United [A Superhero AU] - Book Two

Chapter Forty-Nine - The Best Way to Break Up the Gloom

"Mark, are you ready to go out tomorrow?"

"Yes, Matthias."

"Have you been keeping up with your training?"

"Yes, Matthias."

"Is your suit ready?"

Mark stares at Matthias before throwing his hands up in the air. "Who cares?!"

"I'm just asking! I want you three to be at your best for tomorrow because this is one of the most dangerous missions we've ever done."

"I get it, I really do, but I can't really handle your constant barrage of questions right now. I just need to be alone."

Matthias sighs heavily and nods, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, sorry, I'm just nervous."

"I know."

Matthias shoos him and moves into his office, leaving Mark in the hallway. The hero exhales and moves to his and Jack's room, where the villain is sitting on the bed with a book.

"What did Matthias have to talk to you about?" Jack asks, setting the novel aside.

"He was just asking me a whole bunch of questions about tomorrow. He already drilled Felix as well," Mark replies with a small shrug. He exhales shakily and crawls onto the bed, resting his head on Jack's chest. "Now I wanna nap."

The villain combs his fingers through the hero's hair, biting his lip. After a moment of silence, he finally speaks. "Are you okay? You seem a bit off..."

"I'm fine. I just want a nap."

"Okay. Well, I slept well last night and I'm not tired, so you can sleep and I'm gonna read. Can you still fall asleep if I have a reading light on?"

"Mhm," Mark murmurs. You slept well last night? That makes one of us...

Jack picks up his book, holding it in one hand while using his other hand to play with Mark's hair. The hero drifts off after a lot of resisting, and it doesn't take long for his mind to conjure up a nightmare.

Anti stands in the street, screaming with laughter as he yanks two ropes around. On one is Jack, bleeding and bruised and scarred beyond recognition, and on the other is Dan, dead-eyed as blood pours from the side of his head. Beside Mark stands Phil, sobbing uncontrollably as he reaches for Dan. Mark tries to run and save Jack, but his feet are glued to the ground. Every step he attempts is like trying to pull his foot out of quick-sand. He struggles and stumbles, screaming Jack's name, but nothing helps. Anti watches and torments the villains with a wicked smile on his face.

"Marki-moomoo sat on a wall, Marki-moomoo had a great fall! And all of the heroes and all of his friends couldn't put Marki together again!" Anti sings. He glances at Mark, and in a split second he's an inch from his face. "You're in pieces, Mark! You're in pieces and you'll never be okay!"

He yanks Jack closer and tosses him to the ground, pinning him down with a foot between his shoulder blades. When Mark tries to reach him, Anti grabs his face.

"He can't help you, Marki-moo! You're too far gone!"

"Leave him alone," Mark chokes out, tears pouring down his face. "Leave them alone!"

"Mark, Mark, MARK!" Anti scolds. "It's all in your head!"

"You're hurting him! He didn't do anything!"

"Look at this.  You're all so co-dependant. It's disgusting. You don't need Jack, Jack doesn't need Dan, Dan doesn't need Phil and vice-versa! You're just too damaged to see it!" Anti yanks Dan over and knocks him to the ground on top of Jack before pressing them into the concrete with his foot. "Look at the fun I can have when I'm free!"

The scene changes to a theatre with high ceilings and dim lights. Mark sits in a chair in the audience, surrounded by the other heroes, villains, and even anti-heroes. On stage, Anti wears a top hat and waves a cane around, his multi-coloured eyes sparkling with malicious joy.

"Welcome, gentlemen, to the show of the year!" he cackles, pointing his cane upwards. The curtains rise to reveal the bodies of the fallen heroes, villains, and anti-heroes, who start dancing around the stage. The supers that make up the audience gasp and scream, tears already pouring down their faces. Their reaction only makes the demon smile more.

Then, Jack's voice is right next to his ear. Mark spins around, seeing nobody, although the voice persists.

"Wake up, Mark, please, wake up..."

Mark wakes up with a violent flinch, his fingers immediately tensing around a handful of Jack's shirt as time slows and becomes normal and slows again. There's a distinct wet patch on the cloth beneath his face and on his cheeks, and his breathing is far too fast to be normal. Jack's arms are around him as the villain murmurs softly, encouraging him to breathe. Breathe. Mark tries to take a deep breath and ends up choking out a shaky exhale, burying his face in Jack's chest as time finally stabilizes once again. His entire body is curled tight against the villain's body, every muscle tense.

"Mark... okay..." Mark hears through the pounding in his ears. He shuts his eyes, trying to focus. "You're okay... I'm right here, it's okay. Relax..."

"Jack?" Mark whimpers, inhaling the scent of his shirt. Yup, definitely Jack. A hand is smoothed down his thigh and Mark lets himself uncurl, although he refuses to lift his face from Jack's chest.

"Yeah, it's me, Mark, you're safe," Jack says softly, a light tremor in his voice. "Are you okay?"

Mark opens his mouth to respond, but instead just shakes his head and wedges his face into the crook of Jack's neck. The villain holds him closer, pressing his nose into the hero's hair. Quiet descends upon them, only broken by Mark's soft whimpers.

"You don't have to talk about it, but I just need to know... Are you stressed? Do you need to take a break? Or have you been having nightmares every night and this time I was awake to help?" Jack asks after several minutes.

"Um, I've been stressed, and that makes them happen more frequently, so it's been every night for a while now," Mark whispers.

"Aw, Mark..." Jack kisses his head, and after a moment he sighs. "We need to do something fun and not stressful."

"Like what?"

"I dunno." A smile spreads across Jack's face, making Mark glance up. "I have an idea."

"Wha—"

Mark's sentence is abruptly cut off by Jack's fingers tickling his sides. The hero's eyes go wide and he squirms, the gloominess that had surrounded him a moment ago disappearing in a flash. He shrieks and tries to get away, but Jack keeps tickling him as he dissolves into full-bellied laughter. It's contagious, and pretty soon Mark is laughing too. He returns the favour and starts tickling Jack, making the villain squeal as he tries to bat his hands away.

"Mark!" Jack gasps, laughing too hard to even speak as the hero attacks his sides.

Mark finishes off his tickle attack and falls onto the bed beside Jack, trying to catch his breath with a massive grin on his face. Jack smiles back, leaning over and cupping the hero's face in his hands in order to give him a big, silly kiss.

"You're silly and I love you," Mark says.  "Thank you." 

"Love you too, boo," Jack replies with a cheesy grin.