"I know it sounds absurd coming from me but... It's less that I care about the gossip and more... I don't want to make things more difficult for you. You said yourself it's already been an uphill battle." He wants to be able to make things easier for Claude, support him and help him, not add to the troubles he's already facing.

And perhaps some part of him is frightened that if he is the source of a problem then Claude might simply leave him again and, especially now, he's not sure he could bear it.

"I think... I just might need you to remind me of that. Likely more often than you'd care to. At least for now..." Logic will win out eventually right? Or he'll at least be able to skip over some of the levels of guilt that come alongside... well, all of this.