Re: Billy/Tandy: the neighborhood
So Tandy didn’t effuse but Billy was learning, small piece by smaller piece, about the subtleties of ways in which he did emote and convey the things he was feeling. Subtlety, yes, a thing he was perfectly capable of understanding and even practicing, despite the nature of his own personality which was perhaps more like blunt impact than fine, deft maneuvers with an exacting blade. Usually, but not always.
“I was promised Bowie,” he said with false affront, clapping one hand against his chest at the base of his throat. Eyes bright with mild amusement, clear with the comfort of familiarity that he could feel wrapping around him in his bedroom, with his friend. He wasn’t remotely bothered by Tandy’s non-committal. Billy could appreciate undecided, and a maybe was good enough for him. “Cool,” he added, smile hitched.
And while he appreciated the kindness that Tandy handed to him, it was beginning to encroach on territory he didn’t particularly feel like exploring any more today. He could handle a lot, was the thing of it. The difficulty of the conversation. He had proven that to himself in the fact that he didn’t shut down when he thought about his time in the Capital, what it meant for his state of mind and the things that he wanted out of life. His resilience wasn’t something he felt he had to prove to himself. Certainly not anyone else. And Billy knew without having to be direct about it that Tandy wouldn’t ask that of him, either.
“Thanks,” he said, simply and with a small smile that didn’t quite reach all the way to his eyes this time. He pushed himself up to sitting with one hand against the duvet, and pulled one leg up on the bed with a knee against his chest. “Really, I appreciate it. I’m gonna jump in the shower, though. Do you want to, like, watch a movie later or something?”