Beyond The Limelight ★ Markiplier X Reader

.*★ 2 ★*.

TW: mentions of cheating, nightmares, sexual scenes (not smutty).

If you read the dream sequence and think "what the fuck kind of name is 'Zola' lmao" I picked that name because it's uncommon meaning you probs won't have the same name as her ok bye.

*****

"Shit. Shit. Shit." You mumbled, to yourself breathlessly, speed walking into the studio building where the meeting was being held. In all four years of you working in this field, you'd never been late. Not a second late for meetings and not a second late for deadlines. But last night, you'd had a restless sleep, waking up at about two AM after a nightmare then struggling to get back to sleep until about four.

In your dream, you were in a cold, dimly lit place, surrounded by mirrors. Looking at the infinite reflections behind you each copy of yourself became more and more distorted, some versions of you almost unrecognizable. Stepping forward tentatively, you leaned in close, looking at your reflection and touching your face with confusion., then suddenly two figures appeared in the reflection behind you: your ex boyfriend, Josh, and your ex best friend, Zola. They looked at you with hatred and disgust, making you feel small and insignificant.

"Why can't you just be happy for us?" Zola spat. "We're meant to be together and that's not our fault. Stop blaming us for wanting to be happy."

You shook your head, emotions you didn't even know how to name rising up through our body and into your heart making it beat and your hands shake.

"You betrayed me..." You said hoarsely.

"We are in love. We did what we needed to do to be together and if that meant your feelings got hurt? So be it." Zola said with a smirk as Josh stood behind her, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. She turned around and leaned in, kissing him as he glanced at you. His eyes didn't move from yours as Zola began to take off his clothes. You felt your stomach turn and tried to look away but everywhere was another mirror, reflecting the two as they got completely naked and started touching each other. You closed your eyes but could still hear their moans and voices, you covered your ears and crouched down into a ball but their voices got louder and louder. Even with your eyes closed you could see flashes of the video you found on his phone appear. The sounds of sex filled the room even with your ears blocked it wasn't enough to drown it out. The walls felt like they were closing in around you.

"Stop it..." You said. "Stop it!" You began rocking back and forth "STOP IT! LET ME OUT! STOP!"

Shaking yourself awake, you sat up, screaming and crying in a cold sweat.

Then when you finally managed to drift off to sleep again (which wasn't easy), you slipped into a dark, deep, dreamless slumber, not even waking up at your alarm.

The meeting was scheduled to start in three minutes as you speed walked through the halls of the production studio, walking past audio rooms, computer rooms, storage rooms, trying to find the meeting room. You walked quickly, looking around, eyes welling up as you felt lost and defeated, this wasn't like you at all. You had worked in this studio complex before and it was like a maze trying to navigate and find the correct room.

Turning the corner quickly, becoming more and more stressed by the second, you found yourself colliding with a man walking towards you causing you to stumble backwards.

"Oh my god I am so sorry I'm just-"

"Woah hey it's okay are you lost?"

You looked up at the man, massaging your temple as you felt an oncoming stress headache setting in, then froze in realization. Of course it wasn't bad enough you having a fitful sleep and running late, you just HAD to violently crash into Mark looking like a hot mess before even meeting him officially. Seeing him in real life, stood right in front of you, looking at you with concern felt very surreal. Your words caught in your throat, causing you to cough a little before talking. He was even more beautiful in person.