Bad Luck (Generator Rex, Pre-Noex)

For jessica499499 who inspired me to write this early (really early) one morning.


Unbeta’d


Bad Luck

Noah lied on his back, staring at the thin shafts of orange and scarlet light as the last of the sun’s light streamed through his partially opened blinds. He barely noticed. He hadn’t moved in…he didn’t know how long, he had been too busy reliving all the mistakes he had made with a certain Hispanic EVO.

His most recent mistake was by far the biggest one; he had confessed to Rex about what his true role in Rex’s life was and that the foundation of their relationship had been built on a lie.

Being trapped in a massive cage with some of the scariest EVOs Noah had ever come across had tested his nerves in ways he never imagined. Rex’s EVO powers weren’t working and they didn’t have any other weapons to defend themselves. Oh, and there was a lockdown in effect at the time, so there was no way out of the Petting Zoo. He thought he was going to die. If he didn’t meet his end at the hands of the escaped spider class EVO, he was definitely going to become a light snack of the myriad of other EVOs that lived in the Zoo. He was faced with certain death and had reacted as any other normal person would react; he panicked. And in his panic he let slip his big secret to Rex. He worked for the Head of Providence, White Knight. He had been hired to try and temper Rex’s recklessness and influence him to take his job more seriously than he had been. He was a spy; albeit not a very good one.

Noah closed his eyes and grimaced as the memory came back to him. The look of utter devastation on Rex’s face when he learned Noah was a spy, the hatred that had flared in his eyes when he told Rex he was receiving some money. That was hands down the worst of it. God, could I have been more stupid? I should have just stuck to the ‘wanting to be useful to the war’ line. He wished he could take back his words, take back the fear the filled him, prompted him to scream out his betrayal.  He had not been thinking.

He gingerly touched the bandage that covered his cheek. He was lucky that Rex hadn’t gone EVO and punched him with his giant fists. Noah winced. He has seen Rex’s mechanical fists slam into concrete walls firsthand (no pun intended.) He was well aware of the damage Rex could do. He was grateful that he had survived with only had a bruised cheek to show for it.

Noah couldn’t really blame Rex for his reaction. He would have done the same if he found out his closest friend was nothing more than a hired hand. Even if he had forgiven him for lying to him he certainly would have a hard time trusting that friend. He probably won’t for a long time.
Noah sighed. He wanted to be given the opportunity to show Rex he could be trusted. Things were different now. He didn’t have anything to hide from Rex anymore. But Rex had flown off into the sky like the hero at the end of an old Western movie. He hadn’t told Noah when he would be back. At the time he had made it sound as if it could be possible that Rex wouldn’t come back at all. He was upset with Providence and rightly so. Noah just wished He would give anything to have Rex to trust him again.

Rex had promised that they were cool and the use of his nanites had been proof of that, but sitting here alone in his quickly darkening bedroom he couldn’t help but wonder if that were true. It’s been two days since he had last seen Rex. It may not seem like a long time to most, but it could feel like eternal especially when Noah spent the majority of his time replaying the events during his little trip in the Petting Zoo. Noah replayed that image over and over again of Rex hovering above him, giving him his trademark side grin that made Noah’s breath hitch for a second whenever Rex smiled.

He turned over to lie on his side when something caught his eye. In the shadow filled room was a small blue light flickered on his desk. Noah blinked several times, getting his eyes to adjust to the tiny pinprick of light.

Noah nearly gave himself a head rush as he suddenly sat up, his eyes never leaving his desk as realization hit him. It was his cell phone. He had a missed…something. Noah got up and snatched his phone. It was a new text message. He phone was an older flip model so he couldn’t tell who had sent it, only the little white envelope icon happily flapping its wings as it flew from the sender’s phone to his.

Only years of living in this room saved Noah from landing on the edge of his bed instead on crashing to the floor as he blindly stepped back.

Noah sank back down on his bed, resting his elbows on his knees. What if the message was from Rex? What could he possibly want to say to him now? Sorry about what I said before, I’ve changed my mind. I never want to see you again. Noah shook his head. Stop it, he scolded himself. That’s not something Rex would text. He would prefer to say that face to face.

Hoping against hope he flipped the phone open with a practiced flick of his thumb.

His heart which had been hammering hard against his ribs plummeted into his stomach when he read the text message. It was from Claire. She wanted to know how far he had gotten in his World History essay. Homework. Unreal. Noah snorted. Didn’t she know he had more pressing matters to worry about then the Napoleonic Wars? He replied saying he was working on it now. He pressed each button with force. Noah doubted she would hear the aggression in his reply, but if made him feel better. He sent his message and set the ringer onto silent. He didn’t want to be bothered again with her nonsense.

Noah tossed the phone back onto his desk where is clacked heavily before landing face down.

Good, Noah thought bitterly. Now he wouldn’t be distracted by silly lights. His shoulders sagged as he realized he had just lied to another person and not just any person, but the most popular girl in the whole school. That probably wasn’t his smartest move, not that he had been making many of those recently. He vowed the he would help her a few days before the report was due. He sighed. He was going to have to work on the report sooner or later. And later was quickly becoming sooner.

Noah growled in the back of his throat and ran a hand through his blond hair, in a pathetic attempt to vent his frustrations. He was about to flop back onto his bed when he heard a not so soft tap at his window.

At first he thought it was a bird trying to crack a nut against his window pane, but when it continued he looked over and gasped when he noticed the familiar side grin and mischievous brown eyes staring back at him.

Noah rushed to the window and unlocked it. He stepped back and turned on hid yellow desk lamp as Rex jumped in.

“Hey party animal,” Rex joked. From the looks of it, Rex had been the one who had done the partying. His skin was a darker shade than Noah was used to seeing. He must have been in the sun a lot, Noah thought idly.

Rex took a step toward him and Noah flinched, his body tensing with anticipation. It was a reaction neither of them was expecting. Pain flickered across Rex’s features for a moment as shame filled Noah. Here he had been wishing to see Rex again and the first thing his does was hurt his feelings the second they reunited.

“Oh man, Noe. I’m really sorry about that. Does it hurt?”

“Only when I breathe,” Noah countered but grinned widely to show Rex that he was only teasing him.

Rex’s brows knit together as is he wasn’t sure if Noah truly was joking or was being passive aggressive. He seemed to take Noah at his word and broke out into a bright smile. “Welcome to my world. Where the hits are just a big as my-”

“Whoa there,” Noah warned holding his hands up to stop Rex from finishing his sentence. “Can you pretend as if you were on a kid’s show?”

Rex’s smile relaxed into something more natural for him. “I’ve forgotten how much you don’t like swear words and crude talk.” He said it like he was pleased that Noah was the same old guy he had always known.

Had he thought my nice guy act was an actual act? Noah wondered as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“You can’t tell me that two days in the world has turned you feral.”

Rex grinned like a Cheshire. “You can get up to a lot of trouble in forty-eight hours.”

“I imagine you could.” Noah agreed with a snort and rolled his eyes.

Rex responded with a deep bark of laughter. “Man, I’ve missed you.”

Noah blushed. He was thankful for the relative dimness of his room; the last thing he wanted was Rex to notice his girly response to his flippant words. He was just so relieved to hear Rex admit that he had missed his company. It have hadn’t been two whole days yet and Rex already craved his company, maybe there was hop for their friendship yet. Noah played off the giddiness this realization caused as anxiousness and he nodded towards the taller teen. “I have to admit I wasn’t expecting to see you back so soon.”

“Well to be honest I’m not back.” Rex rolled his hand around in the air, gesturing around the blond’s room. “Consider this a pit stop. I’ll be leaving soon.”

“Oh,” Noah hadn’t meant for the disappointment to sneak in, but there it was.

Rex gave him a small smile in response. “Yeah, sorry. I’m still not ready to come back to Providence.”

“Then I take it this isn’t a social visit.” Noah deduced attempting to clear the somber tone out of his voice, but then Rex ducked his head and looked away from Noah.

“Actually, it is. Before I go off the grid there was something that I needed…actually it’s something that I wanted…” Rex started but stopped. Noah waited for him to continue but Rex just chewed on his lower lip, as if he was hesitating to go on.

Rex’s silence worried Noah and his fears about Rex telling him that he had changed his mind about their friendship took hold of him. He needed to say something, to convince Rex that he wasn’t going to regret giving Noah a second chance. “Rex, please don’t-” Noah paused. He was pleading for goodness sake. This wasn’t the best way to explain himself. Rex looked curiously at him. Noah cleared his throat and tried again. “Rex, listen. I know that I haven’t given you much cause to trust me. But you have to believe me when I say I’ll do something like that again. If only you’d give me a chance.” Oh god, he could feel himself start to panic all over again. His agreement was sounding more and more like a guy trying to make it up to his girl than Noah trying to get Rex to understand where he had been coming from when he accepted the job.

Rex’s eyes widened and he looked confused. “Noah what are you babbling about? I just wanted to tell you that I am going to be off Providence’s radar for a while, but Bobo was able to smuggle me a new phone and I wanted to give you the new number before I skipped town. I was going to text it to you but I smashed the old one before I could transfer my contacts. And I…and I don’t remember yours by heart so…” Rex trailed off, clearly embarrassed that he didn’t know his supposed best friend’s cell phone number.

“Oh.” Noah said smartly. He was sure his face was on fire now. Rex just wanted his phone number. He exhaled sharply; it came out as a crazed chuckle. He felt so foolish. He was once again over thinking things. “Oh right, that makes sense. Forget what I said. Hand me your phone. I’ll program it.” He reached out to Rex.

“Sure.” Rex said and dug into the pocket of his orange and red jacket for the phone.

Noah focused on his breathing as he wiggled his fingers impatiently in front of Rex.

He really needed to calm down. Being a nervous wreck wasn’t going to do either of them any favors. He stared at Rex’s new phone and smiled brightly it was the same make and model as his ancient one, though it was sleek and shiny black whereas Noah’s was a silvery grey. He quickly added his cell number and went ahead and added the house phone and his email address as well. “There you go,” he stated proudly, handing the phone back to its owner.

“Thanks, Noe,” Rex grinned warmly at him.

“Welcome.” Noah tried not to read too much into the way Rex’s voice sounded as he used his nickname or how his gloved fingers seemed to linger over his when they accidentally touched his. Oh, I really am turning into a girl, Noah mused, though he wasn’t even sure what that meant. He pushed the thought towards the back of his mind, he was sure he would have time to analyze the odd idea later when he was alone.

The two friends stared at each other for a long moment. They both seemed to be waiting for something, but neither quite sure what it was. Noah swallowed as Rex cleared his throat.

“Whelp. I’ve taken too much of your time. I ought ta be going,” Rex grunted and jumped to his feet.

No! Noah internally screamed. It was too soon. He wanted Rex to stay, just for a bit longer, if only so he could have the time to properly apologize to him. His mind raced as he tried to think of a way to delay Rex from leaving, but his was coming up empty on ideas. He huffed out a short chuckle. He ran a hand through his hair and then dropped his hands to the sides where he began to tap his fingers against his pant leg as his frustration made him fidgety.

He really hoped that Rex had been able to put the whole incident behind him. With him here in his bedroom Rex certainly acted as if things between them well okay. It certainly didn’t look like Rex was going punch him again. He had been given a second chance but that didn’t change the fact that Noah had only met and befriended the teen superhero because he had been hired to. After months of hanging out and failed attempts to tell Rex the truth he had ruined his one chance at explaining himself to his new best friend in one unfortunate blow. He couldn’t think of a better way to mess things up with Rex, he knew he had spent many hours trying to come up with a worse way.

Rex studied him for a moment.

“What?” Noah asked nervously.

“You okay?”

“Yep.” Noah answered too quickly. He cleared his throat.

Rex nodded his head and hummed in the back of his throat. “You seem a little stressed. Are you still freaking out over what happened in the Zoo?”

Noah stared at him in shock and didn’t say anything.

Rex took Noah’s silence as permission to continue. “Don’t sweat it, man. You get used to the pets eventually. They can be a lot of fun if you’re fast and you catch them on a good day.”

Noah shook his head. Rex was wrong he wasn’t worried about the other EVOs that nearly devoured him. He was more concerned with the EVO standing before him. “That’s not why I’m freaking out, though I assume the nightmares are a temporary thing,” he added jokingly.

“I don’t know. I’ll tell you when I stop having them,” Rex replied with a grin. His jovial expression faded as he realized there was something else bothering the blond teen. “So, what is wrong?”

Noah bit his lower lip. Only moments before he has wished he could explain his actions to Rex, to clarify his reasons for doing what he did but now his words left him. “Oh, you know,” he trailed off.

Rex frowned. “Noe, what aren’t you telling me?” Noah could see his suspicions growing behind his eyes.

Was Noah always going to see that look on Rex?

Noah shrugged his shoulders, suddenly feeling shy. “I’m still trying to figure out how to fix things…you know…between…us.” He finally got out gesturing to the space between them. He hoped he didn’t sound corny as he feared, but knowing how bad his luck was he must have sounded as lame as he thought.

To his surprise and confusion Rex started laughing.

“Dude, you make it sound as if we’re a couple who had a big fight.”

Heat flooded his face as Noah blushed with embarrassment. “Well haven’t we? Had a big fight, not the couple part,” he amended when Rex bent over laughing.

“Eh, maybe. But I’m over it if you are. Unless you think we need to go to couples consoling?” He suggested and wiggled his eyebrows at Noah.

“Who knows, it might do us some good.” Noah replied. He was relieved to know that Rex had been true to his word. He really did seem to be over it. Perhaps now, knowing Rex had forgiven him, Noah could start to forgive himself. The thought made him smile.

Rex chuckled again and grinned widely at Noah. “So are you good?” he asked, echoing his words from two days ago when he told Noah the reason why his abilities returned to him. When he realized that he was no longer upset with Noah.

“Yeah,” Noah gave Rex a curt nod.

It appeared to Noah as if Rex was conflicted as if he was both in a hurry be on his way and hesitant to leave Noah. It was endearing and as much as Noah would have liked to spend some quality time with Rex he knew it wouldn’t be long until Providence discovered he was here.

“I’m great. Thanks for dropping by. Now get out of here, you’re starting to cramp my style.” Noah waved his hand at Rex dismissively.

“Oh am I now?” Rex asked incredulously.

“Oh yeah, I have a history paper with my name on it.”

Rex made a face. “And that’s my cue to go.” Rex went to the window and raised his hand up to his temple, giving Noah a mock salute. “Until next time, Captaine!” he promised vaguely and climbed out the second story window, his back already sprouting a pair of metal hover wings.

Noah ran to the window and watched his friend zoom into the sky until he disappeared out of sight behind the neighbor’s chimney.

He slid the window down and locked it before going over to his desk. Noah sat down and reached out to his phone. Flipping it right side up, he saw he had three new messages from Claire. He exhaled through his nose and pressed the call button. With his free hand he clicked on his laptop power button, booting up his computer.

“Nixon?” Claire’s voice rang with desperation.

“Hey, so what can I do for you?” he asked cheerfully, feeling as good as he had been for a long time.

It may be a small start, but perhaps keeping his promise to the popular red head might just be what he needed to turn his bad luck around.