wehhh that hurts but you're also so right 😭😭 it destroys me that he's probably never truly felt loved or cared for because of his past, he's so used to keeping people at an arm's length. sure, he's in a better place now, he has people who care about him and like being around him, but i feel like wrio doesn't count on them sticking around. people like clorinde or neuvillette won't betray him or anything, but they'll probably leave at some point. they'll probably get tired of him at some point. who would keep seeking out a guy who holes himself up in a dingy underwater prison? he's probably never had the space to explore and develop romantic feelings, so i think getting closer to lyney really throws a wrench in whatever peace of mind he's found over the years. he wrestles so much with his sense of self, what it means to have someone get closer to him, what he has to offer, if he's not too broken to be so intimate with someone in the first place. i think lyney, while not completely familiar with wriothesley's past, knows the feeling very well, and they could help each other navigate those feelings of inadequacy and doubt and fear if they actually allowed themselves to open up about them. they could push each other through that rough patch, care for each other so aggressively there's no room for that doubt. but they'd have to actually be vulnerable about it, which is uh. scary for people with trust issues, lol. the mortifying ordeal of being known and all that. while wrio stumbles over this, i think he's also old and experienced enough to recognise that he should grab hold of whatever happiness he can get, and that being scared would only hold him back. he'd still be scared, but he'd also think lyney is worth being scared for, for a little while. he's willing to take the risk, where maybe a handful of years back he would've closed himself off without hesitation. i believe in him, and i think anyone who sees how wrio falls for lyney also does. those who are lucky enough to have gotten close(-ish) to wrio root for him so much bc wrio truly deserves the happiness and care lyney could give him if he allowed him to :')