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Out of the two of them, Noah would say that he is the more practical one. Whether it be because of his brain, his train of thought, or just the reality of Tyler not being the brightest light bulb of the bunch, it's a simple fact of life. Noah is practical, and Tyler is impractical.
In a way, they balance each other perfectly, even if Noah never wants to admit that.
The origin of their friendship is one of life's greatest mysteries, according to everyone at school. They were both well known at school, though for completely different reasons; Noah was the top student in their grade, much to Alejandro and Courtney's dismay, and had won class presidency ever since Year 7. Tyler, on the other hand, had been known as Lindsay Topps' boyfriend, as well as the clumsiest guy to ever step foot in Wawanakwa High.
During Year 10, things had started to change. Lindsay and Tyler broke up, for reasons that Noah is still not 100 percent sure about, and the jock had somehow found his way into Noah's orbit, lingering by his side in the mornings and sitting at his table during lunch. They had gone from never speaking a word to each other to practically being glued at the hip, much to everyone's surprise. Then again, don't opposites attract?
Somehow, for some reason, Noah didn't mind this newfound friendship.
Currently, the two are walking home from school, both having stayed a few hours after; Noah because of student council, and Tyler because of a basketball practice that ran later than usual. They had discovered a month into their impromptu friendship that they lived on the same street, and Tyler had offered to walk Noah home, and so, the habit was born.
Their shoulders brush against one another as they walk down the sidewalk, the smaller boy wearing his friend's familiar red jacket and letting thee jock carry his backpack. It was only September and there was already a chilly breeze outside, the cold making its way deep into Noah's bones. Tyler was always happy to let Noah wear his jacket and carry his bag, leading to two more habits shared between the two.
Tyler is rambling about his basketball practice, hands moving animatedly as he shows off how he was throwing the ball. Noah watches amusedly, somehow not being as annoyed as he should be by the boy's story-telling. It was endearing, really.
"And then I totally made a lay-up," Tyler says, before nearly tripping on his shoe laces. He balances himself with a hand on Noah's shoulder, and the smaller boy grunts as more weight is added onto him. "Dude, you need to put on some muscle! You're tiny."
"Don't remind me, Eva does that enough already," Noah grumbles in reply, waiting as Tyler tied his shoe again, pulling the jacket he wore further around himself. "Besides, you've said before that you like me how I am. Are you saying you lied?"
Tyler falls for his words hook, line, and sinker, and defends himself promptly, claiming, "no, no, bro! I just want what's best for you, that's all." It's so sincere and sweet that it threatens to make Noah's gums ache from the smile he holds back, just so he wouldn't embarrass himself.
"Uh huh," he hums, crossing his arms as Tyler finishes tying his shoe, standing up and looking down at him. "Besides, what do I need muscle for when I have you around?"
The jock practically beams at the compliment, scooping Noah up in a hug that can rival one from Owen, spinning him around once, twice, before setting him down. "Of course, dude! I'll protect you," he says happily, waiting for Noah to steady himself before they continue down the sidewalk.
Together, they cross a busy street, Tyler sprinting across the road while Noah merely walks slightly faster than his normal pace, and they continue down the sidewalk until the jock suddenly comes to a stop. Curious, Noah also stops, looking at the direction Tyler is staring in to see an older woman sitting at a pop-up booth outside a small store.
"Well, hello there, boys," she greets them, watching as the two approach. Tyler seems to be in awe of the jewelry options she has, while Noah is more wary, standing behind the other boy and lightly grabbing onto his wrist. "Do you see anything you like?"
Tyler continues to look, eyes spanning over various necklaces made of silver and gold, earrings covered in gems and rhinestones, bracelets featuring charms from across the globe, and his eyes finally land on a pair of matching silver rings, one having a red gem, the other a teal one.
"Look, Noah!" he whisper-yells, pointing out the rings to his unimpressed friend. Noah stares blankly at the rings, eyes darting back to the woman, who is watching the two silently, like she's waiting on them to buy something. "They could be friendship rings!"
"Do we really need rings to prove we're friends?" Noah asks, looking up at Tyler with furrowed eyebrows. "I mean, they're cool and all, but I don't see the need—"
He's cut off by the woman telling them, "oh, those are buy-one-get-one," with a slight glint in her eyes. Tyler's eyes widen as he hears about the deal, and he whips around to look down at Noah, eyes wide like he's about to beg.
That's exactly what he does, and while Tyler falls for Noah's sarcasm and quips all the time, the cynic's weakness is his friend's puppy eyes.
"Fine, fine," he says, upset at himself for being so easily swayed. Noah reaches into his pocket, pulling out his wallet and giving the seller a look. "How much do you want for them?"
"I'll tell you what," the lady begins, leaning back slightly in her seat. "I'll sell them to you for forty dollars. After all, your friend seems to really want them."
With a sigh, Noah hands the woman over forty dollars, watching her count the bills before she reaches over, handing the ring boxes to them. Tyler picks up the ring with the red gem happily, thanking Noah with a hug to the side that he doesn't lean into.
The boys are soon on their way again, each wearing a new ring on their finger. They don't look bad, per say, but Noah has a strange feeling in his chest that just won't go away at the sight of them. It was probably nothing, he decides.
"Thanks again, Noah," Tyler says as they turn onto their street. "These are super cool! We'll have to show them off tomorrow." He grins at the thought of showing off their matching rings to the guys on the basketball time, flaunting that his best friend was the best person ever.
Noah merely grunts in reply, shrugging his shoulders. "It's whatever, dude," he insists, ignoring the funny feeling in his chest as Tyler grins at him.
The jock asks if he wants to hang out at his place for a bit, and Noah agrees, knowing only Amaya was home, their mom on a business trip in Montreal. They walk the short distance to Tyler's house, his mom greeting the two boys as they come inside.
"Noah, it's always lovely to see you," Laura Walker greets, a dazzling smile on her face. She playfully ruffles Tyler's hair, moving to pat Noah's head in an affectionate manner as well. "Are you two hungry? Jason started grilling twenty minutes ago."
"I could eat, ma!" Tyler answers, nearly tripping over himself as he takes his shoes off. He holds onto Noah's shoulder again, keeping his balance while the other boy easily slipped his hiking boots off. "What about you, Noah?"
"Sounds fine to me," the shorter teen answers, before he's dragged by his wrist upstairs and to Tyler's room. The room is tidier than usual; clothes are in the laundry basket instead of on the floor, an empty trash can, and his desk wasn't filled with clutter and missing homework.
Noah takes a seat on Tyler's bed, pulling one of the ridiculously fluffy blankets over himself, wrapping himself up until he's practically cocooned in the soft fabric. The other boy sits next to him, shifting so he can lay down on his stomach, sliding his headband off his head and stretching it out, letting it fly somewhere in the room. Noah snorts as he watches the red piece of fabric land near the boy's closet.
The two settle into a comfortable silence, Noah nearly falling asleep until Tyler's mom announces dinner is ready. They head downstairs together, sitting at the dinner table with Tyler's parents and eating, conversation flowing easily between the adults and their son. Occasionally, Noah will chime in, though he mostly sticks to eating his grilled chicken, thankful that Tyler's parents remembered he was pollotarian.
After dinner, Noah prepares to leave, feeling a migraine beginning to settle in the back of his head. He thanks Tyler's parents for the food and wishes them goodnight, and he doesn't complain as the jock offers to walk him home.
It's cheesy, how insistent Tyler is on walking Noah places. It reminds him of a cheesy romcom he would watch with his mom, films of the guy always getting the girl.
However, because of how painfully straight Tyler seems to be, they haven't kissed in front of Noah's front door yet. Faintly, Noah thinks he wouldn't mind feeling those chapped lips against his, but he shakes the thought away before it can root into a fiery desire.
"Goodnight, Noah! Meet you on the corner like usual?" Tyler always asks the same question whenever he walks Noah home, and every time, Noah gives him the same answer. It's become predictable.
"Yes, Tyler," he sighs, reaching for his house key in the pocket of his pants. "I'll meet you at the corner like we do every school morning."
Pleased, Tyler gives Noah one last hug before jogging back to his house, nearly tripping over the curb as he does so. The shorter boy snorts, heading inside his house, before a realization hits him.
He never gave Tyler his jacket back.
As soon as Noah wakes up, he realizes something is off. Mainly because a voice is echoing through his head, and for once, it isn't his own.
The voice is eerily similar to Amaya's, and while he is closest to her, he's never heard her voice in his head before, monologuing about her upcoming shift at a local cafe. It's strange, and Noah wonders if Amaya is just being that loud.
He practically stumbles into the bathroom, a sudden migraine leaving him dizzy and weak, and he barely manages to hold himself up on the bathroom counter before he hears a small crash. Noah looks up to see that his toothbrush holder is knocked onto its side, his toothbrush a few inches away.
Huh. He picks it back up, sitting his toothbrush inside before a sudden pain in his head makes him squeeze his eyes shut, and a louder crash follows. He quickly blinks his eyes open, looking at the bathroom mirror to realize that it's shattered, the glass somehow not hitting him.
"What the hell..?" Noah mutters to himself, before Amaya is rushing into the room, staring down at the shards of glass with wide eyes.
Instead of asking what happened, she chooses to see how Noah is doing. "Are you okay? You don't look like you feel the best. Maybe you should stay home from school."
"I hope he isn't bleeding, otherwise I'll have to drive him to the hospital," her voice echoes in Noah's head, and he blinks at her, realizing her lips aren't moving. How is she doing that? She hadn't been taking any classes in ventriloquism, as far as he's aware.
"I'm not bleeding," he tells her quickly, noticing how her eyes widen just a fraction more. Amaya doesn't say anything about not asking Noah if he was bleeding, and she turns around to get the broom and dustpan to clean the mess up.
Noah waits patiently on the lid of the toilet seat, knees pulled to his chest as he watches Amaya sweep up the shards of glass. She gives him a worrying look, lips down turned into a concerned frown as she looks over him.
"Seriously," she says, hand on her hip as she dumps the glass shards into the bathroom trashcan. "Stay home. You look like you're going to pass out any minute."
Noah grumbles, though he gives her a slight nod and then pulls out his phone to text his friends the news. He sends a quick text to the Team E-scope—stupid name, he knows—and Owen group chat, claiming he was ill and wouldn't be at school. He then switches contacts, clicking on Tyler's and also shooting him a text.
06:37 A.M.
noah
hey, im not feeling the best so im not going to school today
dont wait up for me
Tyler texts back not even two minutes later, before calling Noah.
06:38 A.M.
tyler
DUDE THE CRAZEST SHIT HAPPEND
Noah begrudgingly answers the phone, putting it on speaker as he searches the cabinet for any painkillers, as well as his iron supplements. "What crazy shit happened?" he asks, voice still carrying a hint of sleep.
Tyler sounds breathless, panting from the other end, and Noah wonders if he's overheating somehow. The boy seems to run warmer than most.
"Dude, you're not going to believe this, but I was flying!" he says, and judging by his tone, he's either gotten really good at lying in less than twelve hours, or Tyler genuinely believes that he was flying.
"Right, and I can read minds," Noah deadpans, finally finding his supplements as well as painkillers. He dumps four pills in his hand, just to make sure that his migraine would go away, or he'd pass out trying. "Seriously, dude, you probably had a vivid dream."
Tyler groans, and Noah hears a thud, followed by a few muttered curses. "I'm telling you, it wasn't a dream! There's even a dent in my ceiling now."
Noah's phone pings again, and he looks down, realizing Tyler sent him a picture. Sure enough, there's a dent in his ceiling, one that wasn't there yesterday. He would know. He stares at the jock's ceiling a lot so he wouldn't stare at said boy.
His head suddenly rings again with Amaya's voice, and the cabinet door shuts seemingly on its own, snapping Noah back to attention. "Shit, man. Flying?"
"Yeah! I'm like Superman!" Tyler seems more happy than concerned about his newfound power, and Noah can practically see his smile from houses away. It's probably all teeth, dimples exposed in all their glory, his eyes slightly squeezed shut—
Great. He's sidetracked again. "Fake sick," Noah says suddenly, swallowing the painkillers dry. If Tyler was flying, having somehow gained superpowers within the last day, then Noah most likely had powers to. Telepathy and telekinesis, if he had to guess. "Okay? Tell your parents you don't feel well, and when they and Amaya leave, I'm coming over."
Tyler agrees, and the two hang up, Noah shoving his phone onto his nightstand before crawling back into bed, covering his head with a pillow.
Life really did hate him, it seems.
Amaya leaves for work half an hour later, checking up on Noah before she goes. He assures her that he's fine, and she promises to bring him a coffee home, which makes him smile. Soon after, Tyler texts him that his parents left for work, and the coast was clear.
Noah throws on Tyler's jacket over his pajamas, grabbing his phone and set of house keys before leaving his house. He makes sure the door is locked, testing out his newfound abilities by locking the door with telekinesis, and starts towards the direction of Tyler's house. When he reaches the familiar gray home, he knocks on the door, and he's soon greeted by the sight of Tyler hovering a few inches off the ground.
Quickly shutting the door behind him with his thoughts, Noah stares blankly at Tyler, who stares right back, noticing that the door closed by itself. "Did you do that?" he asks, referring to the shut front door.
"Yeah, I did," Noah answers, arms crossed over his chest. His head is still killing him, and he's beginning to believe that this is a side effect of telepathy and telekinesis. "Can you get down? I'm not breaking my neck to look you in the eye."
Tyler listens, letting himself fall, though instead of landing gracefully on his feet, he lands on his ass. He rubs his tailbone before looking up at Noah, tilting his head with a grin. "Isn't this cool?! We can be superheroes!"
"Is that really a good idea? I mean, we don't even know how we got these powers," Noah tries to reason, watching as Tyler stands up. He's still wearing the jock's red jacket, fabric hanging loosely off his thin frame, and faintly, he hears Tyler coo about it.
"He looks kinda cute in that—" Noah can hear, and he fights the warmness appearing on his cheeks, staring down at the ground.
"Well, Green Lantern gets his powers from his ring, so maybe we did too!" Tyler suggests, wiggling the finger that still has the ring on it. He suddenly grabs Noah's hand, realizing that he's also wearing the matching ring. "We can be a superhero duo, Noah. Wouldn't that be cool?"
Noah sends Tyler a deadpan stare that has the jock mentally cursing, and he lets out a defeated sigh. He can tell that this is a battle he's just not going to win; Tyler is oddly persistent when he wants to be, and this is proving to be one of those times.
"Lets think about it some more, huh?" It's barely a compromise, and Tyler grins like he knows he's won, which both infuriates and enamors Noah at the same time. He's suddenly lifted into the air, strong arms wrapping around his waist, hugging him close.
Mentally, he can hear Tyler cheering, and Noah can barely bite back a smile at the absolute giddiness that writes itself all over Tyler's face.
Well, he guesses they're superheroes now. Hooray. Then again, there's nobody else Noah would be wanting to do this with, is there?