Wolfe talks and says words as pretty as gemstones that deserve to be set into gold and it causes another waver in Chris' breath as his eyes close tight for one moment...two...and then open again. He doesn't shy from it. He needs it for how it feels right even as it feels uncomfortable.

Even the clarification that it wasn't a matter of 'worth' feels like balm and blade at the same time. That wasn't...quite what he'd meant was it? No, maybe it was, but he needed the reminder they weren't like that. They'd never been like that. And still, something tugs at him.

He leans his face into Wolfe's neck and brings his arms around so he can curl his fingers in the front of Wolfe's shirt and better feel those arms around him. "You're right...I just...all I want from you is you...but all I want for you seems to be something I can't offer and it tears at me. I just want to be safe for you. I'd...The siren had made me think you must be, even in my deepest level, because I never once thought about drowning you. I hurt you, but all I wanted then was your safety. Yet...I pushed your boundaries then too. I'm scared. I don't want to wake some day and find you're staying cause you love me...and not because y-you're safe with me."

The words catch a bit in his throat as his mind, again, flashes to Jon. Flashes to things his other partner has implied or said to him in the past...and now Chris can see was for much the same fear. And what had Chris' answer been?

He sighs and it sends a heavy quake through Chis' frame, but his voice holds when he speaks again. "But I...I I'll have to trust you that you'll know if that line is ever crossed. If it's ever too much or not enough for you. I...have to trust you'll help me as much as I'd help you in the reverse. Your heart is too precious to me to break intentionally."