[he bristles a little, but does stop, prompted by the touch. he doesn't look over, ears red as he listens.]

Ye-yeah. Yeah. [he glances over with a wincing look that he tries to mask with a twitching at the edge of his mouth.] Sorry. Things have been...a lot lately. For a lot of different reasons.

I guess it just...feels like no good excuse, when things are quiet like this.