He startles a little bit as she touches him and there's that blush again, a soft pink high on his cheeks and the tips of his ears, sweet and unexpected with as boisterous and flirty as he can be. But then, he's used to putting out that kind of energy, not used to receiving it, and he's not used to receiving this kind of gentle kindness on top of that.
"All I have offered is what I would offer to anyone, much less to someone who went out of their way to assist a dear friend of mine when mine own hands were tied," the smile he gives her is warm and soft and perhaps just the tiniest touch of shy, "But if giving even that much is enough to win your regard, perhaps it is you that has something to teach me about keeping a brave front in the face of obstacles." He shifts his hand slightly until his fingers can curl back around her wrist in turn. It is somehow both less intimate than holding hands properly and moreso, links to one another forged with their fingers.
"If the world has not been fair to me, it has been far less so to you. That anyone could believe such dastardly lies about you is both incomprehensible and shocking. You have done so much. It is a privilege, to be a place where you might find refuge, not a burden, and if the rest of the world doesn't see that, then they are fools." And there's the shift in his smile again, warmer still, "Though perhaps it is to my good fortune that they are."
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2022-08-24 04:56 pm (UTC)"All I have offered is what I would offer to anyone, much less to someone who went out of their way to assist a dear friend of mine when mine own hands were tied," the smile he gives her is warm and soft and perhaps just the tiniest touch of shy, "But if giving even that much is enough to win your regard, perhaps it is you that has something to teach me about keeping a brave front in the face of obstacles." He shifts his hand slightly until his fingers can curl back around her wrist in turn. It is somehow both less intimate than holding hands properly and moreso, links to one another forged with their fingers.
"If the world has not been fair to me, it has been far less so to you. That anyone could believe such dastardly lies about you is both incomprehensible and shocking. You have done so much. It is a privilege, to be a place where you might find refuge, not a burden, and if the rest of the world doesn't see that, then they are fools." And there's the shift in his smile again, warmer still, "Though perhaps it is to my good fortune that they are."