[Of course. He hadn't expected anything else, not from Emi. As the other boy's fingers gently grazed his, Eiji's tightened, gripping each other in tense concentration.

No, the problem was always going to be himself. He could feel his pulse underneath his skin, beating fast as he stared down the precipice of change. Eiji lowered his head, gaze falling to their hands - to Emi's, reaching out to him.

This is what he had decided on, he reminded himself. There was no point to feeling anxious. There was only the doing.

Eiji gathered up his determination, focusing it into the core of him as he steeled his voice. And while it sounded like he was equally trying to justify the endeavour to himself as much as he was explaining it to Emi, he was firm in telling him:] I did not come to this conclusion because my feelings directed me towards it. I am not my feelings.

This is a choice I made, to pursue a risk that I've judged to be worth the cost. So...

[Like stiff, awkward things, he unlatched his fingers from each other and placed them over Emi's - with all the grace of a wooden mannequin. There was no part of his movements that weren't uncertain, but they moved all the same.]

...Let's take it slowly.