#joe would bring it up gently but henry would be very combatively immediately

[mdemn]

awful thought inspired by that one post: henry and/or joe slowly realizing through comments vito makes that leo was manipulating him, but they can't warn him cause he'll never believe it and he'd be furious at the notion anyway. i especially like the idea of henry being the one to kinda figure this out, because i imagine his father was a lot like leo but vito has even less reason to believe him than he would joe

henry being the first to spot vito’s response to criticism of leo as a direct, personal, attack against HIM and recognize it as the response of someone being used in a game he doesn’t realize is going on because henry himself has done (and most likely still does) the same when someone criticized his father, which i bet happened a LOT when henry first came over to america…….

henry who tells vito that leo is using him, that he doesn’t mean SHIT to leo. and vito isn’t trying to hear a single fuckin peep about it and will willingly and without much thoroughly rock henry’s shit if he keeps talking about it.

joe would know leo is a Don’t Mention topic to vito. joe knows vito better than anyone. knows how he’s always craving approval. knows vito doesn’t know the difference between being a valued team member and being used. between being wanted, needed, and being used. doesn’t know good attention from bad attention. has a father-sized hole in his heart that he’s gonna keep trying to fill until it kills him.

thank you harry i am going to be so normal about this ask.