That response stopped Benjy cold. He relaxed his grip on Alastair and tipped his head back against the couch cushion--the most space he could give him without getting up and walking away. Clearly he'd said the wrong thing. Maybe he didn't want to be taken care of. Benjy knew that Alastair was having a rough time and that this very likely ranked in the top five worst days of his life, so he was trying very hard not to take it personally, but if his boyfriend was now angry at him for trying to help, he didn't want to make it worse.
"Would you rather I left you alone?" he asked after a long pause, preparing to be told that yes, he really should just get up and go away because he wasn't actually helping anything.