Chapter Text
The room was white. It was very white. Not hospital-white, but the white of someone who loved to decorate with white. Also gold. Because “decorated” was certainly one way to describe this room.
Jack rolled his head to the side. He was in a bed. There was a butt in his face. Now, Jack wasn’t entirely opposed to butts being in his face. It did depend entirely on the butt in question, though, and the puckered asshole of a little black dog was not on Jack’s short list of okay butts to be thrust in his face upon waking up.
“Euurgh…” Jack turned away from the pug butt with a grimace. The other side had a much better view (and a much better butt). Mark was curled up sideways in a white armchair by the window, his feet tucked under him, a tablet in his hands. He was looking at Jack, though, so much worry and hope crashing across his tired face.
“Jack?”
Jack tried to push himself up, but his abs screamed in agony and he collapsed back against his pillows with an altogether embarrassing noise of pain. Mark was at his side immediately, one firm hand on his shoulder. “No, don’t get up. Marzia said you’d be hurting for at least a day or two as your nerves tried to figure out what the hell happened to them. Jack…”
“...Marzia?” Mark was staring at him like he was trying to memorize Jack’s face. Jack was just confused. “Mark, what…?”
“You got shot, Jack. Do you remember that?”
Jack nodded, closing his eyes. He did remember that. It must have been sheer blind luck on the part of the shooter, Jack racing through the path of a bullet that had missed Mark. He had never bothered to keep his eyes open for bullets before: Ripper had made his suit as bulletproof as she could manage. But he hadn’t been wearing his suit. “Fucking hell. 0 outta 10, do not recommend.”
Mark pushed his fingers into Jack’s hair, pressing their foreheads together. “You were gonna die. You were gonna die right there in front of me. That bullet’s designed to rip me apart from the inside. They’d only need to get one shot in me to bring me down, but you… you had no defenses.”
“Why didn’t I?” Jack opened his eyes, squinting up at Mark just inches above him. “Mark… why didn’t I die?”
“Marzia,” Mark said. Their lips brushed together as he spoke, not kissing, just touches. “Marzia was there, she was somehow tipped off…”
“Marzia?”
“Luna. Marzia’s Luna. Our healer, and ‘friend’ to Felix. She saved you, Jack. Saved you and got us both out of there.”
Marzia was there? Yes, Marzia, a beautiful woman dressed all in white. Jack remembered her standing out brightly even as the rest of the world had faded away. But if Marzia got them away, then that meant…
Jack turned his head to the left again. This time, it was Edgar’s face in his face. The pug licked his nose.
“...where are we?”
“Brighton. Felix’s flat. They gave us the guest room.”
“Because that’s not the obvious place we’d go at all.” Jack struggled to try to sit up again, fighting against his screaming body. This time, Mark helped him, wrapping a strong arm around his back and pushing pillows up behind him to support Jack’s weight. “We have to keep moving…”
Mark shook his head. “Absolutely not. You can’t even sit up, Jack. I’m not moving you until you can move on your own. We are safe here. I think. Out of all the videos posted of that fight, not one of them included Marzia. If CC didn’t recognize her, I think we’re safe.”
“Videos?”
“Cameras. On phones.” It wasn’t Mark who answered this time, but Felix, standing in the doorway. He was holding a tray with a bowl and a glass of water with a straw in it. “CC firing on innocent people? Two unmasked supers risking their lives to save as many as they could? Story of the year, bros.”
Jack glanced at Mark, then back at Felix. “Are you one too?”
“Me? Nah. I’m as perfectly normal as they come.”
“Nothing about you is normal, Felix,” Mark teased.
Felix pulled a face as he set the tray beside Jack. The bowl was full of a creamy soup. It smelled delicious. There were green onions and bacon floating on the surface. “You know what I mean. I only have magical YouTube powers. Marzia’s the super one.”
“How long have you known?”
Felix shrugged. “About her? Couple of years. She told me herself. I’ve kept her secret. Didn’t know about the two of you until you,” he pointed at Mark, “got unmasked and you,” point to Jack, “mysteriously ended up halfway around the world from where you last were, traveling with him. Wasn’t too hard to figure out that one.”
“We never said it, though…”
“Marzia told me all kinds of Keystache stories,” Felix said with a wave of his hand. “I knew you were at least a super, cause Mark wouldn’t’ve hauled you out of Ireland if you weren’t. Figured you were Key. The videos of that last fight confirmed it for the world.”
“Everyone’s talking about it,” Mark said. “Everyone. There are at least a dozen different videos from that night, and they’re on every news channel.” He picked up the bowl of soup, offering Jack a spoonful. Jack tried to take the spoon to feed himself, but his shoulder twinged violently and he had to let his hand drop, reluctantly opening his mouth for Mark.
“You bros are heroes,” Felix said. “Not Warfstache and Key. You two. Mark and Jack. You stood up against the people trying to kill you so you could protect the innocent. You didn’t do it as masked, controlled supers. You did it as off-their-leash renegades. You guys saved lives, while CC tried to end them.”
“There’s been a huge public backlash,” Mark said. “All over the world, people are turning on CC.”
“Marzia’s talking with The Brain and Sight.” Felix jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “They’re the ones who got her the teleporters she needed to get to you and get you out. I just made dinner.”
“It’s very good dinner,” Jack said, letting Mark feed him another spoonful. “Thanks, Felix.”
“I made it potato, ‘cause I figured you needed to eat your family first thing after waking up.” Felix reached out and ruffled Jack’s hair. “Glad you’re not dead, Jacksepticeye.”
Jack scrunched up his face and stuck out his tongue at Felix’s jab, but Mark just laughed, his hand finding Jack’s.
“Hey, boys.” Marzia poked her head around the door, waving her phone. “CC’s director just stepped down. They've put the Brain in charge! He's gonna do some massive overhauls. I think you won!”
“We won?” Jack frowned at Mark. “Won what? What does that mean?”
“Won our freedom. Our lives. It means we can go home, Jack.”
“Home?”
“Yeah.” Mark leaned in, pressing his cheek to Jack’s. “Home.”