With him and talking, it's like this: if you're not telling a story or talking about something, it's dead silence. If you tell him a story, he listens and either laughs or occasionally comments. If you ask him a question, even a mundane like how is it going, he cringes. If you ask less mundane question, like how is his coding going, he will say "not bad" and that's it. And rest of the time, he is dead quiet. He occasionally responds to questions more elaborately, bor ut that obviously pains him. He never volunteers any information except very significant info like being accepted into a program.