Mark found himself staring down at the new contact in his phone. He meant to edit the name Jackson had put himself under, but instead, his thumb hovered over the screen with his eyes glued to the lovey-dovey emojis tagged on the end of it.
He had the odd desire to call him.
It sparked only half an hour after he left; Mark finished watching an episode of some Netflix show he was forcibly trying to get into before doing some homework, when he looked down at his phone and decided to check his notifications out of habit. Upon unlocking the device, Jackson's contact filled the screen, and despite him doing dozens of things to keep his mind off the younger, he found himself returning to the contact every ten minutes or so.
Should he call?
That question flew through Mark's mind more than once.
If he called, what would he even say?
Nothing. He had nothing to say to Jackson. He didn't care about Jackson; he was out having fun with Jinyoung anyway, doing whatever they do together.
What do they even do together?
Mark shook his head. He shouldn't be worried about that. He didn't care. He never cared. Refused to care.
The pair could fly to the moon and never come back, he still wouldn't care. Jackson was annoying away, and Jinyoung... Mark had no good reason to hate him but... everyone had that one person they hated with no plausible explanation as to why. So there. He didn't care about either of them.
Two hours had passed since the younger left anyway. Jackson was in class, probably not even thinking about him.
Was he?
Mark grunted, running a hand through his hair. What Jackson was thinking about didn't matter. Nothing mattered. He should be basking in the time he had away from the younger. Hell, he should thank Jinyoung for occupying so much of his time. Jackson's loud, annoying, pushy, assertive, way too touchy, has no idea what personal space even is; though the one thing Mark could commend him for was always smelling nice.
That's the only plus to sharing a room with such an arrogant pest. He at least showered properly. Mark would've immediately requested a roommate change asap if Jackson smelled bad.
He always smelled good though. And the scents would change depending on the day, but they were all recognizable. Sometimes when the younger would get close, Mark would get a whiff of a nice ocean breeze scent. Other times, it was sweet and tropical. Sometimes, he'd put on a more 'manly' fresh scent; Mark remembered smelling it during a school dance event the year before (that he refused to go to as Jackson's date, yet somehow ended up there anyway).
His favorite though, was the warm, homey smell that Jackson wore during casual occasions. It was a mixture of Jackson's natural musk with a hint of vanilla-honey sweetness that blessed Mark's nose whenever he wore it. Mark would never tell Jackson how much he loved that scent, but just a quick whiff of it always had his heart pounding.
And he always knew it was Jackson.
No one else could match that heavenly smell; it was only something Jackson could produce.
He let out a heavy sigh just thinking about it.
Wait. Did he just waste ten minutes thinking about Jackson's smell?
Mark blinked, frantically grabbing his phone to awaken the screen. His chest tightened.
Twenty minutes.
He was so lonely and bored that he'd wasted twenty minutes thinking about his roommates smell.
Honestly, he wished he had that kind of interest in his homework more than whatever soap or cologne Jackson used. Just watching another unproductive minute pass by made him feel worse. And the stupid face recognition software that unlocked his phone for him opened it right up to Jackson's contact, still there untouched with the name "Jackie~😍❤🥰😘" glaring back at him, mocking him.
