Re: [Outside the Rec Center.]
Holly kinda lacked empathy. Not that it was an excuse, but it meant that it didn't actually occur to him to soothe Noah. He didn't realize Noah required soothing, thanks to the aforementioned belief that Noah was super confident. These misunderstandings weren't really surprising, right? They'd just been getting to know each other, like, in a non-flirty, non-I-like-your-cock way, and then things had kinda gone to shit. So, there was a hiatus in learning about each other, and Holly didn't have Noah's crib notes. He also kinda didn't want anyone touching him but Noah, which he tried to hide a lot, even from himself, so there was that, too. Denial, barbs, being catty, it was all self-preservation, and he realized he did it. He kinda thought it was necessary, you know, for all the reasons previously stated.
Snippets. Snippets of warm sunlight through the window by his bed, that was apparently what it took to get him forgetting his fears. Because he was definitely lost in that imagined scenario. So much so, that he didn't immediately realize he hadn't mentioned the coffee maker aloud. It was a blip, a delay in realization, and then his eyes narrowed as he looked over at Noah. Noah, who sounded sleepy and like he needed a bed immediately, and he couldn't even keep glaring. He was human, okay? Noah was over there, blue tongue, insisting on lending him the Jeep, and Holly wanted to say yes for the ridiculously youthful reason of wanting to drive Noah's car. It was the non-high-school equivalent of wearing a boy's jacket, and we're not commenting on the fact that Holly was into appropriating Noah's wardrobe. It took absolutely all his willpower to counter with: "I don't wake up that early."
He immediately regretted it, of course. Immediate regret was how they'd ended up here, sitting outside the Rec Center with their fingers dangerously intertwined. But, right, Gramps. Jack was being impossible, but..., yeah. He looked at Noah, dark eyes really willing Noah to lie, but... "Repose is really weird. You're saying it's true. There are vampires and werewolves and witches, and Gramps is a fucking vampire?" Holly, generally, was very non-affect. Well, with the exception of when he was really worked up, and then you ended with scenarios like the one at the motel. He was boiling up that point right now, and let's just call it hangovers, too many things, and straws that broke the backs of camels.
He stood, and, hands in his hair, he paced in the grass in front of Noah.