It was treacherously easy to believe, that the Gellert before him - this young, merry creature with his weightless laugh and bright eyes that were clever and too sharp - was wholly distinct from the cold, unfeeling young man who had stood over his sister's dead body. However, tempting though it may have been, Albus knew it for the folly it was. With nearly perfect certainty, anyway.
"I'm English," Albus said with a shrug of his shoulder, as if to say that alone ought to explain his fascination with Wilde, a bid to make the shared interest rather unremarkable.
Gellert's easy acquiescence was nearly startling. Albus supposed it stemmed from the fact that, to Gellert, they were very much only just acquainted. Or, perhaps, the fact that Albus was, at present, quite more noticeably older than Gellert. He was entirely certain how he felt about that. It was probably for the best. When he'd first met Gellert, he'd mistakenly thought that they were closer in age. Two years wasn't so extravagant, but now? Gellert was sixteen to his twenty-two, and that left Albus with an inexplicable, decidedly uncomfortable sensation. Not that it mattered in the slightest. It was simply... unexpected.
He diligently tried to ignore the way Gellert's gaze practically carried a physical sensation all its own, but not nearly so ardently as his will his cheeks to keep from flushing. There had never been much help for Albus's inclination to blush, but he felt as if he had some small measure of control at the moment. Little more than a soft sort of pink tinged his skin, and was fading rather quickly. Had it been anyone else, anyone but Gellert, it wouldn't have been an issue. But Gellert's eyes had seen too much of Albus already, and he was hardly sure if he meant in Godric's Hollow or within the past few minutes.
"Thank you," he returned politely, his head yielding a perfunctory nod. "I shall keep that in mind."
Even as he turned to go, heading back the way he'd come, he was telling himself it was a bad idea to even consider it. A very, very bad idea.