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“I didn’t even know I was into blue hair,” Jackson whined.
He was staring at the ceiling fan, eagle-spread on top of his and Mark’s shared bed. It was technically their two single beds pushed together, which was one of the first changes they made to their dorm room when they graduated from high school and came to college together. They were best friends - soulmates, Jackson liked to think - and best friends shared a bed.
Mark grunted from where he was cuddled up next to Jackson, 8-bit sounds coming from his Nintendo. “I don’t think you’re into blue hair, I just think you’re into Youngjae.”
Jackson got up to lean back on his elbows, acting hurt. “That is not true!” he said, even though it was probably very true - though it was Youngjae’s fault for being so likable.
Mark took his eyes off his game to stare at Jackson unimpressed. “So it wasn’t you,” Mark said unimpressed, “that told me to go and talk to Youngjae’s cousin so you could talk to Youngjae?”
“Which totally didn’t even work because it got you a boyfriend and me less dates with you,” Jackson huffed in retaliation.
Lim Jaebeom, Youngjae’s cousin from Mark’s math class, was supposed to be a bridge for Jackson to finally get a chance to talk to Youngjae. Maybe flirt with him, wine and dine him a little, everything Jackson could do to woo him like the gentleman he was. Instead, Mark decided that he’d keep Jaebeom as a boyfriend, and ever since then they’d been doing nothing but holding hands and kissing and things Jackson really didn't want to think about.
Jackson’s thought train was interrupted with a lap full of pouty, puppy-eyed Mark. “Gaga,” Mark cooed as he pinched at Jackson’s cheeks, “you know I still like our date nights.”
“I know,” Jackson sighed. “You’ve just been busy recently and-”
“So why don’t we just shut up for now and watch a movie? Maybe Disney?”
With one last thought of Youngjae’s new blue hair, Jackson smiled at Mark. “Pocahontas,” he said, and Mark patted his head.
Youngjae was sitting two tables away, thick white headband pushing back his blue bangs from his forehead. He was reading a textbook, propping his head up with his hand. Jackson squinted. No, maybe he was just dozing off-
A rolled up magazine smacked Jackson’s chin. “Close your mouth and stop drooling,” Jinyoung said.
Jackson glared. Park Jinyoung, Jackson’s other best friend who was very not like the adorable angel from heaven that Mark was. Jinyoung was more like… an owl. An evil owl sent from the depths of hell for the sole purpose of annoying Jackson Wang.
“You suck,” Jackson said, sticking his tongue out. “I don’t make fun of your crush, you don’t make fun of mine.”
That was a lie - Jackson seized every opportunity to bring up the white-haired boy whose name Jinyoung didn’t even know because scandalized, sputtering Jinyoung was too good of a sight to pass up.
As expected, Jinyoung’s face was going red and he kept running his hands through his hair. “Hey! He’s not-” Jinyoung stuttered incredulously. “I don’t- ”
Jackson snorted. He’d seen Jinyoung’s guy at the gym before, maybe once or twice. Even talked to him at the vending machine. He was from Thailand, Jackson remembered. What was his name again?
“What did you do to Jinyoung? He looks like a tomato,” somebody snorted from behind him. Jackson looked over his shoulder to see Jaebeom walk into the library, holding an iced coffee in one hand and Mark’s hand in the other.
“Markie,” Jackson whined, making grabby hands at Mark as he sat down on the right of Jackson. He looked at Jaebeom, who grabbed the seat opposite to Mark and scoffed. “Jaebeom.”
“Jackson,” Jaebeom responded, biting on the plastic straw of his drink.
“Jinyoung,” Jinyoung said, rolling his eyes. “You two are so lame.”
A lot coming from you, Jackson wanted to say. He opted to bite his tongue and cling onto Mark instead, who was the only one trying to study at this point. In the corner of his eye, though, he was staring at Youngjae.
“Why do you hate Jaebeom so much anyways?” Jinyoung asked, massaging his temples.
Glaring at Jaebeom with a pout, Jackson replied, “He stole my best friend.”
Jaebeom gave Jackson that distinctive Really? look and glanced around the library until he found him . “Youngjae!” he said, raising his voice just enough for the other to hear.
Youngjae looked up and rubbed his eyes - it was unfairly cute how much he looked like a baby otter - and turned his head to see Jaebeom calling for him. He smiled and gestured, then picked up his textbook and bag to move over.
It took one second for Jackson to realize what was happening, and another second for him to try and whack Jaebeom with his water bottle. “What are you doing?” he hissed, but then Youngjae was sitting down at the only empty chair which was right beside Jackson and he looked so good up close. His hair was fluffy and blue. Really blue, maybe sky blue? Ocean blue?
Mark waved at Youngjae and Youngjae turned to wave back at Mark and now Youngjae was facing Jackson who was in between them and uh, did he always have that mole under his right eye? As Youngjae talked to Mark, Jackson couldn’t help but move his eyes down until he was met with Youngjae’s pretty lips, then his neck, and then another mole that seemed to be right above his chest-
“Hyung,” Youngjae said, and Jackson jumped in his skin, “do I have something on my face?”
No, I just want to take you out on a date, Jackson wanted to say, but instead he swallowed and shook his head.
And to get back at Jinyoung trying not to laugh at him, Jackson got the white-haired boy’s name (it was Bambam) and gave him Jinyoung’s number.
Apparently, there was no escape from Choi Youngjae and his blue hair.
Jackson went to the dog cafe every Sunday to pick up breakfast and pet some dogs. It was only a five minute walk from their dorm building and Mark’s high school step brother Yugyeom worked there. He would go and get two drinks and two slices of cheesecake for him and Mark to eat when he got back, and Yugyeom would give him a sweet staff discount.
But today was Saturday. And Jackson was going in the late afternoon for some sad, lonely dinner, because Jaebeom had stolen Mark away on his motorcycle to go suck faces.
Jackson opened the glass door to be welcomed by… nobody. There were a few customers sitting along the windowsill, a few puppies sleeping here and there, and nobody at the counter. He frowned - Yugyeom worked all weekend, according to Mark.
Then, there was a small yelp from a corner and Jackson looked over to see three dogs lounging together on a beanbag. Two of them he recognized - whenever Yugyeom worked, he brought Dalkyum and Milo with him, who were his family dogs - but the third he had never seen before. She was white and small, and apparently also hated the other two dogs because she was on the very edge of the cushion.
“Welc - hey hyung,” said a voice and Jackson turned around to see that cursed blue head of hair come out from the staff door. Because everywhere Jackson went, Choi Youngjae seemed to follow.
And he looked stupidly cute, hot, and handsome all at once. He was wearing a white shirt with a black bow tie and apron - was anybody allowed to look so good in a barista uniform?
“Sorry about Coco,” Youngjae said, and Jackson snapped out of his haze. “She barks when someone comes in and I’m not at the front.
“N-No worries,” Jackson stuttered. Youngjae pushed his bangs out of his forehead and Jackson gulped. “I didn’t know you worked here.”
Youngjae hummed. “Only on Saturdays.” He looked at the three dogs. “Honestly, I work here to let Coco socialize. I think she hates other dogs.”
How could someone look so pretty just standing there? Jackson watched as Youngjae wiped down the register. Even his hands were pretty. He’d known Youngjae for, what, two months by now? Yet still, every time he tried to speak to him, his words would clog up his mouth and he’d forget how to breathe.
Youngjae cleared his throat. “Uh, are you going to order or-”
“Youngjae hyung, we’re out of caramel,” whined a voice from the back. Out popped Yugyeom’s head, holding an empty bottle. “Do you think - oh hi, Jackson! Hyung, Jackson is the guy I was talking about.”
Wait. Hold on. Yugyeom talked about him? And hold on again, did Yugyeom just not call him hyung?
“Oh, really?” Youngjae said, and all thoughts flew out Jackson’s head when Youngjae threw him another quick smile, all happy and cute and distinctively Youngjae.
Jackson sputtered a little. “Yugyeom talks about me?”
“It’s nothing bad, don’t worry,” and when Youngjae gave him a little thumbs up Jackson felt a part of his heart just wither away. “He just said you’re good with dogs.”
“I-” Jackson Wang, do not blush. Be smooth, don’t say anything stupid. “Yeah, uh, Mark says it’s because I’m, uh, basically a dog too.” What the fuck.
But Youngjae laughed and it was the cutest thing Jackson had ever heard in his life, the only thing he’d ever want to hear again. “I can see that. Jaebeom says that about me sometimes.”
“I think you’re more like an otter,” Jackson confessed.
To that, Youngjae grinned and winked. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You know, Jackson also dog sits,” Yugyeom said, pointedly staring at Jackson and wiggling his eyebrows. “He looks after Dal and Milo when nobody’s home.”
Which was true, but where did that come from? He looked at Yugyeom, then back to Youngjae, then Yugyeom again, who was widening his eyes as if to tell Jackson something.
Oh. Oh.
“Really,” Youngjae said, slowly nodding his head.
Yugyeom nodded back. “Yeah. Hyung, didn’t you say you had to go out and run some errands tomorrow?”
For a second, he was silent - “Right!” Youngjae said brightly, meeting Jackson’s eyes. “Then - I know this is sudden - Jackson, would you mind watching Coco tomorrow morning? Jaebeom and I are delivering some things back to my parents. Jaebeom’s allergic, so I can’t really bring her. I can pay you!”
“Sure,” Jackson blurted out. “I mean - yeah. I’m okay with that. And you don’t have to pay me.”
“Thanks a lot man,” Youngjae said, and he pat Jackson on the shoulder. “It’ll only take an hour or two, I promise. And Coco’s good.”
“No problem,” Jackson mumbled.
Youngjae’s eyes crinkled when he smiled. Cute, really cute- was there anything about Choi Youngjae that wasn’t adorable? He really wanted to cuddle with him, or roll him up in blankets, or maybe kiss him. If he could, all three at once.
“Are you going to order anything, or…?” Yugyeom snorted.
Jackson yelped out a yes, sorry, and Youngjae laughed again. If Youngjae noticed Jackson staring at him like he was the most precious thing on earth, he didn’t show it.
After Youngjae and Jaebeom dropped Coco off at their dorm room, where Coco found a comfortable spot on the couch, Mark sighed and glared at Jackson. “If you keep staring at Youngjae, I’m pretty sure your eyeballs will fall out of your sockets,” he said.
Jackson only whined in response. “This is hopeless,” he sighed. “He’s out of my league.”
With a roll of his eyes, Mark took Jackson’s hand and dragged him to crouch down on the carpet in their living room. He reached out to hold Jackson’s hands and Jackson complied, letting his best friend intertwine their fingers.
“Listen, Gaga, here’s the game plan,” Mark said firmly. “You are going to stop acting like a fish on land every time you breathe near Youngjae and you’re going to confess to him.”
Jackson only let out a strangled sound of protest. “Markie, he doesn’t like me. And haven’t you seen him? he’s way too hot to date me.”
“First of all, you introduced yourself to me as the one and only Wild & Sexy Ja-”
“Please shut up,” Jackson groaned.
Mark gloated for a second before squeezing Jackson’s hands. With a hushed voice, he said, “Second, I’m not supposed to tell you this because it’s your job to get a boyfriend, but Jaebeom may or may not have told me that Youngjae may or may not kinda like you.”
“Yeah but that’s- oh.” Very oh. Jackson stilled as he stared at Mark who was pursing his lips, trying not to smile. Youngjae kind of liked him? As in, liked him?
“Listen to me Jacks. When Jaebeom and Youngjae come back to pick up Coco, I’m going to go with Jaebeom to get lunch. You,” he said as he pressed his finger to Jackson’s chest, “are going to tell Youngjae you’re head over heels for him. Because according to Jaebeom, Youngjae can be even more of a nervous wreck than you. And then you’ll have a boyfriend, and we will go on many, many double dates.”
“How did you get Jaebeom to tell you?” Jackson asked.
Mark poked Jackson’s cheek. “Don’t worry about it.”
Jackson thought about digging into that, but instead decided to pinch both of Mark’s cheeks. “I love you, Markie.”
“Love you too,” Mark hummed as he cupped Jackson’s face and kissed his forehead. “Don’t be scared, he likes you.”
I’ll try not to , Jackson thought, eyes glued to the clock on the wall.
True to his word, once Jaebeom and Youngjae returned at noon, Mark kissed Jackson on the cheek and left with Jaebeom to go frolic in the fields, so it was just Youngjae and Jackson standing around the kitchen island, Coco running around their feet.
It didn’t look like Youngjae was planning on leaving anytime soon. He shuffled his feet as Coco bumped into his ankles. Maybe Jaebeom said something to him? Or Mark?
Jackson shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Do you… want a drink?” he said, bringing Youngjae’s attention from Coco to him.
“Sure,” he replied. “Anything is fine.”
Jackson mumbled something in response, pulling the fridge open. He grabbed two cans of soda and slid them onto the counter. Youngjae took one and nodded in thanks, popping it open and taking a sip.
It was hot in the room. Jackson wiped his hands on his sweats, closing the door to the fridge and turning around to see Youngjae now sitting down on the bar stools of their kitchen island, hands nursing the cold drink.
Youngjae was wearing a baggy white tank top. Jackson couldn’t help but stare at how it revealed Youngjae’s biceps - Jackson always had a thing for muscle - and how the neckline dipped to once again show the mole at the base of Youngjae’s neck. His eyes travelled up again, flitting past Youngjae’s gaze to instead look at how he was scratching the side of his head.
When he had first met Youngjae, his hair was black. And short. Then he grew it out, and Jackson started feeling his throat go dry when he was near him. Then he dyed it blue (did he know how much Jackson liked blue?) and Jackson could not shut up about it.
“Hey man,” Youngjae said, taking another sip. “Are you planning on dying your hair again?”
Jackson raised an eyebrow at the sudden question. “No, why?” he responded. He was happy with his old colouring, which was just a regular shade of brown.
Youngjae shrugged in response. “You keep staring at my hair.”
Fuck, so Youngjae’s noticed? Jackson is screwed. Mark was lying, Jaebeom was lying, Youngjae probably just thinks Jackson likes his hair, which is true because it’s a really cool colour and it looks great on Youngjae, but it doesn’t matter because this entire thing is a bust and-
“Do you really like my hair or something?” Youngjae asked, holding up a lock of his hair between his fingers.
Jackson hummed. “Nah,” he said, “I just kinda like you.”
“What?”
Jackson looked up to see Youngjae staring at him wide-eyed, hand with his can of soda in mid-air. His mouth was hanging open in an ‘o’.
For a second, Jackson felt like he couldn’t breathe. And in the next, he asked, “What did I say?”
“You said you like me,” Youngjae said, still stunned.
Jackson froze. He felt his body tense up from his head to his feet, steel grip suddenly pressing indents into his soda can. That… was not planned. Jackson swore he had just thought that in his head.
Apparently not, with the way Youngjae was - smiling?
So Youngjae thought this was funny. Great. “That’s - Not true,” Jackson said, and saw Youngjae’s smile fall from his face. “I mean - It is, but… You can ignore that - if you want to.”
Youngjae held his expression for barely a second before he smiled again, wide and happy and Jackson melted at the sight of the crinkles in Youngjae’s eyes. “You’re cute,” Youngjae said.
Jackson felt his heart pound in his chest. “This is not how I wanted to confess,” he whined, pouting.
But maybe it was okay, because Youngjae put his drink on the counter and reached for Jackson’s hand, intertwining their fingers. He leaned into the counter on his elbows, closer and closer until their noses were almost touching. Youngjae smelled like blueberries and cream and everything nice in the world and he was still smiling the prettiest smile Jackson had ever laid his eyes on, trying not to laugh-
His breath was warm on Jackson’s lips as he murmured, “Can I kiss you?”
One. Two. “Yeah,” Jackson replied.
Three, and Youngjae was pressing his lips against Jackson’s.
He didn’t feel electricity course through his veins. He didn’t feel butterflies in his stomach. Instead, he felt warmth and happiness and everything soft and nice as he tangled his free hand in Youngjae’s pretty blue hair. And when Youngjae pulled away, bangs messy and eyes sparkling, Jackson couldn’t help but smile.
“I am not putting out until the third date,” Jackson said.
Youngjae only laughed and leaned in again. And if Jackson broke his word, no one had to know.
It turned out that Youngjae’s bright blue hair served more than one purpose. While it made Jackson’s boyfriend look ridiculously hot - calling Youngjae his boyfriend was something Jackson would never stop doing - it was also a beacon. He could spot Youngjae from a mile away.
That’s how he found him sitting with the rest of their friends in the main courtyard. “Hey babe,” he said as he sat down beside Youngjae and kissed him on the cheek. “I brought donuts.”
Youngjae’s face brightened as he looked at the brown paper bag Jackson was holding. “Strawberry?” he asked.
Jackson nodded. “And vanilla for Mark, because he’s awesome,” he said. Mark gave him a fistbump from where he was sitting in Jaebeom’s lap. “None for his less awesome other half, though.”
Jaebeom wrapped his arms around Mark’s waist. “How about for Jinyoungie?” he said, amused.
“He deserves one,” Jackson said as he handed Jinyoung a donut, “for finally landing himself a date.”
“Fuck you, Wang,” Jinyoung said, doing a terrible job at hiding his smile.
And they spent the rest of their lazy afternoon like that, laughing as Jinyoung got powdered sugar all over his shirt and at Mark accidentally elbowing Jaebeom in the stomach three times. Jackson was cuddled up to Youngjae’s side and Youngjae had his arm around Jackson’s shoulder, their hands tangled together like they always were.
So once the other three left and it was just them in the sunset glow, Youngjae said, “Hyung?”
“Yeah?” he replied.
Youngjae stared at him. “Do you think I would look good blond?”
Jackson almost choked.