Re: Billy/Tandy: the neighborhood
Billy wanted to argue the point further, because as far as he was concerned, it was whatever -- his feelings were his problems, not Holly’s. Self-knowledge wasn’t inherently the most helpful tool in the world, but it kept him from putting all his shit on other people all the time. But he let it go, because frankly he had more important things to argue about rn.
First, though - “Housewarming as in a party?” Eyebrows raised, because admittedly that sort of surprised him. He’d been prepared to negotiate the guy into letting him throw a party after they got settled into the house. Billy filed it away as another way in which Tandy continued to catch him off guard, challenging Billy’s opinions of his own ability to read people fairly easily. He’d mentioned the idea to Holly at the comic shop already, but he hadn’t expected Tandy to be running with a parallel trajectory.
He exhaled a little sigh through his nose again, though this one was softer. He pushed off the edge of the counter and fidgeted with the pack of cigarettes in his front pocket, scuffing the heel of his shoe against the hardwood floor in frustration as he looked up at Tandy with an exasperated expression on his face. “Need doesn’t have anything to do with it, either.” Brown eyes narrowed a little, because he wasn’t buying Tandy’s obliging smile, but it took considerable effort not to return it in kind and Billy wasn’t sure that he was entirely successful. “I’m not setting some sort of precedent where I lavish you with presents. Promise.” He held up a hand, and he was smiling for real now, a little crookedly. “No Burger Kings. I just wanted to do something nice, okay? It was as much for me as it was for you.”
He gave the guy a Look at that, and a once-over for effect. “Why, because you turn into less of a good person over time? Or you’re slowly shrinking and turning ugly?”