"I don't want to hurt Claudius," Magnus says, immediately. "He shouldn't be hurt anymore. Or in the first place. You know what I mean." He's quiet for a long moment, still turning over his thoughts.

He wants to believe that Luo Binghe can do better -- can be better. Even if Luo Binghe hasn't been trying friendship stuff with everyone, maybe Magnus is, like, a guinea pig or something, and he'll start.

But one thing is undeniably, inescapably true, and that's: "It doesn't count," he says, with a heavy sort of finality. "Without an actual apology, it doesn't count as restitution."