He is a fire god, it's only natural some of it would end up in her cheeks when he's being sweet.

As for the hows and whys of these things, Verity doesn't pretend to understand. She only knows that the future is a blank page and people can change their stories if they're willing to put in the effort. There's always a new hero waiting to take the stage and a new villain waiting to emerge. Rolls can change. People can become more themselves, or less.

"...if you want? I didn't think we'd gotten off to such a bad start." She may be missing the philosophical nature of the question. Literalist.