Thursday evening, Luca came home to find Noel on the floor.
Not collapsed. Not unconscious. Just... sitting on the living room floor, back against the couch, laptop balanced on his knees, papers spread in a circle around him like he was conducting some kind of academic ritual.
"Uh," Luca said, closing the door. "You okay?"
"The desk chair broke."
"What?"
"One of the wheels fell off. It's very broken. So now I'm on the floor."
"Why not sit on the couch like a normal person?"
"I tried. My back hurt. The floor has better support."
Luca dropped his bag, surveying the scene. "You look like you're summoning something."
"I'm summoning clarity. It's not working."
"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"
"My laptop or my brain?"
"Both."
Noel looked up, and despite the exhaustion evident in his expression, he smiled. "How was your emergency project meeting?"
"Terrible. The error was worse than we thought. We basically have to redo the entire financial analysis."
"That's—"
