Page 52 of Stand By Me

"Sure, yeah." Ben snorted. "You're sleeping with the guy I can't stand, and yet you still want us to go on like nothing happened?"

Mario rubbed his forehead.

"Please, listen to me. Whatever happens between me and Clay has nothing to do with you. And it's the other way around, too. What's between me and you has nothing to do with Clay."

"That's not how it works!" Ben shouted before pressing his mouth shut for a bit, visibly fighting to calm himself down. "You can't draw lines in the sand in whatever way you wish. 'Yeah, sure, the guy's been an asshole to you, but that's fine, because the fact that I choose to sleep with him has nothing to do with you.' Unbelievable." He clenched his jaw. "I wonder if you'd feel the same if I announced I'm suddenly buddies with Kevin the Dick."

Kevin was the worst of Mario's exes, one who had been cheating on him throughout their entire relationship and then laughed about it behind Mario's back. Ben had been the one to give him that nickname, but apparently had no problem throwing him in Mario's face now.

Fuck you, Mario wanted to say, but on the other hand, he really, really didn't. It would just go downhill from there.

"That's not the same thing," he said slowly, curling his hands together again.

"That's exactly—"

"No!"

Mario was the one who raised his voice this time and it seemed to shock Ben into silence. Out of the two of them, Mario was always the calm one.

Well, not anymore.

He stood up. "That's not the same at all. Kevin was a lying, cheating bastard who made a mockery out of me. He's an asshole and you always thought so, even before I did. Clay's a good, honest guy, who—"

"Who left!" Ben shouted, the tension in the room shattering into pieces.

"Yeah," Mario said quietly, dropping back onto the couch. "Yeah, he did leave. He took a job and left for a long time, and I get that you didn't want him to go—"

"He chose to go—"

"—but he's not your father."

The silence that fell was louder than any screams, and Mario's stomach clenched tight as he stared at Ben who seemed frozen in place, but there was no going back now.

It had been long-time coming, anyway.

"Your father was the asshole who left and didn't look back," Mario went on. "Clay had taken it upon himself to make it right and help out. From the moment he could, he'd started working as much as he was able to, because he'd known your mother would work herself to the ground otherwise. And yeah, it sucked that he wasn't around so much, I get it. One day he was there a lot, and then he was only there when he needed to take you—us—somewhere or to drive us home. That was tough. But he wasn't out there partying and having a great time without you. He was either working or babysitting us, with practically no time to do anything else. Then he was home less and less, and then he packed up and moved overseas, which sucked even more. But, once again, he didn't do it to backpack his way through Europe or whatever. He wasworking. He'd been working all this time."

Ben was silent throughout Mario's speech and now shoved his hands into his pockets before half-turning towards the window.

"He told you all that?" he finally asked, sounding more tired than angry at this point. "That's the story he's going with?"

Mario slumped against the cushions.

"He didn't tell me any of this. Not back then and not now. But I watched him. Like you said, I had a crush, so I watched him, and I tried to talk to you about it, but you were so angry at him by then that you didn't want to listen."Exactly like you're doing right now, he thought but didn't say. "He's made choices that you may not like, but he's never abandoned you or your mom. He's been supporting you through all these years—"

"Okay, now you're just reaching," Ben interrupted, turning to face him again. "I know he'd helped Mom over the years, but it's not like—"

"Who do you think paid for your school?"

That was a low-blow, something Mario hadn't wanted to ever use, but, on the other hand, maybe he should've done it years ago.

Ben froze. "What?"

"You heard me." Mario leaned forward to rest his elbows on his thighs without taking his gaze off of Ben. "Who do you think paid for your medical school?"

"I had a… My mom had a college fund set up…" Ben didn't seem so sure any longer, more like he'd taken a hit to the head and tried to get back to the reality.

"What little she had, it wouldn't have put you through the undergrad, let alone the rest, even with your scholarship."

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