Fic: say goodbye (to the world you thought you lived in) -- Master Post
Title: say goodbye (to the world you thought you lived in)
Rating: R
Pairing: Mark/Eduardo
Word Count: 47,571
Summary: Three years after the lawsuit, Mark realizes that pushing Eduardo out of his life was a bigger deal, a bigger loss, than he ever thought it would be. When a particularly unimaginable twist of fate gives him the opportunity to go back and change what happened, Mark jumps at the chance to do things differently, to try and make things right -- except that when he does, Eduardo ultimately ends up dead. So he keeps going back, trying to keep Eduardo safe while still making sure that none of it -- the dilution, the depositions, the settlement -- ever happened, except it's useless, a fool's errand: whatever he does, no matter how hard he tries, Eduardo dies every single time. The truth that eventually dawns on Mark is a sobering one: the only reality he can find in which Eduardo survives is the one where his shares are gone, where the papers are signed, and where he and Mark haven't spoken past forced pleasantries in years. Unfortunately, that's not the only truth Mark realizes, not the only thing that becomes clear with every time Mark has to watch Eduardo breathe his last; and maybe he has no idea how he'll manage it, or at what cost -- but come hell or high water, Mark's going to find a way, a world where he gets to have Eduardo, alive and safe and whole; where he gets to have Eduardo in every way that he can. Because it doesn’t take long for Mark to realize that he’s more than a little in love with Eduardo, and he’ll be damned if he lets the man he loves go without a fight. Warnings for repetitive, non-permanent(ish) character death (involving the same main character, as per the summary). Spoilers for The Social Network (2010).
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. The characters and situations mentioned herein are inspired by the fictional actor portrayals set forth in the 2010 film The Social Network; thus, they are in no way connected to, nor do they reflect upon, any actual persons or situations of the same or similar name. tl;dr: This is not RPF. Credit to Mika for the title.
Author’s Notes: Shaped by a strange conglomeration of The Butterfly Effect and the Supernatural episode, “Mystery Spot”, this story was both a struggle and a delight to write, from the the extremely over-indulgent levels of sap and angst and melodrama, to the arduous tasks of coming up with that many ways to kill a character. I hope, as a reader, that things fall closer to the latter experience ;)
FIC:
// PART ONE // PART TWO // PART THREE // PART FOUR // PART FIVE // PART SIX // PART SEVEN // PART EIGHT // PART NINE //