Resist

24

I may have been laying in a bed and I may have been tired but somehow I could not sleep that night. Part of it was the excitement of having Jack reach the revelation he had, another part was the fact that we were curled up together, but the third, and worst bit, was my worry. I had made Jack consciously realize that he hadn't closed himself off and now he was going to make an effort to not be the unfeeling person he had tried to be before. It all sounded amazing in theory, everyone should be open to their feelings and know where their heart lay, but what if he was right? We were living in a world were time with others could not be taken for granted and people dying unexpectedly was commonplace. Especially being in The Recovery, danger could happen at any time. Xavier would figure out that there was resistance eventually and then he would take action. Whether or not we would be ready at that point was the problem and suddenly that prospect seemed much more daunting having had Jack open up. I watched him as he lay sleeping beside me, his face calm and relaxed, and understood why he had attempted to shut down that part of his human; I couldn't imagine how much it would hurt to lose him even after knowing him only for my time in The Recovery.

At some point, sleep must have overtaken my worrying mind and when the night found the day, Jack and I were sprawled across the bed, a mess of tangled limbs and sheets.

A bang on the door startled me into wakefulness. Jack sat bolt upright next to me, almost hitting his head on the oil lamp that was beside the bed.

"Are you sure it's this room?" someone yelled in the hall.

A muffled voice answered them. "I'm pretty sure that's where they went last night."

I groaned, rubbing my eyes as Jack made a similar noise. The knock sounded again, but louder this time.

"You guys in there?" The voice was female, so the knocker was either Sicily or Nessa.

"No," Jack yelled back, letting himself fall back to the mattress and bury his face in a pillow.

"Well good thing there's no locks on any doors here then," Sicily said. She was now inside the room and standing at the foot of the bed, the wooden door no longer distorting the sound of her voice.

"Sicily," I groaned, copying Jack and falling back onto the mattress. I couldn't see Jack's face around the pillow but I saw his cheek pull up as he smiled.

"You both need to get down to breakfast, we can't be late two days in a row. And I need you two to spill and tell me what has been going on here." She pointed her index and middle finger at us, wiggling them slightly to put emphasis on our need to explain.

Jack sighed beside me as she left, leaving the door open behind her. "Now comes the time when I look like an ass to everyone else," Jack said, his voice muffled by the pillow still below his face.

"Can you even breathe right now?" I asked him skeptically.

"Barely," he admitted. I pulled the pillow out from under him and tossed it off the bed. Then I swung my legs off the bed and got up myself.

"Come on," I coaxed Jack, grabbing one of his ankles and pretending to try and pull him off the mattress. It seemed strange to be playful with him like this but at the same time it felt so right. I wanted to be silly with him like this before but it felt out of place then due to how he had acted. Now, I had confirmation that us being together was something he desired.

A sudden thought struck me. "Jack?" I asked, making sure he was paying attention.

"Yes?" his groggy morning voice answered me.

Maybe this wasn't the best time for serious questions but I plunged on anyways. "Why did you hide that we were sort of together before? Because now you're fine with the others seeing us."