You didn't get any sleep that night.
You knew that Mark was laying in bed hiding underneath the covers and crying his eyes out. You so desperately wanted to just go in there and make him feel better.
But you knew that there really wasn't anything you could do.
It was obviously painful for Mark to talk about his ex-girlfriend. Maybe all he needed was time. After all, it seemed like he had opened up to you quite a bit recently. You also felt like pushing him to talk about his ex-girlfriend would only make him close himself off to you and everyone else once again.
You just wanted Mark to be happy.
You just wanted to see him smile.

*****

"You two look absolutely exhausted." Mark's mother was in the kitchen while you and Mark were walking down the stairs with your backpacks over your shoulders.
You were about to reply when a yawn stopped you from doing so. You looked back at Mark and noticed that he looked pretty pale.
"Hey, you okay?"
He nodded and ran a hand through his hair. A moment later, he dropped his backpack down on the ground and sprinted towards the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
"I knew he would get sick." Mark's mother sighed as she went over to where Mark's backpack was and picked it up before setting it on the table. "He always gets sick when he had a stressful time the day before. I can usually sense when this is going to happen but I couldn't catch it this time." She sighed again and looked up at you. "I really hate to ask this of you but I just can't leave him alone here. Not after he..." She trailed off and tears seemed to form in her eyes after a split second. "That boy's scared me so much that I'm surprised he hasn't given me a heart attack yet. And of course his dad can't take care of him because his dad's having his own issues and Tom's got-"
"I'll stay here and take care of him."
"You will? Oh, I owe you so much." She sighed with relief as she went over to the coat rack and put on her coat. "Call me if you need me for anything. As soon as he's done in the bathroom, make sure you get him to lay down in bed."
"Got it." You nodded as Mark's mother went out the front door, making sure it was locked before she closed it.
At that moment, you wondered just what Mark had done to not be allowed to stay home alone while he was sick and just what issues his dad was experiencing.

*****

"Guess who's going to be your caretaker today?" You said as Mark exited the bathroom and ran a hand through his hair.
He pointed to you in response.
"That's right. Now, your mom said that I should get you to lay down in bed as soon as you were done in the bathroom so you should probably go lay down."
To your surprise, Mark didn't protest and began heading back to his bedroom. You followed behind him and closed the door behind the two of you once you were both inside. You watched as Mark pulled the covers back and laid down, picking up the white teddy bear he kept on his bed before pulling the covers over himself.
"Do you want me to get you anything?"
This may sound weird seeing as I just threw up, but my mom always makes me breakfast when I'm sick and if you wouldn't mind...
"I don't mind at all." You smiled a bit. "Whatever you need, I'll get it for you. Well, I'll try to at least." You laughed a bit. "I'm not exactly a miracle worker."
You wanted the earth to swallow you at that moment. You knew that Mark missed his ex-girlfriend a lot and yet you said something as stupid as that. Sometimes you wished that you were mute like he was.
There's no such thing as miracles. Everything happens for a reason.
"Don't you think-" You stopped yourself before you said anything else that you would regret and shook your head. "Never mind. What do you want me to make you for breakfast?"
Surprise me. Mark smiled.
"You got it Pre-" You realized that you were about to call him 'Pretty Boy' just in time. You began panicking because you didn't know what else you could call him. A few moments passed before you blurted out, "Pinkie."
Not bothering to see how he would react, you hurried out of his room and closed the door behind you. You then went out into the kitchen and began to wonder what you should make him for breakfast.
A moment later, you felt a smile form on your face as you realized exactly what you should make him.

*****

"Your breakfast in bed is ready." You carefully opened the door to Mark's room with one hand while holding a tray of food in the other. While you were walking in, you noticed that he had fallen asleep and was hugging the white teddy bear to his chest. His glasses were sitting on the bedside table and right next to his pink lamp.
Aw, he's so cute when he's sleeping.
Wait, did I just say that?
You carefully set the tray of food down on the ground before walking up to Mark's bed. You placed a hand on his shoulder and began gently shaking him.
"Wake up sleepyhead. Your breakfast is ready and it's going to get cold if you don't get up and eat it. You don't want to eat a cold breakfast, do you?"
Mark turned slowly so that he was facing you before he slowly opened his eyes.
"I knew you didn't you goofball." You poked his nose before you went over and picked up the tray of food as he sat up against the frame of his bed.
How did you know that that was my favorite thing to have for breakfast? He smiled as you placed the tray, which had a stack of three pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries on top of the stack and a glass of chocolate milk with a straw inside the glass and a fork next to it, on his lap.
"I didn't know. I simply came up with the idea on my own."
Hey, you know what you should do?
"What?"
You should go get me that can of whipped cream that you used.
"Fine. I'll be back."

Once you got the can of whipped cream and was back in Mark's room, Mark pointed to the can and then pointed to his open mouth.
"You seriously want me to spray whipped cream into your mouth?"
He nodded.
"I did say I would get you whatever you needed." You laughed a bit as you shook the can and sprayed some whipped cream into his mouth. After you did so, he closed his mouth and took the can from you.
"You can't just sit here and eat whipped cream. Do you really want the breakfast I worked so hard on making for you to get cold?" You smiled slightly.
He put the can down and set it on his bedside table before picking up his fork and starting to eat the strawberries that were on top of the stack of pancakes. Before he could put the strawberry in his mouth, you took the fork from him and fed him the strawberry.
"Don't ask. I just felt like doing that." You laughed.
I think you should keep feeding me.
"Aren't you a little old to have someone feed you?" You teased.
Come on, I'm basically a child.
"You're one big kid. Did you have a growth spurt or something?" You teased again.
Yes, in fact, I did. I'm five foot ten inches. He seemed to be proud of this fact.
"Wait, so that means that you aren't even six feet tall?" You teased him once more.
I'm close enough!
"Eat your pancakes!" You put a piece of the pancakes onto the fork. "They're starting to get cold!"
Mark leaned forward slightly and ate the pancakes that were on the fork.
"Good boy." You couldn't help but laugh as you ruffled his hair.
He gave you a look that seemed to say, "Are you serious right now? I'm not a dog." for a moment before smiling. He picked up his glass of chocolate milk and began blowing bubbles with his straw.
"Real mature Fischbach." You teased and lightly punched his arm. "Real mature."
He smiled and rolled his eyes as he began drinking the milk.

*****

After Mark was done eating his breakfast and you were done washing the dishes, he took the can of whipped cream from his bedside table and held it out towards you.
"You're ridiculous." You took the can from him and shook it. He opened his mouth and you sprayed whipped cream in his mouth. "You're hogging all of it. I want some."
He took the can from you and sprayed it before you could open your mouth, causing the whipped cream to land on your face.
"You're terrible!" You laughed as you took the can back from him and sprayed some on his nose. "Good luck."
He tilted his head and stuck out his tongue as he attempted to guide the whipped cream from his nose to his mouth.
"Not so fast!" You placed your hand on his chin and began spraying whipped cream above his mouth. You formed a somehow not terrible mustache using it and smeared the whipped cream that you had originally sprayed on his nose all over his cheeks.
"Don't you dare!" You stopped Mark right before he was about to lick the mustache. You pulled out your phone and went to your camera. "Smile."
He did what you told him and even made a peace sign with his right hand.
"Okay, you're good. I'll send it to you if you want."
He nodded as he started to run his tongue over the whipped cream mustache.
While you were sending the picture to him, you screamed as he sprayed whipped cream in your hair.
"Oh, you're going to pay for that!" You smiled as you quickly seized the can of whipped cream from him before he could do anything else and got your payback via spraying whipped cream in his hair, just like he had just done to you. "You messed with the wrong girl!" You continued to smile.
"Mark!" You cried as he took back the can and sprayed whipped cream all over your face. You took the can back from him and sprayed whipped cream all over his shirt. A few moments later, the can completely ran out. "We just wasted this entire can. Your mom is going to kill us."
Mark shook his head and grabbed his dry erase board. She knows how much I like whipped cream. She literally hides cans from me sometimes. The most she'll do is shake her head.
"Well, I need a shower." You stood up and whipped cream dripped down from your hair and onto your shirt.
I can't imagine why. Mark smiled.
"Oh, you know, someone kinda sprayed whipped cream all over me." You nudged him slightly.
Whoops.
"I'll be back in a little bit." You ruffled his hair and droplets of whipped cream went everywhere. "Stay out of trouble."

*****

Once you were done showering and had changed into different clothes, you went back over to Mark's room and saw that his door was closed. You knocked on the door and waited a few moments before opening it.
"Okay, I finished getting all that whipped cream off of-" You cut yourself off when you briefly saw a shirtless Mark. You swore up and down that you saw something black on his side but you couldn't make out any details of it because it was gone in a blink of an eye. Perhaps it was a tattoo? You didn't know what else it could be.
Mark looked over when he heard your voice and nearly jumped ten feet in the air. He scrambled over to his bed and grabbed his dry erase board. He began writing extremely fast a moment later. Shit, how long have you been standing there?
"Not long at all." You felt your face starting to get hot. "I... I didn't see anything, don't worry."
Mark silently sighed with relief at that moment. Oh, thank God. I highly doubt that you don't want to see a guy you've known for less than two months naked.
"Y-yeah, I mean, that'd be totally weird." You felt your face getting hotter. "We haven't even really gotten to truly know each other that much so yeah, that'd be completely and utterly weird."
You noticed that Mark had a very, very tiny blush on his face as he erased what he had written on his dry erase board and began writing something else. Can we just forget that ever happened? I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed in my entire life.
"Yeah, we can totally forget that ever happened." You nodded in agreement and you just knew that your face was starting to become as red as a tomato. "In fact, I'll erase it from my memory right now and we'll start over from the beginning where I knocked on your door." You took a step out of his room and closed the door behind you. Sighing quietly, you knocked on the door and waited a few moments before opening it again.
"I finished getting all the whipped cream off of me." You acted like you hadn't said those exact words a few moments prior. "I don't think you understand how hard it is to get whipped cream out of hair."
Oh, I do, trust me. The microscopic blush on Mark's face was completely gone and yet, your face still felt hot. While it was true that it felt less hot than it had before you had reentered Mark's room, you wished that the feeling would just disappear completely. After all, you and Mark both came to an agreement that you were going to forget about what had just occurred. "I scrubbed my hair for ten minutes straight to make sure that I got all of it out."
You laughed a little. "Yeah, me too."
You and Mark stood in silence for a few moments and for once, Mark was the one who broke it. So, what do you want to do now?
You shrugged. "Whatever you want really."
We could watch a bad romantic movie and make fun of it.
"Hell yes." You smiled. "I know the perfect movie."
Please tell me you're thinking of Titanic.
"Yes, I am indeed thinking of Titanic." You continued to smile. "Please tell me that you have the movie."
My mom loves that movie so she insisted that we get it.
"Where's it at?"
If you go downstairs, you'll see a bunch of movies. It should be in there somewhere.
"I shall be back then." You turned and began heading out of his room.

*****

When you went downstairs, you saw that there really wasn't that much. The only things that were downstairs were a few gaming chairs, a Wii U, a DVD player, a VCR, and several huge stacks of movies. You went over to where all of the movies were and one stack stood out among the others.
It was a stack of VCR tapes.
The VCR tape that was on top read, '05/16' and you felt chills run down your spine.
"It can't hurt to just watch one. I mean, Mark won't care... Right?" You grabbed the VCR tape and went over to the VCR. After turning on the TV, you put the tape inside the VCR and pressed the play button. A few moments later, the TV changed from a blue screen to showing a blonde haired girl with brown eyes and glasses. She had bloodshot eyes and tears streamed down her face. She was sitting down on her bed and her room looked identical to Mark's.
"Mark, don't show this to anyone. This is for your eyes and ears only." She sobbed for a few moments before speaking again. "I can't do this anymore. Everything's too much and it's so obvious that I don't have a place in this world. I know it's hard to hear me say this, but this is how I feel. I want you to know that I love you. Please forget about me after this because it'll be so much better for you if you do."
Your heart sank down into your stomach as you realized that the girl in the video was Amy, the ex-girlfriend Mark still seemed to be in love with. Your heart sank down even further as Amy pulled a large kitchen knife out from underneath her bed and began stabbing herself in the stomach repeatedly. She only did so for a few moments before becoming limp. The now blood-stained kitchen knife fell onto the carpet and blood seeped from Amy's self-inflicted wounds. You wanted so badly to just look away or run over to the VCR and just turn the tape off.
But you couldn't.
You felt frozen in place from where you were sitting.
Suddenly, the screen went blue again and you were confused as to why. There was no way that Amy could've stopped the video because she was, for lack of a better word, dead at the end of the video. It didn't seem like there was anyone with her because wouldn't they have at least tried to stop her from ending her own life?
But if someone wasn't with her, then how did the video end so suddenly after her death?
It couldn't be that the battery died because the video wouldn't have saved otherwise.
Someone was there with her in the last moments of her life and they let her stab herself to death.

You nearly let out a scream as the TV suddenly turned off. You darted your head around the room in a blind panic and your heart stopped when you saw Mark. Before you could even get a single word out, he put his hand up to stop you.
What the fuck do you think that you're doing? I told you to go grab the movie and you're down here watching the final moments of my ex-girlfriend's life.
"I'm sorry, I-"
Did me putting my hand up not clue you in that I didn't want you to say anything?
You tried to speak again but nothing came out, not even the slightest sound.
You know what? Just get out. I don't even want to see you right now. I can't fucking believe that you would do that without asking me. All those videos, especially that one, were super personal.
You felt genuinely scared. You've never seen Mark angry before. You guessed it took a lot to actually make him angry because you've known him for almost two months and he hadn't even gotten close to even getting the slightest bit angry at anything or anyone.
"I... I'm sorry." You whispered extremely quietly before quickly running upstairs and out of the house. You kept on running, not knowing where you were going or where you would end up.

*****

After a while, you ended up in the park and sitting on the fountain. Once you sat down, you felt tears start to form in your eyes. You blinked and let them spill out, not bothering to hide them. You hugged your knees to your chest and lost your balance as you did so, causing you to fall backwards into the fountain. You sighed as you became soaking wet and carefully stepped out of the fountain.
"What the hell are you doing (Y/N)?" You looked over when you heard your name and saw Troy standing near you.
"I could ask you the same thing." You wiped away your tears and sniffled as you did so.
"I asked you first."
"It's kinda a long story."
"I've got time."

"...And I feel like shit because of it." You sighed as you finished telling Troy everything that had happened. "That was the first time I've ever seen him mad. It was really scary."
Troy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Come and stay at my house tonight. I'll let you have all the weed you want. It'll help you forget things for a while."
You nodded and pulled him into a hug. "That sounds really nice."
Troy hugged back for a few moments before letting go of you. He pulled his car keys out of his pocket and slightly shook them in front of your face. "Let's get going."

*****

"But yeah, the video was weird." You took the tiny bag of weed from Troy's hand before going into the kitchen to grab a pipe. "It ended so abruptly. It showed her lying there in a pool of her own blood for a few moments before the video ended."
"Was someone with her at the time?" Troy blew smoke from his lighter and the scent of weed filled the immediate area almost instantly.
You shrugged as you sat down across from him on the ground. "I actually think someone was there. There had to have been. The batteries couldn't have died because the video wouldn't have saved so someone had to have watched her end her life and then end the video."
"But who the hell could've been there? It obviously wasn't Mark because you said that he really cared about her. If he was there, he would've tried to stop her."
"I think he would've taken his own life before he allowed her to take hers." You whispered, starting to cough a moment later after you inhaled the weed too fast. "He would've done anything for her. And if she was still alive, he'd actually be happy."
Troy sighed and blew smoke from his mouth. "Don't give me this shit."
"What do you mean? Is it such a bad thing that I want my friend to be happy?" You snapped.
Troy was about to respond when there was pounding at the door.
"Please don't tell me that those are the cops." He muttered as he stood up. He peered out the window and sighed with relief. A moment later, he opened the door and Tom swung open the door, almost hitting Troy in the process.
"Have you guys seen Mark?" Tom was panting while holding onto the door handle. His other hand was on his knee and he bent over slightly. "He wasn't there when I got home and I've been trying to text him to see where he went but he hasn't been answering me."
"This is all my fault." You whispered quietly so that neither of them could hear you.
"Shotgun." Troy's response confused you.
"What the hell are you talking about?" You and Tom asked at the same time.
Troy shrugged like the two of you should've known what he meant. "I want the front seat."
"Seriously, what the hell are you even talking about? What does this have to do with anything?" You could see and hear frustration building up inside of Tom.
"Dude, I mean that I get the front seat of your car while we go look for your little brother."
"Why the fuck didn't you say that in the first place?" Tom sighed in frustration. "Let's go."
"(Y/N), are you coming?" Troy asked you when he had almost completely closed the door.
You thought for a moment before shaking your head. "No, he's really mad at me. He wouldn't want to see me."
Troy seemed reluctant. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure." You nodded.
"Okay, if you say so." Troy shrugged a bit before shutting the door. "I'll text you when we find him."
"Don't you mean if you find him?" You muttered. "He disappeared for an entire month not that long ago. It's possible that he's planning on disappearing again. And it's all my fault if he does end up disappearing."