That surprises a laugh out of Ned and he readily agrees, "Excellent. Let's go to that one." As for being seen in public with one another, he's sure that two grown men wandering the streets of New York with bags of frozen peas pressed to their faces are bound to look disreputable. They only draw a few glances, however. That's something Ned's noticed, in his time living in the city. People have so much to do, so many ways to occupy themselves, that they don't have the energy to be too nosy about complete strangers.

Though part of him wants to forget all about the fight (as much as he can, bloodied nose aside), but at the same time, he feels compelled to ask, "You do that a lot? Get threatened and punched?"

On the one hand, Ned can't imagine how he could not, if he's always that primed for confrontation. Violence seems inevitable. But Ned also can't imagine how Ginsberg could continue to be so brash and so outspoken, if he had been punched often enough. In his experience, the more someone got bullied, the better they got at learning to avoid situations where it might happen.