done // m.f. & s.m.

t h r e e

I snapped myself out of my daze as best as I could and tried to act I wasn't just drooling over the man standing in front of me. "H-hi, I'm Jaxlyn, but you can call me Jax," I stuttered, extending my hand towards him. He firmly took it in his and shook it. My heart skipped a beat.

"Hey, idiot." Seán's voice behind me scared me back to reality once again. He pushed past me and pulled Mark into a hug. "You need help with the rest of your things?"

"Yeah, kinda. I have a few more boxes in my car, if you guys wouldn't mind?" Mark said, gesturing his head behind him. Seán and I nodded. "It's nice to finally meet you, Jax! Jack talks about you nonstop sometimes," Mark called to me as Seán and I as we headed towards Mark's car, which was a black Lexus parked behind my less impressive Xterra. Being an author has it's disadvantages sometimes.

*

The next few days as we all finished unpacking, we started getting more comfortable hanging out as a group. We would take turns ordering takeout every night, and sometimes Seán would cook as he doesn't know the Los Angeles restaurants very well. Whoever picked the takeout place would also pick someone to put on one of their favorite movies for the night. It was a good system.

I watched both of them film vlogs telling their fans that they had successfully moved into their new place, and I was even featured in Mark's video. He figured it would be a good idea since his following is completely unaware of me. Sean mentioned both Mark and I in his, but his vlogs are more descriptive and talkative than Mark's, from what I gathered.

I have been making an effort to try to know Mark a little more, so when I'm not busy, I'll walk through the house to his room to see what he's up to. Our house set up is pretty simple. The front door opens up into our living room, which is the main room of the house and is completely open. The dining room is towards the corner of the living room, and the living room broke off into the kitchen in the back. On the right side was Mark's room and a study room that the boys have turned into a filming room, and on the left side were Sean and I's rooms. Sean and I's room were connected through a bathroom, and Mark had a bathroom connected to his room as well.

I stepped out of my room and walked across the living room. I knocked on Mark's door and waited for a response, fiddling with my thumbs. I watched as the knob twisted before Mark's face appeared behind the door. "Oh! Hey, Jax. Come on in," he said, stepping aside and gesturing for me to enter.

"Hey, I was just bored. I finished my chapter earlier than I thought so I gave myself a break for the night," I told him, sitting in the chair at his desk.

"Ah, I see. Well, I've just been editing, which is also pretty boring," he said, collapsing onto his bed and closing his laptop.

"So, uh, how long have you been doing YouTube?" I asked him when an awkward silence fell upon us.

"Just about five years. It's been a wild ride; the channel just kinda blew up around 2014 after I moved here from Cincinnati, when I was on Jimmy Kimmel," he reminisced. "What about you? How long have you been writing?" He cocked his eyebrow intriguingly.

"For as long as I could remember, honestly. I was a huge PewDiePie fan back in the day, so I used to write uh, fanfiction," I trailed off. "I've always been really passionate about it, and being able to make it my career was an amazing opportunity."

"I feel the same way," Mark added, nodding. "I never thought I'd be able to play video games and make money off of it."

Him and I sat and talked for a little while, before we decided we were hungry. We left his room and retrieved Sean. We "collectively" chose to  go out to eat tonight. Mark kept boasting about this amazing restaurant he knew about, so Sean and I begrudgingly agreed to leave the house with him. I was glad we were all starting to mesh together, but I couldn't lie to myself that I was really vibing with Mark.  I was excited about new friendships and new spaces.

This move was the greatest idea we've ever had.