Divide and Conquer

Chapter 8

Waiting is probably one of the worst things for us, especially if we are void of anything to do. Our minds tend to wander to unwanted places, and start to ask questions we have yet to answer, infuriating us. It makes us want what we're waiting for to happen in a flash, forgetting how great or how horrible it is as long as it's over quickly and painlessly.
This was why Mark was pleased as he put on his clothes, very ready to leave the hospital room he had been confined in for over four days. He did like the nurses, and Jeremy was really cool, but Mark could only stand being in a hospital bed for so long. Someone knocked on the door, turning Mark's attention to it. Jeremy was there with some medications, and a clipboard of paperwork.
"Are you ready to go?" He asked.
"You have no idea."
Mark finished buttoning up his lucky flannel that Phil had brought him yesterday, and was ready to leave. He wasn't too pleased at how his hair was fading, but he knew he could make a hairdresser appointment if needed.
He was kind of depressed that none of the guys had come to visit him. Dan and Phil (mostly Phil) would come visit with messages or items Mark asked them to bring. He wasn't sure what the guys had been up to making them unable to see him.
"You'll need to fill out some paperwork for your release, and I have a pain medication you'll need to take every 12 hours until it runs out, but I have refills for until you heal up."
Mark nodded. He knew there would be some things he needed to do when he got out, and compared to his previous surgeries, it wasn't that bad.
"Any things I should avoid doing for a while?"
"Activities that would put strain on your upper body, and hard candies or foods. It will take a few weeks for your ribs to fully heal, and a week for your jaw to heal. I want to see you next week to check on your healing progress."
"Alright, sounds good. Thanks for everything Jeremy."
"It's nothing, just my job."
Mark quickly filled out the paperwork he was handed, put the medications in his pocket, and offered the man one last smile before heading to the elevator. He tapped his foot gently as he watched the numbers go down, until he had finally arrived to the main floor. The doors opened to reveal a waiting room that had several people seated. He was told someone would be meeting him there (according to Phil), but no one looked familiar. Mark sighed and decided to begin making his way to the exit. Maybe they were outside waiting for him?
PJ saw the blue haired man exit the elevator. Why everyone had sent PJ of all people was over his head, but it could have been that he had a car. PJ was wearing a No Face from Spirited Away t-shirt, skinny jeans, and tennis shoes. He stood up when he realized Mark was leaving.
"Mark!" He called.
Mark turned around to the unfamiliar voice calling his name. He looked at the tall tan man with noticeable green eyes.
"Sorry, I'm PJ," he started. "Wade sent me to pick you up and take you back to campus."
"Oh, okay. Thanks for that."
"It's my pleasure."
***
Jack was waiting anxiously in his small hiding place behind the couch. He had gotten the text from PJ saying that he and Mark were on their way. They were now preparing to surprise Mark like they had been planning on doing for the past three days. Who did he mean by they? Bob, Wade, Felix, Dan, Phil, Ken, and two of Felix's new friends.
Felix was peeking through the window, waiting for PJ's car to come into view. He would signal the rest of the gang to move into position. Despite Jack's request for him not to be embarrassing or bring up ship jokes, he was ready to pull all the stops to make Mark laugh. Twerking was even on that list when the music would start playing.
Ken had made sure to bring food and other party related things to this event. No alcohol though, because Phil clued them into Mark's inability to have alcohol while they were informing them on how he was. Ken, as well as the others, had wanted to visit him, but lacked the time. Instead they planned a surprise party for him.
Bob was going around and doing a quick check before getting ready to hide. He was responsible for the planning of the party and the assigning of tasks to the others. It was also his idea to have Dan and Phil visit Mark since they couldn't. Bob checked off the last item on his list and made his way to his spot.
Wade was kind of the plus one. He didn't really have the biggest part in the preparation for the party (bringing soda), but was also there to make Mark laugh, smile, as well as possibly dance like an idiot.
Dan was incredibly uncomfortable with this. He didn't do social functions, let alone surprise parties. Though, his overwhelming urge to care for and help others got the best of him in this case. He decided to bring an ironic gift for the hell of it: an empty Smirnoff bottle. Why was it ironic? Because Mark got beaten up at a drunk party.
Phil had brought something he was sure Mark would get a kick out of: a pink Warfstache set. He didn't care if it made sense, as long it made him smile. He thought about getting blue ones due to his hair, but Jack told him he had a pink laptop case.
Mark looked out the window seeing PJ had pulled into the parking lot. After the vehicle had come to a complete stop, he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out, looking to the building. It did make Mark wonder why PJ was the one to bring him back. He turned to PJ, giving him a questioning look.
"Why'd you bring me?" He asked.
PJ shrugged, not wanting to give anything away. He thought of himself as a pretty good actor for an animator. In the car, he had made sure to make the conversation as casual as possible.
"The guys asked me to." PJ answered.
Mark decided not to question it any further, knowing he wouldn't get any answers and began to walk up to the door of the dorm building.
"Mind if I come up?" PJ asked. "I could make due with some water."
"Sure." Mark answered.
Felix saw Mark walking up to the building with PJ.
"Barrel!" he whisper-shouted for the others to hear.
Immediately, everyone scrambled to their hiding spots. Wade tripped over Dan's foot in the process.
"Fuuuu..." Dan grunted.
"Sorry." Wade whispered.
The depressing thing was, his spot was only a few steps away from where he tripped.
After an elevator ride, Mark turned the brass knob to his dorm before pushing the door open, only to be met with a loud "surprise" on the other side. He let out a manly scream as he took a step back, placing his hand over his racing heart. When he realized the ones in the room were his friends, the shock soon turned to delight.
Phil unfortunately botched up the moment when he had another one of his accident prone moments. He fell onto the arm of the couch after tripping over his own foot, making a grunting noise and saying "ow".
"Even now, you trip over yourself?" PJ asked sarcastically.
Jack looked over, shaking his head and laughing a bit at the upperclassman who was more childish than he himself was.
"LET'S PARTAY!!!" Wade yelled.
Felix cued up the music with his phone which was wirelessly connected to two speakers. The party started, letting PJ disappear into the room after grabbing a soda.
Jack walked over to Mark, glad to see him well.
"You really had me scared there, buddy." Jack said.
"Why be scared for me?"
Jack gave him a look that could only be described as really? There were plenty of reasons as to why he was scared for Mark.
"Well let's see," Jack started. "People were sayin' Caspar almost beat ya dead, last time we spoke, you were bein' put in an ambulance, and you've been in a hospital fer four days. That enough to let me to be scared?"
Mark was about to retaliate with the fact that they hadn't known each other for too long, but Felix had twerked his way over to them. He gave Jack a small smirk and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Bet dis ass don't size up to Jack's, right Mark?" Felix asked.
Mark looked at Felix confused for a moment, wondering how on earth he was supposed to know or respond.
Jack on the other hand was 'playfully' punching Felix, making Felix stumble, but continue on. Jack had said to lay off the jokes, yet there it was again.
Dan noticed Felix's awkward twerking next to Mark and Jack. This wasn't going to end well if someone didn't cut in soon. He turned to PJ and tapped him.
"Go save Mark from the dreaded twerking, please?"
PJ nodded, and went to the trio. Thing was, he knew about Dan and Phil's gifts, and while Dan had anticipated to wait on the gifts until later, a little fun was needed. PJ wrapped an arm around Mark's shoulder.
"Hey Mark, Dan and Phil have something to give you."
Mark silently thanked PJ for saving him from the awkwardness, and agreed to leave the conversation.
When Mark had left the two, Jack groaned at Felix who stopped twerking.
"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't hurt you right now."
"Because I have two new friends here and you'd want to make a good impression?"
Mark found Dan on the couch alone with a drink. Usual awkwardness ensued when Dan looked up at him.
"So... PJ told me you have something for me?"
Dan's eyes widened in fear. PJ really had to do this to him now? The point of waiting was so that it wouldn't be awkward that no one else brought gifts.
Phil overheard Mark, and grabbed his red gift bag. He tapped Mark on the shoulder, making him turn.
"Mine first!" He said.
"Awesome, but you know you didn't have to."
"You can be humble all you want, but every party needs presents!"
Mark laughed softly at this and nodded in agreement as he took the red gift bag. He opened it, and his eyes brightened as he gave a hearty laugh. He pulled out the pink warfstache set, loving the comedy in it.
"You like it?"
"I love it!"
Phil was very pleased with himself. He actually did well with the present!
Mark opened the package, and put on one of the mustaches.
"How do I look?" he asked.
The four started laughing.
"Let me see!" Ken said as he walked over.
He too started laughing at Mark's ridiculous yet awesome look.
Mark decided to pull his phone out and take a couple of silly selfies of the moment, making sure to get the guys in the shot. Although, Dan was trying his damned hardest to hide his face.
After the selfie spur, Jack, Felix, and two new faces walked over to them, having a chance to have their own little laughing fit before joining in.
The two new people were a petite girl and a somewhat tall guy. The girl was short, had tan skin, long brunette hair with bleached tips, big dark brown eyes, and was wearing a black skirt, a pink blouse, and black leggings. Meanwhile the guy was a little... Odd. He was wearing a mask, but Mark could see he had pale skin, blonde curly hair, and was wearing a green hoodie with blue jeans.
"Guys, this is Marzia and Ryan." Jack said.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Mark said in a weird voice as he bowed. (Warfstache voice!)
"What was that?" Phil asked.
"The Warfstache changes you, man." Mark answered as he took the mustache off and put it in the gift bag.
"Pleasure is mine. Glad to meet someone with the guts to land a good hit on that Caspar brat." Ryan said. "Also, call me Cry."
"Bonjourno." Marzia greeted.
"Marzia's from Italy." Felix said.
"Oh that's so cool!" Mark exclaimed. "What majors are you two here for?"
"Well, I'm here for audio engineering." Cry stated.
"I'm here for the..." Marzia paused as if trying to think of the word. "Capi di abbigliamento program. How would I say that in English, Felix?"
"The clothing program." Felix translated.
"Still learning English?" PJ asked.
It was interesting to have a student who didn't have English as their first language. He thought maybe he could learn Italian from Marzia.
"Slowly but surely." Marzia replied.
"That's so cool!" Phil exclaimed.
"So, why leave Italy and come to England?" Ken inquired. "Isn't it supposed to be beautiful there?"
Marzia stared at him with a confused expression, and Felix noticed. Another language barrier moment.
"What does 'beautiful' and 'leave' mean again?" Marzia asked.
"Beautiful is bellissimo and leave is partire."
"Almost forgot!" PJ said.
He gave Dan a quick smirk before looking at Mark again. No, not the present! PJ was such an asshole sometimes.
"Dan has yet to give you his present."
The emphasis on the word 'his' made Dan infuriated.
"Oh that's right! Well, we shouldn't wait any longer, should we?" Mark said looking over to Dan.
Mark noticed how uncomfortable Dan was, and decided maybe they should wait until he was ready. He didn't want to push him, knowing how awkward he was.
"Let's wait until later."
Dan felt a weight lifted off his shoulder. He mouthed the words 'thank you' as he got up.
"I need the loo." He said as he walked away.
The rest of the party was filled with laughs, dancing, food, and Wade acting like a doofus. At around 10:30, people started leaving to go back to their dorms for the night. The next morning they had classes, and Mark especially needed to sleep. He missed 2 classes for one day which meant he had a ton of work ahead of him.
As Dan followed Phil out the door, he remembered his gift was still in his hand. He stopped in the doorway.
"I forgot to give you something."
"Oh right, your gift! I've been wondering about that."
Dan held up his black metallic gift bag with silver tissue paper, and handed it to Mark. He was sure that the bag represented his soul: dark with silver lining.
Mark took the gift bag eagerly with a smile. He felt like a child on christmas day for some reason. He opened it to find the empty beer bottle and had to stop himself from bursting into another fit of laughter.
"Oh the irony! It's great Dan, thank you so much."
"Irony is my thing, and it's Smirnoff, which I heard is the d-bag's favorite."
"Of course it would be."
Dan said goodbye and left the dorm, thinking Mark was alone.
Mark was ready to start cleaning up since he believed everyone was gone until he heard someone else shuffling about. He looked over his shoulder to see Jack walking around and picking up cups as well as other trash. Why was he still there?
"Didn't think I'd let you clean up for yer own party did ya?"
He knew that Mark was supposed to take it easy. Plus, Jack threw the party, so why have him clean it up?
"You threw the party though, you shouldn't be cleaning up."
"You just got out of the hopsital, you should be resting."
Mark sighed in defeat, then he remembered Jack didn't answer his question about why he was already so attached to him. They'd only known each other for at least a week, and already Jack was saving his life.
"Before I go sleep, I'd like to clarify something that Felix interrupted with his twerking."
Jack stopped for a second with his trash bag in his hand. He couldn't remember what that conversation was, but he did remember how mad he was at Felix.
"What was that?"
"I asked why you were scared."
"Why wouldn't I be, you silly?"
"Because we haven't talked all that long."
"Wouldn't you be scared shitless if you found one of us half dead on the sidewalk?"
Mark shrugged. He had a good point.
"I guess."
The fact that Mark hadn't thought of that was very naive in Jack's eyes. He scoffed and patted Mark's arm.
"Get some rest, buddy." He said with a smile.
Mark took his leave, but in front of his door he remembered Jack needed to lock up after he left.
"My keys are on the counter. You can lock the door when you leave."
"Won't you need yer keys tomorrow?"
"I have a spare set in my room. I'll be fine. See ya tomorrow."
"G'night."

Lynn
My life has been a mess and I haven't been able to type recently so the delay on this chapter is completely and entirely my fault and mine alone! I'm so so sorry to Becs for having her wait on me and not being able to make it but I hope it was enjoyable and it's a little smoother for the next chapter. Anyway enough rambling and onto the question of the chapter.
QOTC: What was your favourite Septiplier joke?

Becs
There's no need to apologize. I mean, if you read my one shots, you guys know that I was shaken by the possible loss of my pet mouse. Life gets hectic, and it's out of our control. Plus the fact that you keep hurting yourself might be a key factor in your absence XD
QOTD: Have you guys met any of the youtubers we've introduced so far?