"We're susceptible to the same things as mortals." Remember that the first time you decide you want to have sex, he added silently. He'd been lucky to never have been the parent to give any sort of sex talk. He was okay with it staying that way and would for once trust Marijuana. He could explain STDs. "Thinking that you're not can be dangerous. Don't think you'll never be pulled into making the same mistakes they do. I owned slaves, Malcolm's beat cops to a bloody pulp, and I don't like to think about what Johnny did during the war. You're only one and a half, but one day you'll do something you won't be proud of years later. That's just the way life is, mortal or otherwise."
Mark had a whole list of things he wasn't proud of and surprisingly, not all of them had to do with slavery. He wasn't perfect, and as much as he would have loved to have Thomas look at him with shining eyes in the way that Davey looked at both he and James, he knew that wouldn't last forever. He just hadn't thought it would end so quickly. He'd had an entire twenty years with Malcolm.
When Thomas gave his almost-apology, Mark smiled slightly. "Well, you've only said it once. It's going to take you some time to catch up with Malcolm and Johnny. If you're the parent of a teenager, you kind of grow a thick skin to it. Doesn't mean I take you any less seriously," he added quickly. "I just understand where you're coming from and it's okay. You didn't take our states and try to secede from the nation." It was one of those things he wasn't proud of.
He paused then too, ordering a burger, chillifries with extra cheese for the top, and a bottle of beer. When the waitress had vanished he looked back at Thomas. "It should be your responsibility to fix our relationship-- especially not when I'm the one who's seemingly fucked it up, okay? I don't want you to think about it. The next time you come over to stay, it'll all be back to normal."