Jack's POV
The plane finally landed and I could now be relaxed, and be my lonely self now that I was back home, with no one. This trip, was absolutely useless. I had no reason to go to Brighton and the whole thing ended terribly. Why did I go? I should have just stayed home and dealt with my own loneliness. No one needs to be with me. I shouldn't put my own problems onto anyone else. They're my issues, and they should stay mine. Even when people are the solution to my problems. If anyone wants to see me, I will gladly let them. I won't ask anyone on purpose so that I'm not a bother or a burden. Not that anyone will purposely want to hang out with me. I'm so lonely. I don't even know how to fix this. There's nothing I can do about people not wanting to see me. I was teared from my thoughts as the person next to me abruptly stood up. At first I wasn't sure why, but then I realized that he was standing because the plane had docked and people could now leave. I put my headphones in my carry on bag and stood up, putting my phone in my back pocket. It wasn't a very long trip, but I wanted to get off this plane and start playing more video games. I was ready to get back into the daily grind of YouTube. There was still a while before I could get off the plane, but I just stared at the top of the seat in front of me, following the stitches of the fabric, a blank, non expressive mask on my face. I glanced up and saw that the line to the exit of the plane had begun to move, and was much closer to where I was standing. I picked my head up and clutched the handles of my bag that was on my chair, ready to move. When it was my turn, I quickly shuffled into the line of people, making my way down the isle, watching my labored steps. I approached the exit and made my way down the tunnel to the main building of the airport. When I got to the end, I looked around at the signs to try to find one to the baggage claim. When I saw it, I started to walk in the direction the arrow was pointing. I looked straight ahead, not focusing on any of the people walking past me. I finally saw the rows of baggage claim, and looked for the baggage from Brighton. I found where it should be and stood back and waited for the carousel to start turning. It finally did and I still had to wait a while for my bag. I finally saw my small, black suitcase and I started to walk over to it. But before I could reach it, a tall man with a hoodie over his head grabbed my bag.

"Hey! Sir! That's my bag you got there!" I said, my voice only loud enough for him, and some of the surrounding people to hear. Once I said that, the man stopped dead in his tracks. He put the suitcase down and put his head down with it.

"I'm sorry I thought it was mine." The man said. His voice was surprisingly low. It was also surprisingly familiar. I also noticed that he had a red flannel sticking out of his back pocket. That also seemed very familiar.

"Hey, turn around." I said. I needed to see the face of the man. I needed to confirm my suspicions. He didn't do anything for a couple seconds, but then he put both of his hands up to his head. Instead of turning around, he put down the hood of his hoodie. I then saw a plume of bright red hair on the top of his head. That was enough for me to confirm who I though it was. "Mark?" I asked. He didn't reply, but he then turned around slowly and I could tell he was trying really hard to contain a smile. When I saw his face, my once expressionless mask fell away and a big smile stared to spread across my face. "Mark!" I exclaimed!

"Jack!" He said, finally breaking into a smile.
I don't know who moved first, but before I knew it, we where in a tight embrace. His strong, muscular arms encircled my small frame. I don't know how long we were hugging, but when I opened my eyes, I saw many people staring, some were smiling. I then thought that these people could think of us as a couple reuniting or somethin. I didn't just want to pull away, because I really liked the hug, but I thought that many people would get the wrong idea about us, and I didn't want that. So, I whispered in his ear, "People are staring."

We then both pulled away, and Mark said unreasonably loud so that anyone staring could here, "It's nice to see an old friend again! I haven't seen you in years!" The last part was a lie, but I understood. I thought it was a good coverup, and the people realized they were staring, and then understood why we were hugging. I think.

"Wow, its good to see you!" Mark said to me, scanning my face up and down. We were still standing relatively close to one another.

"Ya, you too! Why did you come here?! All the way from America?!" I asked, trying my best not to sound ungrateful, or in anyway, rude. I defiantly didn't want that, because he flew all the way out to Ireland to see me!

"Oh, yeah. I was just lonely and thought that I would come see you! I apparently came too early and you left for Brighton when I arrived. So, I had to wait a little more than a day." He said, looking the slightest bit embarrassed, his smile fading.

"No! Don't be sorry! And I think if I remember right, I think I saw someone with red hair walking by as I was leaving for Brighton! I guess it was you! Did you have a map? Because the man I saw had his face in a map. And, I should be sorry." I said.

"No, you didn't know I was coming. It's my fault. But the most important part is that we are both here, in person, standing face to face. And, I guess that was me at the airport! I had to get a map at one of the shops because I had no idea where I was going!" He said, his smile coming back a little.

"Wow! Small world. I guess that's true. We are both here, and well." I thought that it was sweet of him for coming out all this way, just to see me. "I thought that it was really sweet of you for coming out to see me." As I realized I actually said that out loud, I felt my face start to turn a light shade of red. "Oh god, I said that out loud, didn't I? I didn't mean..I mean..I don't know. Oh god.." I tried to explain, my smile gone, my face now a bright red, my head down, now looking at my fumbling hands, now playing with the sleeves of my jacket.

"You-you did?" Mark asked in a calm, deep voice. I could feel him stare at the top of my head.

"Um..Uh..I mean..I..." I tried to tell him. I still looked down, and was petrified with fear, and embarrassment. I have no idea why I actually thought, or said that. I guess because I actually did think that? Is that normal?

"Well, I think that it's was sweet that you thought that." said Mark, swooping in and saving me from his own question.

"You did?" I asked, my head slowly rising as I did. I then locked my blue eyes with his beautiful brown ones.

"Of course! I was hoping that you wouldn't think that it was weird that I came all the way here just to see you.!" He said.

"No! Not at all! I'm glad you came!" I said, my smile returning to my face, causing Mark to smile as well.

"So what were you going to do?" Mark asked. I didn't want to sound too busy, but I also did need to get the first video up for the day.

"Well, I have to go home, upload the first video of the day, and at least make one more for my second upload. Other than that, causally make videos, watch some of other people's, and probably go out to eat. I said. I hoping that it didn't sound too busy.

"Ok, so that sounds pretty good. Do you have a way to get home, cause I don't." He said. I kind of wanted him to come over to my place to hang out.

"No, not right away, but I was going to call a taxi over. Do you want to come with me? You could hang out at my place while I get some work done? You don't have to in case you need to do something." I said. I hope he didn't have anything else.

"Are you kidding me? I would love to come over! It's not like I have anything else to do in a totally foreign country. Thank you!" He said, scaring me a little at the first sentence, but then a wave of relief passed over me.

"All right, that's great! Let's get goin!" I said, actually excited about what was to come.

"Oh wait, first, let me change out of this." Mark said, gesturing to his sweatshirt. It was definitely new.

"Oh, ok." I said. He started to take off the sweatshirt. It said 'I ❤️ Ireland' on it. I was watching him take it off, when I saw a little bit of his toned abs when he was trying to get it off. I didn't notice I was staring until his shirt went back down. He looked at the top of my head when his head emerged from the top of his shirt, and I felt my face grow hot. I don't know why, but I was looking down to try to hid it. I could see his muscular arms out of the corner of my eye. I then saw a piece of dark clothing being held in front of my face.

"Could you please hold this for a second?" He asked. I then felt a little better and thought I would be able to look at him in the face.
"Ya, sure, of course." I said. When I looked at him, he was smiling and it made me smile as well. He grabbed his flannel out of his back pocket and then he slipped it on. It fit him perfectly. His whole outfit made him look great. Wait, what am I thinking? As long as he doesn't know I think this, right? He held his hand out and I guess I still had some brain power and realized he wanted his hoodie back.

I gave it back and then asked, "So, how'd you get it?"

"Well, I realized I was early when I looked at the flights, and so I got to thinking on how I was going to surprise you." We started walking to the outside of the airport. "So, I thought of this scenario. I was going to go along with it, but realized that I needed to get something to cover my obvious red hair. I went up to one of the souvenir shops and bought the first sweatshirt I saw and thought that it looked fine. So, I got it, took off my flannel and put on my new sweatshirt. I then realized that I didn't have anywhere to put my flannel, so I stuck it in my pocket, hoping that it wouldn't give me away. When I saw you walking over, I put the hood over my head and watched until I could tell which suitcase was yours. So that's how that happened."

"Oh, ok! You have a great sense of style.!" I said, trying to be a little bit funny to lighten the mood.

"Yep! Always!" He said, catching on to my 'joke'. "How about we catch one of those busses into town, and then get a cab?" Mark suggested.

"Ya, sure! Sounds great!" I said.

Mark's POV
We were walking out of the airport when I realized I didn't know what I was going to do exactly. I didn't know how to get to a bus. But luckily Jack did. I got into a habit of calling him Jack, instead of Seán. I was just happy that he didn't think that it was strange of me to fly all the way out here, and that he wanted me to go to his apartment! I followed Jack to one of the bus stops, and we waited a while. We talked about many things. There was never a dull moment in my opinion. When the bus finally arrived, the mood changed between us. We wouldn't talk, but it wasn't weird. I was enjoying myself for once and I could tell that Jack was really happy too. When I saw him standing there at the baggage claim, I could instantly tell that he was sad, and lonely. His face had one expression. No expression. It was dull, and it hurt me for some reason to look at his blank face. There was no energy. No reason. It made me think of how he would react to seeing a familiar face, and being able to spend time with a good friend. During the bus ride, I would catch myself glancing over at him and just smiling a little to myself and admiring him a few times. He was just so perfect, and so whole. I wasn't sure what I was thinking, but I didn't care. I was with Jack and that was all that mattered. When ever I looked at him, I could see that a tiny bit of pink would dust his cheeks. When I thought he would turn and look back at me, I looked away, kind of sorry I made him blush. But I thought it was cute. I didn't care what I was thinking. I was just thinking of Jack. A few times, I was sure I felt his stare on my profile. I would look at my hands and smile a little. The bus ride was almost silent between us for the whole trip. But it wasn't an awkward silence. They were meaningful and every second to me was cherished. We would sit there, next to each other, stealing glances at each other every once in a while. I looked up once to see if anyone was watching us, but everyone seemed engrossed in their phones, or not even paying the slightest bit of attention to us. It was nice. Not worrying about the people. Just spending time with Jack. I loved every moment with him. It just made me think of how hard it would be to leave.

What's going to happen next? How will Jack and Mark's relationship as friends continue? Hello! Thanks for reading!! Hope you liked! I'm really excited to write this! I think I have some good ideas for the next few chapters especially. Congrats to SepticSam27 for getting 1k reads on Mercy!! If you haven't already, read it!! Also read the sequel! College! They're both really good!! Congrats! Anyway, until the next chapter, PEACE!!!