"You say that so often. Relax." He scoffs, rolling his eyes. "It's as if you don't know me at all, Jesper Fahey."

It's meant to be a jab, a light tease, anything to distract from the heaviness of the talk... and the knowledge that he had worried Jesper and he's not sure how to handle how that makes him feel.

There is no hesitation there, laying his hand against Jesper's. That is new to him, in and of itself, that he just reacts so easily to that closeness even if there's no contact.

"It's not just the pain," he finally says after a long pause. "They took me. Like... like I was nothing more than a child that wandered off from their mother." His lip curls as he says it, countenance darkening. "I ... I can't stand that thought."

He felt like a weak target and he can't get past that now that he has time to think.