Love By Starlight (Markiplier x Reader)

Time

"Well, this is it." You sighed in disbelief as you unplugged your phone from the charger by your bed. On the screen was the reminder you dreaded and loved at the same time. Today was launch day at last, after weeks upon weeks of training. "I'm gonna miss you Mayhem." You sat down on the edge of your bed and patted the empty space beside you. Mayhem, who was previously lying on the floor by your feet sprang up onto the bed, laid his head in your lap and whimpered softly as you stroked the fur behind his ears. "Mrs. Hannigan will take care of you." You promised him as he let loose a large yawn and slid off of the bed. Mrs. Hannigan was a kind elderly lady that loved animals of all kinds, especially dogs since she owned a jack russel herself. She lived in the medium sized mint green house on the left of yours. Your phone vibrated again, reminding you that you had ten minutes to get ready. You donned a blank bright pink t-shirt, light blue hoodie, jeans, and a pair of blue and green tennis shoes. As you finished tying your right shoe, you hurriedly shoveled bites of a microwaved hot pocket into your mouth. Once you finished eating, you combed your hair with your fingers, brushed your teeth, then ran out the door after saying one final goodbye to Mayhem. "Wait." I skidded to a halt a few feet from the door. You forgot your car keys. You groaned in annoyance as you darted back inside, grabbed the keys from the kitchen table, clambered into your car and drove off towards Nasa.

       "Hey (Y/N), great to see you again." Mark greeted you with a warm smile. You noticed that his hair was for some reason now a bright red that matched the intensity of his YouTube logo. You blushed as you said hello back. You've been keeping your space between Mark since Friday, which felt like forever from now, but in reality it happened less than a week ago. You were worried that he'd stop being your friend, but so far, it didn't seem like he was angry or upset about what happened. "(Y/N)!" Cassie exclaimed excitedly as she hugged you tightly. "Everyone else is in the locker room. C'mon!" She dragged you by the sleeve of your hoodie inside. Mark followed behind you, trying but failing to hide his amusement at your capturing. "So, what happened?" She asked once you walked inside the girl's locker room. "What're you even talking about?" You laugh nervously as you gently yanked your sleeve out of Cassie's grasp. "Don't play dumb, it's plain as day that something went down between you and Mark. Spill the beans." She opened her locker, retrieved her large packed duffer, then closed her locker again. "Nothing happened, don't be so paranoid." You assured your friend as you got your own duffel out of your locker. Cassie shot you a hurt expression. "Alright fine, we almost kissed." You admitted reluctantly. "What?" She nearly screamed as she dropped her duffer on the tiled floor. "Tell me everything." She demanded as she sat down on the candy apple red bench. I sat down beside her as I told her in detail what happened. "Why have you been avoiding him then?" She frowned in confusion. "I didn't wanna ruin our friendship or make our buisness relationship awkward." You shrugged as you set your duffel down beside you. "I get it, really I do, but you should talk to him. I mean, you are kinda going to be locked in a rocket in the middle of space with him for a long time." She shrugged in return. You remained silent as you slid your space suit on. Once your suit was on, Cassie picked up her duffel and left the room. You quickly followed after her whilst slinging your duffel over your shoulder. Mark was waiting a good distance away with his space suit on and helmet tucked under his right arm. You could see the excitement spark in his eyes as he tried the helmet on to make sure it was the right size. It fit perfectly around his head. He yanked on the helmet to pull it off, but it remained firmly on. You giggled quietly as you unlocked the mechanism on the side of the helmet that held it in place. It popped off with ease. "Thanks." Mark quickly brushed his red hair out of his face and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "Hey, we're getting ready to take off." Caleb informed me. I took a deep breath to try and calm my nerves as I followed him to the rocket that loomed ahead of me on the "take off pad" as I called it since I could never remember the actual name. I was surprised that the engineers were able to make a rocket of this size in such a short amount of time. "All aboard!" Antonio shouted from the entrance of the rocket. I followed Caleb into the rocket and strapped myself into my usual position, which was the seat closest to the front. Samantha was already on board as well and was seated behind you. "Mind if I sit here?" Mark inquired as he pointed at the seat next to you. "No, go ahead." You gestured at the empty seat. "So, how many missions have you been on?" He asked as he sat down. "Almost too many to count." You remarked jokingly. "Seriously, tell me." Mark pleaded. "This is my third mission." You admitted. Your first one was to the moon, then the observation mission to the milky way and now this one. "You still wanna be an engineer?" I teased. "As long as I'm a space engineer!" He gave a goofy grin. "Lift off in ten...nine...eight..." The head of rocket engineering was giving the countdown. You nearly jumped out of your buckled seat whenever Mark held your hand in his. You weren't sure if it was to calm him or you down, but either way it worked. "Three...two...one. Lift off." The clamps that held the rocket released their hold with a hiss as the engines roared to life. "Close your eyes." You instructed Mark. He did as you told him. "It feels like I'm going up higher on a really tall swing." Mark commented as he opened his eyes again. You tried to ignore the rattling of the walls of the rocket as the G-force increased. When you glanced over at Mark, he looked like he was about to vomit. "Focus on something, it helps you kinda ignore the pressure." You suggested. He closed his eyes again and took a couple of deep breaths. "We're nearly in space." Mark gasped in excitement like a child on Christmas. "We're in orbit!" Caleb announced from the pilot seat. The crew cheered happily, giving each other high fives. Every small accomplishment was huge to them. You never knew how many you would get. "Oh yeah, everyone buckled up, right?" Antonio queried sheepishly from the co-pilot seat. Everyone laughed in response. "Yeah, I kinda forgot to say buckle up before we took off." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "It's all good." Samantha assured him from where she was sitting in the very back by Cassie. "So, I never really asked, but is there like a captain or..." Mark trailed off. "No, we didn't really see a need for a captain. We're all equal here. I mean true, we all do different jobs, but we're still family." Cassie informed him with a smile. "I had the same question whenever I first started. I've been on six missions." "Woah." Mark breathed in awe. "I've been on seven!" Caleb boasted. "Yeah, well I've been on ten so there." Antonio stated smugly. Suddenly, your body started to float upwards. "Yes!" Mark exclaimed as he unbuckled and began floating around the rocket. "Wait for me!" You called towards his retreating form as you unbuckled and pushed your feet off of the seat to catch up to him. You met him at the back of the rocket where all of the supplies, beds, and bathrooms were. He was digging through his duffel that he packed. Finally, he retrieved a small video camera and activated it. "Hello everybody, my name is Markiplier and you're not going to believe it, but I'm in freaking space!" He sounds in a slow circle to show the inside of the rocket. You ducked out of view so you didn't ruin his video. "And frankly, I wouldn't be where I am without (Y/N)." Mark took your arm and dragged you over beside him. You blushed and gave a little wave at the camera. "As you know, I won't be posting games for a while, so I thought I'd make lots of vlogs with the crew. That's Samatha," he directed the camera towards her as she did a front flip in the air. "Antonio and Caleb," they both turned towards the camera and waved. "And Cassie." She was opening a package of M&Ms. "Here." You took the package and opened it for her. Little circles of chocolaty color floated around. You did a back flip and caught a red one in your mouth. "Nice." Mark pushed off of the wall and ended up making the M&M hit him in the face. You giggled as he tried to eat it from where it was floating over his moustache. You gently poked the M&M, sending it into Mark's mouth. "Mmm." He sighed in content as he sucked on the candy shell. "Who wants to go out for a bit?" Caleb held up six harnesses. "Ooohh this is so cool!" Mark instantly grabbed a harness and attached it to mine. Once everyone had their helmet and harness secured, Antonio led you out of the rocket through the hatch on the top. "Oh that's so cool!" You sang quietly. "My computer can't even handle the rendering." Mark finished the line. "Ok I have to ask, not to be conceited, but are you a fan?" He questioned you. You felt your face heat up as you responded. "Yeah, I've been watching your videos since your Fnaf compilation." "All of the fan girls are going to be so jealous." Mark snickered. You went quiet as you stared out at the billions of glowing stars. "Alright, everyone back in." Antonio guided everyone back inside. "I hope that everyday is like this." Mark wished aloud. "Yeah, me too." You agreed. For some reason though, you couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong.