It felt mean to post the first chapter and not the second, but then as I was editing it I realized I wanted to add a little more and split this chapter into two chapters. the next chapter (chapter 3) will be a good one and I wish i could just post it here but I'm trying to show a little restraint and space them out a little. just be warned that updates will not usually come in pairs like this haha.

but if you comment that is by far the best motivator to get me to post more.

It started small. Subtle.

After the fire, Jack and Kim were never too far apart.

They were friends, and so they already spent a fair amount of time together. Only now it was nearing unprecedented levels. If there was ever a chance they could be together, they would take it without question. Kim never ate lunch with anyone else anymore. Jack never lingered in the hall before chemistry anymore. They spent that time, and so much more, together.

Jack would glance over his shoulder in class and instinctively know when Kim had entered the room.

Kim would suddenly feel uneasy walking alone down the hallway—until Jack appeared at her side, like he knew she needed his presence to calm her.

Sometimes, they wouldn't speak. They'd just be, sitting near each other on the dojo mats or at a lunch table. Like there was some invisible force, tethering them together. They were only comfortable when they were near and that invisible tether was no longer strained. Spending more than a day apart seemed impossible, and it didn't happen. The only day were apart was Sunday. Even then, they'd been together late Saturday night and early Monday morning.

No one said anything about it at first—they just thought it was some sort of response to the trauma they'd endured together with the fire. Jack, predictably, would be feeling way more protective after almost losing Kim. Kim, unsurprisingly, would long to be in his presence and seek comfort from her hero. They spent a lot of time together, so what? Jerry and Milton, who witnessed this change more closely than anyone else, didn't think too much of it.

As time went on, the connection between the pair grew and grew. It became something more than just a heavy desire to be near each other. It became something not quite natural or normal and a little more... mythical.

One night, a big storm rolled through Seaford. The power flickered at Kim's house. Rain pounded against her window. And something about the sudden darkness made her chest tighten—like she was back in the smoke again. Flames around her. A door that won't budge. No exits.

She tried breathing through it, but the fear crept in anyway.

And then—her phone buzzed. It was quiet, but enough to snap her out of the moment. She took a calming breath and then turned to look, and then answer, the call.

Jack's voice was raspy, like he hadn't been awake ten minutes ago. "Are you okay?"

Her fingers trembled. She hadn't called or texted him about her feelings, she hadn't even let a tear fall yet. It had only just happened.

Kim sucked in a shaky breath, the panic quickly subsiding as Kim tried to breath steady. "How did you know?"

"I just… felt it. I don't know how," Jack admitted, realizing how strange this was.

It should have been concerning, the way Jack just knew in the middle of the night, that Kim had a mild panic attack.

Jack had woken up from his sleep, probably by the storm, he reasoned. The feeling that gripped his chest immediately upon waking, however, was enough that he sat up fully and grabbed his phone to check the time.

It was the middle of the night.

His thoughts suddenly drifted to Kim, and with the storm looming and the way they were never too far these days, Jack was suddenly afraid that Kim was hurt. He wasn't sure why that was his thought, but it was such a strong feeling, he was already calling to check on her before he could comprehend what he was really doing.

She shouldn't have answered, she should have been asleep. But she did answer, and she did sound shaken.

It all should have been such a strange occurance, but it felt so right, neither Jack nor Kim stopped to question it. After discovering Kim was alright, Jack stayed on the line talking, putting both of them at ease at they heard the others' voice, until eventaully they drifted back to sleep.

It happened again and again. Just small little things that didn't really have an explanation. Random calls, moments of heightened awareness, oddly similar moods, finishing sentences. It wasn't really something they ever talked about either. Until it happened yet again at the dojo.

The sun was just starting to set, casting long golden rays across the windows of the dojo. Everyone had gone home early after a long training session, leaving Jack and Kim behind to clean up.

Jack was sweeping lazily near the front mat. Kim was refilling the water bottles in the mini-fridge. It was quiet. Peaceful. They didn't talk, but they didn't feel a need to.

Then, out of nowhere, Jack paused and turned.

"Hey… where's the blue hoodie you always wear?" he asked, looking around.

Kim blinked, confused. "The one I leave in the office sometimes? Why…?"

He shrugged. "I just had this weird feeling you were cold." He wasn't cold, he felt fine, but he knew he ran hotter than most. He wasn't even sure why he thought Kim was cold, just that he had such a strong conviction that she was.

She stopped, staring at him. "I am cold."

Jack tilted his head. "Really?"

She nodded slowly. "Like, my fingers are freezing. I was about to go get that hoodie when I finished this."

They both went quiet.

Jack offered a small smile and leaned over the counter, grabbing one of his clean folded sweatshirts he'd left behind. "Here. Until you find it."

Kim accepted it without saying anything. As she pulled it on, Jack stepped back, eyes still on her.

"I didn't mean to be weird," he said, shifting awkwardly. He felt like she was giving him a weird look and he was worried he was making her uncomfortable. "It just… popped into my head. Like a gut thing."

Kim looked down at the sweatshirt. "It's not weird. It's just… you do that a lot lately."

"Do what?"

"Know stuff. Feel stuff. About me. Before I say anything."

Jack looked away, thoughtful. "You do too, sometimes."

Kim gave it a moment of consideration, realizing Jack was right. Sometimes she could just… tell how he was feeling. It had been so subtle and felt so normal to their friendship, she hadn't really thought much of it. "Yeah, I guess I do."

There was another moment of silence. Not tense. But… full.

Then Jack broke it, softly.

"This is weird, isn't it?" He asked, making sure Kim was on the same page as him. Because this was weird.

This feeling between them was officially something bigger than just friendship. Yes, they were close, but being close didn't make you feel cold when the other one was cold.

Kim nodded. "Yeah… I just… there's something different with us, isn't there? Like, I don't know, a- a rope? Between what we feel."

"Yeah, a connection. Like an invisible tether."

"Yeah, exactly. You don't think..."

Kim shook her head, but Jack was eager to know what she was going to say.

"What? That it's related to the fire?"

Kim's eyes snapped to his as she nodded. That was exactly what she was thinking.

"Yeah. Tell me you've felt it."

Jack nodded. "Yeah. I didn't realize it at first but..."

"It hasn't gone away, and now you're realizing this is more than just separation anxiety, right?" Kim guessed.

That had been her theory, privately. For a while, she had explained the discomfort of being away from Jack as some sort of separation anxiety because he had saved her. She figured her body must be having some sort of primal reaction, thinking that she wasn't safe if she wasn't with Jack. But then time went on and it didn't get any better, despite her knowing she was safe. And then it went deeper than that. It wasn't just that she wanted to be near him, sometimes she felt like she could feel him.

"Exactly," Jack said. "I know this is crazy, but sometimes I think I feel you. That's weird, isn't it? Like, that's not possible."

"It's definitely impossible," Kim said. Jack was momentarily discouraged. "But I feel the same."

Jack's entire body relaxed. He wasn't crazy. Or maybe he was. But if he was crazy then Kim was too and maybe that was fine.

"You felt cold, didn't you?" Kim asked, looking at Jack thoughtfully. "Just now, when you said you thought I might be cold."

Jack considered it, had he felt cold? He supposed he had, but somehow he knew it wasn't his own cold. It wasn't an intense cold, a very subtle chill, but enough to know what it was. There was no way to explain it, but it just felt like he was feeling it through Kim's body, not his own.

"Yeah, I think so."

"And that night you called? Did I ever tell you I was this close to having a full-blown panic attack?" Kim said, remembering the first time she had really noticed odd behavior between her and Jack.

Jack's eyes buldged, he didn't know that. "No- I- You were?"

Kim nodded. "Something about the storm, and it being nighttime when everything is scarier anyway, I don't know. I was terrified but you called at, like, the perfect time. Pulled me right out of it."

That comforted Jack a little to hear. "I just woke up feeling so... panicked. And then all I could think about was you and... It was weird that I called you, isn't it?"

Kim shrugged. "At the time, it felt so right but in hindsight, if anyone ever called me at some random time around 3am, I think I would say they were crazy."

"Yeah. Same. And when I showed you that video yesterday, and you were laughing so hard, you didn't think it was that funny, did you?" Jack asked.

"Well, it was a little funny," Kim said carefully, trying not to hurt Jack's feelings. They got along great but sometimes his sense of humor was just... too teenage boy-ish. The video had made no sense to her, just some stupid, poorly animated stick that looked like it was dancing to some stupid song.

"Be honest," Jack said.

"Well, honestly, I thought it was kind of dumb but... I don't know, your laugh was contagious. For some reason, that made it the funniest video in the world. I guess I was feeding off your amusement."

Jack nodded. "I bet it was because of this... bond."

"Bond," Kim said, testing the word. "Hmm."

"It's getting stronger, isn't it?" Jack asked, realizing the frequency of these occurrences was growing, not shrinking.

"Do you think we should be concerned?"

"This could be a gift, or a curse," Jack reasoned. "Who are we to know which one it is? Let's call it a gift and have some fun with it."

"Fun?" Kim asked.

Jack smirked. "Come on, imagine the pranks we could pull with this bond. You've been wanting to get Jerry back for messing with your hair stuff, haven't you?"

Kim rolled her eyes. "Are you sure this won't result in a 'with great power comes great responsibility' moment and if we use the bond for evil it gets taken away?"

Now Jack rolled his eyes, some of Kim's attitude spilling over on him and making him all the more sassy. "Or how about it's a 'use it or lose it' scenario?"

"Okay, fine. We can try one prank," Kim relented.

It didn't take long for Jack to come up with a plan. The next day, when he presented it to Kim, the conniving little thing, she made a few small, evil little adjustments. Jack was proud.

Preparations were easy, and when it came time to carry out the plan, using a combination of fake snakes and sneezing powder, all Jack had to do was send Kim a signal. They had already practiced, she felt his anger strongest, so when it came time all Jack had to do was think about something that made him mad and Kim would know to do her part.

When they had successfully gone through with it all, they were left with a great video of Jerry sneezing and screaming at the same time, and a strong feeling of humor shared between the two of them.

They laughed, carrying their good mood over to Phil's where Jerry and Milton eventually joined them. After reminding Jerry it was simply payback for what he had done to her a few weeks ago, he let the prank go and the conversation drifted away from the prank and onto other carefree teenage topics.

So basically, kim and jack appear to be bonded now. they share feelings? this is what the story is going to be focused on. them going through their normal life but now they have this new thing to navigate and it may or may not start to cause issues. but, like jack suggested, maybe they can learn to have some fun with it too.

As always, let me know if there's anything you want to see!