“She wouldn’t listen if I did apologize… I even told her it would be dangerous and she’s still mad,” Josh glanced at Dillon. “Another one of her many, many good points…” He shifted, a little awkward at Benjamin’s arm on his shoulder, reflecting on what Benjamin said, finally sighing.

"Geez, is that still going around?" Josh muttered under his breath, finishing scooping the crackers up. "I figured it would die out now that it's been three years..." he rose to his feet, awkwardly shaking Benjamin's arm off him, choosing to speak up. "It's not as romantic as it sounds... I mean, my intentions. Not really romantic. It's kind of a long story. Too long for the rumor mill, anyway." He dumped them in the trash and rinsed the bowl out, turning and leaning against the counter. 

“It’s really complicated… I don’t know if you want to hear it or not. I’m returning a favor, while making up for who I was three years ago…” He frowned. “Trust me, she’s not my type.” He opened up a cabinet, looking for more cheese crackers to replace the ones he’d dropped. "I like girls who are intelligent, and don't act like they want to strangle me everytime they see me... Lydia's making progress. She's not completely against me helping her, she knows my name now, what my powers are, and she's letting me help her get better at fighting..." he lowered his voice, muttering, "Even if she bitches about it..." He was silent a second before the other two encouraged him on, so he shrugged. "It's a little long and it's going to be kind of hard to explain, but I'll give it a try..." 

“I was a hero, and my first match I was ranked in the 8th spot. That doesn’t mean I’d be a good hero or ready to graduate… just that I’m a good fighter.” He paused. “In the arena, I noticed very little, it was such a commotion, but I did notice Lydia, and particularly what I noticed was how absolutely terrible she was.” He frowned, crossing his arms. “She didn’t know what she was doing, and it showed. She just attacked anything that got close to her, no strategy or talent or anything, just strength and nothing else. It was pitiable.” He frowned. “It bothered me to see someone with so little chance trying so hard…” 

He thought a moment, then went on. “I thought I was better than everyone else then, so I beat her and moved on. It embarrassed me to see her even fight.” He shook his head. “Flash forward a few weeks, I got attacked by some classmates. They said a lot of things I needed to hear, sealed my powers and beat the crap out of me. Of course, out of everyone who could come along, it was Lydia. Without a second thought, she jumped in. Later, I found out she had no idea who I even was.” He frowned. "She had a grudge against the guy in the arena but she didn't even recognize me... she beat the crap out of them, and moved on, ignoring me completely. She was strong, but she couldn't graduate, though she was determined to. If she wanted to win, she needed help. So I changed to the sidekick side. Not because I liked her... but because she was kind of pathetic... I wasn't cut out to be a hero anyway. I never had that drive to succeed..." He laced his fingers behind his head. "Being the hero is too much work. I'd rather help someone else succeed over fighting to do it myself."