Chapter Text
Mark held Jack close.
The Irishman in his arms was shaking. Mark couldn’t hear the things Jack could in his head, but he knew they were bad. He was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that Anti was indeed real. At first he’d been sceptical of the whole thing; even to the point of thinking Jack was playing a joke on him. But he’d never seen Jack like this; and so he knew it was real.
“Thank you…” mumbled Jack, still hiding his face in Mark’s chest.
Mark frowned. “What for?”
“For not leaving…”
“Jack, I’d never leave you,” said Mark, holding Jack closer to him and smiling a little. It was getting hard to stop himself from blurting out just how he really felt for the Irishman; but in Jack’s current state of mind, he decided to keep those thoughts to himself.
“You mean that?” asked Jack, looking up, his tired blue eyes meeting with Mark’s dark chocolate ones. “You really mean that?”
“Of course I mean it. Jack, you’re my closest friend and even though I don’t see you much, that’s never going to change.”
For the first time since Mark had seen Jack, Jack smiled. A genuine smile that made Mark smile too. Jack’s smiles were always contagious like that. Mark couldn’t help himself; he needed to tell Jack how he really felt. He needed to let the man who had lit up his life and had changed so much about him know that he’d done all that.
“Jack.”
“What?”
Mark’s words caught in his throat. “I ah…”
Jack frowned, a little worried but mostly curious to his friends sudden change in demeanour. “What is it? Is something wrong?”
“You’re the problem.”
Jack heard those static words in his mind and he froze. Instantly Mark dropped what he was going to say, seeing the new fear in Jack’s eyes and he quickly grabbed the Irishman’s shoulders, keeping him steady as he spoke to him.
“Jack… is it Anti again? Shit he’s really being a dick. Come on, just focus on me. You can do that can’t you? I’m right here.”
Jack managed a nod, his hands right away going to Mark’s shirt, clinging onto it as if for dear life. But even no matter how hard Jack tried to focus on Mark’s voice, that static in his head was all he could hear. It drowned everything out.
“Don’t fight me.”
Jack winced. “Bastard.”
“What can I do? Jack, tell me if there’s anything I can do. I’m not going to let Anti do anything to you,” said Mark, one hand going to Jack’s face, trying to make Jack look at him, to focus on him. Anything but Anti. “I’m right here.”
“Mar–”
Jack went to say something but the words became stuck in his throat. Mark frowned and tried to make Jack look at him. Yet Jack’s head stayed down, staring at the ground between them. That’s when Mark heard that laughter. The static laughter that Mark had once thought was edited into a video he now heard coming from Jack.
“Jack… Fuck, fuck, fuck… Jack are you ok?”
“Jack’s not here right now.”
Mark cursed and stepped back from Jack. The green haired man in front of him slowly raised his head and suddenly Mark was looking at an entirely different person. Anti locked eyes with Mark and tilted his head to one side; one eye glowing a septic green – the other still Jack’s normal blue – as a wicked smile appeared on his face.
“What the fuck have you done with Jack?!” demanded Mark.
“Jackaboy’s taking a… nap,” replied Anti, the last word sounding strained. He slowly advanced after Mark who kept backing away. “You kept saying my name.”
“Just… give back Jack. You’re not wanted here.”
“Wrong!” Anti laughed and suddenly lunged at Mark who only just had times to put his hands up in defence. “It’s too late anyway!”
“Get the fuck off me!”
Anti laughed again and grabbed Mark’s wrists harshly, pulling them to the side and moving up close and personal to Mark. Trying to fight back, but not wanting to hurt the body that belonged to Jack and not Anti, Mark could only move backwards until he could move back no more. His back hit a wall and Anti smirked menacingly as he managed to pin Mark there.
“Fuck off! Leave Jack alone!” snapped Mark.
“And ruin the fun? I don’t think so.”
Anti moved in close, barely an inch away from Mark’s face and tilted his head side to side as he inspected the Korean-American. Mark turned his head away. This wasn’t Jack. This was some freakish thing possessing his friend’s body.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Do I really need a reason?” sneered Anti. He suddenly let go of Mark’s wrists but grabbed his shirt instead, pulling him away from the wall then slamming him back against it. The wind escaped Mark’s lungs and he gasped for air as he sunk to the ground. “You’re no use to me though. Jack’s all I’m interested in.”
With that, Anti turned and marched away from Mark.
Mark winced. Anti was a lot stronger then he looked. Once he managed to get air back into his lungs, he tried standing but gasped as pain shot through his side. Nothing was broken, but everything hurt. Determined to get his friend back though, Mark slowly managed to get to his feet and follow after Anti.
He wasn’t going to let Anti hurt Jack.