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As much as I'm sure Mark Jennings would like to believe otherwise, I'd like to think he's a lot more affected by death then he ever let on. Not in a way that debilitates him, but in a way that at least makes him more paranoid. Especially when it comes to people he actually does care about. Namely I'd imagine Bryon & Ponyboy. Through his defensiveness of them and in his sheer panic if he sees them beat to a pulp.
I'd fully believe he was the type to have night terrors after the deaths of his parents. To the point he'd wake up in the middle of the night and would probably often watch Bryon sleeping to make sure he was still breathing.
It'd never be anything he'd outwardly show easily or maybe not even realize himself. But that is also such a massive way he trusts or loves and for a guy who maybe liked two or three people tops, that trust being shot point blank (deserved or not) has to feel like a train crashing into him.