"Stop," Mingyu murmured softly, though his voice was firm as he spoke, the light in his eyes hard and brooking no argument. "Fix what, Huli? You always, always do this."

Sighing wearily, he cupped Fox's face in his hands, drawing him in for a slow, lingering kiss before he went on. Fox tended to listen a little better after his breath was kissed away. Not a lot better, but better.

"You try to fix things that can't be fixed, look for perfect solutions in an imperfect world. You get so far ahead of yourself, you can't see the trees for the forest."

Mingyu took in another tight breath, stroking Fox's cheeks with his thumbs.

"So stop, okay? Don't. For me. Don't try to fix this. We'll find another way, and we'll do it together, and we're not going to worry about anything being fixed. We're just gonna find a way to keep going."