Words alone aren't enough to make him trust his senses, not after everything he's gone through. He needs something more tangible to prove he isn't dreaming or going mad. So without a word, Huaisang pulls the other man into his arms, holding him tightly as he buries his face against his neck.

He loves this man too much now and misses the simpler, peaceful life they'd begun to build together. His fingers tangle in Jin Ziyao's unkempt hair as he just continues to cling to him. The tears are starting to come again and so are the sobs, shallow ones as his emotions overload. The intense anxiety of having him here in a world that hates him, that Huaisang himself created, clashes with the equally intense relief at seeing his lover again. Some of it's going to have to run its course and be purged from his system before he can approach this situation rationally or with any semblance of self-control.

He trembles and cries.

They'd come so perilously close to losing each other again. Too close.