Learning to Love Without You (Nateiplier/Septiplier AU)

March 4, 2018

The date with Jack had been wonderful, and they had been steadily texting each other every day. Usually it was just a small "hello" or "how was your day?" but as the week continued the conversations got longer. By the time a week or so had gone by, the two men were chatting about everything from their days at work and little bits about their family.

Jack's way of being makes it very easy to talk to him, and Mark is getting more used to having a friendly person on the other end of the phone. It didn't matter what time of the day it was, or the mood that he was in at all. Jack was always sweet, kind and understanding. You couldn't find that of person just anywhere, and Mark knew it.

The day Mark got home today has been a long one. It's not like he hates his job in telesales with a passion. He has always been great on the phone and chatting with people. There are days like today though where all he had was angry people hanging up the phone before he could get even a few words in at all. It's the nature of the business, Nate would always say.

Mark throws off his coat onto the side of the couch with very little fanfare, with the only desire in his heart to get himself into a hot shower and into bed early. He barely cares that it isn't even dark outside or that his stomach is growling. Just a quick goodnight text to Jack and he will definitely be calling it a day.

He flicks the bathroom light on and takes a few steps over to turn on the shower. It's when his exhausted brown eyes glance up at the bathroom mirror that he sees a much more familiar pair of brown eyes looking back at him.

"Holy shit," he yelps, jumping back at Nate's reflection.

Nate looks as handsome as ever, in a dark pair of blue jeans this time along with a black t shirt. His lips are curved into a toothy smile and he leans on the back wall of his own version of their bathroom.

"Hey babe," he says much more casually than should be allowed. "Just checking up on you. See you and Jack are really hitting it off."

The entire situation is off putting to say the least and discussing his new love life with his dead husband isn't the way that Mark has planned to spend tonight. His heart is conflicted at see Nate again. Part of him wants to break him out of the mirror and hug him forever while the other part of him knows that this has to be him losing his mind. Nate is dead, and has been dead for a long time, but he has never looked as amazing as he does right now.

"Tough day at work," he asks, still looking at Mark like this was a perfectly normal conversation. The type that they would have so many years ago.

"Yes," Mark answers back, trying to figure out if it was okay to still get ready for his shower. This was Nate after all, and he had seen him naked thousands of times, but still...

"You really should get out of telesales babe," Nate suggests, standing up and walking closer to the front of the mirror. "You told me tons of times that job was eating away at your soul."

Mark chuckles at that. Nate was right. He had said that pretty much every night when he got home and crawled onto the couch to watch television with the other man. He would rest his head on Nate's lap and sigh as the slender fingers would rub lazy circles onto his back as the relaxed together.

"It's not as simple as that," Mark replies, glancing up at the reflection. "Things kind of went sideways once you..."

"Died," Nate finishes, without a hint of annoyance. "It's no secret that I'm dead babe. You don't have to treat me like I'm Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense. I'm fairly well come to terms that I'm dead."

"Spoilers," Mark laughs in spite of the morbid way the conversation has gone, and the other man smirks.

"How was your date with Jack?"

"It...was nice. Really nice."

Nate smiles warmly, and it helps the other man feel less anxious.

"Good," he continues. "I'm glad that you both are doing well so far. I'm sorry that I startled you before. Sometimes I don't get much warning for when I'm able to see you."

Mark nods again, and they stand there for what seems like an incredibly long time. It's only when Nate glances back at something that only he seems to be able to see that Mark already knows that it's time for him to get going.

"Will I see you again?" he asks.

"Do you want to?"

The question is loaded with so many additional things that Mark wants to say, but he has no idea how to start. He settles with a simple nod and Nate smiles again.

"Then sure, I'll come back as soon as I can. In the meantime, make sure to call Jack and say yes to his go cart date. You'll have a lot of fun."

"How do you know that Jack is - " Mark begins to ask, but Nate has already waved his hand and is gone.