Accosting random passersby on the street who might or might not have been Noble Greengrass was not a particularly useful or even sane thing to do, and Ben hadn't really been planning on it, but something about this response made him irrationally angry. Maybe it was the tone, like they were supposed to be friends or something. Like nothing was wrong. Like the whole world wasn't fucking burning around him. Maybe it was the words themselves, the use of the term my friend or the implication that Ben would be disappointed like this was — some sort of fucking joke to him, when Melody wasn't waking up and she might very well be dying and it was all going to be too much for the baby and here was this guy just — just existing and smiling and suddenly Ben didn't really care what was useful or rational or sane, he just wanted to punch his stupid fucking face.

He closed the distance between them quickly and grabbed the other man's lapel in his fist, pulling him close. "Are you fucking with me?" he demanded, without really explaining what he meant by this question.