Freddie's waving aside Noah's apology before he can even finish, shaking head dismissively.

"I didn't know him," he says again both because it's true and because he refuses to care. Lance's death had been fucking horrible, but he'd never been Freddie's boyfriend. Or even friend. It shouldn't be his shit to have to deal with.

His frown deepens as Noah's voice grows more frantic. "And it's not that I didn't want to go on a date with you," he tries to explain and, even if it's not a lie, he knows it sounds stupid. "I just know what I'm good at, yeah? I've had a few years to figure it out. And dating, seriously dating is not it." If he's honest, there's an extremely short list of things he's good at, but Noah doesn't need to know that. He'll figure it out soon enough.