Boundaries of Battle, a YouTuber Marvel Alternate Universe Story

The Fourth Year

Mark found himself constantly exhausted these days. All he wanted was to sleep. To just go lay in bed but instead, he pushed himself. He pushed himself to do more videos, to help more people. There wasn't a day where he didn't have anything planned. He would prep for the week, but then each day after that it was something new. Maybe it was a charity stream, maybe it was a Make-A-Wish visit. But he rarely rested.

In the few years it had been since the snap, Ethan had moved in with Mark. They had told everyone else it was to cut back on bills, but both men knew that they were still vulnerable. Still in pain.

Mark had launched Cloak, making it very obvious he was doing it in Seán's name. It was Seán's idea in the first place, after all. But that had been about two years ago. They had almost been ready to launch when the Blip happened. But then the economy nearly crashed. It just hadn't been the best time.

Since the Blip, Mark had told a few select people about his powers. Thomas found out through necessity though, and he frequently found himself wanting to apologize for that day but never did.

By June of the fourth year, Ethan had had enough of it. Enough of Mark's unrest.

Ethan barely managed to make sure that Mark didn't have anything planned for a day. Just one day is what Mark promised to Ethan. Ethan made sure that Mark was allowed to do whatever he wanted. 

Mark awoke that day, oddly worried. Had he gotten used to going and going? 

It reminded him of that day four years ago. Mark sat up in bed, feeling an odd occurrence of déjà vu. He ran his hand over his face, just to see if it would get rid of the déjà vu feeling. It didn't get rid of the feeling, but it did help it. 

Mark stood, watching as Henry followed him into the kitchen. He scooped up some food, pouring it into the dog's bowl. Henry's tail wagged happily, moving his entire butt. Mark chuckled, rubbing Henry's head. The next priority was food for himself and Ethan. He pulled out some bacon and eggs from the fridge and a skillet from his cabinet. He began with the bacon, planning on using the fat that it released to grease the pan for the eggs. It was a trick his mother taught him when he was younger. 

It took a few minutes, but soon Ethan was standing next to the counter, rubbing his eyes. Hair stuck up in random places, and bags were forming under his eyes.

"Morning, stupid," Mark greeted.

"Morning dumb ass," Ethan replied quickly.

Mark smiled a little, pulling the bacon out and placing it between a couple of paper towels.  He cracked a couple of eggs into a bowl, adding a splash of milk.

"You want an omelet?" Mark asked, looking at Ethan.

Ethan lifted his head off the counter, "Sure."

Mark slowly added the eggs to the pan, allowing them to cook before flipping them. Ethan sleepily clapped, giggling as Mark laughed at him. Within a few minutes, both men were seated at the counter and eating their breakfast.

"You look tired," Mark pointed out as Ethan missed his mouth by a few inches.

"I am. I was up until a couple of hours ago," Ethan mumbled.

"Go back to bed, man. It's a rest day," Mark chided.

"After noms," Ethan mumbled, basically inhaling his food before walking to bed.

Mark laughed, picking up his and Ethan's plates and throwing them into the dishes. After a while he moved into the living room, pulling out his laptop. It was silent for a few hours as Mark worked on his channel. He told Ethan he would rest, but Ethan wasn't in the living room now.

"Mark, I've got a channel idea!"

"What is your channel idea?" Mark asked, looking up from his laptop.

"Basically, we do a bunch of stupid shit for a year and then delete the entire channel." Ethan explained, "In order to show the inevitability of death."

"Whoa, Ethan is using big people words now," Mark teased.

"Oh fuck off man. Does it sound like a good idea?" Ethan collapsed next to Mark on the couch, feet landing over the arm and head landing near Mark's lap.

"Oh yeah. But I gotta ask, why?" Mark took off his glasses, setting them gently on the coffee table.

"Had an existential crisis last night. And I want to be spooky, ya know?" Ethan said, looking up at Mark.

Mark nodded, "What will we call the channel though?"

Ethan paused. "I have no idea."

And so the idea of Unus Annus was born. They found the name a while later and launched the channel in November of 2021. They would spend Saturdays recording for the week (excluding the few videos like their Salsa video, which needed to be recorded on specific days). Mark ended up breaking his finger at one point- stupid presidential test- but it was better within a few weeks.