the first meeting

"It makes plenty of sense," Noah said with a nod. "I get what you mean." It wasn't entirely eloquent, but he still understood. It was an easier concept to realize than Rei realized.

Eyes widening, he was stuck somewhere between laughing and being absolutely appalled. Shaking his head, Noah patted Rei's shoulder, slowly beginning to nod. "I'll deal with her," he said. Although he hated to pull the 'wealthy family' card, he had no problems doing that whatsoever for the sake of her dignity.

"For now, though you can just crash with me, I'll deal with her once you're settled in," he said. "Do you want to stay here for a bit or do you want me to show you where you'll be staying from now on?"

"You're welcome so much," he said with a laugh. "I'm a nice guy, if you need something I can do it for you." He had the money, the tools - why not give what he could to people, even if it was just dealing with a woman who thought she was in charge?

Once she stood up, Noah followed suit, proffering his arm to her with a grin. "Shall we go then, m'lady?" he asked, thinking there was nothing weird or strange about this at all. "No one will say anything to you with me around," he assured her in a low voice. "And if they do I'll deal with it accordingly, okay?"

As soon as she took his arm, Noah began walking back toward the school, not looking at her until her voice picked up again. She was starting to cry, silent tears at least - and again all he could think was poor her. "They threw you out?" he asked, breaking his arm away from hers to wrap around her shoulders again. She needed the closer comfort. "And don't apologize about getting emotional. It's better to show them than to bottle them up."

He couldn't help but laugh. "A little bit of TMI, Rei," he said sarcastically; he didn't truly mind hearing, but they had only just met.

—

Once they'd reached the dorms, Noah let go of her, pulling a key out from his pocket and opening the door. He stepped inside first, leaving the door open and gesturing his arm out. "Well, this is it," he said with a shrug.

She seemed to take things far too seriously, and so Noah shook his head. "Please don't apologize for everything," he said. "I'm not gonna get mad at you for stupid stuff, okay?" He smiled, hoping it reassured her.

"I know it hurts," he said. "But at least you'll find people who do care, right?" It must have been hard, loosing his family like that. Noah... Noah just didn't know what to say. "Better to have one person who cares than a whole bunch who secretly don't."

He grinned at how delighted Rei seemed just to see the room. "Is it?" he asked. Maybe the fact that his family had money had something to do with it, he wasn't entirely sure - he hadn't really been in the other dorm rooms. "Feel free to look around and get settled and stuff, since you're basically staying here too now."

"Maybe they'll come around," Noah said softly. It wasn't like it was impossible - people changed over the years with new experiences. Maybe they would realize their son - daughter - was just trying to be who she was and it was just as difficult for her as it was for them. At least she was being brave and facing it all, unlike her parents who were just throwing her to the curb.

"It's no problem, really," he said with a nod, waving his hand in dismissal. Someone had to take care of her, right? Walking over to a table that was set up in a little area that Noah had deemed the 'kitchen', he began to shuffle through a few papers, unaware of a single, crucial one falling from the stack and drifting over toward Rei. It was a letter from his mother, and didn't seem very important at first.

Until it mentioned treatments and begging him to go back in an underlined fashion.