The next time Guiying opened his eyes it was because his stomach had decided the situation was no longer acceptable.
He sat up slowly, blinking, the cabin dim and quiet around him, most of the other passengers either asleep or staring at their screens with the hollow energy of people who had stopped registering what they were watching hours ago. Liuxian was awake beside him, reading something on his phone, and glanced over when Guiying stirred.
"Food," Guiying said, before anything else.
Liuxian had already pressed the call button.
The flight attendant came and Guiying ordered with the focused efficiency of someone whose body had bypassed polite hunger and gone straight to a more urgent register. When the food arrived he ate steadily and without conversation, working through it with the quiet dedication of someone making up for lost time, and Liuxian ate his own meal beside him and said nothing, which was the correct response.
