Leo was surprised to find that she was crying, considering Selena was one to hide her true feelings, much alike himself, it sent a jolt of guilt to the pit of his stomach. It was his fault she was crying; he had caused it, one of the only people he desperately didn’t want to see cry, to be hurt by him. He had done this before, scared her when he should be making her happy instead.
He wants to comfort her somehow, to tell her that it’s okay and he won’t scare her ever again. But he stumbles over his own words as soon as he starts; he’s awkward with words and even more awkward with actions, having only really had to comfort Elise when she was a young child, and he knew that if he comforted Selena how he did his little baby sister, she would feel more patronised that reassured. So instead he settles for patting her hand instead, running his thumb gently over her hand as he kept his eyes locked on his lap until she moved to sit beside him instead.
The mage lets her keep talking until she’s finished, and only then does he raise his gaze to look steadily back at her, meeting her eyes and trying to crack a small smile. It makes him happy that she cares for him so much, that she’s willing to protect him. He’s never really had someone like this before, other than his siblings, but it feels much more special than that. It makes heart beat that little bit quicker. But he doesn’t want to be protected, he wants to be the one to protect her, to keep her safe from danger ( as much as he could protect an actual hellhound, that is ). But to do that he needs to fix himself first, needs to stop scaring her when he disappears or doesn’t eat. So instead he looks back at her with a gentle smile, stands up to go and wait in front of her.
“ Thank you, Selena. I’m sorry, I really am.. I keep scaring you and I don’t mean to. I- I don’t want to. It’s far from what I want to do, quite the opposite really. I m-mean, I don’t like seeing you sad is all.. I really care about you as well. ”
Having stumbled through his sentences, he was able to say the last part clearly, firmly, and he lets out a small, nervous laugh as his hand raises to pet Selena gently on the head.
Her eyes follow him when he stands, brow creasing slightly in confusion. Staring up at him, she takes her turn to listen to what he says, a dusty pink lighting her cheeks as what he says sinks in. She was glad that..at least some of her feelings for him were confirmed to be mutual, but her heart pounded as others begged to be proclaimed.
At first, feeling him pet her on the head caused her blush to darken significantly, and she almost pulled away. A hound as she was, she was used to associating the petting to something much smaller and weaker than she was. Not only that, but experience lead her to know that she secretly enjoyed it, and her actions following were..embarrassing, in a way..around certain people. It was why she so often refused to allow the Seer to pet her.
This was, however, not him. This was someone she trusted, and cared about. This was someone she could be comfortable enough with that she could allow them to see and know how she really felt about things. Sucking up her pride, and with her blush now covering most of her face, she bites her lip and..leans up and into his hand.