Jack easily skipped along the thicker poles of the training room, finally comfortable with them. The young man landed on one of them and did a quick pirouette, what he lacked in fighting skills, he made up for in basic dance knowledge. Not very manly, he'll admit, but it helps with balance. He ran along some closer poles and performed a grand jeté, one of his feet landing on a thinner pole and the other went on a separate one. Jack waited for his music to play the next song, having bought new speakers and brought them into the training room. His phone was connected to the speakers and he had it currently playing from a site called Pandora and it played random songs that fit the genre or artist that he selected. Hard rock was playing and he couldn't help from being amused by the fact that he was performing ballet while listening to a man with a rough voice or a woman with a beautiful voice singing to a hard beat.
The young man found himself singing along to the song as he carefully stepped across some thinner poles, waiting for himself to adjust to those before attempting any ballet moves. He was nowhere near ready for Chase's level of balance, those poles only had an inch in diameter. Jack just got used to the eight-inch ones and was only at the six-inch and was struggling to just stand, let alone dance.
"I have to fake it, I leave if I could. I'm not in love, but the sex is good." Jack stopped after that last saying. He stepped back to the thicker poles and pulled out his phone, skipping the song and letting out a sigh as he put his phone away. He was definitely not in the mood to listen to that particular song. Jack bobbed his head to the beat of the next song, liking this one a little more. He moved back a little more, deciding to play around with the thicker poles a little more before moving on. He'll try harder when Chase was here, but now, it was just him and the music. Jack leaped across a couple poles before stopping on one, going into an arabesque for a moment before lowering his foot and standing in fifth position. "Miss. Agnus would be proud." Jack chuckled to himself. He took in a deep breath before preparing himself, bending his legs and holding his arms out. The young man twisted his body a little before he started spinning again, managing three turns before stopping himself.
"I did a triple pirouette!" Jack cheered and did a weird celebratory dance that involved grabbing his leg and pumping his body into itself. "I'm graceful as hell!" He announced to no one. "Padebure, glissade, jeté." Jack said as he performed the moves. When he landed he stopped to laugh, he was very proud of himself.
"Impressive, Spicer." Jack almost fell over in shock when he heard Chase's voice beneath him.
"How long have you been there?" Jack asked, heading over to the end of the poles as he took out his phone to stop the music.
"Long enough. I didn't know you knew ballet." Chase watched Jack climb down and saw a hint of pink tinting the younger man's cheeks.
"I have a very basic knowledge of it. Figure skating does that to you." Jack explained, turning off the speaker to save their battery life.
"I'm shocked to find you in here." Chase said.
"I got bored." Jack leaned against the table the speakers sat on.
"So instead of doing what you normally do, work on your machines or invent something or play around on that internet you speak about, you decide to work on your balance?"
"I already fixed my heli-pack, can't think of anything to invent and I'm not in the mood to go down to the lab to get my laptop." Jack shrugged.
"You could have slept." Chase suggested, walking over to Jack.
"Not tired." Jack stared at the ground when Chase got close to him, moving back a little when the warlord's chest was only an inch from his face.
"Are you alright?" Chase asked.
"W-What do you mean?" Jack stuttered. He was trapped, Chase had placed both of his hands on the table and was blocking him from leaving.
"You've been actively avoiding me for over a week."
"No, I haven't. I've just been...busy." Jack swallowed when Chase put a hand on his chin and tilted his head back, forcing him to look at the older man.
"Busy making sure that we're never alone in a room together, busy 'accidentally' falling asleep in your own bed, busy running away every time I get close?"
"I...I...I..." Jack didn't want to admit that what Wuya had said to him had gotten to him. That her voice played in the back of his head every time Chase was around. That he was scared to allow Chase to get too close in fear of the warlord not liking what he gets and pushing him away like he did to Wuya.
"Is there something you need to tell me?" Jack's eyes went everywhere but Chase's. Was there a way for him to just curl up into himself so tightly that he leaves existence? He could feel Chase's glare burning into his skin and knew that he couldn't keep this up for long, it was either speak or be forced to.
"Wuya-"
"There you two are, I think you should check on that female panther...am I interrupting something?" Wuya asked as she flew in.
"Nope! Not at all! Is something wrong with Nani? I'll go check on her." Jack slipped away from Chase.
"She's in the...never mind." Wuya attempted to say, but Jack was out of the room before she could finish speaking. "What's with him?"
"What did you say to Spicer?"
"Just the usual, 'Jack, don't touch that', 'Jack, that's not healthy to eat', 'Jack, you're going to fall', 'Jack-"
"Not that." Chase growled, the witch's attempt at humor falling on deaf ears. "Over a week ago, I came back from a hunting trip and found Spicer crying, care to explain why that happened?"
"It's Jack, he cries over everything." Wuya shrugged.
"Wuya." Chase said sternly, a warning in his voice.
"Fine. Jack and I had a conversation while he waited for you like a little lap dog." Chase was about to say something, but Wuya continued. "I warned him to be careful with you. I gave him my honest opinion about the situation and told him to be prepared for you to just use him for your needs and then toss him away like he's nothing."
"What gave you the right mind to say that!?" Chase snapped. "Quit interfering with matters that do not involve you." The warlord left the room, no longer wishing to speak to the witch anymore. He stopped when he heard loud footsteps coming towards him.
"Chase, there's something seriously wrong with Nani." Jack said before grabbing Chase's arm and leading him to one of the many rooms of the lair.
"Nani?" Chase saw the panther laying on the floor, a foul stench filling the air. "That smell."
"She threw up." Jack explained. "She can't stand and she looks dizzy and-"
"Are you pregnant?" Chase asked the warrior, kneeling down next to her and patting her head.
"The warriors can get pregnant!?" Jack yelled.
"Apparently so. I've never seen it happen before." Chase admitted.
"What about her and Raja, didn't you raise them from birth?" Jack asked.
"They were newborns when I found them, it was either let them die or turn them into warriors." Chase explained.
"How are you sure that Nani's pregnant?"
"I can smell the change of hormones and those symptoms that you were listing are very common among pregnant women."
"But panther's don't experience morning sickness."
"She must be experiencing human symptoms since she was once fully human."
"How far along is she?" Jack looked at Liam and saw the warrior shying away from eye contact. "Ten days."
"How do you know-"
"So if she's ten days along and the average length of a panther pregnancy is..."
"Ninety days."
"And a human is two hundred and seventy, then she's about a month along compared to a human." Jack started going through his brain, trying to remember everything he learned in health class about this. "Morning sickness and the extreme symptoms tend to last for at least ten weeks, could be even longer depending on the person." Jack tapped a finger against his arm as he did more math in his head. "Twenty-three days, give or take. And she's already ten days in, so about two more weeks of this, maybe." The young man groaned in frustration because of his lack of knowledge on this subject. "I don't know much about this stuff, I could do some research on this to make sure Nani's going to be okay."
"My warriors are very good at taking care of themselves." Chase stated and got up. "But if it makes you feel better, go ahead and watch over Nani until this is over."
"I can't believe that I'm going to be an uncle!" Jack suddenly squealed and hugged Nani. Chase let out an annoyed sigh but loosened up when he saw Jack rubbing Nani's stomach and pressing his ear to it. "Don't worry little guys, Uncle Jack will keep you safe." Jack chuckled and peek an eye at Chase. "And Uncle Chase will beat anyone who threatens you." Chase rolled his eyes and smiled as he walked away.
"Congratulations, you're an uncle." Chase said to Niso as he went past. The panther let out a questioning sound before sniffing the air. Niso meowed loudly and sprinted off to where Nani was. "This is going to be a very interesting three months." Chase said to himself.
