"Don't be," Thomas said. He felt a bit guilty, now. She'd come here in a good mood, excited about her new boyfriend, and he had to tell her terrible stories about him. Well, he supposed he'd just have to fix that. "He wasn't...entirely terrible. I mean, yes, he did end up compelling me to..." He paused, hesitated, considering if he wanted to admit this, and then he decided he would. "...to cut my hair off." There, he finally confessed his secret. "But...before that he did give me a lecture on getting into fights without knowing who I'm fighting."

He paused looking at his drink, before adding, "And there were a few chances I could have walked away, but I didn't, because I just assumed he was a teenager. And I just found it amusing that someone that much smaller was picking a fight."

Sure, he'd also given Cooper a chance to walk away, but again, he'd done so with the assumption that Cooper was completely blind to the fact that Thomas was about twice his size. Sure, he still wasn't happy about the hair loss, but it was probably a good lesson that he should maybe wonder why someone that much smaller though they could take him. Because sometimes, it was because they were right.