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Mark waited a whole ten seconds before saying anything else.

The look on Jackson’s face said that he hadn’t yet processed just what Mark said.

Mark’s regret and hesitation finally took him over, “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t’ve said anything. I’m just being stupid.” He muttered, standing up.

Jackson cleared his throat and stood up as well, “I gotta use the bathroom. Is there any staff washroom I can use?” he asked gently. Mark noticed that all of the goofiness that he usually exuded was now gone.

“Yeah. There’s one in the back, it’s just through the double doors. It’s a staff washroom. You can use that one.” Mark said, pointing toward the backroom. He felt his face get hot in embarrassment. He knew he probably ruined everything that could’ve been between them two.

Why did you have to open your big mouth, Mark? He ran this question in his mind over and over as Jackson retreated to the bathroom.

“He probably thinks you’re a creep. He probably hates you.” Mark began softly cursing to himself, wandering around the large empty store.

Mark had always wondered what his interactions with Jackson would be like once they actually met – he never expected them to cross paths after high school honestly – but now that it was actually happening, he wasn’t exactly happy with how things were turning out.

“It’s like a labyrinth in here!” Jackson shouted from down the aisle, jogging lightly to catch up with Mark again.

Mark felt himself stiffen up and his throat groan lightly. He almost couldn’t stand being around Jackson now, as much as he liked him, the idea of Jackson knowing he liked him without commenting on it was nauseating for Mark.

“Yeah, I get lost sometimes, too.” Mark smiled back through his discomfort.

“Are we still playing the game?” Jackson said nonchalantly, looking right into Mark’s eyes.

Part of Mark wanted to say no, absolutely not. Besides, now that Jackson knew he was not a , dated some girls from the school, and had a big crush on him, there wasn’t much more damage that he could cause.

This actually made Mark nod in agreement, though. “Yeah we’re still playing. It’s my turn, I think.”

Mark figured he had nothing else to lose at this point. He might as well try to salvage whatever reputation he had left with Jackson.

“So… why did you come into the store today? Just for chips?” Mark asked. “You were in the section headed toward the Valentine’s Day displays.”

Jackson’s smirk came back, the same goofy full-of-himself smile that he wore so beautifully.

“What if I said I was buying someone a Valentine’s Day chocolate box?” he said back smugly.

Mark flinched on the inside, looking away to make sure it wasn’t obvious.

“I’d be happy for you.” He said simply. “But you didn’t answer my question yet. Were you getting a Valentine for someone?”

Jackson stopped and leaned against the shelf, “I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you.”

Mark was a little confused, he felt a small pang of jealousy come over him at this imaginary Valentine of Jackson’s, but he decided to let it go. He didn’t want to increase the level of awkwardness that he was already knee-deep in.

The time on the clock above the door of the supermarket, near the lottery ticket dispenser indicated that there was still at least a few hours until the morning staff would be coming in.

Mark sighed at this and sat down on the floor, knowing he would have to endure the pain of Jackson knowing his attraction for him, but subtly ignoring it.

Just then Jackson plopped onto the floor just like before, right next to Mark.

“It’s my turn.” He stated with a grin, “Tell me… why do you have a crush on me?”

Mark almost choked on the air in his throat; Jackson was waiting patiently next to him, waiting for a response, one that Mark wasn’t sure if he was able to give. He didn’t anticipate this at all.

“W-what do you mean?” He stuttered, trying to play dumb in order to buy time or make Jackson give up on the question.

It didn’t work at all, Jackson was steadfast, “You said you had a crush on me. I just want to know why?”

It was a simple enough question, one that Mark couldn’t completely say he didn’t expect. He knew deep down that confessing to Jackson about his true feelings would definitely warrant some sort of questions of Jackson’s own to the entire situation.

“You really wanna know?” Mark took a small breath, managing to mellow himself out. He felt the intense gaze of Jackson meet his face, eagerly waiting.

Jackson just nodded without blinking.

“Fine. Where do I start…” Mark began, “I guess I could start by saying that it never happened overnight. It wasn’t one of those love-at-first-sight sort of things. I grew up next to you, but we were never friends. I wanted desperately to get to know you though.”

Jackson let his gaze wander now, freeing Mark from his stare. He was nodding intensely to himself, listening quietly.

“I loved how active you were in everything you did. You’re so confident, so fun. You make people want to smile. That’s something I feel like I never had. I was always told I’m too quiet, and that I come off as a loner. It doesn’t bother me anymore, but it’s something that I wanted to change so much about myself but never could. With you though, it seems so natural and it’s so… attractive?” Mark paused. “If I’m creeping you out just tell me to stop…”

Jackson quickly shook his head away at that comment, “No you’re not. Stop. I asked for you to explain. Continue.”

Mark swallowed hard, “Alright. Another reason I have a crush on you is a little more… superficial.”

“What do you mean by that?” Jackson asked.

“You’re hot, man. I don’t know what else to say.” Mark laughed at himself as he said this. There was clearly no way to make it sound any less corny than it sounded, so he just laughed at himself as he explained. “You’ve got a killer body, your smile is infectious, you wear the best clothes… God, you even smell amazing.”

Jackson joined in on the laughter; Mark could tell that he appreciated the honesty. It made it easier on Mark to power through it, knowing Jackson wasn’t judging him for his less than subtle confessions.

“I mean, what’s not to like?” Mark said lowly, almost as if it was a rhetorical question.

Jackson fell silent again, but before Mark could get any more worried about him being weirded out, Jackson placed his hand on Mark’s shoulder softly.

“Thanks” he whispered genuinely, “Thanks for… just everything I guess.”

“You mean for getting us locked in here?” Mark said sarcastically, trying to lighten things up. Jackson seemed really solemn.

“For being so cool with everything. I mean… I’ve never told anyone that I liked guys before.” He explained, “Maybe it’s because you’re so down to earth, or maybe it’s the fact that we’re both locked in here, I don’t know. But I just knew I could tell you.”

“Of course, I understand.” Mark said, “It wasn’t exactly that easy to tell you, either you know, considering everything I just told you…”

“-That’s another thing, Mark.” Jackson interrupted, his face getting a bit pink in the cheek area. He breathed out of his nose hard, his mouth forced into a smile. “God, now I’m getting shy.”

Mark was confused; this entire night was not making any sense to him at all.

“I could trip over my words all night, but I think it’s better if I just…” Jackson closed his eyes and leaned in, his hand reaching over and pulling at the back of Mark’s head lightly, leading him directly into Jackson’s face.

Mark held his breath, but didn’t pull away, allowing himself to be pulled into Jackson’s personal space, inches from his mouth.

When he was close enough to feel the hot air from Jackson’s parted mouth, he closed his eyes too and mirrored Jackson. It was only ten seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

Jackson’s lips pressed firmly into Mark’s, kissing him with a timid urgency, as if he’d waited forever to do it.

Mark had no time to react to this; all he knew was that he was perfectly okay with being held by Jackson’s strong hands, pulling him closer and closer as they kissed.

When Jackson finally let go, allowing Mark to return to his original position, neither of them spoke for a few moments. Mark felt the tingling on his mouth from Jackson’s saliva, it was the only thing that gave him solid proof he wasn’t day dreaming.

“I hope that clears a couple of things up…” Jackson smiled shyly.

“Not exactly…” Mark admitted, completely confused, if not more than before. If anything, this complicated everything. Nothing was making sense yet.

Jackson sighed with a light laugh, “Do you need me to do it again, will that help?”

Mark nodded greedily, playing stupid.

Jackson scooted over so he was closer to Mark, this time he cranked his neck and leaned in rather than pulling Mark over. His kiss was a lot slower, and much deeper. He pressed his whole body into Mark, tasting the boy’s lips carefully.

Mark closed his eyes and let himself be taken again, Jackson’s presence was overpowering, and Mark couldn’t get enough of it.

Kissing Jackson gave Mark a little more confidence; he decided to put it to the test and wrapped both arms around Jackson’s neck, tightening them around him to pull him closer in.

Jackson smiled through his teeth mid kiss; he knew that Mark fully understood everything now.

Mark felt his pulse quickening, his getting a bit harsher, and his kissing become hungrier. He had to physically push himself away from Jackson before he let things get even more steamy.

“Cameras…” he said panting, pointing toward the perimeter of the roof. “Don’t wanna get fired.”

“Damn.” Jackson lulled deeply, “That’s a shame. I was starting to get into it.”

Before Mark could answer, his eyes jolted open as he made a discovery in his head. Without saying anything to Jackson, he rose to his feet quickly and dashed away through the aisle next to them. It was the home electronics aisle.

“Where are you going?” Jackson yelled after him. Mark was already out of sight.

A few minutes of silence went by as Jackson sat there alone, waiting for Mark to return. When Mark didn’t come back after five minutes, Jackson stood up and followed after him in the same direction.

At the other end of the store, Jackson could see Mark was in the corner, using one of the stores outlets to charge his phone.

There were plastic wrappers scattered around him, he must’ve taken a brand new charger from off the shelf and opened it, Jackson giggled, not thinking of that idea himself.

Mark was on the phone when Jackson approached him again.

“Alright… Sounds good…” Mark spoke slowly into the mic, turning around to face Jackson. “K. Goodnight Gord. Sorry to wake you..”

“So?” Jackson asked, stepping closer.

“I feel like an idiot.” Mark mumbled, placing his hands on the sides of his head as if he had a migraine.

“What’s wrong?” Jackson asked again.

“Just a sec. I’ll be right back.” Mark said, patting Jackson on the arm as he stepped around him.

Mark disappeared again, heading directly for the staff bathroom. Jackson smiled devilishly after seeing where Mark was headed.

He made his way to the door to wait for Mark’s return.

A minute later Mark exited the bathroom and headed straight for Jackson. He looked completely confused.

“Hey Jacks… did you happen to see a silver keychain in the bath-“

“-Oh these?” Jackson interjected, dangling a set of keys in front of Mark’s face playfully.

Mark’s mouth dropped open, no words escaped.

Jackson’s laugh echoed through the store, a goofy smile erupting on his face.

“You mean this whole time…” Mark spoke slowly.

“Not the whole time, just for a bit.” Jackson confessed. “I considered giving them to you, but then that would mean that you’d leave…”

Jackson wasn’t laughing anymore. His voice became serious.

“Things were going so well, you know?” He half smiled, “I just knew I didn’t want you to leave. It was stupid, I know.”

Mark let out the breath he was holding in, a small smile forming on his lips.

“I can’t say it was an entirely horrible plan.” Mark said, “I guess if I was going to be locked in here with anyone, I’m glad it was you.”

Jackson looked hopeful, the light returning to his eye-smile. “Yeah, same.”

“You know this means you owe me.” Mark said suddenly, a determined grin on his face. “You cost me a whole night of gaming and chocolate.”

“Who do you think these were for?” Jackson said, reaching behind him. He pulled a red velvet heart shaped box out of the shelf behind him that was tied with a red bow.

Mark blushed, “No way. You’re kidding.”

“You were right from the start; I didn’t come in here just for chips. I came in here to buy chocolates for the most beautiful young man in this hole of a town. I came to ask him to be my Valentine.” Jackson gave a cheesy smile and kneeled onto one knee. “I wasn’t planning on getting locked in here with him, but when I realized what was happening I knew it was fate. It was my chance to talk to you, get to know you.”

Mark couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and he couldn’t stop giggling at how cheesy Jackson was being. It was so, so cute though.

“So, what do you say, Mark Tuan?” Jackson asked, shaking the box of chocolates in his hand. “I know I ruined your amazing Valentine’s Day plans of hanging out alone, but how about I do you one better and make you pancakes, then we both play League together?”

“That… actually… sounds so amazing…” Mark said, reaching for Jackson to stand up.

Mark looked up at the time, it was nearly morning, they had spent the entire night together. He was filled with every emotion possible: anxiety, dread, anger, fear, excitement, lust, and unshakable happiness.

This was one Valentine’s Day he never in a million years thought would happen, but now that it had, he just wished it wouldn’t end.

Jackson pulled Mark closer and clasped their hands together as they left the store, making Mark blush now that he and Jackson were hand in hand leaving the store.

As they were heading out, Mark laughed at the small alarm that triggered from them walking out, “You know you still have to pay for those chips, and those chocolates.”

Jackson laughed and kissed the back of Mark’s hand, “Deal.”