"Mark?" Jack swung his legs over the end table's edge as he watched the human pull on his jacket. "I still don't get it," he ventured, "Where are we going? To see the uh... the...?"

"To see the fireworks!" Mark said these words like Jack should know what that meant. That only made the small Irishman even more worried, and confused.

"Fire... works?" He echoed, frowning at the strange word. Mark stopped and gave Jack an alarmed look.

"Yeah, the fireworks. You know? For-for fourth of July, Independence Day-" he stopped and suddenly dropped his jaw as his eyes widened. "Wait a minute. You don't know what fireworks are!?" He gasped. Jack shrugged, caving in a little.

"Well- If I did, I wouldn't be asking." Mark dropped his shoes and dropped to his knees to meet Jack's gaze at his eye level.

"Seriously? You've never heard of them?" Jack shied back and tried to defend himself.

"I never got out much before I met ya, okay!" He could feel his cheeks starting to burn as the embarrassment set in. What was so important about these fireworks? What was so special about the fourth of July? Was it like Christmas? But where were the decorations?

Mark pinched his nose and pushed his glasses, wondering how the hell he was suppose to explain such a popular holiday. "It's kind of like Christmas," he began slowly, "Except there's no tree or decorations. Instead, we celebrate with picnics or grilled foods, and fireworks and all that kind of stuff. There's firecrackers, hot dogs, even ice cream if you want..." Jack was still clueless. He knew what picnics and the foods were, but he had never heard of firecrackers before.

"That sounds dangerous," the borrower remarked.

"It could be, if not done right. But there's precautions that are taken, and if something does happen then the fire fighters will take care of it," Mark assured. "So far, I've never seen the fireworks go wrong."

"I guess that's good," Jack mumbled, shifting his weight nervously. He wasn't so sure about this.

"Hey, Amy!" Mark briefly went into the living room to chat with his girlfriend. "Can you make sure Chica doesn't get too spooped?"

"Already got the blanket fort set up," came the female's reply. "You don't need to worry about her, just make sure to be back before the rain comes in; they're doing the fireworks a little bit earlier to beat the showers."

"Okay, thanks Amy." Jack felt a small jolt of guilt. He's willing to leave Chica here at home just to take me to see these fireworks?

"Thank you," he murmured out loud as Mark returned. The young man frowned.

"What for?" He asked. Jack bashfully studied the floor far below, even though it gave him a jolt of adrenaline to remind him how tiny he was.

" 'Cause yer helping me learn so much about humans and yer traditions and holidays and etiquette codes and-" Mark smiled and crouched to the borrower's eye level again.

"Jack, you don't need to thank me. I should be thanking you!" He laughed. "You've really taught me how I should always try to keep my spirits up, and to always look on the bright side of things! You've made me a better person, so the least I can do is take you to a simple little fireworks demonstration." Jack was pretty sure his entire face was beet-red.

"M-mark... I... Wow." He laughed a little and messed with his hair. "Stop it, yer embarrassing me!" The little Irishman finally chuckled. Mark chuckled back and rose to his full height.

"Come on then, leprechaun," he teased, "Let's go before we miss them!" Jack chortled and punched Mark's thumb.

"Who ya callin' a leprechaun, Mr. I'm-Four-Foot-Two?"

The drive wasn't terribly long. Without traffic, it might have even been only a ten minute drive. But instead, Jack's poor, sensitive little ears were assaulted with the horrifying sounds of honking, shouting, cursing, beeping, and all of the bad noises of any irritated human driving in the evening. It got so bad that Mark had to muffle them all for Jack by putting his hand over the borrower, until they were out of the thick of it.

Then, finally, Mark pulled the car into a parking lot that was filled with people and vehicles alike. Many wielded umbrellas in hand, prepared for the foretold rain showers, and lots wore jackets to battle the wind. Mark zipped his own jacket up before he checked on Jack.

"We're here." Jack stirred and sat up to see the steams of light from all the cars and trucks, which illuminated the darkness and gave the borrower a sense of anxiety.

"This looks like where ye go to get murdered," he whispered gravely. Mark laughed and turned off the engine.

"Who knows? The legendary buttstabber might take a victim tonight," he said in an equally solemn tone. Jack giggled, albeit nervously, as Mark pushed the car door open and climbed out. He took a huff of the cool air and was immediately met with a blast of chilly wind. Jack shivered and snuggled his cozy shelter.

"I can't believe it's this cool in LA," he remarked.

"I know, right? It's hard to imagine the weather like this every day, but it's actually nice compared to the norm." Jack nodded, but when he opened his mouth to speak the world suddenly vibrated as a massive boom clapped in their ears. Jack flinched, startled, but Mark looked up eagerly. "It's starting!" He whispered excitedly, "Looks like we made it just in time." But Jack wasn't looking. He was huddled at the bottom of the pocket, curled up in a ball and covering his ears. With each bang and blast he cringed, not even aware of what was happening until Mark finally realized Jack wasn't settling in very well.

"Jack?" Mark stuck his thumb in his pocket and brushed the borrower's head. "You okay?" Jack flinched when he was touched and took a nervous breath.

"It's-it's really loud," he admitted. Mark frowned and tried to think of a solution; when he came up with one, he turned and got back into the car and pulled Jack out of his pocket. The little Irishman flinched again at another boom, but Mark gently shushed him and set his small friend down on the dashboard.

"Here, let's try this." Mark carefully pinched Jack's head, covering his ears. Jack stopped shaking and blinked as he realized he could no longer hear, and he reached up and made contact with the human's nail. His head was ever so delicately tilted up, and Jack's breath caught in his throat as a firework exploded in the night sky. It was beautiful. Colors of all sorts burst out in gorgeous clouds of fairy dust, winking in the darkness before fading. There were golds and reds and greens, and all the other colors. With his sensitive body, Jack could still feel the faint vibrations of the fireworks going off, but thanks to Mark he couldn't hear them going off and feel scared.

Jack only felt like he had been watching them for a minute before the fireworks started to go off even more, signaling the nearing end of the display. He hesitated, and then he reached up and tapped Mark's hand. Mark looked down and got the memo, and so he slowly pulled his hand away. Jack glanced up at him and tapped his own shoulder, and Mark's eyes widened a little.

"Are you sure?" The borrower nodded confidently, so Mark got out of the car again with Jack sitting on his shoulder like a parrot. Initially, Jack still found himself wincing as the fireworks continued to rapid-fire, but he eventually relaxed and leaned against Mark's neck for comfort. The human continued watching with his diminutive friend, but he smiled a little and tilted his head slightly toward the borrower.

And then, as quickly as they had started, the last firework lit up the sky with a lovely cloud of glittering gold, and then it faded out of existence. People started back to their cars and pulled out of parking to go home for the night. Mark put his hand close to Jack and checked on the borrower's well-being.

"You okay Jack?" He asked.

"That was awesome!" The borrower declared. Mark chuckled and leaned against the car.

"You weren't scared?" He teased. Jack huffed and stuck his lithe chest out.

"Nah! Ain't nothing gonna scare ol' Jackaboy," he lied with a nervous laugh. Mark let it slide and let Jack climb into his hand.

"Really? Not even me?" He joked. Jack wrinkled his nose.

"On second thought, yeah, yer terrifying." Mark laughed and got back into the car.

"Well, all right then." He seated his passenger back in his pocket before pulling the keys out and turning on the ignition. He noted to himself that Jack still jumped a little when the engine roared to life, but he knew he could only imagine how big and scary the world was for him. I'm proud of him, Mark decided with a faint smile. He may be a noisy little guy, but I got him through one of the loudest holidays. Probably should have known that the fireworks would be too loud for him, good job me.  As they made their way through the honeycombs of the city, Mark looked down to check on the tiny man.

"Aww." He smiled softly. Jack was curled up and dozing off already; which was excellent, considering the borrower was so used to being up all night. It was nice to finally see him falling out of his old schedule and adjusting to a more healthy one. Mark turned to focus on the road, but he gave his pocket a gentle pat. Happy fourth of July, little guy.