Under Pressure - Septiplier

Chapter Forty Five

Jack hustles into class, panting and disheveled, right as the bell rings. Mark doesn't notice, staring at the wall and nodding his head along to some tune only he could hear. Mark only focuses as the other begins to talk, tossing papers and pens onto the desk. Jarring from the floating, ethereal thoughts that wander through his mind when he zones out, the teenager focuses on Jack's chatter.

"Frickin' asshole spilled coffee right as my damn shift ended. Why today? Why the one week Amy can't do her morning shift? Everythings a disaster. Christ, Mark, I'm so sorry. I know we've got that long lab today. I'm a hot mess, man," Jack sputters out, hastily zipping up his bag and tossing it to the side. Mark watches the spectacle for a moment longer before reaching out and resting a hand on Jack's forearm as the other is stretching for the binder. Jack freezes like a kid caught digging in the candy jar, wide-eyed and sheepish.

Mark closes his eyes, tilts his head to the side, and smiles before patting Jack's forearm and pulling away. He turns to the papers and gathers them up, turning and making his way back to the lab tables, where all the other groups have started working. Jack is quiet, and he follows Mark with a dumbfounded expression, giddy and shocked still, all in one face.

Mark slides the lab paper to Jack, tapping the top paragraph as if to say "read it" before he focuses on gathering up the materials they need. While Mark would never dare run the lab by himself, he did prepare. With his random needs to block out sight, sound, or smell, it would not bode well to be in the middle of pouring acid into a container and start panicking when someone suddenly coughs. By the time he finishes gathering the necessary materials and tools, Jack finishes reading through the paper.

Jack takes Mark's silence in stride, as he has done with every other piece of work they've done together. He immediately takes control, and Mark hands him ingredients, jotting down important notes and observations as they work.

"So now we need iodine..." Jack hums, about halfway through the lab. Mark reaches to grab it before frowning. Shit, he'd missed that one. He straightens to go grab it, but Jack pats him on the shoulder and walks over to the chemical closet. Mark turns back to the paper, scribbling some more notes. He closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths, feeling the oxygen cleanse his system. He likes to imagine clean, fresh air sweeping into his lungs, slipping through alveoli, and purging his veins and blood vessels of the stress that builds up, clotting, and dangerous. Obviously, that's not how it works, but it helps keep him calm. He stands up again and turns to check on Jack, opening his eyes, only to turn and bump directly into Jack as the teen makes his way back.

"Shit," Jack curses as he stumbles from bumping shoulders with Mark, and almost in slow motion, the bottle tips and splatters all over Mark. The iodine immediately soaks into the fabric of Mark's shirt and pants. "Fuck! Umm... Mrs.-" Jack calls, but Mark's hearing is going fuzzy. He is startled by the bump with the sudden sensation, Jack's loud cursing only pushed him further. He feels two hands on his shoulders. Someone is already blocking out his vision before he can even begin hyperventilating. The hands are grounding, the soothing tone is familiar.

"Hey there, that's good, man. It's just iodine, it's not dangerous. I'll... I'll pay for the clothes, but it's not dangerous. You're safe, everything fine, you're safe," Jack murmurs, blue eyes coming more into focus as Mark draws back to reality. Mark made Jack stumble, but when Mark began to fall, Jack immediately caught him before he could slide off the deep end. He nods and turns his attention to the teacher, who helps him blot off as much as he can, before sending him and Jack off to the nurse so Mark can get a change of clothes.

"You don't need to pay me back for the clothes; they're cheap. I need new ones anyway," Mark reassured gently, smiling softly at Jack, who tentatively nodded. Mark watches as Jack averts his gaze to the floor and bites his lip, furrowed brows, and darkening eyes indicative of his guilt.

"Thanks for calming me down. You caught me before I could really slip. No one's ever done that before. I really appreciate it," Mark follows up, tilting his head and smiling at Jack, who nods. Mark frowns and keeps going, feeling a deep urge to lift away that frown and transform it back to that bright smile that often adorned Jack's lips. His throat is scratchy and tired from the few sentences already, but he continues.

"And... and thank you for putting up with my bullshit. Nobody else likes doing anything with me, or even close to me, because I'm weird to them. You're really nice, and just," Mark said before shaking his head a few times to clear it, blinking a couple times, "You make me happy, more than anybody else has. You don't treat me differently, and nobody else has ever done that. You just talk and talk, and let me exist in the background. I can move freely in the blurry background when the focus is on your voice, you know?" he tries to explain, before coughing. Fuck, he hasn't talked that much in a long time. Jack is looking at him now, that small smile back.

"Really?" he asks like a tentative chirp of a bird as it lands and asks for a piece of bread or food, tilting his head to the side and looking at Mark with bright eyes. Already, the smile is growing back. Mark flushes, obviously just the coughing, and nods, averting his own gaze as soon as Jack begins to look up again. The teenager leans over and wraps Mark in a side-hug, grinning wide.

"Dude, that honestly means the world to me," he says. Mark smiles with a slight twitch of the corners of his lips and side-hugs Jack back, relaxing at the grounding sensation of contact. It's only once they get to the nurse's office do they realize Mark's wet shirt stained Jack's as well, but at that point, they grin and laugh it off.

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Sorry y'all, has some issues with motivation, but we're back on track now.