Chapter Text
"Hey… Mark?"
William's voice came out strange, uncertain and slightly nervous. Like Mark wasn’t already freaking out over the fact that the other Marks could find out where he was hiding and attack both him and Eve.
"You okay, William?" Mark stood up from the chair where he had been sitting, his hand gently wrapped around Eve’s, hoping and praying she would wake up.
"I’m fine?" Just like before, William didn’t sound convinced. It only made Mark more worried.
"Are you sure?" Mark turned away from Eve, his brows knitting together in concern. He pressed his phone closer to his ear, afraid he was missing something. For him, it was as if William’s hesitation meant he was hiding something.
"...I think so, but if you want to come over, I’m at… huh? What’s that?" There was mumbling in the background. It was a voice Mark couldn’t quite make out, but it sounded strangely familiar. Then, suddenly, silence on William’s end.
"William?" Mark pulled the phone away, his nerves spiking. Had the call been cut off because of one of the many versions of himself currently wreaking havoc? But no, the call was still connected. William had just muted himself.
"William!? Hey, what’s going on?"
Mark’s palms dampened with sweat. For a moment, he was ready to burst through the G.D.A. to find his best friend. But before he could act, William’s voice finally came back through the speaker.
"Yeah… maybe not now actually. This is crazy, Mark."
"Are you okay!?" Mark asked urgently. "Where are you?"
"I’m fine, Mark. I managed to hide before any of those…you could spot me. I’m at the college. I know this is going to sound crazy, but… please don’t come here."
Mark tensed. "William… are you in some kind of trouble?" Had one of the other versions of him found William?
"Um… I might actually be one of the few people not in danger."
"How?" Mark asked, suspicion creeping in.
"Ugh, you’re not gonna believe me over the phone, Mark. Just… I’ll get back to you later, okay? Just don’t come looking for me. I’ll call you when everything’s clear." The other man emphasized the word heavily. It was clear he was hoping that Mark would just take his word for it.
And that was it. Without another word, William hung up.
Mark clenched his jaw. He wanted nothing more than to head straight to William. What the fuck did he mean by being one of the safest people? Had some other hero saved him?
"Fuck!" Mark spat, gripping the bridge of his nose. He turned back to face Eve. Seeing her like this was enough to keep him grounded.
With a sigh, he returned to his seat at her side.
He really hoped William wasn’t bullshitting.
"Fuuuuuuck." William dragged out the word as the grip on his arm tightened.
"Is he coming?" The voice William was accustomed to after so many years threw him off completely. It was so gentle, so soft as if it had been worn out from who only knows.
"I don’t think so…" William pocketed his phone. He had to trust that Mark would listen to him. It was for the best, at least until he figured out what to do. "If he has any faith in me, he won’t."
"If he’s like me, he will."
William smiled sheepishly, warmth creeping up his neck.
"And if he does… I’ll just kill him."
William turned, his breath catching as he met the identical gaze of his childhood best friend, except this Mark was smiling at him with something close to adoration, as if he were looking at the most important person in his life. It was damn near cute.
Too bad his face was splattered with blood.
Blood that definitely didn’t belong to him. Blood that must have belonged to random, innocent people caught in the massacre.
"Yeah… let’s hope he doesn’t, then." William looked away from the grinning man clinging to him. They were holed up in an abandoned building near the school where William had run to escape the absolute chaos unfolding across the planet.
At first, he thought it was the perfect hiding spot. Then, out of nowhere, half a dozen Marks had flown over the school, all heading for a single location.
All except this one.
William had nearly shit himself when this bloodied Mark had spotted him and started making his way towards him, his head tilted in curiosity.
Dying like that, begging a killer with his best friend’s face not to murder him, would have been a terrible way to go. William wanted to run. He wanted to scream for help, mentally praying that any hero could be in the area and show up at last minute like they would in the movies.
Would they even be able to handle this Mark? Oh, what's the point. He was as good as dead.
As the footsteps gradually grew louder, William had been unable to stop the countless scenarios running through his head of how he'd be killed.
Maybe he’d be strangled. Would the last thing he see really be his friend’s eyes? Not the warmth and hope he’d grown up with, but something cold and dismissive instead.
Or would he be mauled apart like helpless prey that had been discovered by its predator? The bodies scattered all around the area proved William would be met with no mercy.
Shit, what if—
"William..?"
William had expected torture. Maybe even a swift death since he believed he wasn't even worth the time for the man standing before him.
But what he hadn’t expected was for the killer to stop, stare at him like he was seeing a ghost… and then tear up, whisper his name, and tackle him to the ground.
William screamed because, really, who the fuck wouldn’t? He braced himself to be torn apart like a ragdoll.
Instead, this Mark embraced him, trembling. His fingers, cladded in fingerless gloves, clutched his collar as warm tears soaked into the fabric of William's top.
"I missed you so much, William…"
That sentence had rooted him to the spot. His screams gradually faded into silence, leaving only the other man's sobs to fill the empty space between them.
He stopped thrashing. Peering down, he saw the other version of Mark pressing his face against his chest, cheeks flushed, silent tears dripping.
For a long moment, William just laid there, waiting in tense silence. He feared that even the slightest movement would make the other snap and end him. When it didn’t happen, he hesitantly propped himself up on his elbows, staring down in disbelief.
His first instinct had been to call Mark, to ask him what the actual fuck was going on. But after hearing the other Mark flatly declare he’d kill his counterpart if he showed up, he opted against it.
Now, all William could do was survive long enough to figure out what was happening, and how to warn his Mark.
Still…
He glanced down again at the bloodied Mark, who only smiled sweetly into his chest. Well, as sweetly as one could while drenched in the blood of countless others.
Had Mark always been this cute? Wait...did he just think of his best friend as 'cute'? Well, Mark had always been extremely handsome and had an amazing body and...
Wait.
William felt his face heat up.
Fuck.
