"You —" Eduardo starts, not because it's something that he thinks bears repeating, but rather because, for a moment, he isn't sure he's heard right. It isn't that he doesn't think Mark can be apologetic — on rare occasions, when absolutely called for, he can, and anyway, there's no apology in there — but it's still just about the last thing he expects to hear. It's something. And, in a way, that hurts, too, simply because it's so surprising. He has every reason to be done hoping for the best from Mark, but at least he seems to mean it, the forced, uncomfortable way in which it's said making clear enough that this really an unusual thing, they aren't just pretty words trying to make the situation better. (At least, Eduardo believes that to be the case. He has to reserve final judgment, still, the damage done by Mark still too raw for him to dive into anything, to suddenly want to pick up where they left off. There's no doing that at all, not here, because there's nowhere to pick up from. In retrospect, he doesn't know how he didn't see it, the slow decline he tried to smooth over with a hefty sum of money and support even when he thought Mark's decisions weren't especially sound ones. He isn't overly proud, doesn't like to make too much of himself, but most people, he thinks, would consider what he did going above and beyond. He just considers it friendship. Not the dollar amounts, but what they meant, what they allowed. All of that was taken for granted, and he's put up with a lot in the past, but this time, he's learned.)
For a long few seconds, he's too stunned to really respond, staring at the back of Mark's hoodie as he heads for the doorway. That's when it hits him: this is the only chance he has to do something, and he won't disregard it. It's a big step for Mark, after all, and beyond that, it's a moral issue for him. Mark shut him out before. He won't do the same, means to be the bigger person, even if all careful efforts wind up being futile on his part. At least he'll know that he tried. It is, after all, the only thing he could really ask for, remorse on Mark's part. The money in itself, the percentage of shares, has never meant a damn thing to him, and Mark, he's sure, has to know that by now. It's what it stands for that makes all the difference to him. That it hurt on a business level on top of the personal was really just the icing on the fucking metaphorical cake.
"Hey, man," he calls, right around the time Mark gets through the door, pace quickening to close the distance between them. He still needs to figure out how to answer something he's so not prepared to deal with, Mark's arrival in itself surprising enough, but Mark's made his move; the next one has to be his, and he isn't letting Mark just walk away. "Wait up."
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Date: 2011-05-15 08:40 am (UTC)For a long few seconds, he's too stunned to really respond, staring at the back of Mark's hoodie as he heads for the doorway. That's when it hits him: this is the only chance he has to do something, and he won't disregard it. It's a big step for Mark, after all, and beyond that, it's a moral issue for him. Mark shut him out before. He won't do the same, means to be the bigger person, even if all careful efforts wind up being futile on his part. At least he'll know that he tried. It is, after all, the only thing he could really ask for, remorse on Mark's part. The money in itself, the percentage of shares, has never meant a damn thing to him, and Mark, he's sure, has to know that by now. It's what it stands for that makes all the difference to him. That it hurt on a business level on top of the personal was really just the icing on the fucking metaphorical cake.
"Hey, man," he calls, right around the time Mark gets through the door, pace quickening to close the distance between them. He still needs to figure out how to answer something he's so not prepared to deal with, Mark's arrival in itself surprising enough, but Mark's made his move; the next one has to be his, and he isn't letting Mark just walk away. "Wait up."