It isn't a script, Noah does genuinely mean it. He is glad Freddie can look past what he is and thinks of him like any other person most of the time, he's grateful. He'll tell him so later, he's already said too much from Freddie's thoughts. He'll writer him a letter or something, tell him how much he appreciates Freddie.

I do it all the time, he wants to say, but only looks over, quickly cataloging the expression on Freddie's fact. He doesn't seem angry.

Noah listens, his eyes lingering on Freddie's profile. "You can't say never until your dead," he finally says, in no relation to the fact that he is and only to the simple fact that if there are still options there's still a chance it could work out. "It's hard to trust when people have hurt you. Maybe your old relationships didn't hold, but that doesn't mean future ones won't."

He goes quiet a long moment, considering. "I hear you thinking about other people, certain names repeat..."