Let's Paint the Town Red (Septiplier AU)

A golden opportunity

The Irishman waits patiently for his usual drink as he does twice a day at The Groundskeeper Coffee Shop. His mind focusing on his mid week exams as he places a incredibly chewed up pencil in between his teeth. It's only when a coffee mug is placed on his table that he looks up, blue eyes startled at the man standing in front of him in a dark blue apron. The name Mark is written on a bright white nameplate on the right side of his broad chest.

"You must really be stressing," the taller man says as he chuckles and sits across from Jack's seat. "I called out your name at least five times."

Jack blinks and chuckles as well, his slender hand leaving his notebook to wrap around the hot black coffee in front of him.

"Sorry, yeah I'm really in a mild panic over my exam in Greek Mythology. The professor is diabolocal with his tests and I'm all over the place with understanding what the fuck any of this means."

Jack runs a shaking hand through his dark brown hair, and Mark sighs in the empathetic way that the other man needs right now. It amuses Mark how stressed Jack can get over anything, whether it's exams, or his grades or a new love interest.

"I'm happy to help if you need me to," Mark suggests as he takes a quick glance to make sure that another customer isn't waiting at the counter. "I took a similar course a couple of semesters ago, and some of it stuck in my head."

Jack's sigh of relief is loud enough to almost ruffle the messy black hair of the other man.

"I get off at 6:00pm tonight," Mark smiles as he moves his eyes across the messy notes in Jack's notepad. "Meet you here?"

The smaller man nods as he pulls out another couple of books to go over during the rest of his break, his mood already better between the coffee and the help.

"I practically owe you my life for this" Jack giggles as he takes another sip of his coffee. "What can I do to thank you?"

"If you promise me some pizza and a movie after we get you back on track, I'll call us even."

The blue eyes look over the coffee mug with a much more interested expression then he had before, but Mark is almost painfully good at his poker face. The tanned arms resting folded in front of him and the smile, always Mark's best feature.

"That almost sounds like you're asking me out on a date."

Mark's dark brown eyes widen in slight surprise at the words.

"I was only suggesting pizza and a movie. If you want to call it a date, Jack, then that's completely up to you."

The other man quirks his eyebrow, and Mark give another soft smile. It isn't the first time that Mark has thrown out clues of them going out, but Jack actually was impressed by the way that he ended up finally doing it this time.

"How about we see how your tutoring help goes first, and then see where the night takes us?"

The door the the coffee shop opens and a slender woman with a severe frown enters and heads to the counter. Her dark hair cut into an almost threatening bob as she narrows her eyes towards the empty cash register area.

"That looks like my signal to get back to work," Mark mutters as he gets out of his seat. "I'll see you tonight."

With another quick smile Mark turn the corner to help the young woman who is looking a bit less annoyed now that someone is heading to assist her. Jack almost feels bad about taking a look at Mark's ass as he leaves, but still does it, his cheeks slightly reddening as he turns his eyes back towards his studies and the rest of his morning coffee.

Placing headphones in his ears, he begins to listen to some music on his phone app, his head moving in time to beat as Mark finishes ringing up the grumpy woman from a few minutes earlier. The large flat screen on the wall flashes to a news report of a local college student's picture, but neither Jack of the woman are paying attention to it. The volume turned off and closed caption words move across the bottom of the screen at a rapid pace that only the dark eyes of Mark are able to grab.

The handsome young man, named Greg Sanders, age 20 who had been missing over the past week had finally been discovered in a shallow creek outside of the city. Police have indicated that he suffered from multiple stab wounds and most likely had died earlier in that same week.

Greg's same picture of when he was still just being reported as missing flashes on the screen, and it is only when Mark narrows his dark eyes at the kind smile and hazel eyes that the woman pauses and turns to see what Mark is looking at. Her face, which had softened quite a bit at between Mark's quiet charm and the promise of her iced Mocha coffee made a sympathetic sound in her throat at the smiling man still on the television screen.

"It's a shame," she sighs, as she shakes her head, and then looks back over to Mark. "I had hoped that they would have found him alive. Whoever did that to him really is sick, don't you think?"

Mark nods his head as he starts move to start to make the woman's drink, shifting his gaze over to the television remote to change the channel as soon as he gets the chance.