VM Fic: A Square in a Triangle (Mac, Logan, Veronica, other Hearst students) PG-13
Title: A Square in a Triangle, Pt 1/2
Pairing/Character: Mac, Logan, Veronica, other Hearst students
Word Count: ~5,000 this part, ~8,400 total
Rating: PG-13 (some language)
Summary: Mac gets involved, despite her best efforts to stay out of the drama.
Spoilers: Seasons 2 and 3
Disclaimer: If Rob Thomas lets me borrow them, they will be returned in their current pristine condition.
Notes: This fic starts during 3.14: Mars Bars, and continues through 3.17: Debasement Tapes, going AU during the “Grade My Ass” project. Thanks to the lovely creators of Veronica Mars Transcripts, which helped me keep my timelines and dialogue straight.
And happy birthday to onceuponapillow, who shares my love of Mac/Logan buddy fics! I know I'm a couple days early, but this ended up being a two-parter, so posting today will ensure that I finish Part 2 in time for posting on your actual birthday!
“‘Two team members must go to the top floor of the science building and take a photo of yourselves on the roof, next to the roses in the greenhouse,’” Logan read aloud. “‘Note: The elevator is off, so you have to take the stairs.’ The stairs? That’s eight floors up.”
“I’ll do it!” Parker chirped, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She held up a fist toward her roommate. “Come on, Mac-girl power!”
Mac groaned. “Do you know me? I’m here to do the math.”
Bronson gave her hand a squeeze. “I’ll go. I’m not going to be able to go for a run tomorrow-” he glanced at his watch-“make that today, anyway.”
“Wooo!” Parker shouted, pumping her girl-power fist in the air, as the pair ran into the building.
As soon as they were out of sight, Mac and Logan dropped down to sit on the front steps. Logan put his elbows on his knees and rested his head on his forearms.
“Sorry, I should have warned you that this would be an all-nighter,” Mac said. “The rest of us took naps yesterday so we’d be prepared.”
“S’okay,” Logan replied. “My sleep habits are pretty irregular anyway. And it’s not like anyone’s at home waiting up for me.”
A short but uncomfortable silence fell over them.
“Actually, I’m kind of surprised you asked me to come out with you guys,” Logan added, picking his head up. “I figured you and Parker were obligated to hate me now.”
“Hate you?”
“Because of what happened with me and Veronica. As her girlfriends, I thought you’d been required to participate in some kind of ritual involving the burning of photographs and the cursing of my man-parts.”
“First of all, no one burns photographs anymore, Gramps,” Mac said, flicking her hair off her shoulder. “They delete them from their hard drive. Secondly, your parts are safe-there are no curses that I’m aware of.”
Logan gave her a half-smile. “Good to know.”
“And I’m not mad at you for how things turned out. Mostly, I was just kind of sad for both of you,” Mac said quietly.
“Really.” Logan was genuinely surprised. “And all this time, I was under the impression that you didn’t like me very much.”
Mac laughed nervously. “Well, you can be kind of surly sometimes, and I’m easily intimidated. But…” She pulled her jacket more tightly around her. “…you’re still the guy who took care of me on the worst night of my life. And I don’t think I ever really thanked you for that.”
Logan rubbed the back of his neck. “Eh, I just drove you home.”
“And you got the hotel staff to find me some clothes, and you practically carried me to the car, and then you came in with me to help me tell my mom and dad what happened. And you were taking care of Veronica through all of that too. You totally held us together when you probably felt like falling apart yourself.”
“You may have heard, but I do have some experience in handling personal tragedy,” he said, in a lame attempt at a joke.
Mac shook her head. “I don’t know how you do it, I really don’t.”
“Well, I drink more than I should and I sleep with inappropriate people,” Logan replied, “but those coping mechanisms don’t work as well as you’d think.”
“I’m just saying,” she said with an eye-roll, “I’ve just had the one incident of death and destruction, and I’m still a wreck. The fact that you’re still upright is an accomplishment in itself.”
“A wreck? You’ve got the scholarship, a job that you like,” Logan said, “the cute new veggie boyfriend…” He smirked and nudged her with his shoulder.
She smiled and nudged him back. “I don’t know, I think Bronson’s going to get fed up with me soon enough.”
“No, he’s definitely into you,” Logan replied.
“But see, I think he likes me, but then-I thought Cassidy liked me too. And a girl’s self-esteem takes a hit when the guy you think you’re going to lose your virginity to would rather go try and murder your best friend.”
Logan simply nodded.
“I just don’t trust my own judgment anymore.” Mac fidgeted with a strand of her hair. “And on top of all that, I just feel like-if Bronson really likes me, why hasn’t he tried to get me to sleep with him?”
“Do you want my opinion, or is this one of those things where you just want to think it through out loud and have someone say ‘mm-hm’ at the appropriate places?” Logan propped himself up on one elbow and turned to face her.
“You’re one of the few people who knows where I’m coming from on this, so let’s hear your thoughts on the matter.” Mac turned toward him to listen.
“Bronson just seems kind of shy,” Logan said. “He’s probably trying not to be pushy about it-you know, letting you set the pace. If you want to step things up, I think you’re going to have to make the first move.”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh no. Low Self-Esteem Girl here, remember? I can’t do that.”
“Mac, the whole thing with Cassidy was…out of the ordinary. To say the least. So we can be pretty certain that’s not going to happen again.” Mac shrugged and nodded, so Logan continued. “Look, if Bronson likes you at all, trust me-he wants to sleep with you. He’s a guy, you’re a hot girl-it’s pretty simple, really.”
She raised an eyebrow at him.
“I mean it! I think this computer geek image you’re trying to put out there keeps you from seeing how cute you are,” he said, pointing at her. “Pretty face, sassy hair, and those-” he gestured to her chest “-are quite spectacular.”
Laughing despite herself, Mac covered her face with both hands. “Oh my God.”
“I’m not saying that to be a perv. I’m just telling you what most guys are thinking,” Logan said straightforwardly. “You’ve got a great ass too, by the way. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that. So if you want to sleep with Bronson, you just need to give him a sign and I guarantee he’ll go for it.”
Mac let out a little scream, partially muffled by her hands.
Parker’s voice rang out behind them. “We got the next clue!”
“Oh, thank God,” Mac said in relief.
Parker and Bronson ran toward them as Mac and Logan got to their feet. Bronson held out his phone to Mac as he and Parker both tried to catch their breath.
“It’s another math clue,” he gasped.
“Looks like the next move is up to you, Mackie,” Logan said, waggling his eyebrows.
Mac shot him a look before she turned her attention to the numbers on the display.
~*~*~*~
When she went to meet Veronica for an early dinner at the food court, Mac was still giddy from her post-scavenger hunt tryst with Bronson, which went even better than she had expected. She knew she’d had a goofy smile on her face all day. As she scanned the crowd for her friends, she saw Logan sitting at a table near the door with some people she didn’t know.
He saw her enter and raised his eyebrows with an unspoken question. Mac grinned and gave him a thumb’s up, and his face broke into a wide smile. He held a hand up over his head and Mac swung her arm around, slapping his palm with a sound smack as she passed by.
Mac approached her Veronica and put her bag down on a chair. “Hey, how’s life on the outside?”
“The world changed so much while I was locked up, it’s going to take some time to reassimilate into society,” Veronica said, looking around in wonderment. “Speaking of which, what was that all about?” She waved a finger in Logan’s direction.
“He just helped me out with a little problem.” Mac slid into the seat next to Veronica and leaned in close. “Are we done talking about jail? Because I have to tell you what happened this morning…”
~*~*~*~
After two long hikes in three days, Mac’s muscles were aching and tired. She limped back to her dorm room, her wet hair wrapped in a towel. Once inside, she began digging in her desk drawer.
“Parker, do you have any Advil? I think I’m out.”
“There should be some in my purse,” her roommate replied, pointing to her bag on the desk chair. “All the exercise wearing you down?”
“Yeah, there’s one type of physical activity I want to do with Bronson, and these forced marches do not fit the bill,” Mac grumbled as she took two pills out of the bottle and washed them down with a Diet Coke.
Parker gave her a sympathetic pout. “Poor you, with your hot boyfriend who wants to spend all his spare time with you.”
“I know, I shouldn’t complain. This is probably just gonna take some getting used to.” She bent forward and rubbed her hair with the towel. When she flipped upright again, Parker was staring at her. “What? Did I forget to rinse again?” Mac wiped her hair with her fingers and examined them for suds.
“No,” Parker snickered. “I just want to ask you something, but I don’t want to put you in a weird spot, so if this is weird, just say so.”
“Um, OK.”
“How well do you know Logan?” Parker asked.
Mac thought for a moment. “Honestly? I don’t really know.” She walked over to the closet and hung the damp towel on her hook. “I thought I knew him, but now I’m not too sure.”
Parker looked alarmed. “What does that mean?”
“I always thought he was kind of…tough, you know? Hardened by life and all that. You’ve seen the Tinseltown Diaries episode about his family.” Mac picked up her comb and started running it through her hair. “But I’m beginning to think that under the hard shell, there may be a soft, mushy center.”
Parker brightened, and Mac suddenly felt slightly nauseated. “So…why do you ask?” she asked cautiously.
“Well, since we did that scavenger hunt, I’ve been seeing him around campus, and we’ve eaten together a couple of times, and…I don’t know, I thought maybe…” Parker smiled weakly. “But I just wanted to see what you thought…about him, and about the Veronica situation, you know…He’s really cute, and he seems pretty funny, and…”
As her roommate chattered on, Mac tried to keep from hyperventilating. She’d spent four years avoiding the various high school cliques so she could stay out of all the romantic angst-but now Mac realized she was right in the center of this new soap opera. She sighed and collapsed onto her bed.
~*~*~*~
Mac knocked on Logan’s door with a sense of dread. When he and Parker had asked her to help set up, she couldn’t say no, but she really didn’t want to be at the party at all. Between Logan throwing a party for her roommate, and her best friend-slash-Logan’s ex in attendance, the evening was bound to be made of awkward. Mac decided that she’d have to find a place on the couch early on and avoid mingling in order to steer clear of potential drama.
Logan flung the door open with a pink balloon in his hand. “Hey, thanks for coming early. Parker just ran out for raspberries because she insists that we serve something called a ‘flirtini.’” With a roll of his eyes, he stepped aside so Mac could enter. “Whatever it is, it’s apparently got fruit in it, so I’m not drinking it.”
“Don’t ask me-I’m strictly a soda girl these days. So what do you need me to do?”
Logan picked up a length of gold ribbon, tied it to the balloon, and let the balloon rise to the ceiling. “You can keep working on the balloons while I set up the chairs.”
“Good plan-I’m not lifting any furniture in these shoes.” Mac looked up. “You’ve already got a lot of balloons up there.”
Logan picked up one of the chairs from the stack provided by the hotel and put it against the wall. “The goal is to cover the whole ceiling with them. Parker thinks that the gold strings hanging down will be festive or something. I think they’re just going to be annoying to the tall people.” As if to demonstrate, he flicked away a curled ribbon that was brushing against his hair.
Behind him, Mac noticed a room service cart with a large bakery box on it. “You got the cake from La Patisserie? Let’s see!”
“It’s supposed to be a surprise,” Logan said.
“Come on, I’ve only seen pictures of their cakes in magazines,” Mac wheedled. “Pleeeease?”
Logan seemed to hesitate, but then he carefully lifted the lid so she could look. When she saw the portrait of Logan and Parker in frosting, she snorted.
“What?” Logan asked. Mac looked at his face and saw that he was serious.
“Oh my God-that’s for real?” Mac gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought it was meant to be a joke.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Logan, if you weren’t the one who did this, you would make fun of you for getting this cake,” Mac giggled. “This is seriously cheesy.”
“It’s what Parker wanted, so…” He gestured dismissively at the cake before closing up the box again.
“Huh,” Mac said, giving him a sidelong glance as she moved back toward the helium tank.
Logan sighed. “What now?”
“You’re really going all out for someone you’ve only been dating for a few weeks,” Mac said. “It’s really nice, but this is like, a lot.”
Logan scanned the room, looking at all the decorations. “Maybe, but…” He sighed and tugged at his hair. “I don’t have the greatest track record, you know? I’m trying really hard not to screw this up.”
Mac looked at him sympathetically. “You know what? Forget I said it. I’m just not a girly-girl type like Parker, so it’s probably just me. She’s going to love this.” She moved alongside him and patted his back in what she hoped was a comforting way. “Come on, we’ve still got a lot to do before everyone shows up.”
~*~*~*~
“I’ve routed it through a lot of different servers so the IP address is harder to track,” Max explained. “So far, no one in the faculty has caught on to the fact that the site even exists, but you can’t be too safe.”
Mac found herself getting giggly and flushed at Max’s geek talk. “You’ve got quite the undercover operation going on. Have you ever tried using your powers for good?”
Max leaned in and smiled. “Sure. And I will someday. But half the fun of this is knowing that I’m breaking the rules.”
As she grinned back, Mac tried to remind herself that she had a boyfriend-but she really, really wanted to kiss this guy. Fortunately, her train of thought was broken when she saw Piz cross the room and make a quick exit, followed shortly by Veronica.
Max saw her distracted expression and looked over his shoulder. “Am I missing something?”
“I’m not sure,” Mac said slowly, watching the door for a moment. “Hmm, maybe not. I guess I’ll find out later. Anyway…”
Before she could finish her thought, she heard the door open again. She turned and saw Logan enter, obviously distressed. He looked like he wanted to hit something.
“Hold on,” Mac said, putting a hand on Max’s knee and then pulling it back quickly. “I need to stop someone before he puts a hole in a wall.”
Mac jumped up from the couch and hurried toward Logan, taking him by the arm and ushering him back out the door into the hall.
“I saw them kissing,” he said as he paced angrily, fidgeting with his hands.
“Veronica and Piz?”
“Yeah.” Logan stopped moving and leaned back against the wall, folding his arms against his chest.
“Wow.” Mac couldn’t think of any other response. “Um, so what happened?”
Logan let his head fall back with a thud. “I was coming up on the elevator, and when the doors opened, there they were. Completely caught me off guard. She told me she didn’t have a date, and then…”
“I know Piz wasn’t her date. I don’t know what happened, but Veronica came stag,” Mac said. “But anyway-may I remind you that you have a girlfriend? The girl who this party is for?”
Logan rubbed his face with his hands. “I know. But she broke up with me, Mac. I didn’t want that. And now, seeing her with someone else…”
“You don’t think it’s hard for Veronica to see you with Parker?” Mac threw her arm toward the door of the hotel suite, where the party was growing louder.
Logan scoffed.
“It is,” Mac said. “I know she’d never admit it, but this is hard for her too.”
“Then I’m so glad she’s got Piz to help her through the pain,” he spat.
Mac was incredulous. “Well, it looked like Parker was doing a good job of soothing your grief when I walked in on you two in our room the other day.”
“We weren’t…we haven’t…” Logan sputtered. His shoulders sagged and he dropped his head forward.
“OK, that’s not the point and I don’t really want to know.” Mac held her hands up defensively. “What I’m saying is that you and Veronica are broken up, and you’re seeing someone, so you’ve got to accept that she might start seeing someone too.”
“I know,” he said softly. He pressed his fingertips to his temples and exhaled loudly before standing up straight. “I guess I’d better get back to playing the gracious host.”
Mac looked at him with concern. “Are you OK?”
“Don’t worry about me,” he said, squeezing her shoulder affectionately as they returned to the party. “Let’s talk about you. It looks like you’re enjoying Max’s company…”
~*~*~*~
“I don’t know why I’m here. I shouldn’t be speaking to you.” Mac stomped up to the table where Logan was sitting.
“But you just couldn’t resist my boyish charms,” he replied, gesturing for her to join him.
“No, I couldn’t berate you on the phone because Bronson was there, but I have a stalker now and it’s your fault.”
“Moi?” Logan widened his eyes innocently and batted his eyelashes.
“Yes, you,” she said sternly as she took a seat. Max has been calling me for days, and you’re the one who gave him my number.”
“He asked for your number and I gave it to him,” Logan admitted. “You like him, so…”
“So I have a boyfriend,” Mac said. “And Max doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“But you like him.” Before she could argue with him, Logan cut her off. “You do. I saw you guys at the party-you looked like you were ready to crawl into his lap and start licking his face.”
Mac began to protest again, but at Logan’s smirk, she folded her arms in irritation and slouched back in her seat.
“You looked like you were really clicking with Max, so I just thought you were keeping your options open,” Logan said sincerely. “If you really want him to back off, I’ll talk to him for you.”
Mac glared at him for a moment, then threw her head back dramatically. “Aaagh!” she wailed. “I don’t know what to do. This is new territory for me.”
“You’ve just gotta figure out what you really want,” Logan said. “Some people look good on paper, but they’re just not the right person for you.”
“Oh, really?” she replied sarcastically. “Interesting theory you’ve got there.”
“Don’t.” Logan shook his head sadly.
Mac’s expression softened and she sat up. “So, why did you call me?”
He pushed a stack of paper toward her. “I need your help with an Econ project…”
~*~*~*~
“Sooooo…Max, huh?” Logan said as Mac clacked her phone shut.
She didn’t look up at him as she spoke. “He knows about all this e-business stuff. He’ll have some good ideas.”
“And he couldn’t provide these ideas over the phone? He had to come and give you his…insight…in person?”
“Some might argue that it would be unwise to tease the person who is saving your academic ass, my friend.” Mac pointed imperiously toward the mini-bar. “Now shut your sarcastic pie-hole and get me another Red Bull.”
Logan clacked his heels together and saluted her before going to the refrigerator.
When Max arrived, he did have some great suggestions for the site, and Mac found herself getting flushed in his presence again. She refused to even look at Logan, but she could feel his smirky eyes boring into the back of her head the whole evening. He made a few comments, as usual, but she did her best to ignore him.
Once Max left and Mac and Logan were alone again, however, it was harder to pretend she wasn’t paying him any attention. She returned from the door to see him eyeing her knowingly.
“What?”
He shrugged. “Nothing.”
Mac walked back to the couch and sat in front of the laptop again. “Online schemes get me excited, OK? It’s nice to talk to someone who shares my enthusiasm.”
“Funny, you don’t seem to be able to drum up that level of enthusiasm for hacky-sack,” he said, pouring himself another cup of coffee.
Mac looked up at him with alarm.
“Oh yeah, I saw that little display on the quad the other day. You could not have been having less fun.”
She dropped her head into her hands. “I tried, I really tried. But I hate that stuff. I thought if I just gave it a chance…and I know that Bronson’s eyes glaze over when I go on about this.” She fluttered a hand toward the computer. “He’s cute, he’s smart, he’s athletic-he should be the perfect boyfriend.”
“Just not perfect for you,” Logan added.
Mac flopped back onto the couch dejectedly. She stared at the ceiling for a moment then sat up quickly, slapping herself lightly on the cheeks.
“OK, focus! We’re running out of time and we still have to finish up your PowerPoint presentation. Sit.”
Logan complied, sliding down onto the cushion next to her. They spent the next few hours huddled over the laptop until they were both stiff and tired. As dawn broke, Mac put a CD into the disk drive to make backups of their work, and Logan got up to stretch.
“If I do say so,” Mac said proudly as she looked over their creation. “A mmm-ass-terpiece.” She chortled at her own stupid joke. Logan didn’t.
“So what's up with Veronica and Piz?” he finally asked. “She...she, like, dating him or what?”
“She's trying to let him down easy.” Mac hoped that would end the conversation, but Logan only grew more agitated.
“But, like...I don't know,” he said, leaning against the wall and running his hands through his hair. “When we were…when we were dating, did they ever...you know?”
Mac tensed. “No more talk of Veronica's love life. Ever,” she replied. Realizing how that sounded, she added, “But I will say, if you think she was unfaithful, you're an idiot.”
Logan wasn’t placated. Mac finished copying the files and snapped the laptop shut.
“Are you just overtired and it’s muddling your brain? Because you know Veronica would never have cheated on you.”
“I guess,” he muttered. “But she’s already worked on a few cases with him, and…you know…”
Mac’s tone got snippy. “Just because that’s how she took up with you doesn’t mean she’s macking on all her clients.” Logan’s lips twisted as he tried not to smile. “That’s right, we talk. And that’s why I also know that she doesn’t feel that way about Piz.”
Logan straightened up. “She said that?”
“Well, no, not exactly. We were talking about eggplant parmigiana vs. fettuccini alfredo, and the safe choice vs. the risky, exciting choice, and…Max was the fettuccini and you were…wait. I’m really tired and I’m not remembering the metaphor correctly.” Mac pressed her fist to her forehead. “Ah, here’s something: She called Piz the eggplant.”
Logan couldn’t stifle a laugh. “Eggplant, huh? So does that make me the rich and decadent fettuccini alfredo?”
“Something like that,” Mac giggled. “The point is that she thinks Piz is too safe and normal, and we both know that she doesn’t do safe and normal-anymore. Anyway, may I remind you…”
“I know, I’ve got a girlfriend. You can stop beating me over the head with that point anytime now.”
“Look, I’m connected to too many points in this love triangle. I just don’t want to see any of you get hurt,” Mac said, her brow furrowed.
“Too late for that,” Logan said quietly.
Mac didn’t know how to respond, and she looked down at her hands. Then she noticed her watch. “Whoa-it’s morning. You have to make yourself presentable for this, and I have to get my stuff for my first class.” She threw her things in her bag and lifted the strap over her head onto her opposite shoulder.
Logan pulled out his checkbook. “OK, how do you want me to make out the check? Cynthia? Cindy?” he asked, pen in hand.
“Actually, forget the check-I’ll just take a fifty percent stake. And these,” she added, grabbing the last three Red Bulls and putting them in her bag.
“Deal,” Logan said.
~*~*~*~
At lunchtime, Mac picked at her food, mentally calculating how much more caffeine she would need to make it through the day, but still be able to sleep that night. When she saw Bronson walk in, she steeled herself.
Before she could say anything though, he sat down and asked her about Logan’s project. As she described the site and its business prospects, she could tell that Bronson wasn’t really that interested-and he wasn’t thrilled about her continuing involvement in Grade-My-Ass-dot-net. Mac took a deep breath.
“You're a great guy, Bronson. You really are. And I really feel almost insane saying this, but I really think I have to.” She looked at his face and saw that he knew what she was going to say next. “I think we should break up.”
They talked for a few more minutes, and while Bronson admitted that Mac made sense, she could see that he was still crushed. By the time he left, she felt like she’d kicked a puppy. No longer hungry, she pushed her tray away and slumped down in her chair.
The food court was nearly empty, so when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, she looked over and saw Logan heading to the coffee counter. Mac waved her arms excitedly to get his attention. His face was blank as he walked toward her.
“I, uh, just passed Bronson on the front steps of the building, and he sort of brushed me off when I said hi. Did he just get dumped?”
Mac rubbed her eyes. “I just broke the heart of one of the nicest guys in the world. I am an evil person. I need some good news, Echolls,” she demanded. “How did it go?”
“Um, not good,” he said, clearly upset. “I didn’t even get past the first slide.”
“What happened?” Mac sat up and snatched the jewel case out of his hand. “Didn’t the presentation work? I double-checked the file before I gave you the CD.” She flipped open the case and began to inspect the disk.
Logan dropped his printouts on the table, put his elbow down, and rested his chin in his hand. “No, everything you did was perfect. The professor just thought I was screwing with him. I guess all these months of not taking the class seriously enough finally caught up with me.”
“So wait-he didn’t even let you give your presentation?” she asked. Logan shook his head. “That’s bullshit! He has to at least see it before he decides whether it’s serious or not.”
“Well, he didn’t.”
“Then you have to make him see that you are serious,” Mac said. “It’s a stupid product, granted, but there is serious money to be made.”
“So how do you propose we make him see the light?” Logan mumbled into his hand.
“You’re going to go to his office, now, and show him your business plan.” Mac stabbed at the stack of materials with her index finger. “Lose the snarky tone, quit trying to be funny, and show him your numbers and your research. Make him give you another chance.”
Logan gave her a wry smile. “Ms. Mackenzie, you are a stern taskmistress. It’s kinda hot.” She punched his arm, making his elbow slide off the table and whack the edge of his chair. “Ow!” he yelped, rubbing his arm. “You’re into pain too? I had no idea. I’ll bring my handcuffs next time.”
“Just go,” she laughed, picking up the folders and putting them in his hands. “You can do this.”
He stood up and paused for a moment, then said, “OK.” He turned and left the food court through the main entrance. Seconds later, Veronica and Piz entered, hand in hand. Veronica spotted Mac and waved happily.
Mac gave her a half-hearted wave in response, knowing that Logan must have seen them on his way out. This was entirely too much drama to manage after being awake for 28 hours.
Go to Part 2!