[Not that Matthias had lost his grin by any means, but that straightforward statement puts it back on his face in full. And the red in his ears and his cheeks is wholly renewed, having flared up again--and the feeling in his chest is like when you hold a moth cupped in your hands, and its wings are fluttering against your fingertips--like that but much larger, like as if the moth were a hundred feet tall, and you were still trying to hold it in your hands.]

Oh, yeah? Well, good. 'Cause I'd like that. A great deal. It's-- [Even his nose feels like it might be turning red, somehow; Matthias rubs at it.] --sort of mad, to be able to just say it. Or... even come close to saying it, like--talking around it. I dunno. Like all along, if I'd have know it'd be this easy, maybe I'd not have been such a coward about it.