King Elk Forest of a boy ruled by the sun, burned by the things he could never touch

*fucking dies*

ah hell, he's overplayed his hand and the conversation careens wildly out of his control. why had he admitted that? it's not as if he's worked especially hard to keep his feelings a secret besides not spending much time in the prince's company. brienne probably figured it out -- hell, anyone with eyes could probably figure it out. delight's been coasting on the fact that mato is utterly oblivious and he went and got too comfortable.

he doesn't know what to do with himself when mato speaks, doesn't know how to calm himself down, how to retreat back to the relative safety of their earlier conversation. it's -- it feels too dramatic but delight thinks, oh, the paradigm has shifted. 

"yeah, well," he says after a long moment, deadpan, "be gentle with me." his expression is deadly serious but there is an snarking edge to his voice, the only thing he can think of to salvage the conversation, to keep it from going deeper until delight accidently blurts the thing he is trying very desperately not even to think. it's a rough play - mato could take it seriously still - but it's the best he can do; there's no turning back from his inadvertent declaration.