He swallows, hard enough for his throat to visibly bob. His whole stomach has transformed into dragonflies vibrating their wings at top speed; he cannot look away from Lan Zhan's eyes, or the softness of his mouth. Not alone, echoes over and over in his suddenly empty mind. Not alone.

"Good," he finally manages, and immediately wants to smack himself in the face for saying something so asinine. And yet he says it again! "Good. Ah -- "

He clears his throat, wrenching his gaze back to the lake. His whole chest feels warm -- his face even warmer, embarrassingly so. "Have you eaten? Shall we -- ?"