"If... ye say so..." Ben said. Was he now telling the man he was no so bad, instead of telling him he was bad? What had the world come to? "Elijah doesn't seem to think so..."

Anthony was a bit nervous at the mention of Elijah. "He—" he started off, but then decided to spare him the details of their relationship drama. "—yeah, I guess so. He's just...nice, like that, though."

"Well..." How did one respond to all this? "I'm sure you're not all that bad." Was he so sure? That didn't really matter. Anything to make this situation less awkward.

"Thanks, I guess?" Anthony didn't know how to respond. This was becoming kind of awkward. "I'm just– I was kind of a dick so I'm sorry about that. Doesn't really matter if I am that bad, but I definitely was. I mean, I'm still kind of an asshole, but– yeah, okay, nevermind."

Ben was mentally begging the man to stop saying that. "It's alright..." he finally said. "Whatever was troubling you then to make ye go drinkin'... I hope its been resolved."

This was awkward, and Anthony hadn't the slightest idea as to how to make it less awkward. "Oh, it hasn't, but I appreciate the thought," Anthony overshared a bit.

Of course it got worse. Ben rubbed his lips together, observing the younger man. "Anything I can do?"

"No," Anthony said. "I don't need help or anything. I can manage it just fine." He absolutely can't. But he wasn't about to admit that, especially not to this guy.

Rude, Ben thought. He frowned. "I see..." he said, in a tone that suggested that he could see quite the opposite.

Anthony just nodded. "I'm...glad that you see," he said, unsure of how to respond to that. They've said what they needed to say already, and the following just felt very awkward and forced to Anthony.