The last thing Ethan remembers is falling asleep not in his own bed, the most comfortable he has ever been, the smell of Mark all around him, and a weight against his back.
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Mark is sitting quietly at his desk editing the newest video of unus anus. He's singing quietly to the background music of his setup. He gets startled when chicha starts barking at the ring of the door bell. Who could that be it's like 11:00 at night, well whoever it's they best have a good explanation for this. He slowly walks to the door while he stretches. When he gets to the door Mark shoos off Chicha and reaches for the door while preparing to tell whoever it is to fuck off. But before he can do that a very cold and blue Ethan tumbles to his floor.
"Eth?" he slides beside the younger man. He quickly shuts the door and begins trying to help Ethan up to his feet. But to no avail is Ethan going to be able to walk.
"Hey Ethan?" All he gets for the boy is a small huff and shiver. "Eth, I'm going to pick you up and bring you to the couch. Okay?" Ethan shifts just enough to roll onto his back. "I'll take that as a yes." Mark carefully scoops up Ethan into his arms like a bride. Ethan wraps his arms around Mark's neck and buries his face in the side . The older man can feel the cold rush into his own body at the point of contact.
Mark makes his way to the couch and sets Ethan down and tries to grab a blanket on the love seat but Ethan whines "no, s' cold don't leave me, please" Mark's heart breaks a little hearing Ethan speak like this. "I'll be right back, bud, I'm gonna get you a blanket." Behind him he can hear Ethan whine and mumble about being cold. Mark turns around and sees the younger boy huddled in on himself. As soon as he drapes the blanket across Ethan he grabs Mark by the shirt and pleads "please don't go mar' 's cold." his heart is really almost breaking at this point. He slowly lifts Ethan's head and sits in place of it. "No, I won't go sweetheart"
Mark can feel the smaller man shift. Ethan sits up a little bit and moves to sit in his lap. Mark can feel Ethan's head below his chin and he wraps his arms tightly around the younger man. "Mar' is cold" he tries to make out the words. "I know baby will run you a nice warm bath in a minute" Ethan hums in response moving closer to Mark . After a few minutes he starts picking up Ethan still wrapped tightly in the blanket but Eth makes a move to wrap his legs around Mark so he just adjusts and starts carrying the younger man up the stairs. When he gets to the bathroom he carefully pushes open the door and tries to seat Ethan on the floor. "no, no mar' 's too cold" Mark is trying so hard not to just keep hugging ethan but he does need to get the smaller man warmed up.
"Sweetheart, we need to get warmed up. I'll be right here. But I need to draw you a bath. Okay?" Ethan makes a whining sound but doesn't complain anymore. Mark moves fast to get the bath prepared. While the bath fills up he has to figure out a way to get Ethan undressed and into the tub. "Alright bub we need to get you undressed and into the tub." Ethan just mumbles in response. Mark sits up Ethan and starts removing his hoodie and shirt, he feels bad for undressing his friend but he has to put that thought at bay to get Ethan warm. He then gets to the pants and starts unbuttoning them. "I'm really sorry buddy I just need to get you warm" He finally gets his pants off and turns the water off he decided to leave Ethans boxers on out of respect. And just the thought of it brings heat to his face.
He slowly helps Ethan into the tub and as soon as His foot hits the water he hisses. "I know Eth but this will make you feel better, can you please sit down?" After a bit of struggle Ethan is settled in and sinking into the warm water visibly relaxed. Mark leaves the bathroom to quickly grab a pair of gray boxers that Ethan left at his house one time for some odd reason. He also grabbed a blue shirt and a pair of pajama pants. On his way back to the bathroom he got a clean towel.
As he walked in he saw The younger man pouting and looking directly into the tub. "You left, you made a promise, Mark. you said you wouldn't go anywhere" Mark has no agitation towards Ethan for acting like a little kid right now for the reason he knows ethan is very much tired and won't remember any of this in the morning . "I'm sorry honey, I brought you a change of clothes though" He sets the change of clothes on the counter and goes to sit by the tub next to ethan. "Eth, you tell me when you're ready to get out of the bath and I'll help you out." Mark settles against the wall of the bathroom and waits for Ethan.
"Hey Ethan? I know you probably won't remember any of this due to how tired you are. But I promise to always be here when you need me. My only promise I will ever keep is to you. Even if it's the smallest problem you might have, I will try my hardest to fix it. Ethan I love you bud. And even if you don't love me in the same way, I will always be your friend. Even if it breaks my heart."
They sit in somewhat silence for the next few minutes. Ethan starts humming "Starman" by david bowie and once he reaches the end of it he stirred. "Mark, I'm done now". So as promised, he helps Ethan to his feet and grabs him the towel. Ethan steps out of the tub and leans against Mark for support. Mark smiles to himself but just promises himself to store that away in his memory. Ethan struggles to stay up by himself. "Ethan I just love taking care of you, but I need you to change and put on your boxers by yourself because I do have respect for you." so Mark hands him the boxers and turns around. Ethan carefully tries to keep himself up to put on his boxer and uses the counter as a balance. And as soon as he gets the boxers on and comfortable he grabs Mark by the shirt. "Mar' I put them on, help me please." and as requested he helps put the pants and shirt on his friend.
After that fiasco Mark just decides he can't help Ethan walk anymore. So instead he carries Ethan to his bed. "You know Ethan, if this was a different scenario people might start to think things about us" Mark makes this joke to himself because he can feel and see that Ethan is almost asleep in his arms. He sets Ethan down on the bed slowly and careful not to wake the sleeping boy. And as he promised he would stay with Ethan the rest of the night and morning as long as he needed Mark.
He carefully made his way to his drawer and brought out a clean pair of clothes. "Mark? Where'd you go? You promised you'd stay. Mark." the younger boy started shifting and sitting up looking for him. "Sweetie, I'm right here. I'm just changing. I'll be there in just 10 seconds." The younger man seemed pleased with that answer and laid back down. Mark finished quickly changing, and sat down on the bed sinking as he got on. Ethan shifted slightly due to the movement. When Mark finally laid down Ethan immediately scooched into The older man's Side. slinging his arm around his stomach. "Mark there's a ringing in my head start talking" Mark froze for a second not knowing what to talk about.
" Did you know that we haven't even discovered half of the ocean? we know more about what's off of our planet, then what's on it. It's crazy. Nobody knows down in the deep layers of the ocean. Everything in the ocean is beautiful in what they do. Like the pufferfish makes little crop circles to impress a mate. And that millions of living things are located in coral reefs, fish, coral, sponges and so much more. When I was younger on the only vacation I got to go on we went snorkeling and I want to do it again. Seeing all the fish up close, it made me realize that there are so many more important things than humans on this earth."
Mark could feel Ethan's deep breathing and knew he had fallen asleep. Mark shifted so he was holding Ethan in his arms and the tips of his hair were below his chin. "Goodnight sweetheart, I love you Eth." Mark shortly fell asleep after being Scared out of his mind, worried, panicked and a caretaker for the past 2 hours. But he was very happy and so glad that his best friend wasn't unhappy anymore.