Symphonies; Septiplier

2.7

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Jack: Thursday, 1 February
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I had been keeping up this charade for a long time, to the point where I didn't mind following Felix around. He was.. different now.

He treated me better, never asked me to do something that was difficult, never asked anything outlandish. He was very kind to me.

Cry said this facade should have only lasted a few weeks tops, but it has been several months since Mark had fired me.

He hadn't approached me once, but when I brought things to Felix's locker in the morning or when I was at my family's home, he stared at me with no attempt to be subtle.

I saw him almost every day and it brought me a great deal of despair to look at him. He was still wearing those braces. He was dirty, he was tired.

And I know deep down, he wanted me. He needed me.

He just wouldn't admit it.

Because that's all it would take. For him to say the work and I would show up, smile, and help him every way I could.

That was all it took.

I sat in Cry's house after I had brought Felix home, and he was channel surfing. Ignoring everything that was going on.

"Your plan is taking a long time." I reminded him.

"Soon." Cry said. At first he talked about "the turn of the year" but since it has just been, 'soon.' Soon Sean, soon.

"That's what you keep saying."

"Give it at least another week." Cry said. "You seem pretty content in life, anyways."

"It does feel like something is missing though."

Cry turned his head to me, and opened his arms up. Cry let me cuddle with him as often as I liked, he wasn't gay or anything so we didn't do anything else - not that I wanted to - but he was constantly willing to cuddle up to me.

So I did, I leaned into him and rested my head on his chest. I took a deep breath and tried to relax, he was always so nonchalant and careless about everything.

I remember when Cry suggested this plan to me that I would work for Felix, I was apprehensive of course. I had no reason to be anything but, Cry wasn't having it though. He immediately forced me into it and when he told Felix the extent of his control and limitations, Felix complied to Cry immediately. As if he owed him something. Maybe it was a family thing, after all, Cry's grandparents were among the most influential families in the area.

Maybe a political thing?

I doubted it for a while too, and then when I started working with Felix, he didn't mention Mark, he didn't mention anything sexual between the two of us, he didn't do any of that.

Maybe that's why people left Cry alone, he had all this power, and if you didn't want to suffer his wrath you should leave him to his desires. But since this whole thing began, it continuously shocked me how tame Felix was.

What also shocked me was no matter how many times Mark saw me, he would spend all the time in the world looking at me, but would never actually say a word to me.

"I don't know if this is working," I told Cry. "Mark doesn't look like he wants to try."

"And what if he doesn't? You'll be back in a week anyways."

"Why do you keep saying that?" I asked as I sat up. "You tell me over and over, that I'll be back, what do you know that I don't? What is it you're not telling me?"

Cry opened his mouth to answer, and when he did the doorbell rang through the house. Cry held up a finger to me and went to the door. He brought back someone I hadn't seen in a long time.

"Hey Jack."

I turned my head and went wide eyed at the sight of Ken, a bystander through and through. "Hi." I responded.

"So.." Cry said. "Ken had something he wanted to say."

"You've gotta see this." Ken said. Cry and I followed him outside and without a word got into his car. He drove not very far, but we were outside Felix's house, and standing in the road was Mark and Felix, looking like anything could go wrong in any moment.

I got out of the car as did the both of them, and then noticed the knife behind Mark's back.

"Mark!" I shouted. "Mark, no!"

He turned to me and went wide eyed to see me running towards him. I stood between the two and put one hand on Felix's chest and the other on Mark's.

"Jack?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, it's me." I answered. "Who else would it be?"

Mark didn't say anything. "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here is the better question; you live like three blocks away." I answered.

"I.." Mark trailed off, he didn't have anything to say. I turned away from Felix all the way, and turned to Mark.

"Give it to me." I answered.

Mark looked me up and down before sighing and dropping the sharp knife into my open hand. I Let out a sigh and dropped it onto the ground. "What are you doing here? What did you expect to achieve by killing Felix?"

"Because then you'd have to come back."

"You'd be in jail, idiot. Besides, that wouldn't get me terminated." I said. "What were you thinking, Mark?"

He looked down at his hands like he was going to start crying.

Felix backed away from us, but the rest of the audience was staring.

"Mark, you need to go home." I sighed.

"Come with me." He responded.

"No."

"You can have your job back."

"..No."

"What? You don't want to?" Mark asked.

Cry had told me when this whole debacle began to never give in without an apology. He said that should come first, not Mark's own selfish desires to have me back. It should be the concept that he wants me to return because he wants to see me happy, or something like that.

"It's not that." I said. "I don't know what else to tell you Mark."

I watched as anger took over his features in the blink of an eye and he pulled his hand back as if he was going to punch me, I flinched at first but the blow never came. I looked up and he was still standing as if he was going to, but tears were rolling down his face. I felt his arms envelop me, and him cry on my shoulder.

But I made no effort.

I turned my head to Cry who was standing there shaking his head in disapproval of Mark.

"Get off him, you lowly bastard." Cry sighed as he walked forward. Mark looked up at Cry and moved away from me. "Jack go stand over there for a moment."

I walked back to where Ken was and watched Cry talk to Mark, but I had no idea what they were saying. I was left in the unknown.

AN:

I know it seems complicated now, don't worry - it'll work out.

Rinny