Request from 32waystoAutumn

Thank you so much for 82K reads, It's so fantastic and I'm grateful for each one of you.  Apologies for late upload!! I got caught up in a series and didn't realize yesterday was Wednesday. Here's some fluff :D

Jack had always been interested in reporting or just telling things in general. His voice was loud and booming but comforting too; he could report serious stories and silly ones but recently his job had gotten boring and a little sad. He was always being given the sad stories or having to report deaths and although that was apart of his job, he didn't like doing it often, it felt like he was bringing sadness to too many people and that isn't what he's ever been about.

;

Jack sat at home eating some pasta as he roamed the depths of Twitter. He couldn't retweet too much on his reporter account but it didn't hurt to browse.

JackTheReporter; 'News is always so serious and sad right now, could really do with some happy to cheer people up.'

He tweeted, his fork sticking out of his mouth as he did so. Maybe somebody would bring some excitement soon or he'd get a story that could make viewers feel warm, just for a moment because the world seem cold most days.

;

What he wasn't expecting though, was to be hijacked when he was reporting some mundane story - he had seen reporters have people doing some silly jig or making faces behind them but it hadn't ever happened to Jack before.

But this wasn't a normal person trying to get camera time, no. The raven haired man acted like he wasn't supposed to be here in this era and acted like he had never seen a camera before either.

Jack was really getting a laugh from this - only him.

;

Mark had always risen to any challenge presented to him - giving anything and everything 110% - so when The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen came up once again he decided to go for it. He had done it a few years ago but he nearly got arrested due to trying to literally sofa surf (he took a sofa too the sea and then tried to surf which apparently, is illegal, go figure.) so he didn't do it after that because his mother had scolded him big time however, he hadn't had a good challenge or something to focus on in a long time plus college was driving him up the wall, why not?

Maybe he had forgotten how competitive he was and how much he wanted to meet Misha Collins and spend a holiday with him. (The true prize along with an amazing story to tell the kids should he have them)

You do as much crazy things as you can do in a week, team with the most points and crazy stuff under there belt, wins.

Mark applied as an indivual and therefore was put in a team with around fourteen other people; and today was the beginning of the crazy stuff.

Day one.

- A random act of kindness (buying a puppy and a year supply of food for that kid in the store whose parents couldn't afford a dog.) [50 points under his belt.]

- Started a flash mob in the middle of town, not only was that on his bucket list but the amount of people joined in was fantastic. [100 points.]

- Make it on the news. [75 points.]

Well technically he didn't 'make' it onto the news but he did show up on camera.

He decided to target a poor reporter, saying he was a time traveller, the brown haired reporter played along though, a smile upon his features as they had banter back and fourth and when the camera stopped rolling, the reporter, Jack was his name - if Mark recalled correctly, asked for his number just in case he ever wanted to pop on camera again.

A pretty successful start, Mark would say.

Day two.

A shopping trip.

Mark rose pretty early to skip the rush of people when shopping, plus he didn't want to bump into anyone he knew and have them ask why he has a shopping cart full of packets of skittles. The chasier gave him a funny look at the till but didn't say anything - he had cleared them out of skittles he just hoped there wasnt a limit to how many packets of skittles you could buy.

£15 on skittles - thats roughly 300 packets and over 69,000 calories. Just as well Mark wasn't eating them, he'd probably go into a sugar coma if he did.

Funny looks from the chasier aside, he took his bag of skittles home.

;

Of course Jack had to phone him when he was standing at his kitchen starring at a reference photo of Misha Collins and trying to imitate his face via skittles - of course.

Nevertheless, he answered positioning the phone between his shoulder and cheek.

"Hello?" He answered rather formally for somebody who was making a portrait of Misha Collins' face out of skittles (Mark was true artist, clearly)

"Hey, Its Jack yknow that reporter you decided to hijack, (hiJACK i'm dad, did Mark really laugh at that? Yes.) I was wondering if I could interview you today?"

Mark could make up an excuse and cancel because it would be easier than saying no, I cant im busy making art with candy but instead he found himself saying yes, surprising himself that he did.

"Ill be around three ish then?" Jack sounded rather estatic he scored an interview with Mark as if he were a popular celebrity; nope, just a dude really wanting to win a holiday.

Glancing at the clock, he realized it was around one and he really should try to make as much process on this art today before Jack came around.

[When the portrait was finished it'd be worth at least 200 points for creativity alone.]

;

Those two hours were a blur of rainbows and resisiting eating even a single skittle until a door startled Mark out of his art daydream and he went to open the door and damn, it was odd seeing different colours that weren't in the rainbow.

Regardless, he opened the door with a smile.

Jack looked highly professional, a lanyard around his neck with a photo of him and the news company he worked for along with a clipboard in his hands.

One handshake later and they were sitting in his livingroom, speaking like old friends rather than at an interview.

"So, why on earth did you pretend to some guy from another time?" Jack chuckled at the memory, all bright.

"I swear im not crazy, Im just apart of the greatest scavanger hunt the world has ever seen - you know the one where you win a holiday with Misha Collins - And you win points for doing crazy stuff so I thought why not catch the medias attention immediately."

Jack began writing frantically, and all Mark could really make out were scribbles but hey, as long as the reporter could read it.

"What other crazy stuff are people doing for GISHWHES?" Jack asked, a tint of excitement in his voice - this, is what he needed.

Jack stood in his kitchen staring in awe at the skittles not quite forming anything yet but still, he looked as curious as a cat.

"This is for day two, although Ill probably be working on this throughout the week to get it finished." Mark spoke with pride and Jack seemed to love it.

;

Day three 

 Mark felt like he had woken up before the sun had, his clock shining in his dim room [4:45am] it screamed at him almost like it was asking why he was up at this time.

He was visiting the hospital at eight and had a lot to do. Mainly, he had to get his costume and make up done, he was visiting some children today and needed to look the part. His costume was the mad hatter - and he just hoped he didn't make it scary; the last thing he wanted was to traumatize one of them.

He was almost late too, stumbling out the door, his hat nearly falling off as he did.

It must've looked bizarre - a mad hatter sprinting in the direction of the hospital, but he didn't care.

The hospital was welcoming in and the kids even moreso, Mark took great joy in seeing there faces light up - he'd do this regardless of GISHWHES, just to make people happy, thats what it was about.

(A random act of kindness + cosplay 100 Points.)

;

Day four.

One phone call and a lot of convincing - Mark arrived at Jacks office. Today Mark would camouflage to the background of Jacks small office and so would Jack (he only agreed when Mark said he'd take him on the holiday if he won, it was worth it.)

After struggling to find colors that would fit into the background they finally got it and posed for a picture.  Mark couldn't believe he had roped Jack into this, but the reporter seemed like he was having the time of his life - so he didn't mind.

  [Camouflage into a background, 88 points.]  

;

Day five.

Mark had other plans for day four and five but they weren't as exciting as they could be so after a night of research and still working on his portrait of skittles, he found some stuff he could rope Jack into - if he was up for it and if yesterday was anything to go by, he was. It was much more fun having another person to do crazy shit with and hell, Jack looked like he could give Mark a run for his money.

"So, on a scale from one to impossible - how can I convince you to do a report in a superhero costume?"

Jack laughed on the other end of the phone.

"Maybe like a five? I dont start working for a few more hours, how about you convince me over coffee?"

Even through the phone, Mark could tell Jack was smiling.

"Deal."

They sat at the small rounded table, Jack with a coffee in his hands barely covering the neat writing on the cup 'Jacques.' Close enough, Mark thought when Jack had been shouted. His wasn't any better though, it had messier writing with 'Dark.' on it; not too far off, he supposes.

Mark opens his mouth first, sitting his cup down and smiling.

"I get a lot of points if I can get you to report in a superhero costume." Its playful but yet, Mark still really wanted that holiday and the week was almost over.

Jacks eyes were bright and you could tell he was smiling even though he had his coffee cup to his lips.

"You have to report the weather with me too then and buy the costumes and Im not being Robin!" The reporter giggled, soft and Marks heart soared.

;

"My boss is gonna kill me." Is the first thing Jack utters from in front of the greenscreen; clad in his spiderman costume. Mark is in a deadpool costume and Jack can hear him laughing from behind the mask, its almost surreal. Yet Marks lives for moments like these - A moment to tell people about it future;

'Oh yeah, I did the weather forecast in a deadpool costume with a reporter who was in a spiderman costume, that one time.'

[Report the weather in costume - 250 points.]

;

Day six.

Another early rise, because today was the day he'd finish that skittle portrait and also have tea in a peculiar place.

Then tomorrow after one or two more crazy activities, Mark will add up all his points to see if he and the rest of his team from across the world, have won the holiday of a lifetime.

If they haven't atleast Mark has some bizzare stories to tell and has met a cute reporter in the process. [Plus, he'll never have to look at another packet of skittles again.]

Speaking of skittles, Mark took some time to edit the timelapse he was filiming for what felt like forever and has it shortened to around five minutes and uploads it. Hes proud of that protrait and he has no idea what he'll do with all those fucking skittles, now.

[Make a non-traditional portrait of somebody - 250 points, bonus points for effort, 50 points.]

Now, about that tea in a peculiar place thing-

Hes having a tea party for one in a junkyard, and the lighting is pretty nice so hes messing around with some photos of himself and making it out like he had tea with the queen, just because Mark can.

[Have a cuppa in an odd place - 90 points.]

Day seven, final day.

Mark spent most of his morning speaking with the rest of his team from all around the world which given, was slightly difficult due to time zones and all but he managed to get there point scores and it was looking good, even if he did say so himself. Yet, he didn't want to get too excited, just in case.

He stopped by Jacks work with a coffee in his hands and a smile upon his face - Jack was working at his little cubicle today and he did look like he had a weight or two upon his shoulders, Mark could see it in the way his eyes were.

Mark handed him his coffee, "Whats the matter?"

Jack sighed, taking a sip of the coffee slowly. "Boss has given me a bunch of paperwork and such to catch up seeing as Ive been doing 'silly' reports all week." Jack rolled his eyes upon the silly part and Mark just nodded.

"I'm sorry." Jack shook his head, his eyes shifting - Mark had never met somebody that spoke almost with there eyes as much as Jack did, there was so much emotion behind them and some of it was hard to read. "I haven't had this much fun in my work for ages, I needed it." Mark agreed, this was the most fun he has had with GISHWHES so far.

"What time do you finish at?" Mark asked, looking deep in thought.

"Eight, why do you ask?" Jack asked, his head titled slightly looking like a confused puppy.

"Ill walk you home?" It wasn't really an offer but Mark still said it as one, Jack gave a nod and Mark left him to his work.

;

The supermarket must hate him by now, earlier this week he bought a shiton of skittles and now he was buying a ridiculously large jar of coffee. (He didn't even like coffee that much.) But still he bought it and wondered off.

Six rolled around, rather slowly and Mark had counted up his and his teams points and added them to the site, he should get an email within a day or so and there wasn't really much else he could do, he was meeting Jack at eight and decided to put his plan into action, said plan involving a lot of coffee beans.

;

Did a bunch of letters made out of coffee beans on some concrete outside of a news building count as street art? Mark hoped so because he couldn't really be bothered to clean all these beans up. When Jack arrived outside, with his jacket on and tired eyes that light up immediately when he saw the coffee beans upon the pavement, his eyes followed the wording and his smile brightened.

'Will You Go Out With Me?' Jack began to laugh, a lot and Mark hoped that was a good sign.

"Yes, I will but you could've just.... asked." Jack spoke, his smile wide and eyes sparkling in the evening light.

"Yeah but that was too easy." Mark, clearly - didn't do anything the easy or normal way. Maybe that's why Jack liked him so much and although they spent the rest of the night cleaning up coffee beans and Mark didn't get any extra points for the GISHWHES thing, he sure got a lot of points from Jack - and Mark thinks he values those points more.

;

Jacks typing frantically, happily at the bold letters at the top of his small coloumn he gets.

"GISHWHES WINNERS ANNOUNCED; TEAMIPLIER SNAG THE HOLIDAY OF A LIFETIME.'

Mark gets his holiday of a lifetime and to meet the team hes been speaking to for months in person - Jack gets a crazy date and the promised holiday PLUS, wonderfully bizzare stories to tell.

They're both winners.