Chapter Text
Jake took a deep breath as he stepped out of the car’s passenger seat. He glanced around to spot his... “surprise guest” for the dinner tonight.
“Jack, please don’t smoke. Not now. The house is right there.”
Jack glanced at the phone, narrowing his eyes for a moment, then sighed and shoved the pack of cigarettes back in his pants pocket. He walked up to Jake and grinned, “You ready?”
If Jake had eyes he would’ve glared at Jack, “Please be normal around my family, Jack. They know I’ve brought someone but... they don’t know you.”
Jack made a short snort-laugh sound, “ Normal ?” He thought about the word for a moment. “You want me to be... normal .”
“Jack-”
“Your head is a phone , Jake. And you want me to be normal?”
“ Jack- ”
Jack’s shit-eating grin widened in amusement, “I am orange , Jake. Did you... bother to tell your family that?”
“...No.”
“Jesus, Jake-”
Jake sighs, some static spurring out of his speaker, “I know you get what I mean, Jack. Don’t... bring up murders. Or scuttlers.”
“Or the fact I’m dead?”
“Definitely no .”
Jack just gave a thumbs up in response. Jake waved his hand in a gesture for Jack to follow as he made his way towards the large house in front of them.
Jake took another deep breath as he reached for the front door’s handle. But before he could grab it, the door swung open. Jake stared into the face of his son. He’d already visited several times before, but he still couldn’t help but be filled with joy every time he saw Jason’s face- his son’s face, smiling back at him.
Jason quickly stepped forward to hug Jake. “Glad you made it, Dad.” Jake hugged him harder. Eventually, they stepped away from each other. “So, who’s the... guest?” Jason asked, spotting said guest behind Jake’s shoulder.
Jack awkwardly waved, with a lopsided grin on his face.
A bit of static spewed from Jake again before he got his words out, “This- this is Jack.”
Jason smiled a bit at his father, shaking his head in a mock-exasperated way, “Where do you find this people?” He muttered. “Anyways- come in, both of you.” He stepped aside to let them in the house. Jake grabbed Jack’s hand and half-pulled him inside.
Jack looked around, his typical neutral expression returning to him, “Place is nice.”
“Thanks, uh... Jack?”
“Yep.”
Jason opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could get any words out, a little girl ran quickly into the room, practically crashing into Jason’s legs to hug him. “Hey, Sam.” He picked her up and she stared wide-eyed at Jack. She pointed a small finger towards the tangerine-coloured man in the suit and smiled wide.
“Orange man!”
Jason seemed surprised -and a little worried- at his daughter’s bluntness, but Jack just stared back at the kid like it was a staring contest; not a single visible emotion on his face.
Jake fought the urge to facepalm. I said don’t be weird what are you doing god damn it J ack . He lightly placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder, whispering “ Jack . What-”
“She’s not scared of me.”
Jake was taken aback at the... sincerity? Of the statement. Jack hasn’t ever said anything so... genuine, really. Not in front of Jake, at least. Especially not in front of people he just met; people who are essentially strangers to him.
Jake squeezed Jack’s shoulder softly, “Maybe stop... staring at her so intently?” Jack quickly blinked and looked down, seemingly like he was unaware he had been staring at all.
Looking to clear the awkwardness in the room, Jason spoke up, “This is, uh, Samantha. My daughter,” He turned his gaze to Samantha, “Say hi,” he offered.
Samantha waved excitedly and said (maybe a bit too loudly), “Hi!!” Jason cleared Samantha’s light auburn hair out of her green eyes.
Jake felt Jack tense his shoulders from under his light grip. He took his hand off Jack and reached toward the child. “Hey, Sammy, how have you been?” His speaker cut up for a moment, but clearly she still understood him.
Samantha reached her own hands out to Jake and he held her. “Papa,” she said, looking at Jake, “I’m good!!”
Jake tried to ignore the way Jack was staring at him. He, once again, couldn’t read any emotion on the man’s face, but he still looked tense.
Jason cleared his throat, “Dinner is, uh, nearly ready. Jack, do you like turkey?”
Jack’s attention abruptly snapped to Jason, and he blinked for a moment, processing the question before responding in his typical sarcastic tone, “Anything’s better than pizza every damn day.” He sounded... mostly normal, but... Jake couldn’t help but sense something was wrong; Jack sounded off, but Jake couldn’t quite place what it was.
Jason didn’t seem to notice it, though. He chuckled and said, “Well, that’s good, then.” He turned to his daughter still in Jake’s arms, “Now you miss, go wash up.”
Samantha was lowered to the ground and she ran around the corner to the hallway, and presumably the bathroom.
Jake sighed quickly and made a nonsensical, wave-like gesture with his hands, “Can I- uh- I need to speak with...” He turned his head to Jack, “you for a moment.” He turned back to Jason, “We’ll be just a second, promise.”
“No worries, Dad. I’ll get the table ready.”
Jake quickly pulled Jack off to the corner of the living room as Jason went to the kitchen. He whispered, “What’s up with you?” He crossed his arms, “Jack, you’re being weird.”
Jack narrowed his eyes, looking at the ground, “It’s nothing.”
“Don’t give me that. Come on. You can talk to me, can’t you?”
“It’s nothing, Pet- Jake. It’s nothing.”
...did he nearly call me ‘Pete?’ Jake was even more suspicious now. “Jack. Just-” Jake put his head in one hand, “Tell me-”
“I said it’s nothing, Jake. Leave it,” Jack practically spat the words at him. He added, quietly, “Just fucking leave it...” Jake was surprised- He’d never seen Jack this pissed at him before. Other people, sure, but... never Jake.
“I-”
Samantha ran back into the room, this time with a woman behind her, sharing her same curly auburn hair. Her eyes widened when she saw Jake and Jack in the corner.
Jake glanced at Jack and saw he smiled at the woman, any trace of his annoyance from seconds ago gone. Jack was clearly glad for the escape from the conversation; Jake, not so much. He made a mental note to confront Jack about it again later.
Jake waved at the woman, “Hey, Sarah. This is... Jack.” He gestured unnecessarily at Jack.
Samantha ran up to Jack (who flinched), yelling, “Orange man!” again and again. She stood close in front of him and looked up at him, seemingly waiting for something. She held one arm up while the other held a small plush of a blue dog, “Up!”
Jack blinked at her, “Up?”
Jake nudged him, “She wants you to pick her up.”
Jack slowly picked up the seven year old as she cheered. He smiled ever so faintly.
Sarah sighed, “You can’t have everyone carry you around forever, you know?” Samantha simply stuck her tongue out at her mother in response. Jack softly laughed. Jake felt a fluttery feeling in his chest; god, how he loved his laugh.
Jake took a deep breath. Maybe... maybe...
Maybe things won’t be so bad tonight after all.