"It's just bravado, because I'm so scared of you."

He's not sure how Steve has managed to do it, but right here and now he feels more human than he has done in a long time. Not perfect, not by any means, but he can let Steve's feet rest against him and he can joke and it's okay... it's not the abysmal failure that he thought it might have been.

"But if you're not too busy lifting weights and showing off how tough you are tomorrow, maybe we could have lunch? I don't know what your class schedule is at the moment, but I have-- uh, I have to do something on campus, a kind of class, so I'll be round there."

He'll try, he really will. Even if the idea of the slog back to normality is enough to make his brain feel like it'll ooze out of his ears.