Surrender up my heart, and swap it for yours.

"I don't think you are," he smiled, silver gaze warm as he looked at her. "But why pretend?" He wasn't really sure if he was ready to tell her why, it was a complicated matter that he didn't like speaking about, but he knew he had to tell Paarthurnax even though his heart clenched at the thought. He knew she would understand if he told her he couldn't tell, that he needed more time but then he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. A soft sigh escaped his maw at that and he curled his tail protectively around her. "It's complicated," he began, "but you deserve to know.".

"I'm not actually pretending, well..." he paused trying to find a way to explain. "I've had that smirky, sarcastic, arrogant part of me for a long time already. Sometimes someone comes along and gets amused but mostly it just annoys the hell out of them and makes them think I'm an arrogant bastard. Works better that way too, the more friends I have, the more wolves I might hurt." he concluded. It was actually way more complicated than that but this was the simplest way he could express it.

Paarthurnax had never seen that side of him, well perhaps she had seen glimpses of it but he had always tried to keep that side of him away when he was around her. It wasn't really a mask but a part of him that was useful sometimes and hurtful on others.

The moonlight illuminated Paar, making her glow brightly like an angel. He took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. "There's something that I've been meaning to ask you for sometime already but it never seemed right. But now, we have all the time in the world."