Shame

"You really are some kind of dumbarse." Jed grabbed for the glass bottle and pulled it to his lips, only to remember that it was empty.

"I'll not argue that point, señor," nodded Ruiz, taking the empty bottle and placing it out of sight and out of reach. "I make it no secret that I have no formal education. I can read well enough, and I can do things that I'm told are mathematics, but that doesn't make me particularly smart."

"You were dumb enough to take that deal I proposed. I made it unreasonable so you would throw a fit, and I could have a reason to throw you out."

"Then why did you stop me talking about my family when you saw I was uncomfortable?"

"I thought it would take too long."

"You could have just asked me to leave."

"Sadie and Maria wanted you to stay. Sadie said you needed to stay for a week to heal, Maria wanted to pay you back for helping her. She likes you, ya know?"

Ruiz once again felt his face flush red. He probably had meant that she liked him as a friend, and that was as far as their relationship was going to go. "Is that why you sent us off together this morning, señor?" he joked. "Trying to set me up with your daughter?"

Jed's face contorted in disgust. "Ugh, no! I sent you off with her because you seem to think that our agreement is a binding one, and I was pretty sure you'd bring her back, or at least keep her safe if something went wrong. As brain-dead as you are, I at least don't think you'll run off with her. And even if you did, she's no pushover. She'd kick your arse into next week!"

Ruiz nodded along, a bit disheartened. He'd thought that he and Jed were building up a decent rapport, but apparently not. He did know that Maria was stronger than him, though. If he tried to grab her and force her to do anything, she had the capacity to pin him to the ground. Perhaps she even had the weight to snap his ribs, if she really wanted to.

"Besides, we're all pretty sure you're into stallions."

Ruiz turned to Jed. "Are you going to remember this conversation, señor?"

"Probably not." Jed reached for where his bottle had been before Ruiz had taken it, and started looking around.

"And you're not paying close attention, anyway. Contrary to what you and the gryphons all seem to believe, I do prefer females. Maria is no exception to this rule. I think she is a very attractive young mare. But I have too much respect for her to make an advance. Besides, with the fact that I'm still under contract to work here until the debt is paid off, it would be very upsetting for her to work with someone she doesn't love, who has confessed his feelings toward her. She would want me to leave, but I would still owe you money."

"You don't owe us jack shit," spat Jed. "That's what I been tryin' ta tell ya!"

Ruiz shook his head. "I can't just take your bandages, your food, and live in your house for free."

"Yes, you can! You just have to ask for a few days off, and Sadie will make me go easy on you! Just ask her to take it easy on you, and you'll essentially be living rent-free for minimal work."

"I'm not going to do that."

"Why not?"

Ruiz cleared his throat. "I can't ask for help. I can't take it easy. Other ponies depend on me. If I can't hold them up, what good am I, really? Even when there's a whole network of ponies, like a family, holding each other up, somepony always has to be holding it all together. If somepony isn't holding the rest of them up, the whole system will collapse to the ground, and ponies will suffer. In some cases, they may even die. Somepony has to be around to hold it all up, and I drew the short straw. If I'm asking for help, it means I'm not good enough to support my loved ones on my own. It's shameful."

Jed said nothing, just leaned over and vomited onto Ruiz' lap.

"I think it's time you came inside, señor. Come on, you need to go to bed."

Ruiz stood up and let Jed's stomach contents drop onto the dirt floor of the barn, then helped the stallion to his hooves, acting as a support for him to lean on. "Do you really think I'm shameful?" he hiccupped. "I can't even keep myself upright."

"You're not shameful, señor," replied Ruiz. "You have the luxury of having additional support. Even if you fall, your family won't collapse. You have Sadie, and Maria, and me. I won't let your family fall."

"You let your family fall," reasoned Jed. "Why didn't you have any added support?"

Had Jed been sober, Ruiz would have been far more hurt by this observation. At the very least, he knew Jed was going to forget this, so it might do him some good to talk about it.

"I didn't have anyone to help me, señor. Those who should have wouldn't, those who would have couldn't, and those who could have didn't. I was alone. I didn't have somepony I could depend on to take my place. There was no one around that I could ask for help without being outed as the weak link. You should be glad that you have someone to support you when things go wrong. I honestly don't know why Maria decided to pick me up that night. By all accounts, I was worthless. I wasn't worth the effort. But you've gone and put me on this pedestal, and I'll be damned if I don't meet the expectations you've put on me."

Jed threw up again, this time over Ruiz' shoulder, just as Maria, freshly cleaned in the bathroom, came out to see what was taking so long. She immediately pulled the door open and ushered them inside, and while he was dripping vomit all along the walk behind them, the two of them, with guidance from Sadie, managed to bring Jed up to his bedroom, and place him on the bed. As soon as he was down, Sadie called Maria to her side to help clean him up, and demanded that Ruiz go shower immediately. Not wanting to feel her wrath, and also being in full agreement with her, he did as he was told, then cleaned up the mess that had been dripping from his hooves. He really didn't want to force her to clean up after him again.