[Occasionally. Probably more often than she thinks but likely not when she expects it. There's a shift in that sort of awareness taking place as things change between them.

He is going to have a hard time responding to that for multiple reasons. It's direct, very direct, which he squirms away from. It's probably a very large deal of emotions being shared and given to him, and they're multi-faceted and need to be worked through. There's also his simple inability to figure out what sort of words you need to reply to something like that. If she's still listening to them, she can hear his hearts beating a bit harder, if not also faster. There is a decided lag before he finally speaks as well, having made like he was going to a couple of times and then paused again.]

I -... It's bad to say 'thank you', isn't it? I know 'I know' is wrong - can't pull that off without being scruffy-looking, and even then it's a bit of a stretch. I think I remember having a conversation about shaving anyway. 'Thank you' doesn't seem right either. Not enough. Then again, the phrase itself also doesn't seem like enough, so maybe that's fine. Shouldn't have the same word you can use for cheese and then turn around and use it on the most important person you happen to know. But there's certain things I suppose not even actions are enough to accurately express or convey. [All of this started off somewhat slowly and gradually picked up speed and all of it is said on the most cursory and casual of levels, which all just goes to indicate how well he's noting the actual significance of things. There's a pause here though, before he starts again, back to more halting phrases.] Lots of things run together in the end anyway. Words and such. Keep going long enough, they start to merge until you can't really see them not running together.