"YOU LIED TO ME!"

Tom flinched, backing up a bit into the nearest corner of his carriage. Marco looked angry, no not angry, pissed.

Brian stood in shock, questioning got not if he should do something considering Marco was now backing his client into a corner and yelling at him in anger. But then again maybe if he hadn't told Marco at all this wouldn't be a problem in the first place.

"-YOU KNOW I HAD FAITH IN YOU!" Marco screamed, "I ACTUALLY PUT TRUST IN YOU THAT YOU COULD BE A GOOD PERSON AND YOU ACTUALLY MIGHT CARE ABOUT HOW YOU TREATED ME! But I guess I was wrong…".

Tom fell silent, and noticed he was crying.

"I-I just thought…..someone wanted to be my friend…but I guess I should've known better…", Marco tried to force himself from crying but with no luck, he turned away from Tom and tried to exit from the carriage. Tom felt guilt welt up inside of him, he never felt this awful and sick in his life.

Marco actually had faith in him, Marco actually cared about him, he actually really liked spending time with him.

No one liked Tom.

He had to do something, say something.

"MARCO WAIT!" He shouted, stopping Marco in his tracks before he opened the carriage door.

Marco stood in silence, tempted to just leave and let him suffer and forget about this terrible night.

But part of him wanted to know what he had to say.

He should've just left, but instead he turned around to face him, tears streaming down his face, "What Tom? What else could you possibly have to say to me? Look I get it, I took away your chances with Star….and you hate me for it…but..you didn't have to put me through this…."

Tom bit his lip, "You're right Marco….you're right about me..".

Marco looked surprised by his answer, but then he saw Tom fall to the ground in a sitting position.

Tom was shaking, "I never should've put you through this….I-I just..I just wanted validation..I wanted to feel like I could do something right..". Marco stared at him, was Tom….starting to cry? He didn't even think that was possible but Tom looked so broken.

"Everything I touch….I ruin…" He went on, "My first relationship….gone, Star hates me…then I ruin the most important ceremony of my people…then this..". He tried to wipe his new tears away but having three eyes had some drawbacks. "I just wanted to feel like….I was getting better, That when i had this stupid badge I would know for sure that I wasn't my stupid horrible dad, that I could go out into the world a brand new person…..and I would be happy.."

The human watched him breakdown, guilt starting to welt up in his chest as well.

His dad? What about his dad?

"I'm sorry Marco….I'm sorry about everything….ok?", He muttered, "I know I shouldn't have lied to you…I shouldn't have even invited you here, I just…I don't know…."

He looked up at Marco, "You don't have to stay, you don't have to forgive me, I won't make you stay I just…I want you know that…I'm sorry..". Tom closed his eyes, expecting Marco to yell at him or the carriage door to close but he heard nothing.

He looked to find Marco instead walking closer to him.

Brain just watched, he'd never been able to get this much out of Tom before, he backed up out of the scene to not make anything worse between them.

Marco sat down in front of the demon, much to his surprise.

"What about your dad?", He asked, he wasn't really crying anymore, he actually looked concerned.

Tom, not sure why Marco was still here, removed his armband to show a couple of bruises and marks.

"I just….I just don't want to be him, I just wanted to feel like I was a good person…", He looked up at Marco, "But i'm not…..I'm just not…."

Marco took his arm and looked it over, there he went again, being concerned and caring about someone he should've given up on a long time ago.

"I didn't mean to hurt you Marco….or Star..or anybody…I was being selfish an-"

He was cut off when Marco pulled him into a hug, Tom didn't know how to react, but then he put his arms around the human and cried into his shoulder.

Marco rubbed his back, "Hey, it's ok…y-you're not a bad person Tom…"

Tom wanted to say something back, but he couldn't.

"I didn't know about your dad….", Marco said, "I'm sorry…"

"No it's ok….I don't like talking about him much…", Tom sobbed, "I shouldn't have brought you into this, but I couldn't stand to be in a room alone with him for a few hours…". He buried his face into the boy's hoodie, "Even after I kidnapped you and beat you at ping-pong….you actually seemed to care about me, I-I just thought…if I did this with you, I might actually pass and It might not be so bad…..and it wasn't, tonight has been some of the most fun I've had in a long time….:

Marco kept on comforting him, letting him drag on.

"I'm sorry about everything Marco, I don't blame you if you don't want to see me anymore…."

Marco bit his lip, "I had fun tonight too….even Star doesn't know I like Love Sentence…".

He let Tom go and looked at him, "Tom….what you did was messed up, you shouldn't have tricked me into hanging out with you….."

He turned away from him, guilty.

"But…." Marco started, "Did you really enjoy spending time with me?"

Tom smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I know that doesn't make this mess up…but…I had a lot of fun…"

Marco turned over and sat next to him, and they sat in silence for a bit.

"I know we can't go to the marathon…." Marco mentioned, "But is it ok with you if I stay here a bit longer? You're kinda my ride home anyway.."

Tom looked at him with hopeful eyes, "Yeah, of course you can stay if you want…"

Marco gave him a small smile, "Love sentence?"

"Love sentence…", Tom smiled back.

"Oh, and by the way Tom?"

"Yeah?"

"Fire Brain, that was a horrible graduation test…"