Mark was having a minor crisis. It was a crisis that involved restless nights and involuntarily letting his mind drift off into places he’d rather not frequent. He had stubbornly attempted to distract these troubled thoughts by throwing himself into part-time jobs that started early and finished late enough for him to pass out from fatigue by the end of the day. And he might or might not have for the last couple of days avoided picking up calls from Jackson and vaguely turned down any suggestions of meeting up with the other since that night.
Mark needed time to think. Which was why he went out of his way to prevent himself from doing just that, because if he didn’t, there would no longer be any excuse to put things off.

He knew that he was being silly. And counterproductive. By trying to put distance between himself and the subject of his problem in an effort to suppress this massive ball of pent-up feelings, he’d only managed to worsen the situation. Because as much as his mind needed to forget, his body wanted to remember. Even though Mark knew that it had just been a dream, the soft pressure of Jackson’s warm, pliant lips against his own had felt so real. And he had liked it. Mark was almost entirely sure that in fact he wouldn’t mind doing it again, and then some, which was exactly why he was scared less to face his friend, because what if he did something to the other without thinking about it? What if in the spur of the moment he would lean in without warning because every fiber of his being was suddenly overwhelmed with such craving and longing and want?

If wasn’t until a particular afternoon when Mark had spaced out during his shift and his mind had wandered off into a certain place that everything suddenly pieced together.
Jackson’s lop-sided smile, his ridiculous drop crotch pants and snapback with Wang spelled on it, his high-pitched laughter, the lingering contact of fingers, the press of warm chest against his own back, the kiss. When his mind absently drifted further into elaborate suggestions of what could have happened if they had taken it one step further, everything suddenly made sense and he knew. The startling realization made Mark drop everything he was holding in his hands because oh my god he liked Jackson. “Oh my god” Mark said out loud to no-one in particular inside the almost empty diner. His hand came up to cover his mouth because if he didn’t, his jaw would probably have fallen off by how gobsmacked he was at the moment.

It all made sense so much that it made Mark feel ridiculous for not noticing it earlier. But then again, he didn’t entirely blame himself from having denied coming to this conclusion sooner because ing hell, he had only known Jackson for a little longer than what felt like no time at all, they barely knew each other and how did this crush even happen in the first place. But then again, it wasn’t exactly commonplace to let a stranger sleep in your bed the first time you’d met them, and Mark wasn’t exactly oblivious enough to not notice that Jackson was kind of really attractive alright. But Jackson was a boy. That idea in itself wasn’t what Mark was opposed to. It was more the fact that this was new territory for him, and he sort of didn’t really know how to deal with himself and these feelings. But despite all, he was excited. 
Earlier today, Jackson had texted Mark and asked to meet up. With a newly found purpose, Mark texted back to say that he would be able to meet up after his last shift. He picked up the stuff he’d dropped earlier, apologized quietly for his momentary lapse of sanity and returned to work. Mark couldn’t help the strange, almost invisible twitch of a smile from creeping up on his face.

It was with light steps and a pounding heart that Mark approached Jackson who was hovering around the light pole outside from where the older was working. Mark observed the younger curiously while slowly heading towards him, and noticed how the otherwise bright personality had succumbed to a shadow of himself. With hunched shoulders and a somber expression that was quite unlike the usual him, hands dug into each pocket on either side, Mark dared say that the other looked quite forlorn? He felt an uncomfortable twist in his stomach as if his guts were warning him against an impending problem.

“Hey Jackson” the older greeted casually, as he neared the other boy, a tentative smile forming on his face.
The moment Jackson’s eyes caught Mark’s, the older had expected a returning smile, but instead the younger’s face fell for a fraction of a second which only made the knot inside the older’s stomach tighten even more painfully. Jackson quickly recovered by offering a small smile before maintaining brief eye contact “Hey” A hand came out of one of the pockets to offer a weak greeting and fell down again quickly to rest awkwardly on his side. Jackson bit his lip, and looked away for a moment. Just as Mark was about to reach out for the other, hesitantly, Jackson looked up suddenly and sighed audibly. Mark dropped his hand.

“So I’m just going to get to the point...” He looked down at his shoes.
“Are we.. a-are we okay?” Jackson stuttered slightly, while bringing a hand up to scratch his neck. Mark felt his throat dry.

“Yeah why wouldn’t we be?” At this, Jackson let out a harsh huff of laughter that sounded a lot sharper to Mark’s ears than what was probably intended.

“Well it might just have been me but it seemed like you’d been avoiding me lately and I just thought that maybe… maybe I did something or anything that would piss you off or something?” He rambled on “And in the case I did I would just say sorry man I never really meant to be a and I know I shouldn’t have done it you know how I-I joke around and stuff” “But like, if it was all just me reading too much into it and you were just being busy then I’m also sor-“

“Jackson” Mark interrupted him by planting both of his hands securely on Jackson’s shoulders and made the other’s voice die out abruptly “Jackson” The tone of his voice compelled the younger to lift his face to meet Mark’s leveled gaze “We’re okay. Nothing’s wrong, you never did anything, I just had to get some things sorted and it was busy at work”. Something like relief flickered through Jackson’s face and he finally flashed a genuine smile “You sure?”

“A hundred percent.”

“Great! I was really afraid that I did something. You know, I really like you” Mark’s heart swelled at this “…and it would kind of to lose this friendship” And dropped at this. “-‘cause I really want it to last” Somehow it had felt like he had been rejected without even having confessed yet.
“Let’s not mess up our bromance with