Wake Up. Markiplier/CrankGameplays AU

Chapter 3

So guess who finished writing the first draft of the sequel yesterdayyyy??? Not me I hired a writer.

I'm joking. Of course it was me!! At the moment I am genuinely proud of the sequel but I think the ending leaves it kind of open for a third book oops. What do you call a third book? A threquel. That should be a thing. But seriously though, what do you call it? I'll shut up now.

"Where have you been?" Mark immediately asked as Ethan walked in the door. He was sitting at the kitchen table, a bowl of cereal in front of him. He looked like he had only just sat down because the bowl was still full for the most part.

"Just woke up a little earlier than usual and decided to go for a walk." Ethan replied without hesitation. Mark looked down at his cereal before picking up his spoon and eating some of the food.

"Nightmare?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"So... I'm guessing that's a yes?"

"Yeah but it's okay. I got around four hours-"

"That's nothing, Ethan... You need like eight hours to function."

Ethan looked down at the floor as he kicked his shoes off of his feet. "Four's a good night."

"It shouldn't be. Did sleeping with me help?"

Ethan nodded but he was lying. Dark made it all so much worse.

"Then you're welcome to sleep with me as much as you want."

"Thanks."

-

"Why do you do this?" Ethan choked out. Dark's hand was wrapped around his neck, just tight enough to choke but not enough to completely suffocate. Despite this, Ethan's face was turning a light shade of red, getting darker by the second.

"Because it's fun. Watching you suffer. I live off of your pain." Dark was smirking, obviously enjoying Ethan's pain and panic. Ethan had no idea why but his eyes slowly diverted to his own evil ego who had stayed completely quiet the whole time. Blank's eyes were wide with what appeared to be fear and he kept shifting his weight from one foot to another. Dark followed Ethan's gaze and frowned. "Blank, I think he wants you to join in."

"Please, no-" Ethan started but Dark was quick to slap him across the face.

"Shut up! Come on, Blank, you know you want to." Dark's voice was laced with something threatening, something that urged Blank forward. Blank's hands were much smaller as they wrapped around Ethan's neck. They were a lot softer though and he seemed more careful.

Ethan met his evil ego's eyes and his grip immediately weakened. Ethan took that as a chance to push him away and escape from the hands. He tried to run but they were inside a dream so he had nowhere to go.

"You're going to regret this, Ethan." Had Dark grown taller? He seemed like he had. He was now towering over the younger, making him feel smaller than a particle of dust. Ethan's hands immediately went to his face and he crouched to make himself as small as possible. He couldn't even open his mouth to attempt to scream for help.

-

Ethan stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. His hand lifted to his neck and ghosted over the finger-shaped bruises. People were going to start to notice if the injuries were in places that were visible. He didn't even own any makeup to cover up the marks so he was going to either have to come up with an excuse, take a break from YouTube until the bruises cleared up or go to the shop to buy some makeup.

The shop was the best option.

"Mark!" Ethan yelled, exiting the bathroom. When his roommate promptly yelled back, he explained that he was just going out quickly. He didn't say where because he didn't want to be questioned. He didn't want Mark to know how bad it had gotten.

-

Ethan had never bought makeup before so he frowned as he looked down at the array of makeup products. He picked up a weird tube thing, squinting his eyes as he flipped it over in his hand. He read the writing as concealer and just put it in his basket anyway. (I know nothing about makeup either so if concealer isn't the right stuff pretend he picked up something else, okay?) Whilst he was in the shop, he also got some milk because he knew they were low and it would give him an excuse if Mark asked where he had gone.

-

He made sure to quickly shove the milk in the fridge then dart upstairs before Mark could see him. He locked the bathroom and started to work with the concealer. He dabbed a generous amount over his neck and rubbed it in until it looked fairly blended. When he was happy with the result, he pretended nothing had happened and went to record a video.

:)