Chapter 2
One week has passed since Steven left for the expedition.
It went quite calmly, without argument or fights.
In the morning, Marc quickly got ready while Jake was still lying around and sleeping. He had a quiet breakfast. Well, if you can call it so. He would make a single cup of coffee and leave the apartment, silently closing the door behind him with the thought that he would have a snack at work. He didn't really want to wake up the late night owl, because he knows how unpleasant his morning can get if his sensitive sleep is disturbed.
At work, while all of his colleagues were counting down the seconds to get home to their families or whatever, Marc took extra hours, pretending to be very focused on the task at hand. And to be honest he really was, but by nine o'clock, even his brain couldn't digest the information on paper. His eyes rolled back, his head leaned against the hard surface of the desk, but the thought that silence and awkwardness awaited him at home sobered him up a bit.
And it wasn't really his fault, he was just uncomfortable. Jake was uncomfortable. Closed off. Like a ghost. And sometimes intrusive. Like a headache. He couldn't think of any better epithets, okay?
It was almost midnight when he crawled home. His legs were wobbly, and his arms were so weak they could barely hold his keys. When he stepped over the threshold, he was very relieved to see that the apartment was still empty, so he didn't hesitate to take a quick shower and go to bed. And so on every day.
He realized it was pathetic of him to avoid Jake like that, to work himself up to the point of exhaustion, but what could he do? He's just a man with a list of mental illnesses and little desire to work on himself. (or live)
He realizes that there is no way he will be able to maintain this routine for two months, but hey? No one forbids him to try.
Today is one of those days.
*Bling* His left hand reached for his cell phone to check for new messages while his right hand held the files.
Marc smiled lazily at the new message from Steven.
"New 2 attachments" Marc clicked and there was Steven with a helmet on his head and a big smile. His eyes were sparkling with joy as he pointed to a cave that he was probably exploring with his colleagues. The caption under the photo read: "This is incredible Marc! These catacombs are almost 7000 thousand years old! I can't believe we stumbled upon it in just one week! I feel like I'm going to shit my pants (from both happiness and fear, more happiness, of course)"
As he read the last line, a small snort escaped Marc.
He flipped to the next picture.
On it, Steven was looking at the camera and looking as if he had seen a candy being taken away from a child with his own eyes (or as if it had been taken away from him), but more expressively and with some horror. He was definitely reconsidering his life principles.
"I hope this trip will not be the same as last time. Write when you are free love. I miss you so much!"
After a moment of thought, Marc puts the files away, his shift ended an hour ago, so he has time to himself.
He types the text: "Hi. It looks terrible, but I think the magic is finally over after all this. Taking extra shifts. I miss you too. A lot." he re-reads the text and wipes the last word, no need to put his sadness on Steven, he wants this trip to be easy and fun for him. "I hope you're okay there." he sends.
He's getting a little bored sitting alone in the office, so he thinks about going to get a coffee while he waits for Steven's response.
The empty corridors of the department have become like home during the week of his stay, only the security guard and a few other employees are left. No one pays him any attention as he walks up to the vending machine, which was nice at some point. He chooses his favorite americano.
He likes this job. Not to say that it's very calm: this year, he and his special unit have chased four maniacs, three of them were detained, and one was shot dead by his coworker. He was hit in the head three times and almost caught a bullet once. But still, most of his work consists of verifying testimonies and solving domestic cases. What can he say, he has not yet been transferred to more serious cases, but if he was being honest, he was not quite ready to them himself.
*Bling!*
Marc stops his drink halfway to his mouth to open a new message.
"Hi! Sorry for the delay, the internet here is bad as you can guess. Don't worry about me, I work with experienced archaeologists, I'm shocked that they even need me here... But turns out they do!!! And I'm very happy about it" Marc's face is crossed by a gentle smile, and his soul is at peace.
"You deserve to be there more than anyone else" he types. He receives an embarrassed emoji in response, which makes him snort.
"How's Jake?" His face falls. Of course... He takes a sip of his coffee.
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" he bites himself for how rude it sounds, but it's a logical question.
"He doesn't have a phone."
"What." What.
He needed a minute.
"I don't know" Marc wipes his eyes with his hand, which holds a half-empty coffee cup, and with a sigh he decides not to bother with this fact. (But he makes a mental note to ask him later)
"How's Jake? Nothing much. I haven't seen him much this week, we're both busy with work." Technically, he's not lying, and by the way, he really had no idea where Jake was at 12 am, so he assumed he was just busy driving people around.
"Hmm."
"Hmm what?" Marc frowns in confusion.
"Was he acting strange this week?" It was an interesting question, and it made him think a little. What can he say? "Strange" is Jake's middle name, so he's not sure what Steven meant..
"You're gonna be more specific here, buddy. He's always weird."
"Okay, let me rephrase that. Has he shown any signs of friendliness?" A variety of sarcastic answers were running through Marc's head while reading this massage.
"Well, if you count the way he left me at the airport without saying anything just to warm up the car as friendliness, then yes, it was. Why do you ask?"
This interrogation was taking the last of his nerves. He was left alone and confused that day, his head was starting to boil just from remembering that moment.
"Oh, the silent treatment, classic Jake. But look on the bright side, I know how easily you get cold. He wanted to do you a favor." Wait.
Something clicked in Marc's head, and his eyebrows rose as he considered a new approach to the situation. Jake wanted to...do him a favor? That was new.
"Huh" Marc didn't know what to say...he was taking himself back to the moment of their fight and if you looked at it from the outside...no living person could have guessed Jake's true intentions. Only Steven was able to do it. It was one of his superpowers. Yeah, he remembered the warm feeling of the hot saloon that wiped his cold away. And that ride was quite pleasing, of course they had another pitty fight at almost very end of the ride but overall he was not mad about it.
It was nice.
Marc's throat suddenly went dry, but his coffee was already empty. He looked at the new message.
"Poor Marc... feel free to write me about Jake. I will try to solve your puzzle in my spare time." Marc didn't want to burden Steven with his problems, he felt guilty for even mentioning their childlike fight in the first place. But he forced himself to write.
"Truly, you are a genius, Steven. I wonder where all those doubts come from in your head. Thank you."
"Well, it's a lot easier than deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics to be honest, and I've been reading a book ab psychology so. You're welcome. Oh, it's late, I'll write you, Marc. Good night, my love. Love you!"
"Love you too."
Marc stared at the message for a while longer in a state of effect until it the screen turned off. He came back to reality looking around, no one still cares about him, even though he's been through a roller coaster ride. The man let out a very long and drawn out sigh when he felt like his neck screamed how long he was leaning to the phone. He was too old for that shit.
Steven never told him why he was conducting this interrogation. Marc didn't like that something was being kept from him. Something important, and something that only Steven and Jake knew about. Although maybe he was just being dramatic and it was something he had missed over the years, either way he decided to take it as a sign to pay a little more attention because something in him was telling him that it was only a begining.
He threw away the cup and walked back to his office, feeling like a completely new man.