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Hastily he rubbed a finger against his eyes. "Yup." He was hushed, just in case making too much noise might attract more of the statues that had, hopefully, had their fill of them by them. Lifting the artifact, Dawson let it dangle on the chain in front of her eyes, grinning from ear to ear. "The Stymphalian Beak. Ain't she a beaut." Bronze and gold and wonderful in the dappled light.

He let it pool back into the space between his legs before draping his arm around Maebe's shoulders, pulling her in gently. "Couldna done this without you, Maebe Grace," Dawson went on warmly. "Thanks fer not givin' up on me."

"I mean it, I owe ya." She'd seen his highs and lows and in betweens over the course of those almost five months now it had taken to get here.Maebe--the one who self-professed laziness and indulgences and hadn't had to stick around once it became clear how hard this was going to be. He was already squeezing tight before her reply, moreso afterwards. Action was more important, she'd said, and he agreed; actions spoke more for him than his clumsy vocabulary ever could, and if there was any way to transfer the amount of gratefulness and adoration and love into her, maybe a hug could translate it best. Maybe that was why he so often deferred to it.

Damn it, he still was on the verge of tearing up. This was embarassing.

"Ditto, y'know," Dawson eventually replied with a small laugh at himself, that he had to condense it into one word lest his voice crack or something. Hopefully his past actions had proven that well enough. "I, uh, still owe you that fancy dinner, don' I. Guess it means I also owe ya dessert now too."

He gave a soft haw and said, "Yer gonna run my wallet dry, huh," with complete understanding. "Well, then you pick the place n' time, aight? Fer now, uh..."

Dawson pulled the artifact out from beneath her by the chain, stuck it in his pocket, and made to scoop Maebe up into his arms. "Least I can do is make sure y'get a safe ride back t'yer room, yeah?"

And so he hoisted her up, touched the pendant, and murmured, "Deus Ex Machina."

The transporting process never settled well in his stomach. Dawson wavered in place and blinked before recognizing the infirmary right in front of them, and then he turned and led them towards the dorms. There was a strange feeling growing in him the closer they got. Temple exploring with her had been so ingrained in his routine, he wasn't sure how it was going to feel without that block of time set aside each week. Two whole dinners, even with desserts, didn't feel like enough suddenly.

He swallowed nervously and hesitated instead of putting her down once they were at the door. "Hey, uh, Mayb?"

She'd been almost sleeping, he shouldn't be bugging her with any sort of delay after all that work. "I, uh..." Dawson chewed his lip and hummed like he was thinking to try and buy him some time, but honestly he couldn't get his thoughts straight if he tried. There was no logical reason to want to kiss her all of a sudden--certainly there was a moral obligation not to put that pressure on her after their last exchange about it. He felt ashamed of his baser impulses.

After a moment he squeezed his eyes closed, shook his head slightly, and made to gently set her back down. "Nothin', nothin'. Still in a tizzy after all that," he tried to joke with a tired smile. "Here we are, honey, home sweet home."

In actuality he was a little grateful. One more job to do instead of just standing there like an awkward troll. One arm remained around her just to make sure Maebe didn't literally ooze to the ground while the other got to unlocking the door, and then Dawson gently ushered her in. Having seen Maebe kick more than her fair share of a**, he can't help but chuckle to himself at the thought that he was babying her at all.

"Thought you was more a kitten," he observed, pausing at the doorway to see if he had more jobs left still.

"Aww~" He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and made a soft noise in surprise when she did her almost-hug. Expression warming, he encircled his arms around her again. "M'proud've you too, Mayb." The impulse was back, but it was safe; Dawson kissed her hair. "Super duper proud. S'for where, uh...I mean, I'd need a nice long shower first, yeah, but I'm not opposed to some non-dungeony sleepin' t'night." When was he ever?