Noah is speaking with Emma in her office. She's seated across from him at her desk, and there's a completed college degree framed behind her. Noah looks to her for advice, stressed out. He looks down, his teeth clenched and his hands over his cheeks as he sighs.
"My life is a mess." He says to her.
"Okay, talk to me." Emma says at her desk, wanting to help him.
"I didn't want the three of us to come out yet." He reveals. "Not right now. Not in public. Not on television! They're both so completely naive that they don't seem to comprehend the potential consequences! Like neither of them have ever faced a consequence before!" Emma is concerned.
"If you didn't want to come out on TV, why did you?" She asks, intrigued.
"For Owen! Because he's sensitive… and because…" Noah stammers off as he begins to think about Owen. He's crying and Justin holds onto his hand as he cries, sad to see him like this.
"If he cries, Justin automatically takes his side! And anything I have to say is dismissed as being 'heartless'. But which one of us really has Owen's well-being in mind?"
He remembers the aftermath of the interview they had with Sierra - he's in tears as he's given bad news on the phone.
"Owen was supposed to be guest starring on a kid's TV show last week, and they cancelled because he's 'controversial' now! He's not used to that like I am!" He tells Emma. She thinks about what he's confided in her.
"You're very protective of the people you love." She notes. "I like that about you, Noah, but it concerns me that you sometimes talk about your partners like they're your misbehaving children." Noah looks at her, concerned.
"I don't do that." He says defensively.
"You do."
"Well then I don't mean it."
"Just tell me, what are Justin and Owen doing for you while you're so busy trying to protect them?" She asks.
"They keep me from losing my fucking mind, Emma." He thinks of Justin and Owen, and sketches a photo in his mind of them. They are looking down with prayer hands, their eyes closed with wings and a halo over their heads.
"I am so, so miserable. Always. And those two… they're both so positive. Happy. Pure. If I didn't have them to stop me from spiraling endlessly into the darkness, I'm not sure I'd ever get out of it again."