Damaged (Markiplier X Reader)

Wilford Knows What's Best

"Can I meet them?"

Mark's eyes shot up from the kitchen counter—where they had been for the last ten minutes—gazing at me curiously like I just asked him to find the square root of 1,976,358.  He removed his hand from mine and sat up straight.

"What?"

He finally muttered, after waiting for me to lean forward and say, "Just kidding!"

"Well, I mean, you can sit here and talk about them all day, but I won't truly know about them unless I meet them."

Mark shook his head, "No, (Y/n) I don't trust them. You saw how Dark was last night, they're always like that. I don't trust them with..."

Mark paused, struggling to find the right words and debating whether he should actually say them. Reaching over, I grabbed his hand once again. He gave me a half hearted smile and overlapped my hand with his.

"With someone I care about." He finished. I gave his hand a squeeze, trying to give him every ounce of comfort I could.

"(Y/n), I know this is a lot to take in, but I don't want to drag you down farther than I already have. This is my burden to bare, you deserve better than to have to deal with my problems."

I felt a twinge of anger when he said that. I was already in too deep this to turn back now and, as Mark's friend, I had an obligation to make sure he was okay. I didn't fully understand what was happening or just how serious this whole situation was, but I knew one thing for certain: it was going to take a lot more than one crazy experience in the middle of the night to scare me away.

I removed my hand from his, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well, tough mister."

Mark's eyebrows raised in shock, his eyes flicking between mine for some kind of explanation. I stood from my seat at the kitchen counter, facing him dead on. I felt an inexplicable surge of confidence and determination, something I had never really felt before.

I continued, "Mark, we may not have been close for very long, but you are my friend and I take care of my friends. Everyone needs someone they can trust."

His eyes fell from mine, sinking his head down along with them. I placed two fingers under his chin, lifting his gaze once again.

"Let me be that person."

Swift as a jackrabbit, Mark stood from his seat, wrapping me in his arms with a force so desperate and yet so loving that I could not even describe it with words if I wanted to. He held me close, not needing any words for his feeling of gratitude.

"You don't owe me anything, (Y/n)."

He whispered. I sighed, hugging him closer, "That's where you are wrong."

Mark pulled away, looking into my eyes, but still holding me in his arms.

"I owe you kindness, compassion, endless amounts of funny jokes, friendship, everything you have given me. Now is my time to return the love you have shown me."

He hugged me once again, whispering words of gratitude before letting me go.

"You might want to step back."

I obeyed, adrenaline starting to rush through my veins. My gut was telling me this was a bad idea, but my brain didn't care. For once in my life, I wanted to stop cowering in the corner. I wanted to stop worrying about myself and focus on someone else for once.

Mark took a deep breath, his eyes closed, focusing intently. Within a few moments, his breath pattern changed, his stance stiffened; everything about him seemed to shift to a completely different level.

I knew he wasn't Mark anymore.

His eyes lifted to mine, a crooked smile lifted his lips and crinkled the crow's feet next to his eyes. Though the mischievous glint in them was not as innocent has his smile.

"Well, hello, darling (Y/n)," He reached over and took my hand, bending down to place a soft kiss on my middle knuckle. "At last we meet."

My cheeks briefly flushed with an all too familiar feeling of warmth. Man, that hasn't happened in a few weeks around him.

"Wilford, I presume?" I asked, removing my hand from his grasp.

Wilford straightened again, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a small object of bright color. Placing the object to his lip, I was able to see a bright pink handlebar mustache which he stuck to his upper lip, nonchalantly.

Alrighty then. I won't even ask.

"So," He crossed his arms over his chest, standing a little taller now that the artificial facial hair was in its place. "Old Marky told you about us, did he?"

I mimicked his good posture, trying to remain confident and ignore the rising urge to run and lock myself in the bathroom.

"He did." I said, nodding, not really knowing what to say next. Luckily, he continued talking.

"My my," His eyes wandered up and down my figure, memorizing every detail of me. "You truly are an exquisite creature."

Words of flattery always made me uncomfortable, I never knew what to say! Do I compliment back or just say thanks? There should really be a better system for compliments. Maybe we just shouldn't give them out! Make everyone's lives easier.

"Thank you, but we aren't here to talk about me, Wilford."

He raised an eyebrow, obviously impressed with my response, "No, I guess we aren't. So tell me, my dear," he leaned against the counter, getting comfortable, "what do you want to know?"

"Everything."

~~~

"And the next thing we knew, we were in Florida-"

Wilford stopped mid-sentence, stiffening his back and losing the smile on his face. He exhaled a frustrated growl, clearly not happy all of the sudden for whatever reason.

"Wilford?"

His eyes snapped back up to mine, his goofy persona from earlier was gone and replaced with something else, "I'm afraid my time is up, my dear, he wants to talk to you."

"Who?"

"Dark."

My heart lurched, imagines from the night prior flashing across my memory. I said I wanted to meet them and I'm sure as hellfire am going to meet all of them.

"Tell him to keep his hands to himself and I'd be delighted to talk to him."

Wilford gave me a sad smile. He placed one arm behind his back and one across his stomach, bowing like a gentleman.

"It was an honor to meet you, darling (Y/n). I can only hope our paths will cross again."

I lifted an imaginary skirt and curtsied back to him.

"Thank you for talking with me Wilford. I'm sure we'll meet again."

Wilford said no more, but winked at me before closing his eyes and focusing on his breathing. Within another few seconds I was faced with yet another different pair of eyes; this time they were glowing crimson red.

"Hello again, gorgeous."