<span style="font-style: italic">Crud.</span>Was the only thought on the boys mind. Such a simple little childish curse of displeasure, crud. It didn't come close to explaining everything that he felt right then. He was nervous and scared and surprised and pained and doubtful. All he had wanted was to help Niah up and save her as much pain as possible, but somehow Brom had revealed all the things he himself could barely understand. He just liked her. That was all. She was just his favorite person. That wasn't love or anything, just... admiration. That was it. It wasn't really love. She wouldn't want it to be love, he knew that... so it couldn't be love. Not yet.<br/><br/>"N... no, I don't, at all. What?" He tried to lie, but that was a skill he'd never develop. It was clumsy to his tongue and would've been obvious to a toddler, even one without the semi-magical ability to sense people's feelings. "I just wanted to help, that's all. You're my best friend." Maybe that was his last rebellion against everything she was telling him about his 'place' and so on. That she wasn't his better or his charge, but his friend. He didn't want to accept that they couldn't even be friends, despite their standing. If they couldn't be friends then they certainly couldn't be...<span style="font-style: italic">Something more.</span>He thought, and it made him sad. The look on her face spoke volumes.<br/><br/>Dropping his head to look at the ground, his fingers gripped the sides of his pants nervously. "That's all. Just wanted to help."