To his credit, Gene had been able to keep a lot of the strain from showing on his face, but being with Tony (and Tony's inability to let sleeping dogs lie) had cracked his poker face, a little, and if he could see himself he'd be ashamed of how comparatively vulnerable he'd let himself look.

The hand on his wrist jerked but didn't let go, and this time Gene could fight back the flashback. Zhang wasn't here. Zhang wasn't here. And Zhang wouldn't be a threat to him here, either; rings or not, power or not, he had people here who actually for some reason gave half a damn about him and wouldn't let that happen to him again.

"I think I might need some tea, too," he said, and tried to make it into a joke.