[Liem takes in the pained restlessness of the clenched hands in Set’s hair, of the teeth biting into his lip, and he has to suppress the desire to get up and cross the floor to him, to reach for him where he is instead of waiting for Set to alight on the bed next to him. Waiting is always harder, but he knows how very necessary it is, especially at times like this. Even when the mattress dips under the god’s weight, Liem is careful in his movements when he shifts gently against him, reaching one hand closer to seek the clutch of those restless fingers.]

But, you would have helped Gen without the need for him to wield you in that way. Isn’t that right? Because you’re not only a weapon.

[Hadn’t he said as much in the greenhouse, leant over Liem’s body in the green embrace of a garden plant? That Gen had wronged him, insulted him, with his manipulation. That they were close enough for such things to have rightly been unnecessary.]

I should have been willing to extend him the same care — because we were friends, too. And because I didn’t, he also wasn’t able to trust you, either.

[He hadn’t accomplished anything, in the end, except to cause suffering that had only radiated outward. All because he’d forgotten the importance of being kind.]

Maybe I would have been right to use such tactic on a different person, a different Zenite, but what I did with Gen… It wasn’t wise, and it wasn’t tactical. He’s going to be pushed deeper into Zenith because of this.