"I would have just told him I was fine, anyway. He'd be wasting his time asking." Which somehow justifies the fact that he never asked. That he held Marc up against the light like he was some kind of bauble, studying him with a distant, scientific interest like he'd never seen goods this damaged before and wondered how he could fill those fissures and cracks to make Marc feel whole again, to lavish just enough verbal abuse the way he took it from his mother but pepper it with little praises and self-worth boosters, and leave him craving whatever positive and negative attention he could get now that there's a giant gaping hole in his life.

"I shouldn't have lied to you." But it really says a lot, the power mum still has over them, that he's flinching and uncomfortable and they're arguing over her when she's been dead for months.

"I want you to be angry with me. I want you to hit me." And it's kind of frustrating that Steven's turned out to not be that kind of man. But Marc will deal with it. "But... thanks." For being the better man, letting it go.