（ he lets sasuke move, helps him with it and is gratified when he doesn't try to put any significant distance between them. one hand falls to the boy's wrist and he strokes his thumb against it, a little see-saw of perpetual motion. he's patient, waiting for the words to come. sasuke has always conquered himself before, and cy's in no hurry to drag it out of him now. this, too, is progress.

when he does take that step, cy makes a soft hm of noise, and then lets his focus capture that point of contact between them a long moment.

at length himself — ）

I can see how it would feel that way.

（ he leans in, butts his head against sasuke's like an overly affectionate cat. it's here, lingering close like the kiss of sweet perfume, that he speaks again — ）

It's not that it wouldn't matter. It's that I can separate my own feelings for you from the desire for you to have the love you deserve in life. I would rather see you beloved of a thousand other souls than desperate and lonely in any universe. But I do recognize that there's an element there of me ignoring your own agency, too, so you're not wrong to feel how you did about what I said. It just hurts me to think of you being alone.

（ that nearness affords him the opportunity to graze his teeth against sasuke's collarbone. ）

But since we're talking in theoreticals — if it was up to me, I'd have you across every universe and in every time. And I'd love you if you were a worm. （ that's said, suffused with playfulness. ） Earth joke. Go with it.