Mark was very drunk. The group was between promotions and thankfully had a bit of time off, and he was definitely taking advantage of his ability to get wasted and not worry about having to get up early the next morning and struggle through schedules with a hangover.

"You're sitting on that bottle," Jackson complained off to his right, and even after so many years in Korea, Mark was thankful to have a fellow English speaker around when he was inebriated. It made life easier. Even if said English speaker was being a complete punk, in Mark's opinion.

"Calm down, Jacks," Mark managed to say without too much trouble. He took a swig out of the bottle of soju in his hand, the pair of them having foregone shot glasses (or glasses of any kind), then handed Jackson the bottle. "Or go grab another if you don't wanna wait til I'm ready to pass it."

After drinking a mouthful, Jackson let out a quiet hiss as the alcohol trailed sharply down his esophagus. "We've had too much already. I don't wanna open another, I just don't want to have you sitting here holding the bottle for a half hour when I could be drinking it instead."

Mark had a reply in mind but found that talking wasn't at all worth the effort. Instead, he waved his hand dismissively, then settled his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand to look vaguely in Jackson's direction. The ensuing silence between them was comfortable and relaxing, only slightly broken by another soft hiss after Jackson took another drink, and Mark let himself enjoy it, knowing that with Jackson as his company it would end soon.

A few minutes later, though, it was Jinyoung who broke the quiet atmosphere, his hand landing on Mark's shoulder as he smiled warmly at each of his bandmates. "Having fun?"

"Nnyoung!" Mark greeted him far too enthusiastically, and a moment later he pushed his chair away from the table to turn and pull Jinyoung onto himself. Normally when he had Jinyoung sit on him, Jinyoung would be sat sideways or with his back to Mark's chest, but the way Mark tugged him down landed him face to face with Mark, and he laughed as a bit of color rose on his cheeks at the suddenness of it. Jackson was laughing at the sight of them. Mark didn't seem to care much that they were both amused about it.

"Wow, how much have you been drinking?" Jinyoung asked, one hand against the side of Mark's jaw as he studied Mark's face to judge how drunk he appeared.

"Already too much and we still have to finish this bottle," Jackson replied for him, indicating the soju bottle with a couple shots still left in it.

Jinyoung's hand fell away from Mark's face as he looked over at Jackson. Mark pressed his face into Jinyoung's chest, happily nuzzling a bit before settling. With another laugh, Jinyoung pushed at Mark's shoulders to separate them slightly. "You seem more sober than him so maybe finish it yourself," Jinyoung advised Jackson.

"Hey, no," Mark immediately protested, reaching out for the bottle, but Jackson easily kept it away. It helped that he didn't have anyone in his lap to impede his movements.

Jinyoung looked back to Mark, a small smirk pulling up the corner of his mouth. "Leave it. You're already going to hate yourself in the morning for how much you've had to drink, don't make it any worse." He started to lift himself off of Mark, but Mark pulled him back by his waist.

"Leaving? I thought you came to play." He knew he wasn't masking the disappointment in his voice at all.

"No, I came to say goodnight." When Mark gave him a sad puppy look, he let out a playful sigh. "I'm tired, hyung. Let's play tomorrow, okay?"

Mark seemed satisfied with the offer and his expression brightened up again. "Ah, okay. That's good too." He ruffled Jinyoung's hair sloppily, practically beaming at him. "Get good sleep."

"Okay, you too." Managing to remove himself from Mark's lap, he threw a smile at Jackson. "Night, Jackson."

Jackson just waved, his mouth too occupied by finishing the bottle of soju to respond with words.

Mark watched Jinyoung leave, and his eyes stayed on the doorway for a long moment after he was gone. When he finally turned back to Jackson, he saw the other with a contemplative look on his face. "What?" he prompted, slipping back into English again.

A slight, thoughtful frown was on Jackson's lips, and then he tilted his chin toward the doorway. "So... Like I know you're cuddly and stuff but... Like I've been wanting to ask for awhile what's up with... You know. All that."

"All what?" He knew he sounded defensive but in his current state he couldn't help it.

"Don't act. You and Jinyoung. The cuddling and... And you know, stuff. Why are you always clinging?"

Mark knew Jackson was just being curious, not judging or assuming, so he worked to gather himself and to control his tone instead of giving a snarky response. Yet he also wasn't ready to deliver an honest answer to that particular question. Sober, he would have simply brushed Jackson off, dismissed him with "don't be weird" or "I can cuddle you more if you're gonna get jealous." But his lap still felt empty of Jinyoung's weight and he'd be falling asleep in his own bed alone instead of cuddling Jinyoung, and his thoughts were kind of a complete mess at the moment so any dismissive responses were chased out of his mind. He gave a long, slow sigh as he folded his arms on the table and laid his head down, his heavy eyelids sinking shut. In a quiet voice a long moment later, he simply said, "Cause he's soft."

Mark didn't see the way Jackson studied him after that, attempting to piece together a less cryptic reason from his own previous observations, and when he seemed to come to some kind of conclusion, Jackson nodded shortly to himself and stood. "Alright, if you're just gonna sleep at the table anyway, let's get your lazy self to bed." Mark didn't protest as he was half led, half dragged to their room.

==========

It was far too early for Jackson to be sliding into his bed, Mark decided, and far too bright out. He didn't actually know what time it was. For all he knew, it may have already been afternoon. But his head was a mess and he wanted more sleep, so that meant it was too early. He let Jackson know as much by kicking at his shins and rolling over, tugging the blanket up over his head.

"Markiepoo," Jackson cooed anyway, stretching out across the bed and taking up too much space.

"Oh my god why are you happy," Mark grumbled. "You drank more than I did."

Jackson hummed thoughtfully before saying, "Probably just cause I'm thinking about what you said last night."

Mark frowned and cracked an eye open as he lowered the blanket. "Why? What did I say?"

"What? You don't remember?" It was obvious in Jackson's voice that he wasn't at all surprised.

Mark huffed slightly. "No. Tell me." He rolled onto his back, and Jackson stopped stretching himself out, giving Mark more room.

"Well, you know, I was just asking about you and Jinyoung..."

Mark felt his stomach drop, which immediately made him nauseous after his night of drinking. "Oh yeah?" he asked in a light voice, his heart beating hard as a dozen things he might have said about Jinyoung raced through his mind.

Jackson nodded with a conniving little smile. "Yeah, I was like, you two are so cuddly and close and everything, and asking you why you are always so close..."

Mark shifted to face Jackson, doing his best to keep his face neutral. But as he waited, Jackson stayed silent. "Right, and?" he prompted insistently when his patience ran out.

Jackson looked over at him with a casual indifference. "Well, I'm sure you know what you said next, right?"

Mark kind of wanted to panic and kind of wanted to punch Jackson. "I don't, so tell me," he demanded firmly.

"Aw, come on, you can't think of what you would say if I asked you that?"

Most of the time Mark didn't mind so much when Jackson joked around at his expense, but when it came to such a closely guarded secret as his feelings for Jinyoung, he couldn't just let him play. He could feel himself blushing and knew if this went on any longer, he'd be giving away anything he hadn't already. "No, I have no idea what I said," he insisted angrily and moved get out of the bed.

"Woah, woah." Jackson grabbed Mark's arm to keep him in place. "You just said he's soft, I thought that was a cute thing to say." Mark glared at him, but Jackson's expression was sincere and gentle, and Mark became suddenly aware that Jackson had planned for him to have this kind of reaction, and probably already knew every thought he'd been having as they talked. Jackson loosened his hold on Mark's arm, letting his thumb run along his skin soothingly. "What were you so upset thinking you might have said?" he asked gently.

Mark could feel the heat in his cheeks and neck, and he couldn't look at Jackson. It took him a long moment to find his voice before he said, "Why are you asking if you seem to think you already know?"

"I don't know, I can only guess unless you tell me yourself." But Jackson didn't push that point, apparently considering Mark's response to be confirmation enough. "I take it he doesn't know?"

"No." Mark slid his arm away from Jackson's hand, feeling panic rise up in his throat. "And neither do you. It doesn't matter." He quickly shifted away, getting out of the bed and heading for the door. "Just forget it." He left without letting Jackson respond.

==========

The first time Jackson made a hasty departure from Mark and Jinyoung, Mark let it slide. Mark and Jackson, after Mark had calmed down some and taken medicine to help alleviate his hangover, had gotten together to play some video games. They kept any talk between them very light and playful, with Mark very pointedly Not Talking About It and Jackson thankfully following suit. But when Jinyoung poked his head into the room an hour after they'd started playing, Jackson was on his feet within a second, throwing out some line about forgetting that he had plans with Jaebum, leaving his controller abandoned halfway through a game.

Jinyoung looked mildly startled at Jackson's departure, while Mark just struggled not to look upset. Then, with a shrug, Jinyoung offered to hang out instead, submitting that he still needed to make good on his promise to Mark the night before, and Mark switched off the game console. At first, Mark felt awkward, as though somehow Jinyoung would know what Mark and Jackson had been talking about that morning. But Jinyoung seemed the same as he always did, and soon Mark was at ease again.

They were mostly silent, Jinyoung reading while Mark played on his phone. They sat with their backs leaned together, occasionally sharing anything funny or interesting they came across, and even though they weren't actually doing anything together, simply being together in that peacefully quiet way was all Mark really wanted anyway.

Eventually they turned to lean back against the headboard, and soon Mark dropped his head down onto Jinyoung's shoulder. When they'd managed to shift down to laying on their backs, there seemed to be a silent consensus that they should take a nap together. Mark set his phone aside, and a few moments later Jinyoung placed a bookmark in his book. With his head on Jinyoung's chest, he felt himself getting lulled by the sound of Jinyoung's heartbeat and the rhythm of his breathing.

Then he felt a soft press of lips against the top of his head. He immediately pressed closer to Jinyoung before realizing that Jinyoung had probably thought he was asleep. He lay awake for several minutes unmoving, then shifted a bit to look up at Jinyoung to confirm he was asleep. He was surprised to find Jinyoung watching him.

Mark turned to push himself up on his elbow, looking down at Jinyoung. He studied him for a bit, thinking a lot of things he wasn't willing to say out loud. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth, and suddenly felt a momentary courage to say anything he wanted to Jinyoung.

The door swung open before he could begin talking, though, and Mark shifted away to see that it was Youngjae coming to fetch them for lunch. Any words he might have said faded away.

==========

The second time Jackson forced Jinyoung and Mark to have some "alone time," Mark was far less forgiving. It was the following evening, and Mark had planted himself between Jackson and Yugyeom on the couch as they mindlessly watched television with Jackson and Yugyeom chatting animatedly throughout the Dragon Ball Z rerun they'd found. At some point, Jackson had managed to lay mostly all over Mark, legs on his lap and head in the crook of his neck. Mark patted his back, enjoying Jackson's playful banter with Yugyeom.

When Jinyoung and Bambam came in, Jackson suddenly jumped away from Mark like he'd been burnt, and Mark looked at him in surprise. But before he could ask anything, Jackson was headed out of the room again, this time practically dragging Yugyeom and Youngjae out with him, ignoring their confused protests.

Mark knew he wasn't controlling his expression, his irritation obvious, and when he looked to Jinyoung, he saw suspicion in his friend's eyes. Too fed up to possibly enjoy quietly hanging out like they'd done the day before, Mark dragged himself up from the couch. "Have you eaten? We should go out and eat."

With his focus on Mark, Jinyoung's expression smoothed out again, replaced by an easy smile. "Alright, what do you want? Ah don't tell me - you wanna go to that western place with the burgers, right?"

Mark laughed with Jinyoung as they started to head out. But then he paused. "Just gimme a second." He found Jackson a minute later in BamBam's bed making use of the other guy as a pillow as he'd been doing earlier with Mark. He punched Jackson in his arm hard and without explanation, then left without addressing Jackson's protests or Bambam's confusion to go enjoy a meal with Jinyoung.

==========

The next morning, Mark intentionally spent time with Jaebum because he knew that if Jackson was with them and Jinyoung came in, Jaebum wasn't the type to just let Jackson drag him away. In Mark's opinion it was a blessed turn of events that Jackson didn't show up at all and he wouldn't have to worry about it.

Until Jinyoung walked past the doorway of Jaebum and Youngjae's bedroom and Jaebum summoned him inside. "Hey, I have leader stuff I need to take care of, come occupy Mark for me, okay?"

Jaebum, Mark had to admit, was much smoother about getting them alone than Jackson had been. But he was seeing red knowing that Jaebum was in on it too, and he could see that Jinyoung had a dark expression as well. He didn't have time to sort out what had upset Jinyoung as he threw out a quick, "I gotta take care of something, stay here," then stormed to his and Jackson's bedroom, nearly running Jaebum down as he rushed past. "Yah."

Jackson looked at Mark, apparently confused by the sharp tone. "What is it now? I'm not even bothering you this time, my arm still hurts."

"You told him?" Mark demanded, angry but managing to keep his voice low, though only Bambam would have been able to understand them fully if they were overheard.

"Told who what?" Jackson asked, looking bewildered.

"I'm not playing a goddamn game. Jaebum. You told Jaebum."

Jackson's brows gathered and he shook his head. "No, what are you even talking about?"

"Don't act like that, you think I don't know what you're doing? You need to -"

"What is this fight about?" Mark turned at the sound of Jaebum's voice as their leader closed the door behind himself. He could see that Jaebum had managed to gather at least a little bit of what they'd been saying, but not much.

"I didn't tell him," Jackson insisted in English, but Mark wasn't listening.

"Why did you hurry out of the room?" Mark asked, clearly still upset but speaking much more calmly to Jaebum than he had to Jackson.

"I had something to do."

"Right, you just happened to remember in time to leave me and Jinyoung alone, okay."

Jaebum brushed off the sarcastic reply. "Why are you mad at Jackson for telling me something?"

Mark grit his teeth. "If you're pretending not to know, then it doesn't matter, does it?"

"If it's causing members to argue, then yes, as a leader it does matter."

"Then quit playing and be direct with me because I know he told you."

"Mark, Jackson hasn't told me anything that should be upsetting you like this. If you have something to tell me, he knows you can tell me yourself."

"This is so stupid, you're both just gonna act like it's nothing? Fine. Then it's nothing, drop it."

Jackson sighed and stood. "Mark -"

"No, it's enough," Mark insisted.

"No, you're gonna stop, not us, cause we didn't do anything," Jackson demanded. "I didn't say anything so maybe you should think about how this looks to Jaebum, you look crazy right now. And obvious."

Honestly, Mark hadn't given any thought to the possibility that Jaebum didn't know. And if Jackson was being honest, then he was right. A moment of panic squeezed at Mark's chest.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" Jaebum asked.

Mark let his thoughts settle slightly before saying, "No. There's nothing to tell." He knew after this display that Jaebum wouldn't believe that at all. But he didn't want to talk about any of this anymore so he headed for the door. When he swung it open, Jinyoung was on the other side, and Mark stopped dead.

Mark felt his stomach lurch like it had when Jackson had been teasing him the morning after they'd been drinking. He had no idea what Jinyoung had heard, what things he'd said in English instead of Korean, and whether he'd been as obvious as Jackson had said. A hand on his shoulder pulled him further into the room, and he didn't fight it. Jinyoung looked past Mark's shoulder and nodded, stepping fully into the room as well. Then Jackson and Jaebum moved past, with Jaebum stopping for a moment to give Jinyoung's shoulder a small squeeze, and they left Jinyoung and Mark alone again.

The silence between them was thick and awkward. Mark stared down at his feet, his thoughts jumbled. He knew there was no way out of this situation. He just hoped Jinyoung didn't hate him by the end of it.

"Just so you know, I'm pretty sure Jackson didn't say anything to Jaebum."

That was not what Mark was expecting. "Yeah? Why's that?" He scuffed a foot against the floor.

"Because he wouldn't need to. Jaebum already had a reason to try to give us some time together."

Mark was a little confused and curious at the direction of the conversation but still too embarrassed to look up. Jinyoung was quiet for a bit, apparently gathering himself.

"I... told him yesterday that..." again Jinyoung fell silent. Mark didn't push, but he did raise his gaze to look at Jinyoung with a questioning expression. "Well," Jinyoung finally continued with a small laugh, his eyes on his hands as he nervously picked at his nails, "it sounds like Jaebum and I might have had a similar talk to you and Jackson."

Mark's eyes went wide in surprise. Still, Jinyoung may have been referring to anything he believed Mark had told Jackson, so Mark didn't show his hand just yet. "Yeah? Did you - I mean. What... What exactly did you say?"

Jinyoung smiled crookedly. "I don't know how it went for you guys but... Well, I guess our conversation started about a week ago. I asked him what he thought might happen to a group if it even came out that two of the members were dating. He thought it was unlikely, there aren't many co-ed groups he said, and I... clarified that I meant same-gender. And we talked about the repercussions of it and how hard a couple like that would have to work to keep it under wraps because news like that getting out would almost certainly ruin the group. We kind of left it there... until yesterday, when he said to me that if that was going to happen that in a way he hoped it would be in our group because as the leader he would be someone who would be supportive and would help protect them and would stand with them even if it did get discovered." Jinyoung let his gaze meet Mark's, and Mark couldn't do anything except stare. "And then he told me I should go for it and left it there. I didn't think I'd been that obvious."

Mark's heart felt like it would beat straight out of his chest. "So that's why he tried to get us alone?"

Jinyoung nodded. "I think he hoped giving us alone time would give me the opportunity to tell you."

Mark could see how nervous and unsure Jinyoung was despite his confident and direct tone, and he gathered his thoughts so he could confess as well. "When Jackson woke me up after we were drinking the other night he told me he asked about you and me. And that I told him that you're soft." He laughed, and Jinyoung joined him. "But he made it clear he knew the real reason I'm always so close to you."

"Ah," Jinyoung nodded. "So he left us alone too." He took half a step closer to Mark, though they were already close.

"Do you think they really didn't talk about it?"

Jinyoung was smiling warmly at Mark. "Does it matter if they did?"

Mark stepped forward, and his hands found Jinyoung's waist to pull their bodies together. "No, I guess it doesn't."

Jinyoung kissed Mark then, and like his words it was steady and confident even as the shaking of his arms as they wrapped around Mark's neck belied his attempt at seeming calm. As soon as their lips touched, though, Mark felt far too elated to bother with being nervous. He slid his arms around Jinyoung, keeping him tight against himself and tilting his head to deepen their kiss. Jinyoung made a small sound at that, and Mark felt him melt, his shaking stopping as he sank into the kiss.

When they broke away long moments later, both grinning and breathing heavily, Jinyoung asked, "So... Wanna risk the fate of our group with me?"

Mark laughed and squeezed him. "You've got a really romantic way of asking a guy on a date." He brought their lips together briefly, sliding his hand up along Jinyoung's back, and then nodded his agreement. "Jackson's gonna be a real about being right."

Jinyoung chuckled. "Worry about him later. Let's go, I don't have roommates to worry about."

Mark had no problem letting Jinyoung lead him to his own room by his wrist, and he very pointedly ignored the self-satisfied look on Jackson's face as they passed him on their way there.