Midoriya bats lazily back at his hand as a matter of course in a familiar call-and-answer. He gently pushes the door closed because, "You're very different when you're not in front of people. Me too." The circle of his social watchfulness eases inward, not needed now. He can speak freely of the difference between their outer selves and their inner ones, the expressed sentiments and the secret ones.

Paul's display may as well be a war fan as he unfurls it with tactical precision. It reminds Midoriya of the color of his blood and the flush of his own beneath his freckles. Midoriya feels the need to disarm him.

"I didn't carry you up the stairs because I liked your new earrings. You don't have to get it right with us," he says more softly than he meant to. He and Kaworu have told Paul this in various ways, but it bears repeating. He encircles Paul's shoulders to invite him to lean slotted against him again, if he so chooses, knowing he interrupted what uncoiled Paul earlier and drew those sounds from him.