"Uh, if my parents knew I was gay they would have disowned me."

"Our mom did what?!"

"Kaleva's parents are awful too, he stays with Chen's family in summer. I'm so sorry." 

"My moms are great."

"Maybe our parents don't match up? My dad is Aleksander and my mom is Sophia."

"My moms are Ruth and Mila, and my dad was Zev."

"I don't know either of Kaleva's parents' names except insofar as 'the Duke of Weselton' is a name." 

"I don't think they match up. Why did Cascadilev get the good parents?"

"Just lucky, I guess."

"I'm so sorry about everyone's parents except for Cascadilev's." 

"I don't ever have to speak to them again, so it's fine. --I'm sorry about your parents, if applicable."

"Haven't talked to them since college but thank you." 

"Mine stopped keeping touch when I was ten or so but that's.... normal for the Isle, mostly, unless your parent really wanted kids." 

"I'm sure you get this all the time but the Isle is horrifying."

"I do indeed get that all the time but you aren't wrong. It's kinda what happens when you take a place and fill it with villains and give them nothing but garbage to eat and even then not enough of it, I was fifteen when I found out that bananas are supposed to he yellow." 

"They gave you garbage. --Don't tell Asher, he'll try to overthrow your king."

"King Ben is amazing and fixing it as fast as he can, don't you dare. — but yes, they gave us garbage." 

"Okay, then, he won't overthrow the king, he'll just be very upset."

"That's fair and also sweet of him." 

Xenolev's stomach rumbles. "I... should get some food."

"I should too," and he'll follow Lev to wherever Lev is going. 

"I used to climb into dumpsters to feed myself and my mom. It was easier for me because I was small and my mom has a bad back."

....are they exchanging childhood anecdotes? Is that the thing they are doing? He tries to come up with something to say that doesn't sound like an attempt at one-up-manship, fails, and says "When I was ten someone poisoned the food they were throwing out and I almost died?" 

"I'm sorry."

That totally failed to have the intended effect. In retrospect, childhood-trauma-based flirting was maybe not a good plan.

"That wasn't the response you were hoping for. I'm sorry."