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“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ethan asked for what felt like the billionth time that day.
Mark laughed off his friend’s concerns as he pulled the car into the driveway. “Even if I wasn’t sure, which I am, it’s a little too late now.”
“It’s really not.” Despite the car being parked and turned off, Ethan made no move to get out. “We could film something else. Cooking breakfast with dog toys or cooking breakfast while tied together, or literally anything else that doesn’t involve Jack and Felix hunting me for sport.”
Mark laughed louder and opened the driver side door, grabbing half of the bags as he climbed out. “Jesus, Seán and Felix aren’t going to kill you. This is all in good fun, I promise.”
Ethan wanted to argue more, but settled for mumbling “Didn’t know you were dating Jesus now too.” Mark chuckled and closed the car door and made his way to the house. Thankfully, Ethan didn’t chicken out and followed him, carrying the rest of the bags with him. A small part of him worried that Ethan had a point. What if Seán and Felix took this the wrong way? He wasn’t necessarily making the video for them, but by involving Ethan he could see how they could potentially get a little jealous.
Chica and Henry started barking the second Mark stepped foot inside. Both dogs ran up to welcome him home despite him only being gone for an hour. “Amy? A little help here!” Mark called out.
“Still setting up the camera!” She yelled back.
Mark groaned and set the bags down so he could usher the dogs away from the door as Ethan walked in. “Cooking breakfast for dogs! So many options here, Mark!”
Mark closed the door and locked it. “Do you not want to do it anymore?” As hilarious as an idea Mark thought cooking breakfast with sex toys was, if Ethan was uncomfortable he didn’t want to force his friend into recording something like that. This was a little more extreme than the regular Markiplier Makes.
“I personally don’t have a problem with it,” Ethan said, reaching down to pet Chica. “I just don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“Okay I didn’t want to admit this because I wanted to take credit for it, but this was Seán and Felix’s idea in the first place,” Mark admitted.
“Oh?”
Mark smirked and started carrying their ‘cooking utensils’ into the kitchen. “Well, we were in a discord call and they were discussing what collab they should do next. I brought up Felix’s old cooking videos that he did, and Seán being the horny bastard he is brought up the sex toys aspect. So I guess the idea came from both Seán and me, but either way, they know the idea is out there.” Mark set the bags on the kitchen counter and chuckled. “They just don’t know that I planned on beating them to it.”
“With me in the video,” Ethan added. “And Amy recording.”
“Ethan it’ll be fine,” Amy waved off. “Mark’s a big boy. He’s not gonna let Jack and Felix go after you if they get jealous. And while we’re on that topic- what is there for them to be jealous of besides the fact that they can’t eat whatever breakfast you guys are about to to make? It’s not like you guys are going to fuck or anything.”
“No, but Mark had a genius idea while we were buying everything,” Ethan mumbled, helping Mark set everything up.
Amy stared at Mark, waiting for an explanation. Mark just stared back while he silently pulled out a gag. It was one with a ring, leaving an opening perfect for-
“Are you seriously going to-“
“Yes.”
Amy groaned and grabbed the camera. “You better not choke and die. I don’t want to pay the long distance fees calling overseas to tell your partners that you died eating breakfast like a dumbass.”
“So glad you care about my well being,” Mark smirked. He clapped his hands together and looked at two of his closest friends with a wide smile. “Alright! Let’s film a wholesome as fuck cooking video!”
***
The video itself had a lot of... reactions to say the least. Younger fans asking how they could watch the video despite the age restriction (the restriction existed for a reason), others questioning how they were going to survive a whole year of content like that, and those quick on their feet saving the video in gifs to be remembered once the channel was gone in a year. The majority of viewers now understood why Mark and Ethan were going to delete it- can’t have that up on the internet forever.
The two reactions Mark was waiting for didn’t come right away. Sure, Seán and Felix knew about the channel and fully supported Mark and Ethan’s idea, but the lack of a response was putting Mark on edge. Did they see the video and change their mind on supporting the channel? We’re they upset with Mark? Was Ethan right and Seán and Felix were sharpening their pitchforks to hunt down him down? It was later in the day when Mark got a phone call, the ringtone giving away who the caller was instantly. He took a deep breath and answered.
“Hey, Jack!” He greeted stiffly. He tried to put some energy into his voice, but it sounded forced.
“Hey, Mark. Felix and I saw the video on yer new channel,” Jack hummed, his tone completely neutral. Mark wasn’t sure if he was in for a lecture or if his partner was about to yell a bunch of congratulatory remarks on the great start of the new channel.
“Oh really? Whatcha think?” Mark asked, trying to calm his nerves. “Pretty funny am I right?”
“You stole our fucking idea!” Felix yelled into the phone. Mark was taken back. Felix didn’t sound angry, just loud, and was Jack laughing?
“You fucker, Felix and I were gonna do cookin’ with sex toys! Ye beat us to it! Didn’t even think ta credit us for basically gifting you that idea!”
“We didn’t gift shit, you stole it, Mark!” Felix yelled again, clearly laughing this time. Mark let out a huge sigh of relief and rubbed his hand down his face.
“You assholes! I thought you were actually mad at me for a minute!”
“Well, I’m kinda peeved that Ethan ended up bein’ the one ta get ye in a gag yet again, but that’s something to discuss when we fly to LA next month,” Jack teased.
“Speaking of Ethan, blue boy was scared that you two were gonna hunt him for sport after all of that,” Mark laughed. He knew Ethan could him him from the living room, but raised his voice slightly anyway just in case.
“We would never hurt Ethan, we love him!” Jack said.
“In fact, can you put him on the phone for a minute?” Felix asked. Mark was scared for his friend despite what Seán said, but called his friend over anyway.
“The second largest channel and Mr. Jack Spedicey have some words for you,” Mark said, offering Ethan his phone. Ethan shook his head and backed away.
“Mark they’re going to yell at me!”
“I promise- Jack said they wouldn’t hurt you! They just wanna talk for some reason.”
Ethan groaned but took the phone and hesitantly held it up against his ear. “Hello?”
“Ethan!” Jack yelled. “How ye doin’?”
Mark could see the tension in Ethan’s shoulders relax at the sound of Seán’s voice. He and Seán were friends, they had collabed together before, so he was obviously the less intimidating of Mark’s two partners.
“Pretty good, how about yourself?” Ethan responded back with a question.
“We’re both just peachy after watching that video you and Mark uploaded earlier,” Jack said.
“Both?” Ethan asked, his face paling a bit. Mark chuckled. He had said both of them wanted to talk to him.
“We wanted to thank you, Ethan,” Felix hummed into the phone. “Today’s video was quite entertaining!”
“We enjoyed it very much,” Jack agreed. “We just ask that you wash off and save that gag for us, since we’ll both be there next month.”
Ethan threw Mark’s phone back at him, yelled “Nope!” And left the room, his face slightly red. Mark laughed and held the phone up to his ear.
“What did you tell that sweet child?”
“We just asked him to save the gag for our visit,” Felix explained.
“Oh yeah, of course,” Mark agreed. “That video was just a test really. Wasn’t sure if I’d like it or not.”
“And?” Jack pressed.
“It was fine but I’m sure I’d enjoy it more with less people walk by and you two there instead of Ethan and Amy.”
“One month, Mark,” Felix promised.
“One more month,” Jack repeated.
“Yeah,” Mark smiled. “One more month.”