Which is exactly why having some clarity in communication is often important, yes.

[ just. so dryly. talking to him less forces him to make more assumptions, pietro.

if he's particularly bothered by being left out to dry with his own hard-on he makes very little indication of it -- pietro may have noticed in all their time together that his focus on his partner tends to be complete, total, and genuine. his own physical needs tend to fade away. he watches pietro curled up against the headboard, and he would offer, reach out, attempt at least some kind of steadying presence -- but pietro has shown enough that he doesn't want that, not from him. and that's fine.

he does stay on the bed, pulling back to give him a bit more space. pietro still had told him to stop, this time -- drawn quite a few lines, scattered as they may be. improvement, overall. ]

You don't know what you want, either. That gets messy. The clarity is helpful.