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Mark has been coding for probably five days straight. He's taken bathroom breaks, and there's a changing array of energy drinks on the desk beside him, which his assistant replaces periodically. Chris knows because he has been watching her do it. For five days straight. Chris is officially done with this. He wants to go home and take a shower and know that he can sleep for eight hours and not have to listen to his Blackberry vibrate through the night with emails from Mark. Also he's beginning to think that Mark may have actually lost it this time. It was two hours.
Dustin bursts through the door. He looks ready to kill someone. Possibly Mark, but he’s much less scared of Chris, so that doesn’t bode well. He says, "It's time."
"Dustin."
"Look, I don't have any major aspirations for my Friday night. I just want to go home and play Halo and go to fucking sleep, man. I want to leave this place before midnight without him-."
"Yeah."
"So it's time. Or I quit, I swear."
"Okay." Chris reaches across Mark's assistant, sitting at the outer desk. He gets the Rolodex.
She protests, 'it's all on the computer, that isn't really..." She's new.
Dustin says, "E, right?"
Chris nods. The card lives in E for 'Emergency Use Only - call Mom'. He dials, and walks into Mark’s office, closing the door behind the two of them. Mark is still wired-in; he doesn’t notice.
The call is answered quickly. "Eduardo Saverin." Chris turns the phone to speaker.
Dustin says, "Wardo."
"Dustin, it's nearly three am, this better be a goddamn-"
"It is."
There's a clatter - Eduardo scrambling out of bed. Chris says, "Wait. No one's in the hospital."
Eduardo grumbles, "So how exactly does this qualify as a...?"
"We want to go home." Dustin's voice was pretty close to a whine there. Chris doesn't blame him.
Eduardo exhales. It sounds close to amused. "So go home."
"You know it's not... That only ever worked for you- It's been five days."
Eduardo asks, "He's wired in?"
"We were down for two hours, Wardo. Two freaking hours. And he's..."
"Yeah. Okay. So you two are going to owe me."
"Fine,” Dustin says.
"Big. Like you and Chris designing me a web-interface from scratch and coming to explain it to the marketing-team big. I swear, you would think they might trust that I know what I’m talking about with this stuff, but-.”
"Fine,” Dustin interrupts. “Fine, oh my God, just fix him."
Eduardo sighs. "I need someone to unplug his headphones and get them off him."
Chris shakes his head. They play a quick game of rock-paper-scissors. He loses. This was so much easier when Eduardo was here in person.
Mark doesn't react in any way when Chris takes away his headphones. He'll remember it later though. That’s not going to be good. Chris will still take it, for a chance to leave this building some time in the next half hour.
Eduardo says, "can you get the phone to his desk?" With this accomplished, he says, "Mark? This is your conscience speaking. I know we haven't talked in a while."
Chris grins. Mark doesn't seem to notice.
Eduardo says, "Mark. I know you can hear me. I saw the site was down this week. I did think about suing but you know..."
Dustin whispers, "Is he trying to make Mark so mad that he unplugs just so he can kill us all?"
Chris shakes his head. "It's Mark."
Eduardo goes quiet for a moment. "Mark. It was two hours. It's okay."
Still nothing.
“Mark. You want to talk about this? Because you’re scaring the kids, and I was very clear about that in the custody agreement.”
Chris had never been totally sure that Eduardo knew they joked about that. He had hoped Mark didn’t know. He looks to have been wrong on both counts.
Eduardo says, “Mark. Mark. Ma-ark. Mark. I can do this all day, baby, so unless you’ve actually achieved coding nirvana I’m pretty sure you’re going to break before I do. If history has taught us anything.” He sighs. “Mark. Two hours.”
Mark coughs. "We're never down. That's the- we're never down.”
“I remember. Mark?”
Mark has already retreated back into his head, to whatever coding magic he thinks he can achieve in there.
Eduardo keeps talking. “Mark. Come on. Trust me. You-.” Mark’s eyes flicker, unless it was just the screen. Eduardo says, “anyway you apologised to the users – don’t think I didn’t notice that – and it won’t happen again.”
“We were fucking hacked.”
“Yes,” Eduardo agrees. “There are smart people out there who do not like you. Learn to live with that.”
“Also I’m reasonably sure you just called me baby.”
“Shock tactic.”
“Eduardo.”
“Because I’m guessing the only other person who’s called you baby un-ironically in the past year is your mother. So I’m telling you this as your friend – I’m as surprised at that as you are - and as the only person in contact with you not currently so sleep-deprived as to be plotting ways to murder you and bury your body under the offices.”
“We were down for two hours.”
“I know, okay? I know that. But you have to let it go.”
Mark keeps typing. “If I don’t, are you going to try calling me baby again?”
Eduardo laughs. “Just let your employees leave, you fucking lunatic. Before they beat you to death with your laptop.” He pauses. “Sweetheart.” Which was, no, not where Chris would have gone with that one, but all right. It works.
“I’m not keeping them here,” Mark says. “They can leave whenever they want.” Dustin’s laugh edges towards hysterical. Mark looks over at him. “You can leave.”
But they’re not going until he goes, is the thing. They don’t work the hours Mark does – no one works the hours Mark does. But he’s unravelling over this and they can’t just leave him here alone.
Eduardo says, “Mark. Go home. Go home, and go to sleep, and I promise I’ll call you in the morning.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes. In fact, I’m going to call early and wake you up. So you better be asleep when I call. No staying up all night to finish whatever the hell it is you’re doing, or trying to do.”
“How will you…?” Mark trails off, because Eduardo is laughing.
“Were you seriously going to suggest I don’t know what you sound like when you’ve just woken up? Okay, I’m going to need someone to drive you home because you’re clearly delirious.”
“Hmm.”
“Mark. It’s three a.m. here and I really want to-.”
Mark stops typing. He smiles. “Go to sleep, Wardo.”
“I would, but my asshole best friend is keeping me up with this-.”
Computers make the kind of noise that’s mostly noticeable when they stop. Mark picks up the phone and starts walking out of the office. He switches off the light as he goes past them. Mark turns the phone off speaker. “I’m going now.” A pause, as he listens to whatever Eduardo says back. “Okay. Yes, you too. Bye.” He puts the phone on the nearest desk and keeps heading out.
Most of the office watches him go. There’s an odd silence, followed by hasty packing up of bags and shutting down of various equipment. Midnight and it’s finally quitting time.
Dustin looks at Chris. “What just happened?”
“Not sure. But he’s gone home. Do you really care how?”
“No.”
“Good. You still want to go play Halo?”
Dustin looks around the dark, empty office. “Why not?”