Eighteen years later.
"And I will see you in the next video... buh-bye!" He said while waving goodbye into his camera, flashing his signature smirk before ending the recording session.
It was the end of yet another long but very productive day, he had been standing there for hours playing Subnautica and Universe Sandbox. He sat down on a nearby office chair and sighed, running his hand through his thick black hair.
He glanced at his monitor that still had the game on the pause menu then looked around his room, seeing black foam padding on the walls everywhere obviously to soundproof the room from the noise of the outside world.
The YouTuber stretched his arms up in the air, letting out somewhat a mix of a yawn and a failed battle cry, his mouth agape as he breathed out the air.
The man switched off his computer and stepped out of his recording room, lazily rubbing his belly as he made his way downstairs.
When he reached the first floor, a large golden retriever leapt on his leg with her tail wagging playfully. The dog was very much glad to see him after all those hours of staying in his recording room.
"Hey, Chica! How are ya?" The man said in a voice at a higher pitch than his normal tone while patting his pet's head. "C'mon, we'll get you something to eat."
The dog barked in anticipation.
Then, his belly growled as well.
"Hmm... I'll get something for myself too," He rubbed his belly.
The man arrived in the kitchen, with Chica following him. In there was a woman with blonde hair wearing her pink silky night gown, standing by the stove stirring what looked like soup in the cauldron.
He snuck up on her and quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, making her jump and drop the spoon back onto the cauldron.
"This is a stickup, Amy! Give me all the food!" He threatened.
"Jesus Christ, Mark! Don't scare me like that!" Amy slapped his arm.
"Sorry!" Mark loosened his grip, "But seriously, what's cookin'? That smells nice."
"Your laundry," She lifted up the wooden spoon and showed Mark a steaming pair of black boxers, "You got paint all over them again."
"Ohh," The man shrunk with embarrassment, "Sorry. We did that for a video."
"How was your recording session?"
"Pretty cool. I had to draw out this fake gun to over exaggerate the possible outcry of the community about me reverting back to my normal hair," Mark took out a toy revolver and placed it on the counter, "What about you? How's your day?"
"Oh, just ran to the mall to buy gifts for my family," She shrugged.
"You sure you don't want me to come with you to New York? I could just delay the videos for a few more days." He shrugged, brushing his hair that still smelled like hair dye.
"I'll be fine, Markimoo. You don't need to worry about me," Amy chuckled, "You still gotta plan your special Valentine's Day video with Tyler and Ethan, plus Kathryn needs help in editing the other videos."
Mark bent over and lifted up Chica making her stand on her hind legs, "But Chica will miss Amy," He said in a childish tone, waving the dog's paw at her.
"And Amy will miss Chica," She pinched the golden retriever's floppy cheek. "Here, you should probably take over." Amy said, giving him the spoon, "I gotta finish packing my stuff, because, y'know, girls have a lot of things to pack for the trip."
"What time's your flight tomorrow?" He asked, watching his girlfriend make her way up the stairs.
"Eight thirty in the morning," Amy answered.
"I'm gonna have to set my alarm a bit earlier then," Mark said to himself, sighing, knowing that he wasn't a morning person.
He looked outside the window and realized that it was nighttime, almost ten in the evening, Mark had been recording for more than twelve hours straight. This was his usual routine, he would usually wake up almost twelve in the afternoon, take a quick bath then head on over to his recording studio with a plate of sandwiches or cereals in tow, serving as his brunch for the day.
It has always been the same for Mark since four years ago, the time he made content creating a full time job. And seeing that he had spawned one of the nicest fanbases on the Internet, it further gave him the motivation to keep doing these type of stuff.
He turned off the stove and dug into the fridge after hearing his tummy make ungodly noises. He finally settled for a box of Froot Loops, pouring the flakes into a bowl and eating them without milk.
He sat by the counter and picked the first froot loop from the bowl. He raised it up as if he was examining a gem between his fingers, "Just by looking at you makes me hungry."
But then Chica snatched the cereal from his fingers, making Mark squeal upon feeling his dog's slobbery mouth close around his fingers in that instant.
"OW! CHICA! I was gonna eat that!" He glowered at his pet only to see her sitting there next to her empty personalized dog bowl.
Mark almost forgot to feed her.
"Crap, sorry about that, buddy," He stood up and went to the overhead cabinet, taking out a heavy sack of dog food.
The dog became restless upon seeing her master holding the sack.
"Silly old me for forgetting to feed my favorite dog in the world," He said while he poured out the dog food onto the retriever's bowl, "Here you go."
The dog wasted no time and stuck her muzzle into the bowl, chomping loudly on the treat, her furry tail wagging in the air.
Mark returned to his seat, mouth watering, wanting to finally enjoy his own bowl of cereals.
"Mark?" Amy's voice came from upstairs.
"Yeah?" He responded, slightly frustrated that everytime he tried to eat there'd always be a distraction.
"I forgot to tell you, something came in the mail earlier today, it's from YouTube addressed to you. It's on the couch."
"Really? I wasn't expecting mail," Mark raised an eyebrow, bringing the bowl with him as he made his way to the living room.
As Amy said, there was a small brown box sitting on the couch still secured with packaging tape, mailing stickers and stamps on the lid, and a giant YouTube logo on the sides.
Mark picked up the package and sat on the couch, bringing his ear next to it and giving it a little shake, curious at what it was. There was rustling inside when he shook it, most likely something small but fragile as the box felt light.
He took a fistful of cereals and shoved it in his mouth before tearing through the tape with a bread knife. He flipped the lid open, revealing a lot foam peanuts. He dug through it and felt edges of another box inside, feeling Styrofoam protecting the corners of the package. Taking it out he saw that it was a moderately heavy box wrapped in newspaper.
Upon ripping through the wrappings, he saw two big blue cartoon eyes looking back at him, a sight that made him jump both in excitement and surprise. Unable to contain himself, he ripped through the packaging with deliberate force until he was finally able to determine what it was.
A Tiny Box Tim figure made of die-cast metal.
"Ho...ly... shit," He mumbled in awe, "Holy shit, it's so cute!" Mark had a wide grin on his face, jaw hanging in amazement.
"What is it?" Amy said, having gotten back down.
"Look at this, babe! It's a Tiny Box Tim figure! It's fucking cute!" Mark raised it up to show his girlfriend.
"Oh my gosh, that's adorable!" She exclaimed, taking the figure from Mark and examining it.
"I wonder why YouTube sent it," Mark dug back into the box and found a brown envelope.
He unfolded the paper and read through it:
Dear Markiplier,
"The most truly generous people are those who give silently without hope of praise or reward."
Please accept this special award from us as a token of appreciation for being one of the most charitable and the kindest YouTuber the internet has to offer, you deserve everything in the world and this gift is one of them.
Sincerely,
YouTube
Reading it made his heart melt with pure joy.
"Aww," He was on the verge of tears, "That's pretty nice of them to give me this." He said, folding back the note and putting it back inside the envelope.
"You deserve it, Markimoo," Amy said, planting a kiss on his forehead.
"Not to brag, but I'm bringing this thing with me when I take you to the airport tomorrow." He said in a childish manner, "Maybe I'll brag about it to Tyler."
"Typical Mark, always the type of person who marvels at the little things," She shook her head, chortling.
"Now how about we get some sleep?" The YouTuber suggested, yawning loudly while he went back to their kitchen to clean his plate. "I'm pretty much ready to hit the hay."
"Alrighty, I'll just finish packing up," Amy ran back up.
Soon enough, the couple were lying on their bed getting ready to call it a night, Amy having her arm around Mark's torso while she slept as he gazed at the little Tiny Box Tim figure on his bedside table, very much amazed by it.
He was doing that for a few good minutes before switching his attention to the starry sky out the window, the view and thought of outer space somehow giving him comfort as he finally drifted off to sleep.