Mike chuckled a little at Brendan's description of the bullies. It was true. Knowing that they could do that much more harm? It went to their heads. Even someone like Van, who couldn't heal quickly, strut around and pushed Mike just as much as the others. All over a video game too. But Mike was grateful for Brendan to step in. It was nice to have someone actually step in rather than look on or join in on the "fun."
"I was going to the lab," Mike said, "Wanted to fiddle around with some coding. For fun." Mike realized that talking about coding being fun probably made him look like more of a geek. He gave a helpless smile and a shrug of his shoulder as if "yeah, I know."