Final

Obnoxiously loud and boisterous laughter filled the classroom and Mark groaned and buried his head further in his crossed arms. He felt a warm hand pet his hair and groaned again, finally lifting his head.

“Jackson?” Jaebum asked with a smile. Mark sulked at him.

“Of course Jackson! Who else could manage to annoy the out of me before the first lessons starts.” Jaebum’s grin widened and he shrugged before settling down on the seat next to Mark. “I really don’t understand why he’s so popular.” Mark complained, eyeing the black haired boy sitting in the middle of the classroom with disdain.

“He’s not that bad. I know he seems like a snob at first but he’s actually quite friendly.” Jaebum commented casually. The older boy turned to face him with a glare that quickly turned into a pout.

“Jaebum-ah are you leaving me for that idiot Jackson?” Jaebum laughed at his best friend’s antics and reached over to ruffle his hair again.

“I would never.”

Had Mark looked at Jackson in that moment he would have caught the black haired boy eyeing their closeness with a frown.

There was no special reason why Mark disliked Jackson, he just did. From the first moment Jackson walked into the classroom he behaved like he owned the place even though he just transferred form Hong Kong. If there was one thing Mark couldn’t stand to death than it was arrogant and pretentious people; and that is just what Jackson seemed like as he stood in front of his new classroom grinning and with a snapback on his head.

So his first impression of Jackson wasn’t the best one, but Mark was not prejudiced and it was Jackson’s first day. When the black haired boy continued to behave like he was the king of the school for the rest of the week Mark could feel his annoyance and dislike grow. What really tipped the scale was the fan club of boys and girls Jackson had gathered around him. It was one thing if that guys was being loud and annoying on his own but it was a whole other thing when he constantly had twenty people gathered around him who were just as loud and annoying.

Mark thought it only reasonable that he would dislike the Hong Kong native, while Jaebum just found amusement in his suffering. Sometimes Mark really wondered why they were even friends.

“You without your boyfriend today?” A voice interrupted his musings and he looked up from the math problem he had been staring at for the last hour and saw Jackson.

“You without your minions today? Did they finally realise how annoying you are?” Mark shot back with a quick tongue causing Jackson’s grin to falter.

“Are you this sweet to your boyfriend as well?” Jackson pressed again. Mark threw his pencil onto his math book and glared at the other boy.

“What boyfriend are you even talking about? And why are you annoying me?” Jackson’s sheepish grin returned full force and he suddenly held deliciously smelling takeaway coffee in front of Mark’s face.

“You’ve been staring at the same thing for about an hour so I thought you might need some coffee.” Mark blinked repeatedly before slowly taking the coffee into his hands. “I hope you like hazelnut cappuccino” He did. He loved it, in fact, but he wasn’t about to give Jackson the satisfaction of having chosen the right coffee.

“They’re fine, I suppose.” Jackson nodded a few times, grin still in place and walked off after giving a little wave.

Mark was left there staring after him, completely and utterly confused.

Mark threw the coffee away of course. He didn't even take a sip from it. Some people may think he looked clueless and sweet but he definitely wasn’t naïve.

Jackson had no reason whatsoever to buy Mark coffee, which could only mean that he put something in there. After all Jackson was known for his jester nature. Mark reckoned it was probably salt or something along those lines.

What Mark in his paranoia didn’t notice however was Jackson’s number, his name and a heart scrawled on the paper cup.

The next time Mark was sitting in the schoolyard doing homework Jackson approached him again. This time he seemed much less confident.

“How was the coffee?” he asked in a pleasantly calm voice. Mark was used to hearing arrogance in his tone and used to his loud screeching. The tone he used now was new to him and it sent shivers down his spine.

“Good.” He answered curtly, eyes dropping to his history assignment again. Jackson stood in front of him shifting from one foot to the other, but Mark chose to ignore him.

“You could have at least sent me a text so I have your number. I mean we’re in the same class and all.” Jackson commented. He must have wanted to sound casual but failed miserably. Mark looked up from his history book and gave the younger boy a confused look.

“Excuse me?” Now Jackson started frowning too and he looked offended and even slightly pissed off.

“What? You’re too good to give me your number?” Mark closed his book and scoffed at him.

“Is this how you ask for a classmate's number? What for? So you can prank me?” Mark started packing his books into his bag. He wouldn’t get to finish anything here. “And how was I supposed to text you when I don’t have your number? You think just because you’re popular the whole school knows your number by heart?” He turned to face Jackson with an angry scowl and the other boy seemed confused all of a sudden.

“But you said-“ The black haired boy started but Mark interrupted him.

“Just do me a favour and leave me alone, you prick.” Jackson didn’t get to say anything before Mark pushed past him with swift steps. He was sure now; Jackson was an asshat and he didn’t like him one bit.

“I get that you don’t like him, but making a blog called “Jackson Wang is a complete asshat” is taking it a bit too far.” Jaebum said, looking over Mark’s shoulder at his laptop screen. Mark stopped typing furiously to look at his best friend with a pout on his lips. Jaebum gave him a stoic expression before he sighed and Mark knew he had won.

“Fine I’ll help you.” Mark gave his best friend a wide grin before reaching out to bring his head closer to himself and pressed a chaste kiss against his cheek. In the beginning Jaebum was freaked out by the gesture but through the years he got used to Mark’s unusual way show his gratitude.

“Yah! Tone down the PDA.” Jackson’s voice sounded across the classroom and both boys turned to look at him. He looked angry and Mark didn’t understand why.

“If you don’t like it you can look away.” The red haired boy said coldly. Jackson turned back to his group of friends but he was still frowning. Mark turned to Jaebum and gave him a look, which meant something like “see, that’s what I meant with asshat”. Jaebum just shook his head in amusement and ran his finger’s through the fine hairs at the nape of Mark’s neck.

“You guys are so ridiculous.” The silver haired boy mumbled but Mark didn’t hear him. He was busy adding “homophobic ” to his “list of reason’s why Jackson Wang is a complete asshat”.

Mark could swear he had never felt more annoyed in his whole life. It was the third time Jackson sought him out in the school’s yard and this time the other boy didn’t say anything but just sat on the grass opposite him, watching Mark do his homework.

That went on for about forty minutes when Mark finally had enough and looked up.

“No one can be interesting enough that you watch them non-stop for forty minutes.” To his surprise his eyes didn’t meet Jackson’s because the younger boy’s eyes were firmly set on his lips.

“Your lips look really irresistible when you pout like that, you know?” There it was again. That pleasantly deep voice Jackson had that Mark rarely heard.

“What?”

“If I were to kiss you now, what would you do?”

“I would slap you.”

“Ok.” And before Mark could register what ok meant in that situation Jackson grabbed the back of his neck and smashed their lips together. To his surprise his lips started tingling and the smell of Jackson’s shampoo and his warm hand at the back of his neck made him shiver pleasantly. True to his word however, Mark pushed at Jackson’s chest and slapped him with all his might.

“What is wrong with you Jackson?” Mark had stood up and was looking down at Jackson while panting angrily. The younger boy was smiling but his smile looked sad.

“I don’t know. I guess I just got sick of you rejecting me.” Mark shook his head in confusion.

“How can I reject you when you never even asked me out? Or told me you liked me? You’ve just been an to me and aren’t you homophobic?” Jackson got up to and gripped his wrist.

“When I gave you that coffee there was my number written on it but you never called, you pretended you didn’t see it. Every time I try to talk to you, you look at me as if I’m some annoying bug and even though you say Jaebum isn’t your boyfriend you guys are all over each other!” Jackson raised his voice and Mark tried to inch back to avoid the other’s anger but the dark haired boy still had a firm grip on his wrist. “You don’t even know how jealous that makes me feel! And you don’t even care because you don’t like me.”

The younger boy sighed and released his wrist. His head was bowed and his voice was much quieter than before.

“I’ve been looking at you since I transferred here, but you never seemed to like me much. I even tried to talk louder in class to get your attention, but you only ever gave me annoyed looks.” Mark swallowed a lump in his throat and took a step back. He did not expect this. Jackson looked up with a crestfallen face.

“Just forget it. Forget I said anything I’ll leave you alone from now on.” Jackson left and Mark just stood there looking at the spot where he had been standing.

Mark did try to forget, but that wasn’t quite that easy. When he told Jaebum about what happened the younger boy only gave him a look.

“What? You never noticed him looking at you like the sun is shining out of your ?” Mark sighed and buried himself deeper in Jaebum’s pillow. “Please don’t get snot all over my pillows.” His best friend said in a joking manner while petting his head.

Since Jackson more or less confessed to him he became a frequent visitor in Mark’s thoughts. He was more present than not, actually and Mark didn’t know what to do. Jackson also stayed true to his word and completely avoided Mark.

The red haired boy felt bad. He had been biased when it came to Jackson, he couldn’t deny it now. The guilt of not noticing anything and being so mean to Jackson was eating away at him. Mark sighed again and raised his head from the pillow.

“I didn’t hate it you know.” Jaebum only let out a questioning hum. “The kiss. I didn’t hate it.” Mark clarified and looked at his best friend. Jaebum smiled at him.

“I never assumed you did.”

Mark was nervously fiddling with the cap of the paper cup full of steaming hazelnut cappuccino. Still he took swift and confident steps toward the group of people who were all hanging on every word that left Jackson’s mouth. The Hong Kong native spotted him right away, but was still quite surprised when Mark stopped in front of him, handed him a takeaway coffee and left without another word.

Jackson looked down and saw something written on the cup.

I’m sorry, I threw the coffee away when you gave it to me. I thought you put salt in it. Let’s try again?

Jackson bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling too brightly. Finally he got Mark’s number.

The same evening Mark got a text from a number he didn’t have saved in his phone but he knew exactly who the person was.

I’m sorry for kissing you. Not because I didn’t want to kiss you but because you didn’t want to kiss me.

It took Mark four hours to decide if he wanted to send his reply or not. In the end he gathered all his courage and pressed sent.

I never said I didn’t want to kiss you.

Mark had his head buried in his arms, eyelids heavy and head fuzzy from the lack of sleep. Jackson hadn’t answered and Mark stayed awake half of the night thinking about why he was stupid enough to sent that text.

A warm hand suddenly ran its fingers through his hair and stopped at the nape of his neck scratching slightly. He knew Jaebum for years, he knew Jaebum’s hand and he knew this hand didn’t belong to Jaebum.

“You have really irresistible lips, you know?” Mark smiled.