You want me to give up my emotional support pipe? Just like that?

（ look, most of his friends are trash talkers. he knows the type, and how to lean into it. growing up ginger in japan made him more-or-less immune to being teased by the time he was ten, but he also knows better than to take it any amount of personally, and the look he gives her — mock-stern, but with a faint lift of his eyebrows that belies amusement — probably says as much. ）

I'll take asshole birds over this bullshit any day, though. （ famous last words... ）