Chapter 5: Guys try heels for a day!

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Mark's pov.

Mark interviews Junior, in heels. Mark in high heels is literally Junior's first impression of Mark.

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When Mark emails Junior almost immediately after Jackson gave him the contact, he isn’t expecting to get a reply so fast. He’s packing his bags, setting the compact camera for vlogging his journey home in heels on the table so he won’t have to search for it later, when he hears the “ping” notifying him that he has a new email. Normally, this close to getting off work, Mark just ignores new emails, choosing to get back to them the next day, but the little pop-up at the side reads “Re: Interview for lead actor in a Buzzfeed video series” from “Ju_ni_eo” so Mark clicks on it.

Mark has to reread the email 3 times to make sure he didn’t misread anything. Junior had replied that he is interested in the offer, and “if it isn’t any trouble, would it be possible to have the interview tomorrow?” There’s a short explanation that Junior is heading out of LA for something so he would only be free tomorrow or a week later.

The tone of the email has Mark feeling urgent, like he should just go ahead and interview Junior the next day, but he’s supposed to head for the gym now (in high heels for the video) and he can’t trade emails back and forth in time to settle a time for to interview Junior tomorrow.

Spotting the phone number Jackson penned in the notebook he’s left open, Mark gets an idea, pulling out his phone, and hopes that he won’t creep Junior out by messaging him instead.

Messaging is usually a faster means of communication than email, particularly emails sent to his work email that Mark can only check on his computer at work, so Mark is expecting a reply from Junior after he finishes his gym session (not in heels because even women don’t exercise in them), but when he checks his phone, there isn’t any new messages.

Maybe I shouldn’t have done that, I’m not even supposed to have his personal number, Mark thinks, throwing his towel into his bag, and stuffing his tired and sore feet back into the maroon heels. He wonders if he should apologize, or ask Jackson for help, but decides, what the hell, doesn’t really matter I guess. If we can’t have the interview tomorrow, we can always do it a week later.

Although he’s decided it’s not a big deal if he ends up interviewing Junior next week instead, Mark still breathes a sigh of relief when he spots a new message later at night. It might not even be Junior, he chides himself in his head.

It turns out to in fact be from Junior, who apologizes for taking so long to reply since he was at work. When Mark reads that Junior is cool with Mark having his number because Jackson had passed it to him, the knot of slight uneasiness he isn’t even aware he has releases.

Junior had asked whether Mark has any preferred timing for the interview tomorrow, and Mark replies with a list of times he could fit a 30 minutes interview in. Eventually they settle on some time in the morning, and Mark’s glad everything is settled in time, until he remembers that he’s supposed to be in heels for 24 hours, which he’d only started wearing in the afternoon. He’ll have to interview Junior while in heels. Great.

Driving in heels is a pain, in addition to a growing list of things Mark has noted is a huge inconvenience to do while in heels. He tells the vlogging camera as much, eyes squinting more from the rays of sun hitting him at the wrong angle, than the pain, but he supposes that hardly makes a difference. He barely manages to park, feet hurting long past the point where he can differentiate where one pain starts and the other stops, and he hobbles into the office, marginally better at walking in them than he was yesterday, but in way more pain from having worn them longer, so the picture Mark paints while walking to an outsider was still the same stumbling figure.

JB is already in office, for some reason, vlogging camera set on his table. When he sees Mark walking up the stairs, he quickly clicks a few things on his screen, before picking the camera up to film Mark’s short but arduous journey to his desk.

Once he gets to the end of the room (JB has the best seat, computer screen facing a wall), Mark grabs a chair to sit down, and JB turns the camera to film himself laughing at the other’s misery. Mark gives an evil eye, which JB misses capturing on camera, but not seeing in person. When the camera is finally put away, Mark peeks at JB’s screen, and sees only the desktop page.

“Were you watching something inappropriate just now?” Mark teases, just because. He doesn’t expect the innocent question to fluster JB, who’s now turning a dark red, and started fiddling with his high heels. Especially not when he’s definitely caught JB watching before, and JB hadn’t even gotten this uncomfortable-looking.

“Uh, never mind, forget that I asked. I don’t want to scar my brain,” Mark hurriedly adds. JB, not hiding how