Chapter Text
“Here!”
There was someone waving enthusiastically at Mark, which could only be Dustin, shouting in the middle of an otherwise quiet bar. While making his way to his friends, Mark bumped into a few tables, but finally reached destination. The place wasn't exactly empty, but the music was low and everyone chatted in a similar volume, which Mark definitely appreciated. He was never a big fan of college bars and their unbearably loud everything.
Chris stood up to give him a half-hug, half-handshake. The only time he ever looked awkward greeting someone was when the someone in question was Mark.
"Hey! I was just about to text you to ask if you were coming."
"See, I told you he was." Dustin said, a smug smile on his face.
"It's not like I could do anything else."
Chris looked at Mark, and then at Dustin, puzzled.
"Oh, come on, I didn’t force you to come."
“I felt pretty forced when you hid my laptop and PC tower while I was in the bathroom and left a note on the fridge saying you’d be here, Dustin.”
“You did what?”
Dustin laughed, clearly pleased with his scheme.
“You should’ve seen his face when he realized it was all gone.”
“How did you see my face? You weren't even in the room.”
“Left my webcam on.” Dustin started cackling again, as he took a laptop out of his backpack. “I was actually waiting right by the front door at Kirkland. Our Wi-Fi is surprisingly strong.”
Chris couldn’t help but laugh with him, but at least he shot Mark an apologetic look right after.
"C'mon, don't look at me like that, dude! You know you would still be in our dorm coding away if it wasn't for me."
Mark sighed but didn’t say anything else, accepting his defeat. He wondered where Dustin had left his computers, but figured he wouldn’t do anything to damage them. Maybe he could enjoy himself a little bit, even if he was supposed to be working and even if Eduardo wasn’t there. Just maybe.
“Where is Eduardo, anyway?” Chris asked, as if he were following Mark's train of thought.
“He’s in New York for a couple of days, until Wednesday I think. His father came from Brazil for business and I guess he wanted to see him.” Mark replied. He sounded slightly sadder than he had intended to.
Eduardo had sounded pretty sad on the phone earlier as well, when he called to explain his sudden absence. He didn’t say a lot about what was going on, so Mark figured it was just because he didn’t particularly like his father, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong.
“Your drinks, boys.”
The bartender set three glasses down in front of them. Mark was surprised he, or for that matter, any of them, hadn’t gotten carded since they were practically the poster image for a bunch of Harvard kids. Maybe they were just lucky.
“Took the liberty to get you a vodka redbull. Figured you wouldn’t want anything that wasn’t at least fifty percent caffeine.” Dustin told Mark, pushing the yellow-ish drink towards him. “I hope you brought your wallet, though.”
“A beer would’ve been fine, probably.” Mark said. “And yes, I brought it. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Dunno, Eduardo usually pays for you. Not that I think you’re like, a gold digger or anything.”
Chris gave Dustin a look. He knew there wasn’t any animosity in what he’d said, but it just sounded terrible. Much like most of what came out of Dustin’s mouth, anyways.
“Eduardo isn’t even in the city.”
“I know, but maybe you could’ve forgotten or something, I don’t know! Pretend I didn’t even say that.”
They sipped in silence for a few minutes, until Chris announced he was going outside for a smoke.
“I’m coming with you.” Mark said, standing up from his stool.
“And I’m just supposed to stay here?” Dustin complained. “Since when do you even smoke, Chris?”
“I’m a social smoker.” Chris shrugged, already heading for the door.
“Come on, that’s not even a thing.”
Mark followed, leaving an annoyed Dustin behind. He stepped out of the bar, only to be greeted by the freezing wind. He normally didn’t mind the cold, being known for his t-shirt-and-shorts outfits in the dead of winter, but something just felt different that day. And to make matters worse, he couldn’t find his lighter, so he told Chris he was heading back inside to look for it.
"Sure.” Chris muttered, as he already knew how obsessed Mark was with that lighter. “You’re not gonna smoke in there, though, are you?”
“It's too cold.” Mark replied. “It’s allowed, why are you such a bitch about it?” he said, when Chris looked at him like he’d killed a puppy.
“I’m sure they’ll ban it soon. They should’ve done it ages ago, though.”
Right when Mark turned around, Chris spoke again.
"And since when is it too cold for you, of all people?"
Mark didn't really have an answer, and so he walked back into the bar and into the warmth, patting his pockets down to make sure he hadn’t missed his lighter before. When he sat back down, it was as if Dustin pretended he wasn’t even there. It seemed like he really was mad at him this time, not just Dustin - mad as Mark had dubbed it in his head. It was hard to piss him off.
“Dustin, did you take my lighter?”
“What? I don’t even smoke, dude.”
“You do smoke. Are you sure you don’t have it, maybe you took it by accident or s-”
“I stopped smoking like a month ago, so no. And I know how much you love that lighter, so I wouldn’t take it anyway.” Dustin interrupted Mark. “Maybe you just lost it.”
“I hope not.”
Mark left his stool for a second in order to ask a girl he’d seen smoking earlier if she could light his cigarette, then promptly came back to sit next to Dustin.
“Eduardo is gone for a night and you’re flirting already?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow. Joking again, which proved he was just Dustin-mad. Before Mark could say anything, he started cackling. He truly loved pissing Mark off.
“Shut up.”
“With a chick too… Eduardo’s gonna be so mad when he finds out.”
“Dustin.”
After a few moments of staring at each other, they both burst into laughter.
"Do you think Wardo took my lighter? Actually, that's stupid, he doesn't smoke." Mark rambled.
"It's not stupid, maybe he took it because he would miss you."
That did make a lot of sense, even though Eduardo didn't seem like the sentimental type. Neither of them did, which left people very confused about their relationship, but it was actually quite the opposite. They showed their affection in subtle ways, like Mark and his habit of stealing Wardo's clothing, especially a black fleece that was exceptionally soft. Eduardo had insisted on buying one for him, but he'd rather inconvenience his boyfriend. Maybe that was what had happened with the lighter.
He ashed his cigarette and considered going up to the girl from before to ask her for a light again, but ultimately decided against it. Something about smoking without his trusty lighter just felt weird. That lighter was, in many ways, a big part of TheFacebook. Not only was it apparently never empty, which saved him a few trips to the convenience store when coding and smoking, an unfortunate habit he'd grown in the last few months, it was also the inspiration behind its color scheme, a soothing light blue.
Chris came back inside, his hair a bit messed up from the wind outside, which Dustin seemed to notice as his hand reached out to fix a strand that stood up, looking particularly funny. Mark watched the two of them, feeling out of place.
"I think I should go back to Kirkland. I still haven't finished those problem sets for next class." he announced.
"Dude, you always do those perfectly in like, ten minutes, can't you stay a little longer?" Dustin protested.
Mark didn't pay attention to him, having already made up his mind. He retrieved a ten dollar bill from his wallet and left it on the table, and with that, he was gone.
Dustin was right about Mark's abilities, the problem sets were mostly an excuse. He just felt weird, as if some invisible force wanted him out of there immediately. The cold crept up on him as he walked, like the weather wasn’t up to date with the fact that it was spring, and he wished he had Eduardo's jacket with him but unfortunately he had taken it to New York.
Along the way, he kept checking his pockets, making sure he really didn't have his lighter. Finally he got to Kirkland, where everyone seemed to be out; the only sound that could be heard as he climbed up the stairs was the thump of his slides.
As soon as he opened the door, he texted Dustin to ask for his computers. A few seconds later he got a text back, reading 'in billys closet ;) have fun w ur problm sets". Mark pondered what, and even if to reply at all, and ended up settling on 'thx nvr do tht again have fun w chris'.
He wondered if Billy had allowed Dustin to mess with his closet, since he was usually quite protective of it. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the room and Mark didn't care quite enough to shoot him a text. Maybe if Dustin pissed him off again, he'd tell him about it.
After setting his stuff back up on his desk he sat there for a while, staring blankly at the screens. This was the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him: he couldn't find the motivation to code. He toyed around with a few functions he'd been working on, but nothing he wrote seemed to be right.
Then, he decided he would give the problem sets a shot, since they'd be quick and easy, something to get his brain going. Scribbled numbers filled the pages, slower than other times. He was struggling with some of the problems, something that he hadn't ever experienced before, but he decided to ignore it.
Just to make sure, he looked over his answers a few times, and then filed the papers away in a binder. It seemed like an insane amount of organization, but after seeing him pull one too many crumpled answer sheets out of his backpack, Eduardo had bought it for him, and he would feel terrible if he didn't use it.
The light coming from the screens was making Mark's head hurt, and he didn't even think about it for a minute before turning his computers off. It was late, and there wasn't a chance he could manage to produce any meaningful code in his deplorable mindset. A shame, yes, but TheFacebook would survive another day without Mark working until the early morning. He left his chair for the bathroom and soon heard Dustin and Chris come into the room, the clinking of keys and their feet dragging. It seemed like they had kept on drinking for a while.
"I'm hoooome!" Dustin announced, purely to annoy Mark.
Chris shushed him.
"I noticed, you're not exactly a ninja."
Dustin's laughter was muffled by the wall between them, but loud enough that Mark could definitely still hear it.
"I need to pee!" he complained, followed by banging on the bathroom door.
"Fuck off, Dustin." Mark replied, taking his time to brush his teeth and even wash his face, reaching for the five-in-one Eduardo dreaded so much, since he wasn't there to complain about it.
After what seemed like forever, Mark finally headed for his bed. He reached for his phone and sent Eduardo a quick goodnight text, complete with a less-than-three, and shoved his face in the pillow, needing the day to be over as soon as possible. Surely his bad luck would reset in the morning.