jackson as best friend
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Took you long enough,' the bright-eyed male youth grinned over his cup of- you eyed the cup playfully, yup your suspicions were confirmed- organic green tea.
'I'm sorry to keep you waiting Mr Worldwide Artist Wang Jackson,' you poked fun at him, as you plopped into your straight-backed wooden chair, sighing in relief.
'You're forgiven Miss (Y/N),' Jackson laughed, amusment dancing in his eyes as he regarded his best friend of over 10 years.
'I'm honored you still remember me,' you smirked, arching an eyebrow. 'Hasn't fame gotten into that little blonde head of yours?' you ruffled his hair, as he swatted your hand away.
'You're the busy one,' he stuck out his tongue, in pure childishness and suddenly it brought you back to the time where both of you were 15 years old in high school and constantly bickering and arguing, both of you raising your voices so much that your other classmates had to come up and act as mediators.
You had hated him back then, oh God he was so annoying but his irritatingly persistent quality became endearing and grew on you, in time. And so, a friendship with a solid foundation of teasing, pranks, and everything else in between was established and it was one of the few things that you had carried into your adult life, despite university assignments haunting you every other night and with Jackson travelling across the entire globe for overseas schedules and most recently, his 'Eyes On You' World Tour.
'Well, I'm not busy now,' you spread your arms to indicate your sudden liberation from studies. 'So why did you call me? Not that I miss your annoying self of course,' you clarified as he quirked an eyebrow, the trace of a smile playing on his lips.
'Pffft, don't miss me my ass,' he retorted. 'I bet you cried every other night while I was on tour,' he leaned back in his chair, smiling confidently.
'Yeah sure,' you rolled your eyes, letting him off the hook for once, although technically he wasn't wrong.
'Anyway, since I'm back and me being the generous person that I am, have decided to invite you to our finale concert right here in Seoul,' you grinned, rubbing his hands together, excitedly.
'Hmmm,' you tapped your bottom lip, in an attempt to think. 'I'll have to look at my schedule, see if I'm free,' you were purposely pulling his leg.
'(Y/NNNNNN),' he whined, loud enough for the whole café to hear.
'Jeez,' you brought an index finger to his lips to silence his complaining before the whole café realised who he was. 'What happened to keeping a low profile? I was just joking, of course I'll come, I wouldn't miss the chance to print out an ugly picture of you to put as a banner or sign,' you laughed as he scowled. 'Besides you're too late Jackson, someone already invited me a couple of weeks ago and I said yes,' your eyes sprakled with excitement at the thought of being able to watch your favourite group perform.
'Who is this mystery person?' Jackson leaned forward suddenly curious.
'You'll find out on the concert day,' you teased in a sing-song voice, enjoying the feeling of keeping him in suspense.
'I hate you,' he grumbled as you laughed aloud.
'Of course you don't Jackson, you love me,' you admonished as both he and you stood up, recognising the late hour as he escorted you back to your car.
'I'll see you on Friday Jacks,' you grinned. 'And you'll get to meet Mr Mystery too,' you chuckled as he scowled before he softened slightly into a smile, waving you off.
Jackson's POV
He watches, heart slowing down as the headlights of her car disappear around the corner. The further she got from him, the calmer his heart got. This was the dilemma he had when he was around (Y/N), he felt like a reccuring addict, always coming back for more, although he knew it would do him more bad than good.
'Of course you don't Jackson, you love me'
He remembered her parting words as he had accompanied her out of the café, out of common courtesy and not by the fact that he had wanted to prolong his time with her. Definitely not. He sighed, walking back to the dorms, thinking that (Y/N) really didn't have a single clue at how close her statement had hit home.
He loved (Y/N), it was as simple as that for him. As easy as breathing. He loved her smart-ass mouth and her sarcasm and the glint in her eyes as she saw through his pretenses, and pure-genuine-full-on smile that she so rarely let anyone see, except when he was around. He was one of the few people that could coax that reaction out of her.
That was part of the reason he had invited her to the concert in the first place. He missed her, it was agonising, like an itch he couldn't scratch. He was hoping that by inviting her over, he would be able to spend more time with her and maybe she would become less blind to the feelings he had for her, although really nothing had changed for the past 5 years, were they honestly going to change now? Just because he was back from tour?
He shook his head trying to wake himself up. His lips still tingled from the pressure of her finger earlier, she was so close, he could smell the slight fragrance of her perfume as she leaned closer to him, eyes sparkling with life and amusement.
Snap out of it Jackson he grumbled as he overshot, passing his own car, he was so absorbed in his own thoughts. He thought that maybe, as he spent more time away from her, he would become more immune to his feelings, walling them away, but his defense was flimsy and one conversation with her was all it took to bring his guard all the way back down.
Your POV
Concert Day
'Are you really sure I can come back stage? I don't want to cause a scene or anything,' you hesitated for at the suggestion, although you desperately wanted to agree.
'It'll be fine,' the voice slightly muffled soothed from the other side. 'I'll be there won't I? Besides it's about time I showed you off,' you could imagine his broad grin as he said so.
'Shush,' you admonished although you were secretly pleased with the confidence he was showing you.
'I need to go, concert's starting soon,' he muttered, annoyed at the fact that your conversation with him was being cut short so soon. 'I'll see you later?'
'Front row seats remember?' you teased.
'How could I forget? I'll be looking for you,' he half warned, half joked before hanging up.
You shook your head, slipping your phone into your back pocket, eyes glinting with anticipation as the lights dimmed and the sound from the bass began to thrum in your ears.
Jackson's POV
'Where's Mark?' JB asked as the 6 of the members were all gathered in the makeup room, after another tiring round of concerts and fan sessions. Jackson was exhausted and he wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep right here on the couch. but he fought with his heavy eyelids, all because of the text he had received just before the concert ended.
(Y/N): can i come see you after the concert??
Wang Puppy: of course you can, makeup room, just say my name, they'll let you in.
His body despite its lethargy, was tingling with anticipation at the thought of seeing (Y/N) again, maybe he would be able to introduce her to the rest of the members...
His thoughts were once again interrupted by the creak of the door and his head jerked up, instantly hopeful.
Your POV
'You're sweatyyyy come onnnn,' you complained just as your boyfriend engulfed you into a hug.
'I missed you,' Mark pouted as he refused to let you go.
'Mark, I'm suffocating here,' you laughed, pushing him away.
'I didn't see you in the front row,' his eyes narrowed.
'Don't lie, you stayed at my zone at least 10 minutes longer than the rest,' you rolled your eyes at him as he smirked.
'Is it a sin for a boyfriend to want to see his girlfriend?' he asked, rhetorically.
'It is, if the rest of the stadium is full of his fans,' you corrected.
'Well, you're my fan too,' he poked you in the side as you squealed. 'I was being serious about showing you off though,' he turned to you, eyes blazing with sincerity.
'Mark,' you sighed, taking his hand. 'We've only been together for a couple of months, let's take this slow, I don't think I want to go public yet,'
'At least let me introduce you to the rest of the members. I mean you already know Jackson,' he begged.
'But he doesn't know about this,' you waved your hand to both of you, indicating the secret relationship.
'Well, it's time he found out isn't it?' he persuaded you softly in that special tone of his knowing you couldn't refuse.
'Fine fine,' you gave in to him reluctantly as he pecked you on the tip of your nose, he was exultant, dragging you to the makeup room to meet the rest.
Jackson's POV
His heart sunk right to the bottom of his shoes, maybe even further, he could feel it dropping down into a bottomless abyss from which there was no hope of it returning. He saw the two clasped hands as if it was something alien, something foregin. His eyes travelled to the owners' of the hands that were linked together and his mouth went dry as he saw (Y/N) grinning up at Mark.
Mark. His own bandmate. So that was the Mr Mystery that she was talking about. Explains all of Mark's late night long calls while they were abroad.
It was as if fate was laughing right in his face. His best friend with one of the people he considered family.
'Mark, took you long enough, we need to leave for the hotel in 5 and-' JB growled, and then stopped in his tracks as he saw (Y/N).
Mark shifted his position subtly so she was slightly more shielded from JB's aghast expression. 'The dating ban's been lifted JB,' he muttered, cautious.
Jackson couldn't take the tension anymore. 'Hey (Y/N),' his voice came out like dry sandpaper.
'(Y/N)?" Bam Bam looked up from his phone in interest. '(Y/N) as in your childhood best friend (Y/N)?" he asked, which caught the attention of the rest of the members as they peeked around Mark curiously.
'Well, this is one hell of a coincidence,' Yugyeom muttered and that caused the rest of the members to thaw slightly, and one by one they moved to greet her respectfully but her hand never left Mark's.
'So this is Mr Mystery huh?" Jackson attempted to summon his inner cheerfulness but even the smile that he plastered on his face felt too faked.
'Huh yeah,' she smiled up at Mark, as if he was the only thing in the whole world. Jackson knew because... that's what he imagined he looked like when her saw her.
'Couldn't have warned us earlier eh Mark??' Yugyeom bounded up, teasing the eldest member as he flushed a slight pink.
'I take it that you aren't going to be coming back to the hotel?' Bam Bam's voice chirped out, full of implications and it took all of Jackson's willpower not to strangle him right there.
'Well, I was thinking of spending some time...' Mark trailed off as (Y/N) shook her head.
'You need your rest,' she whispered. 'Besides I'm seeing you tomorrow aren't I?'
Mark turned away from the rest and they looked so close and intimate together, that Jackson had to turn around, tears threatening to choke his body.
'Fine, fine,'Mark grumbled. 'I'll pick you up tomorrow, no more arguments,' he muttered playfully, before turning back to the rest.
'Jacks,' his best friend finally left Mark's side, to come up to him. 'I'm sorry if it's kind of a shock for you, we met a few months ago, and I knew he was your bandmate and everything, but things just sort of happened,' she muttered sheepishly, her beautiful blush creeping on her cheeks.
'I'm happy for you,' his voice sounded slightly strangled as he enveloped you into a tight hug.
In the hug, he poured out all the unspoken things he wish he had said to her. He was finally, finally letting her go, to someone that made her happy and that was all that mattered to him. That she was happy, even if it meant that he was going to spend the rest of his life looking at both of them wondering what would have happened if he had been less of a coward and confessed earlier.
He released her from his embrace just as Mark came up to them, shy. 'Want me to walk you back to your car?' he asked his hand reaching out for hers.
'Sure,' she smiled, pure and genuine and she looked so beautiful it felt like Jackson's heart was being ripped out of his chest as he watched her hand settle in Mark's.
'Bye Jacks, I'll call you,' she grinned, before turning back to Mark as he accompanied her back out.
He was happy for her, Jackson kept repeating to himself. But why was it that as he saw both of them walking back hand-in-hand, he felt as if a hole had opened in his chest that he would never be able to close?