#overprotectiveness

Jake could tell Marcus was going stir crazy in this house, and not just because he was looking out the window for what felt like the tenth time that hour. He had already done his conditioning for that morning. He had also already inventoried every single item in Lars’s house – twice – and had reorganized every food item in Lars’s kitchen in order from lowest calorie density to highest. He’d been specific about that part: calorie density, not total calories. He had cleaned every inch of the apartment, and had asked Lars to bring home more cleaning solution when he’d used up the nearly-empty bottle when he first started.

All in the eight days he and Jake had been hiding there. Not that Jake was counting, for… other reasons.

He wasn’t. He wasn’t counting.

Jake had slept through some of Marcus’s increasingly antsy behaviors, his body repairing the damage the AMTEC officers had done to him. He had also lounged in the living room for some of it, wanting to be out of bed and near Marcus while he prowled the house looking for messes like each out-of-place item had a death wish.

Every time he asked, Marcus dropped what he was doing and held him, but Jake could tell Marcus was about on the edge of losing his mind. He looked like a dog, chewing on furniture for want of sheep to herd or squirrels to chase. I’ve never seen him like this, Jake thought to himself often.

Then again, he’d never seen Marcus in a place that was truly safe. The AMTEC base was a constant strain of 0500 wakeups, conditioning, simulations, missions, punishments, planned meals… Even the week they’d spent in the city, Marcus had been injured, and terrified of being caught. Marcus was healthy now. The only danger they faced was the vague threat of AMTEC that lay crouched outside these walls, probably outside this town entirely. And with no one to bear his teeth at, Marcus was left to chew on furniture. Still, that was probably better than chewing on himself.

Jake might have been the same way, if he didn’t feel bruised, inside and out, even a week after recovering from what the men had done to him.

He’d had another nightmare about it last night. In it, Brady and Surles had dragged him to the interrogation room and strapped him down to a table, arms spread wide, a muzzle on his face to keep him from screaming. They told him Marcus was watching on the camera, and that he would come to save Jake the moment Jake cried out to him and begged him to come. Then they took knives to his flesh and began to carve – first peeling back his skin, then his muscles, then cutting out his organs one by one. Jake couldn’t make a single sound through the muzzle. Brady and Surles had been knee-deep in blood before Marcus shook him awake, holding him as he screamed, lying in sheets soaked in cold sweat. He sobbed into Marcus’s chest for hours after that.

“Marcus, you came, please just… just hold me, I’m sorry, you c-came for me—”

Marcus let the curtain drop, and turned to look at Jake. Jake realized he was breathing harshly with the memory.

“You okay?” Marcus said softly, already making his way over to Jake. As he folded to his knees in front of the couch Jake was slumped on, he glanced at the clock. “It’s not quite time for a pain pill yet—”

“I’m good,” Jake said as his hand slid into Marcus’s. He gripped weakly. Marcus held on tight. “I just had a thought. Sorry.”

Marcus held Jake’s gaze, his eyes carrying that intensity that hadn’t left him even after a week of safety. Jake wondered if it ever would, or if it was baked in now.

He wondered what his own eyes looked like. He’d sort of forgotten what they looked like in the mirror, after only a few months on the base.

Marcus raised his right hand and cradled Jake’s face. The metal fingers were cool on his cheek, and Jake leaned into the touch. He didn’t mind the metal, although it seemed sometimes like Marcus did. To Jake, it was all Marcus.

 “Sorry,” Jake whispered again. “I didn’t mean to distract you.”

Marcus shook his head. “Wasn’t doing anything productive anyway. You okay? You look…” He chewed his lip.

“Yeah.” The last thing Jake wanted to do was keep ruminating on the nightmare – and the memories that felt so close, so immediate. That dingy room with the exposed ceiling and the camera in the corner and the men who smiled as they hurt him and the questions and the pain—

He squeezed his eyes shut and leaned forward, pressing his forehead against Marcus’s. “Maybe it would be good if you could get out of the house soon? Just for a while? Maybe you could—”

“Without you?” Marcus pulled back, his brows drawing together.

No, came the immediate answer. Please, please don’t leave me. Not after I watched you die. Not after I lived with your ghost for so long. Not after they tried to make me renounce you, they wouldn’t stop, they wouldn’t stop hurting me…

He pushed out a slow breath. You’re going to have to leave my side eventually… aren’t you?

“Maybe?” Jake said. “I don’t know, you’re climbing the walls, Marcus. You need to get out. I’d be okay on my own for… an afternoon. You know? I don’t want you bored out of your skull.”

“I’m not bored,” Marcus said. “I’m not. I’m just…”

“Losing your mind?” Jake said softly. He squeezed Marcus’s hand.

“…looking for something to do,” Marcus huffed.

Jake chewed his lip. “Well… maybe I could come with you. I can walk, and sit up for a few hours, so… what if we went somewhere? Somewhere to just hang out, and look at more than just the walls? We could… I don’t know, people watch? Get to know this place?”

Marcus was already shaking his head. “Jake… no. The last thing we need is someone recognizing… not even us, but… what we are. Lars knew I was a Lev straight away. Someone else might piece it together, too. And that’s to say nothing of the risk of someone’s fucking camera picking us up. Just… no. I can’t…”

Jake could read the rest of that sentence plainly on Marcus’s face: I can’t lose you again.

He couldn’t stand to lose Marcus again, either. The first time had nearly killed him.

Jake swallowed hard. “Okay, well… what about this clinic Lars works at? Not their job, but like… they run an HRT clinic, right? What if we hung out there? Do you think they’d be cool with that?”

Marcus blinked. “You… want to hang out at the HRT clinic?”

“Yeah, why not?” Jake shrugged. “Lars hates cameras and stuff, and you said they don’t keep records, right? I bet the place is a camera dead zone. And besides, everyone who works there probably hates AMTEC almost as much as we do. Might be good, right? To get to know someone other than Lars?”

Marcus’s eyes darted back and forth across Jake’s face. His jaw worked like he was chewing on the words before he spoke them. Finally, he said, “Jake… they’ll know—”

“And they have good reason to keep our secret,” Jake said. He brushed his fingertips across Marcus’s cheek. “Illegal HRT? That can land you in prison for like… what, five years? And that’s for possession? Not even intent to distribute. And with the operation Lars has, they’d probably be looking at thirty years… maybe fifty, if the judge really wanted to make an example of them. Which they probably would.”

“How do you know all that?” Marcus murmured.

Jake’s mouth was hard. “I went to prison for intent to distribute narcotics and illegal firearms, Marcus,” he said flatly.

Marcus nodded. “Right,” he breathed.

Jake nudged his chin up. “I want to go,” he said. “I think it would be good to get out and get connected with some other people. And it might be… nice, you know. To meet more people like us.”

Marcus blinked. “Us?”

“You know. Outlaws. And also… you know. Gay.” Jake’s cheeks flushed. “If that’s what you…”

Marcus sat back on his heels, his gaze going blank as he stared at the couch. “I don’t… know if I am,” he said after a moment. “I just know I love you.”

Jake’s chest fluttered as he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Marcus’s lips. “Fair enough,” he murmured. “So, we’ll ask Lars when they get home tonight?”

Marcus didn’t answer Jake. He could taste Marcus’s uncertainly as he deepened the kiss, his hand gently cupping Jake’s cheek as he did.

Continued here

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-You and Porco have been best friends ever since you were toddlers. Your dads were both business partners and close friends and they tended to visit each very often which led to you both hanging out with each other

-You had other friends sure but none were as loyal as Porco

-He would always be there to protect you, beating up those other kids who had dared to pick on you. Sometimes he almost took it too far and you had to tell him to stop

-Nevertheless, you were both inseparable , you went to the same schools together even the same college

-He had harbored feelings for you as soon as you started hanging out with him, you were so pretty and intelligent. Always knowing how he felt and what he was thinking. You could read him like an open book and it shocked him, as no one ever could

-The only thing you probably didn't notice about him was the fact that he was hopelessly in love with you but he'd never admit to it. It was either he was very good at hiding it or you just didn't notice

-Even when you started to date other people, he was always there to make sure you didn't get with the wrong person. Scaring off any guy he got a bad vibe from and beating up the idiotic ones who hurt you. You somehow had an inexplicable tendency to attract the wrong people

-He would tell you that he was just concerned about you and not that he was jealous. He told himself that he didn't mind if you loved someone else, as long as you were happy ,he'd be satisfied. Well at least that was what he told himself

-When you had finally thought that you had met the hypothetical "one", he was happy for you. He didn't get any warning signs for this one nor did he perceive a bad aura.

-Maybe this was actually the right guy for you and he'd support you no matter what, or so he thought.

-Nothing could prepare him for the moment you burst into his apartment with fresh tears streaming down your face

-His eyes widened and his mouth was left agape, he immediately took you over to his couch and began to hug you

-You had explained everything to him, not missing a single detail. Apparently your supposed boyfriend was nothing but absolute skank. He had been cheating on you ever since you started dating and had been emotionally manipulating you to stay with him. You had had enough when you found out that he cheated on you with Pieck, your roommate and good friend of yours

-If he said he wasn't angry then he'd be the biggest liar on the planet. He was absolutely fuming. He was definitely going to snap that jerk's neck when he was done comforting you.

-But then again, this had made him realize something. All these years, you had never met someone who loved you as much as you deserved to be loved. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, he felt...no, he knew he could do that. He could actually be that person

-You were right by his side all this time and he never told you how he felt, he'd always just brush it off and assume you didn't return his affection, but did he ever find out? did you ever tell him that? then why? why hadn't he ever confessed to you?

-Thoughts plagued his mind as you shook him slightly , noticing that he had zoned out. He had to do it, he had to try, he couldn't let you end up with another douchebag like your current ex. He couldn't deny it anymore, he truly did want to be with you. He didn't need you to be in another failed relationship to realize this

-And so confess is what he did, he poured out every itty bitty detail, from the moment he had first met you, to the times when he'd protect you from those people. To how you always know what's on his mind and how you make smile every time, even to minor details like how your nose always scrunches up anytime he told a really bad uncle joke. He had said so much that he was even shocked that he was able to say all this .

-You were equally a shocked but then you started to sob.

-He was terrified that he had said something wrong and he immediately pulled you to his chest

-You threw weak punches at his chest as you continued to sob uncontrollably . You soft voice asking him why he had not told you sooner. You could have avoided all the unnecessary stress and heartbreak

-Porco was definitely surprised to find out that you had felt the same all this while but you chose to keep your feelings to yourself, as you thought he only saw you as a little sibling

-"So you mean to tell me that all this while we both loved each other but we were too dense to notice?"

-"well...yes pretty much" You giggled

-He was over the moon, although it took a while, he had finally mustered up the courage to confess and the person of his dreams loved him too.

-He wasted no time in cupping your cheeks(the one's on your face you naughty children) and planting a well deserved kiss on your soft/chapped lips. Not before asking for your consent of course. And you had returned the kiss with as much passion

-He had always vowed that he would protect you and support you, even if you couldn't be with him and now that you were his ,It gave him a new sense of determination to always be by your side and make you happy for as long as he was alive

-Although right now, he had some legs to break first😄