Reid merely shrugs a shoulder at first, taking another sip of his coffee. It's a funny things that Lombard would posit, that Reid would overestimate his own importance, because that's not generally his style. It's not that he considers himself unimportant, merely that for the most part, he's... less important.
To his father, to his teammates, to his mom, Reid has always taken a backseat to something else. In truth, whatever his father had deemed more appealing than being with his own family doesn't matter much to Reid. The rest, he can understand perfectly. His teammates, with their personal lives to attend to, hadn't owed him much of anything. That they'd been kind to him, treated him like the little brother (even though there'd been times he hadn't appreciated that), is more than he could have anticipated after being bullied through his years at school for so long.
As for his mother, the stability of her mental health had been much higher a priority, Reid had made sure of that, and there's no resentment there. If anything, there's guilt that he hadn't done more, that he hadn't worked harder to become the one who could treat her, and Reid knows he sets the bar too high for himself far too often. So no, he wouldn't say he overestimates his importance. The only person he knows with certainty he matters to most is Luke, and it doesn't hurt him to think he doesn't come first to other people. Certainly, nobody else comes first to him other than his boyfriend.
"If you ever do find a reason to get tangled up in something like that, be sure to let me know," Reid answers, a wry smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. "As for my boyfriend, he may not like that I came in here knowing what you've done, but he'll respect my decision to do it. Like you said, hurting me doesn't benefit you in any way, I knew you'd be smarter than to try anything." In fact, Reid will tell Luke about this, though he can already picture the look on his boyfriend's face when he does. As if Luke doesn't have a long enough list of reasons to dislike Lombard, this won't do anything to sway his opinion, not that Reid wants to do that.
He might leave out the part about what Lombard had said about the drugs making Reid good in bed. Lombard would have more than just his head to worry about then.
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To his father, to his teammates, to his mom, Reid has always taken a backseat to something else. In truth, whatever his father had deemed more appealing than being with his own family doesn't matter much to Reid. The rest, he can understand perfectly. His teammates, with their personal lives to attend to, hadn't owed him much of anything. That they'd been kind to him, treated him like the little brother (even though there'd been times he hadn't appreciated that), is more than he could have anticipated after being bullied through his years at school for so long.
As for his mother, the stability of her mental health had been much higher a priority, Reid had made sure of that, and there's no resentment there. If anything, there's guilt that he hadn't done more, that he hadn't worked harder to become the one who could treat her, and Reid knows he sets the bar too high for himself far too often. So no, he wouldn't say he overestimates his importance. The only person he knows with certainty he matters to most is Luke, and it doesn't hurt him to think he doesn't come first to other people. Certainly, nobody else comes first to him other than his boyfriend.
"If you ever do find a reason to get tangled up in something like that, be sure to let me know," Reid answers, a wry smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. "As for my boyfriend, he may not like that I came in here knowing what you've done, but he'll respect my decision to do it. Like you said, hurting me doesn't benefit you in any way, I knew you'd be smarter than to try anything." In fact, Reid will tell Luke about this, though he can already picture the look on his boyfriend's face when he does. As if Luke doesn't have a long enough list of reasons to dislike Lombard, this won't do anything to sway his opinion, not that Reid wants to do that.
He might leave out the part about what Lombard had said about the drugs making Reid good in bed. Lombard would have more than just his head to worry about then.