Butterfly (Markiplier Love Story)

Chapter One

It was raining heavily, the café unbearably quiet. Caffeinated Gamer was always pretty empty at this time of day, but it still astounded him. Mark looked at the menu, but knew what he wanted already. The barista Clark handed it to him without looking up and went back to fiddling with his cellphone. Mark turned to the rest of the café. There were a few guys over at the Wii station and one figure in a hoodie at the back corner, away from everyone else. They had their hood up and their back was to him. Just as he was about to leave, he heard the bell above the door jingle. "Danny! What a surprise!" he greeted his friend.

Dan Avidan smiled, equally surprised to find Mark there at ten in the morning. "Small crowd today. Oh! Hey, what's up?" He turned toward the figure in the hoodie and they turned slightly. Part of a pale face was revealed and a half-smile was quirked. "Need a refill?" They nodded. "Clark, can I get one iced mocha and a caramel latte for her?"

Mark looked back to the hooded person and frowned. "You know her?"

"Of course! She's here every day."

"I never noticed." Mark sipped his drink, now watching the figure. He looked past her to the screen of their laptop and saw what he immediately recognized as World of Warcraft. "Who is that?"

"My sister," Jamie replied, stepping up to the counter. "What about her?"

"Younger sister?"

"Same age." He followed Mark's gaze to the girl in the corner. "Gwen! Can you come here a minute?" They all watched as she unplugged her headphones and let her hood fall back. The headphones settled around her neck and she timidly made her way over to the counter. "Gwen, this is Mark Fischbach."

The girl had her head down, her long black hair falling over one eye. She pushed up her purple-rimmed glasses and offered a hand. "Er...nice to meet you. I'm Gwen."

"Nice to meet you," he said, shaking her hand. It felt very small and slightly cold in his own hand, startling him a little. "So you're adopted?"

"We're twins," Gwen and Jamie answered at the same time.

Dan grinned as Clark gave him his drink. "It's weird, right? They don't look related at all!"

"Yeah..." Mark watched as Gwen lifted her pale blue eyes to his. He saw the smallest hint of a blush cross her face before she turned away. "So you're playing World of Warcraft over there?"

"Yeah...um...well I don't have much else to do," she admitted.

"She's here every day," Dan said again. "I can't believe you never noticed. She comes in when Jamie's working and waits for him."

"Well she work here, too. She's the accountant for Caffeinated Gamer. Plus, she orders all of our supplies and designs most of the menu items. Right, Gwen?" Jamie ruffled her hair and she sighed in exasperation.

"Yep. I'm pretty spectacular," she replied sarcastically.

"You're adorable! That's all you need, Gwen." Dan wrapped an arm around her and her face quickly turned red. "Am I making you blush? Must be my manly pheromones."

"Nope. Step away from her." Jamie reached across the counter to break them apart, but Dan took a step back and pulled Gwen with him. "I'm serious! You know my rules!"

"Your rules are ridiculous," Dan replied, rolling his eyes. "This guy won't let Gwen date someone unless they can beat him in a sword fight."

Mark's eyebrows raised in alarm. "Sword fight?"

"Yeah."

"To date his sister, you have to beat him in a sword fight?" Mark repeated. "How does he know how to sword fight?"