[It's that expression--simple, open, sincere--that finally makes him have to look away, coughing under the pretense of clearing his throat and blinking a few times to relieve the burning sensation that's suddenly come back to them. Dammit, Grell, don't make him cry; he's supposed to be too much of an arrogant idiot for stuff like that! He nods, a tiny motion at first and then a stronger one, choosing this time to accept her words at face value. Grell... he can trust her. If she's looked at him and seen something worth her time, something worth caring about...]

Yeah... yeah. I will. I promise.

Thank you, Grell. You don't... you don't know what this means to me.

[She can't know, because even he is still realizing how deep the meaning goes, striking him to his very core. It's one of those moments, he realizes, a moment where the entire world seems to pivot around one focus before it settles into place again. It did it once a couple months ago, when Ardyn had included him with Prompto and Souji and Yu as he'd described himself as a tired father chasing after sons, and again when Togusa had pointed out so simply that he cared about him, that apparently that feeling ran so strongly. Now, it's happened a third time.]

Can I... ask you one other question?