It was raining. Now, Mark wasn't one of those people that hated the rain for all it was worth, but he didn't particularly like being stuck in it as he waited for his bus. Especially when the bus stop had no shelter and he was getting absolutely soaked to the bone.

His hair was plastered to his forehead, and his clothes were starting to cling to his body. He was starting to wish he'd remembered to bring a coat, or at least a jacket, with him, since he was only wearing a pretty thin purple t-shirt.

He'd missed his bus by a fraction of a second, and because of the time, he had an hour to wait for the next one. He would have sat down, but the bench was wet, and even though he was wet himself, he didn't fancy sitting on a wet bench. As far as he could tell, his was relitively dry.

"Dude" a voice called out, snapping Mark from his reverie.

Mark looked up to see a boy he recognised. It was a boy from his English Language lecture. The one that sat in the row behind him with a blond boy. He couldn't remember his name, but Mark was fairly certain it began with a 'J'. He was rather intimidating, what with his intense eyes, that would bore into you as he spoke, framed by thick eyebrows, that on anyone else would have looked daft, but only made this boy look more handsome than anything else.

He looked around to make sure that it was him the boy was addressing. It must have been considering that there was nobody else around, and still, Mark found himself asking dumbly, "Me?"

"No" the boy deadpanned, "The other guy that's stood out in the rain looking like a drowned rat" he raised a brow, before rolling his eyes, "Yes, you"

Mark's eyebrows furrowed as he squinted through the rain at the boy, who was dry and hidden under a rather large dark blue umbrella. He was wearing white jeans, a direct contrast to Mark's black ones, that made his legs look nice. Mark's attention was drawn to the boy's thighs, but he quickly let his eyes move up to look at the boy's torso, which happened to be covered by a blue T-Shirt with some kind of witty remark on it, topped with a blue jacket to match.

"What?" Mark asked, flicking his head slightly to try and get their hair out of his eyes, sending water droplets everywhere as he did. Not that it really mattered, given the weather.

The boy chuckled softly, "Come here" he said, moving towards Mark.

"What?" Mark asked again, hoping he wasn't coming across as really stupid.

The boy only smiled though, "You're getting even wetter the longer you stand there. I'm trying to get you to come stand with me. You know, under the umbrella" he said, gesturing for Mark to join him.

Under normal circumstances, Mark would have politely declined, being the kind of person that wasn't big on talking to people and getting physically close to them when he barely knew them, let alone didn't even know their name, but because the idea of not being pissed on by the sky was highly appealing, he didn't give it a second thought, and so two seconds later he was stood beside the nameless boy in the dry, though trying to keep what distance he could between them.

"Better?" 

Mark nodded, "Yeah, um, thanks?"

"Well, I'm all for helping out the helpless" The boy rolled his eyes, "The name's Jackson, by the way. Jackson Wang"

Mark tried not to grin, he called it right with the whole 'J' thing. So instead he offered the boy - Jackson - a small, shy smile and nodded, "I'm Mark" he said in return.

"I know" Jackson said, "You're in my English Lecture. You sit in front of me, with that, uh, Jinyoung kid..."

Mark's mouth formed a small 'o' as he nodded, "Uh, yeah... I've seen you, but I didn't know your name" he admitted, "So I'm kinda surprised you know mine"

"Unlike you, some of us actually listen in class" Jackson laughed. 

His laugh was something Mark was not expecting. It was high-pitched and a tad obnoxious... But Mark kind of liked it. It was... Endearing.

"My name's never been mentioned though?" Mark said after a moment, when Jackson's laughter subsided.

Jackson nodded, "Yeah, but you fall asleep alot, so I have to listen to your buddy going 'Mark. Mark Tuan, for 's sake, will you wake up! Mark, I swear to god, if you get me in trouble' and so on... So it's kind of hard not to know your name"

"Nobody asked you to listen to our conversations" Mark shot back, though there was a teasing smile playing about his lips.

At some point during their introduction, Jackson had gotten closer to him. They were now stood facing one another, the toes of their shoes touching.

"It's hard not to, your buddy's not the quietest of people" Jackson chuckled, then frowned as he noticed Mark shiver rather violently, "Hold this a sec" he said, pushing the handle of the umbrella towards Mark, who took it with a questioning raise of his eyebrow.

He didn't say anything as he watched Jackson, though. Jackson rolled his eyes at Mark before shedding his jacket.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked, both of his hands gripping the umbrella handle.

Jackson looked up at him, a small smile on his lips, "You're gonna catch your death if you stay like that" he said before wrapping the jacket around Mark's shoulders, then taking the umbrella back, "I'm sure you can put your arms in and do it up yourself" he smirked.

"You don't have to-"

"Just shut up and put in on properly" Jackson cut him off. 

Mark sighed, but did as he was told, shoving his arms in to the jacket, pulling up the hood and then zipping it up. He had to admit it was a drastic improvement. He felt warmer right away, thanks to Jackson's wearing it and keeping it heated beforehand. It was a little big for him, and the sleeves were a little long, covering his hands and only allowing his fingers to poke out slightly, but he liked it like that. 

He wouldn't admit it outloud, but it smelled good, too. It smelled of vanilla, and some kind of cologne, and something he couldn't put his finger on, which he guessed was just Jackson himself.

"Thank you" Mark said sheepishly, taking an unconscious step towards Jackson, so that they were almost chest to chest.

Jackson gave him a warm, genuine smile, "Don't mention it" he said, lifting his free hand and rubbing Mark's arm as he did, "Are you feeling warmer now?"

"Yeah" Mark nodded, as Jackson let his hand drop. Mark wasn't sure why he was disappointed at the loss of the touch.

"You know," Jackson said after a while. He let out a small cough, which to Mark sounded a little embarrassed, before looking Mark in the eye and continuing, "I've actually wanted to talk to you for a while"

Mark wasn't expecting that. 

"What?" he asked, for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

Jackson chuckled. There was a slightly pink tinge to his cheeks as he brought his hand up to the back of his neck and rubbed it, "Well, yeah. I mean... I was gonna say hi on the first day, but then your friend came and you went off, so I just, didn't... And then I didn't really find an opportunity, until now anyway..."

"Why me though?" Mark asked, genuinely baffled as to why a handsome young guy like Jackson would even want to talk to him at all.

Jackson smirked, seeming to regain some of his confidence, "Well, I thought you were cute" he said, "And who wouldn't want to talk to a cute guy?"

"I... I'm not cute" Mark pouted, making Jackson laugh.

"You really are, Mark" Jackson smiled, stepping forward so that he was pressed against Mark, the pole of the umbrella squashed between them, "Trust me"

Mark blushed slightly, but didn't back away, instead holding his own, "Trust you? I barely even know you, Jackson"

Jackson bit his lip slightly, liking the way Mark said his name before he spoke again, "You know my name. And I know you think I'm hot, so, what more do you need to know?"

"Who says I think you're hot?" Mark countered, raising an eyebrow at Jackson as he reached up and gripped the umbrella handle just above Jackson's hand with both of his.

Jackson's smirk widened, "I can see it all over your face" he said, his voice thick, alluring. 

Mark let out a soft chuckle, "Fine, okay, I think you're good looking. It doesn't mean anything"

"Doesn't it?" Jackson asked, his eyes boring into Mark's.

Mark shrugged, then tried not to smile as he felt Jackson's hands come to rest over his own. 

Jackson raised a brow at him, causing Mark to smile anyway.

"Should it?" Mark asked finally.

Jackson smiled with half of his mouth, "Well, let me ask you this. If I asked for your number right now, would you give it to me?"

"Probably" Mark admitted.

Jackson nodded thoughtfully, "Then yeah, I'd say it should mean something"

Mark hummed, not trusting his voice to come out as smooth as he'd want it to. It was crazy. Here he was, with a boy he'd never so much as spoken to before, and he was getting those stupid fluttery feelings people tended to associate with teenage girls around their crush. But it would be stupid for him to have a crush on Jackson, right? 

But then, Jackson was handsome, and as far as he could tell, funny, and caring. If he wasn't caring, why would he have given Mark his jacket? Mark couldn't help but think that Jackson smelled amazing too. Like, really amazing.

"You smell like pomegranate" Jackson said, snapping Mark out of his reverie for the second time that day.

"What?" Mark was starting to dislike that word.

Jackson, though, laughed, "You really need to learn some new words, Mark. Really. And I said you smell like pomegranate. It's nice. Anyway, before, about asking for your number... It wasn't just a random question, it was more of a hint"

"You," Mark paused, "Oh" he laughed, "Give me your phone then"

Jackson reluctantly pulled one hand away from Mark's to reach into his pocket and pull out his phone. 

Mark let go of the brolly with one hand and took the phone that Jackson held out for him. It took him all of thirty seconds to put in his number and miss call himself.

"There" Mark smiled, "Happy?"

"Over the moon" Jackson smirked.

They stayed like that until the bus came. Just chatting about everything and nothing all at once, just getting to know each other a little better.

The bus pulled up in front of them, and Jackson smiled, "I'll see you around then?"

"You're not getting on?" Mark asked.

Jackson shook his head, "No, I live not too far, so it's easier to walk. I just didn't want you to get even wetter out here"

"You shouldn't have do-"

"Go" Jackson cut him off with a smile.

Mark nodded, and ran a hand over Jackson's arm before he stepped onto the bus, "Thank you" he said, "Oh, your jacket!"

"Give it me back next time. See you around, Mark" Jackson smiled. He shot Mark a wave before turning around and walking away, leaving Mark with a smile as he paid, then sat down. He watched Jackson out of the window until the bus was too far away for him to see the other boy, at which point, he pulled Jackson's jacket closer to him, inhaling the warm vanilla scent of the boy that had most certainly captured his interest.

***

As soon as Mark got into his small flat, he kicked off his shoes and dumped his bag on the sofa. He was tired. Bloody tired, and he just wanted to flop. 

It crossed his mind that he should shower, but it was Saturday the following day, so he'd just do it in the morning. He walked into his room, and took his phone out of his pocket before throwing it onto his bed. He took off Jackson's jacket and placed it on his bed before kicking off his jeans and shedding his t-shirt, leaving it on the floor and vowing to pick them up in the morning. He pulled on a vest before putting Jackson's jacket back on and climbing into bed, grabbing his phone as he did.

He wasn't sure why he put Jackson's jacket on again, he just liked the feel of it, he supposed, but he decided he didn't want to question it. His head hit the pillow just as his phone buzzed, to tell him he had a text.

[Unknown]

Mark, it's Jackson, 
in case you didn't figure it out already!
Did you get home okay? :)

A smile bloomed over Mark's lips. He quickly changed Jackson's name in his phone. He sat up again, resting back against his headboard before replying.

[To Jackson]

I guessed.
I got home fine, thanks (:
Did you?

He hit send before he could work himself up over what to reply. It didn't make sense for him to be so excited. But then, what about Jackson Wang made sense. He didn't know many people that'd do what Jackson did for him. The boy was just something else altogether.

It wasn't a minute later that his phone buzzed again.

[Jackson]

I got home fine, too.
Now, enough of that boring stuff,
tell me about yourself~ 
I wanna know everything Mark Tuan! :P

Mark rolled his eyes, but even still, the smile didn't run away from his lips. 

He thought for a moment, but really, to himself, he didn't think he was that interesting. He was just plain ol' Mark Tuan. 

So he settled for asking what the other wanted to know.

[To Jackson]

Ahaa, well, what do you want to know?
I'm really not that interesting... 
>///<

Mark let out a yawn. He really was tired. He would have gone sleep right then, but he wanted to talk to Jackson. 

He waited, and waited, but no text came. 

Which was why he was rather startled when his phone starting to ring.

He looked to see who was calling, and smiled when the name across his screen read 'Jackson'.

He took a deep breath before answering and bringing the phone to his ear.

"Jackson Wang. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Mark piped up. He slid down on the bed, so that he was once again laying down. He laid on his back, looking up at the ceiling as he did, one had beind his head, the other holding the phone to his ear.

"Oh, Mark Tuan. The pleasure is all mine" Jackson said from the other end of the line, followed by his signature laugh.

Mark chuckled in response, "I'll bet. Why did you call though? Not that I mind, I was just wondering"

"Maybe I just wanted to hear your voice" Jackson replied, and Mark could tell he was smiling, too.

Mark hummed, "Is that so? Well, you've heard it, so now what?"

"How mightily sassy of you" Jackson said, and Mark could almost hear him roll his eyes, which made him laugh. "But really. I had fun talking to you today. It was nice"

Mark nodded, "yeah. It was" he said, "I had fun too. I'm glad you finally grew a pair and spoke to me" he laughed.

He half expected Jackson to get mad at him, or at least annoyed, but instead came Jackson's high-pitched laughter again, "You sure are something, Mark. See, now you're not just a cute face. You also have one hell of a personality. If I liked you before, then damn. How will I cope now?"

"Oh shut up" Mark blushed, and he heard Jackson laugh again, "Did you eat?" he asked.

"Yeah. I had left overs from yesterday. Perks of living off of my good for nothing roommate" Jackson laughed, then sighed, "Did you?"

Mark shook his head, even though Jackson couldn't see him, "No. I ate at school, and I was too tired to cook, so" he shrugged, "Besides, I don't have a roommate to live off of."

"Oh? You live alone, then?"

"Yeah. It's not so bad, bit lonely at times, but I have friends over a lot, so, you know" Mark said, turning onto his side to get more comfortable.

"I'll have to come and keep you company some time. Do you like Super Mario Bros?"

Mark laughed, "Obviously, who doesn't?"

"Okay, when we hang up, text me your address. I'm coming over tomorrow and we're gonna play games all night. I'll bring snacks too! You have a gaming system, right?"

"I've got everything we'll need for a night of Mario fun. Just bring the snacks, I'll sort out the rest" Mark laughed, "Also, I like how you're just inviting yourself to stay at my place."

"It's not like you don't want me to" Jackson answered with a chuckle, and Mark couldn't even correct him, because it was true.

Mark smiled into the darkness of his room, "Alright. I'll give you that" he said, "What time will you come over?"

"Midday? If that's alright with you?"

Mark smiled to himself before glancing at the clock, it was only eleven, "That sounds perfect." He said before a huge yawn escaped his lips.

"Are you tired?" Jackson asked, sounding concerned, which made Mark smile again.

"A little" Mark said, "So I'm gonna hang up and text you my address, okay?"

"Alright. Sleep well, Mark Tuan"

"You too, Jackson Wang"

***

Mark was a little nervous. Okay, he was a lot nervous.

He had exactly ten minutes before Jackson would be arriving. The TV and game was set up, the sofa was neat and the coffee table was clear, ready for snacks to be put on it. The spare blankets were on his bed, ready for when Jackson would need them. The flat was clean and Mark looked dashing in his dark blue jeans and white V-neck tee. His hair was stylishly messy and his skin was as smooth as it was going to get.

He sat on the sofa and let out a long breath of air.

"You can do this Mark" he said to himself, "Just don't freak out"

There was a knock at the door. By Mark's calculations, Jackson was four minutes early. He took a deep breath as he stood up, then let it out as he walked over to the front door. He paused for a second to compose himself before he opened the door to reveal a smiling Jackson. 

Jackson looked good. He looked really good, in Mark's opinion. He was wearing baggy medium blue jeans with a fitting black vest, which was covered with a dark blue and red basketball top, on the back of which read 'Jackson 94'. He had a snapback on his head, backwards, pushing his hair off of his face, which made him look, if possible, hotter than before.

"You look good" Jackson said as he stepped inside and kicked off his shoes. It wasn't until then that Mark noticed he had a bag in each hand, and a back pack on his back.

Mark rolled his eyes and took one of the bags from Jackson's hands, "Thanks. You too" he said, "Follow me" 

Jackson laughed softly before doing as he was told and following Mark into the small, but nice looking kitchen. They dumped the bags on the counter before Jackson looked at Mark with a soft smile, "Where can I put my bag?" he asked.

"You can put it in my room for now" Mark smiled, "Come on, I'll show you" he said, and without thinking took Jackson's hand and lead the way down the hall to his room. He opened his door and pulled Jackson in. He was glad he'd had the sense to tidy up that morning, "Just, uh, put it on the bed for now"

"Um, Mark?" Jackson bit his lip, half amused, half shy, as he glanced down at their hands.

Mark flushed and let go quickly, "Oh, um, sorry" he said.

"No, no it's fine, I just needed to move to put my bag down" Jackson chuckled, shrugging off his bag and placing it on the bed beside the spare blankets. He walked back over to Mark and took his hand again, "Back to the kitchen? We should eat lunch before we play, right? I bought us some sandwiches"

Mark gave him a shy smile before leading the way back to the kitchen, where they sat down at the table and ate the sandwiches Jackson had brought.

Once they'd finished lunch, they brought the snacks into the living room and dumped them all on the coffee table before sitting on the couch together.

"You didn't have to buy so much" Mark said, looking over the ton of junk food and drinks.

Jackson shrugged, "I didn't know what you liked, so I kind of just got everything" he admitted, "But I'm sure between the two of us, we can eat it all" he grinned.

Mark rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. He reached forward and grabbed a bag of gummy worms, "I've not had these since I was a kid" he said, tearing open the packet and grabbing two, shoving them in his mouth and chewing them, "mm, so good" he let out before taking another one and moving it up to Jackson's lips.

Jackson rolled his eyes, but opened his mouth and let Mark feed him anyways, "Man, I guess I know you better than I thought. Must be intuition. Like, a soulmates thing"

"Bit much, considering we only started talking yesterday. Don't you think?" Mark laughed, shoving more gummy worms into his mouth.

Jackson laughed, "No" he said, "I like it when you blush, so it's never too much" he reached over and took a handful of gummy worms for himself, "When are we getting our Mario on?"

"When I've finished my gummy worms" Mark said, choosing to ignore Jackson's first words. Whilst he was at it, he was also trying to ignore just how close Jackson was sitting to him. Their thighs were pressed against each other, and his arm was pressed against Jackson's chest, since the other was turned towards him slightly, making it easier for them to talk.

"Our gummy worms" Jackson corrected, "Are we starting from world one?" 

Mark nodded, "Obviously" he said, "And I'm being Mario by the way, you can be Luigi"

"Oh, hello no" Jackson scoffed, "I'll be no such thing!"

Mark placed the gummy worm packet back on the table and turned to face Jackson better, "Yes you will" he said.

"Wanna bet?" Jackson raised a brow.

"Bring it" Mark shot back with a smirk.

And therein, began the most intense tickle fight Mark had ever been in.

***

It took them more than an hour to stop playing around and actually start the game. Mark had ended up losing the tickle war, and so ended up playing as Luigi, much to his dismay, as a smug Jackson worked his way through as the little red plumber, the smirk not once leaving his face.

And Jackson was good too, not that Mark would boost his ego even more by telling him, but he was really freaking good at the game. Mark was pretty damn good himself, but Jackson was just something else. Which, probably explained why just two hours in, they were nearing the end of world six. Granted they'd taken a few breaks in between, and so although the playing had been two hours, they'd wasted a few more by listening to music and sharing what they liked.

"ing hell, I'm gonna kill this little !" Jackson hissed as he jumped on the extra large Bowser at the end.

Mark laughed, but helped by throwing fire balls at it, "Yeah, well that is the aim of the game" he said.

"Shut up" Jackson said, but laughed nonetheless. 

And with one last ball of fire and one last jump on the head, Bowser was dead and they were moving on to world seven.

"YES!" Jackson grinned, tossing the controller to one side and pulling Mark into a tight hug.

Mark laughed and hugged him back, unable to stop himself as he fed off of Jackson's energy, "Why so chuffed?" he asked.

Jackson grinned, still holding Mark, but pulling his head back to look at him properly, "This is the first time I've got past world six on two player. All my mates are literally at it and end up dying before the end"

"Man, they must really " Mark laughed. He was feeling a little nervous though, as he felt Jackson's hands on his lower back, whilst his own held on to Jackson's upper arms. 

"Break?" Jackson asked, finally letting go of Mark and sitting back again.

Mark let out a soft breath of air and nodded. He saved the game, then joined Jackson in relaxing.

"You're a lot more fun than I expected" Jackson said after a moment of comfortable silence.

Mark chuckled, "Uh, thanks?" he rolled his eyes, "you're not so bad yourself"

"Is that supposed to be a compliment? Because it was kind of backhanded" Jackson said, shifting slightly to let his head rest on Mark's shoulder.

Mark paused slightly before letting out a soft sigh and resting his cheek on the top of Jackson's head, "Do I look like a leaning post to you?"

"You're resting on me too" Jackson pointed out, a small smile on his face. He was liking hanging around with Mark. He liked how they just clicked. He felt like he'd know the boy for years, not just two days. It was crazy.

Mark smiled too. He didn't know what it was about Jackson. He just felt comfortable with him. He wasn't the kind of guy to take to people so quickly, but Jackson made him feel relaxed, and weirdly enough, safe. 

The snacks were already half gone by that point, and the drinks were down to the last four cans of Dr Pepper. Mark wasn't sure how much he'd eaten, but he knew that Jackson had been feeding him between games, and he had been shoving food in Jackson's mouth in return whenever he got the chance. When he thought about it, he couldn't remember feeding himself at all, only Jackson's fingers touching his lips ever so slightly as he pushed some of this and some of that between his lips and into his mouth.

Mark snapped out of his thoughts as he felt Jackson's hand move slowly down his arm until it came to his own hand. It was almost hesitantly that Jackson took Mark's hand in his own and laced their fingers together. Mark froze slightly, but then let his fingers curl to hold Jackson's hand. He gave Jackson's hand a small squeeze, but kept his eyes looking at the top of the wall opposite them.

"What time is it?" Jackson asked after a while, his hand still linked with Mark's, and his head still resting on Mark's shoulder.

Mark glanced up at the clock on the wall, "Just past ten" he said, "D'you wanna finish the rest tomorrow and just chill for now? Watch a movie or something?"

"Yeah. Let's order some food first though, unless you're cooking?" Jackson asked, glancing up to look at Mark, who'd lifted his head back up.

Mark laughed softly, "I'm too tired to cook, I'll cook for you another time" he said, before pausing, a blush making its way to his cheeks, "I, uh, I mean... Nevermind, let's just order"

Jackson smiled, "You can't take that back now you've said it" he said, "And what are we getting?"

"Pizza? It's easiest" Mark said, reluctantly pulling his hand from Jackson's and standing up, "What kind do you want?"

"Meat feast" Jackson said, "Where are your DVDs? I'll go pick a film whilst you call"

Mark rolled his eyes, but pointed to the hallway that lead to his room. Jackson nodded and got up from the sofa, making his way down the hall whilst Mark walked into the kicthen to order the food.

They met up back in the living room. Jackson was hiding the film behind his back, which made Mark frown.

"What did you pick?" he asked. 

Jackson shrugged and hid it behind a pillow on the sofa before grabbing Mark's hand and dragging him back into the kicthen, where they sat at the table.

"We'll eat first, then go watch the movie after, okay?" Jackson said.

Mark pulled his hand back gently and nodded, "Okay, but what did you pick?"

"It's a secret" Jackson laughed.

Mark frowned. He really wanted to know, but it was clear he wasn't going to get an answer, and he didn't fancy Jackson tickling him again, so he gave in and changed the subject. They sat there talking until the pizza came, then ate pretty fast, since they were both a lot more hungry than they realised. 

Once they'd eaten, they made their way back into the living room, where Mark sat down, reluctantly letting Jackson set up the film. He hid the case, so that Mark couldn't see what it was before grabbing the remote and sitting down next to Mark, leaving a little bit of space between them. Mark raised a brow at the other, but didn't say anything. 

Jackson seemed to realise something, he got to his feet, walked over to the wall and flicked off the light, before sitting back down again, still leaving that small bit of space between them.

The movie started up, and Mark's heart dropped. Horror. He could not deal with horror. He wasn't even sure why he had the film in the first damn place. 

It started up nonetheless and for the first ten minutes, he held his own. But then something made him jump, and he broke.

"Um, Jackson?" Mark voiced rather timidly.

Jackson glanced over at him, "Yeah?" he asked, though there was an amused, slightly mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Can you, um, you know... Move a bit closer?" Mark asked, trying his best to keep eye contact with the other boy. Not really wanting to look at the TV.

Jackson smiled, "Are you scared?" he asked, as he shuffled closer to Mark. He let his arm come to rest along the back of the sofa behind Mark, as the elder leant into him. Their thighs were pressed together, and Mark was snuggled against Jackson's side. One of Mark's hands was resting on Jackson's thigh, whilst the other reached over and fisted the material of Jackson's top.

"No" Mark lied, though it was obvious he was.

Jackson let out a soft chuckle, "There's no shame in being afraid" he said, bringing his arm down off the back of the sofa and wrapping it around Mark, who he felt relax a little as he did. With his other hand, he reached over and placed it atop of the the one Mark had resting on his thigh.

Mark shuddered slightly as he turned his attention back to the screen, only it wasn't because of the film that was on.

"Don't worry" Jackson whispered into his ear, his voice deep and low, "I'll protect you"

Mark let himself relax into Jackson. He didn't say anything back, but he didn't have to. Even if he had something to say, he didn't think he'd manage it.

Every so often, Mark hid his face in Jackson's chest. He wasn't a wimp. Really, he wasn't. He just didn't like horror films. They just tended to give him nightmares, which were never fun.

After a while, Mark noticed that Jackson was soothingly rubbing his arm. He glanced up at the boy's face, but his intense eyes were focused on the TV. His expression showed no sign that he was even doing anything.

As the movie came to an end, Mark pulled out of Jackson's hold and went to flick on the lights whilst Jackson put away the disc and turned the TV and DVD player off.

"It's late" Mark said after clearing his throat. There was a slight blush on his cheeks, but he tried not to focus on it, "I'll go wash up first" 

And so he did. He made his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth and have a quick wash before walking back to his room to change, whilst Jackson washed up and changed in the bathroom.

Just as Mark pulled his t-shirt over his head, Jackson walked into his room.

"So," Jackson said, "Where am I sleeping? The sofa?" he questioned, noticing the spare sheets had disappeared.

Mark ran a hand through his hair, it was a nervous habit of his, as was biting his lip, which he did next, "About that" he said, "I was going to say you were, but um, that film kinda freaked me out, so uh, I was wondering if you'd..."

"Sleep with you?"Jackson asked, sensing that Mark wasn't about to answer any time soon.

Mark flushed,"I mean... Uh, like... Not because, I'm not trying to be, like, suggestive or anything... It's just that I g-"

"Mark, chill" Jackson smiled softly at him, "I know what you mean. I get kinda up by horror films too, to be honest. So yeah, I'll stay in here with you. D'you want me on the floor, or..?"

"The bed" Mark said quickly, then mentally slapped himself. He cleared his throat before adding, "I mean, I wouldn't make you sleep on the floor. And it's a double, so the bed's big enough for us both..."

Jackson nodded, "Left or right?" he asked.

"What?" there was that word again. 

Jackson noticed too, because he let out one of his high-pitched laughs, "Man, you really do need to work on getting a better vocabulary. And I mean do you sleep on the left or the right?"

"Oh" Mark chuckled, albeit a tad nervously, "Um, the left" he said, moving over to his bedside table and flicking on the lamp, "Can you get the light?"

Jackson hummed and flicked the switch on the wall, turning out the light, so that it was only the lamp lighting the room in a warm yellow glow.

They both climbed into bed, neither of them speaking as they did, and lied down beside one another. Their arms were touching, as were their legs, but they made no move to stop that.

"You don't have to be so awkward, you know" Jackson whispered, after Mark had turned off the lamp.

Mark hummed, "I'm not" he said, though it wasn't the complete truth.

Jackson scoffed, "Liar" he said, making Mark laugh, "See, that's better. Anyway, yeah, just be like before. It's not like anything bad'll happen"

"You're right" Mark sighed, "It's just... I've not really had anyone sleep in the same bed as me for a long time. So it's just, taking some getting used to, I guess"

Jackson nodded into the darkness, "Will it help if I promise not to bite?"

"Yeah" Mark laughed, "A lot" 

Jackson chuckled too, before letting out a content sigh and turning onto his side to face Mark. Mark did the same, looking at the other. He could only just make out the features of Jackson's face.

"Goodnight, Mark" Jackson whispered.

"Goodnight, Jackson" Mark whispered back, before closing his eyes.

A/N: Part two shall be out soon~ ^0^
I hope you enjoyed the first part!
Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought! :D

Until next time~