Trust Your Instincts

-60- The Whole Truth

 Jack was ready to turn on his heel and bail as he stood on the front porch of Ken's reasonably sized suburban house, one hand balled into a fist and ready to make contact with the wooden door, and the other clutching Mark's a little too tightly for comfort. 

 Jack was the one who suggested this, but upon reflection, the idea seemed to be much more appealing than the real thing. He was visibly shaking, but either Mark didn't realise, or he knew that there was nothing more he could say to calm him down.

 Maybe if he just turned around and told Mark to let it slide for another day. He hadn't really prepared any speeches, nor had he considered the effect that each thing he might say could have on Ken and Felix. In his naivety, he had assumed he'd be able to deliver the news unprepared. He thought he could just let the words flow and everything would be fine, but there was no way the words would possibly flow, and he knew that now, standing out on the porch.

 It felt like he was about to deliver a presentation on a topic he had never even researched before. His mouth was dry and he just wanted to go home and fake sickness.

 Could he do that?

 Mark would understand. Heck, he didn't wanna do this in the first place, so he'd be more than happy to drop this and either go home or treat it as a normal night at Ken's. Right?

 "Maybe we shouldn't do this right now." Jack murmured, his eyes not daring to make contact with Mark's, because there was no doubt that his expression would be a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

 Mark chuckled humourlessly, before bringing his own knuckles up to rap them on the wooden door a few times, his eyes also refusing to make contact with his boyfriend's.

 "You were the one who wanted to do this in the first place," he chided, a hint of disbelief in his deep voice as they waited for someone to answer the door. "You managed to convince me that it was the right thing to do, so I'm sorry babe, but there's no turning back now."

 Mark looked over to Jack, not sure whether to laugh or be concerned when he saw the colour drain from his already pale face. Jack stood up straight though, a twinkle of determination showing in his eyes as he nodded tensely.

 Good. He's back on board, or at least most of him is.

 As long as we support each other, we can do this. Mark thought to himself, chewing on his bottom lip as he saw the handle turn and the door open a fraction. He restored his confident smirk.

 The left side of a man's face appeared in the crack of the door, his seemingly worried eye assessing the two boys before he sighed audibly in relief and closed the door so that he could unlatch the chain which was keeping it from opening fully.

 He opened the door wide this time, revealing the other half of his face and his police uniform. He was smiling widely now, any anxiety that he had previously held fleeing his features as he extended a hand in the general direction of Mark and Jack.

 "It's nice to see you again Mark." the man said in a deep voice as he shook his hand, obviously recalling the few times that Mark had bothered to pay Ken a visit. Jack felt a sliver of remorse travel up his spine. He had been Ken's friend for a few months now and he hadn't even been to his house before. Talk about being a bad friend. The man didn't seem to catch on to his uneasiness when his gaze flitted to Jack though, as he moved on to shake his hand with just as much vigour.

 "And you must be Jack?" he asked as he raised his eyebrow. "Ken's told me a lot about you, but I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you until now. My name's Archie, I'm Ken's dad."

 Jack shook his hand as firmly as he possibly could, stuttering out a faint greeting as Archie took a step to the side to let them into the house. He was never really that skilled when it came to meeting his friends' parents, mainly due to the fact that he never really had any friends back home to practice the skill on.