It was now very apparent that asking questions was making things worse, and that Benjy had moved from feeling useless and not helpful to actively being unhelpful. Alastair didn't know what he needed, and he shouldn't have had to figure it out for himself--Benjy should have been able to do it. He should be able to guess what would actually help. And he couldn't.
Under any other circumstance, when Benjy found himself unhelpful or the source of someone's irritation, he removed himself from the situation to avoid getting in the way. That was always the last thing he wanted, and if he wasn't helping, he didn't need to be there. That was still his instinct here, but he wanted to believe that his presence didn't make Alastair worse. The other man had said he didn't want to be left alone, but that didn't necessarily mean that Benjy was the best person to be with him. He almost asked if he should contact one of his friends, someone who might know what to do, but he didn't want to ask another question his boyfriend didn't know the answer to and make it worse.
He really just didn't know what to do.
Benjy sat forward and leaned on his elbows, head turned toward Alastair as though if he stared hard enough, he'd figure out exactly what he couldn't tell him. If he'd walked into the room to find him like this, he would have thought the man needed a hug, but he couldn't be sure how that would be received. Except, he realized, he probably wouldn't care if it was poorly received if that was what he really needed.
So he did it. He sat up and turned toward him, reaching for him and wrapping his arms around him so he could pull him close. And if that backfired, then he could get up and leave him alone.