Chapter 26: When you freak out over the smallest things

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Jackson catches up with Bambam and Jinyoung over dinner, or maybe more like just Jinyoung because that guy's hiding something.

Also, what outfit will Bambam put Jackson in after the revealing one on the first day?

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Jackson’s at dinner with Jinyoung and Bambam. It’s just some diner in town because Bambam wanted to eat at one of their old hangouts, and the food isn’t bad but it isn’t fantastic either. That didn’t stop them from ordering too much food and even dessert though, because the mood tonight feels celebratory, what’s with the three of them being gathered here where they used to eat in high school. But Jackson’s kind of worried that he’s eating too much for his diet (though, to be honest, his diet is always getting shot so maybe he shouldn’t even call it a diet really),because right now he’s too full to move. Leaning his head back, he watches Bambam flirt with their waitress, the girl’s smiling like she actually means it instead of just playing along to get a larger tip. Beside Bambam, Jinyoung’s checking his phone still, nibbling his lower lip as his brows knit together.

“Jinyoung, you’ve been staring at your phone for like the past 10 minutes. We’re supposed to be catching up, but you’ve not talked in ages, you know,” Jackson mumbles, pouting slightly.

Jinyoung spares a quick glance, before his eyes drift back to his phone and sighs. Bambam’s just done talking to the waitress, the girl leaving to get them their bill, so he sneaks a peek at Jinyoung’s screen.

“Who’s Mark?” Bambam asks, cheek resting on Jinyoung’s shoulder, then answers himself almost immediately, “Oh wait, isn’t that the purple haired guy from this morning? The one you asked Jackson to send you a photo of?”

Jinyoung doesn’t answer, so Jackson replies “Yes”, sitting up so he can lean over the table to see the phone for himself. Jinyoung’s talking to Mark? He never knew they sent each other messages. “What are they talking about?”

“They’re not,” Bambam replies matter-of-factly. “Mark hasn’t seen Jinyoung’s last message.”

“We weren’t talking about anything important,” Jinyoung mutters, switching off his phone display so Bambam can’t see anything else, and Jackson sits back, his plan to nose into Jinyoung’s messaging history foiled.

“You were looking at your phone for really long though,” Jackson points out, wagging his finger at him until Jinyoung makes a face at him. “Sheesh. Fine, don’t tell us about it, I’ll just ask Mark myself –“

“Don’t!”

“Why not?”

“…never mind. Ask him if you want,” Jinyoung mutters, and Jackson rolls his eyes. He motions his slightly at Bambam, eyes glancing to Jinyoung and giving a tiny shoulder shrug, the universal motion for “what’s going on?”. Bambam just gives him a wide-eyed expression and shakes his head. So Jackson pulls out his phone, looking to find Mark’s contact, but there’s a hand snatching his phone before he gets there.

“Oh my gosh, Jackson, I wasn’t serious,” Jinyoung hisses, offended. Jackson should be the one offended though, so he just grabs his phone back.

“Tell us then. You were looking at your phone too seriously for too long for this to be just a casual conversation.”

Jinyoung doesn’t answer for a while, but Bambam forcibly takes his phone, reading the messages for himself, and Jinyoung just covers his face with his hands, no longer resisting the invasion of his privacy. After a couple of scrolls up and down, Bambam turns to face Jinyoung, asking, “Are you like, interested in this Mark guy? Because you’re doing a terrible job at flirting with him, if you are.”

Interested? Jinyoung? In Mark? Jackson is about to ask Bambam why he had come to such a farfetched conclusion when he recalls how Jinyoung was asking for a photo of Mark earlier today. And how Jinyoung had appeared suddenly in the office in the afternoon, saying he wanted to join them earlier although the original plan was to meet at the diner for dinner. Or how he said he wanted to go find Mark’s office to ask him some question, but wouldn’t tell Jackson what, until Jackson threatened to reveal that Jinyoung asked for a photo of Mark earlier. That got Jinyoung to mutter something about how he just wanted to come over to see Mark’s new hair colour in person and compliment him, which Jackson didn’t really believe, because Jinyoung had said he wanted to ask Mark a question, but that wasn’t a question. He had let it slide though, because Jinyoung’s actual question to Mark in the office was hilarious. But putting all those information together means Bambam’s guess suddenly makes a lot of sense (although Jackson’s still not sure how Bambam came to that conclusion by only looking at Jinyoung’s conversation with Mark and knowing that Jinyoung got a sneak photo of Mark. Then again, Bambam’s an expert on flirting so…).

“Seriously, Jinyoung? Were you using me to get a photo of your crush?” Jackson frowns, more confused than angry, and across the table, Jinyoung gives a slight, almost imperceptible nod. “Since when have you started noticing Mark like that anyway? Wh –“

“Jackson, that’s not important right now,” Bambam interrupts. “Jinyoung, isn’t this photo of you with your college boyfriend? Why did you even send it to Mark if you’re interested in him?”

“I don’t know. It’s the only photo I found of Jaebum in sandals and socks so I just sent it to Mark because I told him to dress Jaebum in that combination and I just didn’t think it through, I guess?”

“Oh,” Bambam breathes, “Damn. Okay. That wasn’t smart.”

“I know that, don’t state the obvious,” Jinyoung huffs, pouting. “He’s seen the photo but he didn’t see the next message I sent even though it was only a minute later. I don’t know what he’s thinking now. Did I mess up?” A low groan comes from the slumped pile that is Jinyoung, and Jackson rolls his eyes but gently pats the guy’s hair.

“Dude, you’re overthinking. Maybe Mark’s just busy and hasn’t seen the new message. Or he might have went to sleep or something,” Jackson offers, hoping to comfort his friend. Bambam reaches a hand over Jinyoung’s shoulder, giving him a tight squeeze. Bambam’s opening his mouth to say something, when the waitress appears, unaware that she’s interrupting at an awkward moment. Jackson quickly pulls out his card to pay, and she heads off.

Jackson’s not sure what to say now, so he puts a hand out, wordlessly asking for Jinyoung’s phone. Bambam passes it to him, and he scrolls through the short conversation Jinyoung has with Mark. The photo of Jinyoung with Jaebum is one of the last messages sent, but as Jackson scrolls up, he finds the first message Jinyoung had sent Mark earlier today.

“Did you actually send Mark a question asking him if he had dyed his hair after you already got a photo of Mark and my reply that his hair is freshly purple?”

“Yeah,” Jinyoung mumbles, picking up a dessert fork to drag the melted ice cream around the plate pointlessly, “Why? I can’t tell him I already saw a photo, can I?”

“Well, probably not, I guess?” Jackson