[ Just having someone willing to listen is amazing. Xingchen has no stake in comforting him. No goal other than being a good, warm soul. Nothing ties them together.

Runyu isn't used to that, but he craves it all the more. ]

I have too much power to afford to be gentle with myself.

[ No one is above him. And so he has no one beside him.

He struggles to draw composure back around him, drawing strength from the gentle warmth of those brown eyes. ]

Yes. To both. I regret how I went about gaining my power. The people I hurt. I've tried to be better since it was all done.

[ Someone with more pride of self would writhe in agony over confessing to a mortal. ]