He shut his eyes as her hand caressed his arm and head, forcing himself to keep listening to her through the doubts fogging up his mind. What could he really do, besides paint? He had no fighting skills. Not even self defense. Maybe he could take that but what good was it against villains like those who lurked around town? It was insane. Suicidal. Yet he was forcing himself to want to help.
Deep, deep down… he wanted to run. He wanted to scream and hide and claw at his head in disgrace at his cowardice.
But he didn’t.
“I… I could… d-do that too…” he mumbled. “Take… do what… you’re doing…”
“Self defense?” she asked softly, peering up into his eyes to read his emotions, to see the self doubt in them and the fear. She frowned a bit. He hadn’t believed her words.
“You can if you want but don’t force yourself either. I don’t want you forcing yourself for me. If you truly feel it’s what you want to do, then I can take you to my self defense instructor and we can train together. But like I said…we’re not going to fight..not really. It’s just for protection, just in case. When Hot Flash grabbed my chin and arm..I was too weak to do anything and now I hope I can at least shake her away and run. That’s the only reason I am learning.”
She smiled a bit. “And the disguise watches will help immensely.”
Jack looked at his feet now, before he slowly moved to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly; unable to say anything more. He doesn’t want to hide. His parents had spent years teaching him to believe in who he was, what he was, to not hide his face when he would dare to go outside. It was important to be who he was but he was such a person who stood out.
He nodded his head against her, still holding her, mute in his contemplation.
Jack Maple 