"Yes. I'm tired of pretending. Lies. I've told lies to myself my whole life. It's just been too hard to do otherwise, but I know I can't do that here. You are - you are my friend and you deserve...an acceptance of reality, at the very least."

For a moment, he stared at the floor, just sitting there in Lyle's arms, as if trying to think up some proof of his sincerity.

It sounded like it came from nowhere as he said it, but the connection was something he thought was obvious, as he said, "Back when I pretended to hate everyone, I used to rig the game console in the rec room to allow me to play the enemy npcs from my room. Clocking at a faster speed than the player characters so that even Jo couldn't beat me with ultra-speed."

The confession was so sincere it was almost laughable. The way he said it was the way someone might confess to a crime.

"I can't live with the lies, Lyle."