Chapter Text

The 10 AM sun was rising steadily over Canada, and James was at the airport with his best friend. She was dropping him off so he could fly to Sweden to visit his friend Mark, another YouTuber that he made videos with. Human1, his ride to the airport, was busy fussing over him and making sure he looked nice for his 10 hour flight.

“I just don’t want you to look like you walked through a hurricane this morning, okay?” She spoke loudly, tidying his sweater and adjusting his scarf. His hair was still wet from his extraordinarily short shower.

“I’ll be fine, promise! You can stop mothering me,” James chuckled, gently pushing her hands away, smoothing the hoodie on his own, “See? Perfectly capable.” He smiled at her sadly, knowing she’d miss him. “I’ll only be gone a week, I swear.”

Human1 grinned at him, her heart-shaped glasses sparkling in the light of the sun. “Promise you’ll update me?” She asked James, holding out her pinkie finger. James hooked his pinkie with hers and shook them gently.

“Pinkie promise. Now, I have to go catch a flight!” He said, remembering suddenly why he was here. He hugged Human1 tightly, then grabbed his bags and turned to walk inside.

“Ok! Go get on that plane, and be careful! You don’t wanna catch the [DEMONETIZED] virus!” Shouted Human1 as James walked into the airport with his luggage. He waved back at her one last time, before pushing open the door and walking inside.

As soon as James walked inside, he knew he was in for it. Plenty of people were wearing masks and other protective equipment, and he was reminded to try and not touch his face here. He got himself situated, though; he went through security, and got his baggage and tickets taken care of. Now, he just had to wait for the plane.

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The plane ride, to say the least, was not one of James’ favorite experiences. He felt uncomfortable and on-edge the whole time, not to mention the turbulence. But, he did have an aisle seat, so he didn’t need to worry about squeezing past strangers to get to the bathroom. That was one of the upsides to such an experience.

James had endured the flight, retrieved his luggage and plugged his phone in to charge. Now all he had to worry about was… Mark. James pulled out his phone and opened Mark’s contact.

J: Hey dude i’m here ! come pick me up pls!

M: Ohh anything for you, Toepiccy~

J: Pfft alright. Pretty cursed but whatever

James grinned at his friend's cursedness, then closed his messages in favor of other, more entertaining apps. Though, eventually, 10 minutes of mindless tapping passed. Then 45 minutes. Then an hour. Where the hell was Mark? The airport was only about 40 minutes from his house, or so he had been told.

James saw a message from Mark and opened it immediately.

M: Dude come on! I been out here waiting for you my guy.

J: ????? You know what,, best not to question it.

James got up with his things, very disgruntled from waiting longer than he needed to. The sunlight was fading fast, the darkness of night quickly taking hold. When he eventually made it to the door and pushed it open, he realized that he didn’t remember what Mark’s car looked like. He quickly opened his phone to try and go back in his messages with the man to see where Mark had told him the model of his car. He was interrupted, however, by a blaring car horn behind him.

James turned around to face the noise, and he saw none other than Mark, leaning out the window of his car a bit, waving his arm frantically. James rolled his eyes and walked to the car. Mark rolled down the passenger window, and James leaned in to talk to him. He noticed some takeout in the back seat and 2 coffees in the cupholders, probably why he took so long. He was still going to give him a hard time about it, though.

“Took you long enough, you degenerate.” He said with a smile, obviously joking. Mark didn’t seem to take it very well, though. He started to drive off without James, but didn’t get very far when he started chasing the car and yelling at him.

“Wai-wait no! Mark come back please! I LOVE YOU PLEASE COME BACK!” James shouted, laughing as Mark backed his car up.

“Y’know Topiccy that’s pretty gay, not gonna lie.” Mark said, grinning at James.

“Yeah, I know.” James replied with his Cursed™ voice, looking Mark directly in the eyes. He was silent for a beat, his ears turning red, before replying, “...Ok, whatever, get in the car loser.”

James put his luggage in the back, then opened the passenger door and got in the car.

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By the time Mark had made it home with James, it was dark outside. The only light was coming from the streetlights. Mark helped James with his luggage, and brought in the food for dinner and empty coffee cups to throw away. He helped James situate himself and put his bags in the closet. He even put some extra bedding on the couch, what a nice man.

They had the takeout for dinner, and watched some Netflix. Once Mark yawned very loudly and stretched himself over James like a cat, though, they decided it was time to go to sleep. Well, James was getting tired of Mark’s bullshit and wasn’t awake enough to deal with it. James texted Human1 for what felt like the 20th time that day, finally to tell her that he was going to sleep.

“Goodnight, sweet prince.” He heard Mark say in a singsong voice from the hallway on the way to his room. James smiled, taking his sunglasses off and setting them on the coffee table.

“Also,” Mark continued in his singsong voice, “Stop wearing those shades indoors, there’s no point.”

“Over my dead body, asswipe,” James retorted, chuckling, “Now shoo! Go to bed!”

Mark shrugged, turning to go back into his own room. James figured he was too tired to fight back. He pulled the comforter over himself, turning a few times before he finally managed to fall asleep.