Wait — what?
Ben had made a lot of poor choices in his life, and faced more than his fair share of negative consequences, but this had never happened before. If he didn't have the resources to fix it himself, he came to Aldous — that was what he did. And after expressing Severe Disappointment, Aldous found a way to fix things — that was what he did. Even if 'fixing things' involved Ben having to roam Canada for six months waiting for the heat from his latest fuck-up to die down. Coming in to the house this afternoon, Ben had been prepared for some consequences — some, probably, as undesireable as a return trip to Canada. He hadn't been prepared for no.
This couldn't possibly be beyond Aldous' power to remedy. There was a solution here, they just hadn't found it yet. Nothing was beyond Aldous' power to remedy, he thought — but realized as it occurred to him how childish that sounded. A belief that someone was infallible, just because they'd never failed before. It was akin to naively believing that your parents were invincible and that death couldn't visit your family — until a building unexpectedly fell on them and they were gone forever and you realized you'd been stupid and wrong.
Ben had been dreading this conversation ever since he'd realized the Finches wouldn't accept an annulment, but now, for the first time since he'd woken up this morning, he felt real panic.
"What do you think I should do?" he asked, ready to take literally any suggestion his older brother might have to offer.
MJ made this <3
Ben had made a lot of poor choices in his life, and faced more than his fair share of negative consequences, but this had never happened before. If he didn't have the resources to fix it himself, he came to Aldous — that was what he did. And after expressing Severe Disappointment, Aldous found a way to fix things — that was what he did. Even if 'fixing things' involved Ben having to roam Canada for six months waiting for the heat from his latest fuck-up to die down. Coming in to the house this afternoon, Ben had been prepared for some consequences — some, probably, as undesireable as a return trip to Canada. He hadn't been prepared for no.
This couldn't possibly be beyond Aldous' power to remedy. There was a solution here, they just hadn't found it yet. Nothing was beyond Aldous' power to remedy, he thought — but realized as it occurred to him how childish that sounded. A belief that someone was infallible, just because they'd never failed before. It was akin to naively believing that your parents were invincible and that death couldn't visit your family — until a building unexpectedly fell on them and they were gone forever and you realized you'd been stupid and wrong.
Ben had been dreading this conversation ever since he'd realized the Finches wouldn't accept an annulment, but now, for the first time since he'd woken up this morning, he felt real panic.
"What do you think I should do?" he asked, ready to take literally any suggestion his older brother might have to offer.
MJ made this <3