Broken Circuits (VeeMark)

Chapter Five

After Mark left James to go back to his own department, he found that he couldn't focus on his work. He was preoccupied by the change he had seen in Vee. It was irritating. Mark would usually use work to forget about everything else; it was never hard for him to focus on it. In fact, it was the opposite. Mark would often find it hard to think about anything other than his work.

Stupid Vee. Why did he have to be so odd? Mark wanted to know what was going on in the man's head because he could never figure it out. Though that was not something new. Mark was not the most perceptive person when it came to people. Technology sure, he could notice everything tiny thing about that, but people? People weren't logical, they based things on emotion and that was Mark's struggle. If someone was subtle in displaying their feelings, then he wouldn't notice. However, the longer Mark someone, the better he would get at it, almost like perfecting an algorithm. The more information you collect, the better you can predict future data. At this point, James was incredibly easy to read for Mark, but Vee was most definitely not.

Mark hadn't known Vee for long, but he had thought that he had gotten a general idea of Vee's personality. The afternoon he had just spent with Vee though, that had seemed to change nearly every assumption he had made. Mark could almost imagine tiny scientists in his head screaming in frustration as they tried to input the data about Vee from this afternoon into the current algorithm based on past information about Vee.

"Mark?"

Mark yelped, jumping. He would have fallen off his stool if Vee hadn't caught him in his arms. Had he summoned Vee somehow by saying his name too many times in his head?!

Vee laughed at Mark's behaviour, holding him up until he was sure Mark was able to stand upright. Such a nervous boy. Apparently, the way Mark acted on the first day was what happened if someone surprised him. Seeing this, Vee could finally relax, discarding the last of suspicions.

"Vee! What are you doing here?"

"Did you forget? I'm helping you prepare for tomorrow's meeting."

"What?!" Mark exclaimed, quickly moving to check the time on his computer.

Mark hadn't forgotten, not at all, he just hadn't realised that hours had passed already. Work was nearly over; it was to go home. Glancing round Mark realised that quite a few of his colleagues had already gone. Mark was stunned. Had he really spent all this time thinking about Vee?

"Ah, lose track of time?" Vee asked, leaning over Mark to check what he was looking at on his screen.

"Um, yeah."

"Do you have something to finish off or can we go?"

"We can go," Mark rushed out, tidying up his desk and packing up some of his stuff.

Vee led Mark out of the building and to his car. He wasn't a big car guy, but he made sure to buy a luxury one when the company started doing well. What was the point of having money if you didn't spend it? Vee surprised himself by instinctively opening the car door for Mark. Luckily, the man made no comment and just climbed in with a grateful, albeit confused, nod. It was only when Vee started the car that Mark seemed to come back to his confident self. The one that Vee was used to as it was the one who had rejected nearly all off his excuses to spend time together in that first week.

"Where are we going?"

"Going to get you a suit."

"What? I don't want to buy a suit."

"I'm buying it for you," Vee murmured, focusing more on the road than Mark as they were at a busy intersection.

"No. Turn this car around."

Vee smiled a little to himself. He had never thought he would miss this argumentative side of Mark, but hearing it again filled him with a warm sense of nostalgia, even though it had only been about two weeks since the last time. Unfortunately for Mark, he was already in Vee's car. Vee ignored Mark's protest and just kept driving to his favourite store.

"Vee," Mark began slowly, trying to hide his annoyance, "I am not letting you buy me a suit."

"Vee. Do you hear me?" Mark asked, his voice becoming sterner and a little louder.

"Vee!" Mark exclaimed, fully turning in his seat to face the driver.

"You need a suit. I'm buying you one."

"Why do I need a suit?"

"For the meeting tomorrow. It's at a fancy restaurant so you need to be all dressed up."

"I have suits. I don't need a new one and I certainly don't need you to buy it."

Vee was stopped at some traffic lights, so he glanced at Mark. The man was glaring at Vee, clearly angry, with his arms folded over his chest.

"Agree to disagree," Vee said, smirking before turning back to the road to set off as the light turned green.

Mark was stunned, feeling his mouth drop open a little. Which Vee was this now? Just as Mark was changing his opinions about Vee, the man behaved differently once again. Mark thought this Vee was kind whilst simultaneously being incredibly annoying, the idiot.

What surprised Mark the most was how he felt about Vee's behaviour. Mark might be a little irritated, but he was also enjoying it. The atmosphere was light and joking even with Mark's angry words. There was something different about this Vee than the one he had first met. Mark was no longer disturbed by the smile on Vee's face and could feel an answering one twitching on his lips, making him frown. He was supposed to be annoyed with Vee. What was this?