Re: Holly's place: Holly/ Noah
Look, dude, the last person Holly needed to be worrying about—especially in terms of his own, like, trauma, was Noah. Noah got that his whatever-it-was made that hard. For both of them. They were tangled in this way, inextricable and knotted, and Noah got that, if he were Holly (and Holly was him), he'd worry about him. Holly. He wouldn't want that to bleed over. But—it was what it was, dude. And more importantly, even if it did bleed, it wasn't about Noah. He, Noah, wasn't worried about being fucked up. He didn't think he was fucked up. Holly was struggling to deal with his fears in the aftermath of something really bad and scary happening, and even if Noah felt all of it, it wasn't his, it wasn't about him, it didn't happen to him. His brain got confused about that sometimes, but, like, when it all came down to it, it had happened to Holly and Noah was trying hard to make that obvious—to the both of them.
Right now, he was being here for Holly. It wasn't at the cost of his own whatever either. Like, it wasn't going to go anywhere. But, for this moment, right here, okay? Noah was big-spooning and he was holding the other dude, enveloping him, keeping him—for the moment!—safe. Keeping him secure. Just..., like, keeping him. Holly pressed back a little and Noah snuggled up tight. He felt the flit of fleeting thoughts, the emotion that was indistinguishable—and he was glad Holly thought the stuff back at him.—Then, okay, fine, yeah, Noah was talking. A little. He was trying to clarify—again, to the both of them—that whatever it felt like for him, it hadn't actually happened to him.
But, Holly asked about precognition. "Maybe? It happens sometimes. Like, I just feel like something bad is going to happen. It happened before the last town party too, I think. I don't know. You know that feeling." It was a statement, instead of a question. Noah knew everyone had the feeling sometimes, even if it wasn't exactly the same. He chewed his bottom lip then, listening to Holly—feeling him, all of that. Like, that vividness was alive in him too, and he had to take a breath when Holly swallowed. He squeezed the dude (gently). Practiced in the art of not sounding totally like he'd experienced something someone else had, soothingly, Noah offered a: "It sounds fucking terrifying." Another breath. "I just knew something was wrong. I don't know. I felt it. And then I knew I had to get a hold of you and I couldn't, so I freaked out on the forums, which probably didn't help anyone. Ren responded and he knows Adrian and he wanted to get closer. He has some kind of... thing. Brain thing. Mind thing. And I knew I wasn't supposed to get close, but I didn't want him to go alone, so I went, but I think I ended up yeeting myself from my body anyway, not long after we met at the trailer park—'cause it's closer to the facility—so, I guess he dropped me off at my mom's while I was out."