laverly high (septiplier fluff)

[12] Secrets and Lies [Part 2]

About an hour later everyone was back in their rooms. Sean was back in Mark's room since his door still hadn't been fixed. With all the behind-the-scenes action in this place he'd kind of expected someone to come along and fix his lock while they were at dinner, but no. The workers here must have had better things to do.

Sean sat on the edge of Mark's bed and traced circles on the carpetted floor with his foot while he waited for Mark to finish getting dressed into some sleeping clothes in the bathroom. He had just had a quick shower while Sean had waited patiently for his turn. The one thing Sean was relieved about was that he at least had his travel bag with him. He'd fortunately brought it along to the mechanics room just before his lock had gotten jammed. How embarrassing would it have been if he had to wear Mark's clothes for the night?

"Alright, I'm done," Came an echoey call from the bathroom that was followed by the sounds of a door unlocking. The door opened and Mark stepped out of the room with one hand drying his blood-red hair with a towel.

Sean couldn't help snorting when he saw the colour of the once-white towel in Mark's hand. "Mark, your towel looks like a murder scene."
He watched with amusement as Mark stopped drying his hair to look at his towel. He gave it a funny look before throwing it at Sean. It landed directly on his face.

"Pfft, Mark!!" Sean spluttered, throwing the towel to the side.
Mark only laughed light-heartedly. "The evidence is in your hands, now."
"Correction - It's on my face."
Mark playfully made some fingers guns at Sean. "Hands up, you've been caught red-faced!"
Sean rolled his eyes. "I'm getting arrested by a rooster now, am I?"

Mark turned around and looked at his reflection in the mirror momentarily. His hair was spiked up in all different directions. He was indeed a very close replicate of a rooster.

"It seems you are," He observed. "But this rooster is arresting a... Uh, what's that nickname Felix calls you because of your hair?"
Technically Sean was able to answer with either 'Jack' or 'deodarant boy,' but he knew which answer it was that Mark wanted. "Deodorant boy." He groaned.
"That's right! I'm a rooster arresting a deodorant boy."
Sean looked amused but unimpressed. "Let's never have this conversation again." He snickered.

"Deal." Mark agreed. "Anyway, are you going to head into the shower now?"
Sean nodded. "Yep, I'll be over in a sec." He scooped up his folded pajamas from Mark's bed top and began to make his way over to the bathroom. When he stepped inside he closed the door slightly and began to take his shirt off in front of the mirror.

But in the mirror he caught a glance of Mark sitting on the bed, awkwardly trying not to make eye contact with him through the part of the door that was still open. Oddly enough, he found his innocence kind of cute. He could've sworn there was a bit of blushing in his cheeks too. He decided to close the door the whole way while he finished getting ready for his shower.

---

Around 1 AM Sean was fast asleep on the sofa but he was suddenly awoken by a pair of hands shaking him violently. At first, a wave of irritation went through him as he was brought back to the moment when Felix and Ethan had shaken him awake around midday yesterday. But then he was greeted with a fresh wave of fear, along with the idea that he was being kidnapped.

He screeched and began to thrash around on the sofa, almost falling off of it completely. He kicked the blanket Mark had given him for the night right off and sat straight up, looking at his attacker.

It was Mark.

"What the actual fook are you doing, Mark? It's like midnight... And you gave me a heart attack!" Sean snapped loudly. He didn't care if he was disturbing Mark's neighbours. Ethan was likely to come in any moment, complaining about the noise again.

"Jack! I've got it! I know where to find it!" Mark exclaimed. His facial expression looked wild, but he had bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept the entire night.
Sean shoved Mark's hands off of him. "Honestly, have you lost your mind? What are you going on about?" He grumbled a little more quietly, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
"Okay, so you know how we went to the room and we blew it up and stuff but we lied about it at dinner but we have to go back becau-" Mark was blabbering on.

Sean impatiently placed one hand over his mouth to shut him up."Mark, I don't know what's suddenly gotten into you, but slow down and start from the start."

Mark then paused like he'd suddenly caught up with reality. Sean saw the excitement in his eyes tame to a steady level. There was a hint of guilt in there. Heh, no wonder he was guilty. Sean had actually been having a pretty good sleep before Mark had woken him.

"Oh... Okay, sorry, um..." Mark readjusted himself and sat down in the space on the couch that was next to Sean's legs. He sounded very, very tired. "Ever since we settled down for the night I've been thinking about what happened today, and what Robert said about the badges and stuff."

Sean nodded to show that he was following with what he was saying."Are you saying you haven't slept at all since we went to bed?"He asked.
Mark stared downwards shamefully. "Uh, y-yeah... I've kind of been having some trouble sleeping." He admitted.
Sean frowned, and through the frustration he had for being woken up there was yet another sharp pang of sympathy.

"But anyway..." Mark continued. "While I thought about it I've been slowly trying to figure out where my badge might be. I even thought about where yours might be too!"
A soft smile slipped onto Sean's lips. That was oddly considerate of him, and he appreciated that.

"...We'll talk about yours later because I'm still not entirely sure if what I've come up with is right. But as for mine... I think I know where it is, somewhere in the mechanics room."

"Wait, the mechanics room?" Sean echoed, tilting his head to the side with confusion. Man, Mark really was tired. "But I thought you said your ability was rock-climbing..?"

"Mr. Charrette knows me better than that. Sure, I'm good at rock-climbing, but he knows I'm better at mechanical engineering anyday. When I was a kid him and my dad used t-"

Mark stopped.

Sean stared at him with his eyes wide. What in the actual hell was he talking about now? Had he gone mad? He was trying furiously to piece together what Mark was telling him, but somehow they'd ended up in a childhood story of his.

"Oh, f*ck." Mark breathed. His jaw was slowly falling.

"Mark? Mark!" Sean snapped. He grabbed his shoulder and gave him a sharp shake like he had at dinner. "What's wrong with you?" A feeling similar to the frustration he'd experienced at dinner was slowly bubbling up inside of him.

Mark stared at Sean without a word and Sean stared right back at him.
"Now I have to tell you, don't I?"
Sean was astonished by how choked up his words were. Was he about to cry again? It was the middle of the night, for Christ sake, Sean did not need this right now!
"Tell me what?" Sean growled a little to aggressively. He instantly regretted the harshness in his words.

Mark sighed. "Remember at lunch yesterday how I cried pathetically into your shoulder, and when you asked me what was wrong I said I'd tell you later?"
Sean nodded, squinting.
"Well, I never told you, and now I have to tell you."

There was a silence. Sean didn't snap back at him and Mark didn't continue. There was a thoughtfulness in Mark's eyes that gave Sean the impression that he was still figuring out whether he wanted to reveal his secret or not - Like he didn't know if he could trust him or not.

"Mark, I promise you can trust me with whatever you're going to say." Sean told him gently.
Mark's eyes shifted into a look that looked like he'd just had some permission granted, but there was still some time before he spoke again.

"Jack.."
"Yes?"
"Mr. Charrette is my uncle."

And with that came a stray tear that fell down his cheek. It landed on Sean's leg but he didn't flinch. His heart had stopped and his jaw had fallen wide open.

No. He couldn't be serious. Mark was nothing like that sh*thead. He was kind, generous and a great friend.

But as flashbacks from yesterday's events flooded his mind he was able to connect the dots. The stiffening that always happened whenever Mr. Charrette appeared, the uncertainty in his voice when he'd said his profession was rock-climbing at the start of the day. There was even a faint physical resemblance between the too. It must really be true.

"Does..." Sean was surprised by how hoarse his voice was now."Does anyone else know?"
Mark shook his head wordlessly. Another tear fell onto Sean's leg.
"I... Mark.."

That was when Sean did something which he hadn't expected himself to do. He shuffled over to Mark and looked at him for a long moment, just trying to read his emotions from his chocolate-brown gaze.

Sean then wrapped his arms around him into a comforting hug and rested his head on his shoulder. He wasn't surprised when Mark hugged him back.

/ after such a long wait for the last chapter i'm surprised i was able to get this one out so fast ^-^ buuuut anyway, i hope you enjoyed!!

i'm going to try and get the septiplier going a little quicker as the story progresses so we're not left hanging for too long xD i mean, 13 pages for the first day is a pretty big span if you ask me. should've been a week by now at least.

till next time /flips top hat/ ciao!