[How is he making light of this? It's frustrating. He only really felt bad about it because he'd realized it would hurt Rogue's feelings to begin with, not because he thought there was anything intrinsically wrong with the situation. And then he's far more upset by her leaving than anything else, and by there being something about him that is apparently a problem, only now he's not even certain about that.] I am not making light, nor making excuses. But I also think it important that this was not a thing... premeditated.
[He's hurt plenty of people very intentionally, and it's very, very different. He also didn't care if they were hurt. It's always the miscalculations and mistakes that come back to bite him in the end.
He rubs his eyes again.] I am making no judgments on the rationality of anything. [He knows a verbal trap when he hears one, kid.] I realized Rogue would be upset when I thought about it later, because she and I view these things very differently. I think she would agree with you that kissing is an intimate thing. I don't. It is but bodies, Billy. Unless this is bared [He presses his hand over his heart.] how is that intimate?
[And it wasn't, this time. There wasn't anything all that emotional in it, other than the attraction of being around someone he likes and feeling warmly comfortable.]
I am trying to be understanding. I do not think she is wrong, to feel as she does. [Snort.] Emotion isn't a thing of rationality.
People do idiotic things whilst drunk all the time. I think I also peed in someone's flowerbed with Thor. And he broke the fountain. It always sounds like such a good idea at the time. [Billy, have you never been drunk? But the point is really not that those things are okay, but that it should be taken into account when the apology is later made. It's the acknowledgment of Yes you were an idiot and should feel bad, but I know you would not do such a thing sober. It is a small but important difference.] It is the difference between 'I made a mistake and for that I am sorry' and 'I set out deliberately to cause ill.'
[He suddenly quiets, shoulders slumping.] And yes, I am well aware, the sort of irreparable damage a mistake can do.
[And that is a burden of guilt he will probably never lose. But as melodramatic as he tends to be, he is not quite so childish to think that there is any point in making loud noises about Never Making Mistakes Again. Mistakes are an inevitability as long as one lives. It's trying to best deal with them and minimize their impact. This one, he definitely missed the boat on.
But at least no one got stabbed through the heart in a literal sense this time, so yay?]
[Action, June 24] Batman likes manpain :'(
[He's hurt plenty of people very intentionally, and it's very, very different. He also didn't care if they were hurt. It's always the miscalculations and mistakes that come back to bite him in the end.
He rubs his eyes again.] I am making no judgments on the rationality of anything. [He knows a verbal trap when he hears one, kid.] I realized Rogue would be upset when I thought about it later, because she and I view these things very differently. I think she would agree with you that kissing is an intimate thing. I don't. It is but bodies, Billy. Unless this is bared [He presses his hand over his heart.] how is that intimate?
[And it wasn't, this time. There wasn't anything all that emotional in it, other than the attraction of being around someone he likes and feeling warmly comfortable.]
I am trying to be understanding. I do not think she is wrong, to feel as she does. [Snort.] Emotion isn't a thing of rationality.
People do idiotic things whilst drunk all the time. I think I also peed in someone's flowerbed with Thor. And he broke the fountain. It always sounds like such a good idea at the time. [Billy, have you never been drunk? But the point is really not that those things are okay, but that it should be taken into account when the apology is later made. It's the acknowledgment of Yes you were an idiot and should feel bad, but I know you would not do such a thing sober. It is a small but important difference.] It is the difference between 'I made a mistake and for that I am sorry' and 'I set out deliberately to cause ill.'
[He suddenly quiets, shoulders slumping.] And yes, I am well aware, the sort of irreparable damage a mistake can do.
[And that is a burden of guilt he will probably never lose. But as melodramatic as he tends to be, he is not quite so childish to think that there is any point in making loud noises about Never Making Mistakes Again. Mistakes are an inevitability as long as one lives. It's trying to best deal with them and minimize their impact. This one, he definitely missed the boat on.
But at least no one got stabbed through the heart in a literal sense this time, so yay?]