♕
Jake was thankful when Kate interrupted him and Frank's 'moment'.
Jake's awkward statement had prompted a smile from Frank, and truthfully it wasn't something he'd found himself prepared for. It hadn't lasted long, but watching the other man smile felt like he'd been graced with sunshine in the middle of a vicious thunderstorm.
Kate had poked her head in unprompted, eyes bouncing between the two of them, brows knitting together as she seemingly tried to piece together whatever the Hell was going on. Knowing her, she was probably confused by the fact Jake had somehow managed to get Frank to crack a smile, but he didn't ask.
Instead, Kate shoved herself between them, flopping herself down on the blanket Frank had moved to the side a little earlier.
"Whatcha up to?" She asked, handing a stolen bottle to Jake.
He quirked a brow, turning the bottle over in his hands. It looked to be some type of beer, probably something she or the others had managed to bring out of a trial. The label was faded, but they knew to just eat, or in this case, drink, whatever they'd found anyway. What was the worst that could happen? As dark as it was, food poisoning was nothing compared to the way they'd feel when Adiris would infect them with her plague. The taste was worth whatever repercussions they'd deal with later.
"Oh, you found beer again?" He asked, handing the bottle back to her, "Is there enough to share?"
Jake didn't drink a lot, but since being brought to the Fog, he and Kate would sometimes have one together. It was one of the few things they could consume that actually tasted like it did back home, and it brought a small sense of comfort to the group when they needed it most.
"Of course, I wouldn't be showing this to you if there wasn't!" She beamed, producing two more bottles from outside of the tent and offering one to Frank.
Frank took the bottle in his hands.
"You brought one for me, too?" He asked, with a tone that indicated both surprise and disbelief.
Jake found himself hiding a smile at the interaction. It just felt natural to him, watching as Kate treated Frank with the same respect and dignity she'd show anyone- even if he hadn't always been on their side.
Kate let out a laugh, as she nodded.
"Yeah, 'course! You at least kept things interesting when you and Jake would flip each other off across the lake. How did you even manage to hang around there?" She asked, breaking the cap off of her bottle.
Frank shrugged, gesturing for Kate to do the same for him.
"I just thought it was funny, and I was bored, really..." He responded, Jake watching as he took a sip of his drink, "I wanted to see how long I could stay there before I pissed her off, y'know?"
The beers were warm as he'd expected, but the comfort was still appreciated, and Jake found himself smiling as he watched the exchange between Kate and Frank. He couldn't imagine having the gall to try to go against anyone- let alone a God, or whatever The Entity was. Jake had had a hard enough time going against his parents wishes, and-
"Jake!"
Jake's attention snapped back to Kate, who was calling his name.
"What's on your mind, Jake? You're so spacey lately! Anyway, Frank was telling me there's champagne behind the bar of Ormond. We should try to steal it next time we're there!"
She was smiling as she took another swig of beer, Jake's gaze settling back to Frank.
"Yeah, I'd like that," He responded, as he watched a smile pull at the other man's lips.
☺
Things felt slower on the survivor side of The Fog.
As a Killer, you'd be tasked with trials more often than not, sometimes, in Frank's case, by himself, but usually with a number of his squad. Nearly every 'day' you'd have to complete one, and Frank was sure it was worse for the other Killers, too, who didn't have anyone to 'trade out' with.
As a survivor, you always went with others. It was nice, Frank thought, to have the company, even if it was terrifying to be sent into the trials. Better yet, you got time in between them. There were way more survivors than there were Killers, so sometimes you'd go 'days' without seeing any action.
While they couldn't really measure days properly anymore, Frank guagued it by when he slept, and usually he'd have a few naps before they'd be sent out again.
So far, he'd mostly been sent in with people he'd interacted with- he had only been in one trial without Jake.
He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he didn't like being put in trials without him, or even worse, when Jake was sent without him .
Jake.
The whole fucking reason he was even here in the first place.
Over the past while, he and Jake had grown closer.
Jake was one of the only people that had initially trusted him, within reason, and they were sharing a tent together. Jake was helping him learn how to keep his anger in check, and Frank, selfishly, liked to think that he was helping Jake become tougher.
Not tougher in the sense that he wasn't already tough, but tough enough not to take any shit from people that wanted to test his patience and use him for their own personal gain.
Frank and Jake hadn't talked about it, but Frank just knew when someone had parental issues, and while he didn't think they were necessarily the same as his, he felt like Jake needed the reminders anyway. He deserved to be selfish way more than he deserved to be selfish.
Slowly, Frank found himself wanting to be a better person if not for himself, but for Jake and Jake's approval.
He wanted to make Jake proud of him, because Jake had offered him a kindness he'd never seen before.
Julie had offered him something, too, but it wasn't what Jake had given without even trying.
He and Julie had fed off of their own toxicity- they brought out the worst in one another, and he loved it. He grew to be obsessed with the validation that Julie provided him with, and the power he'd felt over her.
It was fucking disgusting of him, honestly.
Frank knew that they were all stupid teenagers when they'd met, and even though he wasn't much older than that now by technicality, and that they didn't really age in The Fog, he felt like he'd emotionally grown a lot since then. Even more so since being exposed to people of different mindsets, and not ones etched in anarchy and chaos.
Though, it was wrong of him to have expected anything from Julie at all in the first place, but back then, and even now, he knew he didn't have the mental capacity to deal with that kind of thing. He'd never been taught how to be a normal fucking human, but he was hoping he could learn when they got out of here. He should have never been around Julie in the first place, and he realized that now. She deserved much better than what he'd ever been able to give her, or what he'd put her through.
He still wanted to get them out of here because this was all his fault, but he didn't think he'd ever be friends with them again as much as he wanted to. It was better for all of them that he wasn't in their lives anymore.
It was the only way they could properly heal.
☺
Finally, after what Frank could only describe as weeks, did The Entity bring him back to Ormond.
He shot a mischievous grin over to Jake, who tugged his gray sweatshirt a little tighter.
"Don't forget, black leather jacket, champagne!" He yelled to him, as he watched the other man sprint off towards a generator.
Cold air filled his lungs, as he took in a deep breath and surveyed the area.
He missed it here, but it was hardly the time for any emotional reunion- and this wasn't the real Ormond. He wondered if it would even be there when they got back.
The familiar heartbeat of a Killer thrummed in his ears, and Frank quickly ducked behind a rock.
At first, he wondered if the Killers would go easier on him because of who he was, but he quickly realized that wasn't the case.
With his face no longer covered by a mask, and his clothing replaced with newer items from Jake, he supposed most of the Killers wouldn't even recognize him anyway- and would he have gone easier on someone who'd betrayed everyone, even if it was unintentional? He knew the answer was no.
Carefully, Frank poked his head out of his hiding spot catching a glimpse of the back of the Killer's jacket. The long, leather trench billowed behind her, as she made her way towards a group of survivors on a generator- thankfully Jake was off somewhere on his own, as he so often did.
He knew he didn't have much of a choice or he'd risk Jake's safety as well as his own, so he left the pair to figure it out, and made his way to a generator inside the lodge. One of the girls was Kate, and he knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself at this point. She'd punched him in the face once in retaliation back when he was still a Killer- she was far stronger than she looked.
Hazel eyes scanned the main room of the lodge, quickly settling on the generator next to the fireplace. Frank was hoping his coat would be upstairs hanging in one of the bedrooms, and he knew the champagne was in the foyer behind the bar if nothing else- all he had to do was survive, and he could get at least one thing off of his checklist.
Carefully he sank to one knee and began working on rearranging the generator's wires. Part of him was always left wondering just how he'd learned how to repair them so fast without any previous knowledge of the technology, but he'd learned to just accept it.
He'd grown so focused on his task, he'd almost mistaken Jake for Amanda as the man peered down at him on the generator.
"Jesus Christ!" Frank yelped, as Jake knelt down next to him and got to work, "I thought you were Miss Piggy!"
A smirk played across Jake's lips as he looked up from the generator.
"Would you like me to be?" He quipped, soft laughter escaping him as he got back to work, "Sorry to disappoint you!"
"You- Fuck off," Frank responded, shaking his head and allowing the smile he'd wanted to allow out for so long, "Of course I'd rather it be you ."
Jake reached out and gave Frank a light shove on the arm, and got back to work on the generator. Before long they'd finished their task and Frank had counted the familiar jingle at least four times previously- they were almost able to go. Jake had finished one himself, and the others had finished two of their own. The trial was going surprisingly well. Maybe Amanda was tired?
"Wait, c'mere," Frank found himself saying as Jake rose from the ground. Before he'd realized it, his hand had found Jake's and he was tugging him up the stairs to where he remembered his jacket being last.
The room looked so familiar to him, bringing memories flooding back. His gaze found the doodles he'd painted with Susie, and the television they'd somehow been able to get power on to watch old movies.
Memories from before all of this- but also before Jake.
"You brought me all the way to this dirty bedroom to make out? Why couldn't it wait until after the trial? " Jake asked, folding his arms across his chest and furrowing his brows.
Frank felt like he was going to pass out.
And Jake seemed to quickly realize his (what Frank assumed was a) joke had gone over Frank's head, and that he had thought Jake was serious.
"Oh my God, I'm sorry, I'm just fucking with you! The coat, it's here, right?"
Frank pursed his lips as he ripped open a closet, face lighting up as he started right at his coat.
He pulled the garment off the hanger, throwing it at Jake, who seemed surprised that he hadn't immediately put it on himself.
A coy smile tugged at his lips.
"Shut up and put this on, your lips are turning blue and then we will have to make out for your survival."
Jake glared at him.
"I'm just kidding!"
♕
The rest of the trial had been fairly uneventful, at least for Frank and Jake.
Jake had pulled on Frank's jacket which much to his surprise, actually fit him. He was sure it was because Frank liked to layer heavy sweatshirts underneath his jackets, but there was something about wearing Frank's coat that made him feel a little shy and embarrassed.
Even more so when the two of them appeared at the already open exit gates, and the way Kate had immediately pressed Jake for information about where they'd been, and what he was wearing.
"Listen, I can't carry the team while you two mess around in Frank's old bedroom every trial!" Kate teased, grabbing Jake's hand and tugging him through the exit gates.
"We did two generators, and stole a bunch of champagne! You clearly were fine, too, I don't see a scratch on you!" Jake retorted, but he knew she was only messing around. In these situations it was a group effort, and Kate knew Jake usually did his share.
Jake's gaze trailed back to Frank who was running behind them with an arm full of champagne bottles and Nea hot on his trail. The Pig herself stood and watched them, blade raised, but she really didn't seem herself today. Somehow she seemed less aggressive, but Jake didn't think much of it. He was sure they all had their off days.
Before he knew it, they were being teleported back to the campfire, arriving back safe and sound with the others.
Frank walked past Jake, carefully dumping the bottles in front of the fire, and taking one for himself.
"Here, help yourselves, but this one's for Nea, Jake, Kate and I!"
Jake watched as Frank made his way back to his tent, kicking off his shoes and crawling inside. Kate, who still hadn't let go of Jake's hand, tugged him towards the tent.
"Let's go, Jake! I want to try this!"