Coop can't really relate to any of that, he's never known a life that hasn't involved two loving parents who've wanted absolutely nothing but the best for him. They'd helped him pay for school, they'd supported him in his move to France, and they'd taken him back in until he'd managed to get the clinic up and running when he'd return to Siren Cove with a heart in desperate need of repair. Occasionally, his mom still needles at him about when he's going to finally try to settle down again because he'd been so close once, and Coop often has to resist the urge to shout at her that the fact that he'd been so close then is exactly why he doesn't want to get that close ever again; but he always manages to resist because it's never coming from a hurtful place.
When he'd discovered his own powers, his parents had gently talked him through what it meant to be a witch, what it meant to be responsibilities that other people don't simply because he was powerful in ways they could never be. April hadn't had that, she hadn't had a support system that taught her using her powers to manipulate whenever she wanted would be a bad thing; but she'd learned it herself.
She only targets certain people, the kind of men who don't deserve all the fortune in their lives because they hadn't achieved it in an honorable way. Coop takes issue with that just by hearing it because he's a guy who does things because they're right, at least he tries to be, and he knows he's not perfect by any means but he takes comfort in knowing that he's April's friend. Not just another potential target.
"You did what you had to do," he says, his voice steadier than he thought it would be, and Coop firmly meets her gaze. "But you were alone then. You're not alone now, you have people who want to look out for you. People like me, because I give a shit about what happens to you. So if any of these guys are coming at you for revenge, if they're responsible for what's going on with your powers, then you can count me in on taking any goddamn one of them down. It doesn't matter to me what you've done in the past. Doesn't even matter what you might do in the future. All I know is that you're my friend. Nothing you've told me changes that."
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When he'd discovered his own powers, his parents had gently talked him through what it meant to be a witch, what it meant to be responsibilities that other people don't simply because he was powerful in ways they could never be. April hadn't had that, she hadn't had a support system that taught her using her powers to manipulate whenever she wanted would be a bad thing; but she'd learned it herself.
She only targets certain people, the kind of men who don't deserve all the fortune in their lives because they hadn't achieved it in an honorable way. Coop takes issue with that just by hearing it because he's a guy who does things because they're right, at least he tries to be, and he knows he's not perfect by any means but he takes comfort in knowing that he's April's friend. Not just another potential target.
"You did what you had to do," he says, his voice steadier than he thought it would be, and Coop firmly meets her gaze. "But you were alone then. You're not alone now, you have people who want to look out for you. People like me, because I give a shit about what happens to you. So if any of these guys are coming at you for revenge, if they're responsible for what's going on with your powers, then you can count me in on taking any goddamn one of them down. It doesn't matter to me what you've done in the past. Doesn't even matter what you might do in the future. All I know is that you're my friend. Nothing you've told me changes that."