"Probably," Sparkle agreed, closing his eyes, breathing out a sigh, and then shrugging and taking another pull from his beer. Almost out. Maybe he'd get another one when the waitress came by again. "I don't remember a time without it, you know? It's like I was born with it, and I know who to blame for that, too. It's all got faces to it. They're just... faces who have been really good at convincing me it's my fault."

He'd tried to wear too many cute shirts with butterflies on them, stolen from his sister's drawer. He wasn't an adorable little girl, and people only ever wanted to adopt adorable little girls. He didn't smile enough, why did that kid look so sad all the time? He wasn't... quite like other little boys. He's been in trouble, hasn't he? He keeps telling stories. The cutlery vanished again. We found those drugs in his bag. He's been stealing from the liquor cabinet. He keeps running away. He wasn't he didn't he hadn't been able to. Alec had been the one guy in school who would kiss other guys, so clearly it was meant to be. Lewis never really tried to get Sparkle to stop getting too close, so maybe he actually stood a chance...

"I guess eventually I just started doing their work for them." He barked a soft laugh. "The island didn't help with that much."