I should have told you I found them earlier, when I first found the estate, but- [Ayato pauses, sighing.] Many things have happened since.

[The hug is something he should expect, really, and he does. But even so, there's a moment where he stiffens, before both arms go around Josuke and Ayato partially collapses, hands digging into his boyfriend's back. He's a mess all over again, just needing someone to physically be there as he slowly falls apart.]

She told me she knows about Yae. What she does here, that they're "good friends." And that "the weather could change in an instant." [He breathes, voice shaking, unsteady. He's terrified. Terrified of his sister being hurt, terrified the Order may do something to her to get at him, terrified Teresa knows one of his biggest vulnerabilities.] When I told her to speak plainly, she told me that no matter what I try to do, my life will always belong to the Order.

[He will always be a tool, a prize, a hound that someone can put on display and use as a threat. Never as a person. Never with needs or hopes or desires.

He can't go back to that. He can't go back to that.]

I'm not a "hound." I can't go back to being that for them, Josuke. I can't.