Hannah & Jeremiah; Jester's Court
His eyes didn't leave her face, watching her, using every bit of his observational skills to try to see if he'd made a mistake, but it didn't feel like one, and it didn't seem as if she felt that it was one either, just uncertainty, and he could deal - perhaps - with some uncertainty. After all, hadn't he just said he wanted to help her figure out who she was. and maybe he wanted that even if it didn't include him, and maybe that was part of how he knew this was real regardless of how improbable it might seem. He kept his fingers against hers, squeezing her hand gently as he looked down at her.
"Yes, even with what you do for a living. You provide companionship and comfort and touch to people, and it can't always be perfect... but you do it. There's a whole conversation to be had maybe about whether you enjoy it, whether you want to do it or not, and I'd never want you to feel as if you have to, but I'm not going to judge you for what you do either," he reached his free hand up to brush hair back from her face.
Her uncertainty made more sense to him than she knew. Because love was such a human emotion, and romance was so wound up in being human, and she looked human, and so far as Jeremiah could tell was human in every way that mattered, but if you had nothing to compare your emotion too? If that emotion wasn't driven by nerves and hormones how did you know? But were those so different from gears and wires? The uncertainty made every bit of sense, so the question was how to know - maybe how did anyone ever really know? He swallowed, and brought their fingers up to his lips, pressing them against hers. He opened his mouth to try to say something, and it was his turn to get words caught on his tongue, because he hadn't told her that he knew, and this felt like a terrible time to do so. Or maybe it was the only time to do so, and he didn't know. Nobody scripted his life, and writing an after meant that you had to write it. He had to. Right now. "Hannah do you trust me?" He asked her softly, because if she did, maybe she would understand why he hadn't told her. With his other hand, he placed it on her waist, gentle and supportive.
"I love you because of your curiosity and your enthusiasm, because of the way you delight in stories and hope for happy endings, I love the way you adore Heart and Espresso, and how your smile lights up a room. I love adventuring with you..." for the first time he glanced out back towards the shadows. "I'd never do this with anyone but you, and I'd never expect it to work with anyone but you. You care, so much about the people around you - your brothers and your family. I know you don't think you know who you are, but I know that I can talk about anything with you - anything at all, and I know you'll listen, and you'll be here, and you'll care about it."