Freddie's thoughts ache, cooling his anger, and Noah's almost positive he stops breathing altogether. He understands that loneliness, a feeling he wonders if he wouldn't have if he hadn't been so happy with Krem for that first long while. Krem loved him, they took care of each other, and Noah would do just about anything to get that back.

He doesn't know what Freddie's trying to run from, what he's so scared of. But he's surprised to hear Freddie doesn't think there's a person for him. Noah's thought that more than once, too.

Part of him wonders what that person would be like for Freddie, and what it is about him that keeps him from being that person. But he quickly pushes those thoughts away, glad Freddie can't read his mind, guilty that he can.

He focuses on what Freddie says out loud, nodding a little, head bowed. It's what he wants to believe, what he tries so hard to be. Real. "Thanks, Freddie," he says quietly, picking at the bottle's label. His throat feels too tight to drink, so he sets it down on the coffee table and glances over.

And then, like no person should be able to do, he asks about what he heard that he shouldn't have. "Do you really want someone?"