Isn't that my line? Gabe wonders. He exhales, bowing his head, and doesn't say it. The moment feels dreamlike, strange, like it'll fade out if he loses the thread any further than he already has. If he steps back, if they stop touching each other. But they're tethered now, if not quite literally, and he wants -

He wants something more, something that ought to give him pause. That connection. Skin hunger, Gabe thinks. Hah.

He does what he's told, in the end. Drags his fingers out and then presses into that heat, biting off a moan and rocking forward until they're flush with each other. He loops an arm around Henry's shoulders to keep them close, so he can feel it out.

Breathe. And settle.

It feels, strangely, like peace.