He should be flattered. A statement like that, the implication in it, it's a big fucking deal coming from Mark, and more than likely, Eduardo thinks, the product of the beers his friend's been guzzling down since they walked in here. It brings with it its own set of complications, of course — the expectations suggested earlier that Eduardo would be around to be talked to at all, the weight it now puts on Eduardo's shoulders to offer something in return (and he has to, of course, could never be so dismissive of Mark and knows Mark well enough that he couldn't take something like this for granted even if he wanted to) — but at the heart of it, it's a good thing. Mark wanted to talk, presumably before he ever arrived on Tabula Rasa, and that means that maybe Eduardo isn't the last resort after all. He could never compare to Sean or the hypnotizing lights and seedy goings-on of Palo Alto, but he's not nothing, either. That counts for a lot, as it turns out, the hope it provides that this isn't just circumstantial, facilitated by their being on the island but not solely because of it. Just because he wouldn't have gone crawling back to Mark's side doesn't mean that he wouldn't have preferred reconciliation to further years of silence.
"We're talking now," he offers, tone just slightly softer. It could be — no, it is, absolutely and without a doubt — fantastically stupid of him, but they are talking, and his own implication is that it won't be the last time. That this isn't just small talk over beers to catch up, isn't just to help Mark get settle in after arriving. They're a cheap facsimile of what they once were, dancing around subjects and trying to steer clear of feelings that run too deep, but they aren't so broken as to be wholly unsalvageable. Whatever drew them together before, it hasn't vanished from them entirely, and the least Eduardo can do is give him a chance. "I — I know it doesn't make a difference back there, really, but..." He shrugs, not about to get too far into it if Mark isn't. "Besides, you don't really care what the Winklevosses think, do you?"
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Date: 2011-05-21 12:38 am (UTC)"We're talking now," he offers, tone just slightly softer. It could be — no, it is, absolutely and without a doubt — fantastically stupid of him, but they are talking, and his own implication is that it won't be the last time. That this isn't just small talk over beers to catch up, isn't just to help Mark get settle in after arriving. They're a cheap facsimile of what they once were, dancing around subjects and trying to steer clear of feelings that run too deep, but they aren't so broken as to be wholly unsalvageable. Whatever drew them together before, it hasn't vanished from them entirely, and the least Eduardo can do is give him a chance. "I — I know it doesn't make a difference back there, really, but..." He shrugs, not about to get too far into it if Mark isn't. "Besides, you don't really care what the Winklevosses think, do you?"