"I love you." The words fall like music to the ears and yet Shirayuki is still nervous and her ears are still ringing.
"I love you, but I also don't know if it's the same?" She pauses and then finds herself stumbling over her words despite that admission, "I feel nervous sometimes around you, but also comfortable and at home. And sometimes I blush and sometimes I want to keep hugging you or hug you. But I don't know if a future's possible, all I know is that I want to be with you."
"I will fight for us, just as you've fought to stay my friend when Lord Haruka and Obi tried to send you away from the palace. But it's up to you." And Zen knelt down before her, like their roles were somehow reversed.
"I have wanted to stay by your side since shortly after we met, but I also want to stay with my other friends." Shirayuki hadn't really considered romance, and she takes such an herbalist approach to things that even her feelings feel a little unknown to her. "Is this different? What if it isn't?"
"Do you feel nervous and at home with the others?" Zen's heart is both on his sleeve and in her hands, but this is a risk he'll take.
"No, not really. Not in the same way." Shirayuki takes a deep breath and lets her feel this moment, the nerves so close to her heart, her desire to run away, but also her desire to see just where this will lead and to be present in the moment.
"Then, it is a different type of love." Zen's confident of that much, but if he's wrong, Shirayuki doesn't have to stay with him. He knows how he feels, and that he is willing to sacrifice for her and for their relationship.
"Okay, then I love you like you love me." It's a simple affirmation, and then Shirayuki pauses, "I love you, Zen."
"I love you too, Shirayuki." And Zen feels that kind of radiant joy spread all throughout him, and he reaches out and pulls Shirayuki into a tight hug. This is enough. Just to be close to her.
One day that longing will spill over for both of them, but for right now, a hug is what they both need and what they both want.
Shirayuki's hands loop around to his back and rest against it. She's close and so warm, and for a moment, she shakes in the aftermath of this confession. Her tears spill onto his shoulder, but she's here, and he's here. And there's a new beginning that started in this moment and will stretch far beyond it.