Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a dusty, early morning in the Colorado suburbs. The sun was just barely peeking out of the rocky horizon, and the church bells rang loudly across the town seven times, indicating what the time was. 

Noahs tired, brown eyes opened groggily, and as soon as he heard the church bells, he groaned. He had school today.

He slipped out of his comfy white bed, and immediately shivered. Couldn't he just go back to sleep already? He hated school. As he shook his head and yawned tiredly, he heard his mother call up to him from downstairs.

"Noah! Get up!" Rang the harsh, unloving voice of his mother, whom Noah hated. He sighed, ignoring her shrill voice, and threw on a black t-shirt and blue flannel, along with his jeans and Converse. After he buttoned up his flannel, brushed his teeth and stuffed his things into his backpack, he promptly made his way downstairs and into the kitchen. He was 'greeted' by his mothers harsh tone almost immediately. She bickered about how bad he dressed himself, and that he needed a haircut. 

Noah didn't even bother to reply, and he ate his cereal as fast as possible, hoping to get out of the house before his father woke. He stared at the TV screen as he ate, hearing the pretentious Fox News reporter talking of yet another killing of a 'powered' individual. Noah shuddered, wondering why people had to fear others because of differences. Powered people were actually pretty cool, at least to Noah, but to his mother and father? They already said that if he ever "came home one day with supernatural bullshit at his fingertips, he'd be out of the house in a moments notice."

Noah was lucky today, as by the time he left the house, he had seen no trace of his father except for the empty beer cans near the couch. His mother attempted to get him to stay so he could greet his father, but Noah would have none of it. Not Today.

He walked down the sidewalk as fast as he could, practically sprinting down the entire mile to the bus stop. By the time he got there, he was cold and panting. He was a bit early, luckily. He sat at the bench and waited, opening his book, 'The Modern Epidemic' to the fifth chapter. He scanned the pages of the college book with eagle eyes, analyzing everything it had to offer. He loved reading, maybe a bit too much.

Finally, the bus pulled up, and the door opened. Noah walked on, and, giving a quiet smile to the bus driver, went to go look for a seat. He headed for the back, and saw that his usual seat was open. His friend, Shaun, had saved it for him. 

"Hey, Noah." Shaun said happily, moving his bag over so Noah could sit down. Noah did so, and smiled. "Hey."
The bus pulled away soon after, and they began talking heatedly about things, as they always did. Space, math, physics, and anything else related to science. They were both obsessed with the idea of it all, even if that made them outcasts.

Shaun told him once that Noah at least looked pretty preppy to societies standards, while Shaun looked like the definition of a nerdy kid. Noah did have to agree with that, although Noah still seemed to be bullied more for being more lanky and easy to target. Shaun was around the same height as Noah, with thin framed glasses and soft brown hair with a lot of volume. Noah sometimes found himself envying how Shaun looked, at least with his hair. Noahs hair was always too curly and wild to do anything with, but that was partially his fault for not taking care of it.

Shaun yawned, and Noah chuckled. "You too?"
"Oh, hell yeah. I'm so tired." Shaun replied, and Noah laughed. "Well, it's Friday at least, and as we all know, Fridays will always be better than Sundays."

Shaun huffed playfully. "Oh, shut up with your music references."

Noah did, but there was still a lingering smile left behind. 

Finally, they pulled into the school parking lot, and the kids all scrambled out of the bus like a pack of wild animals. Shaun and Noah both got off the bus last on purpose, and they breezily walked off the bus. Immediately after, they went into what they both called 'High School Mode.' Basically, become reserved and quiet so bullies will go away. It usually worked, they supposed.

Shaun turned to Noah. "I gotta head to Art class. See you next period."

Noah smiled. "See ya."

Shaun headed over to the left, around where his class was, and Noah continued straight, to his piano class. He went inside, and started heading down the hallway, staying close to the lockers so that no one would notice him. He slipped around a corner, and a few doors down he headed into his first class.

He was faced with multiple keyboard rows, with students sitting in most of them. Noah picked the one that was the most secluded from the other students, and sat down, setting down his backpack and pulling out his music book. He opened it up to one of the pages with sheet music crammed in that he put there. It was a song by one of his favorite bands, and today he had to work on it in order to pass his test. Plugging his headphones in, he started moving his fingers in a light and breezy manner. Despite liking reading more, he was actually better at music. His best class was science, but he was great in music too. His worst was probably art. He just couldn't do it right in that field.

He stretched his fingers the best he could in order to play all the notes, and he didn't take his eyes off the piano for even a second, determined to master the song before he recited it. 

Luckily, by the time it was Noahs turn to play his song, he had it nailed down entirely. He had been practicing all week, after all. He still went over to the teachers piano shakily however, as the classroom fell silent to watch him. His teacher, who was a strict old woman, fell silent as well. Noah let out a shaky breath, before starting. He sung along quietly, too, so that he knew the notes were lined up correctly.

"I think I found hell, I think I found something. I think I found something in my Tv screen.."

Thats when the teacher stopped him, and looked at him with burning rage. "Maxwell, we do not speak of the songs of.. Them. You should know this." She said spitefully.

Noah sighed. "There are lots of songs made by powered people. You shouldn't be so biased."

The teacher swerved over to look at him, and moments later, Noahs head was snapped to the side, with a large red mark from a slap. "Listen here, Maxwell. This is a strictly NO POWER school. Do NOT tell me what I can and cannot say when I make the very rules!"

Noah blinked the hot tears out of his eyes, and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Noah briskly walked out of the classroom and headed down the hall towards his math class, holding back the urge to cry. Home and school were both nightmares. He wanted to be away from both.

He went into his math class quietly, and sat in the very back of the classroom, with his face buried in his hands. Not long after, he heard the voice of his loose friend, Kevin.

"Hey, Teach? I don't think Noah's doing too well." 

Noah sniffled, and he heard the teacher come close to him. His math teacher was a kind old man named Mr. Kraus, and he actually was one of the nicer teachers at school.

"Noah, buddy, you doin' okay?" Mr. Kraus asked kindly, putting a hand on his shoulder. Noah sniffled, and showed his teacher the red mark on his cheek. "Mrs. Green was mad.'

Mr. Kraus held back a small gasp, and instead sighed. He patted Noahs shoulder, and turned to Kevin. "Would ya mind taking Noah to the nurses office, Kev? Mrs. Green's being a selfish bitch again."

The entire class went 'ohh!' a they heard Mr. Kraus swear. All the kids were then laughing, and during the disruption, Kevin took Noahs arm and went, "C'mon, lets get some ice."

They slipped out of the classroom, and headed down the hallway. Kevin talked a little bit about how he remembered having Mrs. Green the year before, and how he got kicked out of the class for playing a song by Bob Marley. Noahs eyebrows raised, and he asked, "Seriously? Was he a powered person too?"

Kevin shook his head. "Nah, she said it was because he promoted tolerance towards all people, which was.." Kevin seemed to tear up, "Ridiculous."

Noah looked back at him. "Wait.. Are you.."
Kevin shook his head. "No, no, but... Tolerance? Ridiculous? Like, seriously, did she have to say that to the only black kid in school?"

Noah shuddered. "I didn't even think of that. What a nasty lady... And to think, people try to tell me that racism is over."

Kevin smiled, seemingly feeling better now that he knew someone felt the same way. Noah was pretty passionate in politics, at least with his friends.

They reached the nurses office, and Kevin left Noah to go back to class. Noah sat, waiting patiently for a nurse to be available, and just then, he heard footsteps. He saw the regular nurse, Mrs. Cursel, and she looked at him with a look of sadness. "Was it Mrs. Green?" She asked softly, and Noah nodded quietly. She sighed. "She'll get fired one day, I swear."

She got up for a moment and went to go get an ice pack, and when she returned, Noah was fighting back tears again. She pressed the ice to his cheek, hoping to help fix him up. Noah took the ice pack and held it there so that Mrs. Cursel could move her hand, and he sniffled. She turned a little concerned, and asked, "You okay?"

Noah shook, threatening to cry, and he thought more and more about today. He already got hit today, and he might get hit again by his dad at home. Home and school, they were too much. He shook his head, and Mrs. Cursel patted his back. "Well, how about this, you go back to class for today, but Monday, if you'd like, I can schedule a meeting with Mr. Bursca?"

Noah shook out of fear of going to the school counselor, but he nodded anyways. Mrs. Cursel moved some of the blonde hair away from her face, and nodded. "Alright, Noah. Get back to class now. Be safe, kiddo."

Noah nodded, got up, and headed back towards his class. Just before reaching the door, the bell rang for third period. Noah went in and got his stuff quickly, but not before Mr. Kraus approached him. "Hey, kiddo, would ya mind seeing me after school?"

Noah nodded quickly, and Mr. Kraus gave him a cheerful thumbs up. Noah smiled at his favorite teacher, and headed off towards his next class.

He went into the hallway, and headed for his final class. Fridays got off early, and that was a relief for Noah sometimes, while other times it was horrible.

He had computer class today, and he was happy. Shaun was there.

He walked into the computer lab hastily, and was greeted with the smell of hand sanitizer and rusty metal. He sighed happily, sitting down in his normal spot. Moments later, Shaun sat next to him. "Hey, Noa-" Shaun started, then he saw the red mark on his cheek.

Shaun gasped. "W-What happened?"

Noah looked down. "Mrs. Green."

Shaun angrily looked back at his computer. "You should sue her."

Noah laughed, and didn't answer. They both typed away on their computers like robots. Shaun sighed and wondered allowed, "When are we gonna use this stuff in real life?"

The teacher, Mr. Detote, looked at them, smiling. "You could use it to hack into an archive."

About an hour later, school was over. Noah and Shaun both walked down the hallways, and Noah had to depart from Shaun, saying he had to have a talk with Mr. Kraus. "I could wait for you?" Shaun asked. 

Noah looked at him. "If i don't meet you in ten minutes, you can go and i'll call my mum." Shaun didnt seem to like the idea of him calling his mom, but he nodded and sat near the lockers.

Noah went into Mr. Krauses room, and saw Mr. Kraus sitting at his desk, cheerful. Noah approached him, and Mr. Kraus smiled. "Oh, hello Noah! I told ya to come, forgot for a sec."

Noah nodded shyly, and Mr. Kraus suddenly turned serious. "So, kiddo, uh, I see that you ain't fitting in well, and, uh, I saw that you left this book here by accident." He held up 'The Modern Epidemic' in his hand. Noah smiled, and nodded. Mr. Kraus came close. "I wanna show you somethin'."

Mr. Kraus held out his hand, and suddenly, a very small flame formed in his hand. Noah gasped loudly, fascinated. Mr. Kraus nodded, smiling. "Yeah, figured you might like to see somethin' cool to make your day cool, yeah?"

Noah nodded hastily, and Mr. Kraus laughed. "Glad you ain't biased, kid."

When Noah left, he was still fascinated. Shaun was waiting for him, and he stood up at the sight of him. "What happened?"

Noah could hardly contain himself. "M-Mr. Kraus is powered! He had fire in his hand! It was so cool!"

Shaun looked amazed. "Wow. That's awesome!"

They both walked out of the school, and Shaun called his mom to pick them up. "Would you mind a sleepover?" Shaun asked, and Noah nodded quickly. "Heck yeah. Not like my mom would even notice anyways."

The car came a few moments later, and they both crawled into the car. Shauns mom was nice, much nicer than Noahs mom. They drove for a while down to Shauns house, and Noah timidly got out of the car. Shauns mom smiled. "C'mon. I'll show you the house before Shaun drags you away to the dark cave known as his room."

Noah laughed, and Shaun pretended to be angry. Shauns mother, Julia, was eager to show Noah her house. Noah had to admit, it was really nice. The kitchen floor was marble, and everything looked shiny and nice. Noah hardly had time to marvel about it, before Shaun brought Noah to his room. Noah gasped. His room was awesome, with posters all over the place, cds, gaming systems, and all sorts of wonderful things.

Noah flopped onto the bed and practically screamed in joy. "You lucky bastard. Your room is amazing!"

Shaun laughed, and plopped down next to him. Noah, as soon as he hit the pillow, felt overwhelming drowsiness come over him. "Shaun. Fuck dinner, I need to sleep."

Shaun laughed. "Same."

Noah rolled over to face Shaun. "Should I sleep on the couch?" He motioned towards the sofa in Shauns room. Shaun shook his head, and scooted closer. "Nah." 

Noah suddenly opened his eyes wide, blushing. "OK." He said, stuttering a little. Shaun scooted a little closer, and Noah closed his eyes. He felt Shaun move the blankets over them, and Noah yawned, falling asleep quickly. Shaun did soon after. At least Noah was safe, and he'd have many pleasant dreams about flying through the sky, carefree and with tolerance. No, Noah wasn't powered, but God, sometimes he wished he was.

Chapter Text

When Noah woke up the following morning, he could hear Shaun snoring next to him, still sleeping. Noah looked at the clock and saw that it was only around five in the morning. Noah sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep. Thats when he tried to move, but he couldn't. Shaun had a single arm around Noahs back, and Shaun was far too strong for Noahs lanky body to fight out of his grasp. Noah huffed. So he would have to stay here until Shaun woke up.

As if on cue, he heard Shaun grumble, and then groan. He felt Shauns head lift up, and moments later, he moved his arm off of Noah. Noah turned to face him, and looked at Shauns sleepy face looking at him in the dark. He could have sworn he saw Shaun blush.

"You're a morning person too, I take it?" Shaun asked sleepily, and Noah nodded. Shaun sat up, and Noah followed suit as Shaun turned on his Xbox so that they could play something. As he scrolled through his game list, Noah made sure that he was still promptly covered under the blankets so that he wouldn't be cold, even as he sat up.

Shaun ended up picking a game Noah liked, and they both took turns beating levels. They went on for hours and hours, laughing a little too loud and being a little too happy, before Shauns mother came in around seven. Her eyes flicked from Shaun, to Noah, and back to Shaun. "I don't know what you two are doing, but can you keep it down?"

Shaun nodded. "Sorry, mom."

They did not get much quieter, however, as cries of triumph turned to cries of fear when Shaun switched the game over to a horror game. Shaun wasn't one to get scared easily, but Noah was. Noah jumped every time they turned a corner, and whenever a monster attacked, Noah got a heart attack.

They went on like this the entire day, and Noah ended up staying another night and forgetting about going home. He felt lucky he did though, because Sunday was much more.. Interesting.

When Noah woke this time, Shaun wasn't sitting in bed. Noahs eyebrows furrowed in confusion, lifting his head up to look around. Shaun wasn't even in his room. Noah got out of the bed, still tired, and noticed that the clock in Shauns room wasn't moving, so it was still showing 5 o clock. Noah yawned, before going into the hallway to look around. He walked down the hallway slowly, looking in each room to see if Shaun was there. He wasn't. Suddenly, Noah heard crying.

The crying was small at first, but by the time Noah headed downstairs, the crying was hysterical. Noah rushed towards the noise, which led to the living room, and there was Shaun, crying. Noah went to him and quickly asked, "Shaun, what's wrong?" 

Shauns eyes flicked up to him quickly, and he asked quietly, "It didn't affect you..?"

Shaun pointed to the digital clock on the stove, and it also said '5:00' on the dot. Noah looked back to Shaun, slowly and in shock. "D..Did you..."

Shaun let another tear fall. "Time isn't moving. I don't know how, but I froze it and now I don't know what to do.."

Noah went close to Shaun, holding him in a hug. "It's ok, Shaun. We can fix this. We have all the time in the world."

Shaun sniffled, and Noah thought quietly, before remembering something. "Most powered people are stronger when they are close to a certain object or person. What were you doing around 5?"

Shaun lifted his head. "I was laying in bed, with you. You were still asleep, and I woke up first. I felt sad that school was tomorrow, and I ended up moving my head a little bit, and suddenly, everything just.. Stopped."

Noah sighed. "Where did you move your head."

Shaun thought, and cocked an eyebrow. "Uh, I think it was right behind your back."

When Noah looked at him a little strange, Shaun got a bit defensive, adding "Well, you were warm!" Noah laughed for a moment, before sitting next to Shaun on the couch. Shaun sighed, looking around again. 

"So, Mr. Expert, what should I do?" Shaun asked quietly. Noah huffed at the name, before replying, "Well, powered people can always preform their powers, but since I apparently might amplify it, for some reason, I guess just... Stay close?"

Shaun didn't need to be told twice, huddling into the shorter mans arms like a small child. Shaun was scared, Noah knew, and he wouldn't bash him for it, even though the distance between them was a bit too close for comfort. Shaun was breathing heavily, worried out of his mind that he couldn't fix this.

Finally, Noah thought of something.

"Shaun," Noah began. "The element of surprise also can amplify power."

Shaun looked at Noah. "Element of surprise?"

Noah nodded. "Yes, because it makes power surge out of people, since it shocks them."

Shaun was silent, and Noah thought of a way to shock him enough. It was a cruel thing to think, but it was all Noah could think of.

Noah got off the couch, and stood in front of Shaun. He held out his hand, and Shaun shakily grasped it. When Noah pulled Shaun up, Noah kept his hand intertwined with Shauns, even though he probably shouldn't be. Finally, Noah did what he could.

He put a fake spider on Shauns head.

Shaun screamed in fear, and fell back on the couch, startled. Noah didn't smile, feeling bad. But when Noah looked up, he saw that the time had become 6:34. "Shaun, the time is back."

Shaun looked behind him, and sighed with relief. "Thank God..."

Shaun suddenly turned still. "Noah?" He asked. Noah looked at him curiously. "Yes?"

"D..Do you hate me now?" Shaun asked. Noah shook his head. "Of course not."

Shaun smiled. "Thank you."

Noah didn't reply, but he did end up hugging Shaun. Shaun was taller, so Noah was only up to Shauns neck, but he hugged him regardless. Shaun was the stronger one of the two, but Shaun needed care, too. He wondered what his mom would think now that Shaun was powered.

Shaun hugged back, no longer crying, but instead smiling.

Thats when Noah replied. "No problem."