The Sidekick Club

1.0

"You're such an idiot," Ethan hissed at Noah as the boy hid behind him.

"It was just a little harmless flirting," Noah told him, "I didn't know she had a boyfriend."

"Noah. You have a boyfriend," Ethan reminded him with an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah. I know. But I have to keep up pretenses."

Ethan rolled his eyes as a tall, muscular man trudged through the mall searching for Noah.

"If I flirt with him, do you think he'll let me off the hook?"

Ethan raised an eyebrow and peered over his shoulder, shooting his friend a look that asked if he had a death wish. "How is it that even when I'm the one with blonde hair, you're the blondest of us both?"

Noah frowned at him before cowering behind him again and whispering a harsh, "Hide me!"

"Hey, you there!" Ethan looked up to see it was too late.

Noah cursed and whispered, "I want my headstone to read 'I told you I was sick'."

"Noted," Ethan said as he stepped aside, revealing the guilty party to the man.

Noah gaped at him, probably expecting Ethan to at least try to deny he was hiding behind him.

"Listen up you little punk," the man grabbed Noah's shirt collar and got really close to his face. "If I so much as catch you looking at my girl again, I'll kill you."

Ethan looked to his right to see a vendor holding a platter of various cheese squares.

"Are those free samples?" Ethan asked, pointing to the cheese.

The vender nodded and Ethan tried a piece, turning back to the scene.

Noah nodded his head really fast and stuttered, "I, uh- I-"

"Excuse me, sir," someone put their hand on the man's shoulder, grabbing his attention, "but if you so much as touch my boyfriend again, I will kill you."

Great. Now they were both getting beat up.

Much to Ethan's surprise, he saw a bit of surprise and fear in the guy's eyes. "Curtis?"

"Hello, John. Please remove your hand from Noah's shirt, before I remove it for you," Curtis said with an exaggerated smile.

John dropped Noah with a frown and took a step back, glaring at Curtis all the while.

Ethan tried a different piece of cheese from the samples as he watched the exchange. He didn't know quite what to think of it.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Curtis inquired, making the John fellow huff and turn on his heel.

Ethan watched him walk away with a slight frown, wondering why he obeyed Curtis.

"What are you doing here?" Noah asked, looking at Curtis with a mixture of relief and surprise.

"Well I couldn't let my damsel go unsaved, could I?" Curtis smirked.

Noah frowned and pouted like a two year old. "I'm not a damsel."

"Right now you are," Curtis grinned.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, Ethan decided to quickly change the subject. "Did you know that guy?"

Curtis looked at him and smirked, "Oh, John? Yeah. We went to highschool together. His date to prom was his cousin, and I was the only one who figured it out."

"Hm," Ethan hummed as he tried another piece of cheese. He turned to the vendor and said, "I think I'll take some of the Jalapeño Cheddar."

He figured it'd be a nice gift for his mother. She was obsessed with cheese, and they were running a little low this morning.

The vendor handed him a block of Jalapeño Cheddar cheese and Ethan paid for it.

"Were you eating cheese that entire time?" Noah asked incredulously.

"Well you almost got beat up next to a stand with free samples. What did you expect me to do?"

"I could've died!" he whined, smacking him on the back of the head.

"Have you tried this Bacon Swiss?" Ethan tried to defend himself. Noah smacked his head again and he only laughed at the boy's sad attempt at violence.

"Well, as fun as this was, I was supposed to meet my sister for lunch ten minutes ago," Curtis frowned down at his phone, "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," Noah smiled as he disappeared.

Ethan, who was hardly satisfied by the cheese samples, turned to his friend and suggested, "Let's go to the food court. I'm starving."

"Man, you're as smart as you are pretty," Noah grinned.

"Don't call me pretty," Ethan smacked the back of his head now. "Do you ever stop flirting with people?"

"Not really, no."

It was about that time that he heard the first screams. Not screams of terror. No. Those were the screams of fangirls.

Ethan turned his head to see none other than Talon being swarmed by a mob of people. It was probably just another one of his publicity stunts, but he pulled out his phone to check regardless.

No text alerts notified him of anything amiss, so he figured it was just a photo op for all of the fans.

"Holy shit!" Noah gasped, "It's a superhero!"

And then Noah disappeared into the crowd as well. Rolling his eyes, Ethan sought out the nearest bench to sit and wait for his friend.