Seto maintains his silent support through all of this, remaining close. If his brother needs support, he'll get it. That includes hugs. Sigh. Yes, he's given in to this, but it's not the worst thing. He curls his arm around Xander's shoulder, reeling him in close.

"Where I come from, blood is everything. If you don't have a traditional family for whatever reason, it's widely believed that something's wrong with you. So I forged myself into a cold and calculating heir to survive, and after everything I'd done? Sometimes I wasn't sure that I was still human. In the colloquial sense."

He looks between the two of them, then at. Oh, right. Xander. Struggling with identity. He quickly adds: "By that I mean...capable of love. Which is an imprecise and sentimental definition that I've unfortunately absorbed from poetry, but I'm confident we all meet it."

He's still struggling with the F word a bit, but it should be clear from his expression.