The barked reply cut clean into his heart, but he's used to this by now if only because Helix has done this very thing so many times before. It shouldn't hurt as much as it did, even less so since he knew that half of it was just the other expressing his own pain but he still couldn't keep himself from tensing, almost flinching at the cold reply.
He could leave. He could get out of here and sleep elsewhere and sort this out at a later time but as much as he wanted to run he also knew that it's the last thing he should do. Getting this far was almost impossible, turning his back on the boy now when they've finally established some sense of trust... that would be killing their friendship and he can never allow himself to do that.
Still, he made a turn for the door. Half-hearted, hesitant, not even making it all the way around before he stopped himself again. There's no way he could leave, but he couldn't just pretend like nothing happened either and just like that the sensation came back, burning a hole in his gut like it had just a short week ago. Months ago, from Helix's point of view, and that gave him even more reason to ask again. There had been moments, brief, fleeting moments where he felt wanted and he just needed to know that it wasn't just him reading too much into things.
Confirmation. Just a crumb of it, a reason to keep fighting for them.
"Do you even want me here..?" he called out over his shoulder, back still half-turned towards the other. C'mon, man. Throw him a bone.