Eduardo tenses. It isn't a thought-through reaction, but given that Mark's the one brought the subject back to the two of them, he has to imagine that he'll be expecting something to that effect. With the exception of a few sentences, they've been dancing around this subject for so long that he isn't quite sure what to do with it now, whether he should put everything out in the open or cut Mark a generous, undeserved break. And it is undeserved, he insists to himself. The wording sounds like it's something Mark decided on, but for all that Eduardo intended to come back and take everything, he doesn't want Mark to give him anything, to do him any favors or try for some sort of halfhearted appeasement. The company isn't what matters, has never been what mattered. Their friendship is. A name on a masthead is a small consolation when he's lost his best friend, when he's been so utterly fucking betrayed, and settling a lawsuit isn't any sort of reconciliation.
That quickly, he's all but forgotten about Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss again, too wrapped up in himself and Mark and their own issues to bother commenting on the settlement. (There's a part of him, yes, that hears sixty-five million and is amazed that they — that Facebook, without him, because there's no them, not anymore — grew so big. It's inconsequential, comparatively speaking. Just like Sean Parker said, a million dollars isn't cool, and cool was clearly what Facebook strove to be in the end.) They're going to have to do this sooner or later. "You thought or your lawyers thought?" Eduardo asks somewhat flatly, glancing down to his shoes against the boardwalk. A part of him feels guilty for it almost immediately, knowing that it isn't the worst response he could have had, but is still fairly cold; try though he might to hide it, it's written all over his face. He's too tired to apologize for it, though, too hurt. Most people in his position would have turned around and walked away as soon as they saw Mark Zuckerberg sitting on the couch, after all. In terms of meaning, his question pales in comparison to the fact that he's standing here now, going with Mark for a beer, not quite like old times but close enough. What Mark chooses to lay emphasis on, that's entirely out of Eduardo's control, but he can't help hoping that he'll see the bigger picture, that he was always in Mark's corner to begin with.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-20 04:43 am (UTC)That quickly, he's all but forgotten about Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss again, too wrapped up in himself and Mark and their own issues to bother commenting on the settlement. (There's a part of him, yes, that hears sixty-five million and is amazed that they — that Facebook, without him, because there's no them, not anymore — grew so big. It's inconsequential, comparatively speaking. Just like Sean Parker said, a million dollars isn't cool, and cool was clearly what Facebook strove to be in the end.) They're going to have to do this sooner or later. "You thought or your lawyers thought?" Eduardo asks somewhat flatly, glancing down to his shoes against the boardwalk. A part of him feels guilty for it almost immediately, knowing that it isn't the worst response he could have had, but is still fairly cold; try though he might to hide it, it's written all over his face. He's too tired to apologize for it, though, too hurt. Most people in his position would have turned around and walked away as soon as they saw Mark Zuckerberg sitting on the couch, after all. In terms of meaning, his question pales in comparison to the fact that he's standing here now, going with Mark for a beer, not quite like old times but close enough. What Mark chooses to lay emphasis on, that's entirely out of Eduardo's control, but he can't help hoping that he'll see the bigger picture, that he was always in Mark's corner to begin with.