Felix's boy

Chapter seventeen

Marks POV

They let Jack out of the hospital the next day, giving him nothing but the advice to try and relax.

Felix constantly hangs on his heels as we walk out, raining Jack with questions about his wellbeing.

"Are you sure? You've been lying down for a while, do you feel light headed? Do you feel wobbly, or anything? Do you need to lean on my shoulder?"

"Felix, seriously, everything is perfectly fine. It was an overnight visit to the hospital, I'm doing okay," Jack assures him, laughing. He gives me a look, a tentative, shy look. He's been looking at me like that since he told me about his father. I don't like it. It makes me feel like he's afraid of me, and I never want to be anything but pleasant in Jacks mind.

"Hey, don't give me that look. I don't think of you any differently," I whisper gently, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and squeezing him close. Jack smiles at the ground, cuddling close to me.

We walk out to Felix's car. Felix orders Jack to sit in the front so he can be beside him. I laugh at the protectiveness. It's cute, however Felix is doing my job for me as the boyfriend.

He drives Jack back to his house and I get out, walking to the door with him.

"Now that we're away from Felix, how do you actually feel?" I ask as Jack unlocks the door. His aunt is at work, and I want to make sure he's okay before I leave.

Jack hesitates, sighing hard.

"That bad?"

"Just tired. Maybe a little nervous."

"Nervous?"

"I don't want you to see me like Felix does. I don't want to be... delicate. It's suffocating."

"Jack, you're incredibly strong. Delicate my ass. You ran away from your home and started a new life here. You made it out of an incredibly serious, abusive home, and you walk around like you own the world. And I was going to say you're incredible, but I've already said it twice this sentence and I don't want to sound like an idiot."

Jack laughs, rolling his eyes.

"You could never," he says, looking up at me with those perfect blue eyes.

"Do you want me to stay?"

"If you want to."

"That's not an answer," I tease. Jack inhales slowly, giving me a grin.

"Yes. I want you to stay."

...

We spend the afternoon watching movies on the couch. We watch silly Disney movies, making jokes so the sad parts aren't as sad anymore. It was Jacks suggestion. He said he didn't feel like being sad.

I smile down at him, wrapped in the circle of my arms. He's watching the movie with shining eyes, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"I've always wanted someone to look at me the way Flynn looks at Rapunzel," he muses.

I shake my head slowly. He's so cute, and the fact that he doesn't see how beautiful I think he is is crazy. The way he smiles at me, the way he talks, the way he laughs and jokes about anything. How he nervously braids his hair, and the pink in his cheeks when he's embarrassed.

"Mark, you're missing the best part!" Jack says, craning his neck up to look at me.

"Sorry," I reply, smiling and leaving a quick kiss on his nose. I look back at the television, where Flynn is dying on the tower floor. Jack cuddles in closer to me, and I can see a childish pout on his face. I make a quick decision and pull him into a tighter embrace.

"I hate his movie," he sadly jokes. I laugh.

"You love this movie."

"Yeah, you're right," he sighs. "I hate this part, though."

On screen, Rapunzel cries over Flynn. When her tear hits him, the magic that used to be in her hair begins to work, and he slowly comes back to life.

By the end of the movie, Jack is back to smiling at the screen.

"I love that movie," he hums.

"I know."