He has to think, because Ned is offering him what he instinctively recognizes the rare opportunity to ask him personal questions, and there are so many things he wants to know about Ned that he doesn't even know where to start. Ned isn't an open book like Ginsberg is, he can see that much; they may have been very intimate the previous night, but that didn't mean that Ned was inclined towards being intimate in discussing himself.

It's easy to worry, to think about all the ways this could still go wrong -- he could still offend Ned, could still be kicked out and never see him again, someone could find out about it somehow and it could get back to his job or, worse, to his father, any number of things could happen -- but he tries to put that worry aside as he asks one more question.

"Yeah," he says, picking up a fork and taking a bite of his omelette, even though he knows it would be more polite to wait until Ned's eating, too. "What's your favorite thing about yourself? And you can't say pie. That's too easy."