Frenzied Spirits

Nothing Else Matters

♕

Jake jumped up so quickly from the log, he was sure if it was a chair it would have toppled over.

It was embarrassing- he was still wearing Frank's jacket, feet kicking dirt up behind him as he ran at the other man.

He was sure people were watching him, but he didn't care.

Instead, he threw his arms around Frank, pulling him into a hug.

Dwight had told him to do this, indirectly, but he'd felt the hug was necessary for whatever reason. Not to mention, Dwight had given them his blessing, which Jake had realized he'd been waiting for.

It gave himself a sense of clarity he didn't know he needed, and the strength to move forwards.

For a moment, the other man stood rigid, arms dropped to his sides. Jake could feel how tense he was, and wondered if he'd made a mistake.

But when he felt Frank immediately relax into him, and wrap his arms around him he knew he'd made the right decision.

"I was worried about you," Frank breathed, tightening his grip on Jake.

Jake squirmed out of his grasp.

"You were worried about me ?" He practically yelled, "I was worried about you ! Why would you be worried about me?"

Jake watched as Frank's teeth sunk into his lower lip.

"I- no reason," He responded, "I'm gonna go to the tent."

Jake watched as Frank made his way back to their tent, deciding that it was best to follow him. Normally he'd leave him alone, but Frank was acting like he was hiding something, and Jake wanted to get to the bottom of it, if he'd let him.

He had to wonder if Kate or the others had seen how he'd acted, and really, did he care?

Truthfully, he did, but not enough to just pretend that nothing was wrong.

☺

Jake had hugged him.

No.

Jake, wearing his jacket, had run over to him and hugged him in a way that nobody had ever dared to touch him before.

Frank was still recovering from the whole ordeal, as he sat in the tent with a blanket on his lap. He ran his fingers over the fabric, appreciating the softness and allowing it to bring him back into the moment.

The old him would have probably grown angry at the affection in front of so many people- but that wasn't who he was anymore.

Jake had helped him learn different techniques to calm himself down, and more often than not they worked.

He'd learned that most of his anger had come from being unable to express himself, and being frustrated with himself. He couldn't do much here, but every little thing helped- and he found himself growing into a better version of himself.

The darkness here had slowly turned into the smallest sliver of light- all thanks to Jake and his friends.

Jake poked his head into the tent.

"Frank," He spoke, crawling through the door.

"Jake," He responded, "I spent the whole trial thinking about Shrek thanks to you."

A smile graced his lips- one that had only been coaxed out of him thanks to Jake. He'd never smiled, at least not like this, before he'd met Jake. His only smiles before had been ironic- like the one etched into his mask to taunt. He hadn't had anything to smile about before, but he liked to think that smiling for Jake was worth it.