Beyond The Limelight ★ Markiplier X Reader

.*★ 33 ★*.

You didn't sleep a wink that night. Or the next night. Or the next. Somehow, as you laid in bed staring at the ceiling most nights, the whole night would pass you by and the morning would slap you in the face out of nowhere.

This morning was no different. Instead of getting up though, you laid there for hours and didn't manage to find the strength to get up until noon.

Feeling like a zombie, you slid out of bed and walked over to your bathroom and stood and stared at your reflection for a while. Your eyes were puffy from crying and lack of sleep, your skin dull. Sighing, you washed your face, brushed your teeth, pulled on some comfy clothes and walked sluggishly into the kitchen only to be greeted by the flowers Mark bought you sitting in the sink, wilted and angled towards you as if they were watching you.

You loved Mark. But you couldn't be in a relationship in which you had to keep everything a secret, be hidden away, only to be judged, scrutinised and have people speculating about your life without being able to defend yourself. It hurt making the decision to go separate ways but it felt mature. You hoped in the future you or Mark would have a change of heart, you just had to be apart and think for a while.

You shook your head and rubbed your face before taking your phone out and calling Fizz. You hadn't spoken to her in a few days but she knew you and Mark were going through a rough patch. It rang. And rang. No answer.

You sighed and walked out of your apartment then down the stairs to the floor below and knocked on Hermi's door. You waited. No answer. They must be at Fizz's.

You walked upstairs and tried not to cry, feeling so many emotions, and looked at your phone again as you shut your apartment door behind you. You needed to talk someone. Let it out. You couldn't let yourself be shut away again and go back to how things were before. You opened up a contact on your phone and rang it. It rang. And then:

"Hey Y/N what's up?" Ethan's voice sounded as chipper as usual which made you think that perhaps Mark hadn't told him yet.

"I'm uh... have you spoken to Mark lately?" Your tone was somber despite trying to sound neutral.

"No I haven't. What's wrong is everything ok?" Ethan's tone shifted and you could hear another voice in the background.

"Can I come talk to you in person?" You asked as you began to bite your nails.

"I'm with Sean right now but of course you can you're always welcome here. Me casa su casa forever." He said. "Sean say hi."

You heard a faint "Hoi!" Come from Sean on the other end.

"Hi Sean." You said with a small laugh you didn't expect. "I'll be there soon. Bye."

You looked outside and saw the rain and fog, decided to grab a coat, put on your shoes and then called a cab. Ethan lived not too far away but still an annoying distance to walk especially in the rain.

When you arrived, you pulled up your hood, jogged over to the door and before you could even knock, Ethan opened the door with Sean standing closely behind and they both stepped aside to let you in.

"This rain is crazy huh?" Sean said as he stuffed his hands into his jean pockets. You nodded in response and stepped over to hug him which he returned. He was warm and smelled earthy but clean. You then turned and gave Ethan a friendly hug too.

"Alright what going on?" Ethan asked as he pulled away from the hug and held onto your shoulders holding you at arms length as he examined you. You looked at him then at Sean then back at Ethan. You took a shaky breath and tried to find the words.

"It's Mark." You started.

"Oh." Ethan said, dropping his arms to his sides and looking tentatively at Sean for a moment. "Come on let's go sit down, do you... need a drink or anything?"

You shook your head then followed Ethan into the living room with Sean following closely behind feeling nervous. You sat gingerly on the sofa after taking off your coat and Ethan sat beside you before Sean sat down on the chair next to the sofa.

"Okay. What did he do?" Ethan asked as he lifted his feet up and sat crossed legged facing you.

"Nothing!" You said in defence of Mark. "No he didn't do anything wrong..." you said. You suddenly felt a lump in your throat but tried to swallow it down. "We've been having a sort of disagreement lately. I'm sure you've seen the...rumours." You glanced at Sean.

Sean chortled a little. "Oh yeah. When's your due date again?" He joked. Ethan scowled at him and threw a cushion which hit him square in the face.

"Now isn't the time you stupid idiot." Ethan hissed. "Sorry about him. Carry on."

You chuckled a little and shook your head at Sean. He always made you feel better, even when his jokes have less than appropriate timing.

"Anyway um... where was I? Oh yeah so the rumours. They've been really challenging to deal with." You said as you took another deep breath. "And I told Mark that I wanted our relationship to go public and just squash all the rumours and just finally tell everyone the truth."

Sean and Ethan nodded. "Understandable." Sean commented as he leaned on the arm of the chair and rested his chin in his hand, listening to you closely.

"But Mark insisted that if we go public the hate will just get worse and worse and he said he doesn't want me to go through that." You explained.

"Also understandable." Ethan said. "But I can see why that'd be upsetting for you."

You nodded. "And we had a huge argument. We'd talked about it before and it hadn't been resolved and it just sort of all came to a head and..." your voice became wobbly with emotion and the lump in your throat became harder to swallow. "And we... we broke up."

Sean put his hand over his mouth and looked at you with an incredibly sorry expression as Ethan gasped. "Oh my god." Ethan cried. "Oh Y/N I'm so sorry." He pulled you in for a big tight hug and you tried your best not to cry. Sean stood up and hugged you too, turning it into a group hug.

"Y/N I'm really sorry." He said softly.

They both pulled away and you sat there staring at the floor. "I just feel... lost."

"When did this happen?" Ethan asked softly. Sean sat cross legged on the floor and placed a comforting hand on your leg.

"Two weeks ago." You said. "I'm surprised he hasn't told you."

"Me too." Sean said with furrowed brows.

"I'm sorry to be such a buzzkill guys, I'm sure this isn't the energy you wanted today." You said, smiling sadly.

"Oh shush you're a delight to be around even if you're upset." Ethan said, nudging you which made you smile.

"What are you two doing together anyway?" You asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Just hanging out. We were talking about you actually." Ethan said. Sean shot him a weird look. "All good things of course."

"Oh? Do tell." You said, your interest suddenly piqued.

Ethan looked at Sean and gave an awkward laugh. "Oh nothing uh... in particular. We were just saying that we missed you and hadn't seen you in a while."

You shook your head smiling "Sure whatever." You said with a laugh.

Soon, even if for a short while, you began to feel better. Joking and laughing with Ethan and Sean, talking about nothing in particular, trying to forget your problems. Throughout the afternoon, you kept catching Sean's gaze. He looked like he wanted to say something to you but didn't know whether he should.

You tried to ignore the flutter you felt in your stomach whenever you saw him staring.