His Fiancée̶

by Thoughts_Are_Plasmic

Summary:

After everyone pulls through the Cyclone accident, Misha learns his коханий wasn't quite who he thought.

Notes:

Hey! So, I've literally never written anything that wasn't for school before, I haven't even written anything for school in a few years, and I did not proofread like any of this, so I'm sure it'll be actually terrible and hard to read, at least at some points. But, I had a thought and I wanted to write it down somewhere since I had no friends into Ride the Cyclone to talk about it to. Have a nice day/night!

Chapter 1

Misha Bachynskyi was completely and utterly screwed. And, it would seem, probably bisexual. Fuck.

 

You’d really think dying on a broken roller coaster would be the worst part of any day, but when a sentient precognition machine choreographs a dance and makeout session with the closest thing you have to a friend in Canada and you ENJOY IT? That tends to cause some problems, especially if you already have a fianc é e waiting for you countries away. A female fianc é e, that is. You can see why Misha would be in a bit of a panic about it, especially since he had no wifi to text said fianc é e. On a normal day Misha would text his Talya about every little thing that happened, and being made to whisper ‘I think I am in love with you’ into another man's ear after kissing him like there was no tomorrow? That certainly would’ve been worth a conversation if he were able to have one. 

 

It wasn’t that Misha disliked Noel’s song, even if it hadn’t stirred up feelings for him he still would’ve been smiling as he talked to Noel and Ricky afterwards, the song was mad wicked awesome! Unfortunately, he may have liked it a little TOO much, and he worried the smiling was starting to get suspicious. And the blush. And… something lower he wasn’t ready to admit to himself yet. Mostly, he just hoped he’d made it through Constance’s comments about liking the part where the two boys kissing without giving away just how much he’d liked that part too. Luckily for him, Canada’s most annoying ginger had come to ruin the moment, effectively killing any joy and attraction he may have been hiding. For now, at least.

 

When it got to Misha’s turn to sing, making sure he sang about his Talya was an easy choice. Even when he wasn’t feeling guilty, his кохання was always on his mind, a fact that was making this whole sexuality crisis thing a hell of a lot worse. It wasn’t the attraction to a man that bothered him, homophobia isn’t cool in the rap game anymore, afterall. It was the attraction to someone other than his perfect Talya.

 

Talya. God, he needed to talk to Talya about this. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be an option from beyond the grave. He NEEDED to win the chance at life, were his songs enough? No one seemed particularly invested in his autotune filled rap, but his love song for Talya certainly seemed to have more of an effect. Everyone was moved by his song, and he himself was so overcome with emotion he was nearly physically weeping. That was, until he got the offer to know what would’ve become of him and his Talya. Instantly, he felt sick from all the emotions flooding his mind. Could he really know? Did Karnak have that sort of knowledge of the future? Was it even the future anymore, how long had they been dead? Did Karnak know of his newfound confusing feelings about Noel? Would his Talya even still love him after these feelings? Would he see her hurting because of them? … Did she even need to know? 

 

Before Misha could even regret thinking something so dishonest, he realized he’d already spoken, begging Karnak to tell him. Hearing his voice as he said it shocked him, he sounded MUCH more certain than he felt, but he didn’t correct himself. Whatever happened, he needed to see his Talya and know she was alright. Before he could, however, the very boy who had been conflicting his emotions stopped him.

 

“You don’t wanna hear that!” Noel looked almost scared.

 

“Why, what would happen?” Misha replied, confused and hurt.

 

“You have a longing, an ideal, better to leave it that way!”

 

“But he-” 

 

“Whatever he can tell you will only ruin it!”

 

Misha didn’t know what to say. For what felt like an eternity (but was likely barely seconds, if he was being honest with himself) he just stared at the boy, desperately searching for something to say, some way to defend his choice, or to ask if the other boy really thought it was best not to know. But once again, Ocean interrupted before he could spiral too far. 

 

“I think what Noel is saying—in an extremely confusing manner—is love conquers all!”

 

For how much she annoyed him, Misha had to admit her interruptions were proving pretty helpful today.

 

“... Yes Ocean that’s precisely what I’m saying, love conquers all.” The other boy replied, sounding a bit annoyed. Misha wasn’t sure if this was from the fact the boy was interrupted by Ocean or because he didn’t quite agree with her sentiment, but Misha himself chose not to dwell on that thought.

 

“Love DOES conquer all… you are man of WORDS Noel Gruber! Love conquers all” 

 

Yeah, okay, now he was DEFINITELY physically weeping. How could he not in such a touching moment? He wasn’t even sure what he said to Noel as it started, all he knew was that one moment he was staring at the boy and the next he was holding him and sobbing into his shoulder as his back was rubbed.

 

Before Misha could panic too hard about what this meant, he was once again saved by the next of Ocean’s rants for the third time that day. Seriously, he was thinking of making her a card. He didn’t really listen to the rest of her rant, something about library cards? But it did give him the perfect time to think about his situation, any emotions he may be showing easily passed off as a response to the ongoing rant everyone else was growing tired of. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized he already knew what he had to do.

 

He loved his Talya. He always would, and no feelings for another man could ever change that. If Misha was sure of anything, it was this. However, he couldn’t stop thinking about Noel Gruber either. After just one kiss (well, one very heated kiss, some heated conversation, and what could really only ever be described as groping) all Misha could think about when he saw the boy was the feeling of their hands together, the way the boy fit perfectly in his arms, the warmth of the other’s mouth on his, and how Noel had looked pushed down to his knees and made to look back up at Misha by the gentle hand on his chin, not to mention the feeling of his ass under the incredibly short dress. 

 

Fuck, Misha really was screwed.

Notes:

I'm sure I messed up some of the dialogue that's supposed to be straight from the actual musical but shhhh look away from that

Chapter 2

“I will vote for Noel. The world needs more poets.” Misha was certain this was the right thing to do. He loved his perfect Talya he knew he did, but if he was having this strong of feelings for someone else after one song? He did not deserve her. She would find happiness with someone else, Misha was sure, she was beautiful and kind and always knew exactly what to say, she could have any man she  wanted, but Misha knew it shouldn’t be him anymore. God, he wanted it to be, but she deserved only the best, and that wasn’t him anymore. Even if he wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about Noel yet, he knew he obviously cared for the poet. 

 

“And I’ll vote for you!” Noel looked shocked, but not unhappy, as he replied, meeting Misha’s fist bump.

 

Misha wasn’t sure where to go from there, honestly. While Ocean’s immediate complaint about them throwing off the unanimous vote was incredibly annoying, he knew she wasn’t wrong. Luckily, Ricky began his introduction and subsequently song not long after, saving Misha from thinking about the issue for too long. Evidently, it was pretty hard to focus on anything else as Ricky sang about sexy alien cat women. The choreography was certainly strange, but nowhere near as confusing to him as Noel’s had been. Unfortunately the distraction only lasted so long. As soon as Ricky’s song ended, the flashily dressed boy conceded his chance to be voted back to life. 

 

The angriest boy in town couldn’t even imagine being so selfless. He wasn’t planning to vote for himself anymore, sure, but he wasn’t sure he could ever have given up his chance entirely. Another sign he wasn’t good enough for his beloved Talya, he supposed. 

 

Jane’s song, at least, seemed safe. Misha was sad listening to just how much Jane was hurting, but he was grateful to avoid any confusing choreography that made his heart race and his mind spin. The made-up birthday song was good too, it felt nice for the choir to be coming together to make someone feel better. They hadn’t exactly been the closest of friends before the whole cyclone experience. Would they ever have become close without the accident? Misha wasn’t sure.

 

But, then he found the vodka. God, everything was easier with a little vodka. Well, no better way to work out his feelings for Noel than starting with a simple conversation, he supposed. Sitting next to the boy, Misha offered him a drink, trying to slip into casual conversation before he could get too nervous.

 

“Love conquers all… this phrase slaughters me with its moving poignance! It fills my life with meaning, it warms my soul! And to find entire meaning of my life with such a phrase.” Misha was sure he was rambling a bit, but he could probably just play that off as the alcohol. He’d never be drunk so quickly from so little, but he was willing to guess Noel would be none the wiser.

 

“It’s just a… cliche, like, a popular cliche” Noel finally replied. He seemed nervous too, far from the confidence he’d carried in his Monique persona.

 

“Dude, I speak Ukrainian, Russian, English, even some Dutch—not even the Dutch speak Dutch! I know what a cliche is.” 

 

“Then why did you just say-”

 

“I’m Ukrainian! Unlike Canadians we like to get excited about shit!” Misha replied with a smile.

He noticed how Noel smiled back at him too. God, he really did have a problem. He would’ve done anything to see that smile again, he realized. He REALLY wished he could talk to Talya about all this. For now, he’d just have to offer Noel another drink and hope he figured this all out at some point. Would he even have time to? How long would he even be able to think? What was the afterlife after Karnak’s game even like? Before he could wonder too long, the voice of the boy next to him snapped him back to reality.

 

“I’ve never been drunk before. Or kissed a man… thanks.” Noel immediately brought the bottle to his mouth, clearly also using it as a crutch to get through such a nervous conversation.

 

Misha could feel his face heating up. Well, at least he wasn’t the only one trying new things today. He REALLY needed to stop thinking about that kiss, it didn’t even mean anything, just two men showing affection! So why couldn’t he get it out of his head?

 

“На здоров’я. Your life was tragic, cut down before the poems could ever come out—you are tragic.” Misha felt a little rude saying something like that, but knowing Noel? He was pretty sure that was exactly what the boy wanted to hear. And if the way Noel was looking at him was any indication, he’d guessed correctly.

 

“You think so?” 

 

“You make me weep just looking at you! So so tragic!”

 

“Oh, that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me!” Noel was smiling openly now, leaning his head on Misha’s shoulder.

 

Damnit. Well, Misha certainly was beginning to work out his feelings for Noel, he was DEFINITELY down bad. But how could that be? How could Misha be feeling this way for Noel when he was engaged to his perfect Talya, when she still had his entire heart too? Was it even possible to love separate people so completely? Misha hadn’t thought it ever was, but now he was beginning to doubt that.

Chapter 3

Being a little tipsy through Constance’s song was a nice break from the new and confusing thoughts swirling through Misha’s head. Even his dancing seemed more relaxed. Did Karnak factor the alcohol into his choreography? 

 

Seeing Noel answered his question.Yeah, the alcohol DEFINITELY factored into this choreography, the poet looked like he was going to fall over. Impressively, the boy managed to keep dancing, even matching Misha’s headbanging for a moment. Misha couldn’t help but smile at this, even if he was still feeling guilty about having these feelings while engaged to his divine Talya, at this point he was willing to admit that they were there. And that he liked men, apparently. Who knew?

 

He was mostly just glad to have a moment to remember with the boy, he knew that Constance was the last of the group to sing and it was hard not to think about what would happen next. Who would be brought back? What if it were Noel, or even himself? What would happen to the rest of them? Would they stay in this warehouse forever, or was there another afterlife after this one? Would his mother be there?

 

Before he had too much time to dwell on it, Karnak’s echoing voice interrupted to announce the final vote, a vote only Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg would be taking. Well, fuck. Misha was almost sure the girl would just vote for herself, there goes any last hope of seeing his beloved Talya again… and any hope of getting to vote for Noel. He knew he couldn’t have both, but he just didn’t even know what he wanted anymore. He wanted his Talya back but he also wanted Noel, he wanted to live but he didn’t want to leave all his new friends behind, really he just wanted his feelings to be simple again.

 

To his incredible surprise, Ocean didn’t immediately choose herself, she didn’t immediately choose anything. For what felt like an eternity Ocean stood silently, clearly upset and in thought. Since when did she ever consider others this much? Perhaps the afterlife was changing things for her as much as it seemed to be changing them for Misha, he thought. Eventually, the girl finally spoke.

 

“No.” She stated simply and firmly, staring directly at the fortune teller.

 

“... No?” The machine replied, seemingly not expecting this answer either. So much for seeing the future.

 

“NO! I will not choose to deny my friends a chance at life alone, I will not choose myself and just forget everyone else, I will not choose only one of them to live, we ALL deserve to live!” Ocean shouted back. She was facing away from him, but Misha could still tell there must be tears in her eyes.

 

“Hm, the Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg whose fortune I read early today would have chosen Jane Doe” Karnak finally replied.

 

“Yeah? Well, I’m not her anymore, I’ve changed! The Ocean I was before today isn’t a person I ever want to be again. I never want to assume Ricky is helpless again, or write Misha off as nothing more than a future convict, or freeze Noel out of a position as co-leader of the choir after he’s been asking for years and totally deserves it! And… and I never want to let my best friend, Constance Eleanor Blackwood, go through life so completely unsupported again when she deserves so much more, from me and from everyone else in this town. I never want to be the person who ignores her and makes her feel like she isn’t worth it when she is worth EVERYTHING! I can see why I would’ve voted for Jane before, she’s honestly pretty depressing, but now that I know her I never want to forget her either, as Jane or as whoever she was supposed to be! I want all of us to live, and I refuse to be the Ocean who chooses just one, I respectfully abstain from voting!” Ocean was practically screaming as she choked out her speech between tears, clearly using everything in her just to get through it while still standing tall and facing The Amazing Karnak.

 

“Very well, miss Rosenberg. I was not lying before, I do not believe I have the power to bring you all back properly and keep you all safe, but if that is your final decision I have no choice but to try. Know that I can only do so much, I cannot stop any of you from riding the Cyclone, nor can I stop the crash. If only one of you were selected as you were supposed to be I would have been able to protect you from any harm in the crash, but split between the six of you I’m unsure of how much I can protect.” The machine explained bluntly.

 

Ocean turned to look at the rest of the choir, and slowly they all shared a smile and nodded at the girl. Everyone understood what that meant, that they would be injured and may not even survive anyways, but they all knew they had to try. Ocean turned back to the machine, a confident look beginning to replace her tears.

 

“We understand. Please, do what you can. Thank you, Karnak, for everything.” As soon as she was done speaking Ocean ran back to the others and was caught in a tight hug by the entire choir.

 

As the door to the other side reopened, the choir slowly turned towards it, all linking hands with the people next to them. This meant holding Noel’s hand, Misha realized, but for once he was too preoccupied to consider it much. Ocean stepped forwards first, pulling the choir with her. Always the natural leader, Misha supposed. As they stepped into the glowing light together, Karnak spoke again, likely for the final time.

 

“Your lucky number is seven, you will soar to great heights, be sure to ride the Cyclone.”

Chapter 4

Notes:

Fair warning, this chapter discusses the accident, their injuries, and their deaths more than any other.

Screaming. The shriek of metal on metal. Falling. Misha Bachynskyi was back on the Cyclone as it broke. He threw his eyes open, trying to orient himself, but it was useless. All he could do was cling onto the boy in his arms. 

 

Wait, a boy in his arms? Yes, he realized, he was clinging onto Noel Gruber as they fell together. Suddenly, memories flooded into his brain. In the afterlife, none of them had remembered exactly what happened on the Cyclone, the farthest anyone could remember was the first second or two in the air after the cart detached from the track. But, now that they were back, Misha could remember exactly what had happened last time. He’d fallen with Noel just like he was now, thrown out of the cart together. The lap bars had all slammed open as the ride lurched off the track at the top of the loop, and the two had been flung out into the open air. Misha remembered seeing flashes of light and color as they fell, spinning too quickly to make out any details. Then, they’d suddenly stopped, impaled on a sign post. Fuck.

 

Misha himself had hit the post first, looking up at the other. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened to him from there, in too much pain to really tell, but he was certain he’d seen what happened to Noel. The poet had been impaled on the sign just as he had, but it had gone right through where Misha knew his heart must be, and then there was blood. So much blood. Could Karnak even do anything about such a severe injury? Misha knew he didn’t have much time to think about it, he felt as if time had slowed down during the fall, but that could only last so long. Before he could even really think about what he was doing, he pulled the other boy off of himself and pushed him away as well as he could in midair, hoping Noel would land somewhere safer.

 

Then he felt the impact on the pole, looking up at nothing but sky this time.

 

---

 

He dreamt of his love. Of his Talya. His Noel. A wedding, a wedding where he was unsure which of the two he was marrying. He saw a life together, a house, children, a garden, a warm bed, and his love laying in it beside him. One second he saw Talya, the next Noel had switched into her place, never staying on one or the other for more than a moment. He had never been more confused and conflicted in his life.

 

As he watched more of his dream go by, he noticed occasional glimpses of what looked like a hospital room, at first the only faces he saw appeared to be doctors and nurses, but then he started to see his friends' faces appearing, mostly in wheelchairs. First was Noel, he seemed to be the most frequent visitor, a detail that made Misha’s dreams even more vivid. Then he started seeing a girl he didn’t recognize, with long brown hair in messy curls. Next was Ricky, the first to be standing up with the use of his crutches, Misha supposed he was used to having to use them. Not long after was Ocean, in a wheelchair like the rest of them. For a while he only saw those four, he had no real concept of time but it seemed to take longer for Constance to show up than the others, eventually showing up, the first of the group to be using no mobility aids at all. After a while, the brief glimpses of what he assumed to be the real world grew longer, long enough for him to catch brief bits of conversation. Nothing he could really make out in his state, but he was happy to hear their voices nonetheless. 

 

Eventually, he opened his eyes to the entire choir in his room, including the mystery girl he had grown to assume was Jane Doe, and this time felt different. He still felt a little out of it, but this time he was able to fully take in how the rest of the choir appeared, not looking much better than he felt. It seemed like he was actually present, rather than just watching a memory, and the group seemed to notice the change as well.

 

“... Mish? You there? Can you hear me?” Noel was the first to speak to him. Misha noted that the boy seemed to be out of his wheelchair now, sitting in one of the many chairs piled into the room, presumably so his friends could all visit, just like they were now. Noel did, however, appear to have a pair of black underarm crutches next to him leaning against his chair, and Misha could only make out one leg visible past the hem of his hospital gown.

 

“Yes.” Misha finally replied, nodding very carefully. “Yes, I am here, I hear you. Is everyone okay?” He asked quickly.

 

“We’re okay, Misha. You took awhile to wake up, we were getting worried.” Constance replied for the group, giving him a soft smile. She appeared to be doing better physically than some of the others, Misha saw no crutches or wheelchair with her, though he did notice what he thought looked like purple hearing aids hooked behind her ears.

 

“You did too, I think. Or just did not want to visit me.” He joked back, getting a loud giggle out of the girl. 

 

“Yeah, I was in a coma for a few days. I hit my head pretty hard in the accident, I was thrown into a support beam on the way down and my ears have been ringing since. Everything else sounds a little quiet too, especially lower pitched noises, the doctors say it might stay like that. But other than that I’m pretty good, I’m walking fine and everything!” Misha was relieved to hear at least Constance was doing well after the accident—losing some of her hearing certainly wasn’t good, but it was better than what had happened last time.

 

Next to speak was the brunette girl he didn’t recognize.

 

“I hit my head as well, though mine was on a crossbar.” She smiled, looking a bit tired but happy to be there. Misha noticed she had a pale teal walker next to her chair, it had a seat with storage underneath and a crossbar between the handles with a single handbrake in the middle and what looked to be a spot on the side where it could be moved out of the way to make the seat available. “My name’s Penny Lamb, but if you hadn’t guessed yet I’m the one you knew as Jane Doe, apparently I joined the choir last minute just to get to come to the fair. I tucked my head in during the crash this time, but I still hit it hard enough to cause some damage, it seems. I’ve been dizzy and had trouble balancing since I woke up. Plus,” she raised her left arm as she said this, “my shoulder took the majority of the hit. I apparently hit something called a brachial plexus, and haven’t been able to move my right arm since. Upside, apparently I’m left handed anyways! I’ve been learning a lot about myself lately.” She said this last part with a soft laugh, clearly trying not to let the situation affect her too much. 

 

“It’s nice to meet you, Penny.” Misha replied back with a smile. He looked to Ocean next, the last of the girls, to see if she was doing alright as well. From what he could see, she appeared to be a bit worse off physically. She was the only one still in a wheelchair as far as he could tell, seemingly standard from the hospital rather than personalized, and she had visible metal hardware screwed into both legs. She noticed his stare and began to speak next.

 

“Hey Misha, glad you’re awake.” She said a bit awkwardly, clearly not quite comfortable being seen like this. “I’m doing okay too, my legs are pretty badly broken and I’ll be in a wheelchair for awhile and physical therapy even longer, but the orthopedic doctor working with me says walking again someday isn’t completely out of the question.” Misha just nodded at this, not wanting to push if she wasn’t comfortable speaking about it.

 

“Savannah’s doing alright as well.” Penny spoke again, confusing Misha. Did he know a Savannah? Then, he saw sign language in his peripheral and turned to look at—well, at Savannah, he was guessing.

 

“Misha, this is Savannah Potts. They use they/them, he/him, and she/her pronouns, any of the three are acceptable, they identify as nonbinary, not as a boy.” Penny explained calmly as Savannah nodded. 

 

“... okay, I understand, Savannah, but I may need someone to explain that to me again later.” Misha admitted. Honestly, he had no idea what most of that meant, but he understood what to call them now and could figure out the rest later. Savannah gave a small smile and nod at this, seeming happy with that response. Misha noticed they still had the same purple forearm crutches as always leaned against their chair, albeit with a few more stickers than he remembered, but he only saw their left leg touching the ground.

 

“Anyways,” Penny continued, “they were the only one of us that stayed in the ride, apparently their leg got caught. Unfortunately, it was damaged too badly to save, but they say it doesn’t change much.” She explained, looking over to Savannah as they signed something and giggling in response. “They said they were already disabled, what’s one more added to the list?” She translated.

 

“You understand sign language?” Misha questioned, he supposed he should start learning now too, it would be rude not to make an effort to communicate with one of his friends. “I will start to learn as soon as I can.” He promised, meaning it completely.

 

“Yes, my little brother took a while to start speaking, so we used it at home until he learned. It’s nice to remember all this, it all just came back to me as soon as we all woke up back on the Cyclone.” She smiled, seeming much happier than Misha had seen her in the warehouse. He nodded, imagining it would be nice to regain your identity after something like that. 

 

Only one person in the group had yet to speak, and it was the person Misha wanted to hear from the most, Noel. Noel must have noticed him staring, as he suddenly started to speak.

 

“I’m doing pretty okay too, all things considered. I broke my left ankle too badly to save, like foot completely crushed badly, they had to amputate it, and my hips are still pretty sore from the impact, but I’m getting better with my crutches. Plus, my physical therapist says I should be able to get a prosthetic eventually too! If I want to, of course. I think I will, it would work best for me I think.” Noel was rambling a bit, Misha noticed. It made sense, the accident had been pretty hard on all of them.

 

“I’m glad you are all okay.” Misha was smiling now, relieved that everyone had survived. Karnak had been right, he couldn’t protect them all very well, but he’d done enough to keep them alive. Misha would be grateful forever. “Does anyone know what happened to me? I know I fell on the sign, I know it went through me, but I do not know from there.” He asked, wondering why he’d taken so much longer than everyone else to wake up.

 

“Are you sure you want us to tell you Misha? We could wait for your family, or—” Ocean began, before being cut off.

 

“It went all the way through your back and cut open your stomach, you got a pretty bad infection, and you broke two ribs pretty badly too. You should be okay in a while, but it’s gonna be a slow recovery, your pancreas and liver are pretty beat up too. I’m sorry, Mish.” Noel interrupted, saving Misha from explaining that he didn’t really have any family to wait for. He took a deep breath before responding.

 

“... Okay, thank you for telling me.” He finally replied. Well, an infection certainly explains why he took so long to wake up, and he supposed taking longer than some of the others to heal wasn’t the worst outcome anyone in the choir had. He still had all of his limbs and seemed to be alright from the waist down, afterall. 

 

“Hey, Mish?” Noel suddenly started again, surprising the Ukrainian. “Why did you push me away like that? When we were falling off the Cyclone, I mean? I’ve been wondering about it since I first woke up from surgery.” Noel looked nervous to ask this. Oh, Misha realized, THAT was why he’d seemed uncomfortable earlier.

 

“Ah, do you remember what happened the first time? Before warehouse and Karnak?” Misha began. Would it be too much for him to tell Noel he’d watched him die? Would that freak him out? He wasn’t sure, but Noel shook his head at the question. He’d have to explain, then.

 

“We fell together, did not let go. We hit the sign together and it went through your heart, I think. Very much blood. I did not know if Karnak could fix it.” Noel looked shocked at this and Misha worried he shouldn’t have told him.

 

“... Oh. Thank you, Misha. I don’t know what to say…” Noel replied, still seeming a bit uncomfortable with the whole situation.

 

“Of course, would do anything for you.” Misha replied before he could really think about the implications. Shit. Well, at least he could probably blame that one on the pain medication he was sure he must be on.

Notes:

That's right, everyone's disabled because I said so (and because I am too and want rep). Disclaimer, I am not disabled from an accident and don't have much experience with some of the mobility aids mentioned, so I apologies for any inaccuracies. The walker described for Penny does exist, though!

Chapter 5

Notes:

It's likely to come up again but as this is the first appearance I'll mention it here: I don't speak Ukranian, and chances are most people who'll end up reading this (if anyone ever does, that is) don't either, so with the exception of a few pet names I will not be google translating parts into Ukranian for simplicity. Instead, any sections that are bracketed [like this] are sections where you can assume any dialogue is in Ukranian rather than English.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly for Misha. He’d woken up well into the afternoon, it seemed, so after a few more hours of talking with the choir about the accident those who’d already been discharged had to go home for the night. Apparently, for now this was just Savannah, Penny, and Noel, he learned. Misha had also learned how most of the choir seemed to have customized aids already—apparently being in a terrible accident in the middle of nowhere where the most interesting thing was usually a 7-11 was a great way to get gifts and donations from people who wouldn’t even have known you existed otherwise, who knew?

 

What Misha DID know is that he absolutely had to text his Talya now that he’d gotten his phone back from his friends, surprisingly unharmed from the crash! Misha’s landing may have gotten him the longest time in a hospital bed before he woke up, but it certainly had seemed to save him from worse long term consequences. He opened his phone to see several texts from her over the days he’d been unconscious, asking if he was okay, why he wasn’t responding, where he’d gone. Misha felt terrible, even if it hadn’t been his fault, he had left the girl with no explanation for far too long. Though, he did notice she hadn’t texted him either between the Cyclone accident and the next day after, but he supposed that wasn’t important right now when she was still left wondering.

 

[M: Hello, моє кохання

M: I am back

M: I am so sorry for not responding

 

T: любий!!!

T: Are you okay?

T: What happened?

 

Misha stopped at this. Was he really okay? Honestly, he wasn’t sure. When he’d been with the choir he wasn’t really thinking about that. They were talking about the accident and the time with Karnak, sure, but they hadn’t really talked about how they were all feeling. Everyone had said they were thankful they were all brought back, of course, but surely everyone was feeling more than that, right? It couldn’t just be him that still had lingering mixed feelings about it. For now, he just gave Talya the most honest answer he could without explaining the whole ‘hey babe I just died and came back to life’ thing.

 

M: I will be

M: There was a roller coaster accident at the fair I had to perform at with the choir

M: It crashed I’ve been in the hospital 

M: I’m still healing but I should be alright

 

T: Oh my god, I’m so sorry Misha, is there anything I can do to help?

T: I was so worried about you :( 

 

M: I am sorry for worrying you my perfect Talya

M: I do not need you to do much

M: But can you listen?

M: I’ve had some thoughts lately that I need to tell you about

 

T: Of course Mish, what’s up?

 

M: This does not at all change how I feel about you and I promise it never will but I had to kiss a boy in my choir for a performance and I had a lot of feelings about it and I think I might be attracted to men as well as women and maybe even a little attracted to him but I promise I’m still in love with you and only you and I always will be and I’m not going to do anything stupid or cheat on you with him it means nothing I just needed you to know

 

Misha felt a little sick at this point. He knew the text was much longer than what he’d usually send and probably much longer than it needed to be, he knew he didn’t even want to send it, but he also knew his Talya deserved to know exactly what he was thinking and feeling about this. Waiting for her to reply was agonizing, would she understand? Would she even be okay with him being bisexual? God, he really hoped so.

 

T: It’s okay Misha I promise, I trust you

T: If you say it means nothing then it means nothing, I’m glad you’re learning things about yourself :) 

T: So, does this mean you’re bisexual then?

 

Misha felt like he could sob in the best possible way, honestly he WAS weeping a little at this point. How was he lucky enough to be with such a perfect understanding woman?

 

M: Yes I think so

M: Thank you my Talya

M: For being so understanding

 

T: Of course, коханий 

T: I will love you no matter what

 

M: I will always love you too

M: No matter what

 

T: Though I am curious, Mish, do you know what polyamorous means?

 

M: I do not

 

T: A person who is polyamorous wants to date more than one person at a time, sometimes kept separately knowing about each other but not dating each other and sometimes all dating together in one big closed relationship

T: Do you think you could be polyamorous, or do you think it really just was a passing attraction?

 

Misha had to think about this, he hadn’t even known that was an option, honestly. Could he be polyamorous? His feelings about Noel certainly had seemed real, and he KNEW his feelings for Talya were real, but the thought of dating two people just made him feel uncomfortable rather than excited.

 

M: I don’t think so no

M: That doesn’t feel right to me

M: Not that I think there’s anything wrong with it

M: Just not for me

M: Why do you know about it? Are you polyamorous?

 

T: No, I’m not, I know about it because a friend of mine is

T: I only want you, Misha Bachynskyi

 

M: And I only want you, Talya Bolinska

 

T: While we’re talking about different identities, may I ask how you feel about transgender people?

T: If you know enough to answer that

 

M: I have no problem with them

M: It’s not cool to be homophobic OR transphobic in the rap game anymore

M: Why do you ask?

T: Just curious, I know a trans person and wasn’t sure what your thoughts were yet, it just hadn’t come up

 

M: Ah okay

M: I am so sorry to only have such a short conversation today but I’m already so tired and it is late here

M: Healing takes a lot of energy

M: Is it alright if we talk more after I sleep?

T: Of course, goodnight, my handsome Misha, I will love you forever <3

 

M: Goodnight my divine Talya I will love you forever too <3]

Notes:

In this household we ALWAYS support open and honest communication with your partner, always be like Misha folks

Chapter 6

Knowing he had the support of his Talya made it much easier for Misha to focus on his recovery. Admittedly, he still found himself a little nervous around Noel, but he was working through it. He loved Talya and she loved him, nothing could change that, and he didn’t ever want anything to regardless.

 

As the weeks after the accident went by it seemed like things were returning to normal for the choir. 

 

Savannah had been the first back to school, not needing any time to adjust to using crutches and was practically back to her life before, just with more friends this time. It was a slow process, but every single member of the choir was now learning ASL to better communicate with her. Misha was picking it up pretty quickly, he thought, always fairly good with languages. 

 

Next back was Penny, it had taken her awhile to get used to using her walker, but at this point she could get around the school with little to no issue. She still struggled to do certain things with only one arm available, but it wasn’t hard to get help for the heavy doors at school, and there wasn’t too much else there that she couldn’t handle with her dominant arm and using the seat as a shelf on her walker.

 

After Penny were Constance and Ocean, both discharged from the hospital not long after Misha woke up. While Ocean seemed unhappy to still be in a wheelchair, she had insisted on going back as soon as her best friend did, and the two seemed to be doing much better together. Constance struggled occasionally to hear what her teachers were saying to her, especially her male teachers, but Ocean was happy to repeat anything she missed. The two had largely the same schedule at Ocean’s insistence, a fact that proved convenient when she needed the occasional help maneuvering her wheelchair around the crowded hallways and tight doorways of their school. She was using forearm crutches outside of school at this point, making amazing progress with her physical therapy, but she wasn’t quite comfortable using them to get around the school while also carrying her bookbag yet.

 

When Misha himself was finally discharged and reluctantly returned to school on a Friday, he was a bit surprised to see Noel sitting at a picnic table outside the school with the rest of the choir. The boy had gotten his prosthetic at this point, hidden by his pant leg and shoes, but was still using one of his crutches. He seemed to notice Misha as he approached and turned to tell the others, Misha felt himself already feeling happier as his friends turned to look and smile at him, waving him over. It was nice to actually have a friend group that cared about him now, he’d sat with some guys who were also into rap at lunch, but if he was being honest with himself they were always kind of jerks, he’d just needed a place to go.

 

“Hello, when did you come back to school Noel? I did not see you mention in group chat” Misha started, wondering if he’d missed something. He was glad for the new choir group chat too, he was happy to be able to keep up with all of his new friends so easily, especially after they’d all gotten so close since the Cyclone accident.

 

“Hey Mish, it’s my first day back too. I really didn’t wanna come back yet—or honestly ever—but when I mentioned to my mom that everyone else in the choir would be back by today she made me come back too.” The poet replied, to which Misha nodded.

 

“Ah, okay. How is everyone else?” Misha asked, attempting to move on. Noel was still his friend, obviously, everyone in the choir was, but he did not want to indulge in any lingering confusing feelings by accident while he was with his perfect Talya. She trusted him and Misha was very grateful, but he still didn’t want to do anything to betray that trust, even if it were something she’d never know about, being countries away.

 

“Pretty good, all things considered?” Penny replied for the group, still the only one who could fully understand Savannah for now. “We’re all getting pretty good at getting around, Sav keeps making fun of us for being so awkward with our aids though.” She said with a small laugh.

 

Savannah himself turned directly to Misha and signed something with a mischievous smile. Misha didn’t quite understand him yet, but was sure to watch nonetheless, carefully trying to make sense of what the other had said when Penny snorted out another laugh and translated for the group.

 

“Like baby deer trying desperately to walk!” She translated with a hand over her heart jokingly faking offense, causing the rest of the choir to laugh with her.

 

The bell rang before Misha had much time to reply, forcing the group to say their goodbyes and head to their respective classes. Misha didn’t really have any classes with the other choir members, the few classes he had with even a single other member having them sitting too far away to really talk. Luckily, there was a choir practice today after school, meaning they’d all get to see each other again before they had to go home.

 

They all preferred time with each other to anything else, at this point. Afterall, it was pretty hard not to be super close to the people you’d shared a death and afterlife with. It wasn’t like they’d just be able to tell their other loved ones that they’d experienced a whole game show like afterlife together, not without getting sent back to a different wing of the hospital, at least. It was just easier for everyone to talk to the choir, and after some of their conversations in the group chat it seemed like most of them didn’t have many other people to talk to anyways.

 

Misha himself really only had the choir and his Talya, his adoptive 'parents' wanting nothing to do with him and practically ignoring him as much as possible, not even visiting while he was in the hospital. He loved talking to his fiancée, of course, she was the love of his life, but he didn’t really like telling her about the Cyclone accident, not wanting to make her worry more than she already did for him.

 

Ocean and Penny seemed to be in similar situations with their parents, with Ocean’s being too high to pay her any mind most of the time and Penny’s always being away on business trips. This was why she’d been left as Jane Doe when they’d died, he learned, neither of her parents were in town to notice she was gone. Her little brother Ezra certainly must have noticed, they were pretty close being on their own most of the time, but he was stubborn enough to try to take care of himself until she came back, likely too in his own world to hear about what had actually happened to her. Ocean was the only child of her family however, usually on her own at home when she wasn’t at the Blackwood’s.

Though that wasn’t very often, he’d learned. Constance and Savannah seemed to be the only two with a set of genuinely good and involved parents, so Ocean tended to stay with Constance as often as she possibly could, a fact the Blackwood’s accepted with open arms, almost always letting her stay. However, while Constance and Savannah had wonderful parents, they both seemed to only have their families behind them outside of the choir, with Constance known only as 'that one nice girl' and Savannah so overlooked by their peers that outside of the choir they practically didn’t even exist at their school.

 

Noel wasn’t doing too well on friends outside of choir either, the only one of the choir to be actively bullied, apparently. Misha supposed this wasn’t very surprising given that he was the only openly gay man in their small town, but he was still a bit shocked to realize just how much the boy was getting picked on and even beat up without Misha noticing at all before the accident. He simply hadn’t paid attention to anyone in that school but himself before the fall fair concert, he supposed. Noel did at least have one good parent, a mother who didn’t always seem the most supportive but clearly only wanted the best for her child, but she was only one person, spending most of her time at work supporting herself and Noel rather than having much time to really spend with the boy.

 

None of that really mattered anymore though, the choir members had each other, and that was more than enough.

Chapter 7

Choir practice was better than ever before. Now that they were all back, Ocean and Noel ran the choir together as official co-leaders just like the girl had promised in the afterlife, Misha was finally willing to actually put effort into participating, Penny rounded out their choir as the true soprano they never knew they needed, and Savannah was finally allowed to finally participate in a way they could. Apparently, they’d been able to write music for years now, and had been learning piano ever since getting to play the squeeze keys—which Misha had learned were actually called an accordion—in the warehouse, and they were picking it up impressively quickly. It was clear that everyone in the choir was working together than they ever had before the Cyclone accident, and Father Marcus couldn’t be prouder. Speaking of Father Marcus, Misha was glad to see even he was okay, Karnak had told them in the afterlife that he died of a heart attack before he could identify Penny, but it seemed that Karnak had saved even him. The director had still had a heart attack, but had managed to pull through this time. 

 

As the practice wrapped up for the day and Father Marcus left the room, leaving the friends alone, Penny suddenly asked a question.

 

“Hey, I know this is kind of last minute, but would you guys want to have one big choir sleepover tonight? My parents are out again and there’s plenty of room for everyone in our house, Ezra’s even at a new friend’s house for a sleepover so it would just be us!” She asked excitedly, trying to convince all of her friends before anyone could have doubts.

 

“Yes!” Constance practically yelled back, answering before anyone else could even consider the thought. “Ocean please, I won’t go without you since you were gonna stay at my house tonight but it would be SO fun!” She was practically begging her best friend to join her, knowing the ginger may need a bit of convincing.

 

“It does sound fun, but… would everyone’s parents really be okay with that? Mine don’t really care, they believe in ‘following your truth’, whatever that means. Having girls and guys over at the same time, I mean? And Savannah.” She added the last part quickly, not wanting to leave him out.

 

“Thanks.” Savannah signed, his face suggesting that was a bit more sarcastic than earnest. Misha was happy to have understood it though, it may have been a super simple sign, but understanding anything was better than nothing. He then signed something else Misha didn’t understand yet, and Penny was happy to translate.

 

“She’s spent the night at my house before, actually, her parents were just happy for her to have a friend and mine really don’t keep track of anything I do, honestly. She already agreed to come, by the way.” 

 

“Hm… okay, then yes! We’ll be there!” Ocean replied happily. It was nice to see her a bit more relaxed since the accident, the old Ocean never would’ve accepted that so easily.

 

“Me too, I would take any excuse to be away from adopters. Sounds like fun!” Misha himself replied. It really did sound like fun, he didn’t want to get too excited and make the choir wonder, but the thought of a night away from the basement he usually slept in was so exciting he felt like he could cry tears of joy.

 

“... yeah, okay, count me in too!” Noel finally replied, the most hesitant of the group, Misha wasn’t quite sure why. He and Ocean still didn’t always get along even with her trying to be a better person now, he supposed, maybe this would be awkward for them? 

 

Either way, the entire choir would get to hang out tonight, away from parents and jerks at school and choir directors, just the six of them having fun all night. Misha couldn’t even wait, but luckily he didn’t have to for very long. With the agreement to have a sleepover made, and Penny’s address sent to the group chat, everyone began excitedly arranging rides and rushing home to pack. 

 

Misha himself was lucky enough to have his own car—well, it wasn’t really HIS per se, but his adopters allowed him to use the father’s old car so they wouldn’t have to drive him around. It wasn’t particularly safe or reliable, but it got him where he needed to go. Right now, that meant going back to his basement to change out of his school uniform, throw some clothes, a charger, and his toothbrush into a bag, and immediately get back in his car to head over to Penny’s. He knew he might be there a little soon, but she’d said everyone could show up whenever they were ready and he really didn’t wanna spend any more time around his adopters than necessary. He’d never ask their permission to do something like this, but he knew they wouldn’t mind even if he had, they were always glad to get rid of the boy for a while.

 

The drive to Penny’s wasn’t very long, blasting his music as he drove and speeding a little more than he probably should in such a shitbox of a car and eventually pulling into Penny’s driveway. Misha only saw one other car in the driveway, Penny’s own car if he recalled correctly, so he figured it was probably just him, Penny, and Savannah. Savannah didn’t drive, but had gotten especially close to Penny since the accident, so the two usually went places together. 

 

He walked in to see that he’d guessed correctly, seeing only Penny and Savannah sitting together on one of the two long couches, already in their pajamas. One of the most interesting things to learn about Penny after she regained her memory was how well off her family was, making her house the default hangout spot for the group. In addition to the two large pullout couches—one green and facing the TV and a second blue and perpendicular to it—there was also a comfortable white loveseat across from the second couch as well as a hidden Murphy bed behind the bookshelf beside the TV and behind the back of the blue couch. It made the perfect space for the choir to watch stupid movies and talk about whatever they could think of; their choir practices, the accident, their time with Karnak, everything. Misha settled into a casual conversation with the other two as they waited for the rest of their friends to arrive. 

 

The next two to get there were Ocean and Constance, to no one’s surprise. Ocean wouldn’t really have been able to drive yet herself, her legs needed a bit more time to heal, but even if she could she didn’t have a car, her parents believing solely in public transport, walking, biking, and carpooling. Luckily for her—and for the rest of the friend group—Constance had an old 8 seat minivan her parents had given her when she got her license. It wasn’t very pretty, but it was just big enough for the group and their various mobility aids if they all wanted to travel together. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, with Misha having to climb into the very back and help load any wheelchairs if Ocean or Savannah were using them as well as Penny’s walker and Penny, Noel, and Savannah cramming into the second row (‘Only 4 full legs between us!’, Savannah liked to remind them), but it was worth it to spend time with the group. 

 

Speaking of the group, Misha felt his phone buzz and checked it to see a conversation starting in the group chat, started by Noel it seemed.

 

N: Pulling up soon

N: I told my mom there wouldn’t be any other guys there

N: Misha and maybe Sav depending on how you’re dressed do NOT come near the door she will be walking me up to the door

 

O: NOEL! You’re lying to your mother?

 

N: Yes Ocean some of our mothers are strict

 

S: I’m wearing a nightgown for the record I wouldn’t worry about it

 

N: Fair enough

N: But still

N: No Misha in front of my mother

 

M: She has an issue with there being other boys?
M: She knows you are gay then?

 

N: Everyone knows I’m gay, Mish

N: I’m not exactly subtle

N: Okay pulling in now!

 

C: I’ll come to the door to get you, your mom loves me lol

 

P: I think everyone loves you, Connie

 

C: Aww thanks Pen <3

 

After this Misha heard the doorbell ring and watched as Constance ran to the door to greet Noel. He was glad the entire choir was here now as they all settled into their usual spots—Ocean and Connie on the green couch in front of the TV so Connie had the best access to reading the subtitles, Savannah and Penny on the other couch so everyone had a good view of their signing and Penny could translate as necessary, and Misha and Noel on the loveseat where there was room. They could just as easily have split themselves between the extra space on the two couches, but the room felt more cramped that way, and they all preferred to spread out so they could see eachother better.

 

“So, which movie tonight?” Ocean asked for the group, immediately causing everyone to yell out their conflicting favorites all at once.

 

Misha couldn’t help but smile at this. They all knew it didn’t really matter what movie they watched, the group would get distracted and talk over it the whole time anyways. At the end of the day they weren’t there to watch some movie, they were there for eachother. 

 

Notes:

I didn't mention it earlier because I assume it was obvious, but if there's any confusion I personally do not know anything about Legoland other than small details I picked up reading other fics, so this Penny and Ezra have little to nothing to do with Legoland Penny and Ezra. Ezra probably won't come up much really, but I wanted to include him in some way for anyone who does know about him.

Chapter 8

Just like he’d thought, no one paid any attention to the movie. Honestly, Misha wasn’t even 100% sure what they were watching, it was something Constance had picked this time, but he really wasn’t paying much attention. Instead, the group had started a game of truth or dare. 

So far, Savannah had asked Ocean how many times she’d ever sworn (‘Only in the afterlife, I promise! Karnak made me guys I would never use inappropriate language!’), Penny had dared Savannah to try using her walker instead of their crutches (they made it all of 3 steps before sitting to complain about having to bend over to use it, they did approve of the color though), Constance had dared Noel to let her mess up his perfectly gelled hair (he looked horrified, but eventually let her, claiming he would rather look like a mess than be a coward, but they all knew she only got away with it since he’d have to sleep around them soon and they’d all see it messed up anyways), Ocean had asked Constance what three things she’d choose to bring with her to a deserted island if she could (‘A lighter, a tent, and a fishing rod? I don’t think I could start a fire or set up a shelter by myself and I know I could never make myself hunt, I think fishing would be easier.’), Noel had told Ocean her question was bad, Ocean had told him HE was bad, Noel had asked what that even meant, and Misha had dared Penny to eat the most disgusting combination of food they had in the house (she’d victoriously choked down an oreo topped with relish, ketchup, and a little sauerkraut, only stopping to gag twice). Last to go was Noel, and the only person left to ask without repeating was Misha.

 

“Truth or dare, Mish?” The boy asked, turning to face him.

 

“Hmmm truth? A lot of people have picked dares.” He noted, not wanting the game to get too repetitive.

 

“Okay… oh! Tell us something you’ve never told anyone before!”

“I do not have anything I have told noone.” Misha hadn’t even needed to think about this answer. “I tell Talya everything, I have no secrets from her.” He explained, fully telling the truth.

 

“Well, tell us something you’ve only ever told Talya then!” Noel corrected. Misha was pretty sure that counted as its own truth, but he was willing to answer anyways.

 

“Um, let me think… oh, I have good answer! I am bisexual!” Misha was proud of himself, he had kept the game interesting and come out to his friends all at once! He already knew the choir would support him, of course, so he wasn’t all that nervous to tell them.

 

“Me too!” Constance immediately blurted out.

 

“I prefer the label pan, but I’m pretty close too!” Savannah added, with Penny translating for the group.

 

“Also, I’m not straight either, I consider myself sapphic.” Penny added for herself.

 

“... and I’m gay! Shocking, right?” Noel joked, getting the entire group to erupt in laughter. 

 

“Gosh, why was I ever nervous to tell you guys? Well, while we’re here, I should probably mention that I’m polyamorous too!” Constance said, finally breaking the laughter.

 

“Me too!” Savannah signed excitedly. Misha was happy to realize he understood her, but Penny still translated for the group to be sure everyone understood.

 

“... Okay, I’m sorry, I don’t know what polyamorous, sapphic, or pan means. I got bisexual, but that’s it.” Ocean finally spoke up, seeming a bit embarrassed to have to ask.

 

“Oh, polyamorous means that me and Savannah both want to date more than one person at the same time! Also, sapphic means that Penny likes women, but it’s not an exclusive term like lesbian, so she might like other people too, and pan means that Savannah just likes every gender! It’s a pretty similar term to bisexual, so it’s really just about which label makes you feel most comfortable.” Constance explained for her friend, happy to see just how much more Ocean was taking an interest in other people since the accident. 

 

“Oh, okay. Um, I don’t know if there’s a word for this, but I don’t really think I like anyone like that? Well, maybe sometimes, only women sometimes never men, but still not a lot?” Ocean rambled a bit awkwardly. 

 

“You could be somewhere on the asexual or aromantic spectrum, Ocean. Here, why don’t you look at this and see if anything sounds right?” Constance pulled out her phone and quickly looked something up, handing the girl beside her the phone.

 

Everyone watched as Ocean scrolled through whatever she’d been shown for a minute, suddenly stopping on something.

 

“This one.” She said with certainty. “Or, well, these two, I guess.” She turned the phone to show the group the two identities she was talking about, demiromantic and asexual. “And, since I can experience a little romantic attraction sometimes, can I also say I’m a lesbian? Can you do that?” 

 

“Yes, you can definitely do that Ocean! I’m proud of you for figuring it out.” Constance smiled at her.

 

“Huh, this is very gay group, apparently.” Misha finally spoke again, happy that his news had gone so well.

 

Everyone laughed at this and it took even longer for them to settle down this time, the choir really was such a close group now, and for once Misha couldn’t be happier.

Chapter 9

As the night went on they settled into comfortably watching their second movie. It was Ocean’s pick this time, a movie called Matilda, he thought he heard? Ocean seemed obsessed with it, but Penny and Savannah seemed pretty interested too. He, Noel, and Constance had all started going on their phones however. No one minded, with six people in their little group it was fine for a few to get distracted, there would always be more people to talk to. Every person in the group was friends in every combination, a fact that Misha couldn’t help but smile at. They didn’t just accept him because he was part of the group, they actually liked spending time with him himself!

 

Speaking of his phone, he then saw a text pop up from his perfect Talya. That was a bit strange, it was pretty late in Ukraine and she’d already said goodnight over an hour ago, he was used to her being awake at odd hours, never quite having a normal sleep schedule, but she didn’t tend to wake back up after she’d said goodnight and passed out. She did have the occasional nightmare, maybe this was about that?

 

[T: Hello, моє кохання

T: Can we talk about something important?

 

Shit. What on earth did that mean? Talya NEVER asked to talk, the two always just talked no questions asked, what could possibly warrant starting a conversation like this?

 

M: Of course

M: What’s wrong my perfect Talya?

 

T: About that, y’know how I asked you about trans people, and said I knew someone who was trans?

T: I was talking about myself

T: I’m a transgender man, Misha.

 

Oh! Well that certainly wasn’t expected, but he supposed it wasn’t a problem either.

M: That’s perfectly fine мій любий

M: You know I’m bisexual

M: I’ll always love you either way

M: Thank you for telling me

M: Is there another name I should use?

 

T: That’s the other thing, my last name is kinda different too

T: I hadn’t realized I was using such an old account when I started leaving comments on your youtube channel

T: My mom actually changed my last name to hers when she divorced my dad, like legally, Bolinska was my dad’s name

T: So I was already going by a different first and last name when we started talking, but it took me so long to realize that I’ve been too nervous to correct you

T: I’m so sorry Mish, I should’ve told you so much earlier

 

Misha was getting pretty confused at this point. Why hadn’t his кохання simply told him earlier? It was just a name, that seemed so completely unimportant compared to some of the secrets they’d shared with each other. He could see why his коханий may have been nervous to mention his gender at first, but at this point he’d already known Misha was bisexual for weeks, why wait so long?

 

M: That’s fine моє кохання I promise

M: I just want to know what you’d like to be called

 

T: My name is Noel Gruber.]

 

What. what? Misha felt like he’d been slapped across the face. Did he really mean that? Misha whipped his head around to face the boy beside him and immediately knew he really HAD meant that. Noel’s face was a little hard to read, but he’d clearly just been having the same conversation; he looked some combination of scared, guilty, and something else Misha couldn’t even take a guess at, and it seemed like a few tears had fallen without Misha noticing.

 

Misha stood up, grabbed Noel's hand, and began to walk towards the dining room, trying to drag the boy with him. The boy who was hopping. Whoops.

 

“Um- Mish, crutches- I can’t-” The other tried to explain, not wearing his prosthetic leg at the moment and left with just one foot and no crutches.

 

“Ah right, sorry.” Misha quickly offered, opting to simply pick up the boy and carry him away rather than go back to grab the crutch he’d knocked over in his rush.

 

“That- that works, I guess-” he grabbed onto Misha’s shirt to steady himself, an action Misha probably would’ve found adorable if he wasn’t losing his mind a little right now.

 

As soon as they made it to the dining room Misha had been aiming for, he put the other down in a chair and sat beside him, turning their chairs to face each other.

 

“Explain.” Misha tried to keep his voice steady, he didn’t want to sound too angry or upset before he found out exactly what had been going on.

 

“Um, well, when you moved here I was curious about there being another Ukrainian in Uranium—that wasn’t a lie I am from Kyiv, my mom and I moved here when I was 5 for a job she got, we used to go back every summer until they got divorced—but anyways that’s not the point the point is when I went to comment on your videos I didn’t realize I was using such an old account, the one with my old name and picture—I know I’m practically unrecognizable without the filter and makeup I had on in that picture—and I didn’t realize until after things had already gotten romantic. I should’ve just told you as soon as I noticed I know I’m so sorry but seeing you in school after we’d been talking? You just seemed so happy! I was so terrified of being the reason you had that taken away from you, and honestly back then I wasn’t even sure if you’d beat me up for it or not, I didn’t know what to do. I’m so sorry, Misha.”

 

Noel was definitely crying at this point, and Misha was pretty sure he was too. He’d never thought about it for too long, but he supposed Noel did look familiar, the filter had changed his face a lot, but he could definitely still make out some of the same features now that he was looking closely. At this point he knew he could switch back to his native language.

 

[“So… the conversations we had… how do you actually feel about me?” Misha needed to know the answer to that more than anything else, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t downright terrified of getting that answer.

 

“I NEVER lied about my feelings for you, Misha. I meant every word I said, it was just coming from a different person than you thought.” 

 

“No. Same person, just a different name.” Misha was certain of himself at this point. They’d need to talk about this a LOT more for a hell of a lot longer later, but for now all that Misha cared about was that his кохання was right in front of him and still loved him back.

 

Before Noel could ask Misha what exactly he meant by that, he felt the other’s lips on his, immediately kissing back. The two instantly grabbed each other in a desperate embrace as they kissed, both needing this for far longer than they’d even realized.]

Notes:

Almost certain that was terribly written I DID write this at about 4am since I wanted to finish the reveal before I went to bed, apologies

Chapter 10

Pulling away from the kiss felt like a crime. Unfortunately, they did need air eventually, but even when they did pull away to breath the two were still holding each other, Misha’s hands holding Noel’s face and Noel’s arms wrapped around Misha tightly. 

 

“So, uh, what are we now exactly?” Noel asked, still crying slightly. 

 

Misha stopped to think about this, a bit disappointed that Noel had switched back to English. They were certainly still together, they HAD just kissed like there was no tomorrow, afterall, but Noel had also kept the truth from him for a VERY long time, and it was going to be a little hard to get over that.

 

“Boyfriends,” he decided eventually, “we are boyfriends now. I love you, my perfect Noel, but it is probably not good idea to be engaged to someone whose name you didn’t know for your entire relationship.” Noel seemed to blush at this.

 

“Yeah okay that’s fair, thank you. And I love you too Mish so much, but you actually calling me by my name is gonna take a bit to get used to.” 

 

“You realize I have to get used to my partner suddenly being a man I live minutes away from instead of woman in another country, yes? And to one of my best friends suddenly speaking my native language and kissing me?” Misha asked teasingly.

 

“Okay, fair, you win here.” Noel laughed as he answered, the two were clearly getting more comfortable with each other as the conversation went on.

 

Before the conversation could go any farther, however, the two heard a knock on the doorway and turned to see Constance standing there, looking worried.

 

“Hey, uh, are you guys okay? I didn’t wanna intrude, but we were all getting a bit worried with how quickly you left, it was pretty out of nowhere.” The girl was holding Noel’s crutch, a fact Misha was glad for because if he was being so honest he really probably shouldn’t have been picking anyone up just yet. He wasn't exactly fully healed after all, and his back would probably be hurting a bit for the next day or two after his earlier decision.

 

“Yes, we are fine, I am sorry for leaving so quickly. And for stealing Noel.” Misha replied quickly, getting a bit embarrassed. He’d been so focused on getting the truth from Noel that he hadn’t even considered the other four people in the room.

 

“Yeah, we’ll be right back Connie, thanks for the crutch.” Noel added, grabbing the crutch from her as she held it out for him and nodded.

 

“Alright, see you guys soon then.” The girl still looked a bit confused, but was nice enough to head back to the living room and let them finish up their conversation.

 

“Okay so, um, what do you wanna tell them exactly?” Noel asked. “We should probably at least give them some kind of explanation after that…”

 

“Hm, probably just tell truth? Are you okay with them knowing you are transgender?” Misha always preferred to just tell his friends the truth, but he would understand if Noel wasn’t comfortable telling everyone.

 

“Mish, everyone but you and Penny already knows, we’ve gone to the same school since before I transitioned.” Noel stated, assuming this was obvious knowledge already.

 

“What? But they saw the old picture and heard your old name in my song in the warehouse, did everyone know but me?” Misha was once again incredibly confused and hurt. Had everyone really been keeping that from him?

 

“Oh my god no, no one else knew I promise! That picture was one I took when I was in Ukraine for the summer, I never wore my hair or makeup like that in Canada. Plus the filter I had on in it makes me look so much older than I actually did at the time, so I don’t think any of them would recognize me like that. They definitely wouldn’t recognize the name either, when we first moved here my mom suggested I go by Noelle since it means the same thing as my deadname but sounded a bit more Canadian. Obviously my old name is used in English sometimes too, but she didn’t wanna make me listen to everyone butchering it with the Canadian accent. Everyone in Uranium just thinks Noelle was my name before. It’s the same with my last name, even before it was legally changed she suggested I just used her last name in Canada so it was easier for people to pronounce. I think the only people who ever knew Noelle Gruber wasn’t my legal name were the principals in elementary and middle school. I was always a little more comfortable with Noelle than with my real birth name, so I never corrected anyone.” Noel was rambling quickly, trying to explain himself and assure Misha that his friends hadn’t been keeping such a massive secret from him.

 

“Oh, then are you okay with them learning your real birth name? I am sure they would remember it if we said that you were my online fiancé, I talked about you a lot. I do not want to make you uncomfortable, коханий.” Misha hadn’t even thought about using the pet name, but he did notice how Noel still blushed at it.

 

“Yeah, it’s okay.” Noel decided. “Just let me do the explaining, okay?”

 

Misha nodded at this and stood, offering the other a hand, which he quickly took, and the two of them walked hand in hand back to the living room to face the others and explain what had happened in the past few minutes. It was admittedly a bit weird to hold hands and walk at the same pace when one of them was using a crutch with his other hand, but they made it work. They’d make anything work if it meant they could be together.

Notes:

Okay SO, this is the last chapter that I prewrote before posting the fic, so I'm not exactly sure how often I'll post the rest from here on. I already have a planned ending as well as a brief list of things I want to happen by the end, so the fic will be finished as soon as I finish my list and feel the timing is good enough to end it!

Chapter 11

“So… Misha and I are together now. Like, romantically.” Noel stated bluntly, catching even Misha by surprise with how direct he was.

 

“WHAT? What about his fianc ée? Are you homewrecking right now Noel?!” Ocean shouted incredulously.

 

“I- no, Ocean, I am not homewrecking, literally what in your 12 years of knowing me makes you think I would do that?” Noel shot back, annoyed. “No, I um, I AM Talya. Or, I was. Noelle was never my real deadname, it was just what I went by after moving to Canada.” 

 

Misha noticed in his peripheral Savannah signing something to a very confused Penny, who seemed to understand after a moment.

 

“So… you’re actually Misha’s fianc é then, Noel?” Constance asked, the first of the group brave enough to speak.

 

“I was, but since he just now found out about the whole thing we’re just going with boyfriend.” Noel clarified

 

[“For now, at least.”] Misha quickly added in Ukrainian, making Noel blush.

 

“Wait, I thought T- um, Misha’s fianc ée was Ukrainian?” Ocean asked, still confused.

 

“... Ocean.” Noel looked some combination of offended and amused.

 

“Yes, Noel?” The girl replied, looking puzzled.

 

“We have literally gone to school together since we were 5. I still had an accent when we were 5. Where did you THINK I was from?” Noel was holding back a laugh at this point.

 

“... France?” She replied quietly, causing Noel to fully break out in laughter, nearly doubling over from it.

“Savannah says he sounded just like Misha. Does Misha sound French to you?” Penny asked, fighting back a laugh of her own.

 

“Well, no, but- I just never thought about it! Noel always talked about wanting to go back to Europe and move to France so I just thought that meant moving BACK to France, I never thought that hard about it!” Ocean was trying her hardest to defend herself, but at this point it was too late, the entire choir was laughing together. Even Ocean herself was starting to laugh after another moment of trying to fight it.

 

Misha himself was a little distracted though, he had known Noel wanted to move to France, the boy had mentioned it in the afterlife, but he hadn’t thought about what that meant with them being together. He’d wanted to move back to Ukraine since the very moment he was forced to come to Canada and always thought that had meant moving closer to his коханий, but maybe that wasn’t true anymore. Noel had said all he lied about was his name, but didn’t this change a lot for them too? Luckily, his thoughts were interrupted before he could worry himself too far.

 

“Oh yeah, how does that work? Noel wanting to move to France and Misha wanting to move to Ukraine?” Penny asked, noticing the exact same issue as Misha. Thank GOD for Penny, he thought, always the perceptive one.

 

“I really did want to move to France, but honestly? When I started talking to Misha he kinda talked me back into Ukraine, since then I’ve been saving to move there instead. If he’d still want me to move with him, of course.” Noel added with a bit of embarrassment, clearly not planning to have this conversation so early in them officially dating. 

 

[“Eventually, yes.”] He quickly said, offering the other a small smile.

 

“I thought you said you never wanted to go back there, Noel.” Constance interrupted, looking a bit concerned. “What about your dad?”

 

This made Misha frown a bit. What ABOUT his dad? Misha had known that Noel took his mother’s side in the divorce, and he said his dad had been a bit of a jerk, but he hadn’t shared any more than that. Misha remembered Noel telling him that his father was in the past, and that he preferred to live in the present. Or the future, on occasion, dreaming about their future together. That was another thing, they’d talked about their future together constantly, but did Noel actually want everything he’d said he did, or was he just playing to what Misha himself wanted? As happy as Misha was to have Noel right in front of him rather than across the world (and to have realized he DIDN’T have feelings for someone he wasn’t with afterall, who knew?), the two of them still had a LOT to talk about, even more than he’d realized. Noel interrupted his train of thought before he could spiral much further. 

 

“It’s fine.” He replied quickly, seemingly not wanting to spend any more time than necessary on the topic. “He probably wouldn’t recognize me anyways. I don’t wanna talk about it any more than that.” He seemed sure of himself, but Misha still had his doubts. He’d have to try to talk to Noel about it later when they were alone, he supposed.

 

“... Okay, well, congrats you guys!” Constance said, doing her best to move on for Noel’s sake.

 

“Thank you! It is nice to have boyfriend in person, over the phone was hard.” Misha replied happily, squeezing Noel’s hand. It was a bit of an odd situation, but when he stopped to think about it he really was happy. He’d meant what he said, it would take some getting used to, but he finally had what he wanted right in front of him.

 

“Yeah, okay, glad for you guys really, but can we please go back to my movie now? Connie made me pause it when you guys ran off.” Ocean pouted, making Noel roll his eyes. She really had been doing better at being a good friend since the afterlife, she was working harder than anyone to learn asl so she could listen to Savannah, she wasn’t treating Misha himself like a criminal anymore, she’d finally let Noel be co-leader of the choir, and she’d been the best friend she possibly could to Constance. She’d even made an effort to memorize Penny’s entire life story to make up for not knowing who she was. However, not all her worse traits could just disappear overnight, and she could certainly still be a little selfish at times.

 

“You can survive 5 minutes without your movie, Raggedy Ann.” The boy said with a smirk.

 

“Mhm, as if YOU wouldn’t be pitching a fit if we were watching your favorite movie instead!”

 

“That’s because The Blue Angel isn’t just a movie, it’s a masterpiece! And for the record I didn’t technically run off, I can’t even run.” 

 

“I- okay fine, Misha ran off and you got kidnapped.” She corrected, smiling now too. As much the two argued, they really were still friends. “Speaking of, should you even be picking anyone up right now Misha?”

 

“Not really, my back is hurting more now. Should have given it a few more weeks.” He admitted, a bit embarrassed that he’d hurt himself in such a thoughtless way. “But is not important, back to the movie!” 

 

Ocean cheered at his reply, claiming to Noel that Misha was the fun one in their relationship. Misha couldn’t help but smile, telling the group had been a bit chaotic at first, but it really seemed like they were going to settle into a few comfortable dynamic. He cuddled up with Noel on their loveseat (the name suddenly seeming a lot more fitting) and went back to half-watching half-ignoring the movie with his friends. God, he really could get used to this.

Chapter 12

Notes:

Hey fair warning, this chapter has a brief domestic violence mention, but it's not very specific or anything.

The rest of the night went by without anymore big surprises. Well, he’d learned in a game of never have I ever that the one and only Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg herself had once committed an honest to god crime (a burglary, she called it, she’d accidentally walked out of a store still holding the pack of flavored chapsticks she wanted her parents to buy her at age 4 and had never forgiven herself), but after the whole ‘plot twist the woman in Ukraine you’re engaged to is actually your friend turned boyfriend who lives a short car ride away from you’ thing Misha could take pretty much any other news tonight without getting too surprised.

 

After a good few more hours of games and movies, the group was starting to need more than just snacks to keep them going, and they were all excited to hear Constance offer to cook them (a very late) dinner. Ocean offered to help, of course, and the two went into the kitchen to search for ingredients after getting the okay from Penny to use whatever they wanted. The two had been best friends for years, and Ocean had become a pretty decent sous-chef to Constance, cooking being one of the only activities they did together that was more for Constance than for Ocean. Their friendship had gotten a lot healthier since the accident, but this hobby of theirs would always stay the same.

 

As the two best friends started on dinner, Penny and Savannah brought out some pillows and blankets for the group so they could start getting comfortable for the night while Misha and Noel changed into pajamas. Penny and Savannah had already changed into theirs before the others arrived, Savannah in a long black nightgown patterned with constellations and Penny in an off-white matching pajama set covered with little teddy bear designs. Misha and Noel, however, were not so put together. To Ocean and Noel's horror but no one’s surprise, Misha’s pajamas were simply a pair of red flannel pajama pants and a black t-shirt with ‘two-seater’ written between two arrows, one pointing up and one pointing down. Noel may not have been as well matching as Penny, but his outfit of choice was at least decent—wearing a pair of silky black pajama shorts and a thick grey oversized t-shirt hanging off his frame.

 

Before Noel could question his life choices for dating a man wearing such a bold shirt for too long, Constance emerged from the kitchen to announce that dinner was ready, and everyone headed to the kitchen to grab their food. Apparently, Constance had made some homemade mac n cheese with whatever cheeses she could find and a few different shapes of pasta mixed together to make sure there was enough for the group, and Ocean had put together some sandwiches with microwaved bacon, slices of cheese, and slightly overcooked scrambled eggs (‘Better safe than salmonella!’ The girl insisted). It wasn’t a particularly luxurious meal, but for a group of hungry teenagers? They couldn’t thank the girls enough as they scarfed it down. 

 

Once they were finished eating, the two changed into their pajamas as well. Constance wore a pair of fuzzy pink pajama shorts and a plain yellow t-shirt with a few flowers on it, while Ocean opted for a pair of long blue pajama pants with a heart pattern and an old tie dyed t-shirt.

 

The group started to settle in for the night after this, Constance and Ocean pulling out their pullout couch while Savannah and Penny did the same for theirs, with Misha and Noel taking the Murphy bed behind where Penny and Savannah laid. It cut the boys off from the conversation a bit, but after all that had happened between them today neither was upset about having a bit of time to talk, just the two of them.

 

[“So… you still want to move back to Ukraine?” Misha started quietly, sure to speak in Ukrainian so the others wouldn’t understand him if they overheard the quiet conversation.

 

“Yeah, if that’s still what YOU want, at least. I just wanna be with you, Mish, I could be happy anywhere.” Noel replied. For the first time, Misha realized that Noel was the only person to ever use that nickname for him. It had been used plenty by his fianc ée, but evidently that was the same person all along.

 

“That’s still the plan for me, but we can always think about that later. It’s not like either of us have the money yet.” Misha knew he himself certainly didn’t have the money yet, and he assumed the same was true for Noel.

 

“Hah, definitely not. Taco Bell doesn’t quite pay plane ticket money.” The boy replied with a bright smile. It was nice for them to be talking so casually again, joking the way they always had over text.

 

“And, I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, but can I ask why you didn’t want to go back to Ukraine at first? You told me your dad was a jerk before, but it kinda sounded like it was more than that when we were talking to the choir earlier.” 

 

“Oh, um, y’know how my parents got divorced when I was 13?” Misha nodded at this, he’d heard this part of the story plenty. “Yeah, well, that was when I came out. My dad REALLY didn’t like it and our house got a little… unsafe for me. My mom told him that was unacceptable, that I was still their child either way, and he um, he hit her too. We left pretty quickly after that, obviously. I haven’t been back to Ukraine since.” Noel was fully avoiding eye contact at this point, looking down at his hands as he picked at his nail polish. 

 

Misha wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry, hug the other boy until his problems melted away, or steal everything his adopters had sell it for a plane ticket to Kyiv and beat the everloving shit out of Mr. Bolinska. Probably all three, if he was being honest with himself, but for now he settled on just the first two, practically tackling the other in a hug as he fought back tears.

 

“Noel Gruber I am so sorry, I had no idea, we don’t have to go back to Ukraine if you don’t want to I promise, I never want you to feel that unsafe ever again!” Misha felt terrible, he did love Ukraine, but he never wanted Noel to feel like he had to go back to a place that made him feel like that.

 

“It’s okay Mish, I promise. He probably wouldn’t recognize me anyways at this point, and as long as we’re not too close to Kyiv there’s not much chance of seeing him anyways, he never really traveled much. … Plus you could probably beat him up anyways.” Noel added that last part with a smile, really only meaning it as a joke.

 

“Yes.” Misha replied immediately. “I’ll kick his ass if we EVER see him, I promise.”

 

“Oh, um, I was just joking but I’m glad to know you’ve got my back?” Noel laughed.

 

“Always. Next question, why’d you switch back to English earlier? When we were first talking about it all, I mean.” 

 

“Oh, just what I’m used to I guess? You’re the only person I’ve really had to speak in  Ukrainian to for years. My mom knows it too, obviously, but we usually talk in English.” Noel replied simply. That made sense, Misha knew Noel’s grandfather had been English, so his mother had grown up speaking the language too. “I don’t mind Ukrainian though obviously, either works for me. Can’t say I know any Dutch though.” He joked, getting a quiet laugh out of Misha.

 

“Okay fair. Next question, and I’m sorry if this is too much too soon, but did you mean everything you said about the future? About our future?” Misha would be lying if he said he wasn’t scared out of his mind for the answer, but he did really wanna know.

 

“Yes Mish I promise.” Noel assured with a soft smile. “Everything but my name and appearance was true the whole time, I promise. Everything I said I liked, everything I said I wanted, all of it. Technically I never even lied about living in Ukraine. I made sure to only ever say I was FROM Kyiv.” He added the last part a bit embarrassed, but he was clearly happy to get it all straightened out and make sure Misha knew the truth.

 

“Tricky, you could be a lawyer, моє кохання.” Misha joked back.

 

“Ew, I would never!” He replied with a quiet giggle. “Not nearly a glamorous enough career.” 

 

“Okay, okay, you can be a model, my handsome man.” Misha said, laughing back softly. 

 

“I’msorryyourwhatnowwhatdidyousay?” Noel asked all at once.

 

“What? I’ve complimented you before, my gorgeous boy.” Misha tried to sound as innocent as possible, but he was clearly teasing at this point, enjoying how flustered the other boy was becoming.

 

“Well- well yeah, but, not when you were actually looking at me! The real me! With no filters or makeup or anything! It’s different!” Noel was stuttering a little at this point, flustered beyond belief and blushing bright red.

 

“No, it’s not so different, my beautiful коханий. It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing makeup or not, you’re just SO pretty, so cute, so STUNNING, so-” Misha was cut off before he could continue.

 

“Okay, okay! I get it, Mish! Jeez, you don’t have to say all that stuff just to fluster me, I’m always flustered around you.” He said with a blush.

 

“I’m not saying it to make you flustered, my sweet Noel, I’m saying it because it’s true.” Misha loved seeing Noel like this, but he wanted to make sure the other knew he meant it. “But you getting flustered is a nice bonus.” He added with a grin. 

 

“Huh… thanks, Mish. You’re pretty handsome gorgeous beautiful pretty cute and stunning yourself, любий. Did I get that order right?” Noel grinned back.

 

“Yes, very impressive.” Misha laughed softly. “I love you, Noel Gruber.”

 

“And I love you too, Misha Bachynskyi.”

 

For a moment the two just stared at each other, laying in each other’s arms and enjoying the warmth. 

 

“So… time for bed?” Misha finally asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

 

“Wha- Mish, it’s not even midnight yet?” Noel replied with a quick laugh.

 

“I’m comfy and I’m tired, you make me too cozy!” Misha replied, already pulling Noel closer and hiding his face in the other’s neck, making him giggle.

 

“Okay, fine.” Noel said with a joking roll of his eyes. “Goodnight, мій любий.”

 

“Goodnight, мій коханий.” Misha mumbled into his neck, more comfortable than he’d been in years.]

Notes:

Posting just one chapter at a time after the first 10 were all together felt weird so 2 it is

Chapter 13

Misha had a familiar dream—a wedding, a life together, a house, children, a garden, a warm bed, and his love laying in it beside him. It was practically the same dream he’d had after the accident, before he’d really woken up, but this time he had no doubts about it. The first time, Misha hadn’t quite been sure if he was dreaming about his fianc é e or about Noel, but this was all Noel. Honestly, in retrospect it was kind of hilarious how he’d fallen for the same person twice. He’d refused to indulge his feelings for Noel before he knew the truth, but he had admitted to them to himself, and apparently, to Noel. Man, that must’ve been an interesting conversation from Noel’s perspective. 

 

Speaking of Noel, Misha felt the boy in his arms as he slowly woke back up. He also felt the boy’s messy hair all in his face and mouth, but he was more than willing to put up with that to hold him so close.

 

Misha attempted to figure out who was awake without disturbing the boy—Noel was obviously still asleep in his arms, but the other beds were blocked from his vision by the back of the blue couch. He could, however, see into the doorway of the kitchen, and he noticed Ocean and Constance were already there, presumably cooking breakfast. Well, from what he could tell it seemed like Constance was doing all the cooking this time while Ocean sat at the table looking a bit sleepy still and chatted with her. It made sense, Constance was always a morning person and as much as Ocean WANTED to be, claiming all good go-getters were early birds, she was never really awake until noon or an almost concerning amount of caffeine, whichever came first. He couldn’t see Savannah and Penny, but Misha was willing to bet they were still asleep, both tending to stay up late and wake up even later. Savannah could at least be woken up, but when Penny was out she was out, unless you were willing to scream and shake her like her little brother was when the girl was oversleeping.

 

By the time Constance had finished breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes and french toast with powdered sugar, Misha would hear his stomach grumbling. He felt bad waking the boy in his arms, but god he really wanted some of that french toast. 

 

[“Good morning, моє кохання.” Misha attempted to gently wake the boy, shifting to press a soft kiss to his temple. “It’s time to get up now.”] This made Noel groan, turning to bury his face in Misha’s chest.

 

“G’morning, Mishy. Five more minutes? I’m so comfy like this.” Noel mumbled, wrapping his arms around Misha as the taller boy returned the gesture, pulling him in impossibly closer.

 

… Well, shit. Looks like Misha was staying here all day. Possibly his whole life. He may simply need to die here like this to make sure the boy in his arms could stay this warm, comfortable, and safe forever. Goodbye, french toast.

 

Luckily for Misha’s appetite, his stomach grumbled again loudly and Noel seemed to notice, placing his hands against Misha’s chest and pushing back to look him in the eyes. God, Misha thought his heart might just explode right then and there. He obviously liked cuddling up with Noel the night before when he himself was the tired one, but Noel looking at him so sleepily? That was definitely WAY better, he decided.

 

“You hungry there, Mish?” Noel joked, still speaking all slow and sleepy. “We can go get breakfast babe, I’ll get up.” 

 

Misha blushed a little at this, not quite expecting the English pet name, but definitely not minding it. He was a bit disappointed when Noel slipped out of his arms to stretch and reach for his crutch, but he was happy to finally get his food as the two headed to the table to join Constance and Ocean.

 

“Oh, hey guys! I wouldn't’ve taken you for a morning person, Misha!” Constance greeted, offering the two plates so they could start eating.

 

“I am always up early, actually. Thank you for breakfast, Connie.” Misha replied, already talking with french toast in his mouth.

 

“Ew, don’t chew with your mouth full, Misha! And if you’re always up early, how come you’re always one of the last ones to get to school?” Ocean asked. It was true, Misha did always take awhile to get himself to school. It wasn’t like he was ALWAYS the last to arrive, it was a solid 50/50 split between him and Savannah, really, but he knew that was just because she slept in too often. Penny had her brother to make sure she was awake, but Savannah’s parents had a bad habit of letting her sleep in. Misha, however, was late just because he didn’t want to be there… and because he was pretty terrible at keeping track of time, admittedly. 

 

“Do not want to go to school.” He said simply, shrugging. “And sometimes get distracted.” 

 

“School is important, Misha! You should want to go to school.” Ocean was pointing her fork at Misha as she said this.

 

“Ocean, we’re practically graduated at this point anyways, at this point I think we’re pretty much guaranteed to make it through by now. Especially if we pull the ‘sorry I was late, I’ve just been so distracted since I literally almost died in a terrible accident!’ excuse.” Noel shot back with a smirk. 

 

“Well, yeah, but that’s no excuse to stop caring!” The redhead replied matter-of-factly.

 

Constance let out a giggle at this, and it wasn’t long before everyone else joined in. Ocean may have been the natural leader of the group, but everyone knew Constance was really the glue holding them together.

 

As the laughter died down the four friends settled back into their usual jokes and conversations, waiting for the last two to wake up. By the time Penny and Savannah joined them, the rest had already finished their breakfast. Constance was quick to make sure their breakfast was ready too, of course, but Ocean made sure to get in a quick lecture on the importance of getting an early start on your day. 

 

“So, does anyone have any plans for the day?” Penny asked between bites of pancake, doing her best to steal the conversation from Ocean before she could move onto another ‘teen sex kills’ rant. 

 

“We’re heading to the mall together later, we both wanna look for some accessories and I wanna help Penny look for a good dress.” Savannah told them, translated by Penny.

 

“Oh, fun! Honestly I’ve been meaning to get some new clothes too, I really wanna try to find something that matches the purple in my hair.” Constance replied. Her hair had gotten brighter, Misha noticed, she must’ve been dying it more often since the accident.

 

“Do you wanna join us, Connie? We’d love to have you!” Penny asked quickly.

 

“Really? I’d love that! Thanks Penny, Sav.” Connie replied, smiling ear to ear. “When were you gonna leave? I’ll need to take Ocean home first.”

 

“I can drive her home, I do not have plans.” Misha offered.

 

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Ocean yelled back quickly. “Misha, you’re great, but I am NOT getting into your deathtrap of a car!” 

 

“Hey, is not that bad! Would not speed with you in car! Not much, at least.” Misha defended. He was willing to admit that his driving wasn’t the safest, much less his car, but it’s not like he’d ever crashed or anything!

 

“Oh calm down, Ocean. My mom’s picking me up and you already know she loves you, we can give you a ride home she won’t mind.” Noel offered calmly. 

 

“Oh, thanks Noel! But… why? You’re never that nice to me without a good reason.” She asked, looking suspicious. The question may’ve seemed rude from an outside perspective, but after the strange frenemies relationship she and Noel had had for years? It was more than fair. 

 

“Weeeeeeell, you could let me hang out at your house for a few minutes until my mom leaves so she thinks I’m hanging out with you and then Misha can pick me up?” Noel asked quickly, looking proud of himself. 

 

“What? Noel, I don’t wanna lie to your mom! What if she finds out and gets mad at me?” Ocean worried. 

 

“Ocean, it’s not even really lying! Just thank her for the ride and say you don’t mind me hanging out for awhile if she checks with you. That’s all technically true!” Noel argued with an eyeroll. 

 

[“Sounding like a lawyer again, коханий.” Misha joked back, earning a failed attempt at an angry look from Noel, who was unable to hide the smile on his face.

 

“Yeah yeah, would you be okay with that Mish? Picking me up and hanging out together, I mean?” Noel asked, suddenly looking a little nervous that he hadn’t asked Misha’s opinion earlier.

 

“Always, мій любий, I’d love to.” Misha smiled back, knowing he could never really say no to Noel, who gave him a soft smile and nod in return.]

 

“Oh jeez, is that gonna be a thing now? You two speaking in Ukrainian so the rest of us can’t understand you?” Ocean asked, suddenly wishing she’d tried to learn that instead of Latin.

 

“Так.” The boys replied in unison, getting a laugh out of the whole group.

 

“Okay okay, fine! Yes, I’d love a ride home Noel, thank you.” Ocean replied as her laughter finally calmed down.

 

Misha was already excited the second she agreed. He’d tried to play it cool in front of Noel, but he couldn’t WAIT to spend time with just the two of them, Noel may not have directly said it, but this was a date! Misha’s first real in person date, and Noel’s too. By the time Noel’s mom came to pick him up (with Noel making sure Misha avoided the door again), Misha was already wracking his brain for ideas. Any time spent with his Noel would be wonderful, of course, but he wanted this date to be as perfect as possible. 

 

God, he really hoped Ms. Gruber drove fast.

Chapter 14

Misha practically flew home the second the plan was made. On a normal day he would’ve happily rocked the shirt he’d brought to change into—a black t-shirt with ‘that wasn’t very cash money of you’ written in big white blocky letters—but even he could acknowledge that probably wasn’t the best choice for a first date. Well, first official in person date, at least? It was a bit of a strange situation, frankly. Either way, he needed to wear something better. 

 

He threw an embarrassing amount of his clothing on the floor in an attempt to find something good, but there wasn’t really much of anything that both looked good enough for Noel and looked like him. Eventually, he settled on a pair of ripped jeans, sneakers, and an old sweater he had honestly forgotten he’d owned. It was mostly made up of muted shades of green, with patterned woven stripes of several shades of green, grey, brown, and tan. It fit him well and looked fairly put together without making him look like he wasn’t himself, but the sweater was INCREDIBLY itchy. Right, THAT’S why he never wore it. Either way, it was the only thing he had right now that was good enough for his date, so he’d just have to accept a bit of itching for the next few hours.

 

After grabbing a few more things for the date, Misha rushed back out the door to pick up Noel. He’d checked his texts to be sure, and Noel had just been dropped off at Ocean’s, so it was officially time to go get him! Misha sped far faster than he probably should’ve, but he firmly believed that if no one was hurt and the cops didn’t see him it simply did not count. 

 

Pulling up to Ocean’s driveway he jumped out of the car and ran up to the door as quickly as he could, knocking loudly. He suddenly felt himself get a bit nervous as he waited for Noel to come to the door. Should he have gotten flowers? He supposed he didn’t need to make a perfect first impression or anything, they’d already been together for quite a while, but this was the first time he had to win over NOEL. He definitely felt like there should be flowers involved here.

 

Luckily, Noel had apparently thought ahead much more than he had, and came through the door and stepped onto the porch holding a single red rose—reminiscent of the one from Noel’s song in the warehouse—and wearing a black sweater patterned with red roses to match, as well as a white button up underneath with small roses carefully embroidered on the collar and a pair of black jeans that looked uncomfortably tight with a small silver chain hanging from his belt. He certainly looked more formal than Misha, but he really always did.

 

[“I hope you’re not planning to slap me again if you prick yourself on this, моє кохання.” Misha joked as he accepted the rose, trying not to show quite how flustered he was to see the other in his outfit. 

 

“Not unless you want me to.” Noel smirked back, feeling a bit more confident than usual as he noticed Misha’s blush.

 

“Wha- Noel!” He laughed back quickly. It wasn’t even CLOSE to the worst joke the two had made over text, but it shocked Misha a bit more to hear it outloud.

 

“Sorry, sorry.” Noel replied, trying to settle his giggling. “Okay, ready to go Mish? I think Ocean’s gonna have a heart attack if we don’t head out soon, she already said she felt like she was harboring a criminal.”

 

“Mm, you’re such a gorgeous criminal though.”] Misha said before switching to English for the sake of his next line. “You have uh, stolen my heart? That is the phrase, yes?” Misha was pretty proud of himself for that one, he’d flirted plenty in Ukrainian, but he’d never really had to in English. He’d always known his коханий was better at English than him but he hadn’t seen any reason to use the language before, but now that he knew just how much Noel had grown up using English—spending most of his life in Canada and speaking it with his mother at home—Misha figured he should incorporate that too. And if the grin on Noel’s face was any indication, it was definitely a good call.

 

“I don’t think there was any theft there, handsome, you gave me your heart pretty willingly the way I remember it.” Noel teased.

 

“I-” Misha started, before being interrupted.

 

“GUYS! Seriously, stop flirting on my porch and go already!” Ocean called out from her open window, to which both boys rolled their eyes.

 

“Fine, we are going, little orphan a-hole.” Misha shot back, switching the rose to his other hand to offer a hand to Noel, a hand the other boy quickly took, allowing Misha to lead him to the car. 

 

Misha noted that Noel wasn’t using either of his crutches at the moment. They hadn’t technically agreed on a plan, but Noel knew Misha would always be patient with him if it took him a little longer to get somewhere, so he figured it would be safe to use only his prosthetic and not bother with his crutch. It was useful to make sure he could get around school all day and great if he was just getting around his house without having his prosthetic on, but it was nice to give his arm a break on slower days too.

 

As the two got into the car—with Misha walking Noel to the passenger side and opening the door for him—Misha started the car and the radio began playing again, blasting whatever rap he’d been listening to before. Noel playfully shot him a judgmental look they both knew he didn’t mean and turned the radio down, not bothering to turn it off or switch the music. They both knew he didn’t love to listen to rap, but could still appreciate the work put into it, and that his boyfriend loved it so much. The boy had given Misha mostly positive reviews on his YouTube comments afterall, complimenting mostly the lyrics and Misha’s voice. After a moment Noel turned to Misha to ask him a question he already knew the answer to.

 

“So, picnic date?”

 

“Picnic date.”

Notes:

Wasn't going to post this yet so I could dwell on it awhile longer, but it took so long to get through that I'll just go with it for now, may end up coming back to edit it though?

Chapter 15

Notes:

Forewarning I almost forgot to add there are some brief sexual jokes in this, nothing bad but know it's there

Only a few minutes into their first date and the two were already proving that they really did know each other, even if Misha had been in the dark about a few pretty important details. They’d always talked about their first real date—how they would sit together for hours talking and holding each other, how Misha would bring everything they’d need, how Noel would pick the perfect spot, how they would stay there until they could see the stars above them. Misha had always imagined that the perfect would be in Ukraine, and that he’d have time to make something a little better than the pre-made sandwiches and snacks he’d quickly stopped at a convenience store to buy, but it would have to do for now.

 

Misha followed Noel’s directions as they drove, making stupid jokes only the two of them would ever understand and stealing glances whenever they could (a few TOO many glances according to Noel, who jokingly yelled at Misha to keep his eyes on the road). Misha really was trying his best to focus on driving, but all he could really think about was how goddamn wonderful it felt to finally be with his коханий for real, separated only by inches rather than by a set of screens. 

 

[“So, was it weird hearing me talk about you everyday like I was talking about someone else?” Misha asked. He’d been wondering exactly how the situation seemed from his Noel’s point of view, it certainly must’ve been a much different experience.

 

“Well it was nice to hear what you were saying, you were always so sweet and sappy about it even when you were fully committed to your badboy rapper persona—I was honestly surprised someone like you wasn’t embarrassed to be so publicly and loudly in love.” Noel replied, smiling softly.

 

“Loving you is never embarrassing, my divine Noel. But I’m still a mad wicked awesome badboy rapper, thank you very much.” Misha said with a smirk.

 

“Okay okay, fine, you’re my badboy rapper, Mish.” Noel replied, playfully rolling his eyes. “But um, it WAS pretty awkward to hear you using the wrong name all the time, your song in the afterlife was a bit hard to get through. Well, it was a bit hard to get through for multiple reasons really, if I’m being embarrassingly honest I may or may not have been holding back tears, you just sounded so in love.” Noel was still smiling, but he was avoiding eye contact at this point. “That’s when it really hit me that I screwed up, not telling you sooner, letting you think you were in love with some perfect woman that doesn’t even really exist.”

Misha finally pulled into the small poorly paved parking lot as Noel finished speaking, noting that they were the only car there. 

“I am so in love, my Noel, with the most perfect man I have ever met. I can’t tell you how much I wish I’d known who you were sooner, but only because I had no idea I could have been holding you and kissing you and looking right into your eyes this whole time. You are perfect, Noel Gruber, always.” 

 

“You- jeez, Mish, you’ve gotta stop being so sappy! But I am so in love with you too, любий.” Noel smiled back brightly, turning to look at Misha and leaning in to give him a gentle kiss.

 

“I’ll stop being so sappy when you know how perfect you are without me having to tell you.” Misha finally replied after the kiss ended.

 

“Hmmmmmm, nope never gonna happen. Guess you’re just gonna have to tell me how much you love me every day for the rest of our lives, sorry!” The poet teased.

 

“Mm, sounds perfect.” Misha mumbled against the other's lips as he went back in for another kiss. “So, are we ever gonna get out of the car or is this date just gonna be us making out in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere? Not that I’d mind that, of course.” He joked, still not really knowing where on Earth they were.

 

“Oh right, sorry, you’re very distracting Mish. Come on, let’s go!” He replied, getting out of the car and running around to open Misha’s door for him.

 

“I assumed I was the gentleman here.” Misha teased as he stepped out of the car.

 

“It goes both ways.” Noel replied with a shrug, smiling warmly. 

 

With this the two fell into comfortable silence for a moment as Misha allowed Noel to lead him to the start of a trail beside the parking lot. It didn’t seem particularly well maintained, looking quite overgrown, but it was still clear enough for them to get through without too much trouble—Misha caught on a good few thorns and Noel struggled to maneuver over some of the more uneven terrain, but the two eventually made it to a small clearing where Misha set down the blanket from his backpack and took out the sandwiches, snacks, and drinks he’d brought. It wasn’t exactly the most elegant date, but they were together with each other’s warmth and a view of the sky, and that was more than enough. 

 

As they laid down together to look up at the sky the two finally broke the comfortable silence, slipping easily back into their usual jokes and conversation, both smiling for hours until their faces hurt.

 

“-Oh my GOD how could you not tell me you understood me every time I said something to myself? I would NOT have said so many embarrassing things if I knew you spoke Ukrainian, Noel!” Misha was laughing so hard he was struggling to breathe, and Noel wasn’t doing too much better.

 

“You never asked! Pretty much everyone in town already knew I was Ukrainian, I assumed you’d find out at some point!” He giggled back, fanning his face as he spoke. “Plus let’s be honest Mish you’ve told me MUCH worse over our texts.” 

 

“That’s different! I knew I was telling you I like to be choked, I was NOT planning for you to hear me complain about needing to take a shit at school!” Misha joked back, avoiding eye contact and blushing slightly.

 

“Oh my GOD Misha, you have no class!” Noel shot back playfully. 

 

“You love me.” Misha smiled back smugly. “And you’re definitely not dating someone like me for class.”

 

“Hm, true. I’m dating you for your gorgeous smile and your sweet words and your perfect voice and so much more. Especially the fact you could probably throw me, admittedly.” Noel was looking Misha right in the eyes as he said this, smiling a bit more confidently than usual, clearly spurred on by Misha’s flustering and blushing.

 

“Damn right I could, коханий. If you give me a bit longer to heal so I don’t break my back, at least.”  Misha added, careful not to hurt himself again. He would love to carry his Noel around, but he really should be taking care of his still healing body.

 

“Oh yeah of course, wouldn’t wanna break your back…” Noel started, smiling too much to not be going somewhere with this. “Not like that, at least. If I was gonna break your back I’d do it in a much more fun way.” He looked incredibly proud of himself for that one. The two always joked like this, but it was no secret that neither of them were quite used to their conversations being face to face rather than over text yet, both of them noticing the faint blushing and averted gazes. Misha was never one to back down, though.

 

“Mm, promise?” He cooed back, leaning in to be just inches away from the other’s face.

 

“Always.”] Noel smiled back, closing the distance between them with a deep kiss.

Notes:

This is probably terrible and took me way too long to get done but it was a LONG week, long story lmao

Chapter 16

Misha and Noel spent hours together, just laughing, talking, and enjoying each other's company as they ate all of the food Misha brought. Well, Misha was definitely the one going through most of it, and their drinks (drinks like water and soda, that is. Misha was always in support of bonding over drinking together, but he knew their plans weren’t specific enough for him to be drinking, as he wasn’t sure when he’d need to drive again), but Noel wasn’t complaining as long as he got to spend time with Misha.

 

[“So, do I actually get you all day and night, or will you need to be back at Ocean’s earlier?” Misha finally asked as he noticed the light beginning to dim.

 

“Oh, I told my mom I was having another sleepover with Ocean, so we can stay and stargaze as long as you want, Mish.” Noel smiled back, wishing he could just stay with his boyfriend forever. “I get it if you need to be home sooner, Ocean said I can actually sleep there if you wanna just drop me off.”

 

“Never, I’m not letting go of you any sooner than I need to, кохання. Would you be comfortable spending the night at my place? My adopters don’t pay attention anyways so it’s not like they’d notice.” Misha replied, pausing for a moment to consider how his adopters would react. “Not that they’d really give a shit if they did, even if they cared about what I did they’d probably assume you’re just a friend, I don’t think too many people would guess I’m not straight.”

 

“Oh right, yeah, I’d love to stay with you.” Noel hesitated, making Misha frown. Was he making Noel uncomfortable? He never wanted to do that, even if he really really REALLY did want Noel to stay with him.

 

“Do you not want to? If you’re more comfortable sleeping at Ocean’s house or staying out all night that’s perfectly fine, my divine Noel.” Misha asked quickly, trying his best to sound as comforting as possible so Noel knew there were no hard feelings.

 

“No! No, I really want to stay with you I promise!” Noel insisted immediately, reaching out to hold Misha’s face and look him in the eyes. “It was just the ‘assuming you’re straight’ thing. I mean, are you really okay with people realizing you’re not? I didn’t even think about the fact that telling people we’re dating would out you like that…” Noel looked incredibly uncertain as he asked, worrying he’d have to keep the relationship a secret.

 

“Of course I want to tell people we’re dating, Noel! I couldn’t care less what other people think about me liking guys, and it’s like I said—loving you will never be embarrassing, I promise.” He assured, not having even considered what others would think. Who cared about them when he had Noel?

 

“Are you sure? I don’t really have much of a choice in people knowing about me, but you could hide it pretty well if you wanted to.” 

 

“I have nothing to hide, who cares what people think?”

 

“I mean, seeing as I’ve gotten beat up for being gay and trans dozens of times at this point I feel like it’s fair to worry, любий.” Noel replied, raising an eyebrow and offering a slightly sad smile, trying to keep it light.

 

Shit, Misha had forgotten about that part. He wasn’t too worried about getting beat up himself, he could probably take it, but he felt terrible for forgetting what Noel had been through. Plus, would being in an actual relationship with a man make Noel’s situation worse?

 

“I’m so sorry, my Noel, I completely forgot. Would us telling people make it worse for you?” Misha wanted nothing more than to tell the world he was in love with Noel, but he certainly didn’t want to make the boy unsafe.

 

“Hm, probably not? Everyone knows I’m gay anyways, maybe the assholes will be scared enough of you to leave me alone.” Noel joked back. “I do have a big strong bodyguard of a boyfriend now.” He smirked, seeming to like that idea more than he was letting on. 

 

“Oh? Are you saying you want me to beat someone up for you, коханий?” Misha teased, already knowing the other would always enjoy something like that.

 

“Perhaps. But realistically you really shouldn’t, I’d rather not be responsible for you getting expelled this close to graduation, Mish.” 

 

“Worth it if it means keeping you safe.” Misha smiled back, pausing for a moment before adding “And getting to punch out whichever asshole had a problem with you.”

“Honestly? Before the accident I would’ve assumed YOU were the kind of asshole who’d have a problem with me. I really didn’t expect you to be bi, or even willing to accept that I was gay. And I DEFINITELY didn’t think you’d be cool with me being trans… even in the afterlife, after my song? Before you said it was cool, I mean? I thought for SURE you were gonna lose it.” Noel was looking away and picking at his nail polish at this point, fully refusing to look Misha in the eyes as he spoke.

 

“I’m so sorry you had to worry about that, мій коханий, I would never hurt you. And I didn’t think I was bi either until your song, but I never would’ve had a problem with you, I’ve watched all of RuPaul’s Drag Race, you know.” Misha said this as casually as anything else, but Noel’s jaw dropped immediately at the admission as Misha tried to continue. “I-”

 

“HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS ABOUT YOU?!” Noel practically screamed back, tackling Misha back onto the blanket as he cut him off, landing on top of him.

 

“It never came up!” Misha laughed back, amused with how surprised the other seemed.

 

“Misha. Bachynskyi. My entire song in the afterlife was performed in drag! HOW could you possibly not think to mention this?!” Noel was back to staring directly down into Misha’s eyes, his face some combination of playfully annoyed and downright astounded.

 

“Okay in my defense I was a bit busy having a crisis, Noel!” Misha laughed back, loving the view. Looking up at his love—dark hair falling around his face, eyes staring straight into Misha’s soul as his arms blocked in Misha’s head? Yeah, Misha could get used to this. “I just wish I knew who you were during your song, коханий, I would’ve loved to watch that performance knowing you were all mine.” Misha was happy to see Noel giggle at this.

 

“What, you didn’t like being attracted to me when you thought you were with someone else?” Noel teased, enjoying the view just as much—curls splayed out around Misha’s head, dopey smile all on display, staring up at him like he was the only thing in the world that mattered tonight.

 

“What can I say, I fell for you twice! I fell for your personality online and your looks in person, and both are perfect.” Misha smiled back, hoping this moment lasted forever. “But it would’ve been nice to get to enjoy that persona without any doubts. You, Noel, are the love of my life, but Monique seems pretty damn great too.”

 

“You’re the love of my life too, Mish. And you wanna know something?”

 

Misha hummed in agreement as Noel leaned down further to whisper in his ear.

 

“I own that outfit in real life.” He smirked. “Everything from the wig down to the heels.”

 

Misha’s eyes widened at this, glad Noel’s face was still by his ear so the other couldn’t see the bright red blush spreading across his face like wildfire. He didn’t reply for a moment, just listening to the sounds of his ragged breathing against Noel’s chest. By the time he finally squeaked out a reply Noel had leaned back to look Misha in the eyes once again. 

 

“... oh. Okay. Um, I would- I would like to see that someday. If that’s like, something you’d be willing to show me. I guess. Please?” Misha stuttered out quickly, trying his best to hold eye contact with the boy leaned over him. 

 

“I’d love to show you someday, Mish. Are we sure it wouldn’t give you a heart attack though?” Noel joked, loving how flustered Misha was getting. 

 

“If that’s how I die that’s how I die, SO worth it.” Misha replied with certainty, both boys knowing he meant every word.

 

Noel giggled at this, finally rolling off of Misha to lay beside him and reaching down to grab his hand. The two just laid there for a moment, holding hands and staring up at the stars that were starting to emerge. It was wonderful for the two to get to hold each other and talk without a screen between them, but nothing was better than the comfortable silences they found themselves falling into together. All they could hear now was the wind in the trees, the chirps of crickets, and the faint noise of Misha scratching at his skin—something Noel had noticed him doing a lot today.

 

“Hey, you okay Mish? You’ve been itching a lot today, are the bugs bothering you?” Noel finally asked, snuggling into him closer as the temperature started to drop.

 

“Nah I’m fine, it’s just this sweater. I wanted to try to look nice for you but I forgot how goddamn itchy it was.” Misha replied simply. He didn’t wanna make a big deal of it, but the sweater WAS really starting to bother him. He hadn’t even realized it was obvious enough for Noel to notice.

 

“Is it? Misha, I’m touching your sweater right now, it doesn’t really feel itchy to me.” Noel frowned, was the sweater really enough to bother the other? It wasn’t as soft as Noel’s own sweater, but it didn’t feel terrible. 

 

“What? Just touching it makes me feel like I need to peel my skin off! How does it not bother you?” Misha was confused, how on earth did Noel think the sweater wasn’t practically made of poison ivy?

 

Rather than reply, Noel simply slid one of Misha’s sleeves up his arm and grabbed his phone to shine a light on his skin, his skin that was currently bright red and rashy. 

 

“Wh- Misha! Are you allergic to any fabrics or dyes or anything? This DEFINITELY looks like an allergic reaction.” Noel asked frantically, holding Misha’s irritated arm gingerly.

 

“You can be allergic to fabrics?” Misha asked back, genuinely confused. “I do get really itchy and irritated like this from clothing sometimes, but I thought everyone did!” 

 

“Not like this, Mish! You’re definitely allergic to this sweater, take it off!”

“Oh? Are you sure you don’t just want me shirtless, любий?” Misha teased, raising an eyebrow as he moved to pull off the terrible sweater.

 

“Yeah yeah, I just don’t want you to scratch all your skin off.” Noel replied with a smile as he rolled his eyes, pausing a moment before adding his next comment. “Though I’m not complaining about you being shirtless either.” Misha began dramatically flexing at this, sending both of the boys into a laughing fit as they laid back down onto the blanket together, curled up in each other's arms.

 

“Okay, as much as I love this we should probably get going, my perfect Noel. It’s a bit too cold to be shirtless out here for very long.” Misha smiled into Noel, face pressed against his neck as he tried not to shiver.

 

“Oh, right, sorry I didn’t mean to freeze you, коханий.” Noel said as he began to stand up, offering a hand to the other to help him up. “To your terrible basement, then?” Misha snorted a laugh at this, reaching up to accept Noel’s hand.

 

“To my terrible basement.”]

Notes:

Based on a real situation of me being allergic to a sweater and thinking it was just itchy until someone else felt it and told me it was only that itchy to me lmao

Chapter 17

Notes:

Bit of more blatant sexual referencing in this again I suppose, I think I'm gonna update the rating? No idea what I'm doing with that really-

The walk back to Misha’s car was a bit more difficult in the dark, with Noel clinging onto Misha’s arm and using him as a makeshift crutch for most of the walk and Misha smacking his head right on a branch he didn’t see. Even with their struggles, they made it back to the car quickly enough and cranked up the heat to stop Misha’s shivering, pulling out of the small parking lot to head back to Misha’s adopter’s home. 

 

The ride back together was comfortable, with blasting heat and blasting music, Noel’s music this time. It was a fact Misha wasn’t particularly happy about, insisting his rap was better, but he could admit that Noel’s French music wasn’t terrible. That was one of the new things Misha had learned about Noel—while his French wasn’t quite perfect, he was certainly conversational. It made sense all things considered, Misha had already known Noel wanted to move to France before they’d gotten together and Misha knew well enough from his own experience that once you already knew two languages it seemed a bit easier to learn a third.

 

“So, anything I should know about going to your house? Do I need to like, actively hide from your adopters or anything?” Noel asked as they got closer to Misha’s house. Misha noted the switch to English—the two had been switching between Ukrainian and English a lot lately, with Noel preferring English after years in Canada but still wanting to keep up with his native language and Misha preferring Ukrainian but still needing to work on his English. It worked out, allowing both of them plenty of opportunities to use both languages.

 

“No, we can just go in basement door, we will not have to see them. If they are around for something just ignore them.” Misha replied simply. His adopters were terrible people, but they were at least decent enough to leave Misha alone most of the time. They stopped by the basement occasionally to leave some food for Misha, but not more often than they needed to. 

 

“Okay, got it. You don’t think they’d be upset if they did happen to see me? I mean, everyone knows everything in Uranium, I’m sure they’ll already know I’m gay and trans. What if they think we’re fucking? What if they think you’re gonna like, knock me up? Especially if they see us walking in together with you shirtless.” Noel questioned nervously, picking at what was left of his nail polish again.

 

“What, do you want to be fucking? I did buy condoms when I got food for picnic, and the basement is pretty soundproof, you could finally break my back in the fun way.” Misha teased, getting a quiet laugh out of Noel. He knew he should probably be more nervous about saying something like that, but the two had made FAR worse jokes over their texts and had plenty of open conversations, so it really wasn’t hard to talk about at this point, even if they hadn’t actually done anything together in person yet. 

 

“At least let me get in the door before you jump me, Mish.” Noel joked with a playful roll of his eyes.

 

“Hey, maybe I want to be jumped! I like to be taken care of too, you know.” Misha laughed back as he pulled into the driveway and parked his car, turning it off and taking out his key. 

 

“Yeah yeah I know everything you like, babe. But seriously, are they gonna like, get mad at that?” Noel was still smiling, but he couldn’t quite brush off the worry.

 

“No, it is fine. They do not care what I do.” Misha assured him.  “Are you ready to go in, my Noel?” 

 

“Mhm, let’s go get you a blanket before you freeze out here.” Noel joked as he stepped out of the car. He had a point, it really was getting colder by the minute and Misha was happy to get some warmth now that he’d lost the car’s heater.

 

“Welcome to my terrible basement.” Misha dramatically announced as he held open the basement door with a corny bow.

 

“Jeez you weren’t kidding about it being bare down here, it’s barely even warmer than outside!” Noel complained, clearly unhappy that Misha had to live like this. Admittedly he was being a little dramatic, it really wasn’t THAT cold, but it wasn’t exactly warm either! “I’m so sorry, Misha, your adopters really suck.”

 

“Eh, it is okay. At least I don’t have any parents left for you to impress, no one needs to approve of you but me.” Misha joked softly, trying to keep it light. “What about your mother? How is she going to feel about you dating ‘the angriest boy in town’?” Misha asked, adding air quotes around the title he’d been given.

 

“She’ll get over it.” Noel shrugged. “She won’t really be too happy about me dating anyone, but she shouldn’t have too much more of a problem with it being you than she would anyone else.” He added, settling into the small couch. 

 

The basement may not exactly have been homey, but Misha was fortunate enough for it to at least have a small twin bed, a cheap dresser, a surprisingly comfortable couch placed in front of an old TV, and an old fridge off in the corner, as well as an old bathroom that hadn’t been renovated in years The basement had plenty of old boxes of the adopter’s stuff—one of which he was using as a bedside table—but that was about it for Misha’s stuff. It was once supposed to be an entertaining space, Misha had learned, but that plan had been dropped years before he came, leaving behind half-painted walls and nearly every area but where the couch and TV sit abandoned. That worked well enough for Misha, at least giving him a place to relax and enough amenities to successfully avoid the couple living above most of the time. The bathroom may have been questionable and the bed uncomfortable, but it would have to do for now. 

 

“Hm, okay. Should I meet her soon? If I want to make a good first impression we should probably tell her we are dating before she hears it from someone else, my handsome Noel.” Misha didn’t want to push, but he really really did want to make a good first impression. 

 

Noel didn’t seem to know how to answer that, pausing for awhile to think about it. Misha understood, Noel simply needed a moment to think about things sometimes. He honestly admired it, knowing he himself tended to rush into things without nearly enough thought. 

 

“Take a minute to think about it, моє кохання. I have to piss anyways, I will be back.” Misha stated, pressing a quick kiss to Noel’s forehead as he stood to walk over to the small bathroom. Noel raised an eyebrow at this, quietly questioning the other.

 

“I feel like you’ve been using the bathroom a lot lately babe, you feeling okay?” Noel asked softly, making Misha stop for a moment as he walked. Had he been using the bathroom a lot lately? Maybe, but he’d been pretty damn thirsty and drinking a lot too, was that better or worse?

 

“Yes? I think I feel fine, I have been thirsty though. And I guess hungry too, actually. Do you think that is weird?” Misha frowned.

 

“Maybe? You have a followup appointment soon, right? Maybe just mention it then?”

 

“I do, next month. Okay, I will mention it. But for now I will go piss.” 

 

Noel laughed at this as Misha walked away, grateful for his boyfriend’s ability to keep any situation light when he himself tended to stress about everything. Speaking of stressing, he really did need to figure out the whole mother-meeting-his-boyfriend thing. Misha was right, ultimately, the two really should meet soon. By the time Misha came back and joined him on the couch he’d come up with a plan. Was it the best plan? Probably not, but he just wanted to get it out of the way.

 

“Okay, so, if it’s okay with you, tomorrow I’m gonna tell my mom I have a ride home, then you’re gonna come in with me and we’re gonna sit her down and we’re gonna tell her we’re dating. Just get it out of the way, yeah? Just rip the bandaid off!” Noel spoke, sounding like he was trying to convince himself more than Misha. 

 

“Of course, my love, we will just tell her tomorrow. We will do whatever you want. What do you want to do right now, watch a movie? Go to sleep?” Misha asked, hoping the answer was sleep. He loved Noel and he truly loved spending time with him watching movies and chatting, but he DEFINITELY loved getting to hold the other as they drifted off together. 

 

“Hmm… both? We can kinda see the TV from the bed, right? Do you wanna just put a movie on and then get comfortable? Something we don’t mind falling asleep during, probably?” Noel suggested, knowing his boyfriend and knowing that he was probably getting tired at this point. 

 

“There is nothing that sounds better, my divine Noel.” Misha smiled back, grabbing the remote to put on some cheesy movie that neither would mind missing. 

 

---

 

Misha was trying his best to be the calm one here, but picking out an outfit to meet Noel’s mother on such short notice wasn’t really helping with that. He really needed to get some better clothing, admittedly. Luckily, he at least had Noel here to help him this time, who simply suggested he keep it simple: a plain t-shirt under a grey hoodie with a pair of minimally ripped jeans. Clean, casual, but still Misha. 

 

Both boys were clearly nervous on the way to Noel’s house, neither had exactly done a ‘meet the parents’ type of thing before. 

 

[“So… is there a plan? Anything I should know before talking to your mother, коханий?” Misha asked, trying to calm both of their nerves with a little clarification.

 

“Uh, don’t mention my dad? That’s one thing. Oh, and it’s Ms. Gruber, or maybe Maria if she asks you to call her that instead, if you call her Mrs. Bolinska she may actually murder you.” Noel joked, trying his best to keep it light too before he could stress himself out too much.

 

“Okay, okay, fair enough.” Misha laughed back, glad the other was making jokes instead of being too serious. “But I was going for advice on her liking me, not advice on surviving.”

 

“Honestly I’m not really sure, I guess just be yourself?” Noel replied, seeming uncertain.

 

“Really? You sure about that one?” Misha chuckled back, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Okay yeah fair point, be the real you that the choir gets, not the gangster persona everyone else is used to. And PLEASE try to keep the cussing to a minimum, Mish.” Noel replied, realizing that Misha ‘being himself’ probably meant a bit worse language than was appropriate for meeting his mother. 

 

“I will, I promise.” Misha assured. “Should I shake her hand? And what language should I use? You said you use English at home, should I use that? I might still sound a little better in Ukrainian.”

 

“Mm, yeah, a handshake is good. And probably English? But either would be fine really, I doubt she’d complain if you spoke Ukrainian instead.”] Noel replied calmly. For as much as he was worrying, he knew logically that his mother would be mostly concerned with things like his safety and being treated correctly rather than silly things like language and clothing choices.

 

Misha simply hummed an acknowledgment in response, allowing the two to slip back into silence for what was left of their drive. They were practically there anyways, and Misha was pulling into Noel’s driveway before they had too much time to worry.

 

Walking up to the door was nervewracking, Misha waiting awkwardly for Noel to unlock the door and stepping in behind him when he finally got it open. 

 

“I’m home, mom! And I’ve got company!” Noel shouted into the house, unsure where his mother was at the moment. He’d already confirmed she’d be home, hoping she wouldn’t question his reason for asking too much.

 

“Company? You mean the friend that drove you home?” His mother called back, her voice getting closer as she walked towards them.

 

“Uh, yeah, something like that…” Noel replied, unsure of exactly what to say.

 

“Oh! You’re the other Ukrainian in the choir, right? Misha something, was it?” She asked as she entered the room, looking a bit surprised to see him.

 

“Yes ma’am, Misha Bachynskyi. It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Gruber.” He greeted formally, offering his hand to shake, which she quickly took.

 

“Please, call me Maria. It’s nice to meet you, Misha. I’m glad to see all of you choir kids becoming such close friends after… well, you know.” She added, preferring not to directly talk about the accident that had almost killed her son.

 

“About that… mom, Misha and I aren’t just friends, we’re dating.” Noel quickly announced. Sometimes his bluntness shocked even him.

 

“Oh! Uh, well then! In that case, did you two want to maybe, sit and chat for a bit, then? I’d like to get to know you, Misha.” She smiled back a bit awkwardly. 

 

“Of course, I would love to.” Misha spoke politely, trying his very best to make a good impression as the two boys moved to sit on the couch.

 

“So, Misha, you moved here recently, right?” Maria started as she sat down in her recliner, turning to face the boys.

 

“Yes, it has been less than two years. But I preferred Ukraine, it will always be my home.” Misha replied, receiving a nod from Maria.

 

“It was certainly more interesting than here, nothing much happens in Uranium.” Maria smiled back knowingly.

 

“Nothing but a roller coaster accident that disables you forever, that is.” Noel chimed in, trying to work a joke into the somewhat awkward formal conversation.

 

“Mm, the only good thing that’s ever happened in this town was meeting the choir, especially Noel.” Misha agreed, hoping that wasn’t too down bad to say in front of his boyfriend’s mother. Luckily, it seemed to get a laugh out of her.

 

“Good answer, Misha.” She smiled. “So, how did you two start dating?” Luckily she directed this question more at both boys than just at Misha, and Noel was kind enough to take it for him.

 

“Oh, we started getting close after the accident and then I told him I’d liked him since before it even happened, and he asked me out. We were already pretty close before I said anything though.” Noel replied calmly with a soft smile. It wasn’t technically a lie, it just left out a few important e-dating details. 

 

“Makes sense, you’ve always been a romantic, Noel, but I really can’t see you being brave enough to ask someone out.” His mother teased.

 

“Wh- hey! Telling someone you like them is very brave, thank you very much! Misha already knew I liked him when he asked, I think I’m the brave one here!” Noel argued, playfully mocking offense with a dramatic hand over his heart.

 

“If you are so brave then why is most of your nail polish already picked off?” Misha added in, earning a playful swat from Noel.

 

“Hey, whose side are you on, Bachynskyi?!” Noel asked with a slight laugh.

 

“The side that makes your mother like me enough to keep dating you?” Misha joked, hoping that was an acceptable answer. Luckily, the laugh he got from both Grubers seemed to suggest he’d done well. 

 

“Don’t worry, Misha, you’re doing well so far. Has Noel met your parents yet?” Maria asked, making the two boys share an awkward glance.

 

“There is no one to meet, really.” Misha responded quietly. “I never knew my father and I lost my мама just after coming here. She stayed in Ukraine and sent me here because she was sick.” 

 

“Oh, Misha I’m so sorry, I had no idea. Who are you living with now?” She questioned softly, feeling terrible for assuming.

 

“Adoptive parents—they are terrible, not worth meeting. They do not care what I do anyways.” Misha shrugged, not wanting to dwell on them. 

 

Maria just nodded at this, seeming to understand. For awhile nobody spoke, unsure of how to move on from that. It was always a difficult topic for Misha to talk about, typically just making people uncomfortable when he attempted to bring it up. 

 

“So… would it be okay if Misha stayed for dinner, mom? If he’d want to, of course.” Noel finally asked, desperately trying to help the conversation move on. He obviously did also want Misha to stay longer, of course, so he was happy to see Misha offer him a quick smile and nod.

 

“Oh! Well, I’d love to have him, but we don’t really have much here—I was actually just about to run out to grab something when you two got here. Can I leave you alone together for a bit while I go to the store?” She asked with a raised eyebrow, confusing Misha and embarrassing Noel.

 

“Yes, mom, we’ll be fine.” Noel replied with a slight blush.

 

“Hm, okay. Well, be responsible, you two!” She relented, gathering her keys and her purse. “I won’t be gone that long, don’t do anything you wouldn’t do with me here!” 

 

“Oh my god, mom, PLEASE.” Noel begged, desperately wanting her to just stop talking and leave already.

 

“I’m your mother, Noel, it’s my job to be concerned!” She argued as she walked up to the door. “I need to run to the store to grab something to cook but I shouldn’t take too long, okay?”

 

“Okay, okay, we get it mom.” Noel muttered back, avoiding eye contact. 

 

“Stay safe boys!” Maria called as she walked out, closing the door behind her.

 

The two were left sitting on the couch turned towards each other, both blushing and unsure of what to say for a moment before both eventually burst out laughing. 

 

[“I see why you were so worried to tell her you had a boyfriend!” Misha finally laughed out between wheezes.

 

“I know, I know, I’m so sorry Mish that was so awkward.” Noel cringed, still giggling. 

 

“It’s fine, I think she liked me, at least? That’s all that really matters, I need your mom to approve of me so I don’t get kicked out of your home.” Misha joked back, happy with how the introduction went overall. 

 

“Bold of you to assume I wouldn’t be into the whole star crossed lovers thing, hiding our secret romance from a disapproving family.” Noel replied, always one for the dramatics. 

 

“But where’s the fun in not being able to show the entire world how much I love you, my perfect Noel?” Misha defended, pulling his lover towards him and onto his lap, into a gentle loving kiss. 

 

The two stayed like this for awhile, Noel straddling Misha with his arms rested on the other’s shoulders as Misha’s hands settled on his waist. 

 

“I don’t think my mother would approve, Mish.” Noel joked when they finally pulled apart. 

 

“Oh NOW you care if she approves.” Misha teased back, leaning back in to steal another quick kiss. 

 

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Noel smiled back, playfully rolling his eyes. “Oh hey, can we tell the group chat that my mom knows now? I know they already know we’re together, but it feels more official now that we told her, y’know?” 

 

“Absolutely, коханий.”] Misha nodded, handing Noel’s phone to him. 

 

Noel accepted the phone, sliding off of Misha’s lap to sit beside him and opening the choir group chat, typing up a message as Misha grabbed his own phone to watch the conversation.

 

N: We have news!!!

N: Me and Misha officially told my mother we’re together, so we’re officially being open about our relationship in public!

 

C: Congrats guys!

 

O: It’s actually ‘Misha and I’

 

M: Dont be a hater ginger

M: Homophobe

 

O: I am not a homophobe Misha, I’m not even straight!
O: And I’m not being a hater, I'm just being correct. 

 

M: Same thing.

 

P: I’m happy for you guys

P: And actually on the topic of relationships we kinda have something to say too

 

S: Penny Connie and I (happy Ocean?) are dating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

S: We’re still open to dating other people as well but we’re all committed to eachother

 

P: Though I probably won’t 

P: I don’t think I’d want too many partners at once personally

 

S: We got together at the mall

S: It started as a hangout and turned into a date :D 

 

C: We were gonna wait for a good time to tell you guys but this worked out perfectly :) 

 

O: OMG I’m so happy for you guys! And yes Savannah I am happy with your use of proper grammar, thank you

 

M: Yoooooo space jesus you got 2 girlfriends in one day sick!

M: I am so proud

 

N: That’s great you guys, congratulations! 

 

C: Thanks! It’s amazing, I couldn’t be happier <3

 

P: <3

 

S: <3333333

 

Misha put his phone down smiling, genuinely happy for the three. He turned to look at Noel who seemed to be smiling as well as he put his phone back on the armrest of the couch. 

 

“Looks like we’re not the only relationship in the choir anymore, babe. We’re gonna have to step it up.” Noel joked, leaning back into Misha who wrapped an arm around him.

 

“Hm, we’ll just have to show them we’re the best couple then, all the kisses and affection in front of them.” Misha replied, pressing a kiss to Noel’s head to prove his point, making the other boy giggle.

 

“Exactly!” Noel laughed back, loving the comfortable casual affection they’d gotten so used to together. “But I really am happy for them, they all totally deserve to be happy I’m glad they found eachother.” 

 

Misha simply nodded at this, pulling Noel in closer to press a few more gentle kisses to the side of the other boy’s face before reaching to grab the TV remote.

 

“Do you want to watch something? Or would your mother not approve of that either?” Misha joked, offering the remote to Noel, which he accepted with a quiet laugh.

 

“Sure, Mish. Wanna watch one of your terrible horror movies or something? We could turn off the lights and close all the curtains so it’s all dark and dramatic.” Noel offered.

 

“Are you sure? You usually say you are scared of my movies, мій поет.” Misha checked, noticing as Noel smiled at the petname. 

 

“I’m sure. You’ll just have to protect me during the scary parts.” Noel joked, placing his head on Misha’s shoulder as he handed the remote back to the other.

 

“Deal, I’ll always protect you, my lovely boy.” Misha replied, smiling at the blush that broke out across Noel’s face as he started Saw VI (which apparently had the plot he remembered as his favorite, not Saw V. Who knew?). 

 

Noel quickly got up to turn off the lights and draw the curtains, making the room as dark as possible before grabbing a blanket to share and settling down on the couch with Misha. The two stayed like this until Noel’s mother came home—huddled under the blanket, Noel burying his face in Misha’s neck whenever the movie got too much for him. Yeah, they were gonna have to watch horror movies together every chance they could now, Misha decided. Getting to hold Noel like this, to feel like he was protecting the boy even if it was just from phony gore on a screen? It was the highlight of Misha’s day no contest, and he was pretty sure it would be every single time. And honestly? Every new experience with Noel felt like the highlight of his entire life.

 

They were about halfway through the movie when Maria came back, carrying an armful of bags which Misha quickly offered to help carry before being shot down by both Grubers (by Maria because she didn’t need the help and by Noel because he knew Misha should really still be taking it easy). She headed towards the small kitchen to put the groceries away and begin cooking dinner—another task Misha tried to help with.

 

“You’re a wonderful guest Misha, but you don’t need to offer to help with everything, I’ve got it covered.” She smiled reassuringly, glad her son was dating someone so kind and helpful, even if he still seemed a bit nervous and overly formal around her. 

 

The two settled back into the couch to continue the movie they’d paused at Maria’s insistence, exclaiming that they could watch a terrible movie if they wanted to but they couldn’t drag her down with them. Both boys laughed at this as she left the room, apologizing for their chosen movie. Even if Misha was the only one in the house who really enjoyed a movie like that, it was really more about watching together than WHAT they were watching. Sure, Noel’s mother would complain to him later about watching such a gory film in her home and Noel himself would really rather be watching The Blue Angel for the hundredth time that month, but they were together, and that was all that mattered.

 

“Okay, dinner’s ready!” Maria eventually called, drawing the boys back out of their movie and over to the table.

 

Misha smiled as he sat down, thanking her for the meal. It was nice, having the closest thing to a family dinner he could hope for. Well, the choir was like a family to him too, but this was different, this had the possibility of Misha getting some sort of maternal figure again. Misha really wasn’t certain if they’d ever be close enough for that, but he really hoped so, and dinner was certainly a nice start.

Notes:

Okay I'm well aware this probably should've been 2 or even 3 separate chapters but for whatever reason it felt right to put it all together so there wasn't a chapter of just filler or something like that

Chapter 18

Late October in northern Canada mostly meant cold weather. Very cold weather. Fortunately for the choir, it also meant their first Halloween together as close friends. They weren’t exactly going all out or anything, but costumes, a bonfire, and a sleepover at Connie’s? Nothing sounded better. The Blackwood’s home may not have been as spacious as the Lamb’s, but they had a nice paved bonfire pit area with plenty of comfy seats and blankets for the group, not to mention the best food in all of Northeastern Saskatchewan. 

 

Misha hadn’t really been planning anything for Halloween before the accident and had needed to come up with a costume pretty quickly, but he really didn’t mind—buying a cheap skeleton hoodie and some white spray paint he used to sloppily spray a pelvis and leg bones onto a pair of old black jeans, as well as having Noel help him with some simple skeleton makeup. He didn’t particularly love the feeling of the makeup on his face, but Noel helping him with it? That had been absolutely wonderful.

 

“Mish, stay still! You’re gonna make me mess up.” Noel complained as he straddled the other boy on the bed, leaning down over him to do his makeup.

 

“I am trying, [it tickles!]” Misha replied from under him, doing his best not to squirm.

 

“You could at least keep your head where I put it babe, you’ve gotta stop turning to look at me!” Noel huffed, grabbing Misha by the jaw to hold him still.

 

“But you look so gorgeous!” Misha protested.

 

And it was true, he really did. Noel hadn’t really been planning to dress up this year, still not having the guts to dress as Lola Lola and not really having any plans before the accident, but around his friends he knew he could go for a more dramatic costume than usual. He didn’t really have the time to put together a Lola Lola costume that was up to his standards on such short notice, but he already owned the next best thing: his Monique Gibeau outfit. He hadn’t put on the whole outfit yet, but he had already done his own makeup, and Misha already couldn’t stop staring. By the time Noel finished with Misha’s makeup, Misha had already practically memorized every detail of the other’s face.

 

“Okay, I think you’re all done. I’m gonna run and get dressed and then we can go, okay?” Noel finally said as he slid off of Misha and walked to the small bathroom to get changed.

 

“What, I don’t get to watch?” Misha joked as he sat back up, watching Noel walk away.

 

“No you do not, that would ruin the surprise.” Noel smirked as he closed the door behind him. The two had chosen to get ready in Misha’s basement, not wanting Noel’s mother to see his choice of costume. Even if they all knew he’d be fine around the choir, his costume certainly wasn’t ‘dialing it back’ like his mother would’ve preferred. Eventually, Misha heard the door swing open and fought to keep his head straight forward, knowing Noel wanted him to wait until he was told to look. 

 

“Welcome… to Monique Gibeau.” Noel purred, walking up to Misha’s side and gently grabbing his jaw, turning Misha’s face towards him to finally look at the outfit in real life.

 

… Yeah, Misha could just die right here and now and die fulfilled. Wow. Noel was looking down at Misha—the same straight black bob wig, short black slip dress, and fishnets from the afterlife, plus a new pair of small black half moon shaped earrings, a pearl necklace, and a long fur coat. It matched the outfit well, but was also necessary for the weather. Frankly even with the coat he’d likely be cold, but Noel had decided it was better to be cold than wear a pair of ugly thick tights under his fishnets.

 

Misha couldn’t even begin to think of what to say, simply staring slackjawed and wide-eyed as he reached out to feel the edge of the coat, getting a soft giggle from Noel.

 

“What, speechless? I’m flattered, любий.” Noel teased, sitting down next to Misha on the bed and reaching up to run a hand through the other’s hair.

 

[“Yes, you are entirely too gorgeous, моє кохання. It’s not even fair that I went so long without seeing this. I’m the luckiest man on earth, I can die happy now.” Misha finally sputtered out, getting a large smile from the other boy. 

 

“Thanks Mish, but I’m definitely the luckiest, I get to be with you.” Noel replied softly, loving the other’s reaction. “But we should really get going, we’re gonna be late.” He added as he stood up to leave, only to be stopped by Misha grabbing his arm.

 

“I’m okay with being late.” Misha replied simply, looking Noel up and down, making Noel playfully rise an eyebrow. 

 

“No handsome, we have to go.” Noel insisted, giggling at Misha’s groan in response.

 

“Fine, but only if I get to see this outfit again in the future.” Misha decided.

 

“Deal. Now let’s go, I wanna see Ocean’s reaction to this too.” Noel replied as he pulled Misha up, walking the two over to the door to put on their shoes. Misha was just wearing the same plain old sneakers as always, but he noticed Noel was stepping into one black heel, leaving his prosthetic off and grabbing both of his crutches, already adjusted for a taller height than usual. 

 

“Is that safe, heels with crutches? Looks a bit tall.” Misha asked, LOVING the height the heel gave his boyfriend, but not wanting him to hurt himself.

 

“Probably not, but since when do you care about staying safe?” Noel joked, knowing the other had plenty of habits that would give Ocean a heart attack. 

 

“Mm, fair point. Speaking of not staying safe, do you think Ocean’s gonna kill us for this?” Misha joked, holding open his backpack to show the several bottles of vodka, whiskey, and wine—wrapped in his change of clothing to prevent too much clinking, of course, he wasn’t an amateur. 

 

“She’ll try to kill YOU maybe, I’ll pretend I didn’t even know, I’m a good little catholic boy, obviously.” Noel joked sarcastically, getting a snort of a laugh at this.

 

“Ah yes, of course, the most holy of us all.”] Misha joked back as the two headed out, holding open the door for the other and running ahead to open his car door too. It seemed romantic—and it really was intended that way—but it was also just practical since Noel was using both of his crutches. He typically stuck to one or simply used his prosthetic, but with such an impractical choice of shoe it was better to be safe than sorry.

 

The drive to Constance’s was loud. One thing Misha and Noel had figured out quickly was that if there was any music they could always agree on it was musical soundtracks. Misha still thought his music was better, but he could agree that this was great too. By the time they finally pulled into Connie’s driveway the two were absolutely BLASTING Guns and Ships as they both sang along (rapped along, Misha would insist) at the top of their lungs. They stayed in the car together until the song finished, gathering their stuff so they could head in afterwards. 

 

“WHAT IS UP MY PARTY PEOPLE!” Misha yelled into the house as he opened up the door, startling Constance’s little brother who was sitting on the couch watching TV. “Oh, sorry baby Blackwood! Do you know where the rest of choir is?” 

 

He just nodded at this nervously, pointing towards the back door. Everyone in the choir knew Misha meant no harm, but for the most part the rest of the town still hadn’t quite decided if they trusted him yet. 

 

“Thank you, little man!” Misha replied, trying his best to sound non-threatening but still speaking a bit louder than he probably should’ve as he and Noel walked towards the back door and into the yard.

 

“Misha, Noel! You guys look amazing! I never thought I’d get to see Monique again.” Constance greeted as they joined the rest of the choir sitting in the chairs around the empty firepit. It seemed like they were the last two there, looking around at everyone in their costumes.

 

“Thank you, you guys look great too! Your costumes fit you perfectly.” He replied, looking between her and Ocean. Constance and Ocean were matching, wearing homemade Orange Blossom and Strawberry Shortcake costumes—the 1980’s versions, specifically. Ocean had been working on them for months, she told them, making sure they were made with 100% attention to detail.

 

“Next year we’re getting her in matching costumes with us, we’re already brainstorming! It’s gonna be great, trust.” Savannah declared, looking confident. They were wearing a perfect recreation of their costume from the afterlife too, fake abs and all.

 

“Oh my god Savannah, same idea!” Noel replied, happy to see he wasn’t the only one dressed as his own character. “I honestly already had this outfit before the Cyclone, did you?” 

 

“Nope, I started making it as soon as I got out of the hospital. My parents helped a lot, they always help me make my Halloween costumes.” They replied smiling, glad someone was noticing their hard work. “I always make them this last minute, I’m nothing if not a procrastinator.”

 

“Amateur move, Potts, I’ve had this planned since before last Halloween.” Penny smirked, gesturing to her costume. “For the record, when they say ‘we’ are planning it they really mean me.” Savannah threw their hands up in mock surrender at this, not denying it. Savannah may have had a lot of ideas and spent a lot of time thinking, but Penny was definitely the planner in their relationship. Misha didn’t recognize her costume, she was dressed in a long distressed wedding dress with visible ribs and arm bones with her face painted blue and some blue sleeves and tights covering the rest of her skin, wearing a stringy blue wig and a messy veil attached to a wilted flowercrown to match.

 

“Yoooo Penny we kind of match, you have the skeleton parts! What is your costume? It is dope but I do not know it.” Misha asked, impressed with her bodypaint and costume.

 

“Thanks Misha, you look dope too. And I’m dressed as Emily from the movie Corpse Bride! I got the dress at a thrift store and made it look all messed up like this myself, I’m pretty proud of it.” Penny smiled back, swishing the skirt of her dress around with her hand.

 

“I have not seen Corpse Bride, but it seems interesting!” Misha replied happily, noting the name to look up later. 

 

“Really? We’ve gotta watch it sometime, Misha! It’s one of my favorite modern movies, I love Tim Burton.” Noel decided, turning to look at his boyfriend. “It’s no Blue Angel, but for an English movie made in the 21st century it’s really good!”

 

“We could watch it tonight! I think it’s a bit sad but I know Penny loves it too, and it’s perfect for Halloween!” Constance offered. 

 

“That’s perfect, Connie!” Ocean spoke, looking excited about the decision. “It’s spooky enough to be seasonally appropriate, but it’s not too scary or gory like Misha would pick!” 

 

“Hey, my scary gory movies are great, Shortcake!” Misha argued, tilting his head down to look Ocean in the eyes and smirking. “VERY short cake, tiny little cake.”

 

“I can’t control my height, Misha! You’re a man, of course you’re taller, that’s just biology!” Ocean huffed, putting her hands on her hips as she argued her case. 

 

“I’m biologically female and I’m way taller than you, Ocean. You can’t blame biology, you're just short.” Noel argued, pulling his legs up to his chest and rubbing his hands over the exposed skin to fight off the cold. “Hey, could we maybe start a fire soon, or grab some blankets or something?”

 

“Oh yeah sure, sorry! I can get it started now that we’re all here. Could you grab some blankets please, Ocean? You know where they are by now.” Constance asked, standing up to start building the fire.

 

“Sure, Connie! I’ll grab one for each of us, sound good?” Ocean asked, looking around at the group to see everyone nodding in agreement before heading back to the house. She’d made a little progress walking with forearm crutches in physical therapy, but she was still using her wheelchair almost all of the time. Luckily, the Blackwoods had a small paved path from the bonfire pit to the door, so it wasn’t too difficult for her to get around. The small wheelchair ramp they’d purchased after the accident to cover the small step up to the back door was still a bit difficult for the girl to push herself up, but she’d gotten used to it enough to feel comfortable going in and out of the house herself. 

 

Misha watched as Constance built up a fire, moving quickly and starting to light it before Ocean even returned with blankets. He watched as he worked, wondering how she’d learned to build one so quickly.

 

“You are fast, do you build many fires?” Misha questioned curiously.

 

“Yeah, I guess so? My family goes camping a lot so my parents made sure I knew how, I’ve been helping make campfires since I was a little kid.” She replied, seeming a bit surprised that Misha had noticed her skills.

 

“Oh, mad wicked awesome! Could you teach me some time? I have not been camping since I was a child, my мама never let me do the fire.” He asked excitedly, hoping he could convince Noel to go camping with him sometime. 

 

“Sure, Misha! You wanna have a bonfire together next weekend, just us? I could teach you how to cook on a fire too!” Constance suggested happily. The choir hung out as one big group all the time, but it wasn’t uncommon for any smaller combination of them to spend time together either. 

 

“Yes, I would love to Connie, thank you! Is Friday or Saturday okay? I have a doctor appointment Monday morning so I do not want to be awake all night.” Misha asked, knowing he really didn’t operate too well on too little sleep.

 

“Yeah sure, Friday after school works for me!” She offered, happy to have a plan.

 

“Okay, blankets are here!” Ocean called as she came back outside to join the group. “Sorry it took me so long, I had to get the perfect one for everyone!”

 

Ocean looked incredibly proud of herself as she held six blankets on her lap, handing each one to a specific member of the choir and explaining exactly why she’d made her selection. It was overplanned, unnecessary, and 100% Ocean. They weren’t exactly perfectly matched or anything—the Blackwoods had plenty of blankets, but they were all pretty plain, having only a few colors and thicknesses to offer. Still, the girl seemed proud of herself for assigning everything so perfectly.

 

“Noel, you get the thick fluffy one, because it matches your coat!” She said, offering him a fuzzy white blanket that seemed to be the thickest in the pile. “It’s also super warm since you’re the only one who didn’t listen to me about wearing long pants or tights to stay warm.” 

 

“Yeah yeah, whatever… thanks.” Noel muttered as he rolled his eyes, quickly reaching out to accept the blanket. 

 

“Misha, you get the red flannel one because it matches the pajama pants you wore to the last sleepover! Though I really hope you brought a more appropriate shirt this time.” Ocean was shaking her head as she said this, recalling the other’s poor choice of clothing. 

 

“My two-seater shirt is dope, Shortcake! Don’t be hater!” Misha protested, only to receive a doubtful glance from Noel. The two loved each other, but they certainly didn’t always have the same fashion taste.

 

“Moving on, Penny, you get the sheepskin blanket because of your last name!” Ocean beamed, seemingly very proud of this one as she handed the blanket over. It was soft and fluffy like a sheep on one side and smooth and flat on the other. “It’s not real sheepskin it’s just imitation, but still.”

 

“Seems a little dark to give sheepskin to a Lamb, Ocean.” Penny teased with one eyebrow raised.

 

“Exactly, you love that weird dark stuff!” Ocean declared, getting a laugh out of Penny, who really couldn’t deny that. “Savannah, you get this knitted one, because it’s made of yarn and cats love yarn!” 

 

“That’s a bit of a stretch, but thank you, I love it.” Savannah smirked back, knowing Ocean probably had pretty limited options and not actually minding at all if his blanket wasn’t perfectly themed.

 

“Yeah yeah, I’m doing my best here. Connie, you get your purple blanket that I crocheted for you!” Ocean smiled as she held out the blanket. It seemed old, showing quite a few pulls, but well made, with several shades of purple, gold, blue, and pink. 

 

“Perfect, thanks Ocean! I love this blanket, thanks again for making it for me!” Constance praised, knowing Ocean was proud of the creation.

 

“Of course, Connie! And I’ll be using the pink fleece blanket, it matches my costume perfectly!” Ocean claimed as she took her spot around the newly started fire again, getting comfortable with her blanket. 

 

It was almost hard to believe the choir had ended up so comfortable together. If you’d told them before the accident that they’d be sitting around a fire together, making terrible inside jokes and annoying Ocean with their flirting in their respective relationships, or even just spending time together willingly? They never would’ve believed it. Sure, Ocean and Constance had considered themselves best friends and even Noel had been friends with Constance and frenemies with Ocean, but they all knew it was different now. Ocean had finally started treating her friends like friends, Constance was speaking her mind instead of just being ‘nice’, and Noel was more to them than just the only low voice in the choir who was actually willing to participate. And now their group had essentially doubled—Misha had finally warmed up to the group, they were all learning ASL to begin including Savannah, and Penny rounded out the choir well and was welcomed with open arms (especially by her new partners). 

 

As the night went on and it was cold and dark enough outside for the choir to head inside, they were already wishing the night would never end. Misha watched as Constance started up their first movie of the night and figured it was time to reveal his suspicious cargo. 

 

“So… underage drinking time?” Misha grinned, pulling the bottles out of his bag to the gasps and cheers of the group.

 

“Wha- Misha, no! That’s illegal!” Ocean choked out immediately, looking offended by the very suggestion.

 

“That’s kind of the point, Ocean.” Noel replied with a dramatic roll of his eyes. “But it’s not like we’re gonna make you drink with us, fully optional I promise.” He added, softening a bit. Ocean could be a bit much at times, but it’s not like they actually wanted to make her uncomfortable. 

 

“I’m down, it could be fun! And don’t worry, my parents won’t mind as long as we don’t break anything. Thanks, guys!” Constance interjected, trying not to get the idea shut down immediately.

 

“Sure, why not? It’s not like we need to drive anywhere for awhile or anything, right?” Penny decided, always willing to try something new. She looked to Savannah to get confirmation from her, but she was immediately met with a mischievous grin that was sure to give Ocean a heart attack.

 

“Absolutely, I’m almost offended that you even have to ask.” She joked, figuring she made her expressions clear enough at this point that she didn’t even need to offer a response, but wanting to be clear regardless. 

 

“Hm… fine.” Ocean finally decided with a bit of hesitance. “But if I think you guys are getting too reckless I’m shutting it down!”

 

Everyone cheered at this, pleasantly surprised that they’d talked Ocean into it. They all agreed to get changed into their pajamas for the night first, not wanting to ruin their costumes.

 

Constance headed up to her room to change, returning in a soft pair of light grey shorts and an old purple t-shirt with a faded golden sun in the center, right from the movie Tangled. Penny and Savannah headed to the downstairs bathroom together to help each other remove their makeup while Ocean used the upstairs bathroom to change into a (hard to look at) Halloween themed pajama set, with fuzzy orange long pants and sleeves patterned with little black cats. Noel headed into the bathroom after her, taking off his wig, jewelry, makeup, and fishnets and switching his short slipdress for a long black silky nightgown that reached well past his knees, stealing Misha’s skeleton hoodie to wear overtop. Misha himself simply kept on the white tanktop he wore under his costume and switched his jeans for a plain pair of sweatpants, not bothering to take off his costume makeup until Noel dragged him back into the bathroom to wipe it off. Savannah and Penny are the last to emerge, taking awhile to get all of the blue off of Penny’s face. 

 

“Oh my god, Savannah, look!” Ocean practically screamed as the two finally walked out in their pajamas, gesturing wildly between Savannah’s pajama set and her own, immediately noticing that they’d chosen the exact same orange-with-black-cats themed pajama set. Savannah seemed just as excited, immediately matching her energy and agreeing to take a picture with her. 

 

“I think Ocean’s gonna steal our partner, Connie.” Penny joked, stepping out in her own pajama set, a plain sage satin short-sleeved top and shorts. 

 

“I have two hands and several pockets thank you very much.” Savannah smiled back. “Ocean could never take me away from you two.” 

 

“Hey, it’s not like I’m asking for a space in her pockets!” Ocean argued playfully, clearly not actually offended.

 

“Not yet, at least.” Savannah winked, getting a laugh from the entire group.

 

“Okay, I’m gonna need that vodka to get through much more of anyone flirting with Ocean.” Noel teased, trying to get the conversation back to his and Misha’s plan. 

 

“Yes, finally!” Misha cheered, standing up to turn towards the kitchen. “Constance, do you have cups we can use?”

 

“We got solo cups for today, is everyone cool with that?” She asked, looking around to see the group agreeing and heading to the kitchen to grab the cups for the choir. “Do you need a corkscrew? I think we have one somewhere.”

 

“No, I came prepared.” He replied simply as he pulled out a small multitool from his bag. “But thank you, I am glad to know that you’re prepared to be a good drinking buddy.” He joked, getting a giggle out of Constance as Noel grabbed a bottle of whiskey in one hand and wine in the other.

 

“Okay, who wants what?” 

 

---

 

By the time the movie ended, Constance, Penny, and Savannah had ended up on the floor, facing towards the couch where Misha, Noel, and Ocean still sat. Well, Ocean was still  sitting on one side of the couch—Misha and Noel were on the other side closer to laying down really, cuddled into each other and only half sitting up as they shared a bottle of vodka, not bothering with the cups Constance had grabbed. Constance herself had stuck to the whiskey and Penny to the wine, while Savannah tried out all three (‘All pronouns, all genders, all the girlfriends AND all the drinks, they cannot make one decision!’ Misha had joked, getting laughs from the group a bit louder than he would’ve were they all sober).

 

“Okay, now that we’ve finished our first movie, should you guys stop drinking?” Ocean asked, clearly a bit concerned about the ‘irresponsible activities’. “I don’t want anyone getting too too drunk tonight.”

 

“Okay, I know you’re still learning how to be chiller but seriously no-one’s even that drunk yet.” Noel replied with a quick eyeroll, trying not to be too rude when the girl seemed legitimately concerned, but lacking the filter to be quite as kind as he meant to be. 

 

“Those three are on the floor!” She argued, gesturing to where Constance sat on the floor, playing with Savannah’s hair as they laid in her lap while Penny leaned on Constance with her arms around the other. “And you two are drinking straight vodka!” 

 

“So? We are Ukrainian men, we can handle it! It is part of our ‘culturally ingrained alcoholism’, that was what you said, right Ocean?” Noel teased, speaking in his old Ukrainian accent rather than the Canadian one he’d picked up over the years, making Constance jump so much she nearly knocked her partners off of her.

 

“I didn’t know he could still do that…” She blurted out, getting a laugh from the entire choir, and making Noel blush slightly with what seemed to be a bit of embarrassment.

 

“Of course I can!” He argued quickly, switching back to the Canadian accent the others were used to. “I know how to sound Canadian at this point, but it’s not like I forgot how to sound Ukrainian!”

 

[“I like when you sound Ukrainian, моє кохання. You should talk like that more.” Misha smiled, gazing into Noel’s eyes as he ran a hand through the other’s hair, getting a bright smile and a small giggle from the other.

 

“Thanks, Mish. I love talking to you in any accent.”] Noel grinned back, burying himself farther into his boyfriend like he was trying to get closer than humanly possible.

 

“Ugh, all of you guys are way too sappy when you’re drunk!” Ocean complained, grabbing the remote to put on another movie, landing on Coraline as the rest of the choir giggled at her, covering their respective partners in kisses just to bother the girl.

 

Details of the night got fuzzier as their second movie went on, leaving only Ocean sure of exactly what had gone on. All the rest were sure of was that they fell asleep laughing with their friends, holding their partners, and feeling more like a family than most of them ever had. 

Notes:

Well aware this chapter isn't great I did not originally have any of it planned but I thought Halloween could be fun, I may come back and edit it eventually? But I just wanted to get something posted so I could move on really.