[It's probably clear from the look on Hank's face that he knows exactly how shitty it is, what he said. He knows it pretty much before Simon starts to talk, and he sure as hell knows it after. But he keeps his damn mouth shut and he listens. It's the least he can do. So he listens, shame making his face hot and churning up something sour and jagged inside his stomach, and it's a moment after Simon finishes before Hank manages to say anything.]

Simon, I- I shouldn't have- Fuck, I shouldn't have even talked to you like this in the first place, I should've- Shit, I'm sorry. For what it's worth. I'm sorry. I, I just, if I-

[If I were you, If I was in that suit instead of you-. No. Fuck, no. No matter how much he'd mean it as a compliment.]

You're a better man than I am, okay? That's what I should have- That's all I meant.

[Was it what he'd meant? Hank's not sure. He'd been getting there, been on his way to believing it. It's what he should have meant.]

It's just, it's hard to- [To move.] -to get up and help. It's really-

[He can't stand it, though, can't stand to hear himself talking about his own shit like he's got any right to compare the two at all, to hold his own personal nightmare alongside the ex-human's living hell, even if what he wants to say by it is, 'That's not the same thing as hope at all, and you're stronger than I'll ever be for actually believing that it is.']

So you-

[No. Stop fucking trying. It's a stupid thing to say anyway. Hell, even if Hank did figure out how to actually put the idea into fucking words it'd still probably end up making things worse.]

I'm just sorry. That's all. I'll shut my goddamn mouth.

[He can't meet Simon's eyes when he says that, can't really look straight at the evidence of the one topic he shouldn't have brought up at all, and yeah that kind of cowardice makes him lower than the shit someone just scraped off their shoe but he doesn't look, he grimaces in front of him and presses his fingers hard against his eyes, instead.]