"Can you hand me the spatula?" Jack asks, his back to Mark who is sitting on the countertop. Mark reaches into the draw, pulling out the wooden spoon and tapping Jack on the shoulder with it. Jack reaches a hand over his shoulder, not turning, and grabs the spatula.

"I'm still listening, by the way," Jack adds, adding in four eggs deafly as he stirs.

Mark sighs, leaning his head back against the cabinet above him. It was maybe two in the morning, and Mark was surprised Jack was still awake, let alone in his kitchen cooking, but he wasn't going to argue. Jack was his best friend, so Mark wasn't exactly going to argue if all Jack wanted to do on his visit to America was bake late at night and listen to Mark vent, Mark wasn't really going to stop him.

"Okay, so back to the dinner event," Mark sighed. He felt his stomach twist as he remembered the whole thing. Mark clutched at the coffee mug snugged between his hands, steam rising gently off of it.

"Well, when I showed up, I didn't tell you I met this guy called Chad who just…" Mark let out a groan in frustration.

Jack nodded, turning to the fridge for milk.

"But yeah, he will come back later. Anyway, I'm having a good time talking with Felix and a few others when that girl, Stacey, comes back and she's being the biggest jerk to Felix."

"Stacey was the one outside with those other girls too, wasn't she?" Jack asked, measuring out milk in a glass cup.

"Yeah she was. So Stacey was telling Felix that his YouTube Red series was severely overrated and that he shouldn't have started that series as it will just cost more than it's worth. And Felix loves that show! So hearing that really hurt him, and he responded not so kindly, so Stacey gets even more jerky and —"

"Mark," Jack cut him off, turning around to face Mark behind him. Mark could see the slight bags from a late night forming under his friend's light eyes, but the warmth in them was unmistakable. Mark suddenly became aware he was rambling, and felt a blush starting to tint his cheeks. He sighed, collecting his thoughts.

"I just feel really bad because I couldn't do anything to help Felix out, and when I tried to help and tell Stacey to back off, she turned out to be a reporter for Kotaku. Then Chad was also a representative from the YouTube Red team, and he wasn't impressed with the way I 'handled' the journalist or some bullshit like that," Mark placed his cup down on the side countertop as he growled out his response. He felt terrible. Mark clamped his hands together, interlacing his fingers, and glared down at them, angry as he concluded.

"So…I fucked up tonight…basically…" Mark sighed in conclusion, looking up again and into Jack's kind eyes. His friend blinked, silent for a while as he took in everything Mark was saying.

"But you stood up for your friend, right?" Jack pointed out.

Mark rolled his eyes. "Yeah I did, but—"

"And you protected their passion, right?"

"Yes, but I don't—"

"You were a friend when Felix needed one," Jack cut in, taking Mark's clamped hands in his. Mark felt a slight shiver run up his spine despite himself.

"Fuck Stacey, fuck Chad, and fuck that cocktail party," Jack reasoned, grinning at Mark. He then turned around, his back hiding whatever it was he was doing.

"You know how much they should matter to you? To Markiplier? Twelve million subscriber channel with one of the friendliest and most supportive fanbases out there?" Jack spoke over his shoulder, still busily working.

"Here's how much," Jack added, holding up a cracked egg shell. Mark looked from the egg shell to Jack before huffing a short laugh.

"And here's how much you should care about my cooking skills," Jack continued, leaning in close to Mark and making him lean back slightly from slight surprise.

"Wha—what are you—" Mark began to ask, but instead was silence by Jack's finger entering his mouth. Mark's eyes widened as the taste of cookie dough came off of Jack's finger, understanding the slight smile on Jack's face. Mark was still a moment, a little surprised by the sudden gesture, but also grateful for the treat. Jack allowed Mark to suck the dough off his finger before Jack removed it from his mouth and wiped it on his jeans, smiling.

"That's really good Jack!" Mark enthused, his mouth feeling a little empty without Jack's finger now. He didn't know Jack was tingling from the sensation of Mark's lips around his finger.

"Is it? I haven't tasted it yet," Jack grinned, reaching another finger into the bowl to scoop out a small load.

"Here then," Mark slipped off the counter behind him and leaned up against Jack's shoulder, dipping his finger into the bowl with a smirk. Jack didn't realize what he was doing until Mark's finger slid into his own mouth.

"Try it," Mark grinned, a blush rising on his cheeks as he felt the warm wetness of Jack's lips around his finger. Jack's large crystal blue eyes were wide, starring up at him a little shocked and a little in awe he did that. They were still for what felt like ages, but finally Jack's lips moved and he sucked the cookie dough off of Mark's finger. Mark slid his finger back out, a slight trail of saliva connecting them for only a split second until it broke.

Jack's eyes didn't leave Mark's, neither wanting to break the silent spell. The one thing that did break it was the oven's beep signaling it was up to temperature.

Jack looked over at the oven while Mark looked down at the bowl, mumbling "I'll get the cookie pan," before leaning into a cabinet to look for it.

"It's okay," Jack pipped up, making Mark turn around to see him pull it out of another draw with an apologetic smile. "I got it."

Mark blinked. "How did you—"

Jack huffed a laugh as he stretched wax paper across the metal surface of the pan. "I come here a lot, Mark," Jack smiled, then giggled at another thought. "Kinda says a lot that I know more about your kitchen than you do."

Mark laughed too, leaning against the counter top Jack was using, watching as Jack skillfully spooned out large loads of cookie dough onto the wax paper. He used a finger to scrape off the little bits of cookie dough still clinging to the spoon every now and then. Both men were silent while Jack worked, only Mark moving to grab another pan from where Jack had found the first one. Two full trays of cookies later, Jack slid both pans into the oven and set the timer for thirty minutes.

"Right then," Jack grinned, straightening up and looking at nearly empty mixing bowl. A small portion of cookie dough sat in the bottom of it still, giving both Jack and Mark and idea.

Jack glanced up at Mark, a pink smile on his face as he read Mark's mind. "You want to finish it?" he offered, already knowing the response.

Mark grinned back, his cheeks pinkening too as he scooped a finger into the bowl, pulling out a large load of cookie dough. Jack mimicked his motion, before offering it to Mark.

The two giggled. "Okay, on three?" Mark offered, his cheeks growing steadily pinker with every passing second.

"One…two…three," Jack counted down, and on three, he wrapped his lips around Mark's finger, feeling Mark do the same to his finger. Both shuddered at the sensation, but tried to hide it from the other. Mark caught Jack's eyes, unsure of whether he wanted to laugh or not. Instead, he sat silently with Jack, the two grinning stupidly at each other until they removed their fingers and repeated the process until all the cookie dough was either baking or eaten.