The smell of the cookies actually made Andy's constantly denied stomach grumble a little. He'd have eaten some sweet or no sweet but if he'd thought that Kareem had used the semi-sweet chips for his taste and not just because they'd made a better cookie, he wouldn't have known how to respond. He had such little self-worth that it almost ached whenever his brother's inevitably did something to accommodate him alone.
He felt no tension in his brother's body after his admission but he still found it hard to swallow, although the way Kareem was touching him almost soothingly still made his fear recede a little. "Taj told you?" He said, a question that was actually rhetorical. "I'm sorry Kareem." it was an unusual thing to say, although not for the unicorn, who was always apologising (but never able to shake the perma-guilt he carried with him). "I know you don't like it, I know I'm not, nowhere near good enough for our Taj but he seems to be happier if I, if I do. He knows what I am, you know, so he knows what he's getting, I think, and I'm gonna try, I am, really, really hard to be worth it, I promise. I promise I will Kareem. Please-" 'don't be mad' he was going to ask, but where did he get off thinking that he had a right to try and dictate someone else's reactions? He thought, honestly and genuinely, that Kareem disapproved of the idea because he shared Andy's view that he wasn't good enough for their sphinx. He didn't think that Kareem thought little of him - just less than he thought of Taj.