"I will fight the island if it needs fighting," Mingjue said, stubborn and not bending to the humor of it, even if he did get a glint in his eye at A-Yao's laugh. The point needed to be made. "I mean it. I'll take Baxia to the metal robot constructs again and deal with the consequences. I'll even let it go both ways; I'll tell you both if something's wrong."

Mingjue scooted so that the three of them were much closer together when A-Yao moved to sit between him and Xichen, unafraid to squash A-Yao a little with his proximity and jostle him into Xichen's side. It seemed appropriate.

"And I want—" It felt very strange to be even thinking about what he wanted. A little dazed-sounding, he continued, "I want you both to stay with me." He paused, then revised with a little more force, "I need you both to stay with me." He gripped A-Yao's hand and reached across him to tug at Xichen's, to make sure Xichen knew that, in case his words weren't enough.

Though at A-Yao's final confession, he frowned. "You both left. I thought if you needed me, you'd come get me. Are you better? Xichen, is he better?"