Of course he did. There were times where Shinji could be elusive, but Kai had never gotten the feeling he'd ever been dishonest when he did come around to saying something. This was sort of the same thing, wasn't it? Something that just needed a little time to warm up to.

But he'd still said he was sorry. The uncertainty that came with that brought along an ache as well.

Kai leaned his head back down, gently thudding the sides of their foreheads together as Shinji looked down at their hands. Have another stroke of his thumb then, slow and careful and there.

"Was it going to stay a secret?"