Willingly coming closer, Julien turned his head so that he could nuzzle in under Alfie's chin, breathing him in and feeling that same weird sense of satisfied stillness that he usually found so elusive; he couldn't lift his head once it was rested there.
"Yeah." he said with a heavy sigh, sounding tired. "I am really. Things are..." he didn't end the sentence, wasn't sure how. "How are you?" he murmured the question, his hand rubbing up and down the small of Alfie's back gently.