I'll Fight My Corner (1/1)
pairing/fandom Mark/Eduardo
title I'll Fight My Corner
word count 4,415
rating PG-13
warnings mild bullying
summary When the Winklevii pick on Eduardo, Mark wants to be the one to save the day. A high school AU.
disclaimer I own nothing, this is not based on the real people but the fictional characters our lovely TSN fandom has created. On the very very slim chance you're here by googling your own name, run, do not walk, to the nearest exit.
a/n Written for tsnweek! I really wanted to publish a scene from my upcoming Andrew/Jesse high school AU partially based on Paper Towns by John Green (which will probably be pretty long guys. Hopefully not as long as This Love Will Change You, but I'm just warning you now, lol), but it wasn't meant to be due to the lack of time I had! However, I still wanted to write something for this prompt, so this came out. Unbeta-d (not to mention written in one sitting, oh my god) so if you catch any mistakes please let me know. The title is taken from "Give Me Love" by Ed Sheeran.
Mark flies under the radar at school. He knows he’s not the kind of kid that would be popular in high school. He’s too nerdy, too sarcastic, too unwilling to put up with bullshit like pep rallies and stupid peers and teachers and English class and PE.
But he knows that while his personality may not be built for high school, it is built for the real world. He’s determined and a hard worker and he’s kind of a genius at computers, and he has absolutely no doubt he’ll be successful later in life.
Not that he’s miserable now. He resents when people (his parents’ friends, school counselors) think he is. He’s happy, he does have some friends (Chris and Dustin), and it’s enough. Just, in an ideal world, he wouldn’t have to deal with all the other stuff.
So Mark steers clear of the popular jock bullies like the Winklevosses and their crony Divya Narendra. They may be stronger than him, but he could outsmart them any day of the week. Really, he just keeps away from their entire crew, because it’s just not worth it and he knows what’s good for him.
He wishes he could say the same for the new guy.
Eduardo Saverin walks around like he just wants to please everyone, which is ridiculous and impossible. He gets on the good side of all the teachers by knowing all the answers all the time, and he’s nice to every single person he talks to, and he wears formal, tailored clothes that look like they came out of a catalogue (instead of Mark’s clothes, which rightly look like his mom picked them for him at JCPenny) and he just tries so damn hard about everything. Mark wishes he would stop that.
For his own good, really. Because when the Winklevii see an attitude like that, they laugh. They just exude effortlessness, and Eduardo couldn’t be more opposite.
But the thing is, Eduardo doesn’t see it. He doesn’t see the way they say nice things to his face, and then when he lights up like a puppy who’s been given a bone they turn and laugh behind his back. He must be under the delusion that they actually like him, which makes Mark want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him.
At least it’s fairly harmless. Eduardo doesn’t know that they’re making fun of him, and the Winklevii don’t seem to be interested in taking it any further, and Eduardo may be a loner but he doesn’t seem unhappy, so it’s not Mark’s problem.
He doesn’t care.
He’s lamenting all this to Chris and Dustin at lunch one day, and Chris is doing this annoying thing where he’s giving Mark this doubtful look with a quirked eyebrow, like he doesn’t believe him or something. “What?” Mark finally snaps at him.
“You sure seem to have a lot to say for someone who doesn’t care,” Chris says, matter-of-fact, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
Dustin’s eyes light up, which is just never, ever good. “Ooooh,” he croons, like he’s gotten a whiff of something good like a thirsty bloodhound. He scoots his chair closer. “Has Marky Mark got a crush?”
Mark sputters for a moment. Dustin starts cackling and Chris’ eyes dance like it’s amusing him too. Mark stuffs a bite of the lunchroom pizza into his mouth to avoid from saying something stupid (like, so what if I do, or only when he does that dumb thing with his hair). He chugs down a large portion of his water bottle to wash it down, and when he’s finally composed himself, he says, “That’s so stupid that I won’t even dignify it with a response.”
“You’re still blushing,” Dustin points out, shoving his finger obnoxiously in Mark’s face, who swats at it. Dustin yelps and Chris laughs, and the conversation somehow changes topics.
And thankfully, that’s the end of it.
//
Until things between Eduardo and the Winklevii escalate, that is.
It’s something stupid. Eduardo’s coming out of the lunch line, moving to sit at the end of the cafeteria where he occupies a seat at a mostly empty table where a couple other loners sit. He usually just does his homework there or reads a book, but somehow he still manages to do it all with a smile (which kind of makes Mark so fucking angry at the Winklevii he can’t see straight).
The Winklevii happen to be behind him in line, and when Mark sees them speeding up something nervous clenches in the pit of his stomach. He wants to call out, do something, warn Eduardo somehow, but it all just happens so fast-the Winklevii come up behind him and rudely shove past him. Eduardo’s tray of food falls to the ground and he looks up at them. But they’re already moving on, not even sparing him a look back on an insincere “sorry”, and for the first time, Mark sees Eduardo’s face crumple.
He didn’t think he could be madder at the Winklevii, but his hands ball into fists at his sides and his cheeks redden with anger. Because what the fuck-Eduardo is nice to everyone and bears their bullying with a smile; what right do they have to break him like this?
So before Chris and Dustin even notice something’s happened, Mark springs up out of his seat and is stalking over to where Eduardo is hunched over his tray on the ground, trying to clean up the mess with flaming cheeks. He’s sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and is biting at it like he’s trying to fight back tears.
Mark crouches down too, picking up the tray and looking up at Eduardo nervously from under his lashes. Eduardo just looks shocked that Mark is there, and doesn’t say anything, wiping up the pizza sauce on the floor but with his eyes still fixed on Mark.
When it’s all clean, Eduardo kind of mumbles “thanks,” at Mark, eyes downcast at the floor and hand rubbing the back of his neck, moving to head back to where he usually sits.
Mark can’t let that happen; he doesn’t want Eduardo to just go back to how things were, because he’s nice and he deserves friends. Even if his friends are Mark and Chris and Dustin-admittedly not the cream of the crop at this school, but no worse off than being alone.
“The Winklevii--” he says, stressing the word with the hate for them he feels, “are assholes.”
Eduardo stops in his tracks and turns to look at him, eyes wide like he didn’t think Mark was going to say anything. “Um,” he manages, shaking his head a little bit. “I’m sure it was an accident.”
Mark has to try very hard to resist rolling his eyes, because really, does Eduardo have to believe the best in everyone, even when they’ve tried to humiliate him in front of the entire cafeteria? “Well, whatever. You should, um. Come sit with us,” he says, stammering it out and gesturing over to where Chris and Dustin are staring at them open-mouthed, like they can’t believe this is happening. Mark shoots them a glare and they kind of snap out of it, though he’s sure the damage is already done. He turns back to Eduardo, whose brow is furrowed. “I promise that they’re not as socially incapable as they look.”
Eduardo huffs out a laugh like what Mark hadn’t just said was rude, which kind of throws Mark a little bit. It’s just unexpected.
Then Mark realizes that he’s practically ordered Eduardo to come sit with them, which is pretty rude in and of itself, and he cringes. “I mean, only if you want to, of course.”
Eduardo eyes narrow at him like he’s sizing Mark up, but there’s also a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, so he thinks maybe he’s not doing too badly.
“Besides,” Mark continues, and he’s pretty much babbling by now but what the hell, “I think between the three of us we can pool enough food to make up for your, um,” he looks down between them at the soiled napkins and trash piled on the tray, “lunch.”
Eduardo nods a little nervously. “Okay.”
Now it’s time for Mark’s eyes to grow wide. “Really?”
“Sure,” Eduardo responds, shrugging a little bit. “Why not?”
Mark clears his throat. “I’m Mark,” he says, holding out a hand, which Eduardo shakes.
“Eduardo,” he replies (like Mark didn’t already know that), hesitating a moment before meeting Mark’s eyes. Mark tries not to blush.
“C’mon,” he says, leading the way over to the trash can to throw away Eduardo’s inedible lunch, and then back to the table with Chris and Dustin.
“Hey!” Dustin practically shouts, making Mark wince. “I’m Dustin, and this is Chris.”
Eduardo shoots them all his wide, winning smile. “Nice to meet you. I hope it’s okay that um, Mark invited me to sit over here.”
“Of course,” Chris says easily. “Hey, do you want my apple? Since, you know…” he trails off, shooting his eyes over to where the Winklevii are sitting with Divya and a bunch of other jocks.
Eduardo colors a little and nods, taking it.
Then Dustin offers his sandwich and Mark gives Eduardo his milk and chips, and by the end of lunch he’s talking naturally with them and laughing and he seems very, very different from the Eduardo who gets all the answers right in class or the one who (until today) shrugs off the Winklevii’s jibes.
Mark likes it.
//
As so his group of friends expands by one, and Mark finds that he likes that too. Not only does Eduardo fit in sort of perfectly, he likes that Eduardo doesn’t seem like such a loner now, that there are people around to appreciate his good humor and intelligence and general pleasantness. But he also likes Eduardo, just as the person he is… The way he can mutter a cutting remark about someone under their breath (but never loud enough so they can hear) and his geekiness over the weather and the way he can keep up with Mark in a conversation.
The only weird thing is, he remembers that conversation in the lunchroom when Dustin had teased Mark about having a crush on Eduardo. And he thought feeling would go away once he got to know Eduardo as a person, instead of just a stupidly attractive guy with an annoyingly nice personality that Mark could admire and, in turn, be frustrated with-from afar.
But he finds that they’ve only intensified, for some stupid reason. And it’s dumb because he doesn’t want to feel this way, he’s never felt this way about anyone, let alone a guy.
Every once in a while he feels Chris giving him this very knowing look, and he has to stop whatever he’s doing to grit his teeth and school his face back into a neutral expression.
Because Eduardo would never, ever want him that way… Eduardo is kind of perfect and stupidly good looking and smart and everyone gets along with him, once they interact with him enough to realize that just because the Winklevii want him ostracized doesn’t mean he’s like, defective or something.
So why would he ever want to be with Mark, who purposefully tries to be an asshole to everyone but his friends and family? It just doesn’t make sense.
Except, there are times when Mark thinks that maybe, it could be possible.
It’s usually a small moment, when they look at each other at the same time and Eduardo’s looking at him so happy, eyes alight and smiling at him like a secret. Mark isn’t one for smiling usually, especially not the kind that adults used to pinch when he was younger, you know, the one with dimples-but on these occasions Mark can’t help it.
Chris and Dustin never notice, and for all Mark knows maybe these are inconsequential moments for Eduardo too. Maybe it’s just Mark who saves up these moments in his brain, thinks of them idly before he goes to sleep at night and wishes he was brave enough to see what would happen.
//
It all comes to a screeching halt when the school dance comes around.
Mark has no plans of going to the dance, that’s not the issue. Like he wants to spend four hours in the school cafeteria listening to his peers’ dubious taste in “music” and sweating and staring at the pathetic decorations and drinking watered-down punch. Please.
But Dustin is going (he wants to find a date) and Chris is going stag, just to hang out with friends, and so Eduardo is going too.
“You should come,” he tries to convince Mark a couple of times, which Mark flatly turns down. Eduardo looks a little bit disappointed every time, but whatever-it doesn’t mean what Mark wants it to and four hours of misery are not worth making Eduardo happy (except they totally are, he just doesn’t want to be quite that desperate).
Eduardo wants to ask this girl Christy in his AP Calc class, since they’re pretty good friends. Unfortunately she already has a date, and so Dustin cooks up a plan.
“C’mon man, we’ll be wingmen for each other! You ask a girl out and I’ll help you, I’ll ask a girl and you’ll help me! We can’t go wrong!” he pleads with his characteristic enthusiasm.
“I dunno, Dustin…” Eduardo hedges, running his hand nervously through his hair.
Chris laughs a little and shrugs. “It couldn’t hurt,” he adds. “Besides, Dustin needs all the help he can get.”
Dustin spews, “Exactly!” before realizes what Chris said and turning around to shoot him a glare, but Chris is too busy cackling to notice.
“Just… I’ll think about it,” Eduardo says after Dustin has finished trying to attack Chris.
Eduardo shoots a look over at Mark, which he catches out of the corner of his eye but doesn’t return. He can’t. Anytime he thinks of Eduardo taking a girl to the dance he feels like he’s going to throw up.
So he just clenches his teeth and ignores it.
//
Eduardo eventually agrees to help Dustin out, to Dustin’s delight and Chris’ dismay.
Surprisingly, it doesn’t take much for Dustin to find a date. The second girl he asks, whose name is Stephanie, kind of giggles and bats her eyelashes when Dustin asks her. Mark raises his eyebrows and silently (because he’s getting better at these things) hopes she’s actually less ditzy than she’s acting. Eduardo rolls his eyes from behind them and he and Mark share a smirk.
The whole situation with Eduardo is different, though.
Someone told Eduardo that Kathryn Grove was hoping he’d ask her. Which is all fine and good, Mark’s feelings aside, except she’s one of the Winklevii and Divya’s crew and so Mark is suspicious.
It appears as though his suspicions were for naught when Eduardo asks her (Dustin there for backup, of course, Chris standing farther away for moral support, and Mark standing even further off to the side in hopes that this doesn’t go wildly, horribly wrong). Kathryn accepts easily and gives Eduardo a smile.
“That wasn’t so bad, right?” Chris asks under his breath, clapping Mark on the back as they all head out.
Mark hmms neutrally and tries not to think about Eduardo going to the dance with perfect, tall, pretty, tanned, blonde, never-had-a-cavity Kathryn and the way it makes his stomach twist. That’s a whole other kettle of fish.
Things continue to go well, and Eduardo buys Kathryn a corsage to match her dress and goes and buy a tie and it’s all so sickeningly nice, and Mark spends the whole week brooding and grinding his teeth and glaring every time that Dustin brings up the dance and dodging Chris’ sympathetic looks.
“You could still go, you know,” he says, poking Mark in the back with his pencil one afternoon in Spanish III while Eduardo is conjugating verbs across the room with his partner. “We could just, you know, hang out and mock people and eat all the snacks.”
Mark shakes his head bluntly. He’s pretty sure that hanging out at the dance alone and watching Eduardo dance with Kathryn would be even worse than sitting alone and imagining it.
//
On Friday, classes are a joke. Everyone’s too excited about the dance to do much work, so for the most part, teachers don’t even try.
Dustin’s bouncing off the walls and Eduardo’s kind of nervously excited about it in his own quiet way, and Chris is pretending not to be excited for Mark’s sake, but he really can’t hide it.
Mark is trying to act like he doesn’t care, but it’s getting sort of difficult. He’s almost looking forward to spending the night at home. He’s considering watching that stupid romantic comedy his sisters rented and joining in on their popcorn and ice cream-fest, which is so out of character for him that it’s physically painful. But whatever, Eduardo makes him feel like a teenage girl sometimes. It’s not his fault.
Everything falls apart when Mark gets a phone call from Chris an hour before the dance. It sounds like his nerves are frazzled. “The Winklevii bribed Kathryn to saying yes to Wardo so she could drop him at the last minute. She’s really going with Tyler, they just wanted to embarrass him,” he says, sounding murderous.
Mark actually feels murderous. “What the fuck,” he says. “They had no… There wasn’t any… He was so…” His anger is preventing his from actually forming full sentences at this point.
“Yeah,” Chris says inanely. “Anyway, you need to do something.”
Mark jumps up in his seat. “What?”
“Look, this is your chance,” Chris hisses into the phone. “Get over here,” he orders, and then hangs up.
He exhales as he sets the phone down, looking at it for a minute before a squeal makes him look up.
All three of his sisters are staring at him with identical starry-eyed looks. This can’t be good.
“What are you waiting for?” Randi squeals, practically bouncing up and down in place. “Go get him!” Donna and Arielle nod quickly in agreement.
But he’s nervous, he doesn’t know if he can do this, and a tiny part of him just wants to stay here at home with his sisters where he can poke holes in the plot of the stupid movie they picked and it would be safe. “I can’t desert you guys, we have a whole night planned--”
“But you like him?” Randi cuts him off.
The question catches him off guard, so he immediately blurts out, “Yes, of course!” without thinking.
Which was clearly the wrong answer, judging by the way they all scurry over to him and tug him into a group hug, awing the entire time. “Mark, it’s almost like you’re a real boy!” Arielle shrieks. He rolls his eyes, but really? It’s okay.
//
He shows up at Chris’ house an hour later. He rings the doorbell and Dustin swings it open.
“Oh. My. God!” Dustin declares, smile so wide it’s stretching his cheeks. Mark thinks he looks like a cartoon.
“Shut up,” Mark grits out, pushing past Dustin and into the house.
“He’s upstairs in the bathroom; he was sulking,” Dustin says, voice still gleeful. “Go for it, Marky-Mark!”
Mark heads up the stairs and flips Dustin off on the way.
The bathroom door is locked when Mark tries to turn the doorknob. “Wardo,” he says softly. “Open the door.”
There’s a sniff on the other side, and then Eduardo clears his throat. “Mark?” he asks, sounding confused. “Why are you… What are doing here?”
“Open the door,” Mark repeats, still quiet but insistent.
“Mark…” he says, his voice unsure and a little raw around the edges, and something tugs at Mark’s heart.
“Wardo,” Mark replies, just above a whisper. His tone is earnest and vulnerable, and as much as he hates the way it makes him feel, it’s worth it for Eduardo.
And it works somehow, because there’s a sigh on the other side of the door and the sound of Eduardo’s footsteps making their way closer. “Mark--”
He throws the door open and cuts himself off with a gasp. “Mark,” he says after a few seconds, and this time his tone is completely different, almost wondrous.
Mark tries not to blush, tries not to think about the way his tie feels too tight and the collar too itchy and Eduardo’s eyes are all over him. He starts mentally backtracking, and before he knows it the words are spilling out of his mouth. “Look, it’s stupid, I know it is, the suit was all Randi’s idea and what does she know, if you want we can go back to my house and, like, I don’t know… watch a movie or something…”
“No, no,” Eduardo assures him, taking a step forward and grabbing one of Mark’s wrists. “I, um… I don’t think it’s stupid. At all.” Eduardo clears his throat and rolls his eyes at himself. “You did this?” he asks, a question in his voice. And Mark knows what he’s really asking is “you did this for me?”
Mark nods and swallows, wishing his goddamn heart would just stop beating so fast. “Yeah,” he admits, shaking his head a little. “Do you wanna go to the dance with me?” he finally manages, and if he thought he sounded like a teenage girl before he was clearly unprepared for this.
Except Eduardo beams and nods so fast Mark doesn’t even have time to be nervous for his answer. He’s blushing and Mark’s blushing and this is so ridiculous. But still. It’s kind of perfect too.
//
The dance itself is exactly what Mark expected, all too-loud music and cheap snacks and the horrible cafeteria decorations and the sweat of all the bodies packed in there.
But somehow it’s a lot more bearable with Eduardo there holding his hand the whole night.
Dustin beams at them like a maniac the whole night, and Chris just looks relieved that they’ve put him out of his misery. Stephanie, who is rising in Mark’s opinion every minute, doesn’t know what’s going on but to her credit she goes with the flow and tells them she’s very happy for them. Oh, and she spikes the punch. Mark definitely likes her more now.
After the dance, Chris, Dustin, and Stephanie decide to go to a party with some people Stephanie knows.
“D’you wanna go?” Mark asks, squeezing Eduardo’s fingers and giving him a helpless smile (the one with the dimples, but whatever, he’s pretty sure Eduardo doesn’t mind them).
Eduardo laughs and shakes his head no, the happiest Mark’s ever seen him, he’s pretty sure-and the best part is that Mark did that. “But I don’t want to go home either,” he adds, and Mark agrees.
They end up sneaking into the neighborhood pool just for the heck of it. It’s looks kind of pretty at night, moonlight glinting off the water and the stars shining and the hush of night all around them. Eduardo looks beautiful, and Mark doesn’t even feel weird back thinking it now because Eduardo likes him too, and so it’s okay.
Together they sit on the edge of the pool with their feet in the water, their shoes and socks set off to the side and jackets discarded (Eduardo’s neatly folded, Mark’s carelessly strewn over it). Their thighs touch and shoulders bump, and Mark lays his hand on top of Eduardo’s and tries not to voice all the things tumbling through his head, because they are entirely too sappy to be said out loud.
“I really like you,” Eduardo says, whispering and blushing and looking every bit as infatuated as Mark feels.
“I really like you too,” Mark replies, trying to make the butterflies in his stomach go away.
Eduardo leans in and kisses him, and yeah, the butterflies are definitely not going away now.
But when Eduardo pulls back, he looks like he’s already regretting it. Which, just.. why? Mark was enjoying the kissing; he was totally on board with the kissing; why aren’t they still kissing?
But because it’s Eduardo and Mark knows him, knows the way he can get inside his own head and second-guess himself, it doesn’t make him nervous in the least. “Was that okay?” Eduardo asks.
Mark feels a grin and tries to bite his lip down to suppress it. “Seriously?” he asks a bit disbelievingly, and Eduardo lights up and laughs. Mark surges in and kisses him this time, cutting off the sound and curling their tongues together and sighing into Eduardo’s mouth. Eduardo can’t keep the smile off his face and his eyes are even a little watery when they pull back.
He doesn’t let Mark go far though, pressing their foreheads together and murmuring completely fervent in the space between them, “Thank you.”
Which is silly, because it’s not like Mark did anything special, not when he could have done so much more, reached out so much earlier, saved Eduardo so much pain.
But the way Eduardo is looking at him, Mark feels like maybe it’s okay. At least, since they ended up right where they should be anyway.
“I want this to go somewhere,” he says instead, because he needs Eduardo to know this. “I think we, um. I think we can. And I want to,” he repeats, feeling stupid again. “Because… you’re, Wardo, you are so… you and you’re special and you’re just-you make me better.”
Eduardo is looking at him like he’s every good thing, and Mark doesn’t know if can live up to that, to the way Eduardo looks at him and what Eduardo sees in him-but he wants to try. Eduardo is worth trying.
Now, Eduardo is looking a lot more sure of himself, and he squeezes Mark’s fingers. “I think we can too,” he says simply. His eyes are still welled up with tears a little bit, but Mark is pretty sure they are the good kind, and damn it if his aren’t too.
They don’t say anything then. He kisses him and Mark isn’t afraid of the future, not with the way Eduardo is kissing him and the way he’s holding Mark’s hand. He thinks the future looks pretty fucking awesome.
title I'll Fight My Corner
word count 4,415
rating PG-13
warnings mild bullying
summary When the Winklevii pick on Eduardo, Mark wants to be the one to save the day. A high school AU.
disclaimer I own nothing, this is not based on the real people but the fictional characters our lovely TSN fandom has created. On the very very slim chance you're here by googling your own name, run, do not walk, to the nearest exit.
a/n Written for tsnweek! I really wanted to publish a scene from my upcoming Andrew/Jesse high school AU partially based on Paper Towns by John Green (which will probably be pretty long guys. Hopefully not as long as This Love Will Change You, but I'm just warning you now, lol), but it wasn't meant to be due to the lack of time I had! However, I still wanted to write something for this prompt, so this came out. Unbeta-d (not to mention written in one sitting, oh my god) so if you catch any mistakes please let me know. The title is taken from "Give Me Love" by Ed Sheeran.
Mark flies under the radar at school. He knows he’s not the kind of kid that would be popular in high school. He’s too nerdy, too sarcastic, too unwilling to put up with bullshit like pep rallies and stupid peers and teachers and English class and PE.
But he knows that while his personality may not be built for high school, it is built for the real world. He’s determined and a hard worker and he’s kind of a genius at computers, and he has absolutely no doubt he’ll be successful later in life.
Not that he’s miserable now. He resents when people (his parents’ friends, school counselors) think he is. He’s happy, he does have some friends (Chris and Dustin), and it’s enough. Just, in an ideal world, he wouldn’t have to deal with all the other stuff.
So Mark steers clear of the popular jock bullies like the Winklevosses and their crony Divya Narendra. They may be stronger than him, but he could outsmart them any day of the week. Really, he just keeps away from their entire crew, because it’s just not worth it and he knows what’s good for him.
He wishes he could say the same for the new guy.
Eduardo Saverin walks around like he just wants to please everyone, which is ridiculous and impossible. He gets on the good side of all the teachers by knowing all the answers all the time, and he’s nice to every single person he talks to, and he wears formal, tailored clothes that look like they came out of a catalogue (instead of Mark’s clothes, which rightly look like his mom picked them for him at JCPenny) and he just tries so damn hard about everything. Mark wishes he would stop that.
For his own good, really. Because when the Winklevii see an attitude like that, they laugh. They just exude effortlessness, and Eduardo couldn’t be more opposite.
But the thing is, Eduardo doesn’t see it. He doesn’t see the way they say nice things to his face, and then when he lights up like a puppy who’s been given a bone they turn and laugh behind his back. He must be under the delusion that they actually like him, which makes Mark want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him.
At least it’s fairly harmless. Eduardo doesn’t know that they’re making fun of him, and the Winklevii don’t seem to be interested in taking it any further, and Eduardo may be a loner but he doesn’t seem unhappy, so it’s not Mark’s problem.
He doesn’t care.
He’s lamenting all this to Chris and Dustin at lunch one day, and Chris is doing this annoying thing where he’s giving Mark this doubtful look with a quirked eyebrow, like he doesn’t believe him or something. “What?” Mark finally snaps at him.
“You sure seem to have a lot to say for someone who doesn’t care,” Chris says, matter-of-fact, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
Dustin’s eyes light up, which is just never, ever good. “Ooooh,” he croons, like he’s gotten a whiff of something good like a thirsty bloodhound. He scoots his chair closer. “Has Marky Mark got a crush?”
Mark sputters for a moment. Dustin starts cackling and Chris’ eyes dance like it’s amusing him too. Mark stuffs a bite of the lunchroom pizza into his mouth to avoid from saying something stupid (like, so what if I do, or only when he does that dumb thing with his hair). He chugs down a large portion of his water bottle to wash it down, and when he’s finally composed himself, he says, “That’s so stupid that I won’t even dignify it with a response.”
“You’re still blushing,” Dustin points out, shoving his finger obnoxiously in Mark’s face, who swats at it. Dustin yelps and Chris laughs, and the conversation somehow changes topics.
And thankfully, that’s the end of it.
//
Until things between Eduardo and the Winklevii escalate, that is.
It’s something stupid. Eduardo’s coming out of the lunch line, moving to sit at the end of the cafeteria where he occupies a seat at a mostly empty table where a couple other loners sit. He usually just does his homework there or reads a book, but somehow he still manages to do it all with a smile (which kind of makes Mark so fucking angry at the Winklevii he can’t see straight).
The Winklevii happen to be behind him in line, and when Mark sees them speeding up something nervous clenches in the pit of his stomach. He wants to call out, do something, warn Eduardo somehow, but it all just happens so fast-the Winklevii come up behind him and rudely shove past him. Eduardo’s tray of food falls to the ground and he looks up at them. But they’re already moving on, not even sparing him a look back on an insincere “sorry”, and for the first time, Mark sees Eduardo’s face crumple.
He didn’t think he could be madder at the Winklevii, but his hands ball into fists at his sides and his cheeks redden with anger. Because what the fuck-Eduardo is nice to everyone and bears their bullying with a smile; what right do they have to break him like this?
So before Chris and Dustin even notice something’s happened, Mark springs up out of his seat and is stalking over to where Eduardo is hunched over his tray on the ground, trying to clean up the mess with flaming cheeks. He’s sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and is biting at it like he’s trying to fight back tears.
Mark crouches down too, picking up the tray and looking up at Eduardo nervously from under his lashes. Eduardo just looks shocked that Mark is there, and doesn’t say anything, wiping up the pizza sauce on the floor but with his eyes still fixed on Mark.
When it’s all clean, Eduardo kind of mumbles “thanks,” at Mark, eyes downcast at the floor and hand rubbing the back of his neck, moving to head back to where he usually sits.
Mark can’t let that happen; he doesn’t want Eduardo to just go back to how things were, because he’s nice and he deserves friends. Even if his friends are Mark and Chris and Dustin-admittedly not the cream of the crop at this school, but no worse off than being alone.
“The Winklevii--” he says, stressing the word with the hate for them he feels, “are assholes.”
Eduardo stops in his tracks and turns to look at him, eyes wide like he didn’t think Mark was going to say anything. “Um,” he manages, shaking his head a little bit. “I’m sure it was an accident.”
Mark has to try very hard to resist rolling his eyes, because really, does Eduardo have to believe the best in everyone, even when they’ve tried to humiliate him in front of the entire cafeteria? “Well, whatever. You should, um. Come sit with us,” he says, stammering it out and gesturing over to where Chris and Dustin are staring at them open-mouthed, like they can’t believe this is happening. Mark shoots them a glare and they kind of snap out of it, though he’s sure the damage is already done. He turns back to Eduardo, whose brow is furrowed. “I promise that they’re not as socially incapable as they look.”
Eduardo huffs out a laugh like what Mark hadn’t just said was rude, which kind of throws Mark a little bit. It’s just unexpected.
Then Mark realizes that he’s practically ordered Eduardo to come sit with them, which is pretty rude in and of itself, and he cringes. “I mean, only if you want to, of course.”
Eduardo eyes narrow at him like he’s sizing Mark up, but there’s also a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, so he thinks maybe he’s not doing too badly.
“Besides,” Mark continues, and he’s pretty much babbling by now but what the hell, “I think between the three of us we can pool enough food to make up for your, um,” he looks down between them at the soiled napkins and trash piled on the tray, “lunch.”
Eduardo nods a little nervously. “Okay.”
Now it’s time for Mark’s eyes to grow wide. “Really?”
“Sure,” Eduardo responds, shrugging a little bit. “Why not?”
Mark clears his throat. “I’m Mark,” he says, holding out a hand, which Eduardo shakes.
“Eduardo,” he replies (like Mark didn’t already know that), hesitating a moment before meeting Mark’s eyes. Mark tries not to blush.
“C’mon,” he says, leading the way over to the trash can to throw away Eduardo’s inedible lunch, and then back to the table with Chris and Dustin.
“Hey!” Dustin practically shouts, making Mark wince. “I’m Dustin, and this is Chris.”
Eduardo shoots them all his wide, winning smile. “Nice to meet you. I hope it’s okay that um, Mark invited me to sit over here.”
“Of course,” Chris says easily. “Hey, do you want my apple? Since, you know…” he trails off, shooting his eyes over to where the Winklevii are sitting with Divya and a bunch of other jocks.
Eduardo colors a little and nods, taking it.
Then Dustin offers his sandwich and Mark gives Eduardo his milk and chips, and by the end of lunch he’s talking naturally with them and laughing and he seems very, very different from the Eduardo who gets all the answers right in class or the one who (until today) shrugs off the Winklevii’s jibes.
Mark likes it.
//
As so his group of friends expands by one, and Mark finds that he likes that too. Not only does Eduardo fit in sort of perfectly, he likes that Eduardo doesn’t seem like such a loner now, that there are people around to appreciate his good humor and intelligence and general pleasantness. But he also likes Eduardo, just as the person he is… The way he can mutter a cutting remark about someone under their breath (but never loud enough so they can hear) and his geekiness over the weather and the way he can keep up with Mark in a conversation.
The only weird thing is, he remembers that conversation in the lunchroom when Dustin had teased Mark about having a crush on Eduardo. And he thought feeling would go away once he got to know Eduardo as a person, instead of just a stupidly attractive guy with an annoyingly nice personality that Mark could admire and, in turn, be frustrated with-from afar.
But he finds that they’ve only intensified, for some stupid reason. And it’s dumb because he doesn’t want to feel this way, he’s never felt this way about anyone, let alone a guy.
Every once in a while he feels Chris giving him this very knowing look, and he has to stop whatever he’s doing to grit his teeth and school his face back into a neutral expression.
Because Eduardo would never, ever want him that way… Eduardo is kind of perfect and stupidly good looking and smart and everyone gets along with him, once they interact with him enough to realize that just because the Winklevii want him ostracized doesn’t mean he’s like, defective or something.
So why would he ever want to be with Mark, who purposefully tries to be an asshole to everyone but his friends and family? It just doesn’t make sense.
Except, there are times when Mark thinks that maybe, it could be possible.
It’s usually a small moment, when they look at each other at the same time and Eduardo’s looking at him so happy, eyes alight and smiling at him like a secret. Mark isn’t one for smiling usually, especially not the kind that adults used to pinch when he was younger, you know, the one with dimples-but on these occasions Mark can’t help it.
Chris and Dustin never notice, and for all Mark knows maybe these are inconsequential moments for Eduardo too. Maybe it’s just Mark who saves up these moments in his brain, thinks of them idly before he goes to sleep at night and wishes he was brave enough to see what would happen.
//
It all comes to a screeching halt when the school dance comes around.
Mark has no plans of going to the dance, that’s not the issue. Like he wants to spend four hours in the school cafeteria listening to his peers’ dubious taste in “music” and sweating and staring at the pathetic decorations and drinking watered-down punch. Please.
But Dustin is going (he wants to find a date) and Chris is going stag, just to hang out with friends, and so Eduardo is going too.
“You should come,” he tries to convince Mark a couple of times, which Mark flatly turns down. Eduardo looks a little bit disappointed every time, but whatever-it doesn’t mean what Mark wants it to and four hours of misery are not worth making Eduardo happy (except they totally are, he just doesn’t want to be quite that desperate).
Eduardo wants to ask this girl Christy in his AP Calc class, since they’re pretty good friends. Unfortunately she already has a date, and so Dustin cooks up a plan.
“C’mon man, we’ll be wingmen for each other! You ask a girl out and I’ll help you, I’ll ask a girl and you’ll help me! We can’t go wrong!” he pleads with his characteristic enthusiasm.
“I dunno, Dustin…” Eduardo hedges, running his hand nervously through his hair.
Chris laughs a little and shrugs. “It couldn’t hurt,” he adds. “Besides, Dustin needs all the help he can get.”
Dustin spews, “Exactly!” before realizes what Chris said and turning around to shoot him a glare, but Chris is too busy cackling to notice.
“Just… I’ll think about it,” Eduardo says after Dustin has finished trying to attack Chris.
Eduardo shoots a look over at Mark, which he catches out of the corner of his eye but doesn’t return. He can’t. Anytime he thinks of Eduardo taking a girl to the dance he feels like he’s going to throw up.
So he just clenches his teeth and ignores it.
//
Eduardo eventually agrees to help Dustin out, to Dustin’s delight and Chris’ dismay.
Surprisingly, it doesn’t take much for Dustin to find a date. The second girl he asks, whose name is Stephanie, kind of giggles and bats her eyelashes when Dustin asks her. Mark raises his eyebrows and silently (because he’s getting better at these things) hopes she’s actually less ditzy than she’s acting. Eduardo rolls his eyes from behind them and he and Mark share a smirk.
The whole situation with Eduardo is different, though.
Someone told Eduardo that Kathryn Grove was hoping he’d ask her. Which is all fine and good, Mark’s feelings aside, except she’s one of the Winklevii and Divya’s crew and so Mark is suspicious.
It appears as though his suspicions were for naught when Eduardo asks her (Dustin there for backup, of course, Chris standing farther away for moral support, and Mark standing even further off to the side in hopes that this doesn’t go wildly, horribly wrong). Kathryn accepts easily and gives Eduardo a smile.
“That wasn’t so bad, right?” Chris asks under his breath, clapping Mark on the back as they all head out.
Mark hmms neutrally and tries not to think about Eduardo going to the dance with perfect, tall, pretty, tanned, blonde, never-had-a-cavity Kathryn and the way it makes his stomach twist. That’s a whole other kettle of fish.
Things continue to go well, and Eduardo buys Kathryn a corsage to match her dress and goes and buy a tie and it’s all so sickeningly nice, and Mark spends the whole week brooding and grinding his teeth and glaring every time that Dustin brings up the dance and dodging Chris’ sympathetic looks.
“You could still go, you know,” he says, poking Mark in the back with his pencil one afternoon in Spanish III while Eduardo is conjugating verbs across the room with his partner. “We could just, you know, hang out and mock people and eat all the snacks.”
Mark shakes his head bluntly. He’s pretty sure that hanging out at the dance alone and watching Eduardo dance with Kathryn would be even worse than sitting alone and imagining it.
//
On Friday, classes are a joke. Everyone’s too excited about the dance to do much work, so for the most part, teachers don’t even try.
Dustin’s bouncing off the walls and Eduardo’s kind of nervously excited about it in his own quiet way, and Chris is pretending not to be excited for Mark’s sake, but he really can’t hide it.
Mark is trying to act like he doesn’t care, but it’s getting sort of difficult. He’s almost looking forward to spending the night at home. He’s considering watching that stupid romantic comedy his sisters rented and joining in on their popcorn and ice cream-fest, which is so out of character for him that it’s physically painful. But whatever, Eduardo makes him feel like a teenage girl sometimes. It’s not his fault.
Everything falls apart when Mark gets a phone call from Chris an hour before the dance. It sounds like his nerves are frazzled. “The Winklevii bribed Kathryn to saying yes to Wardo so she could drop him at the last minute. She’s really going with Tyler, they just wanted to embarrass him,” he says, sounding murderous.
Mark actually feels murderous. “What the fuck,” he says. “They had no… There wasn’t any… He was so…” His anger is preventing his from actually forming full sentences at this point.
“Yeah,” Chris says inanely. “Anyway, you need to do something.”
Mark jumps up in his seat. “What?”
“Look, this is your chance,” Chris hisses into the phone. “Get over here,” he orders, and then hangs up.
He exhales as he sets the phone down, looking at it for a minute before a squeal makes him look up.
All three of his sisters are staring at him with identical starry-eyed looks. This can’t be good.
“What are you waiting for?” Randi squeals, practically bouncing up and down in place. “Go get him!” Donna and Arielle nod quickly in agreement.
But he’s nervous, he doesn’t know if he can do this, and a tiny part of him just wants to stay here at home with his sisters where he can poke holes in the plot of the stupid movie they picked and it would be safe. “I can’t desert you guys, we have a whole night planned--”
“But you like him?” Randi cuts him off.
The question catches him off guard, so he immediately blurts out, “Yes, of course!” without thinking.
Which was clearly the wrong answer, judging by the way they all scurry over to him and tug him into a group hug, awing the entire time. “Mark, it’s almost like you’re a real boy!” Arielle shrieks. He rolls his eyes, but really? It’s okay.
//
He shows up at Chris’ house an hour later. He rings the doorbell and Dustin swings it open.
“Oh. My. God!” Dustin declares, smile so wide it’s stretching his cheeks. Mark thinks he looks like a cartoon.
“Shut up,” Mark grits out, pushing past Dustin and into the house.
“He’s upstairs in the bathroom; he was sulking,” Dustin says, voice still gleeful. “Go for it, Marky-Mark!”
Mark heads up the stairs and flips Dustin off on the way.
The bathroom door is locked when Mark tries to turn the doorknob. “Wardo,” he says softly. “Open the door.”
There’s a sniff on the other side, and then Eduardo clears his throat. “Mark?” he asks, sounding confused. “Why are you… What are doing here?”
“Open the door,” Mark repeats, still quiet but insistent.
“Mark…” he says, his voice unsure and a little raw around the edges, and something tugs at Mark’s heart.
“Wardo,” Mark replies, just above a whisper. His tone is earnest and vulnerable, and as much as he hates the way it makes him feel, it’s worth it for Eduardo.
And it works somehow, because there’s a sigh on the other side of the door and the sound of Eduardo’s footsteps making their way closer. “Mark--”
He throws the door open and cuts himself off with a gasp. “Mark,” he says after a few seconds, and this time his tone is completely different, almost wondrous.
Mark tries not to blush, tries not to think about the way his tie feels too tight and the collar too itchy and Eduardo’s eyes are all over him. He starts mentally backtracking, and before he knows it the words are spilling out of his mouth. “Look, it’s stupid, I know it is, the suit was all Randi’s idea and what does she know, if you want we can go back to my house and, like, I don’t know… watch a movie or something…”
“No, no,” Eduardo assures him, taking a step forward and grabbing one of Mark’s wrists. “I, um… I don’t think it’s stupid. At all.” Eduardo clears his throat and rolls his eyes at himself. “You did this?” he asks, a question in his voice. And Mark knows what he’s really asking is “you did this for me?”
Mark nods and swallows, wishing his goddamn heart would just stop beating so fast. “Yeah,” he admits, shaking his head a little. “Do you wanna go to the dance with me?” he finally manages, and if he thought he sounded like a teenage girl before he was clearly unprepared for this.
Except Eduardo beams and nods so fast Mark doesn’t even have time to be nervous for his answer. He’s blushing and Mark’s blushing and this is so ridiculous. But still. It’s kind of perfect too.
//
The dance itself is exactly what Mark expected, all too-loud music and cheap snacks and the horrible cafeteria decorations and the sweat of all the bodies packed in there.
But somehow it’s a lot more bearable with Eduardo there holding his hand the whole night.
Dustin beams at them like a maniac the whole night, and Chris just looks relieved that they’ve put him out of his misery. Stephanie, who is rising in Mark’s opinion every minute, doesn’t know what’s going on but to her credit she goes with the flow and tells them she’s very happy for them. Oh, and she spikes the punch. Mark definitely likes her more now.
After the dance, Chris, Dustin, and Stephanie decide to go to a party with some people Stephanie knows.
“D’you wanna go?” Mark asks, squeezing Eduardo’s fingers and giving him a helpless smile (the one with the dimples, but whatever, he’s pretty sure Eduardo doesn’t mind them).
Eduardo laughs and shakes his head no, the happiest Mark’s ever seen him, he’s pretty sure-and the best part is that Mark did that. “But I don’t want to go home either,” he adds, and Mark agrees.
They end up sneaking into the neighborhood pool just for the heck of it. It’s looks kind of pretty at night, moonlight glinting off the water and the stars shining and the hush of night all around them. Eduardo looks beautiful, and Mark doesn’t even feel weird back thinking it now because Eduardo likes him too, and so it’s okay.
Together they sit on the edge of the pool with their feet in the water, their shoes and socks set off to the side and jackets discarded (Eduardo’s neatly folded, Mark’s carelessly strewn over it). Their thighs touch and shoulders bump, and Mark lays his hand on top of Eduardo’s and tries not to voice all the things tumbling through his head, because they are entirely too sappy to be said out loud.
“I really like you,” Eduardo says, whispering and blushing and looking every bit as infatuated as Mark feels.
“I really like you too,” Mark replies, trying to make the butterflies in his stomach go away.
Eduardo leans in and kisses him, and yeah, the butterflies are definitely not going away now.
But when Eduardo pulls back, he looks like he’s already regretting it. Which, just.. why? Mark was enjoying the kissing; he was totally on board with the kissing; why aren’t they still kissing?
But because it’s Eduardo and Mark knows him, knows the way he can get inside his own head and second-guess himself, it doesn’t make him nervous in the least. “Was that okay?” Eduardo asks.
Mark feels a grin and tries to bite his lip down to suppress it. “Seriously?” he asks a bit disbelievingly, and Eduardo lights up and laughs. Mark surges in and kisses him this time, cutting off the sound and curling their tongues together and sighing into Eduardo’s mouth. Eduardo can’t keep the smile off his face and his eyes are even a little watery when they pull back.
He doesn’t let Mark go far though, pressing their foreheads together and murmuring completely fervent in the space between them, “Thank you.”
Which is silly, because it’s not like Mark did anything special, not when he could have done so much more, reached out so much earlier, saved Eduardo so much pain.
But the way Eduardo is looking at him, Mark feels like maybe it’s okay. At least, since they ended up right where they should be anyway.
“I want this to go somewhere,” he says instead, because he needs Eduardo to know this. “I think we, um. I think we can. And I want to,” he repeats, feeling stupid again. “Because… you’re, Wardo, you are so… you and you’re special and you’re just-you make me better.”
Eduardo is looking at him like he’s every good thing, and Mark doesn’t know if can live up to that, to the way Eduardo looks at him and what Eduardo sees in him-but he wants to try. Eduardo is worth trying.
Now, Eduardo is looking a lot more sure of himself, and he squeezes Mark’s fingers. “I think we can too,” he says simply. His eyes are still welled up with tears a little bit, but Mark is pretty sure they are the good kind, and damn it if his aren’t too.
They don’t say anything then. He kisses him and Mark isn’t afraid of the future, not with the way Eduardo is kissing him and the way he’s holding Mark’s hand. He thinks the future looks pretty fucking awesome.