a disruption. I mean I don’t care about history class anyways but you know I don’t like breaking rules.” Jinyoung continued pouting and puffing his cheeks.

“Woah, no way. I knew he was weird but why did he have a snake in his bag? Was it alive?” Jackson asked finally coming out from behind Mark.

“Yea it was alive. I was surprised too. I hope it wasn’t poisono...that’s not the point here.” Jinyoung said almost getting distracted.

Jackson then got up and went over to Jinyoung and hugged him and kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry. I’ll think before acting next time Jinyoungie.”

Jinyoung just smiled and was about to push Jackson off since he was being embarrassing but before he could Mark already pulled Jackson by the back of his uniform jacket off of him hard enough for Jackson to land on his back at the lunch table.

“Oh yeah, Jinyoungie, this is Mark. Mark, Jinyoungie.” Jackson introduced us casually rubbing his aching as if it was normal to be thrown unto a chair.

Mark flashed him a bright smile and extended his hand to him and Jinyoung slowly reached forward to grasp his hand in his. How were his hands that soft? How is his existence even legal?

“Mark here is around our age. He got placed in a higher grade because he tested really well. So smart.” Jackson said while nudging Mark who had yet to let go of Jinyoung’s hand. Not that he was complaining.

“I-I see.” Jinyoung stuttered back in Korean.

“Jinyoung here is the top student in our grade. And is the only one in this place that’s fluent in English.” Jackson introduced him.

“I’m not r-really.” He stuttered again in Korean. Dammit where is all my English when I need it? Why is just his touch making me forget a language I’ve learned for like 9 years? Talking about that, why hasn’t he let go?? Jinyoung spazzed in his mind.

“You must have run here really quickly. Your face is really flushed.” Mark commented to him in English, and using their connected hands to drag Jinyoung to sit down beside him.

“Uh…uh..yeah….” Jinyoung finally said in English but stuttering. He couldn’t meet Mark’s eyes but Mark only gave him an endearing smile.

“Well anyways, before our Jinyoungie here came storming in. You were telling me you like extreme sports?”

“Yea, like skydiving, and wakeboarding, that kind of stuff.” Mark and Jackson casually continued their conversation while Mark, Jinyoung wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not, never let go of his hand.

He barely managed to contribute to the conversation and when he felt like he was being left out since they were talking about foreign things like passport issues and customs he pouted. He felt even more left out after they found out Mark was Taiwanese and Jackson switched completely to Chinese which made Jinyoung frustrated because he only knew basic Chinese but what helped him through it was Mark rubbing comforting small circles on his hand with his thumb.

At that point it was okay he was left out because he was still trying to figure out how to breathe and calm his over-beating heart from Mark’s gentle touches.

It was only 5 minutes later that there was an announcement that classes for the rest of the day has been cancelled since they thought there was a snake problem in the school. Jackson died of laughter thanking Jaebum and his craziness for them to get out of school 5 hours early.

Mark also smiled and instead of addressing Jackson, spoke to Jinyoung instead “Where is your locker?”

Jinyoung was back to stuttering “I d-don’t need to go. I a-already have all my s-stuff here.”

“Jeez Jinyoung, can’t you be any more obvious you find Mark attractive? You’re practically a drooling, blushing, stuttering mess” Jackson asked and Jinyoung horrified tossed a carrot from Mark’s lunch at his head. When he nervously glanced back at Mark and saw he was confused, he didn’t notice earlier but he was grateful Jackson used Korean.

“If you say one more thing about that, you are dead you hear me? Dead.” He emphasized back in Korean.

“Okay….I didn’t understand any of that. But I do need to go to my locker to get my stuff. You guys wanna tag along?” Mark asked them.

“Actually, I left all my stuff in the snake classroom. So I’ll catch up with you guys outside.” Jackson said getting up from the table and smiling at Mark. “Jinyoungie” he said switching back to Korean “Try not to forget your English and actually talk to him. I can’t do all the work here.” He said winking and left them together.

Jinyoung flushed to an even deeper pink staining his ears red.

“Guess it’s just you and me then, Jinyoungie.” Mark said smiling shyly at him.

“Yea, I guess so.” Jinyoung said looking away.

Mark then got up and then pulled Jinyoung up with him and then finally let go of his hand. “Sorry, I like physical support when I feel nervous.” He said flashing him another brilliant smile which made him in a breath.

“It’s ok. I didn’t mind it at all. I liked it.” Jinyoung said a bit rushed and then realized what he said. “I didn’t mean I like it as in I enjoyed it, I mean like it was okay and I don’t mind if you do it again.”

Wait what was he even saying…Jinyoung thought to himself closing his eyes tightly wishing he could disappear.

“Haha, you’re so cute.” Mark laughed and pulled Jinyoung into a random hug which if he wasn’t dying before he was definitely dying now.

“Alright, let’s go then. The cafeteria is practically empty.” Mark said looking around and grabbed Jinyoung’s hand again and led him in the direction of his locker.

Jinyoung happily trailed behind. Not caring and even happy he skipped that class and that weirdo Im Jaebum had a snake while sitting next to him for like 30 minutes.

To get to know Mark more, that was not the only class he ended up skipping throughout the semester.

Later on, they teamed up with emo boy Jaebum after the first stunt he pulled and the rest to get them to sneak out, and they found out he was not so emo after all. And they became a happy group of 5 close friends.

Even though, they couldn’t interact with Mark much during the day, they convinced his parents they could walk him home and always hung out after school.

By second semester, they all became close and practically inseparable. The only thing was no one ever bothered to ask Mark his age. Since Jackson said lightly that he was close to their age, they all spoke informally together not caring about age. Especially with Mark learning Korean and Youngjae trying to learn English (Jaebum cared less and was okay with the others translating for him), formalities were not really a big thing except between the 3 Koreans.

Jinyoung finally after 5 months got a bit more used to the feeling of a racing heartbeat and a flushed face since that always happened around Mark, while Mark treated him as he would a little brother. Jackson and Jaebum would always tease Jinyoung for it and Youngjae would mostly try to protect his hyung, but couldn’t help but join in at times. Though with how much Mark was progressing in Korean, it was hard to keep things away from him and he smiled knowingly at times.

However as usual, all good things come to an end.

By the end of the year when Mark was graduating, his family decided to move back to LA and take him with him. Since he was only 16, Mark had no say in it but to a 15-year-old Jinyoung he thought he would never see his hyung again and cried at his graduation.

Mark, on that day as he hugged the others and said his final goodbyes to his best friends as his parents patiently waited for him, left Jinyoung for last.

Mark gently wiped the ever-flowing tears from Jinyoung’s face, he smiled and promised to come back. “Stop crying my baby Jinyoungie. We’ll see each other again one day. I’m not leaving forever. I’ll always respond to your messages so I’ll always be with you here.” He said as he placed his hand over Jinyoung’s heart which immediately sped up.

“M-Mark…..” Jinyoung stuttered out still crying.

“Hush baby.” Mark said putting his finger over his lips. “You know I always found your stuttering English cute from the day we met.”

Jinyoung still managed to blush somehow and look away from Mark’s smiling face.

“Yah, look at me.” Mark said in Korean as he gently held Jinyoung’s chin and turned it to face him. “I’ll miss you the most and I can’t stand seeing you cry. Smile for me my Jinyoungie.”

Jinyoung swears till this day that was probably the ugliest smile he ever made in his life. He smiled while tears ran down his face and he could barely open his eyes.

Mark laughed and then hugged Jinyoung who hugged back Mark for dear life as if it was the last hug he would get from the elder.

As they pulled away from each other, their other friends came to pry Jinyoung off of Mark and supported him as they all waved goodbye to the Tuans as they pulled off from the parking lot.

***********

Jinyoung still remembers crying for days after because he didn’t know Mark’s flight was the next day and he could bid him goodbye. He smiled at the memory as he did his high school homework waiting for midnight to pass so he could text Mark.

They barely texted anymore as they both got busy over the years but they still managed to text each other at least 3 times a month. Which wasn’t enough for Jinyoung in the beginning but it was still better than nothing, and he was grateful for it.

Three years passed by a lot faster than they both thought it would and to Mark, in his memory, Jinyoung was a cute child he met when he went to Korea that was around 3 years younger than him since that was around how old the others were to him since that was their grade difference with different schooling systems. Hence as much as he really liked the younger, it could only be brotherly because the other was too young for him.

In Jinyoung’s mind, Mark was the exact same age as him and that is why from English to Korean, their conversations were really intimate and close. He always thought at some point he would be able to confess his feelings and they could be something but he swore to himself that he would do it in person and hence he has been waiting for Mark to return to Korea or for an opportunity for him to go to LA.

This confusion led to random things in their messages being left unanswered. Such as Mark’s overly caring attitude like an older brother, and Jinyoung’s hints at liking Mark and suggestions of taking Mark to popular date spots in Korea.

It was only on a random Sunday night for Jinyoung and Sunday morning for Mark, where Jinyoung received a random message from Mark.

“Hey Jinyoungie, I know this is really late and all but I have a question?”

“yea, sure anything.”

“Why don’t you call me hyung like Jaebum?” Jinyoung laughed reading this and responded quickly.

“What do you mean why would I call you hyung? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

Mark pouted at his response, is he still not Korean enough for that to be normal…“Because I’m older than you. Not that I mind our age difference. I don’t mind you being much younger than me.”

“What do you mean much younger than you? We’re the same age?” Jinyoung typed confused.

“Nooooo lol. You’re my little baby.”

Jinyoung blushed at the pet name Mark often used, but still defended his age and sent a picture of his expression.

“Mark, I was born in 94 ㅍㅅㅍ.”

Mark dropped his phone in shock. What the hell? Jinyoung isn’t a child. He was just a year younger than me. His heart sped up while looking at the picture. Jinyoung got so much taller and handsome over the years and his heart couldn’t keep up with it. How did his squishy baby become a man? And since when?

“What??? No way!!!” You weren’t born in like 96?” He deadpanned.

“Haha no, why would you think that? Youngjae is though~” Jinyoung laughed off Mark’s reaction.

“So that is why you guys call Youngjae the youngest? I thought he was just a couple months younger than the rest of you.” Mark responded.

“No, he’s actually young. Mark, aren’t you born in 94 too?” Jinyoung asked still smiling,

“No not at all….”

“What??? All this time I thought we were the same age!!” Jinyoung typed back in a frenzy

“I’m born in 93 Jinyoungie”

This time it was time for Jinyoung to drop his phone. There was no way that his Mark was older than him. That seriously killed his thoughts of Mark ever accepting him. No wonder he always treated him like a child.

“Are you serious Mark? You’re not joking?”

“Why would I joke about my age Jinyoungie. You never asked about it.” Mark typed back.

“I’m so sorry hyung, I can’t believe that all this time I thought we were the same age.”

“So cute!! It’s okay, nothing really changes. We’re still friends.” Mark typed back without meaning anything but as soon as he didn’t get an immediate response back, he realized it sounded like he was friendzoning the younger.

Friendzoning. I mean that was what Jinyoung was to Mark all this time. Just a friend he cared a lot about. But that was just because he thought Jinyoung was just a child but he was actually within reach. He was in an age range that it was okay to date. He sent back another message before Jinyoung could reply.

“Not that I have only thought of you as just my friend Jinyoungie. You’ve always been special to me.”

“Me too hyung, You’re really special to me too.” Except you are now just a bit more out of my reach because you are older than me. Jinyoung added in his mind.

“Hyung…I have to sleep for school tomorrow. Lets talk another time” Jinyoung typed back needing time to process the information.

“Oh right, you must be tired. Sleep well Jinyoungie.”

“Yea, goodnight hyung.”

“Sweet dreams baby”

“Ok hyung~”

“Dream of me.”

“lol what…? Okay hyung. I will. Have a good day.”

“I will.”

As soon as Jinyoung read his last message, Mark realized he just flirted with the younger. He just flirted with someone he thought was a child. Mark scrolled back up through his messages and opened the picture again. How did Jinyoung grow up this handsome? How did he never notice that Jinyoung was within his reach all this time? Mark lied back on his bed staring at his picture as all the feelings he ever repressed for the younger came back to him.

Jinyoung on the other hand hugged his phone to himself in his sleep wondering if by finding out his age if that distanced himself from Mark. He really hoped it didn’t.

Jinyoung didn’t text him the next day. Or the day after that. Or the week after that. Or the month after that. And by then Mark was getting worried.

He then decided it was time he took matters into his own hands. He was 19 after all and could travel by himself. In the middle of the night, since it was almost his spring break, he booked a flight to Korea using his parents credit card.

“I’m coming Jinyoungie….just wait” he said to himself as he packed his suitcase ready to fly to a country he hadn’t been to in almost 4 years now.

The very day Mark landed back in Korea, he dragged his luggage to Jinyoung’s high school and waited outside for it to be let out. He wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to say to the younger, or where he would stay, or anything except for the fact that he planned his flight so that he could surprise Jinyoung after his day at school.

He waited as students flooded out of the school, a majority of them staring at him since he stood out with his bright red hair and suitcase. He obviously looked like a foreigner but he didn’t care because he just wanted to see one person’s face.

Jinyoung spotted him before Mark did. But it was Jaebum’s voice that called out to him first.

“YAH, MARK TUAN! ITS BEEN A WHILE!” he yelled while waving at Mark while Jinyoung was standing immobile by Jaebum’s side.

Mark’s face lit up and he jogged over to where the other two were.

To Jinyoung, Mark looked brighter, and more handsome and perfect than before. He felt himself not being able to breathe, his heart speeding up and his face turning red. This reaction again. He put his hand over his heart to try and calm it. This was the reaction only Mark has ever caused in him. Since the day they met till now.

“Jaebum-ah, how have you been?” Mark smiled and pulled Jaebum into a quick hug.

Mark’s voice made goosebumps spread all over his skin. It got so much deeper over those 3 years. He was so much more glorious in person and here Mark had to see him in potato school form.

“Good good, our Jinyoungie here can never shut up about how much he misses you half the time. Good to see you’re still doing well.” Jaebum smirked while Jinyoung gently slapped his arm.

“Yeah” Mark said finally turning to Jinyoung. “Hey….”

“You c-can’t do t-this….”

Mark frowned and wondered what he did wrong. “Do what?”

Tears started flowing from Jinyoung’s eyes no matter how much he tried to hold it in.

“You can’t just show up here out of nowhere without any warning and just say ‘hey’ as if I haven’t seen you in a couple hours when I haven’t seen you in years. You can’t just come before me looking as perfect as you always were but even more so now. You can’t just come here and make my heart feel like it’s going to burst out of my chest. You can’t keep making me feel this way.” Jinyoung muttered switching back and forth between English and Korean.

“Oi...this came out a lot earlier than I thought it would. I’ll catch you guys later ok? Don’t forget about the rest of us too” Jaebum said as he patted Mark’s shoulder with a smile and left him with Jinyoung.

“Jinyoungie...” Mark started and took a step towards him.

Jinyoung took a step back and avoided him. “You also can’t call my n-name like that hyung.”

“My Jinyoungie baby” Mark said and took enough steps to catch Jinyoung before he stepped back again and pulled him into a hug. Mark couldn’t help but notice and smile that Jinyoung was now taller than him by a bit and he had to grab him by the waist. He really wasn’t a baby all along.

“M-Mark…” Jinyoung stuttered out.

Mark just kissed Jinyoung’s cheek and smiled up at his crying baby “Didn’t I tell you before your stuttering English was the cutest thing.” Jinyoung smiled back at him and then Mark kissed closer to his lips. “Actually in general to me you have always been the cutest thing.”

“M-mark h-hyung….” Jinyoung stuttered this time mostly because he was flustered.

“Also hearing you call me that makes me realize I have a thing for being called hyung by your beautiful voice.” Mark pulled away and wiped the lingering tears from his face.

“Ey, I told you I can’t stand seeing you cry. Smile for me my Jinyoungie.” Mark said and kissed Jinyoung’s nose.

“Hyung~” Jinyoung cried out and hugged Mark tightly.

“I missed you so much!! I dreamt of you often. I’m sorry I didn’t respond to your messages. I felt like there was a new distance was between us because you were older and I didn’t know what to do with that gap there. Then I realized you always treated me as a child and would never see me as anything else and I got so scared hyung. So scared. I felt like I wasn’t enough for you. I felt like-”

Jinyoung was silenced by a pair of warm sweet lips against his. Gently kissing him in a calming manner.

“Hush, I never want to hear you say you felt like you weren’t enough for me. You were what I always wanted.”

“Mark...hyung…”

And that was all it took for Mark to seal their lips again into another kiss. This one deeper and more meaningful as they expressed their love for each other.

(A/N) lol i just love the idea of predebut jinyoung and mark speaking both English and Korean lol