*Wilford's POV*

After that point, she seemed to be a little less uptight. Just a little but...even a little more is progress. And she seemed to be a little less annoyed in talking to me if I do say so myself. She even calls me Wil more often when addressing me and...it's nice...

It's nice to be this close...

But...

I looked over to her as we were discussing our plans. I...still wanted to be with her...

I still wanted to get to know her...

I still wanted her...

I'm trying to go slow. I'm trying to let her get comfortable...but I'm not sure what else she needs. I just-

We heard the door open and multiple voices speaking. "Come on Mark, it won't take that long to grab things!" a man's voice spoke,

"Guys, it's ok, you don't need to come in!" Mark tried, raising his voice. "I really wouldn't want to disturb the spirits here!"

"Crap," Dark, Google, and Lil all said at once.

We quickly moved and made our way to a separate room. But then we saw all of them coming down and we jumped into one of the rooms.

"Mark calm down. You've been keeping us away from your house for about a month and have forgotten a million things because of it!" another man-or maybe a boy's-voice lamented.

"I said I'm sorry!" Mark whined.

"Alright, where did you put the props?" the man asked.

"They should be down here. I just hope that there are no aliens here in the room down the hall that we are walking to!" Mark called.

I looked around the room and found there to be multiple items scattered. 'Crap!'

We looked around and began to try and find different places to hide in-from the closet, behind some drawers, behind the couch, and I hid behind the door.

"Mark who the hell are you talking to? You don't need to make every moment like that," the man commented as the door opened, letting in Mark with two other guys that I recognized from his photo-Tyler and Ethan.

Mark laughed nervously. "Well, you know me, just um, just trying to lighten the mood..." Mark looked around and then saw me. His face paled as I moved behind the door again.

"Mark, you ok? You look like you've just seen a real ghost!" the younger one, I presume Ethan, spoke.

"Ah ha, well, you could say that," he muttered some. "L-Let's just get going-"

"Hey, where's the board-is it in the closet?" the other voice, Tyler, asked.

I poked my head out of the side of the door and shook my head furiously at Mark and he got the hint and dashed over. "Here! I'll check!" he yelled, opening the closet some and coming out with the board. I sighed in relief lightly and moved back behind the door. "Alright, c-could we please get out of here now?"

"Yes Mark, gah, it's like you're afraid of us finding something," Ethan muttered.

"What? Nah, I don't have anything to hide from you all! Trust me!" he pushed, laughing lightly.

Soon, they exited and after a little while, the main door closed.

We all breathed and came out of our hiding spots. "That...was close," I commented.

"Agreed..." Dark commented, shaking his head.

"He needs to get on a schedule if he got that far off that his friends had to come over..." Lil commented, gazing over to the front.

Now that she's mentioned it, he has been a little off lately. I mean, he's been mostly ok as far as I could tell and has been starting quite a few projects...maybe it's just in my head.

But, I would be sure to take him out later today. Just to check on him.

I mean, what could be wrong?

*Time Skip!*

As soon as Mark got home I suggested that we went out for a drive. Surprisingly, we were able to go without him fussing over it too much. Usually he'd claim he was tired or had to go and work on some more things but this time around, that wasn't the case. No matter!

We all got into the car and headed out.

Eventually, we reached a park and we just kind of hung out, Google going around and inspecting the area while Dark and Lil began to see who could think of the most grueling and utter disasters kids could face on a playground. They had gotten a lot closer than their first encounter as well; I was really happy for them.

But instead of joining them for this affair, I took Mark aside and we began just walking around the outskirts of the park.

Before I could say anything, he brought up before. "I'm really really sorry you all almost got caught. I had forgotten the props in the morning and since I've done it multiple times, they decided to come over to make sure I forgot nothing else and, well-"

"Mark, Mark it's fine! Really!" I interrupted, laughing some and patting his back. "We didn't get caught and it was ok! Everything turned out ok, alright?"

He nodded softly as he looked down, sighing. "I haven't been doing too well keeping up with things I guess..."

I looked over to him and tilted my head. "Really?" He nodded. "Well, we noticed something has been off with you but, what we couldn't really figure out..." I wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Tell your old brother Wilford what's been going on in your noggin," I drawled.

He laughed and shook his head. "I don't know, it's just...I don't really feel like my videos are turning out ok."

I blinked at him. "What do you mean?"

He sighed. "Well, like, I feel like I'm making them more out of necessity and I don't like what I'm putting out. The projects and everything have been great, don't get me wrong!...But I just have this weird feeling that has been surrounding all of the gaming videos lately..."

I paused for a moment before I suggested, "Mark...are you getting tired of doing videos?" I admit, if that was the case then I would've been a little happy but also, a little sad. I mean, he's spent so much time doing this and to just throw it-

"NO!" He shook his head repeatedly. "No, no, no, noooo, no. It's not that, really. I just...I feel I should be doing better but I'm not; understand?"

I nodded, sighing in relief. "Good, you had me worried there for a second brother."

He laughed some. "Yeah, I don't think I'm ever going to be giving it up unless I really need to...but..." He sighed. "I don't feel like I'm doing good by my community, y'know?"

I nodded some. "Yeah, you always want to give them your best or at least something that you feel you'd be proud of...haha, that's always been your little ordeal huh brother?" I asked, laughing softly.

He nodded, laughing knowingly. "Yeah..."

"...Have you ever considered taking a break from it?"

He tilted his head. "What?"

"Y'know, just take a step back from making games day after day. Maybe like a little hiatus!"

He paled. "B-But-"

"Listen." I stopped and held his shoulders with my hands. "You're not going to get better if you can't figure out what you need to change exactly. Sometimes, you need a break to test your boundaries and see what you can do and it helps open up the mind some, y'know?"

"But..."

"Listen. Do you trust me?" He nodded, still slightly pale. "Those people, they can't just be subscribed to you because of your gaming. I mean, maybe originally sure but eventually, they stick around because of your personality. Anyone can do this on a daily basis but to put in the time, the effort, and the life that is in it; it takes someone special. It takes someone like you, Mark." I tapped his shoulder lightly. "They'll stay and be waiting for your amazing return, alright? It won't be forever y'know."

He smiled and nodded some. "O-Ok Wilford..." He hugged me close suddenly. "Thanks..."

I chuckled and nodded, patting his back. "It's fine Mark! Really, this is the sort of thing we have to kind of do as brothers...without being paid of course." We laughed at this and enjoyed the moment together.

After a while we were back to walking. "Y'know, the others have actually said the same thing-I guess I was just being closed minded," he commented, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, next time you should listen to them! They are your team and you should always keep an open ear for them instead of letting any of your thoughts get in the way..." I looked over to Lily and saw her laughing with Dark, not holding it in. I smiled. "Your team sometimes knows what's best for you..."

I felt Mark's eyes on me and then them glance over to Lily, then back to me. Then, he smirked. "Wilford, do you have a crush on Lily?"

My cheeks lit up to be like two red cherries. I tried laughing it off, looking over to him. "W-Well, I-uhm-I-"

He laughed and slammed his hand on my back. "Come on Wilford, you can tell me! I have been kind of curious how everyone had met as no one has told me at all. I know Dark just doesn't let anyone in!"

I looked into his smiling face. I mean, what harm would it be to tell him? The others are already fully aware...

I began to tell him about how we met. How we went from being in an assassin-to-target relationship to a partner-to-partner relationship. How I had fallen for her pretty hard and how I saw potential in her-besides my own selfish thoughts. I told him about her refusal to believe she's like me in some ways and won't leave her thoughts. I told him about ever since she's been under our roof I haven't been able to get her out of my mind and it was driving me insane!

"Every time we are together I feel that want to just be able to hold her close and to tell her I love her. I want to be able to hug her without worrying if she'll get mad and I want to be able to hear her say she loves me too. And then whenever she's feeling sad I want to kiss her and tell her it's going to be ok. But she refuses to let anyone close to her and-and..." I sighed and closed my eyes. "I just...really want to be with her...I just..."

"...Wilford." I felt his hand on my back. "Wilford you can't force this sort of thing, y'know? I mean, some people are so set in their ways that it's going to take a lot more time to work things out with them. And if you really want her-then you should be willing to wait."

"Yes, but for how long? How long till she gets away from her old ways?"

"Well...as long as it takes." Mark looked over to her. "I mean, by the way she's been acting recently, it seems you have been making some progress."

I glanced over her way and saw she was smiling and enjoying herself, looking around every once in a while. When her eyes met mine she raised an eyebrow and waved and I waved back some.

"You claimed before she wasn't really connected and was trying to have less fun...well, here she is now, laughing, smiling, and being...in the now." He looked over to me. "You may not see what you want at first but, who knows! Maybe she's actually a lot closer to you than you think!"

I blinked at this and looked back over to her. '...Could this really be? Could I really be that close to her?' I saw the image of us sitting next to each other and see her gazing into my eyes softly with her brown orbs...I could see her...smiling at me...warmth filling the air around us as I pulled her closer to me and-

"Wil?"