"I'm sure he meant it. I'm just as sure that I didn't really want to hear it." And why hadn't he protested at the time? Because he was hurting, and you were half-asleep and too nice to push him away over something that was already blatantly obvious, his brain provided. Shut up, he told it, I don't want to hear my own excuses. "And you know all my secret crushes, do you?" he continued, halfway to distract himself, a skeptical lift of his eyebrows punctuating his tone of growing amusement. Damn, he could just not stay down around this guy! Though he wasn't complaining. "That's awfully clever of you; I didn't realize I even had any." After all, Commander Talana was hardly a secret, though he didn't think he'd mentioned her to Xigbar.

His eyebrows stayed up at Xigbar's invitation to start the bidding, not to mention at Xigbar's expression, but he took a moment to consider before offering, "I don't have anything on me at the moment, but I'm hiding a package of sweets that I filched from the upstairs kitchen. If you came by my room after dark sometime, we could share them." He flashed a grin at Xigbar, adding, "A double treat of delicious sugary food and the pleasure of my company!" The last bit was a joke, though he certainly wouldn't mind more time with Xigbar himself.