fics: Epilogue, Companion, Sequel to Let the Future In | The Social Network
Notes: For Kay. These sort of do require you to have read Let the Future In; some of them won't make much sense at all otherwise.
Epilogue
The Social Network
Mark/Eduardo
NC-17
1050 words
Warnings
None
Summary: Blow jobs, pretty much.
As soon as the second half is over - before the cast has come back out on stage after the end, in fact - Mark hauls Eduardo out of the theater and pushes him up against the side of the building, kissing him hard.
He's not fourteen and new to this anymore, and Eduardo gasps and sucks on his tongue before shoving him away in self-defense. "We're on the street," he says, before Mark can tear into him.
"This is a problem?" Mark says.
"If we plan on having sex it is," Eduardo says, and Mark concedes grudgingly and says, "Your room."
Eduardo tries to keep his hands to himself on the way back - the distance between the theater and the dorms has never felt so interminably long before - and he almost makes it, except he takes Mark's hand partway along and Mark rolls his eyes and makes a disgusted noise but his hand doesn't even twitch. He doesn't pull away at all, and Eduardo has to kiss him again, long and slow and five blocks away from his dorm, while Mark makes demanding sounds and tries to sort of stumble them along in that direction, even though he doesn't stop the kissing either.
"Get out your key," Mark hisses, and Eduardo has to take a second to blink and figure out they're at the steps to Eliot.
Eduardo follows Mark up the stairs blindly, but Mark dodges his hands even once they're in his room.
"Strip," Mark says.
"Okay," Eduardo says, and swallows hard. "Mark, you know we don't have to--"
"Eduardo," Mark says. "Take off your clothes."
Eduardo's hands go to his belt. "I'm just trying to say," he says, "I know you haven't done this before."
"I've had sex," Mark says and kicks off his jeans.
"Not with a guy," Eduardo says, but for all his protestations he's down to just his slacks.
"So you have a dick," Mark says. "I'm familiar with them."
"It's not really the same," Eduardo says.
Mark pushes him down onto the bed and kisses him. "I'll figure it out."
---
"This isn't a competition," Eduardo gasps, when Mark is busy tracing his cock from the balls to the head in retribution for pinching his nipples, which made him moan and kind of thrust weakly. Eduardo thought it was adorable and maybe laughed a little, with the addition of some ill-advised teasing, and now Mark is determined to make him come first.
"Shut up," Mark says. "Tell me if I accidentally bite you," and he ducks his head.
"I think you'll hear me if you accidentally - oh fuck," Eduardo says, and squeezes his eyes shut so he won't have to see the things Mark is doing with his mouth.
He's clumsy and determined and he does sort of skim his teeth over the head once or twice, accidentally, and it's probably a good thing Eduardo didn't get his hands on Mark any further than kissing in high school because he's in real danger of developing a full-fledged virgin thing, and so far he's only dealing with Mark's mouth.
He pushes his hips up, sliding further into Mark's mouth, and Mark chokes. Eduardo cups the back of his head and says, "If you - yeah," because Mark is a really fast learner.
Mark's mouth leaves him and the bed shifts, and Eduardo looks down. Mark's up on his knees, hand between his legs and stroking himself.
Eduardo says, "Wait, wait, stop," and grabs Mark's shoulder.
"What?" Mark says, sitting up. He pulls, but Eduardo doesn't release his arm.
"I want to blow you after," Eduardo says. "Don't jerk yourself off."
Mark huffs.
"Please," Eduardo says, and Mark nods shortly before taking Eduardo's cock in again.
Eduardo comes quickly, too close from seeing Mark's mouth turn red around him and feeling him shift on the bed, impatient and grinding down against the sheets.
"Lay down, come on," Eduardo says, tugging, when he's managed to keep his eyes open and process Mark smirking down at him triumphantly.
Mark lays down next to him with a quiet sigh. Eduardo rolls onto his side to face him, letting go of his arm to touch the side of his face lightly. Mark rolls his eyes.
"Don't do that," Eduardo says. "Don't be defensive with me."
Mark bristles. "I'm not--"
"Okay, but let me have this," Eduardo says. "Don't act like you have to prove something to me."
"Fine," Mark says.
"Let me," Eduardo repeats, and leans over, kissing him softly and repeatedly.
"Fine," Mark says again, in an entirely different tone.
Eduardo makes it as good as he can, holding Mark down with an arm across his hips and sucking down his cock, rolling his balls and feathering fingers down behind them, pressing into his perineum so Mark's hips jerk up - Eduardo really wishes he knew how to deep throat, and he's determined now to practice - and brushing lightly over his hole.
Mark makes a high-pitched sound and clutches the sheets, and Eduardo swallows.
(He'll point out later, when Mark brings it up, that this probably gets him more points in this so-decided competition, and Mark will become determined to get him off again, but better. Eduardo has never been so appreciative of Mark's perfectionist streak.)
Mark lies still and panting after he comes, sprawled out on Eduardo's sheets. Eduardo has no intention of ever letting him leave.
He kisses the corner of Mark's mouth, unsure, and Mark grabs for him, slides their tongues together and kisses back with no reticence at all. Eduardo pulls away at last, shivery, and Mark blinks up at him, his blue eyes wide like childhood again.
"Okay," Eduardo says, clearing his throat.
Mark closes his eyes, stretching out. He resettles, spacing around Eduardo unconsciously. "That," he says, "was a very deep remark, Wardo."
"Fuck off," Eduardo says, grinning, and kisses Mark's shoulder.
"Ugh," Mark says, shrugging him off, and Eduardo holds him down and kisses him all over, annoying smacks of his mouth on Mark's most ticklish places. Mark squirms, and knees him, and loses, because he falls out of bed first.
"It's okay," Eduardo says. "You'll manage to stay in one day."
"I hate you," Mark says as he lets Eduardo pull him back up.
End.
Companion: Ten scenes
The Social Network
Mark/Eduardo
PG
4,333 words
Warnings
None
Summary: There are two kinds of secrets: those you keep and those you spill. Ten scenes from Eduardo's POV from/around Let the Future In.
1988 (Kept)
Mark is younger than Eduardo.
Eduardo's mom has explained this carefully a couple of times, because she uses it as the reason for everything Mark does and why Eduardo should be nice to him.
Mark refuses to eat something for lunch, which Eduardo hasn't done since last week, and Eduardo isn't supposed to tease, because Mark is younger than Eduardo.
Mark throws a fit, which Eduardo hasn't done for at least a month, and Eduardo is supposed to be patient, because Mark is younger than Eduardo.
Mark breaks Eduardo's toy by throwing it down the stairs, which Eduardo has never done at all, and Eduardo is supposed to be nice, because Mark is younger than Eduardo.
"You're a baby," Eduardo says. "Mamã says so."
"Am not," Mark says.
"Uh huh," Eduardo says.
"So are you too," Mark says.
"Not as much as you," Eduardo says. "You're not even in school."
Eduardo thinks Mark is going to start crying or at least go play by himself the way he always does when Eduardo is right. Instead, Mark sits straight up, eyes wide and blue - Eduardo hadn't seen eyes like Mark's before, and his mamã said it was rude to stare but Eduardo always watches Mark's face for when his eyes look like this - and says, "You go to school?"
"Duh," Eduardo says. "All day."
"I thought you went to daycare," Mark says. "Like me."
"I'm not a baby," Eduardo says triumphantly.
"What do you do?" Mark demands. "Where do you go? Are there lots of other kids there?"
"I dunno," Eduardo says, blinking.
"Tell me," Mark whines.
"There's lots of people," Eduardo says. "Like at the fair. Only there aren't a lot of moms and dads."
"Who watches the you?" Mark asks suspiciously.
"Teachers," Eduardo says. "They're like moms."
Mark keeps asking questions, and Eduardo warms up to it, telling Mark about the cafeteria and lining up to go to the bathroom and reading, and he proves he's learning to read by pulling out one of his books, but Mark is stupid and already knows how to read and he says Eduardo is doing it wrong.
So Eduardo tells him about the big kids.
"And they can do anything they want to you," he finishes, and watches Mark's lip wobble.
"I don't want to go to school," Mark says.
"It's scary," Eduardo says.
Of course, Mark figures out less than a year later that Eduardo wasn't telling the truth, that Eduardo didn't tell him about recess or naptime or snacks. But Eduardo keeps those best parts a secret all summer because Mark doesn't know anything, and this just proves it.
1990 (Shared)
Eduardo stole his father's watch.
Mark takes the news with little interest. "You can't wear it," he says, sniffing. He has a cold and Eduardo hasn't seen him for a week because his mom wouldn't let him come over because she didn't want him getting sick, too.
"I just wanted to see it," Eduardo says. "He never lets me look at them."
"Cause he doesn't want you to break them," Mark says.
"And I'm not going to break it," Eduardo says.
"He's gonna get mad when he finds out you stole it," Mark says. "He probably didn't want you to steal it, either."
"You have to help me," Eduardo says.
"No," Mark says.
"I have to hide it here!" Eduardo says. "Until I can sneak it back home and hide it somewhere so it looks like he lost it."
Mark scowls. "Hide it in your room."
"They're looking in my room," Eduardo whines. "They can't look here."
"Fine," Mark says, after a few thoughtful sniffs. "Leave your stupid watch here."
1992 (Kept)
Mark's little sister has a toy he really, really hates. He always steals it from her, taking the batteries out so it can't make the repetitive, ear-shattering noises.
Eduardo always steals it back, putting the batteries back in and handing it over, because little sister is older brother's responsibility, and Eduardo doesn't have one of his own.
He tells Mark he thinks it's Mark's mom that's giving the toy back each time, just a little white lie.
1996 (Shared)
Mark just convinced his parents to let him have their old computer. They made him promise to let his sisters still use it - which he won't, Eduardo can't believe Mark's mom believed him when he said that - and then Mark's dad had someone come and put a phone jack in and now Mark has internet. In his bedroom.
"There's a site I heard about at school," Eduardo says.
Mark is grumpy and reluctant to let Eduardo at the computer, but Eduardo shoves him aside and types in the URL his classmate had scribbled on a note for him.
"This is like those magazines," Mark says.
"They're all naked," Eduardo promises.
"Wow," Mark says, and he and Eduardo spend the next two hours staring obsessively at girls while Eduardo congratulates himself on officially earning the title of Best Friend Ever.
1997 (Kept)
In Eduardo's first month of high school, he gets paired up with an older boy for a project in the BPA club. His partner's name is Jason, and he's a senior. He tells Eduardo on the first day that he's adopted two other boys before him and promises, with a grin, to help Eduardo make high school the best years of his life.
While Eduardo secretly hopes that won't be true - he has high hopes for college, at the very least - he's taken in by Jason's easy-going demeanor and how clever he is. He can convince any teacher or student to do things for him, just by joking and touching their shoulder and being kind.
Mark, Eduardo is pretty sure, would hate him, and Eduardo is more determined than ever to keep him as a friend. It seems only fair that if Eduardo has to spend all his time with Natalie, Mark should have to put up with some of Eduardo's friends, too.
He tells Mark about Jason, a little, until Mark says, "You sound like you're in love with him, Wardo."
Mark's just trying to get him to shut up, but Eduardo freezes.
It's not love - it's not as if Eduardo is one of those girls who scribble their boyfriend's name on the inside flap of all their binders - but Mark is right. He's got a crush on Jason, and if he doesn't watch his mouth everyone will figure it out.
He watches what he says for weeks, until he's weeded every mention of BPA out of conversation with his parents. Mark doesn't notice anything, but everyone else remarks on it.
Jason finds Eduardo in the library one afternoon, skipping History (with permission) to work on a project for English.
"You stopped eating lunch with us," he says, casually pushing aside Eduardo's books. "Are you avoiding us?"
"No," Eduardo mutters. "I've been sitting with some other friends."
"Cool," Jason says. "Hey, we should talk about the business competition at the end of the semester."
"Yeah?" Eduardo says.
"I want you to be on our team," Jason says. "You'll be the youngest, freshmen usually don't make it, but you're better than almost anyone else at school, especially at the math."
"And you're really bad at math," Eduardo says.
"Hey," Jason says mildly.
Eduardo agrees to join their team, though it's the last thing he should do.
---
Mark says, "You're always busy."
"I'm in clubs," Eduardo says. "They take up my time."
"I know," Mark says.
"Besides," Eduardo says grumpily, "you're always on the computer anyway." Mark honestly is. His father has been getting him private tutoring and advanced classes, and Mark starts talking about things sometimes that Eduardo has no hope of understanding.
"Are you working with Jason?" Mark says snottily.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Eduardo asks defensively.
"Just ask him out already," Mark says, rolling his eyes. "Or kiss him or something."
"Mark!" Eduardo says.
"You're a wimp," Mark says.
Eduardo slides down the bed, sitting on the floor with his knees against his chest. "You don't care?"
"That you're a wimp?" Mark says. "I'm used to it."
"That I like guys," Eduardo says.
"You don't like guys," Mark says. "You like Jason."
"No," Eduardo says. "I really do like guys."
Mark's fingers slow, and finally he stops typing, tilting his head at the computer screen. Eduardo holds his breath, fighting the urge to hide his face.
"No," Mark says.
"Oh," Eduardo says, when nothing else is forthcoming. "Okay."
Mark hums, and Eduardo slowly straightens his legs.
---
Nothing happens with Jason, of course. They place second in the competition, and Jason holds onto Eduardo's shoulder, reassuring him that he'll have time to win the next year and the two after that. Eduardo nods along, and then the club president, a girl named Melissa, taps Eduardo's shoulder and says, "Can I steal Jason for a second?"
When they come back Jason has his arm around Melanie's waist and she's blushing. Everyone else in the room teases them until their club sponsor, the calculus teacher, tells everyone to cut it out.
"He was a senior," Mark says. "Are you really surprised?"
"Shut up," Eduardo says.
"You'll be less disappointed if you keep your expectations realistic," Mark says.
"I never expected--" Eduardo says, and then, "No, you're right. My fault."
He's finishing an English essay on Mark's floor. Mark never has any homework, and he's doing something on the computer - probably something dangerous and illegal like hacking into the Pentagon or foreign bank accounts; Eduardo makes sure to never ask. It's been almost an hour when Mark says, "Sorry," quiet and half not-paying-attention, but Eduardo looks at the back of his head and says, "Thank you."
He thinks he could tell Mark right now about Jason catching him in the clubroom right before the competition, pushing him up against the wall and kissing him, holding his neck and calling him pretty. Eduardo knows he probably said the exact same thing to Melissa, which is the worst part.
Mark is a good friend, under everything; he'd call Jason bad things, and offer to ruin his life - he might even succeed, which is a development in this computer thing that frightens Eduardo and amuses him beyond belief, often at the same time - and he'll know just how pathetic Eduardo is, that his first kiss wasn't with Chloe Robertson at middle school graduation after all.
So Eduardo doesn't say anything, and when Mark's mom knocks on the door a few minutes later they go down for dinner.
1998 (Shared)
Mark disappears for two weeks at the beginning of every summer as his parents drag he and his sisters to visit their family on the other end of the state. Eduardo suffers through his absence, watching TV and reading books and staying hidden in his room. His mother says he's moping, but really it's self-preservation - if he comes out of his room, she makes him run errands with her and do chores around the house.
"You're so lucky," Mark gripes his first night back. Eduardo is helping him unpack, shoving all the dirty clothes into the hamper. Mark is setting his laptop - brand new, a gift for his birthday less than a month ago - on his desk and hooking everything back up.
"I'm lucky," Eduardo says. "Why?"
"You don't have to see your family every three months," Mark says. "With their hugging and kissing and stupid invasive questions."
"They're your family," Eduardo says. "They care about you."
"They're a waste of time," Mark says. "They're annoying and rude and judgmental and all they ever do is gossip about each other. And I have three sisters already, that's enough company without throwing twenty cousins into the mix. We waste so much money on it every year - we have to go to New Hampshire, we have to go to Connecticut, god forbid anyone move to Alaska because the whole family would probably decide to have the reunion there--"
"Shut up, Mark," Eduardo snaps.
Mark blinks. "What?"
"Do you have any idea how lucky you are?" Eduardo says. "You get to see your family all the time. I haven't seen anyone but my parents since I was eleven. None of my cousins even know me."
"So," Mark mutters.
"So shut up," Eduardo says. "I hate when you go away because I spend two weeks with nobody but my mother for company, because I don't have grandparents twenty minutes away, I don't even have a sibling."
Mark looks away, watching his wall intently. Eduardo turns back to the suitcase, emptying out the last compartment. "I'm so jealous of you sometimes," he admits quietly, and hears Mark take a breath behind him.
"Trade?" Mark says at last, awkwardly.
Eduardo makes a face and then sighs. "Yeah," he says, "Sorry."
Mark smiles lopsidedly at him and shoves his suitcase in the closet.
1999 (Kept)
Eduardo really only kisses Mark because he really doesn't want to kiss Sara Jameson. She's been kind of flirting with him since they started high school, and Eduardo is pretty sick of it.
So he grabs Mark and kisses him, and he doesn't realize how bad an idea it is until Mark gives up and stops trying to push him away. Because, objectively, Eduardo knows Mark has never kissed or touched anyone before. He knows that, but it's still weird to feel Mark freeze against him and know it's because Eduardo is the first person he's ever felt like this. Eduardo is not always a good person. He's considered Mark sexually before, it's difficult to avoid when they still share a bed, but he's always ignored it.
But now Mark is holding onto his hips like he's terrified, and Eduardo has very little time, and he's determined to make this count.
Mark makes a quiet noise Eduardo's pretty sure he isn't even aware of, and his mouth opens. Eduardo licks in gently, and Mark squirms a little, and then they're kissing for real, Mark's hands squeezing at Eduardo's hips frantically. Eduardo wants to be in Mark's room, in the quiet and the familiar, so he can tell Mark he knows he's scared and that it's okay.
And then Mark falls over, yelping, and he looks so betrayed Eduardo can't help but laugh.
He kisses him again, messy and affectionate, but the fucking timer goes off. He isn't expecting Mark to shove him away, and it's reflexive to bite, digging his fingers into Mark's jaw and trying to hold on.
He doesn't want to leave that room afterwards, even though Sara is angry and starting to kick everyone out, but Mark is sucking his lip into his mouth and he won't look at Eduardo. Natalie glares threateningly, putting her hand on Mark's knee, and Eduardo lets himself be pulled away - he'll go to Mark's house later, because even Natalie has to go home eventually.
---
Mark's mouth is really swollen. Eduardo feels guilty, because Mark is actually trying not to talk because of the pain, and that was, all considered, a pretty awful first kiss.
The guilt doesn't stop him from going home that night and thinking about it for the first time. He thinks Mark, his voice and his hands and his mouth under Eduardo's, brand new.
Eduardo gets off to it twice. He imagines what might've happened if they'd been alone tonight, and he imagines summers in swimming pools and late night movies. He imagines early mornings in Mark's bed, what might happen if, instead of shoving Mark out in the next round of their continued rivalry over who falls out of bed first, he pulled Mark forward instead, and held him close, and kissed him all over.
He comes quickly, every time, skin tight and stomach squirmy, everything worse than it was even with Jason.
He feels horrible after - he thinks of Mark now and there's fantasies and the taste of his mouth, intertwined with memories of Mark as a child - but he can't take it back, and the want twists in his chest relentlessly.
He avoids Mark as much as he can for the next week until Mark's lip heals. Mark keeps sucking at it, worrying the bruise with his teeth, and Eduardo wants to do that and everything else.
But he never tells Mark. He keeps that secret for the next five years.
2000 (Shared)
Eduardo meets Ethan at a party of a friend of a friend. The friend isn't a very good one, so Eduardo isn't expecting much from the party he attends, but Mark is gone to visit relatives before school starts.
He's pleasantly surprised to meet Ethan, ad freshman at the local community college. Ethan doesn't care that Eduardo's only going to be a senior in high school, and he's gorgeous, and by the end of the night they've spent two hours making out and agreed to meet up the next night at a nearby restaurant.
Eduardo sees him every day for the rest of break.
Mark gets back the day before school begins. He's bitching about it - "She won't even finish the laundry until next week," and "What if I can't find my backpack tomorrow morning?" - and Eduardo watches him.
It's difficult not to compare him to Ethan, with his perfect smile and stupid hairdo and tight jeans, while Mark is whiny and frumpy and still kind of scrawny. Eduardo still thinks he's adorable, but Mark is the one exception to Eduardo's type.
Mark doesn't notice him watching, of course, any more than he notices that Eduardo isn't listening.
"Mark," Eduardo says, interrupting. "I need to tell you something."
Mark glares around, frowning at him for a minute, and then keeps talking about his upcoming classes.
"I have a boyfriend," Eduardo says.
Mark keeps talking for several seconds, and Eduardo waits for his brain to catch up.
"What?" Mark snaps, turning suddenly.
"Kind of," Eduardo says.
"What?" Mark repeats.
"I've been seeing this guy for a couple of weeks," Eduardo says. "I met him the day after you left, we've been hanging out the last two weeks. I really like him."
Mark relaxes. "Two weeks doesn't make him your boyfriend," he says, and goes back to whatever it is he's doing.
"We're dating," Eduardo says, gritting his teeth. "And probably won't be stopping soon."
Mark rolls his eyes, which Eduardo can only see because Mark turns sideways just enough to guarantee he'll see it. Asshole. Just because Eduardo's other boyfriends (of which there have been two, which is not all too impressive but is still much better than Mark's track record thus far) didn't last more than a couple of months each doesn't mean they didn't count.
"I just thought you should know," Eduardo says.
"You're serious," Mark says.
"Yeah," Eduardo says.
Mark furrows his eyebrows, and Eduardo says goodbye and heads home.
---
"So what's he like?" Mark demands the next day, after hunting Eduardo down at lunch, and Eduardo grins and tells him about Ethan.
---
Mark covers for Eduardo.
Eduardo never meant to ask him. It was an accident that his mother called him once and caught him off-guard and he'd blurted out that lie that he was at Mark's and promised he'd come home as soon as they finished their movie. Ethan had raised an eyebrow, teasing him about who Mark was, and Eduardo had texted Mark to let him know about the lie, just in case he or his mother talked to Eduardo's mother.
He apologizes when he gets home that evening, a quick text that says Sorry for using you as an excuse.
Mark replies I don't care.
And he knows it's not really permission, but Eduardo chooses to take it as such. The rest of his dates with Ethan are codename: sleepover at Mark's. Mark doesn't ask what Eduardo does with Ethan, which is insulting - he assumes he knows. And despite what Mark thinks, Eduardo does actually spend time with Ethan for reasons other than sex, though the semi-regular orgasms do feature pretty high on the list of pros.
He gets caught eventually, of course, and he freaks out, and Mark puts up with all of it very well, considering.
Ethan actually handles it even better - he pats Eduardo's back, and sympathizes with his worries about his mother, and then he gives Eduardo a blowjob to top the therapy off. But the whole time Eduardo can't stop thinking of Mark, and his utterly oblivious belief that Eduardo will be fine, because there's nothing at all important or new to accept. His faith means more to Eduardo than all of Ethan's amazing support and calm.
Eduardo dumps Ethan because Ethan doesn't deserve Eduardo's complete lack of appreciation for him, and Eduardo doesn't want to be that guy.
2002 (Kept)
A while after Eduardo meets Mark's roommates, they get Mark drunk and talk about their first times. Mark has been avoiding talking about Natalie, and Dustin's nosy and believes in the strategic application of alcohol.
Eduardo finds them after the fact, when the common area's a mess and Mark is curled on the couch morosely, abandoned by Chris and Dustin who were able to stagger into their room together.
"Okay, come on," he says fondly, and hauls Mark up.
Mark pushes him away, swaying on his feet. "I'm fine," he says.
"Clearly," Eduardo says, and crowds behind him in case he decides to trip.
Mark strips to his boxers shamelessly, crawling into bed.
"Did you succumb?" Eduardo asks, kicking Mark's clothes into the corner.
"Hm?" Mark says.
"To Dustin. Did you tell him about Natalie?" Eduardo sits on the very edge of the bed, grabbing some Tylenol out of the bottle in the nightstand drawer. Mark is quiet for a minute, until Eduardo leans over to peer at his face and check that yes, he is still awake.
"Yeah," Mark says. "He's persistent."
"Sorry," Eduardo says, smiling. "You should've seen it coming."
Mark makes a sound like a sigh.
"At least it's over now," Eduardo says, and stands up. "I'm going back to my room. Text me tomorrow, yeah?"
"He's still going to tease me," Mark says. "But not as bad as Chris."
"Why?"
"Chris admitted he's never been fucked," Mark slurs, and pulls part of his pillow over his head. "Dustin told him he was a failure as a gay man."
"What?" Eduardo asks, eyebrows going up.
"Yeah, I don't think Chris is speaking to him right now," Mark says. "He's not mad at me for once. I told Dustin you'd never done that either, and that didn't make you any less gay."
The last time Eduardo talked to Mark about sex, he had just dumped Ethan and sworn off all dating until he went to college. Eduardo hasn't deliberately kept anything from Mark, but it doesn't ever really come up.
"Uh," Eduardo says. "You're right, but I actually have--"
But Mark mumbles shhh at him, and when he keeps breathing slow and even Eduardo turns out the light and leaves the dorm.
2006 (Shared)
Eduardo spends almost two months trying to get Mark to admit when he fell in love with Eduardo.
"Sophomore year," is his first guess, "right after I kissed you."
"No," Mark says plainly, and Eduardo cannot tell whether that means he fell in love later or earlier, only that it wasn't right then.
"Sixth grade," is his next guess. "When I convinced that bully that your father really was a CIA agent and would kill him if he touched you again."
Mark snorts at that, taking the beer Eduardo is holding out, and says, "Not even close."
The next several dozen of guesses - everything from "the moment we met" to "when I started dating guys" - get varying shades of amusement or annoyance, depending upon how ridiculous Mark thinks Eduardo's being.
"I don't know," Eduardo admits finally, and presses his head against Mark's shoulder. Mark smells like clean sweat and dirty clothes and caffeine, and Eduardo probably only has another five minutes before he leaves bed and stumbles naked to his desk. "I have honestly no idea."
"I know," Mark says.
"Tell me?" Eduardo says.
"Two weekends after you told me you liked me," Mark says. "That Friday night at the bar the weekend after we went home."
"What?" Eduardo asks. He barely remembers the night Mark is talking about, and not because he was drunk - because it was absolutely nothing special.
"We were at the bar and a girl was hitting on you, too drunk and stupid to realize you could not have been less interested. You put up with her for half an hour so you could tell her how great I was and how you thought she should ask me out."
"Yeah?" Eduardo says. "I've done that a lot."
Mark says, "You were putting up with her because I told you I thought she was hot." He shrugs. "It was the first time I realized you would hurt yourself to make me happy. It was difficult to ignore."
"So you fell in love with me because I was self-sacrificing?" Eduardo asks, smiling.
Mark twists around, dislodging Eduardo's grip on him so he can stare directly at Eduardo. "No," he says. "I realized I was in love with you because it pissed me off that you would let me hurt you."
Eduardo could point out that he's let Mark do that plenty of times, but it doesn't seem like the appropriate moment. He also doesn't say how amazing Mark is, because Mark already knows Eduardo thinks so. He kisses him instead, deep and wet, and gets a hand on his still-soft cock, and remembers his grandmother's wedding band, waiting in his bedside drawer ever since his mother gave it to him two years ago.
Even if Mark hasn't accidentally found it already, it won't be a secret for long.
End.
Sequel (sort of)
The Social Network
Mark/Eduardo
PG
2,123 words
Warnings
None
Summary: Holidays are always a little messy.
"We always see each other over the holidays anyway," Mark says, and ignores Eduardo's look. "There's no reason our families should celebrate together."
"You'd prefer to skip completely," Eduardo says.
"I would," Mark agrees.
"So your opinion doesn't count."
Mark doesn't have a chance to defend himself, because they're only halfway up the walk but Eduardo's mother is throwing open the front door and yelling at them to hurry up. She lets them into Mark's house, hugging and kissing Eduardo before moving on to Mark. Eduardo pinches Mark's side underneath his coat, so Mark holds still for her affection.
Mark's mother is standing by the stove. She says, "Hello, kids," and lets Mark get away with giving her a kiss on the cheek. She's melting sugar and corn syrup in the boiler, probably making taffy. She always waits until Mark to get home so she can make him help. Eduardo always had to help, too, which made him miserable - he doesn't like taffy, probably because Mark stuck some half-cooked in his hair when he was seven and Eduardo's never quite forgiven it.
"Your sisters are all upstairs, Mark, aren't you going to go say hello?" Sandra says.
"No," Mark says.
"I'll go get them," Eduardo says, forestalling Sandra's disappointed sigh, and takes the stairs up two at a time.
"He's in an awfully big hurry to get away from you, honey," Mark's mom says. "Is everything okay?"
Sandra looks immediately worried.
"You're not funny," Mark tells his mom.
Eduardo appears at the top of the stairs. "Mark, Ariel wants you."
"Tell her to fuck off," Mark yells, so Ariel will hear him herself.
"I will not," Eduardo says, and glares until Mark gives in and follows him up.
Eduardo catches him at the top of the stairs and pulls him into his bedroom, smiling. "Hi," he says.
"You used my sister to get me up here?" Mark says.
Eduardo asks, "Do you want to stay downstairs and answer questions about how our semester went?"
"Not particularly," Mark says, "and your mom's worried we're having relationship problems."
"Is your mother messing with her again?" Eduardo frowns.
"It's her own fault for being gullible," Mark says.
"You better not be having sex in there," Randi yells, banging on the door.
Eduardo jumps.
"Fuck off," Mark snarls.
"Mark, get back down here!" Mark's mom calls. "You too, girls!"
"You're a despicable person," Eduardo tells Randi calmly as they all tramp downstairs. She snickers at them.
Mark's dad gets home from work and immediately gets sent back out on errands. Eduardo fields his mother's nagging questions while Mark watches the taffy pot for his mom. Randi went with their dad to help with groceries, so she escapes the inquisition. Unfortunately, Sandra runs out of her normal questions early and moves on to not-so-subtly bugging them about how they're doing, yes, both of them, which Eduardo fails to answer properly until Mark says, "Our relationship is none of your business," which makes her quit asking and subside into hurt looks which still work for guilting Eduardo into things.
Randi and their dad get back about twenty minutes before dinner's ready, so Randi has to set the table and they all help dish out food and it isn't until they're eating that Mark notices the lack of extra place setting and asks Eduardo, "Isn't your father coming?"
Sandra sets her fork down with a clatter.
Eduardo's mouth thins and he stares away from Mark as he says, "No."
"Why not?" Mark says. Eduardo's father actually almost never comes, but Sandra always sets a place for him, just in case.
Eduardo doesn't answer. Someone kicks Mark's ankle, and he looks up to his mother and Randi glaring at him fiercely.
"Did something happen to him?" Mark asks suspiciously.
Sandra says, "Roberto and I are separating, Mark."
"Since when?" Mark demands.
"About a month ago," Sandra says, and takes a long drink of water. Randi kicks Mark again, harder. Eduardo is covering his eyes with a hand as if embarrassed.
"Oh," Mark says awkwardly. "You're probably better off without him anyway."
"Mark," his mom says sharply, and the rest of dinner passes in silence.
---
"Nice going down there," Randi says, sticking her head in his room around nine.
"Knock," Mark says.
"No, really," Randi says. "Explain to me how you don't know anything about your boyfriend and best friend's family life."
"We don't talk about his dad," Mark says, bristling.
"What, you spend all your time fucking?"
"We talk," Mark says. "Just not about his father. He avoids it."
"And you didn't think that was weird?" Randi asks.
Mark shrugs.
Randi sighs. "Look, Mark. Just because you don't like his dad doesn't mean Eduardo doesn't."
"I know," Mark says. He does. He spent six months after Eduardo came out listening to him recount every argument he had with his father, and all his worrying about ridiculous things that Sandra would never allow, like being disowned. It probably would've gone on longer, but around month six Mark had lost all patience and detailed to Eduardo all the ways in which he was being childish and insecure, then gone on to trash his father. It turned out there were some things people said about their families that other people weren't allowed to. Eduardo had stopped talking about Roberto after that, and had attempted to stop talking to Mark for a while, too.
"Well, I'm just saying it's kind of your job now to help him with things like this."
"Fine," Mark says.
Randi keeps looking at him expectantly.
"What?" Mark snaps.
"I kind of meant it's the sort of thing you should go talk about right now," she says.
"They'll be back over tomorrow morning," Mark says. "Less than twelve hours from now."
Randi shakes her head at him.
"Will you leave now?" Mark says.
"Fine," Randi says. "And you're welcome." She peeks her head back in a second later. "It's probably a good thing you two fought tonight, actually. This way I won't have to protect Donna and Ariel from hearing you two getting it on."
"Leave," Mark says.
"Goodnight," she calls, laughing.
Mark waits until he hears her door shut and her music start up. Ariel is probably sleeping - she does that a lot - and Donna is probably reading, and his mother is undoubtedly still sulking to his dad about Mark's faux pas.
He grabs his backpack and his shoes and shuffles quietly downstairs.
---
The basement door to Eduardo's house never really locks. It's so loose that all you have to do is lift up on the door and the bolt gives. Mark's never used this entrance though; he was always sneaking in with Eduardo. Eduardo always made getting in look easy. Mark, on the other hand, cannot get the fucking door open.
It swings open abruptly just as Mark is about to give up. He blinks, staring at Eduardo on the other side.
"My mother had the bolt changed," Eduardo says. "When my father left."
"Oh," Mark says. "I guess that's a good time to do it."
Eduardo shrugs.
"Did she change all the locks?" Mark asks curiously. Eduardo had forced a key onto him about a month ago, the first one Mark has ever had to their house. He never really needed one, but Eduardo had put it on his keyring and said something about symbolism.
Eduardo closes his eyes. "Why are you here?"
Mark pushes past him. "I want to talk to you."
"You'll see me again in less than twelve hours," Eduardo says.
"I want to stay with you tonight," Mark says.
Eduardo gives in, sighing, and takes Mark upstairs.
His room, like Mark's, is almost unchanged from when he lived here. Mark drops his bag at the door and sits on the bed, waits for Eduardo to decide where he's going. After a moment, Eduardo sits next to him, and Mark relaxes.
"In my defense," he starts, "you really didn't tell me anything."
"I know," Eduardo says.
"So it's unfair of you to be angry with me when I had no way of knowing."
"Mark," Eduardo says. "Sometimes I'm going to be mad at you whether it's your fault or not."
"Okay," Mark says, and lapses into silence.
"Why'd you come over?" Eduardo asks again, but he doesn't sound so angry anymore.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Mark asks.
Eduardo says, "I've been avoiding thinking about it."
"You always avoid thinking about him," Mark says. "But Randi said I was supposed to--"
"Randi sent you?" Eduardo says, rolling his eyes. "Good to know."
"No. She thinks I'm going to talk to you tomorrow," Mark says. "I thought you were just mad because I upset your mother."
"Well, I'm not happy about that," Eduardo says.
"What happened?" Mark says.
Eduardo twists, sprawling back on the bed. "They've been arguing for years."
"Since you came out," Mark says.
"Thanks," Eduardo says, "yes. Anyway, when my mother told him we were together he blew up and she kicked him out."
Mark waits, but Eduardo just stares at the ceiling. "That's it?" he asks.
Eduardo snorts, looking at Mark, and then he starts laughing quietly. "That's your reaction? Unimpressed?" He drops an arm over his face.
"But, Wardo, you don't like your dad," Mark says.
Eduardo stiffens. "Yes, I do."
"No," Mark says slowly. "You don't."
"Shut up," Eduardo says.
"Why are you so upset?" Mark asks.
"Because," Eduardo says quietly. "You know my mother is sad all the time? She checks her phone for messages from him, she worries about where he is and if he's gotten home safe from work. And my father is spending the holidays alone in a hotel room downtown near his office."
"Yeah," Mark says.
"And when she told me they were separated, all I felt was disappointed that they hadn't already started divorce proceedings."
"Oh," Mark says. He lays down next to Eduardo. "So?"
"Mark," Eduardo says, turning his head and staring at him. "I'm not supposed to want my parents to get divorced!"
"Why not?" Mark says and shrugs when Eduardo gapes at him. "You don't like your dad. He's an asshole."
"It's just wrong," Eduardo says. "At least because my mom's miserable."
"She's not miserable," Mark says. "She's a little unhappy. She has my whole family to annoy, she'll be fine."
"It doesn't work like that," Eduardo says.
"Wardo," Mark says. "You're being an idiot. You can't affect whether they'll get divorced or not. And nobody would blame you for disliking him, so stop feeling guilty."
"Feelings don't work that way," Eduardo says.
"I know," Mark says.
"Okay," Eduardo says and turns, kissing Mark lightly. "Thanks for asking."
"Do you want to watch a movie now or what?" Mark says.
---
Sandra's expression when Mark trails Eduardo down the next morning is a little pinched. She says, "Boys."
"Mãe," Eduardo starts.
"I'm sorry," Mark says, stepping around him. "I shouldn't have said what I did. I didn't know what I was talking about."
Her expression softens. "Thank you," she says.
"We should go," Eduardo says. "Before Mark's mom worries about him being missing."
"We never worry about you two," Sandra says, tugging her coat on. "Honestly, we never could keep track of you, and then you went off to college and it only got worse. Now we're lucky if we know where you are week to week."
"I'm sorry," Eduardo says guiltily. Mark snorts.
---
They open the first round of presents that night. Sandra is on the couch next to Mark's mom, and Mark's dad is busy driving Ariel crazy by standing behind her chair and tugging on small pieces of her hair. She squeals every time, and Mark's mom's patience is wearing thin. She won't say anything, though, because Sandra thinks it's hilarious.
Randi passes out the gifts dutifully, and Eduardo taps the top of his present to Mark and says, "Wait until later to open this one."
"Did you get him something inappropriate?" Randi asks delightedly.
"Your interest in my sex life is unnerving," Mark says.
"And entirely pointless, since neither of them has a sex life," Sandra adds. "Do you?"
"No, Mãe," Eduardo answers. "Of course not."
Mark waits until Donna and Ariel are tearing into their gifts to lean over and ask, "You really didn't get me a sex toy, right?"
"Of course not," Eduardo hisses and slaps at his leg.
"It's not empty, either," Mark says. "That idea about boxes filled with love. You're not doing that symbolism thing again."
"No," Eduardo says, "you materialistic bastard."
"I just don't want you to steal my idea," Mark says, straight-faced, and Eduardo, smiling disbelievingly, stares at him and asks, "You didn't really, did you?"
End.
Entry has been crossposted to abriata @ DW here. Comments enabled at either entry.
Epilogue
The Social Network
Mark/Eduardo
NC-17
1050 words
Warnings
None
Summary: Blow jobs, pretty much.
As soon as the second half is over - before the cast has come back out on stage after the end, in fact - Mark hauls Eduardo out of the theater and pushes him up against the side of the building, kissing him hard.
He's not fourteen and new to this anymore, and Eduardo gasps and sucks on his tongue before shoving him away in self-defense. "We're on the street," he says, before Mark can tear into him.
"This is a problem?" Mark says.
"If we plan on having sex it is," Eduardo says, and Mark concedes grudgingly and says, "Your room."
Eduardo tries to keep his hands to himself on the way back - the distance between the theater and the dorms has never felt so interminably long before - and he almost makes it, except he takes Mark's hand partway along and Mark rolls his eyes and makes a disgusted noise but his hand doesn't even twitch. He doesn't pull away at all, and Eduardo has to kiss him again, long and slow and five blocks away from his dorm, while Mark makes demanding sounds and tries to sort of stumble them along in that direction, even though he doesn't stop the kissing either.
"Get out your key," Mark hisses, and Eduardo has to take a second to blink and figure out they're at the steps to Eliot.
Eduardo follows Mark up the stairs blindly, but Mark dodges his hands even once they're in his room.
"Strip," Mark says.
"Okay," Eduardo says, and swallows hard. "Mark, you know we don't have to--"
"Eduardo," Mark says. "Take off your clothes."
Eduardo's hands go to his belt. "I'm just trying to say," he says, "I know you haven't done this before."
"I've had sex," Mark says and kicks off his jeans.
"Not with a guy," Eduardo says, but for all his protestations he's down to just his slacks.
"So you have a dick," Mark says. "I'm familiar with them."
"It's not really the same," Eduardo says.
Mark pushes him down onto the bed and kisses him. "I'll figure it out."
---
"This isn't a competition," Eduardo gasps, when Mark is busy tracing his cock from the balls to the head in retribution for pinching his nipples, which made him moan and kind of thrust weakly. Eduardo thought it was adorable and maybe laughed a little, with the addition of some ill-advised teasing, and now Mark is determined to make him come first.
"Shut up," Mark says. "Tell me if I accidentally bite you," and he ducks his head.
"I think you'll hear me if you accidentally - oh fuck," Eduardo says, and squeezes his eyes shut so he won't have to see the things Mark is doing with his mouth.
He's clumsy and determined and he does sort of skim his teeth over the head once or twice, accidentally, and it's probably a good thing Eduardo didn't get his hands on Mark any further than kissing in high school because he's in real danger of developing a full-fledged virgin thing, and so far he's only dealing with Mark's mouth.
He pushes his hips up, sliding further into Mark's mouth, and Mark chokes. Eduardo cups the back of his head and says, "If you - yeah," because Mark is a really fast learner.
Mark's mouth leaves him and the bed shifts, and Eduardo looks down. Mark's up on his knees, hand between his legs and stroking himself.
Eduardo says, "Wait, wait, stop," and grabs Mark's shoulder.
"What?" Mark says, sitting up. He pulls, but Eduardo doesn't release his arm.
"I want to blow you after," Eduardo says. "Don't jerk yourself off."
Mark huffs.
"Please," Eduardo says, and Mark nods shortly before taking Eduardo's cock in again.
Eduardo comes quickly, too close from seeing Mark's mouth turn red around him and feeling him shift on the bed, impatient and grinding down against the sheets.
"Lay down, come on," Eduardo says, tugging, when he's managed to keep his eyes open and process Mark smirking down at him triumphantly.
Mark lays down next to him with a quiet sigh. Eduardo rolls onto his side to face him, letting go of his arm to touch the side of his face lightly. Mark rolls his eyes.
"Don't do that," Eduardo says. "Don't be defensive with me."
Mark bristles. "I'm not--"
"Okay, but let me have this," Eduardo says. "Don't act like you have to prove something to me."
"Fine," Mark says.
"Let me," Eduardo repeats, and leans over, kissing him softly and repeatedly.
"Fine," Mark says again, in an entirely different tone.
Eduardo makes it as good as he can, holding Mark down with an arm across his hips and sucking down his cock, rolling his balls and feathering fingers down behind them, pressing into his perineum so Mark's hips jerk up - Eduardo really wishes he knew how to deep throat, and he's determined now to practice - and brushing lightly over his hole.
Mark makes a high-pitched sound and clutches the sheets, and Eduardo swallows.
(He'll point out later, when Mark brings it up, that this probably gets him more points in this so-decided competition, and Mark will become determined to get him off again, but better. Eduardo has never been so appreciative of Mark's perfectionist streak.)
Mark lies still and panting after he comes, sprawled out on Eduardo's sheets. Eduardo has no intention of ever letting him leave.
He kisses the corner of Mark's mouth, unsure, and Mark grabs for him, slides their tongues together and kisses back with no reticence at all. Eduardo pulls away at last, shivery, and Mark blinks up at him, his blue eyes wide like childhood again.
"Okay," Eduardo says, clearing his throat.
Mark closes his eyes, stretching out. He resettles, spacing around Eduardo unconsciously. "That," he says, "was a very deep remark, Wardo."
"Fuck off," Eduardo says, grinning, and kisses Mark's shoulder.
"Ugh," Mark says, shrugging him off, and Eduardo holds him down and kisses him all over, annoying smacks of his mouth on Mark's most ticklish places. Mark squirms, and knees him, and loses, because he falls out of bed first.
"It's okay," Eduardo says. "You'll manage to stay in one day."
"I hate you," Mark says as he lets Eduardo pull him back up.
End.
Companion: Ten scenes
The Social Network
Mark/Eduardo
PG
4,333 words
Warnings
None
Summary: There are two kinds of secrets: those you keep and those you spill. Ten scenes from Eduardo's POV from/around Let the Future In.
1988 (Kept)
Mark is younger than Eduardo.
Eduardo's mom has explained this carefully a couple of times, because she uses it as the reason for everything Mark does and why Eduardo should be nice to him.
Mark refuses to eat something for lunch, which Eduardo hasn't done since last week, and Eduardo isn't supposed to tease, because Mark is younger than Eduardo.
Mark throws a fit, which Eduardo hasn't done for at least a month, and Eduardo is supposed to be patient, because Mark is younger than Eduardo.
Mark breaks Eduardo's toy by throwing it down the stairs, which Eduardo has never done at all, and Eduardo is supposed to be nice, because Mark is younger than Eduardo.
"You're a baby," Eduardo says. "Mamã says so."
"Am not," Mark says.
"Uh huh," Eduardo says.
"So are you too," Mark says.
"Not as much as you," Eduardo says. "You're not even in school."
Eduardo thinks Mark is going to start crying or at least go play by himself the way he always does when Eduardo is right. Instead, Mark sits straight up, eyes wide and blue - Eduardo hadn't seen eyes like Mark's before, and his mamã said it was rude to stare but Eduardo always watches Mark's face for when his eyes look like this - and says, "You go to school?"
"Duh," Eduardo says. "All day."
"I thought you went to daycare," Mark says. "Like me."
"I'm not a baby," Eduardo says triumphantly.
"What do you do?" Mark demands. "Where do you go? Are there lots of other kids there?"
"I dunno," Eduardo says, blinking.
"Tell me," Mark whines.
"There's lots of people," Eduardo says. "Like at the fair. Only there aren't a lot of moms and dads."
"Who watches the you?" Mark asks suspiciously.
"Teachers," Eduardo says. "They're like moms."
Mark keeps asking questions, and Eduardo warms up to it, telling Mark about the cafeteria and lining up to go to the bathroom and reading, and he proves he's learning to read by pulling out one of his books, but Mark is stupid and already knows how to read and he says Eduardo is doing it wrong.
So Eduardo tells him about the big kids.
"And they can do anything they want to you," he finishes, and watches Mark's lip wobble.
"I don't want to go to school," Mark says.
"It's scary," Eduardo says.
Of course, Mark figures out less than a year later that Eduardo wasn't telling the truth, that Eduardo didn't tell him about recess or naptime or snacks. But Eduardo keeps those best parts a secret all summer because Mark doesn't know anything, and this just proves it.
1990 (Shared)
Eduardo stole his father's watch.
Mark takes the news with little interest. "You can't wear it," he says, sniffing. He has a cold and Eduardo hasn't seen him for a week because his mom wouldn't let him come over because she didn't want him getting sick, too.
"I just wanted to see it," Eduardo says. "He never lets me look at them."
"Cause he doesn't want you to break them," Mark says.
"And I'm not going to break it," Eduardo says.
"He's gonna get mad when he finds out you stole it," Mark says. "He probably didn't want you to steal it, either."
"You have to help me," Eduardo says.
"No," Mark says.
"I have to hide it here!" Eduardo says. "Until I can sneak it back home and hide it somewhere so it looks like he lost it."
Mark scowls. "Hide it in your room."
"They're looking in my room," Eduardo whines. "They can't look here."
"Fine," Mark says, after a few thoughtful sniffs. "Leave your stupid watch here."
1992 (Kept)
Mark's little sister has a toy he really, really hates. He always steals it from her, taking the batteries out so it can't make the repetitive, ear-shattering noises.
Eduardo always steals it back, putting the batteries back in and handing it over, because little sister is older brother's responsibility, and Eduardo doesn't have one of his own.
He tells Mark he thinks it's Mark's mom that's giving the toy back each time, just a little white lie.
1996 (Shared)
Mark just convinced his parents to let him have their old computer. They made him promise to let his sisters still use it - which he won't, Eduardo can't believe Mark's mom believed him when he said that - and then Mark's dad had someone come and put a phone jack in and now Mark has internet. In his bedroom.
"There's a site I heard about at school," Eduardo says.
Mark is grumpy and reluctant to let Eduardo at the computer, but Eduardo shoves him aside and types in the URL his classmate had scribbled on a note for him.
"This is like those magazines," Mark says.
"They're all naked," Eduardo promises.
"Wow," Mark says, and he and Eduardo spend the next two hours staring obsessively at girls while Eduardo congratulates himself on officially earning the title of Best Friend Ever.
1997 (Kept)
In Eduardo's first month of high school, he gets paired up with an older boy for a project in the BPA club. His partner's name is Jason, and he's a senior. He tells Eduardo on the first day that he's adopted two other boys before him and promises, with a grin, to help Eduardo make high school the best years of his life.
While Eduardo secretly hopes that won't be true - he has high hopes for college, at the very least - he's taken in by Jason's easy-going demeanor and how clever he is. He can convince any teacher or student to do things for him, just by joking and touching their shoulder and being kind.
Mark, Eduardo is pretty sure, would hate him, and Eduardo is more determined than ever to keep him as a friend. It seems only fair that if Eduardo has to spend all his time with Natalie, Mark should have to put up with some of Eduardo's friends, too.
He tells Mark about Jason, a little, until Mark says, "You sound like you're in love with him, Wardo."
Mark's just trying to get him to shut up, but Eduardo freezes.
It's not love - it's not as if Eduardo is one of those girls who scribble their boyfriend's name on the inside flap of all their binders - but Mark is right. He's got a crush on Jason, and if he doesn't watch his mouth everyone will figure it out.
He watches what he says for weeks, until he's weeded every mention of BPA out of conversation with his parents. Mark doesn't notice anything, but everyone else remarks on it.
Jason finds Eduardo in the library one afternoon, skipping History (with permission) to work on a project for English.
"You stopped eating lunch with us," he says, casually pushing aside Eduardo's books. "Are you avoiding us?"
"No," Eduardo mutters. "I've been sitting with some other friends."
"Cool," Jason says. "Hey, we should talk about the business competition at the end of the semester."
"Yeah?" Eduardo says.
"I want you to be on our team," Jason says. "You'll be the youngest, freshmen usually don't make it, but you're better than almost anyone else at school, especially at the math."
"And you're really bad at math," Eduardo says.
"Hey," Jason says mildly.
Eduardo agrees to join their team, though it's the last thing he should do.
---
Mark says, "You're always busy."
"I'm in clubs," Eduardo says. "They take up my time."
"I know," Mark says.
"Besides," Eduardo says grumpily, "you're always on the computer anyway." Mark honestly is. His father has been getting him private tutoring and advanced classes, and Mark starts talking about things sometimes that Eduardo has no hope of understanding.
"Are you working with Jason?" Mark says snottily.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Eduardo asks defensively.
"Just ask him out already," Mark says, rolling his eyes. "Or kiss him or something."
"Mark!" Eduardo says.
"You're a wimp," Mark says.
Eduardo slides down the bed, sitting on the floor with his knees against his chest. "You don't care?"
"That you're a wimp?" Mark says. "I'm used to it."
"That I like guys," Eduardo says.
"You don't like guys," Mark says. "You like Jason."
"No," Eduardo says. "I really do like guys."
Mark's fingers slow, and finally he stops typing, tilting his head at the computer screen. Eduardo holds his breath, fighting the urge to hide his face.
"No," Mark says.
"Oh," Eduardo says, when nothing else is forthcoming. "Okay."
Mark hums, and Eduardo slowly straightens his legs.
---
Nothing happens with Jason, of course. They place second in the competition, and Jason holds onto Eduardo's shoulder, reassuring him that he'll have time to win the next year and the two after that. Eduardo nods along, and then the club president, a girl named Melissa, taps Eduardo's shoulder and says, "Can I steal Jason for a second?"
When they come back Jason has his arm around Melanie's waist and she's blushing. Everyone else in the room teases them until their club sponsor, the calculus teacher, tells everyone to cut it out.
"He was a senior," Mark says. "Are you really surprised?"
"Shut up," Eduardo says.
"You'll be less disappointed if you keep your expectations realistic," Mark says.
"I never expected--" Eduardo says, and then, "No, you're right. My fault."
He's finishing an English essay on Mark's floor. Mark never has any homework, and he's doing something on the computer - probably something dangerous and illegal like hacking into the Pentagon or foreign bank accounts; Eduardo makes sure to never ask. It's been almost an hour when Mark says, "Sorry," quiet and half not-paying-attention, but Eduardo looks at the back of his head and says, "Thank you."
He thinks he could tell Mark right now about Jason catching him in the clubroom right before the competition, pushing him up against the wall and kissing him, holding his neck and calling him pretty. Eduardo knows he probably said the exact same thing to Melissa, which is the worst part.
Mark is a good friend, under everything; he'd call Jason bad things, and offer to ruin his life - he might even succeed, which is a development in this computer thing that frightens Eduardo and amuses him beyond belief, often at the same time - and he'll know just how pathetic Eduardo is, that his first kiss wasn't with Chloe Robertson at middle school graduation after all.
So Eduardo doesn't say anything, and when Mark's mom knocks on the door a few minutes later they go down for dinner.
1998 (Shared)
Mark disappears for two weeks at the beginning of every summer as his parents drag he and his sisters to visit their family on the other end of the state. Eduardo suffers through his absence, watching TV and reading books and staying hidden in his room. His mother says he's moping, but really it's self-preservation - if he comes out of his room, she makes him run errands with her and do chores around the house.
"You're so lucky," Mark gripes his first night back. Eduardo is helping him unpack, shoving all the dirty clothes into the hamper. Mark is setting his laptop - brand new, a gift for his birthday less than a month ago - on his desk and hooking everything back up.
"I'm lucky," Eduardo says. "Why?"
"You don't have to see your family every three months," Mark says. "With their hugging and kissing and stupid invasive questions."
"They're your family," Eduardo says. "They care about you."
"They're a waste of time," Mark says. "They're annoying and rude and judgmental and all they ever do is gossip about each other. And I have three sisters already, that's enough company without throwing twenty cousins into the mix. We waste so much money on it every year - we have to go to New Hampshire, we have to go to Connecticut, god forbid anyone move to Alaska because the whole family would probably decide to have the reunion there--"
"Shut up, Mark," Eduardo snaps.
Mark blinks. "What?"
"Do you have any idea how lucky you are?" Eduardo says. "You get to see your family all the time. I haven't seen anyone but my parents since I was eleven. None of my cousins even know me."
"So," Mark mutters.
"So shut up," Eduardo says. "I hate when you go away because I spend two weeks with nobody but my mother for company, because I don't have grandparents twenty minutes away, I don't even have a sibling."
Mark looks away, watching his wall intently. Eduardo turns back to the suitcase, emptying out the last compartment. "I'm so jealous of you sometimes," he admits quietly, and hears Mark take a breath behind him.
"Trade?" Mark says at last, awkwardly.
Eduardo makes a face and then sighs. "Yeah," he says, "Sorry."
Mark smiles lopsidedly at him and shoves his suitcase in the closet.
1999 (Kept)
Eduardo really only kisses Mark because he really doesn't want to kiss Sara Jameson. She's been kind of flirting with him since they started high school, and Eduardo is pretty sick of it.
So he grabs Mark and kisses him, and he doesn't realize how bad an idea it is until Mark gives up and stops trying to push him away. Because, objectively, Eduardo knows Mark has never kissed or touched anyone before. He knows that, but it's still weird to feel Mark freeze against him and know it's because Eduardo is the first person he's ever felt like this. Eduardo is not always a good person. He's considered Mark sexually before, it's difficult to avoid when they still share a bed, but he's always ignored it.
But now Mark is holding onto his hips like he's terrified, and Eduardo has very little time, and he's determined to make this count.
Mark makes a quiet noise Eduardo's pretty sure he isn't even aware of, and his mouth opens. Eduardo licks in gently, and Mark squirms a little, and then they're kissing for real, Mark's hands squeezing at Eduardo's hips frantically. Eduardo wants to be in Mark's room, in the quiet and the familiar, so he can tell Mark he knows he's scared and that it's okay.
And then Mark falls over, yelping, and he looks so betrayed Eduardo can't help but laugh.
He kisses him again, messy and affectionate, but the fucking timer goes off. He isn't expecting Mark to shove him away, and it's reflexive to bite, digging his fingers into Mark's jaw and trying to hold on.
He doesn't want to leave that room afterwards, even though Sara is angry and starting to kick everyone out, but Mark is sucking his lip into his mouth and he won't look at Eduardo. Natalie glares threateningly, putting her hand on Mark's knee, and Eduardo lets himself be pulled away - he'll go to Mark's house later, because even Natalie has to go home eventually.
---
Mark's mouth is really swollen. Eduardo feels guilty, because Mark is actually trying not to talk because of the pain, and that was, all considered, a pretty awful first kiss.
The guilt doesn't stop him from going home that night and thinking about it for the first time. He thinks Mark, his voice and his hands and his mouth under Eduardo's, brand new.
Eduardo gets off to it twice. He imagines what might've happened if they'd been alone tonight, and he imagines summers in swimming pools and late night movies. He imagines early mornings in Mark's bed, what might happen if, instead of shoving Mark out in the next round of their continued rivalry over who falls out of bed first, he pulled Mark forward instead, and held him close, and kissed him all over.
He comes quickly, every time, skin tight and stomach squirmy, everything worse than it was even with Jason.
He feels horrible after - he thinks of Mark now and there's fantasies and the taste of his mouth, intertwined with memories of Mark as a child - but he can't take it back, and the want twists in his chest relentlessly.
He avoids Mark as much as he can for the next week until Mark's lip heals. Mark keeps sucking at it, worrying the bruise with his teeth, and Eduardo wants to do that and everything else.
But he never tells Mark. He keeps that secret for the next five years.
2000 (Shared)
Eduardo meets Ethan at a party of a friend of a friend. The friend isn't a very good one, so Eduardo isn't expecting much from the party he attends, but Mark is gone to visit relatives before school starts.
He's pleasantly surprised to meet Ethan, ad freshman at the local community college. Ethan doesn't care that Eduardo's only going to be a senior in high school, and he's gorgeous, and by the end of the night they've spent two hours making out and agreed to meet up the next night at a nearby restaurant.
Eduardo sees him every day for the rest of break.
Mark gets back the day before school begins. He's bitching about it - "She won't even finish the laundry until next week," and "What if I can't find my backpack tomorrow morning?" - and Eduardo watches him.
It's difficult not to compare him to Ethan, with his perfect smile and stupid hairdo and tight jeans, while Mark is whiny and frumpy and still kind of scrawny. Eduardo still thinks he's adorable, but Mark is the one exception to Eduardo's type.
Mark doesn't notice him watching, of course, any more than he notices that Eduardo isn't listening.
"Mark," Eduardo says, interrupting. "I need to tell you something."
Mark glares around, frowning at him for a minute, and then keeps talking about his upcoming classes.
"I have a boyfriend," Eduardo says.
Mark keeps talking for several seconds, and Eduardo waits for his brain to catch up.
"What?" Mark snaps, turning suddenly.
"Kind of," Eduardo says.
"What?" Mark repeats.
"I've been seeing this guy for a couple of weeks," Eduardo says. "I met him the day after you left, we've been hanging out the last two weeks. I really like him."
Mark relaxes. "Two weeks doesn't make him your boyfriend," he says, and goes back to whatever it is he's doing.
"We're dating," Eduardo says, gritting his teeth. "And probably won't be stopping soon."
Mark rolls his eyes, which Eduardo can only see because Mark turns sideways just enough to guarantee he'll see it. Asshole. Just because Eduardo's other boyfriends (of which there have been two, which is not all too impressive but is still much better than Mark's track record thus far) didn't last more than a couple of months each doesn't mean they didn't count.
"I just thought you should know," Eduardo says.
"You're serious," Mark says.
"Yeah," Eduardo says.
Mark furrows his eyebrows, and Eduardo says goodbye and heads home.
---
"So what's he like?" Mark demands the next day, after hunting Eduardo down at lunch, and Eduardo grins and tells him about Ethan.
---
Mark covers for Eduardo.
Eduardo never meant to ask him. It was an accident that his mother called him once and caught him off-guard and he'd blurted out that lie that he was at Mark's and promised he'd come home as soon as they finished their movie. Ethan had raised an eyebrow, teasing him about who Mark was, and Eduardo had texted Mark to let him know about the lie, just in case he or his mother talked to Eduardo's mother.
He apologizes when he gets home that evening, a quick text that says Sorry for using you as an excuse.
Mark replies I don't care.
And he knows it's not really permission, but Eduardo chooses to take it as such. The rest of his dates with Ethan are codename: sleepover at Mark's. Mark doesn't ask what Eduardo does with Ethan, which is insulting - he assumes he knows. And despite what Mark thinks, Eduardo does actually spend time with Ethan for reasons other than sex, though the semi-regular orgasms do feature pretty high on the list of pros.
He gets caught eventually, of course, and he freaks out, and Mark puts up with all of it very well, considering.
Ethan actually handles it even better - he pats Eduardo's back, and sympathizes with his worries about his mother, and then he gives Eduardo a blowjob to top the therapy off. But the whole time Eduardo can't stop thinking of Mark, and his utterly oblivious belief that Eduardo will be fine, because there's nothing at all important or new to accept. His faith means more to Eduardo than all of Ethan's amazing support and calm.
Eduardo dumps Ethan because Ethan doesn't deserve Eduardo's complete lack of appreciation for him, and Eduardo doesn't want to be that guy.
2002 (Kept)
A while after Eduardo meets Mark's roommates, they get Mark drunk and talk about their first times. Mark has been avoiding talking about Natalie, and Dustin's nosy and believes in the strategic application of alcohol.
Eduardo finds them after the fact, when the common area's a mess and Mark is curled on the couch morosely, abandoned by Chris and Dustin who were able to stagger into their room together.
"Okay, come on," he says fondly, and hauls Mark up.
Mark pushes him away, swaying on his feet. "I'm fine," he says.
"Clearly," Eduardo says, and crowds behind him in case he decides to trip.
Mark strips to his boxers shamelessly, crawling into bed.
"Did you succumb?" Eduardo asks, kicking Mark's clothes into the corner.
"Hm?" Mark says.
"To Dustin. Did you tell him about Natalie?" Eduardo sits on the very edge of the bed, grabbing some Tylenol out of the bottle in the nightstand drawer. Mark is quiet for a minute, until Eduardo leans over to peer at his face and check that yes, he is still awake.
"Yeah," Mark says. "He's persistent."
"Sorry," Eduardo says, smiling. "You should've seen it coming."
Mark makes a sound like a sigh.
"At least it's over now," Eduardo says, and stands up. "I'm going back to my room. Text me tomorrow, yeah?"
"He's still going to tease me," Mark says. "But not as bad as Chris."
"Why?"
"Chris admitted he's never been fucked," Mark slurs, and pulls part of his pillow over his head. "Dustin told him he was a failure as a gay man."
"What?" Eduardo asks, eyebrows going up.
"Yeah, I don't think Chris is speaking to him right now," Mark says. "He's not mad at me for once. I told Dustin you'd never done that either, and that didn't make you any less gay."
The last time Eduardo talked to Mark about sex, he had just dumped Ethan and sworn off all dating until he went to college. Eduardo hasn't deliberately kept anything from Mark, but it doesn't ever really come up.
"Uh," Eduardo says. "You're right, but I actually have--"
But Mark mumbles shhh at him, and when he keeps breathing slow and even Eduardo turns out the light and leaves the dorm.
2006 (Shared)
Eduardo spends almost two months trying to get Mark to admit when he fell in love with Eduardo.
"Sophomore year," is his first guess, "right after I kissed you."
"No," Mark says plainly, and Eduardo cannot tell whether that means he fell in love later or earlier, only that it wasn't right then.
"Sixth grade," is his next guess. "When I convinced that bully that your father really was a CIA agent and would kill him if he touched you again."
Mark snorts at that, taking the beer Eduardo is holding out, and says, "Not even close."
The next several dozen of guesses - everything from "the moment we met" to "when I started dating guys" - get varying shades of amusement or annoyance, depending upon how ridiculous Mark thinks Eduardo's being.
"I don't know," Eduardo admits finally, and presses his head against Mark's shoulder. Mark smells like clean sweat and dirty clothes and caffeine, and Eduardo probably only has another five minutes before he leaves bed and stumbles naked to his desk. "I have honestly no idea."
"I know," Mark says.
"Tell me?" Eduardo says.
"Two weekends after you told me you liked me," Mark says. "That Friday night at the bar the weekend after we went home."
"What?" Eduardo asks. He barely remembers the night Mark is talking about, and not because he was drunk - because it was absolutely nothing special.
"We were at the bar and a girl was hitting on you, too drunk and stupid to realize you could not have been less interested. You put up with her for half an hour so you could tell her how great I was and how you thought she should ask me out."
"Yeah?" Eduardo says. "I've done that a lot."
Mark says, "You were putting up with her because I told you I thought she was hot." He shrugs. "It was the first time I realized you would hurt yourself to make me happy. It was difficult to ignore."
"So you fell in love with me because I was self-sacrificing?" Eduardo asks, smiling.
Mark twists around, dislodging Eduardo's grip on him so he can stare directly at Eduardo. "No," he says. "I realized I was in love with you because it pissed me off that you would let me hurt you."
Eduardo could point out that he's let Mark do that plenty of times, but it doesn't seem like the appropriate moment. He also doesn't say how amazing Mark is, because Mark already knows Eduardo thinks so. He kisses him instead, deep and wet, and gets a hand on his still-soft cock, and remembers his grandmother's wedding band, waiting in his bedside drawer ever since his mother gave it to him two years ago.
Even if Mark hasn't accidentally found it already, it won't be a secret for long.
End.
Sequel (sort of)
The Social Network
Mark/Eduardo
PG
2,123 words
Warnings
None
Summary: Holidays are always a little messy.
"We always see each other over the holidays anyway," Mark says, and ignores Eduardo's look. "There's no reason our families should celebrate together."
"You'd prefer to skip completely," Eduardo says.
"I would," Mark agrees.
"So your opinion doesn't count."
Mark doesn't have a chance to defend himself, because they're only halfway up the walk but Eduardo's mother is throwing open the front door and yelling at them to hurry up. She lets them into Mark's house, hugging and kissing Eduardo before moving on to Mark. Eduardo pinches Mark's side underneath his coat, so Mark holds still for her affection.
Mark's mother is standing by the stove. She says, "Hello, kids," and lets Mark get away with giving her a kiss on the cheek. She's melting sugar and corn syrup in the boiler, probably making taffy. She always waits until Mark to get home so she can make him help. Eduardo always had to help, too, which made him miserable - he doesn't like taffy, probably because Mark stuck some half-cooked in his hair when he was seven and Eduardo's never quite forgiven it.
"Your sisters are all upstairs, Mark, aren't you going to go say hello?" Sandra says.
"No," Mark says.
"I'll go get them," Eduardo says, forestalling Sandra's disappointed sigh, and takes the stairs up two at a time.
"He's in an awfully big hurry to get away from you, honey," Mark's mom says. "Is everything okay?"
Sandra looks immediately worried.
"You're not funny," Mark tells his mom.
Eduardo appears at the top of the stairs. "Mark, Ariel wants you."
"Tell her to fuck off," Mark yells, so Ariel will hear him herself.
"I will not," Eduardo says, and glares until Mark gives in and follows him up.
Eduardo catches him at the top of the stairs and pulls him into his bedroom, smiling. "Hi," he says.
"You used my sister to get me up here?" Mark says.
Eduardo asks, "Do you want to stay downstairs and answer questions about how our semester went?"
"Not particularly," Mark says, "and your mom's worried we're having relationship problems."
"Is your mother messing with her again?" Eduardo frowns.
"It's her own fault for being gullible," Mark says.
"You better not be having sex in there," Randi yells, banging on the door.
Eduardo jumps.
"Fuck off," Mark snarls.
"Mark, get back down here!" Mark's mom calls. "You too, girls!"
"You're a despicable person," Eduardo tells Randi calmly as they all tramp downstairs. She snickers at them.
Mark's dad gets home from work and immediately gets sent back out on errands. Eduardo fields his mother's nagging questions while Mark watches the taffy pot for his mom. Randi went with their dad to help with groceries, so she escapes the inquisition. Unfortunately, Sandra runs out of her normal questions early and moves on to not-so-subtly bugging them about how they're doing, yes, both of them, which Eduardo fails to answer properly until Mark says, "Our relationship is none of your business," which makes her quit asking and subside into hurt looks which still work for guilting Eduardo into things.
Randi and their dad get back about twenty minutes before dinner's ready, so Randi has to set the table and they all help dish out food and it isn't until they're eating that Mark notices the lack of extra place setting and asks Eduardo, "Isn't your father coming?"
Sandra sets her fork down with a clatter.
Eduardo's mouth thins and he stares away from Mark as he says, "No."
"Why not?" Mark says. Eduardo's father actually almost never comes, but Sandra always sets a place for him, just in case.
Eduardo doesn't answer. Someone kicks Mark's ankle, and he looks up to his mother and Randi glaring at him fiercely.
"Did something happen to him?" Mark asks suspiciously.
Sandra says, "Roberto and I are separating, Mark."
"Since when?" Mark demands.
"About a month ago," Sandra says, and takes a long drink of water. Randi kicks Mark again, harder. Eduardo is covering his eyes with a hand as if embarrassed.
"Oh," Mark says awkwardly. "You're probably better off without him anyway."
"Mark," his mom says sharply, and the rest of dinner passes in silence.
---
"Nice going down there," Randi says, sticking her head in his room around nine.
"Knock," Mark says.
"No, really," Randi says. "Explain to me how you don't know anything about your boyfriend and best friend's family life."
"We don't talk about his dad," Mark says, bristling.
"What, you spend all your time fucking?"
"We talk," Mark says. "Just not about his father. He avoids it."
"And you didn't think that was weird?" Randi asks.
Mark shrugs.
Randi sighs. "Look, Mark. Just because you don't like his dad doesn't mean Eduardo doesn't."
"I know," Mark says. He does. He spent six months after Eduardo came out listening to him recount every argument he had with his father, and all his worrying about ridiculous things that Sandra would never allow, like being disowned. It probably would've gone on longer, but around month six Mark had lost all patience and detailed to Eduardo all the ways in which he was being childish and insecure, then gone on to trash his father. It turned out there were some things people said about their families that other people weren't allowed to. Eduardo had stopped talking about Roberto after that, and had attempted to stop talking to Mark for a while, too.
"Well, I'm just saying it's kind of your job now to help him with things like this."
"Fine," Mark says.
Randi keeps looking at him expectantly.
"What?" Mark snaps.
"I kind of meant it's the sort of thing you should go talk about right now," she says.
"They'll be back over tomorrow morning," Mark says. "Less than twelve hours from now."
Randi shakes her head at him.
"Will you leave now?" Mark says.
"Fine," Randi says. "And you're welcome." She peeks her head back in a second later. "It's probably a good thing you two fought tonight, actually. This way I won't have to protect Donna and Ariel from hearing you two getting it on."
"Leave," Mark says.
"Goodnight," she calls, laughing.
Mark waits until he hears her door shut and her music start up. Ariel is probably sleeping - she does that a lot - and Donna is probably reading, and his mother is undoubtedly still sulking to his dad about Mark's faux pas.
He grabs his backpack and his shoes and shuffles quietly downstairs.
---
The basement door to Eduardo's house never really locks. It's so loose that all you have to do is lift up on the door and the bolt gives. Mark's never used this entrance though; he was always sneaking in with Eduardo. Eduardo always made getting in look easy. Mark, on the other hand, cannot get the fucking door open.
It swings open abruptly just as Mark is about to give up. He blinks, staring at Eduardo on the other side.
"My mother had the bolt changed," Eduardo says. "When my father left."
"Oh," Mark says. "I guess that's a good time to do it."
Eduardo shrugs.
"Did she change all the locks?" Mark asks curiously. Eduardo had forced a key onto him about a month ago, the first one Mark has ever had to their house. He never really needed one, but Eduardo had put it on his keyring and said something about symbolism.
Eduardo closes his eyes. "Why are you here?"
Mark pushes past him. "I want to talk to you."
"You'll see me again in less than twelve hours," Eduardo says.
"I want to stay with you tonight," Mark says.
Eduardo gives in, sighing, and takes Mark upstairs.
His room, like Mark's, is almost unchanged from when he lived here. Mark drops his bag at the door and sits on the bed, waits for Eduardo to decide where he's going. After a moment, Eduardo sits next to him, and Mark relaxes.
"In my defense," he starts, "you really didn't tell me anything."
"I know," Eduardo says.
"So it's unfair of you to be angry with me when I had no way of knowing."
"Mark," Eduardo says. "Sometimes I'm going to be mad at you whether it's your fault or not."
"Okay," Mark says, and lapses into silence.
"Why'd you come over?" Eduardo asks again, but he doesn't sound so angry anymore.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Mark asks.
Eduardo says, "I've been avoiding thinking about it."
"You always avoid thinking about him," Mark says. "But Randi said I was supposed to--"
"Randi sent you?" Eduardo says, rolling his eyes. "Good to know."
"No. She thinks I'm going to talk to you tomorrow," Mark says. "I thought you were just mad because I upset your mother."
"Well, I'm not happy about that," Eduardo says.
"What happened?" Mark says.
Eduardo twists, sprawling back on the bed. "They've been arguing for years."
"Since you came out," Mark says.
"Thanks," Eduardo says, "yes. Anyway, when my mother told him we were together he blew up and she kicked him out."
Mark waits, but Eduardo just stares at the ceiling. "That's it?" he asks.
Eduardo snorts, looking at Mark, and then he starts laughing quietly. "That's your reaction? Unimpressed?" He drops an arm over his face.
"But, Wardo, you don't like your dad," Mark says.
Eduardo stiffens. "Yes, I do."
"No," Mark says slowly. "You don't."
"Shut up," Eduardo says.
"Why are you so upset?" Mark asks.
"Because," Eduardo says quietly. "You know my mother is sad all the time? She checks her phone for messages from him, she worries about where he is and if he's gotten home safe from work. And my father is spending the holidays alone in a hotel room downtown near his office."
"Yeah," Mark says.
"And when she told me they were separated, all I felt was disappointed that they hadn't already started divorce proceedings."
"Oh," Mark says. He lays down next to Eduardo. "So?"
"Mark," Eduardo says, turning his head and staring at him. "I'm not supposed to want my parents to get divorced!"
"Why not?" Mark says and shrugs when Eduardo gapes at him. "You don't like your dad. He's an asshole."
"It's just wrong," Eduardo says. "At least because my mom's miserable."
"She's not miserable," Mark says. "She's a little unhappy. She has my whole family to annoy, she'll be fine."
"It doesn't work like that," Eduardo says.
"Wardo," Mark says. "You're being an idiot. You can't affect whether they'll get divorced or not. And nobody would blame you for disliking him, so stop feeling guilty."
"Feelings don't work that way," Eduardo says.
"I know," Mark says.
"Okay," Eduardo says and turns, kissing Mark lightly. "Thanks for asking."
"Do you want to watch a movie now or what?" Mark says.
---
Sandra's expression when Mark trails Eduardo down the next morning is a little pinched. She says, "Boys."
"Mãe," Eduardo starts.
"I'm sorry," Mark says, stepping around him. "I shouldn't have said what I did. I didn't know what I was talking about."
Her expression softens. "Thank you," she says.
"We should go," Eduardo says. "Before Mark's mom worries about him being missing."
"We never worry about you two," Sandra says, tugging her coat on. "Honestly, we never could keep track of you, and then you went off to college and it only got worse. Now we're lucky if we know where you are week to week."
"I'm sorry," Eduardo says guiltily. Mark snorts.
---
They open the first round of presents that night. Sandra is on the couch next to Mark's mom, and Mark's dad is busy driving Ariel crazy by standing behind her chair and tugging on small pieces of her hair. She squeals every time, and Mark's mom's patience is wearing thin. She won't say anything, though, because Sandra thinks it's hilarious.
Randi passes out the gifts dutifully, and Eduardo taps the top of his present to Mark and says, "Wait until later to open this one."
"Did you get him something inappropriate?" Randi asks delightedly.
"Your interest in my sex life is unnerving," Mark says.
"And entirely pointless, since neither of them has a sex life," Sandra adds. "Do you?"
"No, Mãe," Eduardo answers. "Of course not."
Mark waits until Donna and Ariel are tearing into their gifts to lean over and ask, "You really didn't get me a sex toy, right?"
"Of course not," Eduardo hisses and slaps at his leg.
"It's not empty, either," Mark says. "That idea about boxes filled with love. You're not doing that symbolism thing again."
"No," Eduardo says, "you materialistic bastard."
"I just don't want you to steal my idea," Mark says, straight-faced, and Eduardo, smiling disbelievingly, stares at him and asks, "You didn't really, did you?"
End.
Entry has been crossposted to abriata @ DW here. Comments enabled at either entry.