You Had Me At Hello

Just one

Everyone had finished eating supper. Jack and Mark had a long discussion with Sammy and Tim about not using violence to fight violence and now Jack was on the phone with Joseph's mother.

"yes ma'am, I understand. Sammy says that- no, I am not trying to flat-out blame your son for anything- Sammy says that this has been going on since around first or second grade. Yes, Yes ma'am. okay. Yes, five o'clock will be fine. Thank you, buh bye."

he hung up the phone and walked into the living room where Mark, Tim, and Sammy were sitting.

"well?" Mark asked, "Is anything gonna be done about this?"

Jack nodded. "yes, Joseph's mom is coming over tomorrow around five to bring Joseph over so that he can apologize."

Mark nodded.

"Now why don't we put you two rascals in bed." Jack said. He picked Sammy up and she wiggled out of his grasp.

"W-wait a second!" she yelled, "I have an idea. She motioned for Tim to follow her and they ran down the hallway. Mark and Jack just looked at eachother and shrugged. A few minutes later, Sammy and Tim both returned with so many pillows and blankets that they could've made several pillow forts, had they wanted to. Sammy stood in front of them while they sat on the couch, "Up." she ordered and Mark and Jack obliged and stood up off of the couch. Tim ran into the kitchen while Sammy pulled the pull out mattress out from the couch and started to load all of the blankets and pillows onto it. Tim came back in with a  large tub of microwave popcorn and Sammy turned on Netflix.

"Now," Tim started. "tonight you guys are gonna have a movie night. okay? It'll be fun and you guys deserve it for being such great dads! Trust us."

Mark and jack looked at eachother and shrugged. "Um, yeah. okay, sure." Jack said. Secretly, he loved the idea; he didn't quite know what was going on, but it got him some quiet time with Mark, so he'll go with it.

"what is this all about, Tim?" Mark asked. "You guys have been acting really strange today."

"oh, um.." Sammy started. "It's nothing. But it's our bedtime! So, um...Goodnight Mr. Mark." she said and hugged Mark.

"goodnight sweetie" He replied.

"daddy, can you come and tuck me in?" Sammy asked. Jack nodded and got up and went down the hall with the two kids.

He got into Sammy's room and pulled out the extra mattress out from under Sammy's bed. He tucked her in, kissed her on the forehead and wished both of the kids goodnight. He was about to walk into out of the room when he heard Sammy speak up.

"daddy, when are you going to take Mr. Mark on a date?"

He turned around and looked at the kids. both of them were looking at him, serious expressions on their faces. "well..." Jack said, "Maybe soon, if I'm lucky."

Jack shut the door and ran his fingers through his hair, confused. After a minute, he walked back into the living room with a red face and sat down next to mark, making the mattress bounce a bit. "what took you so long?" Mark asked. "Are you okay? you look a little flushed." Mark placed a hand on Jack's cheek to check for a fever, but only succeeded in making Jack shiver.

"oh it's nothing," Jack replied, shyly shrugging away from Mark's touch. "I was just talking to Sammy. what do you wanna watch? We might as well watch a movie since they got it all set up." He grabbed the remote controller and handed it to Mark, in attempt to change subject.

"yeah, what do you think all of that was about anyways?" Mark asked, rubbing the back of his neck. "you know, the other day Tim had asked me something kinda strange."

"really? What was it?" Jack said, starting to get nervous and his face getting slightly redder.

"well, he was asking me if it was normal for two boys to like eachother. I told him yes. then the next day he said that he told Sammy about it and that she didn't believe him." Mark looked at Jack and then looked away. "It was really random when he brought it up."

"yeah, Sammy asked me something like that too, this morning." Jack replied, purposely avoiding eye-contact. "She also mentioned that there are too boys that they think like eachother."

Mark looked at Jack. "you- you don't think they mean-"

"us?" Jack asked and immediately looked away when he saw Mark's expression.

"us?" Mark asked, confused. "I was gonna say Tim. What if Tim likes a boy from school? what do you mean us?"

Jack felt like he was going to cry; he couldn't, not in front of Mark. he'd surely know how he feels if he did. "uh, I-I don't know." he stuttered, "It just slipped out. I mean, we were just the first boys that he knows that came to mind."

"well, I-I don't really know why they'd think that" Mark said. Jack noticed that he was blushing madly, but he probably was as well, and he wouldn't make eye contact with him either. "so, um, let's just watch the movie now."

Later, all of the popcorn was gone, two movies had been ended, and Mark was asleep with his head on Jack's shoulder, even though Jack was pretty sure he didn't realize it. Jack couldn't help but stare at his lips and how perfect they were. they were so plump and pink and they just looked so soft. After a minute Jack found himself leaning in. I wonder what they'd feel like he though. Just one touch... He'll never know.

"Uh, Jack," Mark said, his eyes now open. "what are you doing..?"