Chapter Text
After a shitty day at work Noel was glad to finally be back home in his one bedroom apartment with his two cats. He was a few minutes late to work because of traffic so he got lectured about being on time. It wasn’t even his fault but when he explained that he was just told to be more prepared.
The work day was uneventful, it was a slow day but the time seemed to pass just as slowly. He wasn’t friends with any coworkers so he didn’t have anyone to make conversation with, he was just lost in his own head dreaming of France and bad love he used to wish for.
For as long as he could remember Noel dreamed of moving to Paris and living out his own tragedy like in the movies but after he almost died in his dead end town at only 17 years old, tragedy didn’t seem as appealing. He found himself wishing for real love more often now, sure it was always in the back of his mind but he never thought it was something he could ever get so he settled for being used by hot French guys until he died alone in an alley just like Monique.
Occasionally even before the crash Noel would wish for some romantic guy to come into his life and give it a bit of color to make it more bearable, of course there was no one like that in Uranium City Saskatchewan. Even when he moved away from home into a bigger city he still felt just as alone as he did back in his hometown.
Daydreaming through most of his shift didn’t pass the time as quickly as he’d hoped but the day was over eventually and he was ready to microwave some frozen meal so save him from any effort needed to cook anything.
When Noel walked into his apartment and turned on his light he saw a vase broken on the floor with water and flowers spilled all around it. It had to have been one of his cats, Burton was just laying in the couch asleep and Noel figured Fitz was more likely to knock it over anyway.
“Really Fitz? I just got that vase..” Talking to the cat was useless but it made Noel feel less alone in his quiet apartment. He wouldn’t be mad at his cats for knocking stuff off the table but he was still frustrated he had to clean it up.
Noel grabbed the broom and dustpan to get up the glass shards and now ruined flowers before he could clean up the water. He was trying to be careful but was on autopilot from exhaustion which caused him to cut his hand when he wasn’t paying attention while sweeping it into the dustpan.
“God damn it!” Noel jumped back and dropped the dustpan, creating even more of a mess. Instead of moving to fix it Noel just sat on his knees for a second to breathe. He felt gentle nudging on his shoulder and looked to see Fitz there rubbing his face on him.
“It’s okay, I’m not mad at you, just a long day.” Noel said out loud. Fitz couldn’t even understand him but it made him feel a bit better. It took a bit for Noel to start cleaning again, he wished he could just leave it for tomorrow but he didn’t want to risk either of his cats getting hurt just because he dint want to clean it up.
He was able to get it all cleaned up after a moment and fed his cats before going to make his own food. Noel wasn’t sure what he had but he was hoping he had a few more frozen dinners left because he was so tired and didn’t want to cook. Most days Noel didn’t have the energy to cook anything and he didn’t want to waste money going out to eat every day so he would either buy frozen dinners or make something on a day off that he could have another day.
Of course, when Noel opened the freezer all that was in it was some ice and some popsicle frozen to the side. No frozen dinners then, when he checked the fridge all he had was some ingredients, nothing that he could just heat up.
Noel didn't want to spend the money on ordering food to his apartment but he really didn’t want to go out to get something either. He looked around a bit to see if there was anything he could make that wouldn’t take much time, luckily he saw some noodles in a box sitting on his counter. It wasn’t ideal but he could make the noodles and put some butter on them and it would work until the morning when he could grab something before work.
It took about fifteen minutes to make his noodles with butter he took it over to the table and grabbed some sweet tea he had in the fridge and took that too. He was watching some YouTube video on his phone while he ate to try and fill the silence, it worked well enough that the quiet didn't bother him as much.
Quiet reminded Noel of Uranium, the town he never thought he would escape, the only sounds there at night were crickets if you listened close enough. When he moved to the city Noel expected it to be louder than it was, he also hoped to move to a busier area but it was too expensive so he settled for an apartment in a quieter area. It was nice to not have to listen to traffic even in the middle of the night but sometimes the silence was too much.
Noel was focused on the YouTube video he was watching and wasn’t paying much attention when he reached for his tea so his arm knocked his bowl of noodles off the table and to the floor, luckily the bowl was plastic so Noel only had to clean up the pasta and not anymore glass shards.
Everything seemed to be going wrong, Noel took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself so he wouldn’t start crying over such a small thing. Usually knocking his pasta to the floor wouldn’t get this type of a reaction from him but it wasn’t just the pasta. It was his shitty day at work, the vase, not having anything pre-made. It was everything put together, the pasta was what got Noel to finally break.
It took a moment for Noel to get her himself again but when he did he just wanted the night to be over so he quickly grabbed some paper towels and a wet towel to clean it. When Noel got back to the mess he saw both Burton and Fitz eating the pasta off the floor. He genuinely shooed them away from the food on the floor so he could clean up the mess.
Noel needed to get out of his apartment. As much as he wanted to just go to bed he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep yet and he didn’t want to just wait around on his phone till he could fall asleep. He looked out the window and say the sky was clear and he could see the stars out. One of Noel’s favorite things to do when he first moved to his apartment was to go to this park near his house to go stargazing. He wasn’t sure when he stopped but it had been a few months since he last went there.
Life just got busy, he had work and he was still taking some college classes online. He didn’t have much time or energy to go stargazing anymore but maybe it would help him feel a bit better, maybe he could go to bed with a good memory from the day.
It was cold outside, it was always cold in Canada, especially at night so Noel changed out of his work uniform and into something a bit warmer before heading out. Despite changing to something a bit better for the weather Noel was still a bit cold walking to the park. His nose felt frozen and his ears were starting to feel the same but he was wearing a hoodie so he was able to put the hood up to try and stay a bit warmer.
The walk to the park was short, only about five minutes, so Noel got there quickly. It was later in the night so Noel was the only there that he could see. There were a few spots he could see from where he was but he figured he was probably alone.
There weren’t many good places to sit that where comfortable for stargazing so Noel just layed on the ground so he could look straight up at the stars.
Stargazing always reminded him of Ricky. When him and the rest of the choir finally started paying attention to Ricky they all found out about their love for space. They would often go on long rants over text to Noel late at night talking about stars and planets. Sometimes Noel would even get to hear about their own universe they created.
The stars weren’t as bright in the City as they were in Uranium. That’s one thing Noel did miss from home, his town was so small there wasn’t much light pollution so he could see the stars clearly from any place in town. He didn’t regret leaving but it made him appreciate his small town a bit more, even if he wasn’t there anymore.
Noel was too focused looking for constellations Ricky had told him about that he didn’t hear footsteps coming near him. He didn’t notice that he wasn’t alone and that there was a stranger laying next to him in the grass until they started speaking.
“You can see many stars tonight.” The voice startled Noel and caused him to jump a bit. He looked to his right where the voice came from to see some guy laying next to him. He had a thick Slavic accent that he couldn’t quite place.
“Yeah..” Noel was a bit hesitant to talk to this stranger, especially with how his luck had been all day.
“Do you know those stars there?” The stranger asked, pointing to a constellation Noel recognized as Cepheus. “That is Cepheus, named from some Greek guy.”
Noel giggled a bit, this guy seemed excited to share what he knew. “He was the king of Aethiopia.” Noel explained. “Not just ‘some Greek guy.’”
The stranger laughed a bit before replying. “You know about stars?”
“My friend loves space, they tell me all about it.” Noel turned his face to look at the guy next to him. He looked about his age and had brown hair with a bit of curls. He was pretty and Noel could feel his face heat up a bit looking at him so he turned his face back to the stars.
“Tell me something then, about stars.” The guy said. Noel could feel eyes watching him and when he looked back to the guy he was looking at Noel while waiting for an answer.
“I don’t know what to tell you, I don’t really know that much..” Noel wasn’t really sure what he could say, there were a million facts Ricky told him but he could only remember a handful and they weren’t even the most interesting ones.
“Just tell me anything! What is more stars you know the name of?” He asked. That was easy enough for Noel to come up with, he just looked around for a moment to find one he remembered a bit about until he saw one he liked.
Noel pointed to the Constellation he picked out and saw the guy looking that way. “That one is Cassiopeia, named after a Queen in Greek mythology.” Noel liked that story, it was one of the ones he liked most that Ricky told him about.
“See? You know about stars!”
Noel laughed a bit. “I would t say that, I’ve just been told about a few constellations.”
“You know more than I do. What is your name?” The guy asked. Noel wasn’t expecting to talk to him as much as he had this night and he was still a bit hesitant about giving him his name but he figured it would be fine.
“I’m Noel, what’s your name?” Noel responded. He needed something to refer to him in his mind other than just ‘this guy’.
“My name is Mischa.” Mischa said. It was a nice name Noel thought. “I might need to know more about stars later, is there any way for me to contact you if I ever have a question?” He smiled at Noel and Noel felt like he was going to melt. Sure he didn’t really know this guy much but he was asking for his number and surely it wasn’t actually just to talk about the stars.
“I could give you my number?” Noel smiled back, he would play along, Mischa was pretty and nice and maybe they could talk a bit more later, it was exciting and Noel was able to forget about the day he had for a bit.
Noel put his number into Mischa’s phone and they parted ways, on his way back to his apartment Noel got a text from a new number.
Unknown Number: Star boy?
Noel felt his face heat up at the nickname, star boy? That’s the cutest thing anyone had ever called him, no one ever really gave him nicknames so even just being called something nice by some pretty big he met stargazing in a park was enough to send butterflies to his stomach.
Noel: that’s me <3
Noel made it back to his apartment and quickly changed into his pajamas so he could be a bit more comfortable. He sat on the couch and hoped Mischa would try to talk to him a bit before they went to sleep.
Mischa: Anything else you know about those stars you told me about??
Noel: cassiopeia?
Mischa: That one
Mischa: Who was the queen it was named for
Noel: she was married to Cepheus and was put in the sky because she upset Poseidon by saying her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the sea nymphs, her constellation is next to Cepheus and Andromeda
Noel did have to double check some of the things he said to make sure he had it right before sending but he didn’t know the story vaguely. He was getting tired though and was having a hard time staying awake texting Mischa.
Mischa: Do you have anything else to tell about her??
Mischa: Noel?
Noel started to type a response but half way through his phone slipped out of his hand and he was sleep on the couch with his phone screen still on and open to his texts with Mischa.
Mischa: Are you awake?
Mischa: Goodnight star boy <3