Well color Aoba all shades of surprised. Sad he’d been told, lonely he understood, but scared? The arms Aoba still had crossed in thought tightened slightly around himself, subtly changing the gesture to a self-hug. As much as one should only expect to learn more and more things about another person when they’d really only known each other a short while, something about all of Declan’s surprise bits of depth just made Aoba more and more happy. He’d wanted to be a friend for the Guardian—and he was achieving exactly that.

Finally, Declan wasn’t talking like he’d never see Aoba again after this. Now it was planning, and expectation, just like it was for Aoba.

“Of course, I’ll bring you all kinds of things in person, too. Things that would survive a couple hours’ walk a lot better than a few ages in a box. If you can’t come to Granny’s cooking, then I’ll have to bring Granny’s cooking to you!”