She still liked him, and that was really the essence of what he'd been asking, however clumsily. He hadn't even considered that she might take the wording of his question in any different way, which was rather stupid, given everything that had happened. It caught him off guard, and he found himself tripping over his words while he struggled to find the fastest possibly way to back out of that assumption.

"I, uhm — I didn't mean — obviously not," he managed, flushing furiously. Did she think that awkward question had been his way of propositioning her? Right in the middle of the London streets? Merlin. He could very well have died of embarrassment right there on the spot. "I wouldn't — uhm. You know."

He was so caught up in the misunderstanding there that he wasn't even able to fully process the actual answer to the question he'd been trying to ask. She still liked him — he supposed he felt vaguely... relieved? — but mostly just too embarrassed for words.

"I didn't mean — I shouldn't have said it like that," he finally managed. "I — uhm — I wasn't trying to imply... I wouldn't ask you to... you know."