It figured that he would ignore everything Anthony said about there being things he was good at, really. It was worse than a brick wall. It was like... a vacuum. Every thing that he said about it always seemed to go through one ear and right back out the other as if it had never been said at all. It was beyond frustrating.
He heard Michael hollowing him as he poured the contents of the mug into the sink and then left the mug there as well, turning around to face Michael as he spoke. Having him say those words, being so sure that Anthony wouldn't suffer some huge loss at his absence made Anthony want to hit him, or at least shake him until he understood. There was this... this warped idea of himself all over those words, and because of it, Anthony, too. And he wasn't even sure there was anything he could say to fix it. He'd had a lot of time to cement the ideas. Anthony just knew he was not okay with this, and that he would not, under any circumstances let Michael do something insane in exhcange for his survival.
"That's not - I didn't mean that I thought that you thought..." He felt as if his thoughts were faster than his mouth and he wasn't sure what he wanted to say, or what part of all of that he wanted to concentrate the most on. "It's just... you act like I mean so much more, and I don't. I'm not self sufficient, I'm reclusive. Unless I go to work, or someone all but drags me to go elsewhere, I stay here. I read books. Books I've already read. And just where do you think I would have spent half my summers if you weren't there? With those other friends I managed to make while at Hogwarts? I'm not better at anything, especially not life, and I'm damn well not better than you."