It was very rude of him to not allow her to go walking into the sea, but the handholding was pretty great and it meant he wasn't recoiling away from her and calling her clingy and emotionally unbalanced or something, which also helped.

"If it helps, I never thought you were trying to push me away or make me back off? I just thought I was being a really bad friend for continuing to have a crush on you when you'd - I thought anyway - made it clear that that kinda stuff was something you weren't interested in or allowed to do. Like if someone kept trying to get me to eat wings after I told them I didn't eat chicken, you know? I just...never wanted to pressure you or make you feel uncomfortable or even make you doubt that your Code was a good thing for you, or whatever."

She might have a lot of questions and reservations about the Order, but that was different than respecting that he'd chosen to hold to the Code.

"But, um. You said you like kissing?" She has to clear her throat there a second. No reason. "That's interesting--wait, you've been kissing people?"

Wait no! That sounded bad! "You don't have to answer that!" she said quickly. "Like, you're a free person, you can be kissing people and it's not my business...I just was surprised and curious, not like... demanding you explain yourself."

The tables near them didn't need to be wiped down, but this was way too interesting to not eavesdrop on, or so thought several of the waitstaff.