Re: [Outside the Rec Center.]
Noah didn't have strong feelings about Jenga. He'd definitely played it wasted in college. He had vague memories of a bubble tea place, some curly fries, boba, and Jenga. He didn't remember much of it, but it'd probably been fun. That teetering stress was sort of the point of the game, right? As long as everyone was having a good time, anyway. (If someone wasn't, he generally knew, even if he couldn't totally pinpoint who.) But, Jenga was a game. Most games wouldn't be much fun if they were real life, and this was real life. The game of 'how much can I remove before it all collapses'? Not fun. And Noah could feel how overwhelmed Holly was, how brittle.
He couldn't offer a lot. He knew what Holly was going through, because, well, that was sort of how this worked, but it wasn't his, even if his body (and mind) couldn't tell the difference. But, it wasn't something he could really make better and he knew that. So he did his best to offer distraction or something silly to break some of the tension. If Noah was being used, he didn't think it was in a bad way. Or maybe he just didn't think Holly would totally be able to cast him off. I don't know, but whatever, he hugged the dude, then he moved to turn off the car, and he was aware Holly was thinking about his smile.
If who Holly was was picking himself up and moving on, if who he was was pretending this hadn't happened, then, yeah, Noah was the consistency of coming back, of turning to Holly and offering whatever he had. It never occurred to Noah to do anything else. He moved back toward Holly and he touched the dude's jaw, which Holly let himself lean into, just briefly. Noah's face was earnestness branded, and he dragged knuckles over cool skin, his gaze searching Holly's face until Holly opened his eyes.—Noah let his hand be taken. He spread his fingers on reflex, but let them go limp again, when Holly spent time inspecting and feeling, and obviously Noah was thinking about how Holly said he had a thing for hands.
He offered his other hand when it was wanted. Then, when Holly kissed palm to palm, Noah smiled at him, looking at the outline of their hands pressed together. Noah's fingers were a little longer that Holly's, a little thinner, and he pressed fingertips hard to feel the ridges of Holly's sliding against his own. After a few seconds, he moved his hand to the side, half an inch, a quarter, until their fingers laced, and he took both of Holly's hands into his and pulled him closer, up against him if he could.