That shower was one of the most unpleasant things that Mark had ever had the displeasure to experience. It was either so cold that he felt like he was going to get frostbite or so hot that he thought his flesh was about to peel off, no amount of tiny adjustments to the temperature dial could change that. Feeling really uncomfortable in his own skin, Mark slowly made his way around his room, picking up random pieces of clothing and putting them on.

There was something happening today, he knew it, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He had that nagging feeling in the back of his brain, like when you leave the house and you know you've left a certain object behind, only to remember what it was a couple of hours later. Mark wondered around his room aimlessly, he felt strange, 'Maybe I'm coming down with the flu' he thought to himself. He plonked himself down in front of his computer and stared pointlessly into the black abyss that was his computer monitor, until his phone vibrated and broke his train of thought.

Wait, his phone? He could have sworn that it got broken last night in the brawl. He picked it up off of his desk and weighed it in his hand, it felt different, it was the same model of his phone but it was band new. The only way he could tell was because it didn't have the tiny crack in the top right hand corner that he got when he accidentally dropped it at Disney World last year.

He unlocked the screen and saw that he had 2 new messages, one from and unknown number and one from Y/N. That was when his brain kicked into gear and a metaphorical cloud of dust poofed it's way out of his ear as the cogs inside his mind finally started to turn again, Y/N was coming to his house today to film a collab video with him. How could he have forgotten?

He tapped the 'Back' option in the top left corner of the screen so he would be taken back to the 'Messages' menu, he clicked on the text message from the unknown contact and allowed his eyes to skim over the pixelated words. It read:

'Hey dude, sorry about last night. I fucked your phone up pretty bad so the boss made me get you a new one, I put your old sim card into this model so hopefully everything's there.' 

Mark blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out who the hell this person could be, the obvious answer hung above his head but it was as though he couldn't quite reach it. After a while of thinking he realised that it must have been the man who had attacked him the night before, how the hell did he get into Mark's apartment without a key? His attention snapped back to his phone when he felt the device vibrate under his fingers, another text had come through:

'Also, I thought I'd warn you about the hunger so check the fridge, you'll thank me later ;)'

Without hesitation, Mark made his way to the kitchen, a thousand things skipped, jumped and hopped their way around his brain as his curiosity and paranoia ran wild. He couldn't open the fridge door fast enough when he eventually reached the kitchen. For a moment he didn't see it, but right at the back of the second shelf was a cardboard McDonald's cup.

Mark carefully took the cup out from behind his packets of bacon, surprised to find that it actually had some weight to it, just from looking through the white plastic lid he could see a dark substance inside it. His brain told him it was Cola, but not trusting the word of a random person who had broken into his apartment and left a McDonald's cup in his fridge, he popped open the plastic lid with his thumb and stared at the liquid.

There was something off about it, at first it seemed like it was just black liquid but after swirling the liquid around the cup he saw that it left a red stain on the cardboard walls. Sending him into even more paranoia, he took a sniff and almost immediately regret his decision. A strong scent of iron filled his nostrils and he instantly knew what this was, it was blood. Whether it was human or not was another question but Mark didn't want to wait long enough to find out.

He was about to pour it down the sink when a shocking pain hit his gums and made him place the cup back down on the counter before he doubled over on the floor.

  ☾  

You were only running slightly late, and by slightly you meant you were about 15 minutes late, as usual. At least you were on your way to Mark's apartment now, you slotted your door key into the lock and turned it all the way until you heard an audible click that signaled it was locked. You tugged the handle quickly just to check that it was, in fact, locked and you weren't going to come back to a flat that had been broken in to and half your possessions stolen.

You pressed the button on your car keys as you were walking towards it, somehow thinking that this would save you time. Opening the driver's side door, you slipped into your seat and closed the door behind you, almost hitting your own foot out of your clumsy haste, and clicked your seat belt into place. You were ready to leave.

Unlocking your phone, you opened up Twitter and went onto your private messages between you and Mark. Highlighting the message that Mark had sent you containing his address, you selected copy and pasted it into Google Maps. You clipped your phone into its holder on your dashboard and pressed 'Get Directions', your hands only slightly shaking from excitement.

There was a part of you that was extremely nervous to be meeting Mark for the first time, you had been dreaming of this ever since you found his channel and it was actually happening. Someone needed to pinch you or something just to ensure you that it was real, you were in your car, driving, on your way to meet Markiplier. You repeated that in your head a couple of times, just to check that you were still conscious.