Just off-campus, Capital: Holly W/Noah N
The drive to the Capital felt short. Holly had slept as Noah basically replayed the same song the entire time. It was quiet enough, he thought, in spite of the few bass-y notes. But, man, even if it wasn't, Holly was out af, like a light or whatever. Noah had even left him in the car as he checked in at the motel the other dude had booked earlier. It was only when he wanted to see what Holly wanted to do that he woke him. They both had some of the gritty instant coffee in the room, and Noah didn't bother changing, even after they decided they'd go to a club. And maybe he should've been nervous? Holly had said he'd been nervous. But, nah, Noah wasn't nervous. He was glad to be out of Repose and out of the mindfuck of all of it. The city around them felt electric like it always did—like a churning ocean of thoughts and wants and needs and everything, but there was so much, no one thing could cling to him like the barnacles of bs in Repose. Mostly, he felt relieved, even with all of his own troubles and Holly's, not yet wiped away after his day at work. Because, you know what? He couldn't feel the mounting, like, darkness or whatever it was that insisted to him something bad was about to happen. He didn't feel like he had to DO SOMETHING OR ELSE. That insane amount of pressure, crushing him like he was a little tin can, it was, like, alleviated, and, dude, that felt great.
Noah's mood improved, like, 2000%, and he didn't even hesitate to pay the cover charge at the club. Even from outside he could feel, more than hear, the music. A part of him was tempted to just pull Holly to the dance floor, but even Noah got that that'd probably be made 100x easier if he got the dude a shot or two. So, inside the rainbow crush of the club, with some disco ball glinting overhead, and a lot of high, hot emotions shoving themselves into Noah's awareness, he pulled his husband (😇) toward what he hoped was a bar. This kind of scene didn't bother Noah. He'd been to clubs and bars and parties and all of that. The only difference here was that it was a gay bar, right? So dudes were all over each other, and there were some chicks sitting on top of each other near the bar. Noah couldn't help but watch people—not in a creepy way or anything. The bartender was busy and was likely only to give his attention where it was dragged, and Noah was oblivious for a second.