At first, Howard wants to laugh at Tim and ask Tim how would he know what it's like to be really badly bullied, but as he opens his mouth to say something, he does take into account that Tim's not all that much taller than he is. That Tim has a certain youthfulness to his face, that could be read as vulnerability to someone looking fr a target.

That Tim's an orphan. So instead Howard just pretends he was opening his mouth to take another chomp out of his fruit, shrugs and says, "well, at least you weren't black at a mostly white school."

He nods. "Completely. Normally I can't stand those types, but he's good people. Nice. Doesn't put up with my bullshit. Has really bad taste in pets. He's letting me stay over most nights."