The smile Ward offered her once the door opened was small, sheepish. He would be was probably not the thing to say in the moment, so he just nodded to her question, "Yeah, I'm... Yeah," He said, instantly feeling like an idiot. God, Grant, pull yourself together. If you were going to fall apart the second you saw her, you should have just stuck to doing this through text. "Just got a lot on my mind," He said, stepping into the apartment. Now came the hard part. Where exactly did he even begin?
"I was talking to Clint earlier," Oh, God. Grant, seriously? That's how you're going to start his, by bringing up Barton? "I mean, I asked... I had some questions that I needed some clarification on, and he said..." Yup, apparently, that's where you're going with this. "He said that sometimes honesty is really just the best way to go about a situation. And I know I could probably stand to do a little more of that, so here we go."
Ward rushed that out in one breath, taking another, deep and long to fill his lungs, before letting that out and starting to breathe normally as he began, "I like you," God, no, that sounded so childish. "I mean, I really care about you. A lot. And it's not just an act. It might have been, back home, but here, it never was, and it's not... And I just... I know you should hate me. You have every reason to hate me. But you don't seem to, and I know it'll probably be awkward for awhile, because it has been, sort of, since the whole HYDRA thing came to light. But I was wondering if maybe you wanted to try and pick up where we left off? Or. No. Not pick up. More like... New start? Sort of? Old footing, new start... Or would be in the other way around? Oh. I don't know."
He'd probably just ruined everything.
"But I understand completely if you don't want to, and I can just go."