Trust Your Instincts

-55- Tell Him I Understand

The whole day at school was filled with an inescapable tension that even Felix's witty humour struggled to break, Jack being worried about how he'd fare without his trusty steel cuffs, Mark on edge about what he'd have to do to impress Minx enough for her not to kill him, and Isaac wracking his brains on what the street name could possibly be referring to.

Maybe that's where Jack and Mark would meet before the full moon, but that sounded ludicrous if they'd just be going right back to Jack's afterwards, why not just go straight to Jack's in the first place?

Isaac was curious, perhaps a little too curious for his own good sometimes. He decided that he was going to be there, just on the off chance that Mark was in trouble.

Felix and Ken continued to fruitlessly try to fill the void of awkward silence and tension, unaware of what the other three knew about each other. It wasn't fair, if you ask Felix, but Ken wasn't too bothered.

Jack tightened his grip on Mark's hand that was rested on top of the table, not caring if anyone saw the sign of affection and took it to be an indicator of worry or unease. Of course he was uneasy, the was gonna be one of the first times he'd be so lightly restrained, and it was all to be in the presence of someone he loved. Mark gave him the confidence to go through with it though.

Mark squeezed back gently, trying his best to push the thought from his mind that this might be one of the last forms of physical interaction that he could share with Jack. Mark had no idea of Minx's intentions, but he knew just how intelligent she was, and if Mark was dead weight, he'd be either dropped from the pack altogether or killed. The first option seemed to be a blessing. The second... not so much.

The last two classes of the day went by just as slowly as the first four, Jack was eager to get home with Mark and organise themselves while Mark was jittery and constantly on edge that Minx would try to contact him again, but she never did. The conversation ended when she allowed her presence to be removed from Mark's mind. All that there was left to do until the end of the day was suffer.

---

Mark responded to Jack's uneasy wave with one just as nervous, his small smile becoming more and more of an effort to maintain as he walked to the front of the school grounds to meet with his group of friends.

"You ready?" Jack asked his boyfriend tentatively, leaning in to give him a supportive kiss on the cheek after noticing how pale and troubled he looked. Mark's eyes travelled from Jack's to the rest of the group, Isaac and Ken deep in a conversation that Felix was desperately trying to become involved in. Dread was washing over him as he weighed his options, but he couldn't allow Jack to become involved in whatever was going to happen that night.

There was no way.

He had been protected by this perfect angelic human being too many times to count now. He had experienced love that he never imagined possible in such a small space of time, and the only thing that seemed to matter at this point was protecting the man who had made all of that possible, no matter what.

He gritted his teeth as he made a final decision. Jack will understand.

"I... I just need to head home first. I wanna see my dad before the full moon, just... just incase." Mark managed to push out, his voice frail and hollow as he forced the tears back into his eye sockets.

Jack nodded sympathetically, taking his hand firmly in his own and standing with his head up. "Let's go then." he said happily, trying to assure Mark with his body language that everything was going to be fine.

Mark shook his head weakly. "No. No I... I wanna speak to him myself, I'll get some stuff come over straight after. I pr-promise." That last word hurt more than he could've imagined. He promised something that he knew he was going to break, something he had planned to break since the start of the school day when Minx had spoke to him. "I promise." he repeated, stronger this time after noticing Jack's unsure expression.