His ears are burning red. It's mortifying that he can't actively stop it from happening, and he shifts in his seat, moving some of his hair out of his face.
"Zewu-jun flatters me. I simply like to work toward something." Regardless of what it is. If he can't climb to the top of the world anymore, he can at least climb to the top of whatever hobby he takes up. If he didn't have a goal to work on, he'd completely languish, he knows.
He works on sketching Xichen's hands instead, trying to get it correct and looking frustrated when he messes up. He doesn't think he can get perfect in a single sitting, which is honestly annoying. He picks up Xichen's hand, using his other to trace the outline of it, running his fingertips over Xichen's fingers, over his palm.
"Zewu-jun-- Xichen..." he trails off, his voice catching in his throat. "I confess there is something I very much long to do, and yet... I fear there could be misunderstanding." He's trying oh-so-hard to take the high-road here and being this close to Xichen is making it even harder.
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"Zewu-jun flatters me. I simply like to work toward something." Regardless of what it is. If he can't climb to the top of the world anymore, he can at least climb to the top of whatever hobby he takes up. If he didn't have a goal to work on, he'd completely languish, he knows.
He works on sketching Xichen's hands instead, trying to get it correct and looking frustrated when he messes up. He doesn't think he can get perfect in a single sitting, which is honestly annoying. He picks up Xichen's hand, using his other to trace the outline of it, running his fingertips over Xichen's fingers, over his palm.
"Zewu-jun-- Xichen..." he trails off, his voice catching in his throat. "I confess there is something I very much long to do, and yet... I fear there could be misunderstanding." He's trying oh-so-hard to take the high-road here and being this close to Xichen is making it even harder.