Slowly shaking his head, Declan looked between the hands holding his, pursing his lips tightly for a moment. He tried to arrange his words quickly, knowing that the time it took him for things was far excessive compared to the time it took Aoba.

"It was important that I be allowed to do something for you without...reward? Without anything in return. To..." He struggled, looking up a moment, eyes squinting in a frustrated frown of concentration. The only word he had wasn't the one he felt exactly filled the vocabulary void, but it was the best he could do.

"...Service you? No. That sounds vulgar. Serve? I don't know..." He huffed a soft sigh, looking off to the side, head straining away a moment before he forced himself to look back.

"Maybe I am, though? Maybe you're right...maybe I don't know what I am," the Titan fretted quietly, though he never pulled away.

"There's this sense of...almost panic...somewhere. Back deep. I don't know from what. I shouldn't be afraid, I'm elated...but..." All those halts, all those long pauses and silent chokes.

"I'll probably just keep making it worse. I'm sorry, Aoba."