"You don't need to be scared anymore," he said as he reached up and squeezed one of the hands on his bicep, not doing anything to pull him off. If Shannon wanted to hold onto him like that, then Eli was going to let him. He wanted him to feel safe talking about this and wasn't going to do anything to ruin that.

"What are you worried about?" Eli nuzzled the side of his face gently before kissing his cheek. If Shannon wanted contact, he was going to give it to him in the most affectionate way possible.