It was four days after Jack had 'proposed' to Mark, and now Jack was coming over to Marks for a Co-op video.
He rapped on Mark's front door exactly 19 times, the exact length of every letter in Mark's name. And he counted exactly 35 seconds before the door opened.
And there he stood, with his Markiplier T-shirt and Markiplier pyjama bottoms. His glasses were fixed correctly, his hair blue and floofy and a huge, cheesy grin spread across his face with obvious delight.
"Sean! Come on in buddy."
Jack smiled slightly, trying not to let Mark glimpse his bashfulness. He loved it when Mark used his real name, when nobody else was around. And the word rolled off of his tongue perfectly, just like every other word he says. A voice that could literally melt wood, and make the sun shine just a little brighter.
"Hey Mark, how've you been lad?" Jack asked casually with disguised affection as he followed Mark inside, carefully shutting the door behind him.
"Fantastic! Honestly I feel great. I mean I wasn't too great yesterday, but today I can just feel that either something good is gonna happen or today is just gonna pass by smoothly, swiftly and perfectly."
"Haha, that's only because I'm here."
"Yeah, I think you're right."
Jack stopped for a moment.
'He thinks I'm right? Not, 'I'm probably right', or 'yeah right?' Is he fucking with me right now?'
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear Mark calling for him, that is until Mark gently slapped him in the face. And although it was kinda uncalled for, Jack relished in his touch. That was until Mark slapped him again, with more force this time, but not enough to particularly hurt. Jack shook his head to clear it of his thoughts and trained his eye's to focus on Mark who gazed at him with concern.
"You okay?"
"Perfectly fine. Just drifted for a minute there." Jack replied a little too vehemently. But Mark only took his word for it, shrugged his shoulders and continued to the living room.
Once there, Mark flopped down onto the couch with a loud groan and stretched his arms and legs at the same time. Jack couldn't help but to sneak a glance as Mark's muscles flexed and twitched ever so slightly. But as quickly as he glanced, he looked away, luckily Mark hadn't seen him. But he patted the empty spot on the couch beside him and gestured with his head for Jack to sit down, to which Jack politely and gratefully agreed to.
"So, what're we thinking about playing laddie?" Jack asked, actually not knowing what game they were going to co-op on.
"I was thinking that forest one again, I, uh...kinda enjoyed that one."
"Awe, what is because we were in a treehouse together on some sort of deserted island, tanned, rested and alone." Jack teased in a sing-song voice. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that Mark had muttered a quiet maybe under his breath as he gazed at the floor.
'Does he feel the same way about me as I feel about him? Oh look at me! I'm sounding as if I'm in some cliché comedy romance movie! But still...'
There was a long-ish moment of awkward silence before Mark cleared his throat and offered a drink.
"Uh, anything with alcohol will do. Thankyou please?"
Mark then returned with two shandy's and handed one to Jack, who laughed hysterically as he accepted it.
"Wow! 0.5%! That's...that's far too much. Mark, are you trying to get me drunk!?"
Mark just made a creepy Darkiplier face at him and wiggled his eyebrows. Jack thew his head back and filled the room with obnoxious laughter, to which Mark joined in and sat back down next to him. Accidentally, his arm brushed against Jack's. Mark gulped with wide eye's and Jacks breath caught in his throat, but neither one of them moved their arms.
"Sooooo...forest?" Jack asked gingerly.
Mark seemed to snap out of some trance as he stuttered a 'yeah' and jumped up, instantly missing the warmth of Jack's arm against his own. But not saying a word about it or giving any indication to suggest it. He put his empty shandy in the bin and did the same with Jack's as Jack tossed it over to him. He then reached out his hand to help Jack up off of the couch.
'Wait, what am I doing? He's a grown man, he doesn't need help getting off of the couch! Especially not by his male best friend.'
But he still held out his hand as if some force wasn't allowing him to retract it. That force was his heart, and he only realised that when his heart missed a beat as Jack, blushingly, took his hand. Mark pretended he didn't see the blush as he helped Jack up and then turned away slightly, blushing himself and rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Neither of them realised that they were still holding hands.
