Chapter 3: Definitely Worth the Wait

It was almost 8pm when Mark finally heard a knock at his door.

When he had gotten home from Starbucks he could hardly wait till 4. By the time it had reached 5pm, he was beginning to doubt Jack would ever show. He had tried to rationalize it, thinking that maybe Jack needed time to get home and change. But by 6 Mark had practically given up hope. With a sigh of defeat, he snatched one of the last frozen pizzas and popped it in the oven. He had been hoping to have company to share the pizza with, and as Mark sat at his cheap wooden table munching on a slice of Hawaiian, that feeling only doubled.

Mark was only human. Humans get lonely.

Sure he had YouTube and it meant the absolute world to him that it could be considered his full-time job, but sometimes Mark feel a bit… trapped.

Of course he wasn't, recording videos in his home office wasn't the least bit caging, but the amount of time and effort that he put into YouTube left little free time to actually go out and meet other human beings. Save for the friends he already knew and regularly hung out with, there weren't too many people in his life. Let alone a romantic interest.

And then he met Jack.

He was everything Mark was looking for in a partner, handsome, kind, witty, and of course, a gamer. Him being a YouTuber as well only added to the whole appeal.

As soon as Mark had gotten back to his apartment from building the bed he had immediately typed 'jacksepticeye' on YouTube and held his breath. When Jack's beautiful face popped up on the thumbnails, he felt his heartbeat automatically pick up. Needless to say, he had spent a good portion of the remaining night watching the other's content and having a good laugh. The guy was damn funny.

Sometime around 8am he had realized that he needed to get his beauty sleep, and Mark had absolutely crashed. When his power nap was over he immediately grabbed his phone and sent the number written on his hand a quick text. That way, Jack could get his number and text Mark back if he wanted to.

Not hearing back from the Irishman was a little disheartening, so Mark had sent another text. Maybe he was a little desperate. He figured only time would tell.

In the meantime Mark had gotten some recording done. Jack's eventual reply had sent his heart soaring. And it proved that he did in fact want to spend time with Mark, just that he was busy with work. That last bit made a lightbulb go off in his head.

Mark figured it was time to pay Jack a little visit.

Quickly he googled 'douchiest drinks to order at Starbucks' and hit enter. Some of the drink names made him scoff. Did people actually order that shit?

He randomly picked one from a list and decided good enough and quickly headed out. Mark tried and failed to keep the silly smile on his face from widening when he saw Jack. He looked pretty damn good, Starbucks uniform and all. Although the two varying shades of green from his hair and the apron did clash slightly–

A sharp knock interrupted Mark from his thoughts and he snapped back to the present.

The knocking continued in rapid succession, the person presumably getting tired of waiting. Quickly Mark made for the door, scrambling to get it open. By the time he did he was greeted with Jack and his resting smile. He was dressed casually, obviously having changed from work earlier. Mark tried not to grin stupidly at the other. He failed.

"Hey," he said casually, and damn, his Irish accent did wonders to Mark's heart.

"Hey," Mark responded, backing up to let him in.

"Sorry I'm late," Jack said, and the sincerity of his voice made Mark wave off his concerns easily. He didn't even give a fuck that Jack was late because he was there now and that was all that mattered to Mark.

Mark watched as Jack's baby blues scanned his apartment, Jack nodding his approval. Mark bit his lip, waiting for him to say something. Instead of commenting on Mark's decor –or lack thereof– Jack said with a smile, "So what game are we gonna start with?"

Mark grinned again, unable to help himself.

It was when they had both settled down on the couch that a thought occurred to Mark. "Jack, did you manage to upload a video today? You had like, no time to record."

"Yeah," he replied simply, swearing when his character got killed on screen. "I record most of my videos in advance and set them to automatically publish."

"Huh." While Mark had thought about doing that before he knew it took a lot of hard work and commitment. Mark would much rather take things slow and as they come, recording and publishing videos the day of.

"Yep," Jack agreed. "Besides. Sometimes life comes up unexpectedly. Like today."

Mark didn't have to look in a mirror to know his signature dopey grin was back on his face.

The gameplay continued, and when their combined team won Jack shouted in victory, facing Mark and demanding a high five. He had watched enough of Jack's videos to know that this was a common thing for him.

"Why do you even work at Starbucks if you have YouTube?" Mark asked out of open curiosity as the screen changed to the next battle. "I mean, I'm sure YouTube supports you well enough."

"What can I say, I'm always a slut for Starbucks." Jack laughed with a carefree shrug. Mark joined in with his own booming laughter and he could physically feel himself relax more than he had in the past couple of weeks.

By the time they had both settled down again Mark noticed Jack tapping idly away at his phone. "Who's that?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"Just a friend," Jack replied, and his lack of an answer annoyed Mark for some reason, though he knew logically that it wasn't any of his business in the first place. Jack, apparently noticing the other's hardening gaze, raised a brow. "What, jealous already?"

"What, me, jealous?" Mark scoffed good-naturedly. "No way."

Jack simply grinned again, finally clicking his phone screen off and setting the device to the side. He turned to Mark, increasingly familiar shit-eating grin spreading across his face. "You're totally jealous."

Mark could only scoff again to his words.

Then there was a flash of movement and before Mark had time to properly register what was happening Jack had closed the distance between the two of them and was had straddled Mark's lap. He was warm, comfortingly so, his weight only slightly pressing into Mark as he settled his knees on either side of him. Jack reached his hands up, trailing his fingers with feather-like touches across Mark's broad chest before they wrapped firmly around his neck. Mark could hardly suppress a shiver at the sensation. His eyes locked with Jack's baby blues which narrowed slightly. The Irishman's grin was gone, now replaced with something darker, and it made Mark's mouth water and nostrils flair. His hands automatically moved to the other's thighs, running upwards on the rough jean fabric before resting at his hips in front of him, giving them a firm squeeze. Jack's plump lips parted as he bit his lower lip, letting out little puffs of warm air that spread pleasantly across Mark's face.

The mood had changed so quickly and Mark could hardly breathe but he wouldn't change a thing because the way Jack looked at him as he finally pressed his lips firmly against Mark's, he wouldn't change it for the world.