Red Riding Hood

Chapter Fifteen: "Lamb & Wolf"

Jack crawled over Mark to snuggle with him. His exhaustion taking over him. Settling down, Jack exhaled and let himself drift off. When he awoke, Mark wasn't in bed with him. Slowly sitting up, he looked around and noticed a little candle in the back of the cellar. Slipping from the bed, he wandered over to see Mark sitting by a shelving unit. He was munching on jerky and when he saw him, he smiled. Leaning on one of the large wooden moonshine casks, Jack smiled back. Marked looked well enough to move around now. That was a relief. Offering him some jerky, Mark asked him in a whisper. "Hungry? Thirsty? A found some water jugs down here." Jack shook his head, simply asking him in return. "How are you feeling?" Mark tilted his head back against the shelving unit, telling him calmly. "I feel good. Just got hungry. So, when the patrols left to hunt us down. I decided to explore down here." Jack nodded as his only response. Mark set the jerky on the shelf, then dusted himself off as he climbed to his feet. Jack watched him approach him, his hands going to his arms to rub them as he coaxed him closer. Jack inched closer, feeling suddenly shy and speechless.

Mark brought his lips closer to his, whispering to him sweetly. "Thank you, Sean. You saved my life. I won't forget that." Jack very subtly nodded, but his main attention was on how close Mark's lips were and the warmth of his hands on his arms. When Mark didn't move, Jack found himself leaning in toward Mark to timidly brush his lips over his. His lips barely touched him, before Jack realized what he was doing and turned away with heated cheeks. Biting his lower lip, he scolded himself for letting his emotions get the better of him. Mark lifted a hand off his arm to turn his chin with a finger, before slowly leaning in to kiss him. Sean's heart skipped in his ribs and goosebumps shot down his arms. Mark's lips were so soft, and the kiss was tender enough that Jack could tell he was holding back. Unsure what to do with his hands, he grabbed the hem of his own shirt and tangled his fingers up in his tunic. When Mark pulled from the kiss, Jack nervously uttered out a bit late. "You're welcome..." Mark smirked, letting out a throaty chuckle. Stroking his cheek, Mark started to walk away from him to retrieve the little candle off the dirt floor.

Feeling like his legs might buckle, Jack leaned on the large cask more, mumbling out a bit hopefully. "You know... We should stay here another day or two. Just to make sure that you are better." Mark set the candle on the shelf, before glancing at him to ask with playfully suspicion. "Oh? And what will we do in these... two days? In the cellar. Alone." Backing away slowly as Mark inched toward him, Jack stammered out without the ability to look him in the eyes now. "I... We... I just meant... Well, I thought we'd... I never said..." Jack's shirt got caught on the little ladder that was set up on a cask, causing Jack to jump and linger too long in one spot. Smiling warmly, Mark pulled his shirt free of the ladder, before saying close to his face. "You're cute when you trip over yourself. If you want to stay. I'll stay. It will give me time to learn their new schedule." Jack exhaled all the breath in his body, then swallowed. Mark tapped his nose with a finger, taking the red cloak off the top of the ladder to hand back to him. Watching Mark head back to fetch the candle and the jerky, he told him breathlessly as he hugged his cloak. "You did that on purpose..."

Mark turned to face him; his face illuminated in the candle while he said playfully. "I did. Again, you didn't say or do anything to stop me. Which has me wondering. How far do you want me to go?" Jack licked his dry lips, honesty dripping from his soft words when he stated out. "I don't know... It's hard to set rules to a game that I've never played." Mark stared him down, saying with a small smile. "Do you wanna try?" Jack huffed, looking away to hide how embarrassed he was. It even gave him a chance to stall to try and sort out how he felt about that. His mind was such a blank and his emotions were just flashes of excitement over Mark suggesting this to him. When he couldn't think and had said nothing for a few minutes, Mark told him coolly. "You can say no." Jack snapped his attention back to him, blurting out in a nervous ramble. "It's not that I don't want to. I just... I don't want to waste this moment... but I don't know if I should do it right now... I like you, Mark. I do. But to give myself like that... even to you... is..." Jack bowed his head with a heavy sigh, grimly mumbling out. "I'm sorry..." Mark moved closer to him, whispering in a warm voice. "I've been around the tracks enough to understand how it works, Jack. You don't have to apologize."