The next morning Mark awoke earlier than usual, and he was surprised to see Jackson up as well. The younger didn't usually wake up this early, and it was especially weird since that particular day Jackson didn't have his one morning class.
Mark turned over in his bed and gazed at the younger who laid staring up at the ceiling. This was truly odd behavior for him; he usually did something to occupy himself when he woke up too early or couldn't sleep, yet it seemed like something was on his mind that was keeping him up.
"Jackson?" Mark called softly, the sound of his voice catching Jackson's attention immediately. Mark's heart throbbed at just how attentive the guy was.
"Hm?"
"You okay?"
The younger sighed, looking back up at the blank ceiling. "I dunno."
Mark frowned. He sat up on his side, resting his head on his hand. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know." the younger mumbled again.
The elder clicked his tongue at the avoidant answer. "Jackson, come on."
"I mean, I literally don't know. Jinyoung hasn't texted me or called or anything. He really just cut me off."
The room quickly fell quiet.
Mark didn't know that losing Jinyoung would hit Jackson so hard. The younger was the type to bounce back quickly, so he expected him to be fine in the morning. Obviously, he'd thought wrong. "I'm... I'm sorry..."
Jackson let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "No, it's not your fault. People change. The real side of them ends up coming out. It sucks but, what can you do about it?"
Mark felt his chest tighten at the melancholic tone of Jackson's voice. Even though Jackson said it wasn't his fault, the younger had no idea that it was in fact his fault that Jinyoung had 'distanced himself' from their friendship. He felt slightly bad. "Are you really that upset about it?"
Jackson shrugged. "I dunno. Jinyoung was cool. Funny. Smart. Attractive. It's true we met not long ago but... I liked him a lot."
Mark felt himself get stabbed in the heart as the word 'attractive' passed through Jackson's lips. Was that why he was so sad? Did he not only hold friendly feelings toward Jinyoung?
"R-Romantically?" Mark stuttered out, hoping that Jackson wouldn't make his literal nightmares come true.
The younger stayed quiet for a minute. He let out a sigh.
"I don't know."
Well, that wasn't any better.
"Oh..."
Not knowing was way worse than knowing; If Jackson had answered 'yes', then Mark would know for sure that he's lost his roommate to Jinyoung, and everything he's done so far was pointless. If he had said 'no', then Mark wouldn't feel as awful as he did.
But he didn't know. Mark felt himself on edge, desperately wondering what crazy mix of feelings were twisting around inside of Jackson. How could he not know? Granted, Mark wasn't sure of his own feelings towards Jackson, and still refused to admit them but... that was a different situation.
Mark thought for sure that Jackson wouldn't fall for anyone other than him. Now, he was confused and quite frankly, a bit worried.
His troubling thoughts must've shown on his face as Jackson glanced at him then quickly waved away the topic.
"Don't worry about me Mark. I'm just sulking." He stated, forcing another smile onto his face as he gazed across the room. "And I still have you so, I can stare at your beauty while I sulk."
Mark dropped his eyes to the mattress, unable to even look Jackson in the eye. "I don't want you to sulk."
"Well..." Jackson trailed off as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't really formulate the words. He scrapped the thought, ultimately changing the subject. "Get ready for class. You'll be late."
Mark blinked, wishing he could see into Jackson's mind and figure out what was going on in there. He wanted to make his sadness go away, but as the cause of his down mood, he didn't know exactly how to fix it.
"Oh, um... okay..." He mumbled, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of his bed. He walked across the room, headed for the bathroom to shower.
"Make sure you bring your sexy ass back here to me right after."
Mark paused, glancing back at the younger who's smile widened. He couldn't fight the grin that rose to his own face, along with the blush that decorated his cheeks.
"Sh-Shut up." he giggled back, hearing Jackson chuckle too, despite it being short lived.
The younger still tried to keep up his playful and flirty attitude, even when feeling betrayed by a friend. Him putting on that act made it more difficult for Mark to feel as if anyone on planet Earth truly deserved someone like Jackson, even himself.
