"The wrong idea would be that our connection doesn't go beyond friendship. I didn't want to say to get your eyes checked in a way that seemed like I was rejecting you."

Honesty. Sincerity. Not concepts he was entirely familiar with. A lack of connection, secrets. Those were an agent's key to survival. Even now that the situation had changed, no shadowy Cabal breathing down their necks, no Imperial Intelligence, no Sith waiting in the wings ready to strike him dead for some imagined slight or another... Well, habits were hard to break.

Still, for Vector's sake, he was willing to try.

"I care about you, Vector. As more than merely a friend."

Vector was special. Aden cared about the others too- Lokin, Raina. Not Kaliyo or Scorpio, admittedly, but he doubted either of them really cared. But Vector... Vector made Aden want to be a better person. Half the time, whether he knew it or not, Vector served as Aden's moral compass. The people who owed their very life to Vector's presence was well into the double digits by now.

"I'm just surprised that you seem to feel the same as I do. I... Well, you never gave any indication before this that that might be something you'd be interested in. And I never thought it to be my place to inquire whether or not you're into men."