"Teach"

14

Jinyoung was doing some last-minute cleaning the morning Jackson was supposed to come over. The latter insisted on arriving as early as he could for some reason, and this time Jinyoung didn't want to feel self-conscious about his apartment if they were going to be together all day.

Even still, the doorbell rang a bit before Jinyoung expected it too, interrupting his morning flow before he could even get himself dressed. He quickly rushed to the door, peeking through the peephole that showed him Jackson waiting in the hall. His eyes widened as he frantically looked around his semi-clean environment and his own messy appearance.

A few impatient knocks came from the wood of Jinyoung's door, forcing him to finally open it.

"H-Hey, you're earlier than I thought..."

"I'm spending the entire day with you. Let's go." Jackson reached for Jinyoung's wrist, tugging him through the threshold.

Jinyoung hesitantly pulled back. "W-Wait, now?"

"Yes now, hurry up."

"L-Let me get myself ready!" The professor whined, breaking out of Jackson's grasp and quickly running back into his apartment to throw himself together.

Jackson chuckled, leaning against the door as he waited.

~~~

Jinyoung followed Jackson to their destination, noticing him carrying a bag on his back as they walked. He felt a bit weird being out so casually with someone he met from his workplace, but the whole point of today was to distance themselves from those labels-- he shouldn't be thinking too much about their professional roles.

He recognized the area he was led to as a quite large park in the middle of town created around a river that ran through its center. He wondered why Jackson chose this place of all places to spend time with him as he followed the latter to his chosen area under a tree full of pretty red flowers.

"A redo on our failed picnic date." Jackson announced while dropping his bag on the ground.

Jinyoung hummed, remembering that they were supposed to meet at the park previously if Jinyoung hadn't gotten sick. "I was wondering... was that supposed to be a date?"

"Well, it is now." The latter shrugged. He pulled out a blanket and set it on the ground, gesturing for his date to sit.

Jinyoung couldn't hide the way his face brightened as he sat down as instructed, watching Jackson join him. He glanced around, noticing a good amount of people in the park taking advantage of the nice weather just as they were. "W-What if someone recognizes me here..."

"You're not a professor right now." Jackson replied while pulling his bag into his lap and digging for more items he prepared. "You're just the guy I'm having a picnic with."

It was hard not to smile at the honest response; Jinyoung's cheeks were already flushing pastel pink. He glanced down at the latter's bag that he was pulling multiple containers out of. "Did you cook more food?"

"Hell no, that was a lot of work the first time. I bought all this."

"This is all very adorable, Jackson."

"Like you."

Jinyoung's jaw dropped open, the compliment making his heart skip a beat. He attempted to regain himself, quickly looking away. "Y-You called me corny, what the hell was that?"

"You're rubbing off on me." Jackson groaned.

The professor chuckled, hugging his knees to his chest to hide his face behind them. He felt like an immature teenager hanging out with his crush- it was a weird feeling he hadn't had in a while. Part of him hated it while the other part never wanted it to disappear.