Of all the Arden properties, the townhouse is one of the least objectionable, in Noel's opinion. It's still way too big and flashy, but at least they didn't decide to have this dinner at the mansion. Or the ranch. Noel hates going out to the ranch.
He heads over straight from work, not bothering to change out of his jeans and sweatshirt. It doesn't matter what he looks like, in his experience, he'll be treated the same. Even then, he still barely makes it by 7, and when he enters the massive dining room, it's already full.
The Arden family is very large, with many branches and offshoots with various different surnames, but they all trace back to the main Arden line, of which Noel's father, Landon Arden, is currently the head. Arden genetics are notorious for producing powerful espers and guides; not everyone born within the family is an esper or a guide, obviously, in fact, the majority of Ardens are civilians, but the percentage of powerful augmented humans within the family is unusual and very well-known. Landon Arden is an A-class esper, and his current wife, Alyssa, is an A-class guide. No esper or guide born within the Arden family in the past century has been below B-class, so Noel's status is an embarrassing anomaly, especially considering his mother was an S-class guide. Given the Arden reputation, it would have been less humiliating for Noel to have been born an ordinary civilian. That would have been seen as a statistical inevitability, but instead Noel's low class is somehow considered his own fault by his family. As though it's a personal failing on his part that he isn't more powerful. And everyone treats him accordingly.
His father, the current president of Arden Real Estate Holdings, doesn't say anything about his tardiness, just scowls at him from the head of the table as he finds his seat amidst the pointed muttering of his relatives. Landon Arden is a tall, severe-looking man with salt-and-pepper hair always impeccably styled and a clean-shaven face to display his blunt, forbidding features, as well as the customary high Arden cheekbones. Noel barely resembles him, and Beckett didn't turn out much like him either, each taking more from their mother's side of the family. But they both got the cheekbones.
Beckett is, of course, seated next to Noel. They are brothers, after all, but he doesn't even bother looking over, lounging back in his chair and glowering into the middle distance.
"Noel," his stepmother greets from across the table, painted lips turned up in an insincere smile. She has the same light brown hair and bottle green eyes as her son. "Did you just get off work?"
"Yes," Noel says shortly.
"Beckett had time to go change. Did you get caught up somewhere?"
"Beckett and I work different hours."
"Oh, of course. I forgot."
Sure she did. Noel presses his lips together and keeps quiet, willing the knot in his stomach to loosen. Alyssa takes every opportunity to remind everyone that her son is the one who became an S-class esper, while Natalia's son barely even qualifies as a guide. She's never gotten over the fact that her husband's first wife was more powerful than she is. It's all so petty and pointless.
When Natalia passed away, Noel's father went searching for a new guide to bond with, and Alyssa was all too happy to offer herself. Noel was barely five years old at the time, but even then he could tell she had absolutely no affinity for him. Noel wasn't super keen on his new stepmother either, still reeling from the fallout of his lackluster manifestation and the sudden death of his mom, and after Beckett was born, Noel rarely lived at the same property as the rest of the family.
His father would have everyone stay together for a little while, because the optics of a harmonious nuclear family were good for his image, but when he got tired of playing house, he'd inevitably send Noel to the townhouse or the ranch or the mansion or the other mansion—anywhere he and his real family weren't living at the time. As such, unless Noel was staying at the cottage (an incredibly misleading word given its actual size), where his grandmother lived, he spent the majority of his non-school hours alone.
The first course comes out and Noel tries to focus on eating, but the appetizers taste like ash in his mouth. The knot in his stomach pulls tighter. Around him, his family chatters amiably about their lives. Not everyone is present, obviously, as hosting the entire Arden clan would require an ocean liner, but most of their direct relatives are here, as well as members of Alyssa's immediate family. Many of them want to talk to Beckett, mostly about his upcoming birthday, but Beckett is as flippant as always, more interested in his food than in conversation. Noel watches him inhale two servings of the entree in his periphery and feels the corner of his mouth tug upward, remembering Jade vacuuming his own plate clean.
Beckett glances over and catches him looking. "What?" he snaps.
Noel averts his gaze. "Nothing."
"Noel." Aunt Bethany pipes up across the table. She's actually Alyssa's cousin, but Noel isn't sure what that makes her to him, so he always called her Aunt Bethany. She's twirling her fork in one hand, smiling deviously, and the back of Noel's neck prickles. "I heard you had some kind of difficulty at work recently."
Noel almost laughs out loud. Difficulty is an understatement, but she has no idea. "Really? I think things have been fine," he responds, watching the staff file out to collect their plates. "Business as usual."
Bethany raises an eyebrow. "Is that so? I guess I was worried for nothing."
"Worried?" Alyssa repeats, scenting blood. "Why? Did something happen to Noel?"
"Oh, I just heard a little rumor about that big Fray last month," Bethany says eagerly, and the rest of the table quiets down to listen. Noel clenches his hands in his lap. "A friend of mine at Halo told me that one of their D-class guides fainted at the site. The person she described sounded like Noel, so I was just wondering…."
"Oh dear, Noel, is that true?" Alyssa can barely keep her glee in check. "That's terrible. It must have been so frightening, if it made you faint."
Noel meets her gaze across the table. He's no stranger to her needling, has put up with it for two decades at this point, but this time the frustration burns deep. This woman has no idea what he risked that day, all to save the life of everyone's beloved number one esper. She'll never know that he's the only reason the city is still standing right now. All he can do is grit his teeth against the flurry of curse words swarming to get out.
Noel's father aims his intense stare down the table at him. "Is that true, Noel?" he demands, the first thing he's said directly to Noel since he got here.
"Yes," Noel bites out as the staff members return with the dessert course, some kind of fancy miniature cake covered in a glossy outer layer. "I don't go out into the field often, and I had a bad reaction." He's past the point of being embarrassed with his family. His entire existence is an embarrassment to them, so there's no need to make it worse for himself, but he still feels heat scraping up the back of his throat.
His father clicks his tongue in disapproval. "You're lucky you weren't caught by a reporter."
Their desserts are set down, and to Noel's left, Beckett wastes no time digging in, seemingly oblivious to the conversation happening around him.
"Maybe you shouldn't take field missions anymore," Jason, one of his cousins and a B-class esper at Traction, pipes up. "It seems too dangerous. And it's not like you can be much help."
Someone snickers. Alyssa fails to hide a smug smile.
Noel clenches his jaw so hard his ears pop and reaches mechanically for his fork, stabbing it into the perfect little disk on his plate. He'll just eat the stupid cake and then excuse himself, he thinks, that should be enough to appease his stupid father.
But before he can bring the fork all the way to his mouth, a hand wraps around his wrist. Noel gasps, pain bolting up his arm, as the utensil slips out of his grasp.
"Are you stupid?" Beckett glares at him, tightening his grip until Noel expects to hear bone snap. "Were you really going to eat that?" he demands, shaking Noel's arm slightly.
"Fuck!" Noel swears, yanking at his caught wrist. "Beckett, let go!"
The rest of the table has gone silent, but Noel can't focus on anything but the burning in his wrist and the sudden vehemence on Beckett's face.
Beckett's brows twitch and then he releases his grip, allowing Noel to break free. "This has strawberry in it, idiot," he sneers, swiping Noel's plate from in front of him. "You really are dumb."
Noel blinks, cradling his aching wrist. "You could have just said that," he points out shrilly.
Beckett shrugs, now eating Noel's cake, back to acting like he doesn't care. "Pretty sad that I'm the only person here who remembers you're allergic," he says, mouth full. "It's a miracle you're not dead yet."
An uncomfortable silence descends on the room.
Then chair legs scrape against hardwood as Noel gets stiffly to his feet. "I'm leaving."
"Noel," his father protests sternly. "Sit back down."
"It was an easy mistake to make," Alyssa adds, all faux sweetness. "You can't blame the staff—"
"I don't," Noel spits. "Goodnight."
His father's disapproving voice follows him out of the dining room, but thankfully no one comes after him.
It probably was a mistake, he muses on the long, silent taxi ride home. The staff turns over pretty frequently at the Arden properties, and Noel isn't summoned to family dinners often. Someone probably just forgot to mention it to someone and the information got lost in the shuffle. Noel understands that. But he also understands that if it was Beckett who was allergic to strawberries, no one in the house would even be allowed to mention the fruit. The kitchen would be plastered with signs to remind people. There would be no chance of a mistake.
Noel's allergy isn't as bad as some people's, but direct ingestion can trigger anaphylaxis. Beckett really helped him dodge a bullet, and now he has to deal with owing Beckett. He can only imagine what his brother will demand in return.
He enters through the building's opulent lobby and rides the elevator directly to Jade's floor, but as soon as he steps into the hall, his wrist throbs. Tugging his sleeve up, he stares in incredulous despair at the thick red band encircling his entire wrist, quickly darkening into a bruise.
Noel really hates espers.
Backing into the wall, he slides down to sit on the floor, wrist cradled to his chest. The thought of walking into Jade Ransom's stupid fancy apartment and seeing Jade Ransom doing some stupid rich person thing makes him want to stab his eyes out. Stupid espers and their stupid strength and stupid shitty attitudes.
Noel pulls his legs in and rests his head on his knees.
This is all so stupid.