That... that was far more than he expected. And where he'd felt knots in his back and shoulders as he prepared for the answer, he couldn't have begun to think he would get the words he received just now. A numb sort of shock stilled him first, before it melted into a strange sort of shock in his marginally widened eyes.

And god, then it felt warm as a summer day back home.

A kind of thawing out that started in his chest and slipped through his limbs and into his fingertips. Even his toes curled a little at the tingling sensation all through his nerves. The shock in his eyes softened into something warmer, pools of hazel darkening just a shade as he turned his hands over under Jim's so he could curl his fingers about Jim's gently. "Hey..." His voice came out softer, warm in that roughness that broke up that thick southern drawl. "Don't be thinkin' I'm upset with you. It ain't your doin' that I'm bein' overly sensitive about silly things like this."

He wouldn't forgive himself for hurting Jim even if he needed to hear those words like a flower prayin' for rain in the desert. "You're one of the best things to ever happen to me. "Swear to God, Jim, I'm never gonna up and walk away from you." Not unless he stopped breathin' and functionin'. "But... thanks. Thanks, I needed to hear that. Means the world - no, the whole damn galaxy to me." He smiled at Jim, warm and small but full of genuine adoration.