[He, too, wondered. Half of him was perfectly content to keep chasing her, continue teasing her and coming up with super awesome one-liners. The other half realized... he could still do most of the same even after k-kissing her. At least, they could do that in public, fool the whole damn tree if they had to!]

Everything's okay, Materia!

[He didn't let her go. In fact, his other hand reached out the took her other.]

I really like you. Because of that, I leave everything in your hands! You know, if... if you don't want to do things like that anymore!

[If she wanted to stop, that was okay. He never really asked how she felt about the whole thing...]