It starts with a smile – a barely there twitch of his full lips. Suddenly Jackson is falling, or at least that’s what it feels like to him. As if someone swept away the ground from beneath his feet and he has nothing to hold unto, so he had no other choice but to fall.

The falling starts there but the story starts way before that.

It starts when one day another member is added to their group. He walks into the dorm after their manager, nervously biting his bottom lip and with his right hand tightly holding his left forearm. Their manager introduces him as Mark, explains that he’s from L.A and originally Taiwanese, asks all of them to help him settle in, then asks Jackson making to take special care since he’s fluent in English and the new boy will be his roommate. The manager leaves after that and they’re all left staring at the dark haired boy with the big eyes, which have yet to move from the spot they’ve fixated on the floor.

Jackson could see him swallow a lump in his throat before the new boy, Mark, looked up. In that moment Jackson realised that he was indeed pretty, but his expression stayed distanced as he looked at each of them, a slight disdain curled around his lips.

Jackson got up from his position on the couch and took a few steps toward the new boy, he offered his hand in greeting and a smile split across his face.

            “Hi I’m Jackson! Nice to meet you Mark, I hope we’ll get along well.” He said in English hoping the familiar language would help Mark open up quicker. It had no such effect though, it only made the other frown and take a step back.

            “Nice to meet you too.” Mark replied in accented Korean. Jaebum, being the leader, came to stand beside Jackson and offered a kind smile.

            “Manager told us you’re the oldest so far. I’m the leader Jaebum.” He turned and pointed to the couch “And there we have Jinyoung and Yugyeom, our maknae.” Mark nodded at each of them before his eyes fell to the floor again.

            “I’m very tired could I go to sleep already?” Mark asked in a timid voice. Immediately Jackson awoke into action and led the older boy into their shared room. The L.A. native’s stuff had already been placed in the room and as soon as he had entered Jackson closed the door behind him and went back to sit beside Yugyeom.

All of them were quiet for a moment before Yugyeom broke the silence with his whisper.

            “He seems kind of weird, doesn’t he?” Immediately Jackson punched his arm in mock chastising. When Jaebum frowned at them they turned serious again.

            “He’s probably only tired.” Their leader said in a quiet tone. Jinyoung nodded in agreement

“He also seems shy.” He added before turning to Jackson.

            “What do you think Jackson?” said boy pretended to think carefully for a moment before he grinned again.

            “He has eyes like a puppy!” the youngest snickered at his answer, while Jinyoung rolled his eyes and Jaebum sighed loudly.

It was two in the morning when Jackson went to sleep. He tried being as quiet as possible, tiptoeing around the dark room to not wake his new roommate. Mark was facing the wall and although Jackson couldn’t see his face the movement of his exposed shoulder with each breath he took seemed slightly too quick for a sleeping person.

So Jackson stopped tiptoeing and let himself fall into his mattress. The Hong Kong native took a moment to get into a comfortable position before he glanced at his roommate.

            “I know you’re awake.” Jackson said in a soft voice but it seemed a bit too loud in the quiet room. He half expected Mark to ignore him and continue feigning sleep but to his surprise the older boy sat up all of a sudden and faced him. His hair was sticking out in all directions and despite the late hour and his obvious exhaustion his eyes were big, reminding Jackson of a puppy again.

The Hong Kong native sat up as well and looked at the other boy with soft eyes.

            “Are you feeling homesick? It’s ok we all get that. Not lying, living here will take some getting used to, but you have us now." Just then Mark’s expression changed and the older boy looked completely lost and even though Jackson wanted to console him he didn’t know how. “Really it will get better.” He tried again with a bright voice, but the other just nodded and laid back down, his back facing Jackson again.

The younger boy laid down as well and closed his eyes. After a few minutes of complete silence he could hear the sheets rustling and an almost inaudible “good night” was murmured.

Jackson was asleep before he could reply.

The next week Jaebum, Jinyoung and Yugyeom were tiptoeing around Mark, who in turn tried to avoid them as much as possible. Jackson was somewhere in between. He didn’t want to push the eldest’s boundaries but he still tried to make him talk and swipe that stoic and cold expression off his face.

After three days Yugyeom decided he didn’t especially like his newest hyung, Jaebum was waiting for Mark to come out of his shell in his own time and Jinyoung seemed rather neutral about the whole thing. So after a whole week was over and Jinyoung got up first to start preparing breakfast he was surprised when Mark joined him in the kitchen.

            “Do you need something?” Jinyoung asked kindly. Mark shook his head but remained standing in the entrance with messy bed hair and his right hand gripping his wrist. Jinyoung noticed that nervous habit since the older boy arrived and immediately wondered why he felt nervous. He shrugged it off and went back to preparing breakfast when a shy voice made him pause.

            “Can I help you with breakfast?”

What woke Jackson that morning was the smell, and therefore also the promise, of food. He managed to get out of the room without stumbling into anything. When he entered the kitchen the sight made him stop dead in his tracks, all sleep gone from his eyes. Jinyoung and Mark were preparing breakfast. Together.

Now Jackson wanted nothing more then to ask how Jinyoung had managed to do that but he didn’t want to interrupt the moment so he just stood there, silently, watching them cook.

Jinyoung was giving directions and guiding the older boy, if Jackson didn’t know better he would even say Jinyoung was babying him.

Jinyoung didn’t mention the breakfast incident until Mark was in the bathroom taking a shower and the rest of them were in front of the telly.

            “Mark is really cute.” Jinyoung said out of the blue. Jaebum raised his eyebrows while Jackson just grinned and Yugyeom wore a confused expression. “He is really shy and quiet but he has a sweet personality.” Before the others could reply the shower water got turned off and all of them went back to watching the drama that was currently playing.

Since then it had become an everyday occurrence to see Jinyoung and Mark cooking together. Jackson felt relieved that Mark seemed to be warming up to somebody even though he felt slightly hurt that somebody wasn’t him.

The next thing that surprised Jackson was finding Jaebum and Mark quietly talking to each other at four in the morning while everyone else was asleep. Jackson woke up because his bladder was calling him only to find Mark’s bed empty. As he left their room in search of the older boy he could see light coming from Jaebum’s room and could hear mumbling from the other side of the door. He cautiously tiptoed closer and peeked through a crack in the door. His eyes found the L.A. native right away, sitting on Jaebum’s mattress with the other boy right beside him, talking in hushed whispers. Jackson pulled away from the door and went to the bathroom. When he was back in his bed he couldn’t help but wonder where the sudden feeling of betrayal came from.

About a month and a half after Mark joined them they were siting in the practice room, soaked in sweat and panting for breath. The only one still dancing like crazy was their youngest, Yugyeom. Mark was watching their youngest member with a look of concentration on his face. When Yugyeom crumpled onto the floor from exhaustion Jaebum told him he shouldn’t push himself so much. Jackson could see Mark opening and closing his mouth a few times as if contemplating with himself whether he should speak up or not.

His mouth stayed closed for a few moments then his unusually firm voice surprised everyone.

            “You’re a really amazing dancer Yugyeom. You’re only fifteen and yet you can move like that, you’re surely going to become a great dancer in the future.” Mark ended his speech much softer then he began but his eyes stayed on the now beaming maknae.

Jackson had to admit he didn’t think Mark would win Yugyeom over so easily. He’s truly happy that all of them are getting along so well with the newest member but again he couldn’t help feeling hurt and wondering if maybe Mark just didn’t like him.

It’s two weeks after that that Jackson wakes up in the middle of the night because of nature’s call again and find’s Mark absent. Again.

This time though there is no light coming from Jaebum’s room, instead he finds Mark curled into himself sitting in front of the telly, which is set on mute, and watching a cartoon.

He goes to the bathroom first then walks over to the couch and grabs a blanket throwing it other the other boy, who flinches just then as if he hasn’t heard the Hong Kong native approach. He settles down next to the other boy and couldn’t help but notice how cold his skin seemed when their arms touched. Mark had taken the blanked and cuddled into it.

            “Why are you out here watching cartoons?” Jackson asked softly. Mark shrugged but moved to look from the telly screen to Jackson.

            “I couldn’t sleep and cartoons are the only good things that are on right now.” The L.A. native replied, but his eyes stayed locked to Jackson's. The television is only providing so much light but Jackson could see Mark’s face clearly.

            “Aren’t you lonely?” The younger boy asked. For a moment Mark averted his eyes and gave a nonchalant looking half shrug. “You know I really like cartoons, so the next time you can’t sleep and decide to watch cartoons wake me too.” Mark’s eyes widened for a moment, he seemed surprised that Jackson would offer to do something like that. Then he looked as if he was about to protest, but in the end he settled for an almost inaudible ‘thank you’.

And that’s when it starts. It starts with a smile – a barely there twitch of his full lips. Suddenly Jackson is falling, or at least that’s what it feels like to him. As if someone swept away the ground from beneath his feet and he has nothing to hold unto, so he had no other choice but to fall.

This turned out waaaaay longer then I thought and planned but I couldn't leave out anything. Actually it even seems a bit rushed. 

Anyway I hope you enoy this one shot ^^

Comments are very much appreciated :3