( Homura's answer is met with faint surprise - perhaps because, in his heart, he had set her close to the likes of Gwawlyn and Balthazar: aloof, and apart from her own feelings. He had done a disservice to her, then - perhaps worse than divorcing her from some of the trust she may have had in him.

Though he has learned very much in his time spent fashioning himself as Gwawlyn's inverse, and much more in his time spent in Western's social cavorting, he's still a simple creature, in the end; still touched by the North, despite himself. )

... I can't think of much that'd make me happier.

( And it's true. Is there much greater privilege than being allowed the company of someone whose trust you've mistreated?

He dips his head a little lower, his length bunching up and bending to accommodate, meeting her eyes - in fact, maybe he's almost a little lower, just about looking up. )

I've always had people around me, but I've always felt so lonely. I think it's in the nature of feeling, to want to reach out. ( In the nature of having a heart. Ah, they'd had a conversation like this, hadn't they... And it makes him happy, that he and Homura share this flaw. ) ... Is it okay if I still call you my friend?

( What Homura calls them, he allows her judgment. But he'd like this indiscretion, if she doesn't mind it. )