"I was always surprised why more people didn't after I learned. Maybe this is more European than elsewhere, because we talk so differently." He actually did appreciate her confidence.

"I should probably let you get back to what you were doing, but how about we get a beer sometime." He didn't particularly want to take her on a date-date. He didn't know why. Maybe he'd just shoved her into a part of his brain that said, "Way outclasses me so don't even bother." And there was some heteronormative cultural pit that called him a failure for it.

But he liked having friends to get bears with.