Chapter Text
Beck Oliver was not afraid of anything, or so he claimed. Not even the impenetrable Jade West managed to shake him off when they'd first met. However, Jade's younger brother, Noah West, was another story entirely.
It's been 2 months, 9 days and approximately 3 hours since Beck and Jade split (but who's counting)? Jade had been different ever since the breakup. The first month was brutal. She wouldn't tolerate being within 10 feet of Beck and was increasingly withdrawing from her friends. Poor Cat had been a wreck, the instability of her tight-knit friendship circle causing her intense panic. But then, something had changed. Jade changed.
One day, she plopped herself down at the group lunch table and turned to Andre to ask for his help with the bridge of a song she was working on, as if she hadn't been ignoring their existence for the last few weeks. Though the group blinked in shock, they quickly returned to normal. The only difference was that Jade never spoke to Beck. Sure, she'd reply to him with short responses whenever he posed a question to her ("Good weekend? How's your coffee? You auditioning for Sikowitz's play?"), but besides that, she ignored him entirely. It was as if his presence had no impact on her whatsoever, and truthfully, it felt like a kick to the gut for Beck who was getting desperate for some acknowledgment from the girl who had been his other half for nearly 3 years.
In fact, one lunch, Beck found himself busy contemplating how he could force her into having a full conversation with him when out of the blue, a loud voice screamed from across the Asphalt Café, "JADE!"
"What the –" Jade begins, sounding completely startled. But before she could even register what was happening, a pair of small arms sprung out and wrapped tightly around her neck. Except they weren't normal arms, for one was hard as cement and knocked the side of Jade's cheek rather painfully as none other than her own younger brother squeezed her with all his force.
Jade's snarl evaporated as she finally realised that the thing that knocked her was a fluro green cast on her brother, Noah's, arm.
"What the heck did you do, kid?" Jade growled, unwrapping Noah's grip to get a better look at him.
"I broke my arm. Isn't it cool?" Noah beamed toothily.
Noah seemed to be blissfully unaware of the shocked and slightly alarmed faces staring at him. Tori was blinking rather rapidly and turned to mouth "Who's that?" to Andre. Andre shrugged, and the table all turned to glance at Beck.
It was a surprise to see the ordinarily blasé Beck looking just as startled and slightly nervous as he sat rigidly, regarding the little kid who was crazy enough to hug Jade as if she was no more than a cuddly bunny with a look of great unease.
"Depends," Jade replied, poking Noah's shoulder, "Please tell me you didn't break it some lame ass way like falling off the monkey bars."
"I fell out a window."
Only Noah west could possibly sound so elated at this information as he beamed up at his sister with pride.
"Whoa, little dude, you're hardcore," Rex piped up from Robbie's lap.
Jade finally seemed to realise the table's transfixed gaze as she cleared her throat awkwardly, "Um, this is my younger brother, Noah. Noah, these are my…" she paused for a moment, made a tight face, and continued, "these are my friends, I guess."
"Hi Noah," chorused the group apart from Beck who was starting to shrink silently in his chair. Noah didn't seem to notice though and waved eagerly at the now slightly less puzzled teens.
"What are you doing here?" Jade asked with a roll of her eyes. "Wait, how did you get here?" she suddenly barked, a look of concern crossing her face.
As if on cue, a very out of place looking man slowly walked over. Mr West himself had arrived wearing his typical grey business suit and looking helplessly out of place. Mr West appeared rather overwhelmed by the amount of noise ricocheting around the Hollywood Arts Asphalt café as he glanced around rather dismally as two skater kids skidded past him at top speed.
If Jade was surprised by her father's appearance, she hid it very well. She didn't look phased at all as her dad finally reached the packed table. By contrast, the rest of the table had resumed looking baffled.
"Jade," her father greeted with a stiff jerk of his head.
"Dad," Jade nodded in return.
"I'm sorry to disturb you. We were driving home from the hospital when we passed by. Noah wanted to show you his cast."
Jade's father seemed slightly distressed at this news, not just because his son had managed to get himself into another compromising situation which resulted in him having to leave work to tend for his child, but inevitably, because Noah would have screamed, whined, and begged to visit Hollywood Arts relentlessly the second they had turned off the highway.
"Look, Jade, it's green. Looks like alien boogers. I thought you'd like it," Noah grinned, completely oblivious to his father's discomfort.
Jade smirked placatingly at her brother, breathing a small hum in response. Mr West simply frowned at the pair before looking at his wristwatch and sighing loudly again.
"Alright, Noah, say goodbye to Jade," Mr West instructed, before turning back to Jade, "I'm assuming the lunch period is nearly over for you?"
"No, Dad. I want to stay with Jade," Noah mewled, leaning into his sister's side.
"It's cool if he stays," Jade mutters, "I only have a double period left, and it's with this crazy teacher called Sikowitz. He probably won't even notice that Noah's there… or he'll just think he's having another vision."
Jade's father did not look pleased with this information. Truthfully, it only added to his suspicions that this artsy school did not care to hire a high calibre of staff. But with another quick glance at his watch, he relented.
"If you are sure," he said somewhat tentatively.
"Yeah. I'll drive him home after."
"Will you be home for dinner then?" Mr West inquired, his voice somewhat lower as his gaze shifted slightly to the floor.
"Do you want me to be?" Jade challenged.
"I would like that," He finally stated, rather stiffly, but Jade seemed pleased.
"Well then yes," she affirmed, then shifted her focus to her black nail polish, seemingly unaffected by the rather unusual conversation.
If Jade and her father had been looking at anyone else at the table, they would have seen several gaping faces and bewildered expressions. Since when did Jade get on with her dad? As far as they knew, Jade wasn't even on speaking terms with her father.
Nodding once at Jade, Mr West warned Noah to behave, then turned on his heel and briskly walked back to his car. It was only when he was driving off that anyone at the table made a sound.
"I didn't know you were talking to your father again," Beck muses. He blinks at his own boldness, seemingly suspired that he had actually voiced those words aloud, but her stares definitely at Jade who turns and snarls in his direction.
"I think what Beck's trying to say-"Tori begins to explain worriedly, but her sentence is interrupted by a cold voice snapping,
"Why is he sitting at your table?"
There was so much venom in Noah's tone that Beck had to suppress a shudder. Robbie, on the other hand, let out a squawk of terror and inched to hide behind Cat who was sitting next to him.
"You don't like Beck?" Cat asks innocently, causing Beck to wince and Andre to look away awkwardly.
Before Noah could reply, Jade cut him off saying,
"Ignore him, twerp. I'll get you some jell-o. Just sit tight and play with Cat."
Noah quickly smiled at his sister, but there was something rather sinister in his grin. He waited for Jade to walk out of earshot before turning towards Beck and leaning forward.
"Hello Beckett," Noah drawled, his eyes narrowing with a dangerous glint distinguishable in the stormy ocean blue of his eyes.
"Um, hey, Noah." Beck replied meekly.
"You and me… we need to talk," Noah breathed, his tone low and dangerous.
"Whoa… major Jade vibes," Andre shuddered.
Beck looked around helplessly, searching for some sort of escape, but like magnets, he was forced to return his gaze to Noah's face as the little West continued, "Didn't I warn you not to hurt my sister?"
There was a collective intake of breath at this, and Beck couldn't help but gulp as Noah's typically adorable face twisted into a menacing glare.
"You disobeyed. Now you must be punished," Noah continued.
Cat let out a little meep of fear, but before Noah could elaborate on said punishment, Jade returned holding an orange cup in her hand.
"Here you go, squib," she said, dropping it in front of him. Then realising the uneasy glances of the rest of the table, she barked, "What?"
"Thanks, Jade," Noah gushed, his overjoyed persona returning the second Jade had sat down next to him. "Wanna draw a picture on my cast?" he asked in way of distraction before anyone could respond to Jade's querying glare.
While Jade spent the next 10 minutes drawing a rather elaborate picture of a dinosaur eating another dinosaur, Noah's mischievous gaze did not shift once from Beck's face. Beck gulped nervously, his food lying untouched in front of him. He was more than relieved when the bell finally rang and he was able to leap to his feet and race off, when suddenly, he slipped on a somewhat sticky substance and tumbled to the ground, only narrowly avoiding toppling on top of Robbie's squealing frame.
"Dude, are you alright?" Tori screeched, racing to his side.
Beck couldn't respond at first, blinking dazedly up at the Asphalt Café roof as his friends circled him fretfully.
The only person who didn't seem concerned was his ex-girlfriend who was snorting with laughter. "Really, Beck. You slipped on some jell-o? Are we in some slapstick sitcom? Am I about to hear a laughing track play over the speakers?" she mocked.
Sure enough, glancing down at the floor in front of him, Beck notices the orange splotches of spread jell-o that had discreetly been poured next to his feet. His eyes glance up to Noah who's staring innocently back, but the empty container in front of him says enough.
You see, this was what made Noah so terrifying. His angel blue eyes and smaller-than-average height made him seem completely innocent. One wouldn't dare accuse him of being anything but adorable. And yet, Noah had an uncanny ability to cause destruction in such an unnoticeable way that Beck seriously contemplated tipping off the police to look at unsolved crimes and check what the little West had been doing at the time.
"Beck, you good?" Andre asked again, offering a hand to help hoist him upright.
"Fine," Beck replied gruffly. With a fleeting glance at the West siblings (Jade was still smirking), he brushed himself off and sauntered off to the classroom.
He was hoping Sikowitz's presence might be enough to keep Noah in line for the remainder of the afternoon, and then he planned to race to his truck and hide out over the weekend. Maybe book a flight to Canada for a few months. You know, do what any rational human would do when combating an evil 8-year-old genius. But this plan was somewhat crushed as Jade and Noah enter the room behind him, which causes Sikowitz to freeze in shock.
"The gremlins are back," Sikowitz blurts, then runs out the window.
The class roll their eyes and their teacher's alarmingly typical behaviour before making themselves comfortable in their seats.
Rather cowardly, Beck hides in the back corner of the room away from everyone else. Cat pouts at his distance but gets distracted when Noah offers up his cast for her to draw on.
Beck's eyes don't drift from the tiny West and his sister once as everyone settles around him. It's striking how similar they really are— both with piercing blue, soulful eyes, pouty lips, and moonlike skin. Really, there's no one quite like them. Perhaps that was why Beck was unable to get his ex out of his head.
"Jade, I'm bored," Noah complained in his seat. Cat had just finished drawing her own creation on his cast, and Andre was starting at it in approval.
"Can I draw on your cast, Noah? Tori asked, a large smile lighting her features.
"No. I don't want Vega germs," Noah replied, glancing at his sister for approval at these words even though Tori's face fell into an immediate frown.
"Go explore the classroom." Jade smirked, "I've gotta wazz."
Momentarily forgetting his resolve not to let Noah out of his sight, Beck watched Jade walk out the door without sparing the room a second glance. Then realising his mistake, panicking, his eyes flickered around the classroom to locate her younger brother. He was too late though, for Noah had somehow made it across the room in a matter of seconds and now stood menacingly in front of Beck's chair.
"Hey Beck, can I play with your phone?" Noah asks lightly, smiling up at the nervous older boy.
Beck, to his credit, manages not to scream. Little beads of sweat do start to appear on his forehead though, and he gulps nervously, "Um, can you play with your sister's?" he suggests. He wouldn't put it past the little West to find some damning photo saved in his camera roll and text it out to his entire contact list.
"No. Jade doesn't let me play with her phone. You'll be nice to me, right?" Noah states sweetly.
"Um, I don't think it's a good idea," Beck says even more anxiously. A small group of onlookers are starting to watch the interaction curiously, and Beck's aware that Noah has turned on his most charming smile, so he looks particularly adorable to anyone who couldn't see the knowing glint in his eye.
Sikowitz also decides to renter the classroom at this point, now drinking a coconut and acting notably calmer. He also watches the scene with interest, not bothering to intervene though Beck looked up at him somewhat franticly in a silent plea for help.
"Pleasey?" Noah begs, pouting his lips and widening his puppy dog eyes in earnest.
This irks Beck the most. No way someone of Jade's bloodline would ever utter a word as ridiculous as "pleasey". Sick of the act, more firmly, Beck states,
"No, Noah. I think you should go back to your seat now."
On cue, Noah's eyes filled with tears and he let out a loud wail.
"He… he's being mean to me," Noah screamed, pointing an accusatory finger at Beck's shocked form. "He's always so mean to me when nobody's around," Noah continued to sob.
Rather dramatically, in Beck's opinion, Noah flings himself to the ground and begins to weep. The people who had been watching the scene glare at Beck in great dislike, and even Sikowitz from the front of the classroom raises his eyebrows curiously.
"Beck, could you kindly refrain from terrorising the little gremlin children in my classroom?" Sikowitz called from the front as the rest of the class nodded in agreement.
"He's eight years old!" Beck protested. Noah might look like he was six, but he was older. And he was evil.
Unfortunately, Beck's admission was not doing him any favours, and the rest of the class continued to look at him in abhorrence.
Jade finally re-entered the room, and seeing her brother's upset face sniffling from the ground and everyone's fixated gaze, she strutted over and came to stand directly in front of Beck.
"You picking on kids now, Oliver." Jade seethed, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Oh, come on, Jade. You know they're crocodile tears." Beck protests, feeling completely helpless.
If Jade were being honest, she'd acknowledge her brother had an uncanny ability to make his fake crying appear very real, but she wasn't going to pass up on a chance to ruin Beck's pristine reputation.
"Wow. Super mature." She drawled condescendingly, "Such a big man unable to apologise to a small child."
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, Noah. I wasn't trying to be mean. Here, you can use my phone," Beck relented in defeat.
Noah, still sniffling, slowly sat up from the ground and lifted a hand. Fighting the urge to resist, Beck slowly dropped his phone in Noah's outstretched palm and watched Jade walk with him back to their seats.
He knows there's only half an hour left of class, but he puts nothing past the little West. He watches the clock tick by agonisingly slowly, minute by minute, until the bell finally rings and he leaps out of his seat and races to Noah.
"Can I have my phone back now?" he pants, trying to ignore Jade mouthing "he's crazy" to Andre sitting next to her.
Noah grins, "Here you go, Beck. Thanks for letting me play games on it."
Beck wasn't sure what games Noah was referring to, but his unspoken question is answered as he opened his screen to see a handful of PearPay notifications pop up. With horror, Beck realises that in only 25 minutes, Aaron had made a handful of purchases on the app store. Most of the games looked like they were riddled with viruses, but before he could investigate that, with dread, he checked his bank balance. -$627.65
"How do you know my card number," Beck hisses at the child who was blinking oh so innocently up at him.
Noah simply shrugged before skipping over to Cat who was pulling some pink bubble gum out of her bra.
Beck turns to gape at Jade, ready to show her what her malevolent little brother had done, but she's too busy glaring at Cat who was now offering Noah one of her largest gum balls.
"Noah, you know you're not allowed that," Jade yells after him, catching sight of her brother slipping the pink ball into his mouth with glee.
"I'm sorry, Jade. I'll spit it out." Noah calls back, and before Jade could even speak, he spits it out with great force, and low and behold, with perfect aim, it ends up straight in Beck's hair.
Even Jade looked startled by this action, and she glanced at Beck worriedly, but it was too late. Messing with Beck's sacred hair was the last straw. Ignoring the room's gasp, Beck stormed out of the door and made a beeline for his locker where he stored an emergency haircare bag. Grabbing it, he rushed to the bathroom and commenced the delicate procedure of removing sticky gum from his hair. He was so consumed by his mission that he didn't even notice the door open and Noah slip in.
"Jade told me I shouldn't mess with your hair." Noah's voice echoed around the stalls, "But I'm not saying sorry to you."
Beck jumped in surprise, but as he looked at Noah's rueful face in the mirror, he couldn't help but feel bad himself. As terrifying as Noah was, this kid had been like a younger brother to him at one point, and it was more painful to think that Noah, who had always looked up to Beck so admiringly, now despised him.
"Listen, Noah, please ease up on me," Beck begged.
He spun around to face Noah fronton, but it was Noah's turn to appear bashful as he lowered his gaze to the ground.
"Should have thought about the consequences before you made my sister cry every night for a month," Noah eventually whispered, his voice suddenly sounding rather dry. Still, he finds the courage to lift his gaze and glowers at Beck accusingly.
These words feel like a punch to his gut, and Beck clenches his jaw tightly. He doesn't know how to respond, but Noah is unrelenting in his glare and continues to hold Beck's gaze challengingly.
Finally, finding his words, Beck quietly exclaimed, "Noah, I never wanted to hurt your sister. I thought she would be happier without me."
Noah looks at Beck like he's an idiot. "That's pretty stupid."
Again it's like being dosed in ice water. Struggling, Beck continued, "I know it's hard to understand, but as much as I love… loved… well, still love your sister, she's the one who walked out on me. I still care for her. And I care about you too, Noah. We used to be best mates. I don't like you being angry at me."
"Well get used to it because I hate you. You were meant to be my big brother." Noah declared, real tears springing to his eyes. "And that's not what I heard Jade saying. She said you left her. She said you broke her heart. I'm not going to forgive you for that." Noah vows, angrily wiping away the tears that had trickled down his cheeks with his non-casted arm.
Beck doesn't think he'll be able to forgive himself either. His heart constantly berated him for not opening that door, but his mind told him it was the right thing. Jade was miserable and angry, and clearly she had no trust for him at all because she was constantly jealous.
I mean, as he'd pointed out, it wasn't his fault that girls constantly threw themselves at him. And okay, maybe he could have done more to let these girls know that he was uninterested. But why should he have to? Jade should know that she was his everything. He'd never look twice at them. It was her irrational anger that was the problem. Yet why couldn't Beck stop feeling like the jerk in this situation?
"Noah, I- I don't know what to say," Beck says helplessly, feeling his own heart break with emotion he'd tried to push aside for months. "I'll always love Jade as a friend, but as a girlfriend, she was... She would always freak out over every little thing."
Beck wasn't sure who he was trying to convince at this point – Noah or himself, but the eight-year-old shook his head sorrowfully as he stared deeply into Beck's eyes.
"Sometimes girls do that. Because they get scared inside."
Noah's words rang deafeningly in his ears. Oh crap. A borderline sociopath child had more perception than Beck. He was an idiot. An idiot who hadn't treated Jade very well. An idiot who had disappointed the love of his life, plus her little brother in the process. An idiot who needed to now find a way to not only apologise but somehow win back the girl who consumed his whole heart and mind. And maybe if he were lucky, Noah wouldn't destroy him before he could accomplish this quest.