@Noodles4life Let's say they both wronged each other.
Kiddo blackmailed young MC and annoyed the sh** out of him. I get it, why he yearned so much for his attention. In my line of work I got trainings how to handle traumatised kids for example.
MC didn't. He was more or less a kid himself. MC has a right to have a love life.
In the end BOTH got failed by all the adults around them, especially the mothers who's job it would have been to protect both kids.