Broken Boulder you only hold me up like this 'cause you don't know who i really am

alarian's words force his mouth into a grimace, his thoughts too quick for a moment for his feelings to catch up. he knows he has to say what he wants to say exactly right. any margin of error lets the golden governor slip from his grasp, lets him misunderstand -- willfully or otherwise.

delight pulls back so he may look alarian in the face as he speaks, an urgency pressing his voice. "i could be that to you, too." pause, letting it sink it. "not -- not to replace zamael, never to replace. to supplement. in addition," he lets a smile pull the tired lines of his face back briefly, letting a little tenderness come through. he'd spoken about this very thing with zamael, hadn't he? "but," here it is, the tightrope, "you can't keep avoiding me. running off and leaving me behind -- alarian." deep breath. "you may still need him, but i need you. present with me. open with me." anxiously he searches for his partner's gaze, afraid of what he'll find but needing to know -- because if alarian can't meet him here with this, even a little, their relationship already has an end date, and delight knows it.