[He feels a little better when she relents, not because he needs to have the final say no matter what, but because he doesn't want her to be angry with him. He can't compromise his principles about this, so he can't do what she wants - but she ended up hating him... that would be really depressing, even if it couldn't be helped.
That said, anger would be a hell of a lot easier to handle than what he ends up with, instead. It's rare for him to get a compliment, and rarer to get one from someone he admires so much that he can't simply discard their opinion as being ill-informed at best. It's a shock, almost physically painful for how hard his internalized upbringing tries to deny it. He almost cries, just from the emotional backlash, and being completely unable to process it.
But he takes a breath, recovers a little, smiles - a beaming smile that makes him look every bit the child she thinks him to be. He wants to say something, but his throat won't cooperate yet. No - maybe it's better that way...]
... You get along really well, don't you? Reinhardt and you.
[That's better, safer. He can't really handle such a huge compliment - though at least he isn't denying it either, the way he might have not so long ago - so it's easier to simply change the subject.]
no subject
That said, anger would be a hell of a lot easier to handle than what he ends up with, instead. It's rare for him to get a compliment, and rarer to get one from someone he admires so much that he can't simply discard their opinion as being ill-informed at best. It's a shock, almost physically painful for how hard his internalized upbringing tries to deny it. He almost cries, just from the emotional backlash, and being completely unable to process it.
But he takes a breath, recovers a little, smiles - a beaming smile that makes him look every bit the child she thinks him to be. He wants to say something, but his throat won't cooperate yet. No - maybe it's better that way...]
... You get along really well, don't you? Reinhardt and you.
[That's better, safer. He can't really handle such a huge compliment - though at least he isn't denying it either, the way he might have not so long ago - so it's easier to simply change the subject.]
He cares about you a great deal.