"I certainly don't expect you to," Martin says with a soft smile. He still can't quite believe the conversation managed to take a turn for the lighthearted, but he's grateful to her for it. Her assurance that she doesn't find it weird because they're 'both boys' is terribly endearing.

But as tempting as it might be to let that levity stay, it would be too easy, an escape hatch he hasn't earned. She brought this up because she wasn't sure she could trust him. With that air cleared, it's time to return to the point.

"You're very much entitled to feel however you like," he says. "My... feelings for him don't change what he did."

It's difficult to say, and he feels his gut clench slightly. But it's true, and it probably needed saying. "So all I can promise is that he'll do whatever he can to leave you be," he says firmly, "and I will help him."