Noah's whole face goes hot, his heart beating fast and his throat tightening to a point where it's a wonder he can reply at all. But he does, and he does it without thinking first because Ronan's anger directed at him either makes him shrink or get angry himself, though this time it's not really either of those.

"Because I care about you! Do you think I've been avoiding you because I don't? I love you, too, okay? So it's not just you," he says, trailing off, feeling like he might throw up for saying it out loud.