Elijah frowned more. "Please, Ben. Don't give your opinion on this, it isn't your concern. I know he's rough around the edges, but he's got his good side. I'm not perfect either, and he is someone I can confide in with things I can't and wouldn't speak to you about. I want to save him from ending up hurt or dead in the street, and while it's still a long journey I think I am making a little progress all the time. And he is helping me as well when I feel most alone. I know you could never understand and you only see him for the side he showed you but you have to remember that you don't know everything about someone no matter how long they've been in your life."

Anthony averted his gaze and looked at the ground as soon as he caught the look. Back to just being silent and listening to them talk about him as if he weren't standing there and being on the verge of another breakdown. Instead of saying anything else, Anthony just started quietly sobbing to himself as he stared at the ground.

"You are my concern," said Ben, not paying any attention to the sobbing man behind Elijah. Elijah was confiding in this guy? Building up a friendship? That seemed like a very bad idea indeed. He knew that the constable was in need of more friends, but this twit...? He raised his hands. "Fine. I think there's better friends to be found, but fine. Just send the children away if they show up and 'e is 'ere. I don't want 'em corrupted."

Elijah frowned as he realized he was crying. He turned to the man to hug him trying to quietly apologize for upsetting him. He looked up at Ben. " You are exaggerating. I am sure they've heard worse from men on the docks. And I don't think he'd be so unkind to them." He remembered the fight between Bram and Anne with him, but it seemed to be in the past. "Don't act like he'd speak the same way to children. You don't know..' He turned to Anthony.

"I am so sorry. Please stop crying. I didn't mean to upset you.." He frowned feeling guilty and frustrated as he didn't know what was going on or how to fix things and this happened so often.

Anthony just leaned into the hug without a word. Even though Elijah told him to and he wanted to stop crying and sobbing like he was, that didn't exactly work out for him and he kept doing that. Though he wanted to reassure Elijah that this wasn't his fault and that he wasn't sobbing pathetically because of him, he couldn't say the words and just shook his head gently. To be entirely honest, Anthony just wished right now that he was dead so that this all could finally be over with.

If the friendship had surprised him, the hugging absolutely blew his mind. Ben frowned deep. "If yer gonna take risks, Elijah, I certainly pray they are worth it. Please keep yer wits about ye." And with that, he closed the door on them and walked away.

Elijah sighed about to say something to Ben, but he was already gone. He took a deep breath and sighed rubbing Anthony's back. "I'm sorry. I truly am. " He certainly wished many things. That Anthony controlled his words, at least how he said them, and that he didn't drink so much at night. But he didn't say them. He just hugged the man and hoped it brought him a little comfort.

As soon as the man had left, Anthony started sobbing and crying very loudly into Elijah's shoulder, just letting out all the emotion he had held back when Ben was still there. He felt as if he was trespassing by even just being here—the looming voices in his head that told him he's a waste of space and unworthy of love and a disgrace had returned, it seems. "It's fine. It's fine," he said inbetween his sobs. It wasn't Elijah's fault that any of this happened, and he certainly didn't understand why he's the one apologizing, but he didn't say anything about it.

What could he do or say? He'd already apologized and he meant it. He frowned and his lip trembled as he held him tightly and buried his head into his shoulder. "I wish I knew how to help you. I want you happy, Anthony. Please though, ignore Ben. He's.. strict and old fashion. He has no sympathy for people sometimes."

If Anthony knew how to just ignore everything bad that's been said about him, he would. He turned his head to face away from Elijah as he burst into a short coughing fit, but turned back as soon as that was done and over with. He wiped away his tears with one hand, and gripped Elijah's arm with the other. "It's fine. It's not your fault," he said, trying to steady his breathing again, with limited success. "I love you and nothing is your fault." While this may have not been the best time to pull out the 'I love you' card, Anthony was drunk and loved making bad decisions.