Bret smiled, wanting very much to reach over and take Tommy's hand or hug him or something, but with Mark and other-Harvey still standing there, he didn't think that would be such a great idea. Instead he shot a smile over at Tommy and said, "Well I like having you around, and I'm pretty sure that Paul agrees with me."
Paul grinned back and nodded, "Sure do." He leaned over and nudged Tommy a little playfully. "There's nothing wrong with it taking someone a little longer to make decisions, though. If it's worth making, it's worth taking the time to make." If that made any sense at all. He was trying to be helpful and he didn't know how good of a job he was actually doing.
As soon as Tommy's parents were out the door and the boy scoot closer to him, Bret had his arm slung around the back of Tommy's chair and was more than happy to finally be able to touch him in a way that wasn't brief and platonic. He kept mostly quiet, though, as Paul started talking again... enjoying that he was taking a backseat to their conversation, actually; it was nice to see Tommy interacting with someone else. He wasn't sure where that came from, but it was there, so he'd roll with it.
"Before I became the family pariah, my brother was giving me lessons," Paul said with a small shrug - he could be a little self-deprecating if he wanted to be. "It started when I was about ten and he was sixteen and I just wanted to tag along after him to his guitar lessons. So my mom made him let me go. And then when we got home she made him help me practice. He hated it, but... you know, that's what older brothers are supposed to do." He'd just leave out the part where it all when it all went horribly downhill after his mother discovered gay porn on his computer and suddenly he wasn't a welcome member of their family anymore. "I play piano too," he added, "but those lessons were parental-enforced since I was six."