been you | mt+ijb ✓

01

"Can you not talk?" is what Jaebum immediately blurts out when he and Mark first meet, because it's Raymond Tuan who introduces the small boy and suggests that he and Jaebum should be friends.

Mark hasn't said a word, but he does come out from his hiding place behind his mother's legs, a pretty pink flush over his face. Even at eight years old, Jaebum realizes that that's probably not the most polite thing to say and promptly blushes a bright red, thankful that his mother is too engrossed in conversation with Mark's parents to hear what he's just said.

But Mark giggles, unbothered, and it soothes his nerves. "I'm bad at Korean," he says slowly in what is indeed very broken Korean. "Still learning."

"Oh," Jaebum says. "Do you understand it?"

"A little."

"Oh."

Mark is cute. He's tiny – all of half a head shorter than Jaebum – and missing a tooth or two. Jaebum wonders why his skin is so different, too, because he's never met someone so tan. He supposes he likes it – on Mark, anyway.

"How old are you?" he asks for the sake of conversation. Maybe, he thinks, Mark is five or six and Jaebum will get to babysit him in a few years. Mark is certainly small enough for that to be the case.

Mark opens his mouth, about to answer, then closes it. He bites his lip nervously as his brows furrow in thought before visibly giving up and has to sheepishly hold up eight fingers.

"Me too!" Jaebum exclaims, suddenly more excited to have a new friend than to be a potential babysitter. He doesn't miss the way Mark lights up when he ignores his inability to verbally answer the question, but he doesn't mention it. "We're going to go to school together!"

Mark grins. "Friends?" he asks, careful to pronounce the word correctly.

Jaebum grins, too, because it's such a pretty expression on Mark that he can't help himself. "Friends," he agrees.