Zenith of Desire: The Hollywood Incubus

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”Marvin!” He stopped a little too abruptly, slightly out of breath. ”There you are.”

”I was starting to think you’d transferred schools or something.”

Marvin smiled. ”I’ve just been busy.”

”Busy?” Mark gave him an incredulous look. ”That’s the understatement of the century.”

He threw both hands into the air. ”Seriously, you disappear for months, then I turn on the news and apparently you’ve killed two leopards with a bow.”

He shook his head. ”Who does that? I don’t know anyone who does that.”

Marvin chuckled. ”It wasn’t exactly planned.”

”I know!”

”That’s the crazy part!”

Mark leaned in, lowering his voice as if sharing classified information.

”I clipped every newspaper article. ...My mom says that’s probably unhealthy.”

Marvin laughed.

”I’ve seen every interview.”

”I bought the single the day it came out.”

”I’ve read the new book. And I still can’t figure out how one person has enough hours in a day.”

He stared at Marvin for a second before blurting out, ”It’s honestly kind of terrifying.”

Marvin simply smiled. ”I’ll take that as a compliment.”

”It definitely is.” Mark nodded enthusiastically, very comfortable around his best friend. ”It absolutely is.”

Looking at the enthusiastic, incredibly nerdy teenager, Marvin felt a twinge of what a human might call guilt. He had dedicated all his free time over the last few months to building his corporate empire and cultivating his relationship with girls, and he had indeed entirely neglected his ’good friend’ and future tech CEO.

Marvin looked at him for a moment. ”I owe you an apology.”

Mark blinked. ”For what?

”I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t had much time for friends.”

Mark shrugged. ”I figured.”

”You’ve basically become... well...”

He gestured vaguely.

”...Marvin.”

”As if that explained everything.”

”It does?”

”It kind of does.”

Marvin laughed. ”Still. I’ve got something for you.”

Mark frowned. ”...You do?”

”A graduation present.”

Mark instinctively looked down at Marvin’s empty hands. ”I don’t see anything.”

”It isn’t here. I had it sent to the estate first. It should arrive at your house tomorrow.”

Mark’s curiosity immediately took over.

”What is it?”

Marvin let the suspense hang for a second. ”A computer.”

Mark’s eyes widened. ”...Seriously?”

”A custom-built Apple. Top specification. As much memory as they’ll sell. Fastest processor available. For programming.”

For a full second Mark simply stared at him. Then his jaw slowly fell open. ”...You’re kidding.”

”I’m not.”

”Oh...”

”My...”

”God.”

He actually laughed in disbelief.

”That’s...”

”...that’s exactly what I wanted.”

”I’ve been saving magazine ads for months.”

”My dad keeps saying our old computer still works.”

”It does.”

”...Barely.”

Marvin smiled. ”Now you’ll have one that doesn’t barely work.”

Mark shook his head, still trying to process it. ”Thank you. I mean... ...really.”

”Thank you.”

Marvin was pleased to see his joy. He had made a mental note to buy the latest top-tier Apple rig as soon as he returned to LA. Mark didn’t need to know the gift was technically still sitting in a retail box at a store.

He nodded. ”I expect you’ll put it to good use.”

”Oh, definitely.”

Mark grinned. ”I’ll probably spend more time with it than with actual people.”

”I never doubted that.”

Mark laughed.

”Fair.”

Still buzzing with excitement, he grabbed Marvin lightly by the sleeve. ”Come here. I’ve got something to tell you.”

He pulled him toward the bleachers before lowering his voice.

”You remember Wendy?”

Marvin raised an eyebrow. ”I remember you talking about Wendy.”

Mark’s ears immediately turned red. ”I... ...I finally asked her out.”

Marvin looked genuinely interested. ”You actually did it?”

”I did.”

”I thought I was going to pass out.”

”I spent three days rewriting what I was going to say.”

”Then I forgot almost all of it.”

”So I just... said it.”

Marvin folded his arms. ”And?”

Looking at Mark’s incredibly happy, dopey expression, Marvin thought to himself: ’Did Mark actually succeed? The boy had the social grace of a brick.’

’So... which one is Wendy?’

Marvin tapped into his memory, scanning the faces of the girls. He finally remembered her—a pretty, slightly pretentious girl with brown hair who had occasionally hovered around Marvin’s periphery, hoping for his attention.

”The result?” Mark let out a long breath, and despite himself, he smiled. ”I actually did it.”

He looked almost nostalgic already. ”I asked her after school. Over by the playground.”

Marvin folded his arms. ”You really confessed in front of everyone?”

Mark nodded enthusiastically. ”Well... mostly because of what you told me.”

”I did?”

”You said if you’re serious about someone, don’t hide it. Have the courage to say it properly.”

Marvin closed his eyes for a brief second.

’That wasn’t exactly what I meant.’ Marvin shook his head slightly, realizing Mark had completely misunderstood the nuance of his advice. Courage was for predators; Mark was prey. ”So?” he asked. ”What happened?”

Mark scratched the back of his neck.

”At first she just... froze.”

”I thought I’d completely broken her brain.”

He laughed awkwardly. ”Then she walked over and hugged me.”

Marvin raised an eyebrow. ”She hugged you?”

”Yeah.”

”And then she leaned over and whispered...” Mark’s voice softened as he quoted her. ”Mark... I don’t like you that way.”

”But come on.”

”Let’s get out of here before everyone keeps staring.”

Mark smiled.

”Then she took my hand and walked me away.”

He looked at Marvin as though expecting congratulations. ”See? She could’ve embarrassed me in front of everybody. But she didn’t. She’s really a nice person.”

Marvin didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he studied Mark for several quiet seconds. The sheer, blinding naivety of the teenager was almost offensive to the demon.

”...Mark.”

”What?”

”I think you’re only looking at one side of what happened.”

Mark frowned. ”What do you mean?”

”Tell me something. When she took your hand...what did everyone else see?”

Mark blinked. ”They saw... ...us walking away. Together.”

”Exactly.” Marvin spoke calmly, almost like he was explaining a programming problem. ”Now imagine you’re one of the other students watching.”

”You don’t hear what she whispered. You only see her take your hand and leave with you.”

Mark’s expression slowly began to change. ”...Oh.”

Marvin continued. ”From their perspective, the two of you suddenly looked... connected. They don’t know she turned you down. They only know she chose to walk away with you.”

Mark’s smile faded. ”I... I didn’t think about that.”

”Wendy may have genuinely been trying to spare your feelings.” Marvin shrugged. ”She also avoided becoming ’the girl who publicly humiliated Mark.’ Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.”

”By doing exactly that,” Marvin said, his voice dropping into a clinical, ruthless tone, ”she didn’t just reject you. She made sure every other girl on that playground would reject you too.”

Mark stood quietly, replaying the afternoon in his head.

The whispers.

The looks.

The students watching them leave together.

”...Huh.”

”I never looked at it like that.”

Marvin smiled faintly. ”Most people don’t. They’re too busy living the moment to notice how everyone else is interpreting it.”

Mark rubbed his forehead. ”So... ...everyone probably made up their own story.”

”Probably.”

”And none of those stories were accurate.”

”That’s usually how crowds work.”

”Think about the psychology of the crowd, Mark. It’s just code,” Marvin explained, breaking down the social matrix. ”When you confessed, you put her on the spot. If she rejects you loudly, she looks like a cruel bitch, which damages her social standing. If she accepts you, she lowers her social market value by dating a nerd in her eyes. So, she chose the third option. By taking your hand and walking you away from the crowd, she looked incredibly sweet and compassionate to the onlookers.”

Marvin leaned in closer. ”But what did the other girls see? They saw you two holding hands and walking off into the sunset. They now think you are attached to Wendy. You are her little lapdog. Not only did she completely reject you, but she also flipped the table over. By marking you as her orbiter, she completely neutralized your ability to pursue anyone else in that social circle. She isolated you to protect her own image.”

Mark stood completely stunned. The blood drained from his face.

He thought about the logic. It was brutal math.

When so many people saw Wendy and him leaving hand-in-hand, they wouldn’t think he was single and available. They would think he was emotionally compromised and off the market.

Mark suddenly felt a sharp, agonizing pain in his chest as the illusion of the ”sweet girl” shattered into a thousand jagged pieces of manipulation.

Mark sighed. ”Human beings are weird. They’re remarkably inefficient.”

That earned him a laugh. ”You really are a programmer.”

”I know.” After another moment, Marvin clapped him lightly on the shoulder. ”Besides... We’re graduating.”

Mark looked up.

”In a few months we’ll all be at different high schools. Different classmates. Different social circles. The world’s a lot bigger than one playground.”

Mark’s eyes brightened almost immediately. ”...You’re right.”

He laughed. ”The graph resets.”

Marvin blinked. ”The graph?”

”My social graph.” Mark grinned. ”New school. New people. New opportunities. I’ll just... try again.”

Marvin couldn’t help smiling. ”There speaks the engineer.”

Mark shrugged, his optimism returning as quickly as it had disappeared.

”Version one failed. So... ...I’ll build version two. The network resets! Who will even remember me or Wendy then?” He grinned, his resilient, logical brain rebooting. ”So Wendy is still a good lesson, hehe!”

Marvin looked at him for a moment before a thought occurred to him. ”...Mark.”

”What?”

”Aren’t you going to the affiliated high school?”

Mark blinked. ”...Yeah.”

”The one...”

Marvin pointed toward the building across the athletic field. ”...literally on the same campus?”

Silence.

Mark’s face slowly fell. ”...Oh.”

Another beat. ”...Oh, no.”

He slapped a hand over his forehead. ”I completely forgot.”

Marvin tried not to smile. ”So the ’fresh start’ isn’t happening?”

Mark groaned dramatically. ”I’m doomed. They’re all going to be there. Wendy’s going to be there. Everyone who watched is going to be there.”

He buried his face in both hands. ”Why does life keep optimizing against me?”

Marvin laughed. ”I thought programmers liked optimization.”

”Not when I’m the bug.” The answer was so immediate that Marvin laughed even harder.

Mark sighed miserably. ”I really thought I’d escaped.”

Marvin rested a hand on his shoulder. ”It isn’t the end of the world.”

”It feels pretty close.”

”Look at the upside.”

”What upside?”

”You’ll have fewer distractions.”

Mark stared at him blankly. ”You just got one of the fastest personal computers money can buy. You’ve been talking about programming for months. You’ll finally have time to build things.”

Marvin patted his shoulder again, his voice taking on the commanding, guiding tone of a mentor shaping a weapon. ”It’s okay, Mark. Look on the bright side. Because you are now socially isolated from the teenage dating pool, you will have more free time to tinker with your new computer.”

Mark made a face. ”Marvin...”

”What?”

”I like computers. ...A lot. But I’d still say screw that!” Mark yelled, his teenage hormones overriding his intellect. ”Compared to computers, I still want to tinker with girls!”

That answer genuinely caught Marvin off guard. He looked at Mark for a second before smiling. ’Is this the same Mark Zuckerberg I know from the past timeline?’

”You’ve changed.”

”I hope so.”

”I’m fourteen.”

”I’m supposed to.”

Marvin nodded thoughtfully. ”Then maybe you’re looking at it the wrong way.”

Mark frowned. ”What do you mean?”

”Don’t compete one person at a time. Build something people want to use. Use the computer to get the girls, ”

Mark tilted his head.

”If people enjoy using something you’ve built... ..they’ll come to you. Friends. Classmates. Girls. Relationships grow surprisingly fast around useful tools.”

Mark’s expression shifted. The disappointment faded. His eyes sharpened. ”...Useful tools.”

Marvin continued casually. ”Think bigger than one conversation. Think about how people actually interact. They share news. They gossip. They compare classes. They organize. They’re constantly passing information around. Human interaction is just an exchange of data. It’s a network. If you can build a system that maps their social connections, their likes, their vanities... if you control the network they use to gossip, you control the girls.”

Mark’s gaze drifted away. Almost unconsciously, he began visualizing it. ”A network...”

he murmured.

”Sort of.” Marvin smiled. ”I think you’ll figure out the rest yourself.”

For a few seconds Mark didn’t speak. His brain was clearly somewhere else already. Mark looked up, his eyes widening as the psychological concept hit his brilliant brain. The sorrow faded, replaced by a sudden, intense curiosity. ”Map their connections...” Then, almost instinctively, he asked, ”By the way... The computer... It’ll handle serious programming, right? I read on some forums that Apple developed a new graphical OS that’s supposedly comparable to Windows architecture?”

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