In Between [Crankiplier]

6. Marks house

It's been seven minutes. Seven fucking minutes of me holding Mark in my arms and getting no response. I give up. I've cried to much. He isn't going to wake up with words. I lightly lay him back onto the floor and grab a paper towel, placing cold water on top and ringing it out a bit. I place the towel on his head. Then stomach, then hand, then arm, then leg, then foot. Nothing. Ugh he won't wake up! I slap his face. Nothing either.

I decide to go to my last resort. He's going to hate me. I put my hands in front of the cotton sleeves covering his armpits and started tickling. He was still at first, then he stirred, making me let out a long breath I didn't know I was holding in. Marks eyes slowly opened and I stop tickling him. He presses his palm against his forehead and winces.

"What happened..?" He asks. I sigh.

"I don't know. I-I was looking for you and I found you unconscious in- in here." I feel my throat clog up and I cough it away. I can't let my emotions show. I need to be stronger.

His brows dropped and intersected, implying he was confused looking back in his memories trying to figure out what happened. His eyes lit up as he slowly remembered. Like he was hungover and slowly remembering the night before.

"Those girls. Uh Jess Signe and- and Marzia uh hurt me." He looks down. He's ashamed. Of what?

"I'm so sorry Mark." I hug him tightly. "I should've been there."

"Hey it's not your fault. Those girls are pricks. And that's just how it is." He sighs. "Oh and by the way, of it isn't clear, over here the 'jocks' or the 'cool guys' don't rule the school or bully people. It's all passive aggressive verbally abusive basic girls here. It has its pros and cons."

"Good to know." I reply. "Now, have you seen your face yet?"

"Hm?" He questions. I bring him up and show him the bathroom mirror. He laughs. I smile at the beautiful sound.

"I like the mustache. It suits me." I sniffle a laugh. Though I keep wondering how is he taking this so well? He got bruised pretty bad. They made him lose consciousness for fucks sake. I guess he can look past anything. Respect.

I wipe off as much as I can of the "LOSER" on his forehead and throw the wet paper towel into the trash. He decides to keep the pink mustache so I let him. We walk together to class, not ever wanting to leave each other's  side.

Marks POV

Finally Purple class ends (in my school classes go by color. So purple class is 6th period) and I march out the oak door and run up to my locker. I'm so excited to have Ethan over! God he's like my first real friend. That's really fucking sad. I put my stuff away and close my locker door. I spot Ethan walking out of his classroom, grinning when he sees me.

"Hey Beanie Baby. Ready to go?"  I ask, laughing as I notice his cheeks are bright red because of the nickname.

"Yeah I'm ready." He follows me out to the bike rack. He looks up at me.

"You ride a bike?" He asks. I shake my head no. I walk a bit further and grab my red longboard and a blue one I brought for him.

"Longboard." He smiles. I guess he's never ridden one before. I'm excited to teach him. Think he's excited too. I lay the boards down and I start riding. I look back and see he's already following me with smooth movements. This bitch is an expert. He follows me as we travel along the path. I see my house come into view and slow down, him copying my actions. I kick up my board and grab it, placing the board in its regular spot. I watch as Ethan does a flip with the board and I scoff. He laughs. Passing me the board, I smile at him. Our hands touch for a second and I feel the electricity from his skin. We lock eyes for a few seconds and I know he felt the same thing. I let go and shake my head, placing the board back.

"Ready to go?" I ask. He nods and we go in. My mum immediately walks up to us with a smile on her face. Which slowly fades away as she sees the bruise on my face.

"Honey what happened?" She asks solemnly.

"Nothing. Just some girls at our school."

"You sure you're okay?" She asks.

I nod. "Okay." She looks over to Ethan, her smile rising again.

"Now who's this fine gentlemen?" My mom asks, winking at Ethan.

"Mooom." I groan. "This is Ethan. We're just going to play some video games and stuff then he'll go."

"You sure you can't stay for dinner?" She smiles.

"Uh.. sure I'll stay. If I'm not a bother." Ethan responds.

"Great! Well you two have fun. I'll start making some food. Dumplings and fried tofu sound good?"

We nod and go on our way to my room. When I close the door behind us I notice him looking around the room in awe. My room is eh so I don't know why he's so amazed by it.

"Nice room." He says. I nod a thanks and grab my two Nintendo switches. I got them for my birthday in June. Frowning as I remember my family being the only people coming to my celebration.

"Ready to play?" I ask. He nods and we sit in front of the tv in my room, syncing the devices to it. We end up playing Mario Kart and Splatoon 2 for two hours. I notice Ethan gets really into games and his laugh is adorable. He almost sounds like a girl and it's so cute. I laugh just thinking about it and Ethan looks over at me.

"What?" He grins. I feel my face get hot.

"Uh I think it's time to go have dinner." I answer. He gets up and follows me out. I see my mother standing at the dinner table arranging the utensils.

"Thanks mum." I say. She jumps up slightly.

"Jesus you scared me." She laughs. "And anytime. "

We sit down and eat the dumplings and tofu. Ethan occasionally looks over at me nodding his head in enjoyment. My mums cooking is pretty good. His leg would sometimes brush against mine and butterflies would fly in my stomach for some reason.

Ethan wipes his face and stands up. "I think I'm done. Thank you so much Ms. Fischbach. And Mark."

"Anytime kid." My mum responds, clearly still chewing her tofu.

"Aw I wish you could stay longer." I frown. "I'll see you tomorrow."

We hug and he smiles, carefully closing the door as he left. I sigh, already missing him.

See you tomorrow Beanie Baby.