"Holding back," Declan pointed out gently, though he smiled and looked away, willing to let Aoba have his silence. He didn't mind bouts of quiet, he'd simply become accustomed to the other man's voice being a regular experience, and his opinions made the Titan think about things instead of just accept them. While his conclusions may amount to the same things, even with another perspective, Declan liked learning for himself what his convictions were.

It made his life feel less like inevitability and more like a choice.

"Well...we're going to be spending a lot of time in close quarters. So...please don't feel like you can't talk to me, for any reason." There, that seemed innocuous enough.