He laughs. "Or maybe your brain is doing it secretly very well."

(The problem is that this conversation really makes him want to kiss Masozi.)

(The problem is that this conversation is really confusing! And - keeps making him want things that he doesn't have words or concepts for -) 

"...I like looking at your face?" Masozi says, hesitant again. "I - sorry if that bothers you? Just - the way there's an angle between your eye and your nose...?" 

Now that he's trying to say it out loud, it sounds incredibly stupid! He could maybe try to get his notebook and draw a picture of Lan Xichen's face and then he could point at it, but Masozi is pretty sure that drawing is hard too. 

"I like if you like looking at my face," he says, and blushes.

....Oooh, huh, his face is - doing a thing? And it makes it even prettier to look at? 

(Masozi has only ever met people with sufficiently dark skin tones that blushes weren't really visible.) 

"....Your face just did a thing that made it prettier? Was that on purpose?" 

Gosh, I wonder if he's a dom, Lan Xichen thinks, and then banishes the thought to the Bad Thoughts Place Where Only Bad Thoughts Live.

"No. I blush. Pale people blush when they're embarrassed or shy."

"Oh. ...Are you embarrassed? Why?" 

"--It makes me feel nice to receive compliment on my appearance, because you like it, and that makes me feel embarrassed because I feel... vulnerable? I think. Emotions are very complicated."

They must be complicated, since none of that makes any sense! 

“…I don’t understand why looking nice makes you feel vulnerable? It’s - a strength and not a weakness?”

"It... reminds me that I care about you liking me? I think."

"- Okay but I do like you! For - lots of reasons - but your hair being nice and soft isn't the important reason, it's - just something I only would've noticed at all if I already liked you because you were clever and strategic and powerful and - cared about saving people - cared about saving me...? Does that help. I don't know if that helps." 

"It's-- not problem to be embarrassed. I like it."

"Oh. Okay." 

Masozi's face is...feeling kind of warm? He wonders if that's a thing like blushing. 

"I...think I want to - do something? But I don't actually know what?" 

"If you think of what you want maybe we try?"

Nod. 

"Maybe I can keep doing Mandarin and I'll tell you if I - think of something specific I want to do other than what we're already doing?" 

"Sounds good."