Her reaction turned out to be stronger than Ace had expected, which did throw him a bit off-track. That, and the gentle pressure against his side spoke volumes of how close she now was, which in turn served as a reminder of how much he could lose through taking wrong steps.

"I-I'm sorry if I was too forward, it doesn't have to be...." Fighting the urge to pull his eyes away, he somehow managed to maintain his stare on her, even if she would not. Being the one who brought the offer forward, it was his responsibility to stick with it until the end, despite the sudden shakiness of his breath that provided certain difficulty when talking.

"I am." He swallowed. "... It's in a week. I assume you must have heard of the festivities being held on the fourteenth." A timid smile tugged at his lips, but deep inside he hoped that a full explanation would not be necessary. "I've heard it's customary to refer to those particular outings as 'dates', but we're not obliged to follow any of their traditions."

The memory of Starlight was understandably the first to come to his mind as well, for how it had gave a beginning to something of an... issue that until now remained open-ended. Because of that, he couldn't claim to be entirely selfless in his offer, for he wished to eventually receive some sort of clarification. Not necessarily an answer, but... something. Anything.

"I figured we could do something fairly simple, like a short walk, or... whatever you feel like doing." He pressed his lips together in order to stop them from trembling. "In fact, it could be any other day if you'd prefer it that way."

The option to refuse entirely was left unspoken, but as always, available.