Re: Tandy/Alex: the comic book store
[The comic shop had mostly been dead that night. Presumably because they were all getting coffee? And Alex almost groaned because it had been just not dead enough that he couldn't go out and have a smoke for five. It was the one-person-leaves-another-enters kind of night, so it was dead but he was never truly alone. So back to the near-groaning. Also couching things in terms of death, but neither here nor there. So in came this tall dude while he was closing up the register from the last sale. (Yeah so maybe The Punisher wasn't like ten-year-old-appropriate but the boss never said anything about carding. Plus, the kid seemed pretty happy. Alex would never admit it, but he liked the kids who came in, liked that they were getting to have the kinda childhood he hadn't.)
He straightened up, though, from his usual half-slouch when the coffee cup hit the counter. Okay, he had zero actual idea what Tandy looked like to that point, except by way of Billy's "tall" and similar adjectives and/or nicknames, "Jolly Green" etc. And yes, he was tall, more than a literal half-foot taller than Alex, with his messy blond hair stuffed under a blue, season-inappropriate hat complete with puffball, his maybe-too-wide blue eyes, maybe-too-big nose and his ever-present green hoodie. He dressed like he lived in a perpetual autumn, did Alex.]
'm not guardian of much tonight. [A little gesture to the currently-empty-aside-from-them shop, a little smile, a little bit of giving Tandy a visual once-over, not very subtle but also not like, perverted about it either.] But thank god I'm Alex, at least. [A beat, then a little more humble, heartfelt.] Thanks, Tandy. You really din't hafta but...I'm glad you did anyway. [Already reaching for the cup, trying not to be impatient but also wanting to keep his hands busy. Actually looking up at Tandy, because Billy wasn't joking about that height thing.]