Chapter Text
“I’m sorry,” Ben says before he can stop himself.
Yassen glances up at him, head tilted quizzically, and Ben supposes he can’t blame the assassin. The words had come from nowhere. The two had been standing in silence for the better part of a half hour, watching the sun set over the bay and waiting for Alex to come back with the information they needed to find the man they hoped would be their informant.
“For what happened to you.”
Looking at Yassen’s face is usually like looking at a mask. Oh, his expression would change. Ben had seen Yassen smile and laugh, sometimes scowl, but Ben had always gotten the uncomfortable feeling that he had never seen anything Yassen hadn’t wanted him to see. Now, though, there is obviously genuine confusion seeping through the cracks, and Ben realizes that nothing he has said could possibly make sense to his companion.
Ben already wishes he hadn’t said anything, but it’s too late now. Better to continue. “I’m sorry for what you went through as a kid. For what Scorpia did to you.”
Ben had started to read Yassen’s files 6 months ago, just after their last encounter. With Alex steadily becoming a fixture in Ben’s life, the frequency of Ben’s encounters with Yassen had increased. Whereas before Yassen had just been a name on a watch list, one meant to be deceased at that, he’d become very real to Ben.
From the start, Yassen scared the hell out of Ben. Still does to be honest. Ben has seen the man kill without so much as a change in expression. Kill with a smile on his face. And Ben knows that while Yassen would never hurt Alex, that same allegiance doesn’t necessarily extend to Ben. So, he’d set out to learn as much as he could about the assassin as possible. And while Ben has found out enough to send him into a cold sweat while thinking about the things that could happen when alone with the other man, the files contain other information, things that have made him look at the assassin with new eyes. Such a change is dangerous. Yassen’s no less dangerous than he was before Ben had learned about the Russian’s childhood. But nevertheless, Ben’s woken up from more than one nightmare about a child who looks suspiciously like Alex, but who Ben knows is Yassen, experiencing things most full-grown adults never dream of.
Ben can’t dream of how anyone could force a child into slavery or train one to kill. He can’t imagine how John Rider could leave the boy that Yassen had been, a child who had clearly idolized John, alone in a terrorist organization. Ben thinks of Alex, and the man knows that if push came to shove, he’d betray his entire country to keep the kid safe. How John could look at Yassen and not feel the same is unfathomable.
Yassen’s face has grown serious, and he’s turned to stare at the bay. “It was a long time ago.”
Ben should shut up now. For all he knows, Yassen’s taking this research into his past as an insult or a threat. What he says is, “Still, you shouldn’t have been put through that...you deserved better.”
Yassen shrugs, still not turning to face Ben. “No child should have to go through that, but sometimes it happens.”
Ben can’t think of anything to say to that, so he just nods and turns to face the bay as well. They stand there quietly until Alex returns.