The truth of that statement about working harder for this than anyone else before is something Claude doesn't doubt, and yet something else he offers a quiet laugh over. Nothing enough to interrupt since that's the last thing on his mind right now even as Jesper protests (sort of) and when that hand in his hair continues to be a worthy distraction all in itself. Enough so that rather than thinking up any brilliant retort(s) like he might have otherwise, it's enough to believe that the wait was worth it. Especially when he knows it well enough to be true for himself and then some though he doesn't voice it.

Indeed, there's no distractions aside from this as Jesper leans in further still and that small smile containing no shortage of affection stays on his own face in the meantime. It's even easier still to return that kiss with no hesitation and no thoughts for the world outside for now. This mutes it all even if they'll have to leave and encounter it again eventually in the not so far future. For now there's only this.

When taking a hazy second to think about Jesper's expression and how it'd shifted from the one he'd walked in with thanks to the weight of everything on his shoulders both of what they've spoken of and what had come back to the surface, it takes no added convincing to believe that here they've found a peace long coming. A refuge. And that paired with his own desire as the beginnings of this, something both new and not, unfurl make it all too easy to let stopping until one or both of their sets of lungs demand it be something which doesn't begin to cross his mind.