in this world it's hard to get it right.

Hahaha, oh Finley. <3

Slowly, ever so slowly, Elwood's confusion dissipated, like rain clouds after a thunderstorm. It wasn't easy to make sense of what Finley was trying to say, but the more she tried to explain, the more he understood. She was all but saying it, and he thought he could read between the lines. But he was still afraid to make that leap; to put words in her mouth that she might not have meant.

He blinked at her, his eyes owlishly round. Where he could have felt frustration, he instead experienced an overwhelming sense of patience -- he had said what he needed to say. She hadn't run away, so he was willing to wait her out. It was coming, he knew it; it just had to be on her own terms. His insides were still anxiously clenched, and he was fairly certain that she could hear his heartbeat pounding uncontrollably, but still he coaxed her.

"I did look at you," he agreed softly, "...and you looked at me too?" He waited again, hardly daring to breathe -- and then, without really thinking about it, he reached out to her. As tentatively as the touch of a butterfly's wings -- or maybe a moth's wings, in this case -- he tapped his nose against hers, his gaze never straying. Just like the first time, he felt a spark between them; only he knew now he wasn't imagining it. She felt it too...didn't she?