under my wing (septiplier fluff)

[5] Days Passed

The next few days in the hospital were a little repetitive. They consisted of the same thing over and over again - Waking up, having breakfast, visiting Jack, having lunch with Jack, walking around the streets for some fresh air, then heading back to visit Jack one more time before dinner and sleep. Mark found that whenever he went outside for a walk he never went too far away from the hospital. There was always something inside of him warning him not to stray too far in case anything happened to Jack.

After the nightmare he'd had on the first night, and Jack calming down almost immediately after he'd walked into the room, he'd kind of grown to the reality that he needed to be there for Jack. Even Jack's personal doctors and the nurses had come to realise that. Mark was starting to guess that this was the reason why they were so cool with him visiting Jack so often - Mark acted as a sort of safety figure to Jack, which was understandable considering that Jack's only memories right now included Mark in every single one of them except for the first.

On one particular morning, Mark had just finished off the remaining bits of his breakfast of eggs and mashed potatoes hungrily. He licked his lips and set his plate down before slipping on one of the slightly-too-small t-shirts that the hospital had provided him with. He then left his room and began to make his way down to Jack's room down the hallway.

"Hi rooster-hair!" Jack greeted him cheerfully as Mark stepped into the room, clearly going through one of his good moods. He had his breakfast tray set to the side with a few crumbs still remaining on it from his own breakfast. The weather forecast was playing on the TV in front of him. Mark wished he had a TV in his room.

Mark raised an eyebrow in his direction as he closed the door behind him "Are you ever going to stop calling me that?"
"Do I have to stop?"
"I mean, it'd be nice if you could."
"But what's wrong with it?"
Mark shook his head with amusement. "Well, how do you feel about me calling you pineapple or peepo ring?"
"It sounds ridiculous." Jack admitted, screwing up his face.
"Exactly."
"..Just like yer hair."

Mark playfully hit Jack's knee and Jack burst out laughing on instinct. "Ok, fine, it's only a little bit ridiculous!"

Mark gave a smug look. "That's more like it. Now, let's see if there is anything interesting on the TV." He reached for the remote that was sitting on the bedside table and began to flick through the channels. There was a limited amount of channels on it and to his dismay, there was nothing that caught his interest on any of them. There were news channels, a couple of comedy shows here and there..

"Wait, stop! I like this one!" Jack suddenly said, tapping Mark's shoulder to get him to stop channel surfing.
Mark placed the remote down and took a few moments to watch the channel Jack had told him to stop on. He shook his head and looked over to him. "Jack, this is the kids channel."
"But look! They're about t' sing!"
"Jack. Kids channel."
"C'mon, it looks funny."

Mark sighed and gave in, deciding to watch the show that Jack insisted on watching. He recognised this show.. It'd been one of the many shows that'd made up his early teenager-hood. Jack had probably watched it in his teenager-hood as well but unfortunately for him, he wouldn't remember it.

It didn't take too long for Jack to start singing along with the characters, and before Mark knew it, he was singing along as well. The song was really upbeat and happy - A good mood lifter for the two of them. They even discovered a way to rewind the episode so they could listen to the song over and over again.

"Now look at this net, that I just found! When I say go, be ready to throw.." Jack was mumbling.
Mark watched the tragedy onscreen ensue. The four men wearing striped suits, three of which were following the leader's instructions, tossed the net onto the leader instead of the blue man who ran past them.
"Throw it at him, not me!" Mark couldn't help but to sing, doing his best impression of the frustrated man onscreen.

That day in particular was one of Jack's 'good days.' Since his mood swings were still something that existed, there were always days that weren't as cheerful.

"But why did they have to do that to me?" Jack would groan as Mark ate his lunch on the seat nearby, listening to the same complaints that he'd heard at least fifty times now. "I wasn't hurtin' nobody.."
"There are just a lot of bad people out there these days." Mark would remind him with a forkful of beef and peas in his mouth.
"But why? Why can't people just treat others with respect? What's the point of being a criminal?"
"I don't know, Jack."

There would be a long moment of silence as the two boys ate their lunch in thought. The TV would fill the room's atmosphere with quiet chattering from whatever was playing. Then Jack would say something that made Mark feel somewhat purposeful every time he heard him say it.

"I wish there were more people like you in the world, Mark."

Mark would often smile in return and give him a friendly pat on the shoulder, to which Jack would flinch away from due to his edgy mood.

There was a certain wish that Mark lived by, something that he often reminded himself of, and something that he recently become accustomed to share with Jack as well whenever he was feeling down. "I just want to live in a world where every person gives far more than they take." He liked this wish for many reasons, but mostly because it acted as a self reminder for him to do as much good as possible. In this case, he'd done a lot of good just by helping and staying by Jack's side. In fact, he was proud himself. This wasn't something he did willingly everyday.

Something else that Mark was beginning to realise was that his regret for coming with Jack to the hospital was slowly fading away as the days passed. Gratefulness was beginning to take the regret's place. He liked Jack, and as far as he was concerned, Jack liked him too. Spending time with him was something he enjoyed, regardless of the Irish boy's mood.

He was Jack's friend - His only friend - and he had to be there for him, especially through the rough patch that was his recovery stages. There was only one thing that still worried Mark.

What was going to happen to Jack once the results came through?

/ so i have school starting up again next week and because of that i have no idea when the next update will be.. i'll do my best, though. i'm happy that you guys are liking it so far! ^-^

hope you enjoyed!! ciao <3