translucent [markson]

[Twenty Four] Progress

After a seemingly endless and terrible day, Jackson only wanted to sleep. He just wanted to flop onto his bed and close his eyes, but he knew he had to study. Keeping up his good grades was all he really had left to do, since he didn't feel safe leaving his room. Or more accurately, Yugyeom didn't think it was safe. Yugyeom had bothered Jackson all afternoon about how he could get attacked if he went out on his own and, though he knew Yugyeom was only exaggerating, Jackson agreed.

Since Yugyeom decided to become Jackson's bodyguard, he didn't let Jackson answer the door when someone decided to knock at ten at night. Jackson really hoped that it was Mark -- after all, it was their thing to visit each other late into the night -- but he was only disappointed when he saw Jinyoung at the doorway. He only knew who Jinyoung was through stories Mark had told him and from eavesdropping on BamBam and Yugyeom when they were practising for the winter performances. Apparently, Mark, Jinyoung, and BamBam sat together during lunch.

"Hi, is Jackson Wang here?" he heard Jinyoung ask.

"Yes, he is. May I ask what you want?" Yugyeom stood in front of Jinyoung, effectively blocking Jinyoung from getting in or seeing over his shoulder.

"I just wanted to ask him something." Jinyoung grew nervous at the look Yugyeom was giving him, so he continued, "I want to ask him about school. I swear that I don't have anything nasty planned."

"Alright. But if you're lying, you have hell to pay." Yugyeom sent Jinyoung the most menacing look he could muster, effectively making Jinyoung let out a scared whimper. As Yugyeom stepped aside, Jinyoung and Jackson made eye contact, allowing Jinyoung to recollect himself.

"Hi, Jackson. My name is Jinyoung." He held out his hand for Jackson to shake and Jackson took it with hesitation. "I came because I heard that you're really good at English."

"I've heard that you're not too bad yourself," Jackson replied, cautiously. He recalled that Mark called Jinyoung a diligent language learner with almost perfect English pronunciation.

"I'm doing okay in school, but I want to learn more than that. There's only so much that a book can teach -- surely you understand that." Jinyoung had to hide his smirk -- he was quite proud of his acting so far and of how well he we coming up with his lies on the spot. "I want you to teach me English."

"But what about Mark? I know you two are good friends. Doesn't it just make more sense that he's the one that teaches you?" Jackson tried to reason.

"It's kind of embarrassing and he makes fun of me a lot. I've heard that you're a really good tutor and that you're really nice, so..." Jinyoung watched as Jackson's face flushed red at the compliments, his secret schoolgirl-esque crush causing him to internally squeal.

"I mean, I guess," Jackson mumbled with hesitation.

"Can we start tomorrow?" Jinyoung mustered his most innocent and hopeful face he could knowing Jackson couldn't refuse.

"Yeah, sure," Jackson replied, his tone raised like it was a question.

"Great. Come to room 437 at eight."

~

Jackson stood in front of the door, an uneasy feeling weighing him down. Even with Yugyeom standing behind him -- who had come because he didn't want Jackson to be alone -- he felt unsafe and vulnerable. He wasn't even fully sure that someone bad would happen; he could just feel something was off with Jinyoung's request. Why would he suddenly ask for tutoring when Jackson was so unliked around school?

As he moved his hand to knock, the door opened to reveal an expectant Jinyoung, who had seemingly dressed up, judging by his skinny jeans and gelled hair. A worrying thought that Jinyoung was trying to do some not so innocent things crossed Jackson's mind, but he ignored it and told himself that Jinyoung probably wasn't like that. Probably, anyway.