Hurting one another was a part of it, as much as anything else.

[ Choking Felix until he shut up. Digging in with nails or teeth when he struck a particularly painful barb deep, taunted him, bit him back. They were too useful to one another to severely injure, but they delighted in these smaller inflictions.

Unhealthy, he knows now. ]

It became normal. Who we were. I know now that's not the way it has to be. Not the way it should be. But at the time...