Superhero Secret - Septiplier

[22] Shake On It

Jack stayed awake with Mark for the rest of the night, rubbing his back and comforting him. He hadn't yet asked about what made Mark scream at the top of his lungs, (which scared Jack to death) he could only assume it was a dreadful nightmare. His cries turned into small sniffles, sometimes a cough. Jack's phone screen illuminated the space around it as the time 3:57 A.M. flashed across the screen.

"Mark?" Jack broke the silence after an hour of cradling his boyfriend.

"Yeah?" That one simple word broke Jack in half, as it came out in a small whimper.

"What happened?" He whispered, being surprised if Mark was even able to hear what he asked.

"You-" Mark started, but choked on the first word that came out of his mouth. Jack stroked his hair, flattening down the mess on his head. Mark attempted to start again.

"Nightmare." He cried, more tears staining Jack's blue shirt.

"Take your time." Jack hushed, placing a kiss wherever his lips could reach. The side of Mark's face. His hair. Top of his ear. Every kiss that Jack rested upon him was a cry.

"You- you died Jack...I watched you die right in my-right in my arms." More tears were trickling down his face; Jack could feel them damping his shirt. "You said sorry to me, like it was-like your fault. Death would never be your fault Jack." Mark's voice cracked, and he tried to cover it with a sniffle. But Jack didn't care.

"Mark, I'm okay. I'm alive. See?" He adjusted their bodies so Mark was looking at him. Jack reached for Mark's hand, placing it over his heart.

"Feel that? I'm okay." Jack soothed. Mark gave him a wry smile, clutching onto his shirt with his fingers. The tears rolling down his face slowed down, coming to a stop after a few minutes.

"I'm so scared, Jack." Mark whispered, "what if something happens to you? Now that were together, you're a target bigger than my own life. I could never live with myself if something happened to you because of me."

"That's the reason Mark. Nothing will."

That seemed to calm Mark more than Jack expected it. The two lie back down, Jack letting Mark rest his head over his heart. He played with his fierce red hair until he fell back asleep, deciding that getting a few more hours of rest wouldn't hurt. Yet, Jack never did fall back asleep.

Because Mark was that mysterious man that was able to pick up a tree.

-

Jack refused to get out of bed until Mark had woken up, because last time Jack woke up in an empty bed, he had never felt more alone. Hopefully he would let that habit go soon enough. It took Mark 20 minutes until he woke up, officially marking it too late to grab any sort of breakfast from the dining hall. Not because it was over, because surly all the Freshman had gotten their hands on the food.

Mark's face still had tear stains, leaving Jack to force him to at least wash his face before he put himself out there. Jack didn't have any classes until later, while his roommate had to rush to get to his Physics class. Jack got to stay alone at their dorm, browsing away on their laptop. Mark had insisted that they share it, which meant they would bicker over what the background was for the week. Jack had adjusted their background so it was a screencap of a scene from a new video game called Quantum Break. Mark always called him a nerd for being obsessed with time, but Jack had his clear reasons.

Currently, Jack was looking up what the hell S.S.S.P meant. Jack took a wild guess it had to do with Mark having super strength. The internet was telling him nothing, just continued to correct him over and over. He tried putting in Cincinnati, symbols, acronyms, anything that could point a finger at what the hell was going on. Finally, after a half an hour of searching, Jack ran into something that seemed convincing enough.

An old warehouse (cliché much?) located on the outskirts of his city. Jack clicked on the link, his eyes quickly roaming the words, looking for anything that stood out. It stated that the building was out of business, and was currently being used to store old science equipment. There was nothing that dated back far enough that Mark was alive, only recent activities. The address was far enough away that Jack ended up calling a cab.

After the 45 minute drive of edgy questions and awkward silence, Nick, the cabbie, dropped him off at the road that led to the warehouse. Jack payed him the required amount of money, waving him off. He sighed before starting his walk down the road to his destination. The road was sadly not paved, which meant Jack had to endure little sharp rocks poking his feet through his shoes. Gladly, it wasn't a long walk and before he knew it, he had already arrived at the warehouse in minutes time.

The building itself wasn't as large as he expected, but the red paint was chipped and rusted. Jack walked up to the front doors, discovering that a chain that was wrapped around both metal bars was cut, giving him easy access inside. He pushed the doors open, revealing a mess of boxes, tables, and equipment. He walked around at the first part of the building, discovering a note hidden halfway under an old keyboard. Jack scanned over the newly discovered bill, and found the total amount of money at the bottom.

"Twenty thousand dollar moving bill. Sounds like you moved in more than just some old lab equipment." He said to himself, setting the paper back down. He searched up and down the dusty perimeter, finding nothing of importance.

In the top corner of the building, there was a staircase that went up to a wooden stage area. He walked up to that area, finding tables with more ancient computers. Each of them had a folder next to the keyboard, but nothing inside them. The whole area seemed to be of new use, until he came across the next room.

This room had file cabinets that filled the entire space, a few tables against the wall. There were more ancient computers there, with files stacked neatly next to them. Jack wasted no time, using his speed to search through every file in that room until anything stood out beyond the regular.

After seconds of searching, he found one thing that might come in handy to him. He shoved it in the inside of his sweatshirt, making his way out of the room. While adjusting the file in his coat, his head slammed into something, or more like someone, making him jump back in retaliation.

"What're you doing here, Jack?" The person asked. Jack looked up to see who it was, because the voice clearly didn't match Felix. It was American, somewhat baritone.

And thank fucking god it wasn't Mark. But at this point, Jack kinda hoped it was.

"How do you know my name, Wade?" Jack snapped at him, feeling his defenses slowly build their way up.

"How could I not?" He said, completely unfazed from Jack's attitude towards him. "Anywho, what are you doing here?"

"Looking. Searching. Finding answers. Now get out of my way." Jack attempted to shove past the much larger, and taller, man.

"Funny you say that, because so am I," Wade said, "maybe we can help each other." He proposed.

"If you tell me what you know about Mark, I'll tell you everything I know about him. Deal?" He reached out his hand for Jack to shake on it.

And Jack made his move.

a/n: thanks so much for almost 3k reads and 100 votes! my mind is blown that you guys have helped this story grow so much! i love all the constant support, comments, and votes you lovelies leave! i couldn't be more thankful. btw im completely obsessed with quantum break at the moment, and ive watched jack and felix play it three times already. highly recommended, shawn ashmore is a gift. and again, thanks so much! love you all!