Van was about to tell Brendan again to shut up and not worry about it, but the boy had to go and comment on his size. He hated that. It was part of the reason why he responded more aggressively than most people to things. He felt like he had to continuously prove himself in order for people to take him seriously. He had to stop himself and pull himself back from shoving Brendan away from him and telling him to fuck off.
Besides, Brendan was doing something interesting with his fingers against the skin of Van's shin and Van was curious what that was about.
Instead of shoving, Van clipped Brendan in a smack over the top of his head. "Oh yeah? If I'm so little and diminutive, how'd I reach to do that?" He smirked.