He laughs, but he's secretly grateful for Ned's concern, because most people would mock him for nearly falling down the stairs, and Ned hadn't done that. He'd actually told him to be careful, and it had seemed entirely genuine. Sure, Ned could be bullshitting, but he'd like to believe he isn't. Ginsberg doesn't have much faith in humanity, overall, but he wants to. And he likes Ned. Maybe Ned really is one of the good ones.

"In my nearly twenty four years of life," he says, almost dramatically, as though that's a very very long time, "I've fallen down and up countless flights of stairs, and never once broken my neck. Admittedly, I've never tried to walk up stairs while both soaking wet and intoxicated, but I'd like to think my luck's going to stay with me until I get safely into your apartment, at which point I may do my damnedest to trip over something immediately, just so I can get it out of the way, because it's inevitable that at some point, I will anyway."