I can love a block of wood (septiplier nutcracker AU)

Chapter 25

AN: Guys, I reached 1k views, oh my god... It's not even Christmas!

Mark peeked out of his spot once Jack left with his sister. He sighed in relief and leaned against the wall. Jack came back and closed the door behind him.

"That was close." He whispered, getting a nod in response from the prince. "What did you do while I was gone that made her come in here?"

"Why are you assuming I did something?" Mark was smiling a bit, having said that in a light mood. Jack, however, was not smiling.

"Because she wouldn't come in here for no reason." Mark sighed a bit.

"I sat on your bed waiting for you to come back. I didn't talk or knock anything over." Jack noticed mark sounded a bit deflated by his tone and felt bad. 

"She must have heard us talking then, or didn't really leave after the bang." Jack sat down on the bed, then leaned back laying down. Mark joined him on the bed but didn't lay down. "Sorry if I seem to be down."

"You're fine. You have things on your mind." Jack gave him a look. "Hey, I'm giving you an excuse to work with." They both laughed a little bit at that.

"What do you plan on doing all this time? Just sit here with me?" Mark shrugged a bit with a half smile.

"Well, yeah. kind of. There isn't much else I can do." They both chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, I guess your right." Jack finally seemed to be in a bit of a better mood. "I don't really know what to do now myself. Usually, I would go out back to the garden or visit Amanda, the cook here but I can't do either."

"And why is that?"

"Amanda isn't here and I don't know where the key to the garden doors are."

"You have a key for it?"

"Mum says it's a safety measure. It's not that hard to slip into the garden from the back."

"Then why don't we?"

"Because I know better than that. Don't you try to be a bad influence on me." They laughed a little bit before looking at each other for a moment before jack remembered something. "There should be cards down in the living room, I can go get them."

"Go ahead. I will just sit here, silent. waiting." Jack laughed a bit as he stood up.

"I'll be right back." Mark watched him leave with a soft smile. Instead of just sitting this time, he got up and roamed around the room.

Jack looked around the kitchen for the deck of cards but couldn't seem to find them anywhere. He checked in the cupboards and cabinets, under things, on things, between things. He checked twice more but could not find them in the kitchen. He frowned and decided to check in the living room. He walked through the halls but paused before he entered the living room. It made him wonder, now that mark was awake what would happen when he walked into the room? Would it grow bigger like it usually does or will it stay the same since he is alone? Jack looked up the stairs for a moment in thought before he took a step inside. Nothing changed 'so maybe', Jack thought, 'it would only change if I was with one of the toys.' He went to the cabinet that the toys were in and opened the doors. He looked at each shelf, finding the cards on the top.

"So someone DID use them." He said out loud to himself. Turning the deck of cards in his hand, he examined them. They were custom made from a few years back for the older brothers to share. Jack went through the pile looking at each card. They had princes on each of them, but they weren't just red and black. There were also green and blue cards. Jack always thought that the blue cards were strange but never really cared it much. As he gazed at the cards, not seeing two cards fall until a few moments later. The king and jack in blue. Jack frowned a bit as he bent down and picked them up, observing them in his hands. The way the cards were painted made them look like they were staring at him. The king had a pendant hanging around his neck with pearls and sapphires. A trail of shimmering fog circled around him as if to look like he was doing some magic. The Jack looked like a plague doctor, his hair covered with a blue hood framing the black mask. The rest of his clothes was white as if to try and symbolize some sort of purity. Jack shuffled them into the deck and walked back up to his room as silently as he could. Mark was looking out the window when he came back. He smiled when he looked back at the smaller man and went to sit on his bed.

"Have you played Capture the Commander?" Mark gave a look that showed that 1. he had never played it before and 2. he did not like the sound of that game. "Ok, I will take that as a no to Capture the Commander. How about Rummy?" he shook his head. "Old maid?"

"Yes, that I do know how to play." Jack smiled and took a queen from the pile and shuffled the cards. They played a total of 3 rounds of old maid. Jack won 2 out of 3 which made him feel very proud of himself. Mark shuffled the cards one last time as he watched Jack stretch and lay across his bed. The wooden man put the cards back in their box and put it back, laying them on the nightstand beside him. "Well, that was fun."

"Yeah, it was. I whooped your butt."

"And that was why it was fun?"

"Absolutely." They both chuckled for a moment before it went quiet.