Sevs took the keyboard from Markus and took a second to re-familiarize himself with it. They had computers at home, but he hadn't ever used them. Not that he was explicitly banned from them. Just Mother had always been good at making sure he had something else to do; since then, he and Father had been pretty much inseparable.

Sevs looked at Markus, leaning back in his chair with his big hands laced behind his head, and thought back to Father and Markus’s conversations. Before he could catch himself, he blurted out. “I bet you want me to drive because you are tired of fat-fingering the semicolon.”

Sevs froze. That was really out of character. He sometimes made funny quips, but not like this. Usually, it was situational and rarely at anyone's expense. He had never felt comfortable enough in his ability to read the room. Also, there was no one he had been close enough to since his family had ascended.

Markus, without a pause, threw his head back and let out a deep and full guffaw that rang throughout the small room. It took him a few seconds to get himself under control. Pushing off the wall behind him, he set the front legs of his chair back on the ground and looked Sevs in the eye. “You are more like your father than I realized. I always saw more of your mother in your face.”

Grinning again, Markus chuckled. “I thought you didn’t notice, honestly. You would think after doing it for so many years, I would be better at typing. My hands are just too big. See?”

Markus held out one massive hand towards Sevs, his fingers splayed upwards. It truly was enormous, Sevs thought. It was way bigger than his face. Even as those thoughts flowed over the surface of his consciousness, Sevs had another. “One, you honestly do have massive hands, weirdly so. Two, have we met before? I feel like I should remember you.”

Markus said, “Yeah, we met yesterday…. Don’t you remember?”

Sevs just looked at Markus till his shit-eating grin slid away.

“No, we hadn't. Your dad just showed me family photos back when we were working together. Once he changed positions and had you, we didn’t see each other nearly as much. It is funny as an adult; time seems even less your own. You get busy, and your friends start to slip away. Before you know it, one day, you look up from your work and realize you have let all your friends disappear and you are all alone. It's a mistake I don’t intend to make again.” As he spoke, his face fell even further away from the happy man he was just a few moments ago until a sad expression was all that was left.

Sevs felt that. Right deep down in his soul. The unexpected realization that everyone you used to know has moved on, and you haven’t had a meaningful conversation for as long as you can remember. That all you need is a hug and to share a laugh, but there is no one left.

“Wow, I really killed the mood there, didn’t I?” Markus asked with a shake of the head. He stood up and paced in a small circle. “Your father and I were good friends but haven't talked in a long time. We hadn’t seen each other in years until the funeral. As you get older, true friends are harder to find. I want to help as much as I can. Also, you seem like an exceptionally cool kid, and no offense intended, but it doesn’t seem like you have a lot in common with others your age.”

Sevs smiled at the last part. It fit in perfectly, so it didn’t feel too insulting. It was certainly the truth and made him feel understood. “You certainly did kill the mood, Markus... How about we get back to it?”

Sevs turned back to the screen. “It seems that we should probably just turn this bit into a helper function. The divergence of logic seems to be the real issue if we used the same thing over in the…” As they dove back into the program, Sevs realized one other thing about Markus’s last comment. Not only did it make him feel a lot better and smooth over most of the awkwardness, but it also didn’t make him feel like a burden. He honestly didn’t get the impression that Markus was hanging out with him just as a favor to Father. He wondered if that was Markus’s true intent behind the comment. Either way, that was something to think about. Truly a man with Markus’s way with words was wasted here.

***

“You know that did not take nearly as long as I thought it would”

“I thought you said it wouldn’t take too long.”

“Well, with you typing, I figured it would take us at least until lunch.”

“Hey, give my hand a year or so to get a little bigger, and I will type twice as fast as you, ya overgrown elephant.”

“Elephant?! What do you mean by that?”

“Well if it was 2000 years ago, a Carthaginian would be trying to ride you across the Alps. I swear when you were driving, every third keystroke was a backspace!”

“... You know, I can’t even be mad about that. I much prefer that Hannibal comparison to the alternative. So we got a little more than an hour before lunch, and my meeting was moved back. This office building has a gym. Wanna learn how to deadlift?”

Sevs had periods of physical fitness even if he had never tried a strength build. When he was trying an agility and dexterity playthrough, he had spent a lot of time running and doing conditioning but not much strength training. He always hated working out. It was always lonely and boring. Sevs would much rather work on an interesting problem; if he had to better himself, he would learn some new spell or theory.

Markus saw the hesitation on his face. He put a hand surprisingly gently on Sevs shoulder, “At least give it a shot. I think you will be surprised.”

Sevs doubted it. He just didn’t like physical activity. It wasn’t that he was lazy. He just didn’t like the way his body felt afterward. He would be all tired and unable to do anything. Also, it never benefited his play-through. There was no need for a spell caster to be able to hit hard. Anytime working on his physical conditioning was time he was not practicing his more essential skills. A standard Charisma class would be a bard. They didn’t need much strength. They would get their way via singing, dancing, and seduction. Being able to move heavy things shouldn’t play into it at all.

Meeting Markus’s eyes, Sevs sighed. Despite all the rationalizations in his head, he agreed with a nod. He might not enjoy it, but it seemed to matter to Markus, and he liked the man. As Markus smiled brightly and turned to lead them to the gym Sevs stutter-stepped. That was unlike him. He normally would not have agreed. Not that he wouldn’t be willing to do something he was not interested in for someone else’s sake. He was not that self-centered. Just that it usually was a few hours later in the shower when he realized what the subtext was. Then he would kick himself for acting like a jerk without realizing it. Was this his increased Charisma leaking through? Or was he finally learning to deal with people in such a short time, a fraction of a fraction of his life and he was changing already?

With a new spring in his step, Sevs followed Markus toward the gym.