D'oh shit! Dia flinched, having fully forgotten in the haze of her post-traumatic experience coma and subsequent crippling wave of embarrassment that Zora was literally right next to her and she'd just said the quiet part out loud.

Her head shot up as Zora's turned away, her limbs pulled close and her tail tucked around them, struck by how... cold it suddenly felt.

Ah.

No! Gladiator blurted out, eyes wide. I mean— fuck, not no. Yes. It does. Mean something. Her heart danced a little jig in her chest and her gut twisted nauseatingly, admitting it, and she hung her head to curl a paw over her eyes in frustration at being embarrassed — even now — to fucking spit it out. Sorry, she groaned, the anger directed purely at herself as she let out a heavy sigh. I've just... I've never actually told anyone that and it's a little, her voice dropped to a low murmur, embarrassing,,, how much I mean it.

Zora had always been the better one with words, but Dia was trying. For Zora, she would try. She dropped her paw, eyes still closed as she drew in a long, steadying breath. They looked at Zora, their face a mask of complete seriousness, absolutely no nonsense, not a shit-eating grin in sight, as they said, definitively, I love you, Zora Dusk. It was a fight to keep her voice from wavering and her face from crumpling immediately with the weight of an entire lifetime spent never giving voice to her emotions or allowing herself to truly be vulnerable, but somehow Gladiator managed. I mean it. She stretched her neck out, gently poking her nose into Zora's shoulder, brows raised expectantly. Okay?