The Games We Play (Markiplier FanFic)

One: The Game of Friendship

April 2015

(*) Harmony grinned as she tried the handle of her front door to find it already unlocked. She had a feeling he would be here, considering what time it was. The subtle glow of her TV from the front room accompanied the warm orange of the evening sun to bathe her apartment in a soft glow. As she made her way towards the kitchen to set her numerous bags of groceries onto the table, she gazed over at the back of the couch that sat across from the TV and, sure enough, spotted a fluffy tuft of jet black hair poking out from over the top of it. She grinned widely as she shook her head, heading over towards that tuft of hair to tousle it between her fingers. The man attached to that hair looked up with a start, but smiled cheerily when he saw her, pulling his headphones off of his ears to rest them around his neck and pausing the music on his phone.

"Hey, welcome home!" he greeted her as she leaned her elbows onto the back of her couch to give him a smile.

"Thanks," Harmony replied, still grinning as she pushed herself upright from the couch to head back into the kitchen and tend to her groceries. "Done playing games for the day, Mr. Markiplier?"

Mark spun around in his seat on the couch to eye her blonde head in the kitchen. "Done playing games? Never! Done recording? Ehh... for now." He heard her chuckle as he hoisted himself off the couch to join her, pulling out a box of Cheerios from the nearest plastic sack to store it up in the pantry. "What's for dinner?" he wanted to know.

Harmony shrugged. "I was thinking about making stir fry, or maybe lemon chicken." She pulled out lemon seasoning as well as hoisin sauce from a grocery sack. "I bought stuff for both."

Mark slid in behind her and smoothly yanked the hoisin sauce out of her hand. "I'm cooking tonight," he proclaimed, gently pushing her out of her own kitchen.

"What? Why?" Harmony sputtered with a laugh. "What're you doing? I'm not even done with the groceries--"

"Hey," he cut in, giving her one of his trademark looks from over the top of his glasses, "if I remember correctly, you came over to my place yesterday and ended up making tilapia for you, me, Matt and Ryan in my kitchen. So it's only fair."

"But the groceries--"

"Got 'em! Now go!" He waved her away.

Harmony laughed and held her hands up in surrender, making her way back to the couch to sit where Mark had been.

This was just another typical day for them, as it had been for the past year after Harmony moved into an apartment just down the next hall from Mark and his roommates Ryan and Matt. And no, that hadn't been a coincidence. Harmony was a YouTube personality like he was -- known as Harpie to her fans -- and when she had made the decision to move down to Los Angeles from up north for her career, he had actually helped her get this apartment. They chatted constantly after collaborating with each other and a few other YouTubers for a charity event. They became best friends overnight, so when she told him she wanted to move down south he jumped on the opportunity to get her right here without her even asking. She didn't even need to apartment hunt. He got the information for her and the rent was in her budget, so that was that. It was the fastest and smoothest move she had ever experienced. He even helped her lug all of her boxes up the stairs.

Now, even though they had their separate responsibilities and careers, one always ended up at the other's place to hang out nearly every night. It had gotten to the point where they had copies of each other's keys. They were so comfortable with each other coming and going as they pleased that it was like they themselves were roommates. And she appreciated Mark so much, especially since he was literally the only person she knew here when she first moved. But now her YouTube channel had been growing substantially, and her other job as a columnist had really improved as well since her move. She knew tons of people here now; she had lots of fans and several friends. But Mark was always her favorite person in the whole world. They had a funny friendship, but she loved it the way it was.

A friendship. Yup.

She hadn't realized she had drifted so far off into her thoughts for so long until the scent something delicious reached her nose. She inhaled slowly and grinned as she tuned her ears to the sound of her best friend puttering around in her kitchen, faintly humming a random tune to himself. Her stomach growled just as he announced that dinner was ready.

---

"Thank you for dinner," Harmony said as she helped Mark clear the table. She had tried shooing him away from it since he had cooked, but he still insisted on helping clean anyway and she gave up.

"You're welcome," he replied easily. "Now, on to the rest of our Friday night."

Harmony raised a brow. "You sound like a man with a plan," she remarked.

Mark grinned. "Maybe I am."

"You don't have anything going on with the boys tonight? No crazy video challenges or house parties?"

"Nah," he replied with a shrug, "I was so busy today that I'd rather just chill with you tonight."

Harmony's fists balled up at her hips as she mock-glared at him. "And how do you know I don't have plans tonight? What if I have a hot date at some after party downtown?"

Mark huffed in amusement from where he stood rinsing plates at the sink. "You don't," he retorted confidently. "You would've told me otherwise." He wiped his hands off on the hanging dish towel and sauntered back over to the couch. "Come on," he beckoned as he fell back into the cool black leather. "We got a movie to watch and then games to dominate."

"We do?" Harmony wondered as she followed him over.

"Yeah. You still haven't seen the newest Avengers movie. Don't worry -- I brought it!" He patted the couch beside him and wiggled his eyebrows. "M'lady."

Harmony was grinning again as Mark started the movie that he apparently already had in her PlayStation. She sat beside him, her head immediately finding its usual place against his shoulder as his arm automatically draped around her, giving her a brief squeeze before relaxing. He found one of her thick blonde curls and slowly wrapped it around his finger as the opening credits cycled through the beginning of the movie. She smiled to herself as she took in the familiar and comforting scent of his cologne, feeling her body truly relax with a full belly and an evening with her best friend.

This was what she always thought of whenever she described their friendship as a funny one -- the cuddling. Before Mark, she had never sat or laid like this with anyone who wasn't her boyfriend. But with him, it was different. She wasn't sure when exactly it started or who even started it, but this had become a natural thing between them. Maybe it was just because they both happened to be open and touchy-feely people. They never talked about it, but they both found peace in it. And it never went any further than this or meant anything more than it was, although sometimes their friends would tease them about being a hot item whenever they got caught being close like this. They would blush and separate to try and defend themselves and fend off the teasing friend, but it was all in good fun. Because Harmony and Mark were just friends.

Best friends.

That was all.

Somewhere in the very back of Harmony's mind, she sometimes wondered if allowing them to be this close and open with each other was really a good idea or not in the long run. But the back of her mind was where she liked to keep that thought. No dwelling on something like that. They would cross that bridge if and when they came to it. No big deal.

Because they were just friends. Right?

Track: Thank You For Being a Friend by Alyssa Bonagura

*

Hi, friends! Thanks for reading my first Markiplier fic! I hope you all enjoy it and leave me some epic feedback! Btw, I do realize that this fic isn't entirely accurate due to the fact I don't think Matt and Ryan moved in with Mark until they got the house I believe? But either way, I hope you'll forgive me for that. It fit the story too well to change it. :) ~Foxy

EDIT: This book comes with a soundtrack! Be sure to give each chapter a listen to enhance your reading experience! 😉 If you want to make the soundtrack interactive, just start playing the song as you're reading whenever you see (*) anywhere in the chapter! Love you guys! ❤️