Re: Billy/Tandy: the neighborhood
“Fashion designer turned fragrance mogul,” he explained with a smile. “Have you ever seen the cologne bottles that look like gold bars? I think like ninety percent of the guys at my school wore it. Anyway, remember what I said about compartmentalizing.” Billy reached out and stretched his arm until he could reach Tandy’s kneecap, flicking the finger that had the guy’s attention against his leg. He was quiet for a minute, looking down at the striped pattern of his duvet.
“It’s easy for me to be Pesha. Like, I know how to do that. There are rules, right?” He rolled halfway off of the pillows and more onto his side, propping his fist against the side of his head. Looked up at Tandy’s face through the blur of dark lashes, chin tucked more towards his chest at this angle. “But I don’t know how to be just Billy. Not like that, I mean. Just thinking about it kinda stresses me out.”
Here he was tempted to force a laugh but that automatic pulse of anxiety in his gut smoothed out, and he resisted the urge. So far he didn’t feel like he had to play at being completely, totally fine around Tandy. And that was good, but maybe it was also unnerving. “So I’d rather stick with what’s easy, or whatever.” He spread his fingers out against the duvet and flipped his hand palm-up, a minimal effort shrug.
When the conversation turned to Daniel, he smirked. “Seriously, it was no big. But yeah, it was hot, and hot is fun.”