With their contractually-obligated guiding session next Friday hanging over Noel's head like a guillotine, he returns to work.
His coworkers are happy to see him, having been told he was suddenly called away by his family. The Ardens are well known for both their affluence and their drama so no one even questioned the excuse.
"Apparently Jade Ransom is back at work too," Tess tells them between bites of a twizzler, scrolling through one of Halo's internal message boards on her phone. "That's good, I guess. I totally thought he exploded after that last attack. He just disappeared!"
"Kind of wish he had," Noel mutters, sorting through his full inbox.
"Did he ever find that guide he was looking for?" Elijah asks over the divider.
"If he had, wouldn't we have heard about it?" Catherine counters. "The number one esper in the country finally finding a guide? You can't keep that kind of thing quiet."
Noel hunches over his keyboard and keeps quiet.
----------
"I was able to remove you from the pool of available guides in the scheduling software," Dr. Summers informs him cheerfully when he visits her during lunch. Her lab looks as chaotic as ever, with machines blinking and whirring along the walls and documents scattered on every surface. A sandwich and an open can of soda are perched precariously on a teetering stack of folders on the desk, but she seems to be ignoring everything in favor of the first-person shooter blatantly open on her computer. "And I've locked your private channel so any requests will just be redirected."
"Thanks," Noel says hesitantly. "But what if my coworkers notice that I'm not leaving the office anymore?"
"Now that you're tricking everyone, you have to start thinking sneakier, Noel," she scolds playfully. "Just come down here from time to time. I'm not gonna tattle on you."
"What if someone sees me?"
"If they have a problem, I'll just say I requested your help with an experiment and we'll go from there."
Pressing his lips together, Noel slouches in his chair. He's never been a good liar. Maybe he's in over his head.
Scratch that, he thinks, watching the Director of Experimental Research hammer at her keyboard to a chorus of gunfire. He's definitely in over his head.
----------
Living with Jade isn't as weird as he thought it would be. In some ways. In others, it's way weirder.
Before this, Noel knew basically nothing about Jade Ransom, aside from the stuff everyone knows. He's 24, he manifested at age 4, he comes from a wealthy family that, before him, never produced a single esper or guide, and his sync rates suck. Plus he's terrible at paperwork, though that's only known to the people at Halo who deal with admin stuff. Like the D-suite. He's one of only a dozen S-class espers in the country, and one of only about 30 in the whole world, and people who have seen him fight all say the same thing: he's a force of nature. He's a popular subject on both celebrity and esper-focused gossip sites and there always seems to be some sort of speculation about him floating around. Understandably. He's such a massive public figure and yet his private life remains a complete mystery. That's like catnip for wannabe internet sleuths and paparazzi.
Noel never gave Jade much thought beyond all that, since it's not like he ever expected to interact with the man. Maybe if he and Beckett were still close, he'd have had opportunities to meet Jade, but fortunately that wasn't the case. Jade Ransom had no place in his life. And then suddenly, Jade Ransom became his life.
The apartment is big enough that it's entirely possible for Noel and Jade to pass entire days without seeing each other. Noel leaves early for work, usually before Jade is even awake, and Jade frequently stays out late, returning after Noel has gone to bed. When Jade is on-call at Halo, he won't come back at all until the next morning. But even with their contrasting schedules, it's impossible that they wouldn't rub elbows at all, and there's no way Noel can avoid picking up information.
Jade likes to read. The impressive television goes unused in favor of the many bookshelves lining the walls of the living area, and when they are both home, Noel quickly grows accustomed to walking downstairs and seeing Jade stretched out on the sofa with a book in one hand. He's skimmed the many titles and it doesn't seem like Jade prefers any one genre over another, though the books he's actually seen in Jade's hands have all been nonfiction so far. That's all totally fine by Noel, since he likes reading too, though he doesn't know if he'll ever be comfortable enough to join Jade's silent reading time.
"Do you have a favorite book?" he asks nervously the first time Jade comes downstairs to find him browsing the shelves.
"No," Jade answers, plopping down in his chair and reaching for the book he left on the side table.
"There aren't any that you liked more than the others?" Noel presses, tilting his head.
"Not really. " Jade drums his fingers on the arm of his chair. "I've never really thought about liking or not liking. Reading is just something I do to pass the time and distract myself."
Something about that strikes him as sad, but Noel doesn't feel like prying.
Another thing Jade spends time on is music. An entire corner of the living room is dedicated to an extensive vinyl and CD collection, along with multiple different vintage record players and radios, which Noel admittedly gets a bit worked up about the first time he actually examines it.
"These are all B.P.!" he points out, eyes wide as he flips through a huge leather binder full of loose vinyl discs. "How did you even get these?"
"Some of them were my mom's," Jade says from the couch. "Others I sourced from collectors. The original sleeves are all gone, though."
Obviously they would be after over three centuries. "That's insane," Noel marvels, staring at what looks like a 2000s Beatles pressing. "You must have spent millions."
"How could you tell those were B.P.?" Jade asks, sounding begrudgingly curious.
"Well, they're separated in their own special book, for one, but also I know what classic A.P. records look like, and these are way older." Noel glances over his shoulder. "Are they…safe to play?"
Jade blinks at him. "As long as you're careful," he says after a beat.
Noel can't help the smile stretching across his face.
Apparently, Jade also makes music? Noel wonders and worries about the presence of a recording studio in the apartment before finally confronting Jade about it at dinner.
"You don't have a podcast, do you?" he asks tentatively.
Jade nearly chokes on his food. "No," he says, reaching for his glass. "When would I even have the time for that? Jesus."
Noel exhales in relief. "What's the studio for, then?"
Swallowing, Jade returns to his plate. "I use it to record music."
"Music?"
"Songs I've written, or covers sometimes. Mostly on guitar."
Noel blinks at him, fork frozen in midair. "You write music?"
Jade shrugs one shoulder. "When I feel like it." Then he returns to his food, clearly not interested in continuing the conversation.
Curious, Noel asks one of the housekeepers, a woman named Maria, for more information, and she tells him that Jade also plays bass, piano, violin, and cello, which just seems excessive, honestly. Noel gets that Jade had an old money upbringing, but so did he and he only learned piano. Though, to be fair, Noel's family was focused on cultivating…other skills.
Another thing of note is that Jade is a voracious eater. He'll often finish two or three helpings of whatever delicious meal his chef makes in the time it takes Noel to finish one, and then he looks at Noel as though there's something wrong with him.
"Some of us actually like to taste our food," Noel can't help firing back. "Especially food like this."
The chef, a stern middle-aged woman named Jaqueline, nods in his direction.
Jade shakes his head. "Maybe you pass out all the time because you're just malnourished."
Noel resists the urge to throw his spoon across the table.
It's probably a high level esper thing, Noel figures. Beckett always had an enormous appetite, even before he manifested. Their bodies burn so much energy just by being alive, they need to replace it constantly. And there doesn't seem to be anything Jade won't eat. Noel wouldn't call himself a picky eater, but even he has things he'd rather avoid. Jade, however, consumes everything that's put in front of him, and yet doesn't really seem to prefer anything over another, like with the books.
Noel has a moderate strawberry allergy, not bad enough that cross-contamination will send him to the hospital, but bad enough that he'll be able to tell, and if he actually ingests it, he'll definitely need an epinephrine shot, so Jade told the chef to just cut strawberries from the menu entirely. Noel apologized for making him give up something he liked, figuring if he was eating dishes with strawberries before, he must like them, but Jade just shrugged and said it didn't really matter. He never requests certain foods, just lets Jaqueline make all the decisions, and eats everything with the same amount of enthusiasm.
They don't interact at home much outside of meal times, even when they are both there. Noel isn't avoiding him or anything, it's just that…they don't really have a reason to seek each other out either. They each keep their own company, absorbed in their own business, and that's fine with Noel.
Coppelia and Poe warm up the new apartment very quickly, which is both a blessing and a curse. Noel is glad that they're not stressed out or scared, but he's kind of worried that they'll get too used to the luxury of a huge flat to run around in and a literal private chef who's all too willing to create custom cat dishes alongside the human ones. The housekeepers don't mind the cats either, and Noel has to admit it's quite novel not to have to scoop the litter box himself.
After only a few days, Poe joins Jade on the couch for one of his reading times, loafing a cushion away and watching him with narrowed eyes. Jade seems a bit discomfited but doesn't protest. Coppelia discovers her new favorite pastime of racing up and down the stairs as fast as possible. They both take to Jade quickly, which Noel might feel jealous about if they didn't both still join him in bed every night like they always have.
"She likes you," Noel explains after Jade tells him about Coppelia sticking her paws under his office door. "She wants to be involved in whatever you're doing. God knows why."
Jade makes a face at the dig and allows her to keep playing with his shoelaces.
Given the sheer size of the apartment and number of bedrooms, Noel was vaguely worried that Jade throws a lot of parties or frequently has guests, but he doesn't, according to the housekeepers. He really does just live alone in this huge, empty apartment.
Again, something about that itches at the back of Noel's head, but he brushes it off. He doesn't have any more time to waste feeling bad for Jade Ransom.
For nearly two weeks, Noel focuses on catching up on work and getting settled in his new, bizarre living arrangements. He doesn't interact directly with Jade very often, with their staggered schedules, plus Jade seems to be especially busy at Halo, and Noel occasionally hears him hurry out of the apartment even when he's supposed to be off. They agreed to have their first official session on a Friday, to give Noel the weekend to recover if necessary, and Jade dutifully leaves him alone about it, letting Noel dread the date all on his own.
And dread it, he does. Jade said they didn't have to go all the way at first, but even the first few bases are farther than Noel has ever gone with anyone. He's kissed someone, sure, but that was years ago now, and the less said about that, the better. He hasn't gone looking for any kind of action since he graduated college, and none has come seeking him out, so he really feels like he's staring down a firing squad at the end of the week.
And to make matters worse, on Thursday morning he gets a text.
Gavin (Father's secretary): Hello, Mr. Noel. President Arden has requested your presence at the townhouse at 7:00 for a family dinner.
Noel nearly throws his phone through the floor-to-ceiling window. His father has a knack for knowing when Noel wants to see him least. He almost texts back a refusal. He has enough to worry about in the next 48 hours, he doesn't need a torturous dinner with his family on top of everything else. But he knows he can't do that. It would just make his father angry, and there's no telling how he might retaliate.
Why he even wants Noel at these gatherings in the first place is a mystery, but Noel has given up on trying to figure out what his father wants. It's not like he'll ever be able to give it to him.
Jade is just getting back when Noel hurries downstairs. "You can tell Jacqueline I'll be out tonight," he mutters as they pass.
"Where are you going?" Jade asks suspiciously.
"Dinner with my family."
He hears Jade pause as he continues into the foyer. "I thought you were estranged. From the way Beckett talks—"
"Nothing's official," Noel cuts him off. "I won't be out too late."
And he leaves before Jade can say anything else.