When was the last time that someone apologized to him? Honestly apologized, not one of those absent ones that occurred in the streets when one accidentally bumped into another. No one apologized to him, and it wasn't as if he put himself in situations where one would come up to begin with, but the response from Steve warmed him. For some reason, it vindicated his harsh, jaded feelings to guard his freedom while at the same time lifted him up like they were equals. Give and take. Action and consequence. Steve didn't and wouldn't ever see him as anything other than an equal, right? "Thank you..." he said awkwardly because that too was so rarely said to him or from him. It was an acknowledgement that he understood the apology and accepted it.

"H-how has this happened? We've apparently known each other for years and there was no record of us being this... bound," he said, unable to think of a different word for the state in which he felt like he currently existed with Steve. It worsened as his fingers caressed over Steve's skin, rising and falling over muscles and leaning into the palm against his cheek as his eyes closed with a huge sigh. His fingers crept higher and higher up Steve's shirt until he could circle and caress the other man's nipples. "I've... never belonged anywhere before that I remember."