Shannon could tell this was difficult for Eli. His whole body was tensing up like a coil, and he only started to unwind while he repeated Shannon's name like a prayer. That was only plugging the hole that would soon burst the dam apart. He leaned further over and laid a kiss along Eli's temple. "Good," he said. "That's good, Eli. Keep focusing, listen to my voice. I'm going to get up now, but you'll hear me and you can watch me." He gave another kiss, then tentatively let go of Eli's wrists and extricated himself from the bed.

It was a little awkward because he was still in his boxers, but there was nothing to be done about that right now. No, what Shannon really needed to do was sing. "Never gonna give you up," he started, voice a bit unsure but soon gaining balance. "Never gonna let you down."

He continued on, making his way to the guest room closet. His parents enjoyed the incense Shannon kept and tended to burn some whenever they would come to visit his place, so Shannon took to keeping it in the guest room so they could grab it without disturbing him while he was sleeping. He carefully pulled a jar of incense sticks and the tray from the shelf at the top and set it all down on the nightstand opposite Eli's side, while never breaking his stride with the song. "Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye..." With the book inside the nightstand drawer, he struck a match and made sure to light all the sticks equally, waited until he could feel the heat blossom at all the ends, then blew them out and arranged them. He returned to the bed while the soothing aroma began to float on the air, reaching out to check Eli's physical position.

As he finished the chorus, he paused in the song. "Okay?" he asked, simple and unspecific. Eli would take it any way he pleased and Shannon was all right with any answer he would receive. He just needed to make sure Eli was still in the moment.