since eighth grade. → markiplier

Chapter One: Reunion

Chapter One: Reunion

Elliot

I stand beside Wade and Molly, chewing my lip in anticipation. I hadn't seen Mark in about, what, seven months? Yeah, we'd spoke on Skype and texted each other, but it wasn't the same as being really with him.

Wade taps my arm and I turn to him, raising an eyebrow. He has a wide grin on his face as he speaks to me.

"He just texted me. He'll be here any minute." He says, showing me the text. I nod my head, clenching and unclenching my fists. I don't know why I was so nervous – I had been best friends with Mark since the eighth grade. I guess I was just excited to see him again, after such a long time.

I scan the large crowd of people as they begin to flood into the room, but it doesn't help that most of these people were tall. Yeah, Mark was taller than me, but he was still only an average height. I couldn't see him through all of these people, and I squint my eyes to try and get a better look.

That's when I see him. His tousled brown hair, his rectangular glasses. Lugging a bag, scanning through the crowd of people. I let out a breath as he spots me and grins, and I can't help but race over to him.

I throw my arms around him and hug him tightly, feeling his own arms secure me in an embrace as he drops his bag to the floor. I finally pull away, not wanting to hog Mark from Wade as he makes his way over.

"Man, it's been so long." Wade says, patting Mark on the back as they hug. Only briefly, though.

"It's nice to know I'm missed." Says Mark, smiling warmly at all of us. He fixes his hair a little, which was probably messed up from the flight.

"Pfft, I didn't miss you." I tell him, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh, you so did. I bet you were so miserable without me." He shoots back, and I just roll my eyes at him. It was the truth, though, I had missed Mark severely. It's difficult to be away from a best friend for such a length of time. I chew on my lower lip, trying to contain my excitement as I look up at Mark and begin tracing his features with my eyes, taking in every detail of his face again-

"Are you two done?" Wade interrupts me from my thoughts, and I look over at him. I feel my cheeks get a little warm for some reason, so I let my hair hang over my face whilst they cool to cover them.

"Done with what?" Mark asks, putting a hand on his shoulder and cracking his neck. Wade looks between us two and then to Molly, and they both shake their heads.

"Never mind." They both say, and Mark and I give each other questioning looks. I shrug, wrinkling my nose and adjusting the glasses on my face. I didn't really need them that much, but I preferred them on. It felt as if, sometimes, I could hide behind them.

"Well, come on then. Our cab is waiting." Molly says, nudging Wade with her elbow. He nods his head and we all head out of the airport after Mark grabs his belongings, climbing into the cab which will take us to my apartment.

When we arrive, I order a couple of pizza's for us to eat as we try our best to catch up on all things the other missed.

"So, how's you and, um, Josh?" Asks Mark, and I roll my eyes at him.

"You mean Jake." I correct, tucking a strand of my blue hair behind my ear.

"No, I meant Josh." Says Mark, smiling at me sarcastically. I cross my arms over my chest and raise an eyebrow.

"Who's Josh?" I question, leaning back into the couch.

"Jake." Mark says, trying to sound clever

"Stop being difficult," I say, sticking my tongue out at him for a moment. "We stopped dating. It wasn't anything serious, anyway. We do talk sometimes, though. He's an alright guy." The bell on the door rings, and I hop off the sofa and grab the money out of my purse. The pizza guy and I exchange the food and cash, and I bring the two boxes to the living room.

"I do not." Mark says loudly, exasperated, shaking his head at Wade and Molly. His cheeks are flushed a little pink.

"What're you talking about?" I ask, tearing open the boxes and placing them in front of us all. Since I don't exactly have a dining room, we just eat the pizzas where we are. For Molly and myself, we get a plain cheese pizza. Wade and Mark, though, got pepperoni. I wrinkle my nose at the smell, never having been a big fan of it.

"Nothing." They all say in unison, and I raise both eyebrows this time. However, not being much of a curious person, I let it slide.

"Okay then," I say, dragging out the 'okay'. I tuck my feet up on the couch and take my first bite out of the slice of pizza. "You guys want to watch a movie?" I ask, and they all agree. I browse through Netflix, finally settling on a movie that we all agreed on. Well, Molly, not being as geeky as the rest of us, didn't exactly agree with it. However, she didn't argue and decided to watch it with us. The movie was The Avengers, one of which was my favourite movie. I love all of the Marvel movies and comics, having a few figurines and posters myself.

Once the movie had ended, we all finish up the pizza and say goodbye to Molly and Wade. Whilst staying in Cincinnati for a while, Mark would be bunking over at my place instead of his parents. He was going to visit them tomorrow, though.

"How's your YouTube going?" I ask as I throw the pizza boxes in the bin, washing my hands free of grease afterwards. Mark nods his head as I go back and sit beside him on the couch again, his smile growing.

"It's going really well, actually," He says, pushing a hand through his hair. "Better than I expected, if I'm honest. The growth of my channel is ridiculous. In a good way." He explains, and I nod my head.

"Yeah, I had looked at your channel when I had the time. I was mostly busy working on those short animations, though." I tell him, shuffling to get more comfortable on the couch.

"Oh, yeah! How's that been for you?" He asks, and I shrug a little.

"Not so good. My views seem to have dropped a little. I guess I lost my inspiration and the crowd lost interest." I explain, slowly. Suddenly, something clicks in my brain. My inspiration? I steal a glance off of Mark and mentally shake my head.

"Oh. Sorry to hear that," He answers, tapping a small rhythm on his knees with his fingertips. "I could give you a shout-out, if you want." I let out a laugh.

"And now you're just rubbing it in." I state, raising my head and wrinkling my nose. My glasses fall down slightly and, with a huff, I take them off and place them on the small table beside the couch.

"I'm not! I was just trying to be friendly." He says quietly, pouting like a child. I shove him lightly.

"Suuuure," I say, letting out another laugh. "You want to watch another movie? I'm bored." I ask, sitting cross-legged now.

"Hell yeah. You got popcorn?" He questions, stretching out his arms and laying them across the back of the sofa.

"I can make some if you want me to." I offer, pushing my hair out of the way and tying it up in a simple bun. With all the different shades of blue tucked up like this, it made the hairstyle look better and more planned than it actually was.

"Well, duh. I'll help." He says, jumping out of his seat like an excited child at Christmas. I roll my eyes at him as he offers me his hand, but I take it and let him pull me up from the chair. As he takes his hand away, it feels as if a part of me had been torn away, too. I rub my hand off on my jeans, ignoring the feeling. I'm going to have to get used to my best friend being around for another two weeks again.