My kind of perfect

What hurts the most

*Zelda's pov*
"I don't know how you keep this a secret from the fans!"
Jada looks at Mark and I humorously.
Jada and I were at Mark and Bobs for dinner. I had just given Mark a kiss, and looked across the table at my best friend. "Trust me, it's not easy." I answer. "We want to tell them, but we also..."
"Want something for ourselves." Mark finishes. "The fans are amazing, but they know so much about our lives, it's nice that this is just ours."
"And mine, and Jada's and Wades and Molly's..." Bob jokes, counting on his fingers.
"Yeah, but you would all be super pissed if we didn't tell you!" I say to him.
"Besides, it's not like they'll never know. We just wanted to wait a while before the fandom got ahold of the information and suddenly our relationship is everyone's business." Mark says.
"It's almost like they know. Ever since you both started appearing together in videos, 80% of the fans say they ship you. It's kinda cute." Jada says.
"Well, we've been talking about telling them." Mark admits. "I hate that I can't post cute photos of us, or tweet about her."
"When do you think you'll tell them?" Bob asks.
"We have a video we're working on with the Cyndago guys, a remake of panic at the discos "girls/girls/boys". It should be pretty obvious that we're a couple after that gets posted, but we're still gonna make a vlog and announce it." Mark explains.
"The video will drop right before our six months." I explain thoughtfully.
"Wait isn't girls/girls/boys the one we're Brendan is butt nekkid?" Jada asks. "Yes." Mark answers. "So, then you two are-"
"Yes." Mark and I say in unison. We look at each other and laugh.
"We won't actually be naked!" I laugh at the look of horror on Jada's face. "But it's going to be a sexy video."
"Great, now there'll be a sexy Mark pt 2 hash tag!" Bob jokes. "No, just sexy Zelda." Mark says.
"Sounds like the name of a legend of Zelda fan fiction. " Jada wiggles her eyebrows at her friend.
"There's no pancakes in this video, I can assure you that." I tell them.
We spend another half an hour in conversation, before Jada gets up stretching. "I should head home. I have to get up early enough that I can catch my flight."
"Okay!" I stand up and hug Jada. "Have fun in Arizona, and give your mom a hug from me."
Jada hugs back. "Will do! Bye Mark!"
"Bye Jada, have a good trip." He answers.
Jada heads out the door and Bob walks her out. He comes back in and says, "I'm gonna head to bed myself. I'll see you in the morning. Night!"
Mark and I say goodnight to Bob, who disappears to the his half of the apartment, the 2nd floor.
I go over to the stove, and put a pot of water on the burner for tea. I grab two mugs, and bags of tea- one for Mark, two for me because I like my tea extra strong. Standing in front of the stove, I felt two strong arms wrap around my waist, and Marks chin on my head. I settled back into him comfortably, putting my hands over his.
"This is my favorite." Mark sighs into my hair. "You're my favorite."
It had become somewhat of a ritual. Once a week, I stayed over and me and Mark drank tea and learned about one another; about the good and the bad, the highs and lows. Tonight was no exception.
*Mark's pov*
We settled down on the couch together with our tea. I took her hands to examine her tattoos. She had beautiful art on her arms, words speaking of hope, roses as red as blood, and imagery that meant more to her than I would probably ever understand. Parts on her forearms were raised slightly. I traced my fingers over those parts, looking closely.
"Scars."
I look up at Zelda who has her head turned away and a red face.
"Scars.." Mark repeats.
"I wasn't very... Kind... To myself."
I murmur. "I have them on my thighs too. But those are also covered by tattoos. Stupid depression..."
I say nothing as she turns a deeper shade of scarlet.
"Sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned-"
"Don't apologize." I say softly.
Met sit in silence for a moment. I gently grab her arms, and kiss the raised parts. "These don't define you." I tell her. "Don't be ashamed to admit you once struggled."
Zelda smiles a watery smile. "You're my favorite."
We drink our tea, and talk more. Zelda tells me more about her younger self, the one who wasn't kind to herself and the one that who could point others in the direction of healing but had a hell of a time finding it for herself.
I told her about college, and meeting Bob and Wade; about losing my dad, losing my first channel.
Zelda yawns, looking at the wall clock. "2 a.m. Damn." She says. "Maybe we should go to sleep."
"Yeah..."I also yawn loudly.
"Zelda?" I ask suddenly.
"Yes Mark?" She answers.
"Sleep with me."
Zelda turns bright red and gapes at Me.
"No, not like that!" I sputter. "I mean- unless- you're ready- but it's not-"
Zelda watches me as I try to explain myself. "Mark... We've talked about this..."
"No!"I say, grabbing my hair. "No, no, no! I didn't mean sex!" I grab her hands and speak calmly to her. "What I mean by 'sleep with me', is just that. Sleep. I'm not trying to convince you to do something you're not ready to do. I just want to have you close is all. The other stuff will happen when it happens. When you're ready. When it's right."
Zelda looks at me, and smiles. She leans in and kisses me gently on the lips. Grabbing my hand, she pulls me up from the couch, and we walk to my bedroom.
*Zelda's pov*
Inside, I grab a shirt from one of Marks drawers, and go to the bathroom to change into it and out of my clothes. I put the shirt on, which is slightly loose on my frame, and goes down mid thigh. I quickly braid my hair, and head back into the bedroom.
Mark was waiting, and smiled when he saw me wearing his shirt. "And where are your pants, young lady?" He says, his booming deep voice shaking with laughter. "The best pants, are no pants. I learned that from you, you know." I tell him.
We laugh, and we both crawl into his bed. Mark pulls me to his chest, and kisses my forehead. I smile, and lightly kiss his throat. "Goodnight moon, and goodnight you."I say quietly, slipping away into sleep.
**** a week and two days later.****
It had been two days since Cyndagos newest video had come out, and the feedback had mostly been positive, the fans of both of us sharing their support of the ship now known as "Zeldaplier".
Mark and I were recording a vlog together. It was finally time to tell the fans the truth.
"Hello everybody! My name is Markiplier, and welcome to my super special vlog! I'm here with my special friend, Zelda."
"Hi dreamers!" I say, smiling wide. "Me and Mark have teamed up together to do this vlog for you because..."
"We have something to tell you." Mark finishes. "We've wanted to tell you all for a while, but we feel that now is the right time."
"So, Mark and I...."
"We're dating!" We both say in unison.
"We've been together for a little over 6 months. We hope you all can forgive us for not telling anyone until now. We wanted to have this for ourselves for a while." Mark explains. We talk a little more about upcoming videos and end the vlog shortly after to upload it to our respective channels.
We were happy.
*a month later*
"Ew, you're so ugly!"
" Mark can do better than that!"
"She's fat."
"Bitch, kill yourself!"
There were millions of comments like this everyday. Ever since Me and Mark had uploaded the video announcing that we were dating, it felt like suddenly everyone on the internet hated me. Fans said the nastiest things, often tagging me in comments so I would see the hate. In front of Mark, I acted like it didn't bother me at all. I know he did his best to delete and block the bad comments. Around everyone, I put on a smile, and convinced everyone I wasn't fazed.
But when I was alone, I broke down. It's not like I wasn't used to a little hate; I'm a YouTuber with an opinion after all. But this was different. It felt different. What if they were right?
Today was bad. I was at Marks, trying to enjoy a nice day with my boyfriend. Mark tweeted his excitement about spending time together.
We were talking, and my phone was vibrating like crazy. Mark went to grab something from the kitchen. I picked up my phone, dreading what I was going to see. I wished she hadn't.
Mark came back into the living room to find Me sobbing over my phone, which continued to vibrate.
"Babe, what's wrong?!" Mark says, alarmed. Still sobbing, I pass over my phone, which he takes. He can see hundreds of tweets coming in, most of them coming from a hate account directed at Me. The tweets were nasty. Many of them telling Me to kill myself.
"I-I c-c-can't do it!" I sobs. "I-I can't do I-it anymore!!" I grab my phone from Mark, and quickly leave, still sobbing. I get in my car and head home.
*later that night*
I was curled up into a ball in my bed, facing the wall. My cell was off, and halfway across the room. My eyes were swollen from crying. I didn't look up as Jada entered.
"Zelda." Jada says. Saying nothing, I continues to cry softly into my pillow.
"Zelda!" Jada says firmly. "You don't have to talk, fine. I'm sorry that people are assholes. No one deserves that, especially not you. But if you're going to do one thing tonight, you should watch marks newest video. Trust me, you'll want to." Jada pauses for a moment, looking over at me, and then exits My room.
I slowly get up and grab my laptop. I load it up, and head to Marks channel.
*marks pov*
I sat in front of my camera, not bothering to do an intro, not even sure where to start and what to say.
"I am very, very angry."I finally start.
I run a hand through my hair.
"I'm angry, and disappointed greatly. I feel guilty. I wish I had known it was as bad as it was before today."
I clear my throat, and rubs my eyes.
"Something awesome happened, and I wanted to share it with all of you! I thought you'd join in the excitement of my relationship. Obviously I was wrong."
"Most of you, from me and Zelda's announcement, have sent her so much hate. You've called her terrible things, and told her to do terrible things to herself. It's down now, but someone even made a hate account on Twitter. I should not be making this video. I should not have to explain basic human decency, and why this is God damn wrong-!"
I took a breath and exhaled slowly.
"This ends now. If you're going to send hate to Zelda, don't ever call yourself a fan of mine." I say. "I-.... I love her."
I says, tears in my eyes. "She is... One of the most amazing people I've ever met. She has this heart like you wouldn't believe. She's experienced a side of life that wasn't easy, and she's still so... So.. Golden. She's beautiful, her eyes are the most beautiful shade of Hazel I've ever seen, and her smile... She could light up even the darkest rooms with it. She's amazing, and somehow she wants me to be her boyfriend. And somehow I get to be the luckiest guy ever, and have her as my girlfriend." I say, finally smiling.
"Bottom line here..... I love this girl. I'd do any for her, protect her in any way. I'm sitting here, asking that the hate stops. Instead, spread love. It's a simple concept, but it makes the world a much better place. Not everyone will like me, or like Zelda, which is your loss, but I know this community is better than what it's been pumping out lately. And to those that have been encouraging, I thank you."
"I'll see you all Monday, when my videos will resume, and hopefully the fandom is a better place. Bye guys..."