It is good to see her smile, to hear her laugh, and he laughs openly in turn at last, feeling some of the tension of the moment leave him. He had been earnest in his proposal, but he at least recognizes that this was hardly the most conventional way to go about such things. That she is able to laugh here with him rather than dismissing it out of hand or simply standing up to take her leave— it speaks well as to how they might proceed, even if the matter is not a simple one, even with things having changed as dramatically as they have.

"I suppose it did come out that way," he admits, and there's a sheepish curve to his smile, gently humility in the way his gaze softens.

"Given my liking for poetry and music, I'd have thought myself capable of coming up with something decidedly more romantic, but it was more challenging than I expected."

Likely because he was thinking about it too hard. After all, he's recited poetry to her without missing a beat in the past, composed on the spot.