The reply doesn’t surprise him. It fits Declan perfectly. It’s definitely part of why Aoba wasn’t asking, but merely stating. Confiding. He nods a little, there in the shelter of his arms, his hair brushing Declan’s cheek in turn. It’s an intense, present sensation, but painless.
He’d…be mad at himself if he drew Declan away from this important purpose of his, too. This is where the Guardian belongs, for the war that he’s waging and the people that he’s protecting, even if there’s a number of them that have no respect—no appreciation—for the wonderful person that the Titan is.
It’s that thought that gets Aoba to unbury himself a little, reddened but relatively dry around the eyes, and gaze averted lest he lose his nerve from something about their proximity. It diverts his thoughts from himself and back outwards, where he's more comfortable with them being. Declan’s face is still beside his own, rather than in front of, saving their voices from having to travel far to reach the other’s ears.
“While I’m gone,” he begins, words quietly keeping the hope that he can come back someday, “Don’t you dare listen to anyone that tries to put you down. You’re so…so much better than anyone who insults you could ever be. You prove it in everything you do and say, so…if you can’t believe it of yourself, believe it because you heard it from me, okay? You’re not ‘Decker’, you’re Declan, and there’s so much Light in you…you’re absolutely blinding.”
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He’d…be mad at himself if he drew Declan away from this important purpose of his, too. This is where the Guardian belongs, for the war that he’s waging and the people that he’s protecting, even if there’s a number of them that have no respect—no appreciation—for the wonderful person that the Titan is.
It’s that thought that gets Aoba to unbury himself a little, reddened but relatively dry around the eyes, and gaze averted lest he lose his nerve from something about their proximity. It diverts his thoughts from himself and back outwards, where he's more comfortable with them being. Declan’s face is still beside his own, rather than in front of, saving their voices from having to travel far to reach the other’s ears.
“While I’m gone,” he begins, words quietly keeping the hope that he can come back someday, “Don’t you dare listen to anyone that tries to put you down. You’re so…so much better than anyone who insults you could ever be. You prove it in everything you do and say, so…if you can’t believe it of yourself, believe it because you heard it from me, okay? You’re not ‘Decker’, you’re Declan, and there’s so much Light in you…you’re absolutely blinding.”