How's the Weather Up There?

Chapter 1

Mark's Pov

"Yo Ho Yo Ho a pirate's life for meeeeee! We pillag—"

Mark slammed his hand down on his suspiciously nautical themed alarm clock. As much as he loved the device (it was a gift from his sister) he was very close to chucking it through a wall. It was too early to be awake, and Mark was fully considering forgetting his responsibilities and going back to sleep. With an overly dramatic sigh, he eventually heaved himself out of bed and started getting ready for work. He barely had a pant leg on when he knew today was gonna suck (which isn't saying much since that's Mark's opinion on most days).

It isn't that Mark hated his job, per se, but it wasn't exactly a walk in the park. In addition to fighting demons that have taken over the bodies of animatronics/employees and are actively trying to kill him and his coworkers, he also had to field the complaints of all the tired, crabby Karens at Mousepark (usually after an encounter with Alex). Mark isn't exactly a people person. Plus, to top it all off, he had been trying to quit for months but the higher ups literally wouldn't let him. They kept saying his resignation letter had been lost or burned or whatever and that he would have to resend it only for them to "lose it" again. Plus, if he didn't clock in on time he just sort of spawned at his desk, which was annoying. So, for all intents and purposes, Mark was trapped.

But that wasn't even the worst part.

Mark could handle the other stuff, but as he made his way through the building he scanned the room for any sign of him. He had just made it to his office and was about to lock the door to safety when—

"Hi Mark!"

Oh god. He did not have the energy for this today.

"Hi Ethan," Mark said through gritted teeth as he slowly turned to face the red-head. Ethan was looking down at Mark with the same stupid grin he always had that made him look somewhere between a golden retriever and the most aggressive ray of sunshine. He had long, floofy red hair with a white streak in the front to match Prince Reynard, the character he "hangs out with" in the park (Ethan is very adamant about character integrity). He was wearing a emerald green varsity jacket with Prince Reynard patches all over it paired with a black T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. But probably his most noticeable feature (at least from Mark's perspective) is that he is tall. Like, ridiculously tall. And that irritated Mark, who only comes in at a whopping 5'5", more than anything.

"How's it going?" Ethan said with a smile. God, he is always so happy in the morning, Mark thought. It's inhumane.

"Worse now, thank you. Don't you have like, work, or something you could be doing?" Mark said, heading to the break room to get another now needed cup of coffee.

"Nah, my first shift doesn't start for another few hours, but I came extra early to give you... this!"

Ethan pulled out a tupperware and popped off the lid in one seamless movement. Inside were several cookies with beautifully painted frosting faces on them. Mark recognized most of them, including Avalon, Alex, Jay, Michaela, Scarlett (clearly dressed in her Red costume), Matt, and some other character actors he couldn't remember the names of. Sitting on top was a suspiciously nautical cookie that was clearly supposed to Mark.

"Oh, um, thank you," Mark said. Given recent events, what with him turning Ethan into a girl by accident, he was caught a little off guard. He knew they had sorted things out, and Ethan wasn't one to hold a grudge, but still. Mark wouldn't bake cookies for his grandma, let alone a coworker. Honestly, he was a little touched.

Mark started to brew a pot of coffee, since of course the break room pot was empty (f*cking paul). He went to grab a coffee filter, when he realized... they were on the top shelf. There was no way he could reach it without climbing on the counter, and he was absolutely not gonna ask Ethan for help. Maybe if he timed a jump just right he could—

"Do you need a coffee filter? Here let me."

Without even stretching Ethan effortlessly grabbed the filters and handed them to Mark with a dramatic flourish. "You know, you guys should probably get a step ladder in here, or at least move everything to the bottom shelf. I won't always be here to help, you know!" he said with a light hearted chuckle.

Forget the cookies. Mark was pissed. Not only was this idiot good at just about everything (and quite possibly a werewolf), but now he had to go an rub his stupid height in Mark's face. Just who does he think he is?!

It took all of Mark's strength not to storm off right then and there. Instead he grabbed his newly brewed coffee and said "Thank. You. Ethan. Now, if you'll excuse me, I. Have. Work. To. Do."

"Oh but I—"

"PLEASE GO. NOW."

Mark slammed the door to his office and locked it before Ethan could say another word. The rest of the day passed relatively normally, but Mark's bad mood continued to worsen. He couldn't stop thinking about that morning. By the time his shift ended he had broken several pencils and made quite a few guests cry (something he only wished they would fire him for). When he finally got home he was fuming. Who was Ethan to tell him he needed a stepstool? He didn't need his help. He'd show him and everyone else he was just as cool and confident as Ethan would ever be. If he was only taller....

Suddenly, it hit him. He knew exactly what he had to do.

But first, he needed to make a call.

A/N: Thank you for reading my first chapter:) this took me so looooong

this fic is sort of a sequel to @prince_ethan_luver so thanks for the inspo!

anyways, my mom has sort of banned me from technology due to a *fire related incident* so i don't know when i will finish chapter 2