It's another recess prompted by another smart assed comment by Mark. His representatives are begging him to to lose the attitude. He tells them they don't understand.
They call a recess and Mark feels like he's won. He knows exactly what they are thinking- They think he's upset about the law suits, that he's stressed about Facebook, but he's not. They're wrong. All of them.
He can deal with the lawsuits, he can deal with the Winklevosses, hell, he could deal with losing Facebook if it comes down to it. But what he's really, deep down, bothered about is Eduardo.
His best friend. Or, perhaps given recent events, former best friend.
That sounded so wrong. Former best friend. How puzzling. Mark understood the law suit. And he regretted the stupid contract that had caused it in the first place. It was stupid, all stupid, pointless. But…
Was Mark really that much of an ass? He knew he came off as condescending, but he never thought it bothered Eduardo. They'd been best friends for a long time. Either Eduardo was used to it, or Mark just learned not to be that way around him. So why couldn't they still be friends while Eduardo sued him? It wasn't spiteful in anyway, nor personal, at least not in Mark's eyes.
As Mark was lost in these thoughts, he stared at the floor, before taking a seat on a random bench in the hall way. What he didn't notice was that at exactly the same time, Eduardo was sitting down on the other side of this bench.
They both straightened up as the sat, before finally spotting each other. For a second, Mark could have sworn he saw a flicker of a smile on Eduardo's face, but it had gone just as fast as it had come.
Eduardo immediately started to get up. "Good bye, Mark," he said dryly, already starting off in the opposite direction.
"Wardo, wait!" Mark exclaimed. Eduardo paused for a minute, before turning to look back at Mark.
"Don't you dare 'Wardo' me." Mark shrugged.
"Why not? It's a nick name, isn't it? I used to call you Wardo all the time. What makes now any different?" Eduardo's face contorted into a cross between aggravation and slight astonishment.
"What's different? What's different? What's different, Mark, is that you tricked and lied to me, stole from me, and now I'm suing you for it."
"I don't see how that matters," Mark muttered. "It wasn't personal, and I do regret it. I'd take it back if I could."
"It wasn't personal?" Eduardo said incredulously. "Maybe not to you, but did you ever stop and think about I felt? Did you even think about how that would affect me? I know you're basically an emotionless asshole, Mark, but it doesn't mean everyone else is too."
"Well, by your own logic, if I am an emotionless ass, how could I process how you'd react emotionally to any sort of action?"
"Fine, whatever, fuck logic! Bottom line is this, Mark- You hurt me. And you didn't even apologize or have any inclination that I was hurt by your actions. I mean, go and do that, you think we can still be friends?" Mark sat there for a moment, feeling for the life of him like his chest was being crushed, but not really understanding why.
Eduardo stood there for a minute, staring at the crest fallen Mark. Well, relatively crest fallen; not enough that anyone could tell. Mark did not answer.
"Well?" asked Eduardo. "Are you going to say something?"
"I'm sorry." Eduardo frowned, as though Mark had spoken a different language.
"I- What?" Mark shrugged again, like it was no big deal.
"You said I never said I was sorry. Well I'm saying it know; I'm sorry." Eduardo rolled his eyes.
"I don't just want you to say it, I want you to mean it, Mark."
"I do mean it. Like I said, I regret my decision. It was stupid. I already said, I'd take it back if I could."
"That doesn't mean anything now, though, Mark. Even if you are being honest, which it's entirely possible that you aren't being honest, it's probably only because I'm suing you for it. You regret the decision because it's taking you away from the offices of Facebook and because if I win, I get six million dollars. When I say mean it, I want you to mean it for the right reasons."
"Like the fact that it's destroying our friendship?" Mark said, more to himself than Eduardo.
"Yes!" Eduardo said, exasperated. "But you don't mean it for that reason, which is why sorry means nothing to me."
"Eduardo, you make too many assumptions. You're hurt because I didn't have the foresight to step into your shoes. Step into mine, Eduardo. How do you know losing you as my best, and well, probably only real friend isn't something that makes me feel sorry for what I did?" Eduardo opened his mouth, only to find he had no answer for that.
Slowly, he took a few short steps and sat next to Mark on the bench.
"So you mean it. You're sorry."
"Yes."
"And you're not just sorry because of the losses on the business end."
"Yes."
"Mark…" Eduardo sighed and his shoulders slumped. "I wish we could go back and do it over." He whispered.
"That's sort of a pointless thing to wish for. It can't and won't happen. What's done is done. Facebook is famous, and I'm getting sued. Twice." Mark finished the frank comment with another shrug.
He and Eduardo looked at each other for what seemed the longest time, before Eduardo slipped his hand into Mark's. Mark looked down at the gesture, contemplating the meaning.
"Okay. So, you're sorry and you mean it. I'm suing you, and by now it's a train I can't stop. Where does this leave us?" Mark bit his lip.
"I guess we're friends currently in the middle of an argument." This earned a chuckle from Eduardo.
"You know, most friends just stop talking to each other when they argue. I've gone and decided to sue you."
"So I guess either we're something other than friends, or we're just special." Eduardo studied Mark with his dark brown eyes, before he finally planted a soft kiss on Mark's cheek.
"How about both?" Mark, for the first time in far too long of a time, smiled.
"Sounds good to me." He stood up, and their clasped hands fell apart. Mark checked his watch, before turning in the direction from where he had come.
"Come on," he said over his shoulder, "We have an argument to finish.