Took me four months to start talking to myself, back then. I figured that's as good a sign as any that someone's ready for company.

[ And he doesn't know what to do with gratitude, so he just explains his reasoning anyway a little defensively, as if he'd been told he was wrong. Because he is always, always wrong. ]

I don't want you to not be opposed. Do you think that's better than the way things are now, to have you just tolerate my being with you, because it's less trouble than making me go away?