It had been a week since Noel arrived at Joel's house.
He had spent most of it eating, sleeping, and doing absolutely nothing productive. Agatha made sure of that since she fed him at every opportunity, and the portions were generous in a way that left no room for argument. He had eaten more in seven days than he could remember eating in the entire last month at the Hartwell house.
He groaned as he stood in front of the mirror and stared at his reflection.
"Is this good?" he asked.
Joel was sitting in the chair behind him, newspaper open, reading with the attention of someone who had nowhere urgent to be. He lifted his head, looked at Noel properly for a few seconds, then set the paper down and stood.
He crossed the room.
Noel stepped back instinctively.
Joel reached his waist and pulled him forward, not roughly, just firmly, closing the distance that Noel had tried to create.
"Don't worry," he said. "I won't eat you. Don't be scared."
