(no subject)

[iwasmore]

Noah felt desolate and adrift. He'd never fought with his friends. Ronan would fight with Blue, Gansey would fight with Adam, Blue would fight with Adam, and every interchangeable combination between the four of them. Noah always managed to stay out of it. Someone would get mad at him, and he'd slump and go quiet and it would blow over. He didn't have the tangle of issues they had; his issues were mostly his corporeal state, and it wasn't like there was anyone to fight with about that.

Seeing Ronan attacking Krem, seeing the both of them fighting like they wanted to tear each other apart, had taken Noah back to a place he never wanted to go. The one thing he never wanted to think about. When you think someone's your best friend, and it turns violent with that person you trusted. Noah knew Ronan could be violent, but not with one of theirs. Krem might not have been Ronan's friend, but he was Noah's, shouldn't that have been enough?

And why, when Noah was so angry with him, did Ronan walking away hurt so much?

Noah had left the park without checking on Cremisius. He hadn't meant to, he just hadn't been able to hold on anymore. Now he found himself outside Hywell. He wasn't even sure how much time had passed between the fight and here. He didn't feel like he had a right to be here; what if Ronan was inside? He didn't want to look at him, right now.

Noah walked away, not sure where he belonged anymore.

Comments

[sorriest]

When I catch sight of just the person I've had on my mind these past couple of days up ahead, my steps speed up into a jog. "Noah!" I call out to him while I'm at it, afraid that he'll vanish before I catch up to him. He's walking pretty slowly, shoulders hunched, but that doesn't mean he can't blink out of sight in an instant.

Something's wrong lately, I think -- Noah hasn't stopped by since a few days back. That image of him on the ground, dead, really dead, has been haunting my nights and my days as much as the usual does.

Seeing him now, a surge of relief sweeps through me. He's not gone. Right after, worry prickles inside me; some other thoughts I've been having well up with it.

Maybe it's something I did. I just don't know what it could be.

"Noah...?" As soon as I'm close enough, I stretch my hand out to touch his arm.

[formicine]

Blue hasn't really checked out Hywell properly since it became a real thing, and she wants time to look at the place, or at least the outside of it, by herself, to get a sense of it the way she has for Monmouth Manufacturing.

She's interrupted, though, walking toward it, when she sees Noah, walking away: head down, shoulders hunched, looking -- stricken. Displaced, and she immediately quickens her step toward him.

"Noah?"

[krempuff]

Krem hurts.

It is a strange feeling. He has bruises from Ronan roughing him up, luckily in places that he can cover at work, but they're not really any worse than the ones Ronan gave him last time, or the broken ribs he had when he arrived in Darrow. If anything, despite Ronan's unnecessarily cruelty and possessiveness, Krem came out better than he had in the fight about Adam--no punches in the face, this time.

This time, however, he hurts. He's distracted to the point of nearly hurting himself in the gym, he's angry, his heart aches. He hasn't seen Noah in a few days, and it isn't the first time that Noah has gone a few days without seeing him, but it's the first time Noah has seen him fight, or even angry.

He hurts, and Noah didn't even worry to see if he was badly injured during the fight, because that would have upset Ronan further. Everything feeds the hurt, and Krem hates it.

For the most part, Krem tries to ignore it. It isn't particularly successful. So, like when he first arrived, he does a lot of walking.