At first Vax thinks he should pull away, but then he realizes that the man is leaning into the touches and instead he shifts to sit closer. Hand trailing from hair down his neck to pet along shoulders.

Not being touched for so long only to finally get it and apparently have it torn away? Vax can only imagine how it must feel mentally, add to that whatever the moon seems to be doing to make that pain physical. "Well, I don't normally just offer myself up for touching but, I'll count this as a special occasion, hm? If it's closeness you need I can offer it, just be gentle. You look like you could break me in half if you wanted."

He's teasing of course, and Vax knows he could probably give the man a good fight if he needed to, however that didn't seem to be in the books for now. Which was probably for the better.

Hands are gentle but also firm, grounding. He's there and he's not letting anything make John think he wasn't.