Alex does as Neil asks. He does nothing of the sort. He reaches, wrenches Neil's hands down--the kid fights it, struggles to keep his hands there, but he's not using his full strength, and Alex slowly pulls them down.

Then reaches to rub a thumb under Neil's eyes.

Alex watches his own hand, and when he speaks, there's only his low, calm drone. Nothing of emotions or pity. Nothing of unwanted sympathy. "Yeah," he answers, a step out of sync. "You choose how to keep moving forward after. But there's no moving backward. When you move, Neil," he says, and finishes running his thumb under his eyes. He returns his hand to Neil's chin, and tries to catch his gaze. "It's only forward, kid. Only forward. You take a step at a time and you keep going. There's nothing else for it. There's no going back."