Glitch in the System Chapter 2, a web shows fanfic

Seán didn't like bees on the best of days.

It's not like he had anything against the little buggers - but the pointy butts of death didn't exactly put them on his "favorites" list. He felt like it was a pretty relatable sentiment.

He certainly didn't like them any more now as they swarmed around his head with an incessant buzzing in his ears. All of them in tune with each other to increase the volume at which they vibrated.

It was enough to drive someone mad!

BUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZ...

Why in gods name was he just sitting here letting them surround him? It just didn't make any god-damned sense! He just continued to sit there and let them buzz in his ears!

BUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZ...

"Fuckin' BEES!" Seán yelled, startling himself awake with his own voice, sitting up on his elbows to look around dazed as he slowly became aware of his surroundings.

Which was, thankfully, not surrounded by bees.

He was in his room, only half-laying on his bed after having just barely stripped himself of his pants and collapsed there only - he turned, looking at the alarm clock on his bedside table - four hours ago.

It was just after seven now - way too damn early. After the night he'd had, working out his video and the small amount of editing he could do in his sleep-deprived state, Seán was content with just letting the day slip past him. He fell back on to his mattress, heavy eyes sliding closed and embracing the sweet darkness of continued sleep.

BUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZ...

One eye peeked open - with way too much effort, glancing over at his bedside table where his phone danced across the surface as it buzzed.

Ah. Well, that explained the weird dream.

Who the hell was messaging him this early in the morning? Didn't people realize he was trying to sleep?

Rude.

He glared at it, some silent threat in his single open eye for the device to remain quiet, which at first, it seemed to comply. But it wasn't long before the damned thing started buzzing again.

Obviously, someone was dying. There was no other excuse for anyone to try this hard to get a hold of him.

He sighed, reaching over to grab the phone, sleepily examining the string of notifications he had. Starting with a missed phone call at 5:50 am.

All notifications from the same person.

Mark Fischbach.

Mark? What was he doing calling so early in the fucking morning?

Something tugged at the back of Seán's memory - something telling him that were was something important he was supposed to be doing, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

It would come to him. Eventually. Maybe.

In the meantime, while he was waiting for his brain to catch up; he swiped through the messages, feeling the sleepiness slowly fade from him as his brow rose questioningly at the strange texts.

5:50 am - 1 missed call - Mark

(6:00 am) Mark: Hey! I just landed in Munich. The layover is a little longer than I thought. Storms last night caused a delay or something.

(6:07 am) Mark: Well fine. Don't text or call me back :P

(6:10 am) Mark: I'm just going to keep texting you - you know, because I'm such a good friend.

(6:11 am) Mark: Dude, I'm starving. The food on the plane SUCKED. I think I'll try and grab a snack before the transfer.

(6:20 am) Mark: COOOOFFFFEEEEEEE...

(6:22 am) Mark: I'm having an affair with this coffee cup. Don't tell Amy.

(6:25 am) Mark: I think I'm going to leave her for this coffee. I've found the true love of my life!

(6:31 am) Mark: The guilt is killing me. I can't live with what I've done. I'm going to come clean to Amy. We can still work it out. But the coffee has to go. I'll have to find a way of... disposing of it.

(6:38 am) Mark: I've done it. There is coffee blood on my hands - I'll have to leave here. Change my name. CHANGE MY FACE!

(6:45 am) Mark: I think I've found safe passage into another country.

(6:49 am) Mark: HOW HAS MY LIFE SPIRALED SO QUICKLY OUT OF CONTROL!?

(6:52 am) Mark: In all seriousness, though - the transfer is about to board.

(6:53 am) Mark: I really hope you're just ignoring me...

(6:54 am) Mark: ... and not sleeping.

(6:58 am) Mark: Plane's boarding.

(7:00 am) Mark: I'm getting in line to board! Last chance to prove you're still alive!

(7:03 am) Mark: Okay last, last chance. I'm in my seat.

(7:09 am) Mark: I'm turning off my phone. We'll be taking off in the next 10 min.

(7:10 am) Mark: Seán, you better not leave me stranded at the airport. XD

As he read through all of the texts, it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks - the important thing he was supposed to be doing.

FUCK! AIRPORT!

Seán jumped from his bed so fast he nearly fell over. Yanking up the same discarded pants from the night before from the floor and jumping into them and pulling them on. Then snatching his phone from the bed and running downstairs to grab his keys and hoodie.

Mark's last message had been just a few minutes ago. Which meant he was REALLY late in getting on the road.

The Irish man cursed repeatedly in his head as all the planning for this weekend came flooding back to him as he climbed into his car and peeled out to the main road.

Mark Fischbach, or Markiplier, one of his closest friends, was flying into town for an impromptu vacation before he was supposed to go on tour in the UK.

And Seán had promised to pick him up from Stansted Airport - which was a little over an hour and a half away from his home in Brighton.

Ironically, his only saving grace had been the storm, extending the layover Mark had in Munich, Germany. It bought him some time - not a lot, but enough. But he was going to be cutting it close. Mark's flight was going to take about an hour and forty-five minutes, plus the time to take off and land.

"With any luck, I won't hit a whole lot of traffic..." He mumbled managing to hit a major highway without many stops, knowing damn well that any mention of his hopes for luck was a clear invitation for karma to come kick him in the face.

Murphys Law at work again...

He shook that thought from his head just as quickly as it came. This wasn't some higher being out to get him. This was a series of inconveniences. Mostly caused by his own lack of organization - thinking anything otherwise only made him paranoid.

The trip went about as smoothly as it could, considering the break-neck speeds Seán went to make it in time. He kept checking his phone for the time, then double checking the clock on his dashboard for safe measure. Then checking his phone again for the dreaded 'We've landed, where the hell are you?' text.

So, when he managed to get to the airport and park his car in record time and a message still hadn't popped up, he was feeling pretty good about himself.

He'd still be able to hang out somewhere looking cool and nonchalant and decidedly not as if he'd just broken several traffic laws to get here.

Now, he just had to figure out where to meet the big doof.

Seán found arrivals and quickly made his way to a display board with the arrival information for all planes.

"Let's see... I think the plane was," he ran his finger down the electronic board and stopped with a grin at one that looked familiar, "Right. BX234 from Munich," He read, scanning over to see that the plane had just landed.

"Holy shit. Couldn't have planned that better if I tried..." he breathed. Just a little later and he'd probably never live it down.

The Irish man shoved his hands in his jeans pockets as he checked the directory for the baggage terminal and quickly made his way to stand (nonchalantly) against a wall that would allow him to not only see when the passengers started filtering through customs, but also watch everyone else milling about.

It wasn't like it was prime travel season - it was late October, just the slightest hint of a chill in the air and no major holidays in the near future, but it still felt like there were a lot of people here. Lots of families either coming or going. It was interesting watching them all.

A few of them even watched him back. Some of the younger generation doing double-takes wondering if they recognized him.

Thankfully, even if they did, no one made any major fuss about him being there. He had noticed a couple of girls across the way taking pictures excitedly, but that was about it.

Which was a nice change of pace. In all the rushing to get out of the house, he'd forgotten to bring a hat or something - and even though the weather was starting to cool down, wearing his hood wasn't really a great idea. It wasn't like he was super famous or anything, but he did get stopped quite frequently by fans when they did recognize him.

Today, though, most people seemed to write him off.

Which made it easier for him to just observe those around him.

He'd gotten so caught up in people-watching that he failed to notice when a figure come up to him until they shoved something on his head and pulled it over his eyes.

"HEY! What the fook-!"

Seán cursed, back-tracking quickly, pushing the obstacle from his vision to see the wide smile of his long-time friend Mark as he chuckled at his own personal joke. The obstacle in question being a bright green ball-cap sized just small enough that pulling it off his head made Seán's hair even more unruly than usual.

"You fookin' dick," Seán chuckled, unable to suppress the smile that pulled at his lips.

It had been a while since Seán had seen the guy in person. The videos Mark posted on YouTube just didn't do the guy justice. He was a bit taller than most people thought and well built - all that time at the gym was definitely paying off. The muscle defining black short-sleeved shirt certainly helped. Mark's hair was just a curly mess. He'd left it to grow out a bit with the scruff that outlined his jaw. The whole ensemble made him look... macho. At least when Seán compared him to his own mental picture of himself.

Seán was also immediately reminded of how contagious Mark's mood was; making the Irish man forget about all the nonsense of the last twelve hours with a single smile. It was the epitome of PMA.

"Glad to see you got here in one piece," Mark remarked, goofy smile dipping to a knowing grin - a hint of sarcasm in his tone and deep brown eyes.

The comment made Seán snort, "Shouldn't I be saying that to you?" He asked, opening his arms to wrap his friend in a tight hug before they separated.

"No, cause, I didn't have to speed to get here. All my traveling was done for me." There was a pointedness to the comment that made Seán squirm. He'd wanted to play it off cooly. Apparently, Mark wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"What?" Seán scoffed, doing everything in his power to sound convincing, to sound like he wasn't lying through his teeth, "I-I didn't speed."

The way Mark hummed with that same knowing grin on his face told Seán the man didn't believe him at all, "Suuurrre."

Welp... There went being nonchalant.

"Whatever. I'm here aren't I?" The Irish man dropped the act completely, crossing his arms over his chest petulantly. There was no sense in arguing with the guy. He'd obviously figured him out. Not that it required a detective. Seán hadn't done himself any favors by not texting the guy back this morning.

There was a rolling laugh from his friend as he shook his head, "I'm giving you a hard time, man. You know I appreciate you coming all this way to pick me up."

"Sure doesn't feel like it," he mock-pouted. You know, because he was six years old.

But the teasing look he gave Mark was soon replaced with another grin as he leaned down to snatch up one of his friend's bags, "Come on, let's get out of here."

It was time to get their weekend started.