The Broken Places (Septiplier)

2) Alarm

A/N So, this is chapter two! Things are going to progress slowly, as I am new to being septiplier trash and this whole story line is still TBD. But please enjoy! Again, the image above is not mine, I borrowed it from google.

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When Mark opened his eyes, he realized a few things: he was very warm, something was holding him, and he was incredibly comfortable. As sleep faded away he remembered the previous day's occurrences.

Right. He'd fallen asleep on Jack's chest last night. Why had he- Oh. Right. Joseph was dead. He'd almost forgotten, in the post sleep daze. Joseph was dead and the world was grey and the ringing in his ears wouldn't stop. Why were his ears ringing? Or was he screaming? By this point, he didn't know.

"You set an alarm?" Jack's voice was bleary and, after a moment, the ringing went silent.

Oh. The alarm. Right.

"Automatic." Mark groaned, rubbing a hand across his tired eyes. "I forgot to unplug it and this is the first time I've slept when it went off."

Jack looked blearily at the screen, which read 5:30 am, but chose to say nothing. It was obvious how hard the grief was hitting Mark. The fact that Mark didn't sleep worried him, but he chose not to hassle the other YouTuber who seemed to be dozing back off against his chest.

"Do you mind if we go back to sleep?" Jack's voice was heavy with exhaustion and jet lag. "I'm not ready to be awake yet." 

"Fine by me." Mark replied, making himself more comfortable against the slender man's chest. 

There was only silence then, giving Mark time to think as he inched into sleep. Jack's body was warm beneath his, slender but not overly so. He was skinny and lanky, all arms and legs and sharp elbows, but he held some muscle, especially in his arms. He was a head taller than Mark, so his feet rested a few inches below where both sets of legs were tangled. They were laying together rather intimately, pressed together from the top of Mark's head, all the way down to his feet. He was curled into Jack, where as Jack was sprawled across his large bed. Mark found himself getting use to the idea of waking up like this and was immediately overcome with guilt. 

Joseph hadn't been gone half a year yet and already Mark was thinking about Jack like that? So much for being loyal to Joey's memory. He sighed, disgusted with himself. How could he think about Jack like that, when the memory of Joseph was still so fresh? True, he had never been anything with Joey and, laying here with Jack it was easy to see where they  might go; but didn't he owe it to Joey's memory to take more time? To give the mourning process time to work its way through his system?

'Maybe it's better like this. You can be with Jack until you feel good and whole and strong again. He'll go back to Ireland and you can pretend the whole thing never happened. A mean to an end.' 

The ugly thought made Mark want to scream, but he withheld it once he realized Jack was already asleep again. He would not use Jack like that. Jack was his friend, his best friend. Jack had traveled across an ocean and an entire country to spend time picking him up off the floor. What kind of friend, or human being for that matter, would he be if he used Jack to make himself feel better? No, he decided, he would tuck these feelings away until he was better. This was not the time to be evaluating how he felt about his old friend.

He'd done so good at holding back the emotions. But once the guilt came flooding in, so did the pain and the hatred and the misery. He began to sob against Jack's chest, biting the butt of his hand to keep from waking the Irishman. His body shook and for a single moment he prayed for death. He prayed for an end to his pain. The guilt came again at just the thought and this time it was so strong it sent him rushing to the bathroom to empty his stomach. 

When he returned Jack was still asleep in his bed, looking relaxed and exhausted. Mark decided not to disturb him and tip toed out into the living room. He turned the TV on low and settled on the couch, watching the screen without interest as the sun slowly rose, filling the room with light.