Re: [Outside the Rec Center.]
It was legitimately about Holly, dude. Contrary to Holly's opinion, Noah didn't just fall for people. And, at first, for him even, the Snap conversation had been—well, at first, to see if Holly was really back and then, it was to get off, because, hello, obviously. But, it was pretty obvious from the get-go that Holly wasn't the same, and it'd snowballed from there, dude. The way Noah interacted and felt—even behind the name 'Adam'—had been earnest, and his interest was—after the whole getting off thing—just about Holly. It was now. He knew that was too much for Holly. He'd said as much. That it raised the stakes and that he couldn't let himself get in too deep. Which Noah got, even if he didn't like it. (Though, he did note that Holly was here and that Holly had agreed to a date, so. It was a little confusing, but whatever.) He didn't actually know if they were supposed to be doing the FWB thing or what. He kinda hoped not. Obviously, this, right here, wasn't helping, but Noah did mean to show Holly that it wasn't just about ass.
Not that he remembered that now—and, okay, later, when he had more blood in his brain, Noah might realize that that might be part of the problem, but... he was blissfully unaware. Holly was on top of him, and Noah laughed when he groaned and faceplanted.—But, idk, maybe the talk of jealousy was a point in 'this isn't just about ass's favor. Because it indicated something deeper, right? Something more. And Noah definitely felt it, even if he really couldn't make any claim on the dude laying atop him. Holly asserted that he just told his subscribers and stuff what they wanted to hear, and he believed it, obviously. "I can tell if your thoughts are different from what you say, but, I'm not like, a lie detector. I know it's just work though. I get that." When Holly said he didn't know if he liked or hated last night, for a second, Noah thought he meant the sex, but, context. Context. He meant the cam thing. Noah felt a little stupid for sharing, but he shrugged with just a slight bit of color to his cheeks. "Yeah."
Noah smiled at the flicker of thoughts and feelings in Holly as he continued threading his fingers through the dude's hair. "I read it in 9th grade with everyone else. We had to write our own weird-ass poem, remember?" Maybe they hadn't done that where Holly was from. Noah bit on his bottom lip, chewed, but smiled when Holly rolled his eyes. "Wow, you just wanted me for my money. You think you're special..." He was kidding. But, Noah was totally earnest when he answered Holly's return question. He brought his hand down from Holly's hair to trace along his bottom lip. "Dude, you had me at the end of the first convo. You called me a romcom cliche, so, I mean, maybe you're right." He smiled and he replaced his hand as he was called a fluke, but that turned into a scoff. Noah shook his head, but he asked, with his dark gaze earnest on Holly. "Would it make you feel better? If I did do that? Or believing I do?"—Holly rolled his eyes at Noah, but Noah was determined now, to keep offering his stupid compliments, even if, outwardly, Holly didn't seem to like them.
Look, Noah still had a raging boner. He wanted a lot of things right now. But this was nice. Really nice. It was another sort of open state he'd never seen Holly in, and he lapped it up, dude. Holly moved, and Noah lifted his chin a little, to offer access to his throat. Holly closed his eyes, Noah was pretty sure, though his view didn't really let him see. He took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, just watching the other dude, feeling him, his weight. His hand shifted to rub down Holly's back, then back up and into his hair. It slipped down to his cheek, fingertips on skin. For once, he let the silence sit.