"...maybe."

...He's getting overwhelmed again. "Would you to take a break from this conversation? Optionally with a hug? It doesn't have to mean anything, but - it seemed like you found it helpful, yesterday."

He is not used to doing things just because he wants them and he is accordingly not used to determining which things are the ones he wants and he's not sure this will improve with breaks but he's not sure it won't.

What does it mean for a hug to not mean anything. Can you just declare a hug to be gibberish by fiat. Can you understand other hugs with Comprehend Languages don't be stupid.

He holds out his arms.

She hugs him. (Not too tight. Leaking too much affection out is probably not great for him right now, so she holds it in, mostly. She can't meaningfully rub his back through his coat and armor.)

She does sigh contentedly. 

She fits there.

That's a stupid thought.

(It's true, though. She fits so nicely in his arms.)

She has a problem that is apparently conventionally solved by getting married and -

- he's trying to take a break and should probably just read the entire Acts of Iomedae before he tries to make any substantial decisions.

She's not especially trying to read his mind, right now, because this conversation has also been pretty stressful and high stakes for her, and she really missed being held by someone who (?might?) be interested in her romantically and is perhaps just more than a little melty about it. (She sighs in deep content.)

He has now seen the "disengage from hug" maneuver performed a couple of times but that doesn't mean he is going to execute it because why would he do that.

Yeah. She isn't either. She knows he knows how to do it if he wants, see, and she has not even has close to her fill of being held. 

(She does, after a bit longer, start humming softly into his armor. He feels it more than he hears it.)

Pie, and chess, and that. Apparently.

It is as yet unclear whether or not she makes pie, but he's got a source for at least two out of three of those nestled happily in his arms.

(She's so happy. She likes him so much. She really hopes it can work out somehow. she wants to kiss him)

Maybe if he is very careful he can work out a way to read and hug at the same time. ...is that rude. It might be rude.

...after she switches which song she's humming a few more times, it occurs to her that he might also want something to do with his brain while enhugged.

"Talking and reading are good hugging-compatible activities," she says in a matter-of-fact voice.

"I was just wondering if that would be rude or not." Out comes the book.

"Well, I don't think Iomedae will mind." She giggles, her body moving softly but noticeably in his arms as she does.

"I was wondering if it would be rude to you, to pull out the Acts," he clarifies.

"I know, and I don't mind. I was just making a joke." She grins up at him.

If you have an example dragon, and it starts breathing fire at you, that is the part where you try to dive for cover, and this is the part where in this other kind of example you kiss her his brain is under orders to cut that the fuck out immediately, he was going to read the entire Acts and possibly get advice from her friend or something. He was on... this page.

...okay if she sees that look on his face another time she's going to kiss him, she's not a mind-reader but she doesn't need to be when he looks at her like that.

For now, though, she's happy to stay in his arms while he reads.

If he both has an ear for tunes and has paid attention to her repertoire, he might notice that since he opened the book, she's been humming several songs about Iomedae (most of which are from the era of the Shining Crusade, originally.) 

Unfortunately he has not actually been tracking that.

The Acts are mostly epic poetry about mortal Iomedae's adventures and he can see why that would have been a useful form factor and might continue in the modern day to be so but he is impatient for dense intimidating walls of theology and it's not that.

...She's getting sleepy (she feels so warmhappysafesafesafe). Without really meaning to, she leans a bit more of her weight into him.

He can hold her up just fine.

Her breathing slows. It's unclear how close to asleep she is, as she's still holding onto him tight and smiling gently.

It did sound like she might have a year's worth of haphazard sleep to catch up on.