. . . If you wanna start at the beginning, that's cool.

[He's having some thoughts along the same lines. There's a lot he's learned by now from her about all of this, and yet he feels like he doesn't actually get any of it, and it seems—kind of unfair to her, actually. It's harder to be understanding over something he doesn't understand, and yet here he is trying. He can at least provide a hand to hold and a shoulder to lean on.]

But—I mean, it's cool if you'd rather not, too . . . ah, man, we both came from some pretty messed up stuff, huh?

[That's not something he often likes to admit, or even think about. But it's easier when he's not alone.]