[Rex simply stares at his own hands, eyeing the bandages as if they are somehow UFOS, unidentified foreign objects. He remembers being small and going around the neighborhood, sporting black eyes and ill-fitting jackets from local donation bins, as others, grown adults mostly, looked on with contempt or in pity.
The latter, they... They never did anything, though.]
It wasn't just my mom and dad.
[It occurs to Rex that this gentle exchange between Mark and himself, including the genuine concern for his own well-being, is normal.
He knows that now, and that is the knife that's been twisted into his heart for nearly a decade. When he was younger, he didn't understand that. His own experience, devoid of love or proper affection, was all he had to go off of.]
1/2
The latter, they... They never did anything, though.]
It wasn't just my mom and dad.
[It occurs to Rex that this gentle exchange between Mark and himself, including the genuine concern for his own well-being, is normal.
He knows that now, and that is the knife that's been twisted into his heart for nearly a decade. When he was younger, he didn't understand that. His own experience, devoid of love or proper affection, was all he had to go off of.]
I wanted somebody to think I was cool so bad, I-