All credit goes to Valentinesdaygreen a great deviantart writer.
{Reader's POV}
Recovery was boring.
I sat sprawled on the couch, watching TV. There wasn't much to do when Jack kept insisting I needed to rest. At least he no longer offered to carry me everywhere... I was suddenly stirred from my bored thoughts as Jack plopped next to me on the couch, the springs bouncing slightly under the sudden added weight. "What're we watching?" he asked, leaning back and looking at the TV curiously. I looked at it again, trying to remember the show's name.
"I don't know, some soap opera...?" Cue dramatic music on the TV and an over dramatic gasp from the woman.
"What's even going on?" Jack asked, tilting his head at the screen as she turned away from her husband in a dramatic fashion while holding herself.
"Ricardio just confessed to Ellen about cheating on her with her twin brother Eddie." Jack shot me a questioning glance, and even with his mask hiding it I could feel him scrutinizing me carefully as I stared at the screen.
"...Do you actually LIKE this stuff...?"
"No, not really," I replied with a shrug, earning another surprised glance.
"You don't? Then why are you watching it!?"
"Because this place only has basic cable and there's nothing else on TV during the day except couples publicly fighting and breaking up on a talk show."
"...Oh," he muttered lamely, sinking into the couch a bit. "...Sorry, I don't really use it much other than to watch the news..."
"Honestly, I'm surprised you even have electricity, let alone basic cable," I admitted, turning down the volume a bit as I turned to him. "I mean, aren't you supposed to pay electric bills or something?" He paused, considering it thoughtfully.
"...You know, I never thought about it that much," he admitted, shrugging. "One of my friends hooked me up with this place. He owed me a big favor, saved one of his proxies."
"Proxies?" I repeated, puzzled by the term. Dredging up any knowledge I had on the word, I muttered, "Isn't that what you use to access websites without your IP being known or something...?" Jack didn't respond right away.
"...Maybe? But I meant... In this case, it's more like 'servants', I guess. I saved one of them, and later he had one of them lead me here. The place already had electricity and working water and stuff when I got here, so I never really thought about it." He shrugged. "I mean, if that stuff stopped I would, but I've been here for a little under a year now and it's always worked fine. There's that saying—don't look a gift horse in the mouth, you know?"
"Kinda weird, seeing how curious you are." He ducked his head.
"I'm not THAT curious..." I just rolled my eyes and turned the volume back up, leaning forward intently as Ellen continued a tearful rant at how Ricardio had betrayed her trust one time too many even as he pleaded for a second chance. Jack glanced at the TV and then at me. "...Do you REALLY like this show, or...?"
"Jack, I have seen five episodes. I am far too invested in this to stop now." At this point Ellen accepted Ricardio's plea for one last chance, making me curse. "Dammit, Ellen! Just say no already you idiot! You're too good for that bastard!"
"...You're just really desperate, aren't you?"
"You have no freaking idea." I sighed and sank back in the couch, groaning softly. Yep. I was bored. It was hard NOT to be. I almost missed the days when I was scared. I mean, yeah, constantly living in fear for my life wasn't that fun, but at least it kept me on edge. Now I had nothing to do but fuss over freaking daytime soaps. Jack just stared at me silently, and then took the remote and switched off the remote. "Hey! I was watching that!"
"Yeah, well, now you're not," he declared, walking to the front door and propping it open. Returning to the couch, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet, making my face explode in a blush as he kept a tight grip on my hand.
"Wh-what are you doing!?"
"Taking you outside," he replied as he led me to the door. "If you're going to be doing nothing, you might as well get some fresh air."
{Jack's POV}
Threading the needle carefully, he handed it to the bewildered [Name] along with a small swatch of fabric. "Just sew it up like last time," he told her, and she nodded hesitantly as she set to work on the training dummy on her lap.
It felt like ages had passed since he'd brought her to the clearing reserved for training purposes. Seeing as she was doing quite a bit better, Jack had decided that her time would probably be better spent patching up his training dummies. Fresh air tended to help aid recovery, and her brain would be more satisfied with stitching than watching stupid over dramatic soap operas.
As he sat on the stump opposite hers and set to work, their last visit to the clearing flashed through his mind. Just remembering how it turned out made his head throb lightly, but he was pretty sure nothing like that would happen again. After all, he had no reason to leave this time, and [Name] was still a little weak from the appendectomy. Though she'd still insisted on him letting her walk rather than being carried.
A shame, too. He kind of liked feeling her head resting against his chest.
Tearing out an old patch covering the heart's location, a small frown touched his lips as he sewed a new one in its place. Was it his imagination, or was the hole bigger than last time? At this rate he'd need to get a new set of training dummies, these were getting pretty worn out. He sighed softly at the thought, making [Name] glance up at him curiously.
"Something wrong?"
"Not really. Just trying to figure out where I'd get a new dummy." This elicited a confused look from her.
"Where'd you get them last time?"
"Stole them. Lucked out and a victim had a bunch in a storage room. Was a pain getting them all here without being seen though." He shrugged as he continued his work.
"Maybe you can try stealing mannequins thrown out by stores or something...?" He shot her an incredulous look, making her shrink back slightly.
"Are you kidding? Have you SEEN those things? I've seen a lot of people, but not one person's body looked like THAT. But these?" He gave the cloth dummy on his lap a pat for emphasis. "These may not be perfect replicas of the human body, but they're still closer to the average person's shape than those things." Shaking his head, he resumed work on the dummy while [Name] just stared at him in surprise.
"...Never would have pegged you to be against false body image in media," she commented with a smirk. Jack tensed for a moment at her comment, but as he thought about it a small smirk crossed his lips.
"...I want to say I'm not, but I guess I am. All those models in magazines and TV ads totally misrepresent the average person's body. False expectations and junk like that. Most people tend to be a bit shorter and stockier. Plus, I'm pretty sure some of those models have anorexia. Drives me nuts."
"Even a cannibal living in the woods knows it's unrealistic," she chuckled, flashing him a smile. "That kinda says a lot, doesn't it?"
"Hey, I'm not a cannibal," he protested with a grin. "Cannibals eat their own kind, and I'm not exactly human, now am I?" She blinked at him and her smile faded, making his fade too. After a moment she tilted her head downwards, her hair falling over her face in a [h/c] curtain that hid her expression.
"...Yeah, guess not," she muttered, her voice soft as she tugged the needle through the dummy's skin once more. Jack looked at her in surprise for a moment before slowly tipping his head forward as well, a small frown hidden behind his mask as he also resumed work.
Yep.
He just had to go and ruin the moment, didn't he...?