Perhaps rather stupidly, Higgs hadn't really thought much of the comment before making it. Watching Siobhan's smile fall at his words, though, made something in Higgs' stomach twist. He honestly hadn't thought it mattered. Not when he'd been a 'best friend jealous' teenager and Max had most likely just wanted to be Marcus' friend. Even if Max had had a crush on Marcus back then Higgs wasn't really sure why that would matter now. Higgs hadn't necessarily struggled with his own sexuality back in school, but it had certainly taken a while to recognise that he liked boys as much as he liked girls. Once he'd joined the army, that had been both harder and easier and then he'd met Alicia and all of that had sort of just not mattered any longer. By the time they'd split, Higgs had felt perfectly comfortable in his own skin. The problem was that Higgs also presumed other people his age would be. The way Siobhan looked crestfallen for the shortest of moments didn't really make Higgs think she thought so, too.
"I'm sorry," Higgs apologised, unsure what else he could say. "I didn't think it'd matter?" He commented honestly. "It's not very likely that any of us should take into account what sixteen year old me thought," he added. Higgs hadn't been terrible in school or anything, but in contrast to what he was like now, Higgs knew he'd been far more impulsive. So perhaps it was that he'd told Max he thought he had a crush on Marcus, it seemed likely that when irritated Higgs might've said as much. The thing that Higgs didn't get was why it'd matter now.