Andy didn't understand how Taj didn't understand, because to him it was so clear that even someone not involved would be able to see it. Some part of Andy had known what had happened to him all along, and that same part and then some was reacting extremely badly to the news. It was as though all the progress he'd made since he'd been the mute, lifeless doll of a boy who'd first moved into foster care had been lost, leaving part of him back further than that, back in the lap of his father again. A kind of hopelessness descended on his heart and gave it frostbite, a feeling that it didn't matter what he did or where he'd go, his dad would always find him and that in the end all he'd ever be was some tiny porn star, useless for anything else.
He was about to mention to Taj that maybe his seeming inability to keep his filthy self out of those situations was a good starting point for the conversation that would end with them splitting up through what Andy thought would be mutual agreement when Taj's body under his went rigid.
Andy got up immediately, turning in worry and burying everything he'd been pondering in the same instant. He'd seen Taj do this before but he wasn't coming back out of it this time, still tensed, his body like an overtightened guitar string about to snap. Andy eased Taj out of the chair to the flat of the roof, hating the fact that they were up here and not on the ground where there'd be no chance of Taj accidentally falling. He knew there was little he could do and concentrated on keeping Taj from hurting himself while he was out, cradling his brother's head in his lap without restricting his movement too much and murmuring soft assurances as he pet black hair, not sure if Taj could hear him but not wanting to leave him alone in his own head if he could.
It stopped and Taj was crying and Andy wiped at his tearing face but didn't silence him, letting the feelings come. He didn't quite get what Taj said, but first things would be first as he saw Taj's roving eyes. "Shh baby, I'm here, you're okay and I'm right here." he said first, a hand on Taj's cheek. "What was that about Dally?"