Who: Juno and Oliver Where: Juno's Room When: Right after this
Oliver could feel the tense coil in his chest forming, despite trying to tell himself that there was no reason for it. And it had been a while, a few weeks at least, since he'd last had to worry about it. Maybe, despite the usual difficulties, he'd gotten too used to things being generally good. Probably too good. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled a sigh, the rudimentary snack-sized version of the breathing techniques he knew so well. All he had to do was leak some of the tension out, to get that knot loosened just a bit. It didn't work, because underneath all of the optimistic mental platitudes he knew something was really wrong.
Not for the first time he lamented the fact that Juno had moved clear across the house from him. That was nothing against Kai, who was a perfectly fine neighbor and a nice kid, but it made things harder on him in ways he couldn't rightly explain. Whenever he thought about trying it always started to sound selfish. He hadn't wanted Juno to go because he liked the luxury of being able to listen and know that things were alright next door. That if something did go wrong he'd be the first to know, the first to step in, the first to do what needed to be done before anyone else had to. He was used to that role, and it still felt a little like that security had been robbed, because Juno knew what would be better for her. Which was the important thing.
He knocked twice, quietly, sliding his hands into his front pockets only to realize how cold his fingers felt against the warmth of his clothed thighs. He sighed to himself again, and this time there was no breathing exercise to go with it. That last optimistic thread in him hoped that he'd feel better on the way out than he did going in, but he doubted it.