[PART FOUR] CLOSED
THE SOCIAL NETWORK KINK MEME
ASK THE MODS * FAQ * DISCUSSION * RESEARCH * FILL LIST * PART ONE * PART ONE (OVERFLOW) * PART TWO * PART TWO (OVERFLOW) * PART THREE * (PART THREE (OVERFLOW)
GENERAL RULES;
IMPORTANT: please DO NOT post prompts about any non-public people as part of a prompt. for example: randi zuckerberg is fine ( Read more... )
ASK THE MODS * FAQ * DISCUSSION * RESEARCH * FILL LIST * PART ONE * PART ONE (OVERFLOW) * PART TWO * PART TWO (OVERFLOW) * PART THREE * (PART THREE (OVERFLOW)
GENERAL RULES;
IMPORTANT: please DO NOT post prompts about any non-public people as part of a prompt. for example: randi zuckerberg is fine ( Read more... )
"Hey, how do I know you again? Sorry, I've been really busy with stuff and I'm exhausted."
Ethan writes back within a few minutes.
"Hey, we were in Macroeconomics together last year. And yeah, I heard about the lawsuit and depositions and stuff. I'm really sorry man. How are you doing?"
Eduardo hasn't really talked to anybody about all of his jumbled feelings over Mark, and the trials, and...well, Mark. But he feels bad enough that he doesn't remember Ethan, and is tired enough to let himself rant.
"I'm just like, super exhausted. Every day that I'm in the same room with Mark it drains me. I mean, we were best friends...I loved him. I still don't understand how we ended up like this. It hurts to have to think about it, and every time I look at him it's this big neon flashing reminder saying, 'hey! Guess what? Your best friend hurt you beyond belief!' Sorry, you probably don't care, I just needed to get that out."
"No, I do care. I'm so sorry, I know how you feel to have your best friend always there for you, and suddenly he's just gone. You get so used to him being around that it's this big gaping hole that can't be filled. Maybe Mark feels the same way. I mean everybody fucks up, this might have just been on a larger scale. Maybe he still cares about you and just doesn't know how to show it."
Andrew's a little confused by Ethan's comment. That's exactly how he and Jesse had been, and those were his feelings exactly. He goes over again in his mind where things could have been fixed, and finds tears slowly running down his cheeks.
"I don't think so. I mean, we both made mistakes, and I still wish we could get past it, but I think he's over it. Me. Over me. It's not very often you find someone who you bond with so quickly and easily, and I don't know if I'll ever find someone like Mark. He may have seemed cold and aloof to people who didn't know him, but I knew him, and he just had different ways of showing his feelings. He was so misunderstood. I was the only person to get him and he just threw me by the side of the road like a piece of garbage. I didn't know something so abstract could hurt like a physical wound."
Ethan doesn't write back that night. Eduardo falls asleep at his computer, waiting for a response. The next day, he spends most of his time during the meeting thinking of what Ethan had said to get him through. The minute he arrives home he goes online, and he and Ethan talk for hours. They talk about everything, from the case to philosophy to economics to media. A small part of Eduardo tells him that he hasn't felt this way since when Mark told him that he needed him to stay in Palo Alto.
The next few days go by similarly, and Eduardo finds his love for Ethan growing. Ethan is like mark was to him, the best friend he could possibly have, and Eduardo feels guilty as his feelings begin to creep beyond platonic. He thought he would never feel this way for anybody but Mark.How had he never talked to Ethan before? He had been spending most of his time with Mark working on The Facebook, so he must have missed him. Ethan doesn't have many personal pictures up, or anything much really, so Eduardo has no way to identify him.
Finally, after a few weeks of Eduardo and Ethan growing closer, Eduardo gets up the courage to ask.
"Hey, so we've been talking for a while now, and it's really helped me sort my shit out. I'm really sorry I never talked to you in class, because I like you a lot. You're a really great guy. You don't have any profile pictures up, though...could you send me one, maybe it will help to better jog my memory? x"
He ends it with 'x' because 'x' is supposed to mean love and he's trying to send about one million different messages to Ethan, this person who he realizes knows him inside and out now, despite the fact that they've never met. Eduardo doesn't have the courage, however, to say anything more than 'x', so he stays with that.
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By 7 pm, he still doesn't have an answer. He goes out to get dinner.
After dinner, at 8 pm, still no response. He gets dessert. Still nothing.
The clock ticks slowly by, and Eduardo begins to freak out. Sure, Ethan may have just been offline, but what if Eduardo had asked too soon? What if he had ruined everything?
After 30 minutes of panicking he can't take it and turns off the computer.
He gets back on at 11, and refreshes the page for 30 minutes straight.
No answer comes until 2 am, when Ethan says:
"Look at the picture first, please, before you read what I wrote."
After that is a tinypic URL, which Eduado clicks, heart racing. As it loads, however, he realizes something is wrong. Staring back at him is a familiar face. A VERY familiar face. Framed by brown floppy curls and tired-looking piercing eyes and an omnipresent hoodie.
Eduardo stares into the eyes of mark's picture and puzzles. Was Ethan making fun of him? This was someone's idea of a very cruel joke. Just when he was becoming happy...
Eduardo takes a deep breath and changes the tab to read what Ethan wrote.
"Hi, it's me. Mark. 'm not actually a guy from your Macroeconomic class. This is the alias I made to do my art final exam. I'm surprised you hadn't realized by now, actually.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I've done to hurt you. The ist is too long to enumerate but we both know what I'm talking about. Also, I'm sorry for lying to you about who I was. I just wanted to check up on you and make sure you were doing ok, but once I started talking to you I realized how much I missed you.
I can't do it, Wardo. I can't do this without you. I was terrified that I would lose this last connection I had to you by revealing my identity, but I had to.
I never realized just how much I needed you until you were gone. You've got to believe me. Every comment I made...about you and the Phoenix club...I just didn't want you to leave me for cooler people. And I can't believe I let Sean and his investment guys talk me into writing you out. I was brainwashed, and I was hungry for more, more, more pageviews, more users, more fame...and somehow I forgot my best friend. If I could go back in time and change one thing, that would be it.
I saw the hurt in your eyes when you found out, and I couldn't believe that I could cause that. It killed me, and reliving it through your testimony...I had to make sure you were ok.
I guess that's when I realized I wasn't ok. I need you, Eduardo, and I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me for all of this. I just wish I could make it right. I don't need my CFO, I need my best friend.
I love you."
By the time Eduardo finished reading, there were tears in his eyes. As his eyes hit the last line he broke down, sobbing, and said to the screen,
"I love you too, Mark. I love you too."
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Awwww, that was really sweet. ♥
Thank you so much for filling it!
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