Noah tries to follow Freddie's fatalistic line of thought until he speaks the end of it. Noah also tries not to let his heart feel like it's breaking a little, but emotions aren't something he's learned how to turn off yet. They just are.

But the reason isn't what he was expecting. He thought Freddie might say, like Krem, that he doesn't want to give up seeing other people, that he's poly or just likes to be with other people people, or he doesn't want a commitment. Or even that he doesn't want to date a ghost. Those he would understand.

But that it would get fucked?

Noah swallows past the tightness in his throat and asks, "Why would it?"