I stare at the strange assembly on Raj’s living room floor, trying to make sense of it. Eventually, I give up and ask.

“What is all this?”

“What does it look like, man?” Noah is glaring at me like I’m somehow responsible.

Aiden drops to a crouch for closer inspection.

“Looks like a plastic storage tub filled with random stuff, a trash bag full of clothes, a toolbox, three pairs of shoes, a pillow, and what appears to be... a half-empty box of Lucky Charms.”

“Yeah. Exactly. That’s my stuff. All of it.”

“This is all the stuff you have?” I look over at Noah, shaking my head in disbelief. “What is it with you people and being able to fit your every possession into like, two storage cubbies and a backpack?”

“That’s not the point, Jamie!” he snaps, grey eyes blazing. “The point is, how did it get here?”

It’s a fair question, but I can barely think. Noah is sucking all of the air out of the room with his panicked energy. He’s talking too fast, hugging himself too tightly, nibbling on the tip of his thumb like he’s trying to take it off.

“What exactly happened?” Aiden gets back to his feet. “Noah, please. Stop for a second.”

“What happened is, I got home from helping Raj out with a job, I walked up to the house, and it was all sitting there, right outside the door. You couldn’t even see it from the street, I just fucking looked up and - there it all was.”

“So you brought it inside the house?” Aiden asks.

“The fuck was I gonna do, leave it outside?”

“And you didn’t see anyone or anyth-?”

“Don’t you think I would have goddamn mentioned it if I had?”

“Noah,” I interrupt. He looks at me, white-lipped and scowling. “We are not the enemy here.”

He lets out a frustrated exhale, running his fingers through his long hair.

“Do you really not understand why I’m freaking the fuck out?”

Oh, no. I definitely understand. This stuff was all at Ralph’s house, before. Now here it is, left on Noah’s doorstep without any explanation. I would be freaked out, too. In fact, I am.

“Aiden,” I murmur. “You said that Ralph wouldn’t dare - do anything-”

“I’m…” Aiden runs a hand over his face, thinking. “Something’s off with this. This doesn’t feel like one of Ralph’s tricks to me. I don’t know. None of your stuff has been tampered with, Noah? Everything looks normal, pretty much?”

“So far as I can tell?”

“Hmm.” Aiden crosses his arms, frowning at the pile of stuff. “And whoever left it went out of their way to tuck it up against the entryway. Like they didn’t want anything to get stolen before you got back. I feel like - if Ralph was trying to send a message, he would have left this shit all over the front lawn.”

“So what? Maybe his style has changed.”

“But - what would be the point of him leaving you this stuff?”

“To scare me! To show me that he knows where I live!”

“Okay, that’s one possibility, but Ralph knowing where you live, that’s info he has on you. Have you ever known Ralph to waste information that could potentially be useful to him? He wouldn’t. He’s patient, meticulous, he waits for the perfect opportunity, and... I just don’t see what he gains from this. Besides - giving you a scare? That doesn’t seem like a good enough reason.”

A possible suspect makes his way to the surface of my thoughts. “Grant?”

Aiden and Noah both turn to look at me, but Noah starts talking first.

“He blocked my fucking number. He hasn’t talked to me one time since I left. He would never risk pissing Ralph off like this. Trust me, you can barely sneak anything past Ralph, much less all this stuff. This wasn’t Grant.” Noah kicks at the storage bin with his bare foot. “No, this was Ralph. I know, I know that it was him.”

His words are getting faster and faster, starting to trip over each other. He sounds like he can barely breathe, and it’s starting to have some sort of weird empathetic effect on my breathing. Do I have my inhaler in the car? I might need it.

“Okay,” I begin, pressing a hand to my chest. “Can we all just-?”

Noah spins on his heel and heads for the stairs. Aiden and I exchange a look, then take off after him.

“Dude!” Aiden calls. “Where are you going?”

No answer. By the time we get to Noah’s room, he’s already busy stuffing clothes into that battered backpack he brought to my apartment.

“What are you doing, man?” I stop in the middle of the room, kneading my palm, uncertain. Aiden leans against the doorframe and crosses his arms, a deep frown on his face.

“What does it look like I’m doing? Get out of my way.”

“You - you want to come stay with me again for a bit?” I offer, and Noah explodes.

“No I don’t, you fucking idiot! What, so you can be the next one on Ralph’s fucking list? I won’t be responsible for that. I fucking refuse. I’m getting out of here. Maybe out of town, I don’t know.”

“What?” I watch as he reaches into the closet and tears down everything hanging there. “You’re just gonna leave? But - you have friends here-”

“No, I have people I’m putting in danger by pure proximity!”

“Stop yelling at me, Noah!” I glance at Aiden, looking for backup, but he doesn’t say anything. “Look, man, why can’t you see that we’re trying to help you?”

Noah flings his backpack at the wall behind the bed. It makes a dent in the surface, scraping away some of the brand new paint before it falls onto the pillows. I take an instinctive step back, flinching.

“I don’t need your fucking help!” he shouts. “Why do you two even care, why the fuck are you always up in my business, getting involved, I’m telling you to just fuck off and-!”

“Noah,” Aiden says. His low voice is startlingly calm and steady in the middle of all this. “Sit. Down.”

Aiden doesn’t move from the doorframe, doesn’t even uncross his arms, and his expression is perfectly neutral, but - Noah seems frozen beneath his blue stare. He swallows hard and drops back onto the bed, taking deep breaths.

“I get it, okay?" Aiden continues. "You’re lashing out at us because it’ll be easier for you to leave if we’re pissed off enough to let you. You’re freaked out and you’re angry and you’re letting him get into your head. If he did leave that stuff, this is exactly what he wants. For you to panic and push away everyone around you that wants to help. He’s playing on all your weaknesses. Are you going to let him?”

Noah stares at Aiden, and I jump on the opening, pulling my phone out of my pocket and opening up my pictures. I scroll quickly to the one I snapped of Ripley's snow leopard design, then hand my phone to Noah, who takes it and looks.

There’s a silence.

“This…” Noah zooms in on the cat’s face, speechless.

“Ripley drew it for you. I have the original at my place. I’m supposed to give it to you for him.” I sit down on the bed next to Noah, leaving him a little space. “People here care about you, and we understand what you come with. You even told Raj-”

Noah vaults to his feet again, tossing my phone down on the mattress.

“Raj-” he starts, and cuts off sharply. “Raj is - Raj has a fiancée. He has a baby coming. Like, soon. Raj is the exact reason I need to leave. I’m not going to let him get dragged into this shit. I’d move back into Ralph’s fucking house before I let that happen.” Noah seizes his backpack, zips it closed, and slings it over his shoulder. “I’m getting out of here.”

“Noah.” I get up and try to grab his arm, but he’s already heading for the door. “Just listen to us for a sec-”

“Aiden, get out of the way.”

Aiden’s build is such that he’s blocking the entire door just by standing there.

“No.”

Noah blows out a furious breath. “Move.”

“No.”

“Aiden! Get the fuck out of my way!”

“Sorry, Noosh, can’t do that. I’m not gonna get out of the way so that you can go make like, twenty terrible decisions in a row. You’re not thinking this through.”

“For fuck’s sake!” Noah shouts, his voice suddenly hoarse. “If you honestly think that I would stay here and let anything, anything bad happen to Raj or his family, you-!”

Raj is suddenly there behind Aiden, out of breath and wide-eyed. He sets a hand on Aiden’s shoulder, and Aiden immediately moves aside to let him in.

“Noah?” Raj takes in the backpack, the look on Noah’s face. “What are you doing?”

“Why is he here?” Noah snaps, twisting to glare at me.

“I - texted him,” I admit, wincing.

“Noah,” Raj says again. “What are you doing?”

“I’m-” Noah turns back to him, and falters. “I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?” Based on Raj’s expression, Noah may as well have just slapped him across the face. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. Somewhere else.”

“But-” Raj steps closer. He’s got a few wood shavings tangled in his dark curls, and Noah reaches up almost automatically, brushing them away. Raj doesn’t even seem to notice. His eyes travel to the damage where Noah’s backpack hit the wall. “What happened?” he asks, pointing.

All of the fight seems to flee Noah at once.

“I’m sorry,” he says, miserable. “I - I didn’t mean-”

“No, it’s okay.” Raj looks back to him, an uncertain smile on his face. “We can fix it, right? After everything we’ve fixed in this house? It’s one little scratch.”

Noah won’t look at him, fixing his grey eyes on the floor instead.

“No, man. You have to fix it by yourself this time. Thank you for everything, but - I need to get out of here.”

“Noah, wait a minute, wait-”

Noah brushes past, and Raj seizes his hand, yanks him around to face him. Noah stops, startled, and then freezes as Raj pulls him into a tight hug.

He’s completely motionless for a few seconds, and then - he sags forward, dropping his forehead onto Raj’s shoulder, clinging to the strap of his backpack.

“I’m not gonna put you through what I’ve been through,” Noah mumbles, so quietly that I barely catch it. He says something else, too, something that only Raj can hear.

“I don’t care.”

“Raj-”

“I don’t care.”

Noah breathes out into Raj’s shoulder. “Your fiancée.”

Raj laughs hoarsely.

“It always sounds so French when you say it.”

“Raj, seriously-”

“I know you haven’t met her yet, but believe me, she wouldn’t want me to throw you out on the street at the first sign of trouble. Or - let you throw yourself out, I guess.” Raj pushes him back with one hand, looks him in the face. His expression screws up like he’s trying to think of something, and Noah hesitates, watching him. “S'il te plaît ne pars pas,” Raj tries. His pronunciation is obviously, disastrously bad, and he cringes at himself so hard that his eyes close for a second. “Or - no - s’il- um-”

Noah stares at him, lets out a ragged laugh, and presses his palms into his eyes.

“Oh, my god.”

“Fuck! I’m terrible at that. I’m sorry.” Raj shakes his head. “It’s not your fault. You’re a good teacher. That’s all on me.”

“No,” Noah says, still covering his eyes. “No, you-”

Raj gently pulls his tattooed hands away from his face.

“Can we please just talk about this? Don’t leave tonight. If you’re still hell-bent on leaving tomorrow, that’s fine, but - please.”

Noah smears a hand under his nose.

“I have to leave soon, anyway. The house is almost done, you don’t need my help anymore.”

“No,” Raj insists. “We - we said we were gonna paint that wall in the hallway, by the pantry.”

“You said that wall looked fine how it was.”

“I - changed my mind,” Raj says desperately. “It looks fucking awful. I - hate that color, actually. Can’t leave it that way. It’s gonna take me three times as long without you. Four times.”

“It’s just beige.”

“It’s the ugliest beige ever, okay? The baby is gonna cry instantly when it looks at that wall. Every time, probably. In fact, I’m going to cry every time I look at that wall, and who likes beige, anyways, it’s-” Raj stops, chewing his lip. “Noah. Come on. Don’t…”

He fades off.

Noah is silent for a long moment. Slowly, haltingly, he slides his backpack off of his shoulder.

I think that everyone else in the room wants to let out a huge sigh of relief, but only Raj actually does.

“Okay. Oh my fucking god, okay. Thank you.” He cups Noah’s face in his hands, then lets him go. He grabs the backpack, shoves it into the closet, then shuts the closet door and leans back against it. “I’ll stay here tonight, alright? I’ll call my girl and let her know. She’s got a late event to work, anyways, a book launch or something-”

“Raj, no-”

“Yes. And - maybe let’s actually run that test on the security system. We’ll have to do it without face paint, but you work with what you have.” He crosses back to Noah and gives him another hug, this time a quick squeeze around the shoulders. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

~~~~

Raj makes Noah promise that he won’t sneak away, then walks us downstairs.

“Raj,” Aiden says quietly, when we’re out of earshot. “Your new security system. Are there cameras?”

Raj stops in the middle of the living room and smacks a hand onto his forehead, staring at Aiden.

“Of course, what the hell am I thinking? There’s a doorbell camera.”

“Where does the footage go?”

Raj opens his phone and pulls up an app with a stylized padlock logo. We watch tonight’s chronology play out in reverse as he scrolls back through the video.

Raj, sprinting up the driveway at full speed, and before that, myself and Aiden. Then a bit before that, Noah frantically dragging everything inside. Before that, the shock on his face as he makes the discovery...

“Wait, Raj, there! Play it.”

He does.

Someone appears in front of the doorbell cam, peers into the house, finds it empty. Rolls up his sleeves.

“Is that-?” Raj begins.

“Yes,” I answer, my heart sinking. “That’s him.”

“Fuckface,” Raj growls, his fingers tightening around the phone.

Ralph disappears from the camera’s view, then returns with the storage box in his hands. He sets it down, disappears again. Silently and carefully, he fits all of Noah’s stuff into the little enclosed area by the front door. When he’s got everything unloaded, he backs up, apparently checking to make sure that none of it can be seen from the street.

I expect him to go after that, but he doesn’t.

Ralph hesitates. Standing there, alone, looking at Noah’s stuff. His expression is strangely blank. He digs around in his pockets, pulls out a pen and a crumpled piece of paper. He presses the page down on the lid of the storage box and starts writing something, then crosses it out, frowning, and starts over.

He leaves the paper on the box and walks away.

A minute or so later, he comes back and snatches up the note, muttering something to himself. He crumples it up, strides down the driveway, and drops it into the trash bin perched on the curb.

He disappears for good, this time.

Raj beats us to the trash bin and flips it open. By the time Aiden and I get there, he’s already found the note, and he’s busy smoothing it out. Something spilled on it, but it’s still legible.

It’s all yours, no strings. Snuck it past Ralph, but he won’t come for it, he told me. Don’t say anything. - G

The three of us stare down at it in silence.

“He’s pretty good at doing Grant’s handwriting,” Aiden finally says.

“A liar and a forger,” I mutter. “Ralph is a man of many talents.”

“I’m sorry,” Raj says. “Am I the only one who doesn’t know what the fuck is going on?”

“No,” Aiden answers. His eyes are still on the note. “No, I definitely wouldn’t say that.”