[TW: Discussion of date rape, victim self-blaming]
Unwilling to walk around in quite the same state of dishabille as Jade, Noel locates the discarded complimentary robe and pulls it on over his own underwear. He feels decently okay at first, but after a light lunch in the suite's dining room, he's so exhausted he has to ask Jade for help getting back to the bedroom.
He winces as he climbs under the covers and Jade narrows his eyes at him. "What's wrong?"
"What, worried you perforated something?" Noel snipes without much conviction, sinking into the pillows and rubbing his temples. "I just have a headache."
"I can call the concierge for some medicine."
"No, don't—you'd probably start some weird rumor." Noel sighs. "I don't think I can go back to sleep yet, though."
Pursing his lips, Jade snags the TV remote off the dresser and tosses it onto the mattress beside Noel. "Then pick something to watch," he says nonchalantly, stretching out on the other side of the bed.
Buffering, Noel picks up the remote. "Are you…gonna watch too?"
"Not like there's much else to do," Jade replies, crossing his ankles.
Noel almost points out that he could just leave the hotel and go home. It would be kind of rude, but Noel and Jade don't exactly expend effort not being rude to each other. But he holds his tongue and just flicks the massive TV on. Jade undoubtedly knows he could just leave and must be choosing not to for some reason.
Navigating to the hotel's streaming service, Noel selects the first movie that he recognizes from the list of horror films, something about a ghost haunting a hospital. He doesn't remember it being very good, but that doesn't matter right now. As the title sequence starts, he settles back against the pillows and can't resist a glance over at Jade.
Eyebrows raised, Jade laces his fingers behind his head. "Didn't take you for a horror fan."
"Why? What do horror fans look like?"
"You're just normally so…jumpy."
"Real life is scarier than movies," Noel mutters, watching the credits drift over some establishing shots. "I've liked horror films since I was a kid, I just haven't watched any in a while because—" I don't live alone anymore. The truth hits him mid-sentence and he trails off, staring blankly at the screen.
"So you like blood and gore and stuff?" Jade asks obliviously.
"No, I like ghosts."
"Why? You believe in them?"
Noel twists his fingers into the bedspread. "No," he admits. "Ghosts aren't real. But there have been times when I really wished they were. And whenever I watched a scary movie, for a while afterward, it would kind of feel like there was someone else in the house with me. Even though it was just my imagination."
Jade turns his head and Noel makes the mistake of looking over to meet his scorching blue gaze. "Why would you want that?" he asks.
"It was better than feeling completely alone," Noel answers helplessly. He still remembers curling up on the sofa, eyes closed, straining his ears for any sound within the cavernous, empty rooms, imagining that any creak or tap was actually another presence walking the halls. That he hadn't been utterly forgotten. Rather than being scary, the fantasy used to comfort him through the longest, loneliest nights. It got better once he moved into his apartment and got his cats, but for most of his childhood, he was the thing haunting the many Arden properties. Swallowing, he turns resolutely back to the screen.
Jade doesn't seem to know how to respond to that, and after a beat, the weight of his gaze lifts from Noel's face and Noel can breathe a little easier.
He barely makes it thirty minutes into the movie before drifting off again, and he doesn't wake up until Jade rouses him for a late dinner.
"You didn't throw up this time," Jade remarks partway through his second plate of pasta.
"It's a miracle," Noel says drolly. "Can I see the photo Beckett was talking about?"
Jade doesn't insult his intelligence by playing dumb. He taps his phone screen a few times and passes it across the table. "That was the original post."
It's a post on one of the Halo message boards, by some employee ID Noel doesn't recognize, and it features a photo of two people standing at the front desk of the hotel, clearly taken from the other side of the lobby, but the distance isn't so much that the people aren't recognizable. It's undeniably Noel's skinny figure and messy hair, supporting the unmistakable, broad form of Jade Ransom.
The caption beneath it reads: Saw them take the card key and get on the elevator together! Anyone know who the other guy is?
And there are several hundred comments waiting beneath the post, but Noel doesn't dare glance at them.
"Dammit," he sighs, putting his head in his hands. "I thought I got lucky."
"That's what you get for trying to play hero."
Noel picks his head up to glare at Jade's cavalier expression. "This isn't just my problem. If people find out about us, our arrangement is off, remember?"
Jade scowls. "I'm not the one who decided to break our no contact rule for no reason."
"No reason?! I know you're a super awesome powerful esper and everything, but even you have to realize she was basically trying to assault you! I'd have to be a monster not to do something."
"I would have been fine—the drug wore off after like half an hour. By the time we got up to her room, I would be mostly—"
"Wait." Noel sits up properly, narrowing his eyes at Jade across the table. "Drug?"
Jade clicks his tongue. "Shit."
"I thought you were just drunk—she drugged you?" Noel presses, horror curdling in his gut.
"Well, yeah," Jade shrugs, crossing his arms. "I'd have to be pretty fucking stupid to actually drink enough to get drunk at a work event."
"Genevieve Quinn roofied you?!"
"Technically. It was my own dumbass fault for giving her access to my drink."
"That's not—" Noel's head spins. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"It's not like it mattered!" Jade insists. "The effects had basically worn off by the time I was done showering and I was just buzzed. No harm, no foul."
"Yes foul! She tried to rape you!"
"It was pretty sloppy, but she's getting desperate. Honestly, you probably saved her more than you saved me last night, because I would have put her through a wall if she actually took me to her room."
Jade sounds so casual, so uncaring about the crime that was committed against him, and Noel can feel disbelief and indignation constricting his lungs. "We need to report her to—someone," he chokes out. "The police or President Laine—"
"There's no point," Jade interrupts. "Her daddy would keep anything from happening to her, and she's a valuable asset, so Halo would look the other way. Not to mention, it would be pretty damn hypocritical of Corinthia to punish Genevieve for doing that, considering the shit she's pulled in the past."
It takes Noel's tired brain a second to process the implications of Jade's words. "What do you…what?"
"Espers aren't people," Jade says, as though that explains anything. "And the higher the class, the less people they are. Drugging me isn't the same as drugging a normal person. Espers get shot full of chemicals all the time without their consent—like tranquilizing a bear."
"But you are people—a person, you're…you're human, not a bear," Noel mumbles, shaking his head as if he can rattle all the disconnected pieces of this conversation back into some semblance of sense. "A crime is a crime—she can't just do that to you and have it mean nothing."
"Nobody will care."
"Do you care?" Noel asks sharply. "Does it seriously not bother you?"
Jade purses his lips. "That doesn't matter."
"Of course it does! It matters more than anything!"
"It's easy for you to sit there and say that!" Jade snaps. "Your world and my world are completely different, Noel! You can't shoehorn your little ideals where they don't belong!"
"Fine!" Noel throws his hands up, frustration boiling over. "I'll never try to help you out of trouble again! Since you're so strong and so smart and can look after yourself, clearly I'm just wasting my time, forcing my ideals on you when my concern obviously isn't wanted! So I just won't bother anymore! Happy now?" Before Jade can answer, Noel pushes himself to his feet. "I'm leaving."
"What?" Jade follows him up and hurries to intercept him out of the living area. "You shouldn't—you still look like shit."
"I can look like shit back at your apartment," Noel mutters, pushing through a wave of lightheadedness and trying to maneuver around Jade in the bedroom doorway. "I don't want to be here anymore."
Strong hands grab him by the upper arms and hold him still, forcing him to meet Jade's intense stare. "I'm not letting you walk out of here and drive while you can barely stay on your feet."
"Oh, so you're allowed to worry about my wellbeing?" Noel asks snidely. "But when I worry about you, I'm just embarrassing myself."
"We're different," Jade emphasizes. "Why is that so hard for you to understand?"
Heat prickles at the corners of his eyes and Noel grits his teeth. "Trust me, I get it." He knocks Jade's arms aside. "You've made the separation between us very clear." This time, when he walks off, Jade doesn't stop him.
He only has his stained party clothes to wear but that's fine. They're dry, at least. He doesn't even glance at himself in the bedroom mirror, not wanting to see how terrible he surely looks.
On his way into the foyer, Jade catches him again and presses something into his hand. "You're going to leave without your car key?" he asks, expression stormy.
"I'll take the bus," Noel says, trying to push the fob back into Jade's hand.
Jade grabs Noel by the wrist and forcefully closes his fingers around the device, leaning in until Noel has to tilt his head back to hold his gaze. "Drive the fucking car, Noel," he growls.
Noel's mouth goes dry. He swallows. Part of him resists on principle, bristling at being told what to do, but he pushes it down for the moment. Some battles aren't worth fighting, and the irritated gleam in Jade's eyes indicates his patience is running out. "Fine." Noel steps back, out of Jade's oppressive radius, and pockets the fob. "I'll see you later."
Outside of the suite, he almost throws the fob down the hall but thinks better of it. Sighing, he trudges toward the elevator.