Popping up like a bad habit. Ben knew she was teasing, but the phrasing was a little grating, if only because of recent life events. Years ago, when they'd been involved, he might have simply grinned at a comment like that, or he might even have teased her back. After having been dragged through the mud by Meredith Watchword, though, with everyone thinking he was running around on Melody... he just didn't want to be thought of as a bad habit. And Melody seemed eager to jump on the band wagon now, with this Les Miserables thing. Everything was always his fault — he was the one making them both miserable. He was the rake, the one who didn't deserve her. He was a bad habit.

"Well, good for you," he said, pushing down the bad sentiment and replacing it with a mostly-genuine smile. He was happy for her, though he couldn't help but think of how much he missed travel. Cursebreaking was another thing he'd given up for Melody, not directly, but because when her father had lost his shit and gotten Ben shipped off to Canada, he'd had to shelf his freelance work for six months, and he'd never been able to pick it back up.

So between the reminder that everyone thought worse of him than was fair and the reminder that his lifestyle had changed so dramatically because of Melody, even before they'd married, Ben was perhaps a little more free in his response to her question than was wise. "Looking for a book for my wife, actually," he said darkly.

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