Closer Then Friends

Chapter 3 - Pax

Jack sets down his luggage in his hotel room. Adrenaline is coursing through his veins, in anticipation of the events to happen tomorrow, Pax, and hanging out with Mark. He smiles to himself at the thought but the troublesome blush creeps on to his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, again. He cusses under his breath and decides to take a walk around said hotel to clear his mind.

Hours had passed since he was last in his room, and he is sitting in the main lobby now, and pulls out his cellphone. He dials up Felix's number, hoping to have some company to rid of the troublesome thoughts. As he sits and lets the phone ring, there is a sound of footsteps coming up behind him, but he thinks little of it. They continue to approach him, and then hands grab upon his shoulders then slide down to his sides in a hug. Jack freezes for a moment, and stays still.

"Who ever ye are let go of me please." He says.

"Afraid that won't slide this time, Sean." The person says.

"Mark?"

"Yep, a surprise we stayed in the same hotel, and who ya calling?"

"Oh, nobody, we can talk if you'd like? Pax does after all start tomorrow morning, it is night though, I don't mind staying up late to have a nice talk here with you, my friend."

Mark nods in agreement, and Jack just blushes. The red haired man lets go of his friend and notices the blush on his face, he just waves dismissively and leads the way out the hotel.

"So, what do you think of it here? Even though this is where the last Pax was held." Mark asks, as he takes a sip of his drink.

"It's a little different then last time, I don't know why, it just is." Jack responds, looking down at his own cup, hiding another blush.

"Can you please elaborate more?"

"Well..."

"Yes?"

"It's because I have you for company, and before or other times it wasn't like this, it's nice to have like alone time with a friend without others around, like one on one."

This time it was Mark's turn to be tongue tied and blushing. He smiles over to Jack as the two finish their drinks, and make their way out to around town to bullshit before returning back to the hotel to sleep.

The next day

Jack wakes up in his bed and sits up, ruffling his already messy hair. He soon gets up in a stretch and grabs clean clothes from his suitcase and heads to the bathroom and showers. As he does so, a thought of last night came to mind, does Mark like me? Is that why he blushed and got tongue tied at what I said and admitted last night? He keeps that in the back of his mind as he showers.
After he climbs out, he gets dried and gets as far as putting his jeans on and hears a knock on the door, he pauses and then goes to see who it is. To his surprise, it's Felix. He opens the door and puts a shirt on and lets his other friend in.

"Hey there Felix, what brings you here this early?" Jack asks.

"You tried calling me last night and you tried calling me, so I tried calling back since I missed, I thought something was up." The Sweed replies.

"Nah, everything's chill, sorry to make you worry, I was just going to ask if you wanted to hang out is all, but Mark showed up."

"Wait, Mark is here in the same hotel? You two booked the same place and aren't sharing a room?!" Felix joked, of course.

Jack says these words, in a stiff manner, "Septiplier is dead bro, we can't share a room haha."

"If that helps you sleep at night, then continue telling yourself that."

With that, Felix pats his friend's shoulder and turns to leave a flustered and confused Sean. He shrugs and makes his way down to the main floor with panels and all alike. Meet ups and so many more for the fans to indulge in. It still had a few hours for youtubers to set up their meet and greets of course because there was a lot, to name a few there were Mark, Felix, Wade, Bob, and Jack himself. He meanders to his set up, where some people are helping and he apologizes for being late to help get things up.

During the event of meet and greet

Jack awaits his fans to come and meet him and the others who enjoy his content. As the clock's hands travel around its surface, soon comes time that people are let in. The noise of the crowds were a dull tin that grew into a crescendo of loudness. His nerves get to him in growing anxiety, but he spots Mark not too far off, and the sight of him helps calm the growing nerves. At that, Jack let out a semi relaxed sigh and let the people file into his area. He went to get one last glance at Mark, but the sea of people obscured his vision.

"Hey Sean, I mean if I can call you by actual name.." a young girl says, flustered and shy.

"No no, it's ok, so, you excited bout Pax?" Jack asks.

"Oh yes, I am! I'm excited to see you and Mark and Felix."

"That's nice to hear, so what can I do for you?"

"May I..have an autograph and a selfie with you?"

"Certainly!"

Jack poses for a picture or two then the selfie with the girl and autographs her shirt she is wearing as well. More and more people filed in, and hours past, and it soon grew hot with all the people in one area. He looks at the line of people and feels bad once he puts up the "I'll be right back" sign for a break.

He walks back behind the thing and out into another hallway and out a door for fresh air. The cool air hits his face as he walks out and he relaxes his muscles. I need to keep my head, why are the feelings of liking Mark more than a friend happening? It's not natural and I'm not gay or bi, so why? His mind races with those questions. He takes a seat against a wall to let the reeling thoughts subside, but they don't. His cheeks heat up in a blush and he buries his face into his knees as he pulls his knees to his chest. He lets out a low groan that's agonized yet confused. Some people walk by, oblivious to the person down against the wall is Jacksepticeye and continue on their way.

I can't just sit here and avoid Mark because I have fans I can't disappoint. I have to deal with it and make them happy, I have to push aside my issue for now and just not look at Mark or in his direction. With his mind set, he gets up and goes back in to finish the meet and greet of Pax.

Hours later

"Man, that was tiring but fun!" Mark says, looking to Jack.

"Yeah..it was." Jack replied.

"So, are we ready to go bullshit and pull an all nighter?"

Jack is silent for a moment, lost in thought then says, in a distracted manner, "sure, lets go to my room."

They to get to the room and Jack takes a seat on his bed, moving the suitcase to the floor and makes room for Mark to sit down as well. Once again, he gets into thought and doesn't hear his friend's question until a prodding finger pokes him in the ribs.

"Hm?" Jack says.

"What's on your mind?" Mark asks in concern.

"Oh..nothing of importance."

"It's ok, we can talk about it, you know you can trust me Jack."

"Mark I...I think..."

"Yes?"

"I think I..." Jack starts then trails off.

Mark rests a gentle yet reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. Jack looks up into his eyes, and Mark smiles in response, the two sit in a silence for a few minuets. Jack tries to work up the courage to voice his thoughts and feelings, but something is holding him back.