Work Text:
I hear him stir in the other room before I can click the link to ‘LambsWorks’. The way I rush to hide my phone makes me feel like I’m back home – well, my parent’s home.
I hide myself under the sheets and listen as the door opens and Jacks’ heavy footsteps draw near.
“Good morning, Cloudy.” He says softly. He used to regard me as Sunshine, but overtime Cloudy became a sort of rueful nickname in regards to my “clouded” mannerisms.
I breathe softly to sell the act of sleeping. Though it wouldn’t matter if he bought it or not, seeing as he’s gonna wake me up anyway. He shakes me gently, and it’s not an act when I lurch away slightly. Jack pulls the cover back and I grimace from the bright ray of sunlight shining through my curtains.
Or maybe that’s just Jacks’ smile? I can never tell the difference…
“No phone at the table.”
I blink up at the stacked clown man on the other side of the table. Jack’s holding a plate of his special blueberry pancakes while looking expectantly at the phone in my hand.
“I’m doing research!” I retorted.
“Let me rephrase that. No phone… or no pancakes ,” He said, “What’s it gonna be?”
I briefly gaped at him before scowling. How dare he deny me pancakes!? Nonetheless I set the phone aside and make a guttural noise that’s something like a groan and a growl to showcase my discontent. “Your gremlin noises don’t scare me.” Jack says matter-of-factly as he sets down my plate.
It’s hard to be mad while I eat, seeing as they’re just so good. But I can’t help but feel as if I was about to have a breakthrough with all the clicking and texting I did last night.
I’d started looking into Jack’s past. When he first appeared to me it was through a TV and then he introduced himself as “Sunny Day Jack” from “Cloudy Town”. Knowing there was no such person or place, I’d simply chalked the experience up to either some bad takeout messing with me or the codependent part of my brain manifesting an adult friend to take care of my basic needs.
Thankfully, it was neither as the next day I’d seen a neighbor walking with an identical copy of Jack. Though granted he was somewhat blurry, like an old TV. They’d seen mine too, and apparently knew a lot more than I had.
“It goes like this,” My neighbor, who had me address them as ‘Red’, “Two years ago I found Jacks’ tape. Stuff happened. Now your next door neighbor has it, and that Jack has no memory of me.”
The way they explained it, it seemed like they were overwhelmed. Like something was pressing down on their mind. Like they thought something bad was about to happen.
Though I couldn’t get the thought out of my head, Why would anyone copy a ghost all around town? Despite the similar start-offs, it wasn’t like The Ring or anything, where you had to copy him multiple times to avoid death. As far as I knew Jack was benevolent.
…As far as I knew.
And soon enough I’d started seeing my next door neighbor, May Davis walking with a clearer version of Jack. And if their Jack was blurry, he was Hi-definition. The original.
I’d once caught myself staring too long as the OG Jack caught my gaze. He looked at me curiously, probably thinking I hadn’t seen him. Then upon noticing my Jack, he flinched, and his face went through several phases of confusion, fear, and caution.
Davis was currently fiddling with her keys and hadn’t noticed us at all.
The Jack behind me instinctively pulled me back, “Let’s get inside.” He muttered.
I'm back on my phone as we have down time in the living room.
Out of my peripheral I can tell Jacks' narrowing his eyes at me the whole time. He knows I know it too.
I make some kind of musing huff from my nose. Does he think he can scare me or something?
The couch shifts as Jack moves and I flinch harshly. When I look at him he's raising a brow at me; it turns out he'd just moved on the armrest.
I chuckle nervously and go back to scrolling.
LambsWorks…LambsWorks…aha!
I click the link to LambsWorks that I'd originally found, and it turns out it was a studio for a new show in development. My interest is mildly piqued to see what it is…and then the mild shoots up to full on invested.
It was Jack! Or…some version of him. Not like a copy. It was a different actor(?) Slender, with long hair tied into a ponytail. He had freckles, and basically everything Jack wore but with more color. His little smiley belt was a fanny pack now.
Ew.
Underneath it read, Coming Soon To Channel 7! In bold yellow letters.
Cautiously, I glanced at Jack, who was currently watching TV with a bored expression.
At times like this I tried to remind myself that Jack was a nice fella. He wouldn't hurt anyone.
Why I was reminding myself that about a kids show character I'll never know. It just comes up like instinct. I know things like when he's displeased and there's some sort of mental alarm that goes off and tries to calm me down. To reassure me. Half the time I can't tell if it's my own.
Because the thing is, Jack has shown to be very protective of me. For someone all about understanding or kindness he tends to jump to conclusions about a lot of people. In some ways it was like having a third parent. A helicopter parent. Of course, I was granted privacy an adult woman deserves, but I couldn't help but feel like I was walking on a tightrope with his emotions.
Friends aren't supposed to do that, I don't think.
I opt not to show him. I don't think he knows how reboots work anyway.
Instead, I opt to send it to Red. I insisted texting would be faster than me just popping up every so often. They were hesitant but I assured them I wouldn't be overly familiar unless it was in regards to the 'tape mystery'.
I wait for a minute or so before feeling a buzz and then checking my screen.
Red: That doesn't look like one of our copies.
I smile slightly. It's a little inappropriate for the situation but it lightens my mood.
You: it isn't. I think Jack got a reboot or something.
Red: This is official?
You: from a website called LambsWorks I think so yeah.
There's a pause between their texts.
Red: Does your Jack know?
You: naw
Red: Keep it that way for now.
It rubs me the wrong way just how insistent that last message felt. But they had a point. This would take a bit to explain to Jack, if it ever came up.