Was he really going to spend all evening in various shades of red? Czesiek immediately dropped his gaze to the carpet and fled to the bedroom to drop his bag and hastily muddle through tying the tie. It was more difficult than he remembered, and by the time that he got it arranged to his satisfaction, Tseng's second sentence had registered. Wasn't he supposed to be paying for things? That's the way it happened in the books, anyway... it was polite, right?

"You know," he said, carefully not ogling her this time, "um, it would be my pleasure to take care of the bill this evening..." He surreptitiously checked his pockets to be sure he'd transferred his wallet to these pants. "I mean, it would be nice to be able to do something for you for a change." A small, shy smile appeared.