He's quiet, stunned speechless at the words. Shiro had told him he'd wanted to help him, that he wasn't going to give up on him, had given him a chance to start over, but compared to this, it's nowhere close to the same. These are things he'd never really considered for himself or thought anyone would really want with someone as damaged as he is, and yet here's Bash blowing it completely out of the water.

Part of him wants to cry. Part of him wants to scream. Something, anything to let out every pent up emotion, all of the uncertainty, all of the stress and confusion, because this is a thing he has to face and he's woefully unprepared. He'd been driving himself crazy trying to figure out where the line was, how one could tell the difference and if there was a difference. He'd wanted so badly to avoid getting attached because he didn't want to open himself up to getting hurt, but in doing that, he'd gone ahead and gotten attached anyway.

"I'm not gonna cry." The words, mumbled through clenched teeth, are more said for himself than to Bash, his eyes squeezed shut. "I'm not. I-- fuck." This isn't like him... but he hasn't heard those words directed at him since his dad died, and this is the first time they've ever been in this context.