[Rideaux doesn't resist the gesture, but Yuri will feel him tense up a little bit under his touch at first. He's not used to that sort of tenderness, and as such it's met with surprise. When he looks back at Yuri, there's this sort of uncertainty in his expression. He doesn't know what to do with this, so all he can do is watch and listen to what Yuri's saying to him.

"You're not going to be facing this alone, alright?"

Alone. That really was what he had been been for all of these years, wasn't it? He had come to the early conclusion that no matter what, he only had himself to rely on. He was the only one who could justify his right to exist. As long as he survived, that was all that mattered. But where did that get him, in the end? When the time came, and when for the first time he found himself truly in need of help, he was utterly alone.

Those who do not value others are destined to flounder in loneliness. But Yuri had begun to help him see the value of friendship, hadn't he?

As Yuri continues and those sincere words of support reach Rideaux, he starts to feel a warm tightness in his chest that he's never quite felt before. He slowly brings a hand there, but then a pressure in the back of his eyes hits him too. The foreignness of it is a little startling at first, but he realizes it isn't...bad, exactly. It's true appreciation. More than that. It's...]

Thank you, Yuri. That... That means quite a lot to me.

[His words are just as sincere. Even though the uncertainty hasn't left him, it's more that he he's still not sure how to handle what Yuri has just given him. But he knows that he doesn't want to let go.]

There is nothing left for me in my world, but that does not mean it's completely over. [...] Thank you for helping me see that.