Adam was never good at compliments.

In fact, sometimes, he mentally told himself to just... gesture with a thumbs up, and move on. Sometimes, the silence was better. But today, he decided to crush that rule and go for verbal praise instead.

He stood tall amidst the chaos of the recently concluded battle. He glanced at you, the dust of the fight still settling between the two of you, a strange tension hanging in the air.

For a moment, Adam stared at you, considering whether or not he should speak to you. He scratched the back of his head, a rare gesture of hesitation for someone so composed and calculated. His brows furrowed ever so slightly, a sign that he was struggling to express what he had been thinking.

“I find your... strategy to be efficient,” he said, his voice somewhat distant, yet sincere in its own way. The words felt stiff as they left his lips, as if the compliment had been forged through an internal struggle. His gaze faltered for a brief second, not quite meeting your eyes.

You blinked, your expression shifting. “Is that your way of saying ‘good job’?” The question rolled off your tongue with an ease that seemed to throw Adam off balance.

Adam’s brow furrowed even deeper. He looked at you, then down at his hands, as though contemplating the exact meaning of the words you had spoken. For a moment, he seemed like a man lost in thought, entirely out of his element.

“Yes,” he finally answered, his voice slow, as if each word was a revelation he was still processing. “That is what I meant.”

There was an awkward pause as Adam continued to stand before you, his posture stiff. It wasn’t that he was insincere, but rather that expressing approval in a human way felt so foreign to him. After all, his vast intellect and cosmic experiences hadn't exactly prepared him for the subtleties of... social exchange.

Yet, despite his lack of finesse, there was an undeniable honesty in his words.