[That look on Ben's face is so much deeper than the surface of pain. Those fractures go bone deep and straight into his heart, and it's written so plainly on his face. Diego can feel an echo of it cracking across his own face, knowing there really isn't much if anything at all that he can do in this case. He wants to fix it, mend the broken pieces, but no number of assurances will be more than tape over a wound. Ben has had these things drilled into him for far too long, from far too young, to not still believe it at least a little.
The thing is, even though Diego absolutely holds himself to certain, toxic sort of standards about perceived weakness or failures, it never doubles for other people. Other people are allowed to show those things. To cry. To be emotive in ways that aren't solely anger. So Ben being this close to the edge of falling apart doesn't change anything. It doesn't make him feel sorry for him, or pity him, he doesn't see it as weakness. He just wants to fix it, and he knows there's no way to.]
Because some scars never heal. [It's the only thing he can think to say, and it somehow only manages to make the whole thing all the more depressing to say it. He doesn't bother trying to say anything else profound or comforting either way. He just tugs Ben over to him into a tight hug.]
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The thing is, even though Diego absolutely holds himself to certain, toxic sort of standards about perceived weakness or failures, it never doubles for other people. Other people are allowed to show those things. To cry. To be emotive in ways that aren't solely anger. So Ben being this close to the edge of falling apart doesn't change anything. It doesn't make him feel sorry for him, or pity him, he doesn't see it as weakness. He just wants to fix it, and he knows there's no way to.]
Because some scars never heal. [It's the only thing he can think to say, and it somehow only manages to make the whole thing all the more depressing to say it. He doesn't bother trying to say anything else profound or comforting either way. He just tugs Ben over to him into a tight hug.]