[ Amos's eyes raise up to Alex's, surprised by the words. This whole thing, where the two of them know less about themselves than other people, it's - tough. It makes feel like Amos is part of a game of chess that's already been decided. Checkmate, or something.

He's never been good at chess. ]

Well, shit.

[ Amos is struck a little dumb. ]

You know how she reacted?

[ He looks back down at his hands, rubbing them against each other for a moment, taking in Alex's words. He presses his thumb to the calluses on the inside of his palm. ]

I heard about what you did, and I acted on it. [ He still isn't sure what it was that he felt, really. He trusts Alex, implicitly, but it felt a little like betrayal. ] I just can't -

[ He looks up again, sincere this time, emotions in his eyes, for once. ]

I don't have nuances like you do. If I've got your back, I've got your back on everything. I can't just switch it on and off.