Mark went to his own class not long after Jackson left for his, spotting Jinyoung immediately. He walked in and quietly took his seat beside the younger, wondering if he'd read the text he sneakily sent that morning.
"Hi Mark." Jinyoung greeted as soon as the elder's butt hit the chair beside him.
Mark turned, his jaw falling open slightly as a look of slight concern flashed across Jinyoung's face. His brows furrowed together at the odd expression. "Hey, what's up?"
"Is... Is Jackson okay?" the younger asked, his eyes quivering as he looked at Mark for an answer.
Mark nodded slowly in response. "Yeah he's fine, why?"
Jinyoung let out a relieved breath, sitting back in his chair as his gaze drifted off elsewhere. "Nothing, I just wanted to hang out today, but he said he was busy."
So he had read the text. Mark hadn't intended on Making Jinyoung worry, but in his opinion it was better than him hogging up all of Jackson's time instead.
"Must be something with his classes. I dunno." Mark lied, of course still worrying about it all unraveling before him, but not caring as much when it came to lying to Jinyoung. Hiding things from Jackson was difficult, but hiding things from Jinyoung was easier than he expected it to be.
Jinyoung let out a soft disappointed sigh, ultimately shrugging in defeat. "Okay, well I'll just ask him about tomorrow."
Mark's eyes widened as Jinyoung reached down into his pocket for his phone. "Wait, r-right now?"
Jinyoung nodded as he unlocked the device. "Yeah, I'll just send him a quick text."
If he texted Jackson right now, the younger would see the message he sent, and everything would fall apart right there; Mark's little mischievous deed would be found out.
"No!" Mark yelled, a bit too loud. He cleared his throat, lowering his voice and ignoring the pairs of eyes that were attracted due to his outburst. "N-No, Jackson's phone is off."
The younger frowned, cocking his head. "He'll still get the text though, won't he?"
"Um... well he might be asleep, so you should just text him later." Mark replied, his eyes glued to the phone that he prayed Jinyoung would just put away.
The younger looked down at the device, letting out a soft sigh. "Oh... alright then, later."
Mark felt his chest loosen with relief; he didn't completely think through the fact that he'd have to keep Jackson and Jinyoung from interacting with one another for a while to uphold his fake text scheme.
For the remainder of the class, Mark kept his eye on Jinyoung, especially every time the younger would reach for his phone in case he in fact changed his mind and decided to text Jackson. It was always a false alarm, he was either checking the time or weather or something mundane, but Mark couldn't be too careful.
He was relieved to get out of class and take a break in his dorm, but of course the fear of getting caught in a lie loomed over his head. It was especially prominent when he arrived at his dorm and found Jackson there, as Mark had expected his roommate to be in class, not in their dorm hunched over his bag packing books into it.
He must have a bit of time to waste between classes, so he had the same idea as Mark and returned to the dorm to relax. Mark felt his heart drop as he locked eyes with the younger while walking into the room. Though to his relief, Jackson smiled at his arrival; an indication that he hadn't yet found out what Mark had done.
"Hey cutie." the younger greeted while watching Mark walk across the room and drop his bag by his bed.
"Where's your phone." The elder demanded more than asked, a bit more urgently than he meant to.
