This was pretty terrible of him, wasn't it. All that time spent being careful not needing anything or anyone. He never wanted to put that kind of expectation on anyone, but especially not Shinji. Yet here he was.

The touch came just in time to still that mounting feeling of dread. It was a brief moment of calm, a pause between all the swirling conflictions of anxiety, possession, and sudden self=loathing. Kai blinked, and then his expression crumpled as it worked itself through all the things he was trying to process. He couldn't stop worrying his lip, and his brows kept knitting themselves up into disarray.

Throat tight, all he could do for the moment was a feeble nod. All he'd really needed was this, he thought.