Chapter Text
Surprisingly, it was only another couple of months before Noel got a text from Misha that his wisdom teeth were coming down. What do I do? he asked, and Noel offered to come with him to the dentist for his x-rays, as well as the removal.
“I didn’t think you were going to get yours so soon,” Noel mentioned as Misha pulled into the car park.
“Maybe you infected me with your gross extra teeth.”
Misha looked utterly calm and content, but every now and then, Noel could see his teeth latching onto the inside of his cheek worriedly. “Probably,” Noel agreed lightly. “Are you feeling okay?”
Misha turned his head and looked at Noel strangely. “I’m fine. There’s not even any needles in x-rays. Why would I not be?”
Noel just shrugged and unbuckled his seatbelt. As they walked in towards the dental practice, he felt Misha’s hand slide easily into his own. He stopped walking and turned to face his boyfriend. “Mish, it’s okay to be nervous. I don’t like the dentist either.”
Misha’s brow was furrowed worriedly. “I don’t know, dude. I’m hoping that I can go in there and it will turn out that I can actually keep my teeth after all, so I can avoid the needles.”
“I know,” Noel responded sympathetically. “But I’ll be with you the whole time, okay?”
Misha breathed out slowly and nodded. “Yo, I’m not trying to be annoying. Just so you know. You don’t have to come in with me.”
“You could never annoy me, Mish. You’re my boyfriend. I love you, and of course I’m going to support you if you’re scared or worried.”
Noel pressed his lips to Misha’s in what he hoped was a calming fashion, and smiled softly as he felt Misha relax in his arms.
“Okay, let’s go in. Get these teeth out asap, yo.”
Noel was made sit in the waiting room while a different dentist than Maria brought Misha into the x-ray room. It was only supposed to take a few minutes, so he sat and flicked through the newest edition of the home improvement magazine that Misha had been reading last time. He had only gotten through a few pages when the same dentist came back into the waiting room.
“Is Noel here? Your boyfriend is looking for you.”
Noel stood up, feeling slightly worried. “Yeah, what’s going on?”
The dentist motioned for Noel to follow him down the corridor, talking as they walked. “Luckily, Misha’s top teeth have already crowned enough for us to be able to grip them with the pliers. Since I don’t have many appointments today, and there’s a room free for the next hour or so, I figured we could just take them out right now. Misha just wanted you there with him.”
“Oh!” Noel said, shocked. He had been under the impression that pulling teeth was something that took a lot of time and planning, not a spur-of-the-moment decision like this.
“You don’t have anywhere to be, do you?” the man asked.
“Hm? Oh, no, not at all.”
The man pushed open the door to a room, motioning for Noel to step inside. Misha was already lying on the dentist’s chair, chatting to a woman who was working at the computer. He looked perfectly at ease, but Noel saw the worry in his eyes melt away as they made eye contact.
“Noel!”
“Mish!” Noel responded, sitting down in the corner.
The girl on the computer pushed away from the desk and headed out of the room with a smile, and the other dentist quickly assumed her spot.
“Okay. My name’s Daniel, as Misha already knows, and I’m just going to walk you through this procedure. It’s very easy and very quick, you’ll be out of here in no time, okay?”
Misha made eye contact with Noel and held his hand out, silently asking for support. Without a word, Noel dragged his chair forward and grabbed Misha’s hand in his.
Daniel continued cheerfully, keys clacking on the computer as he spoke. “I’m going to put you under local anaesthesia, which is just a tiny little needle that goes into your gums. And it only goes a couple of millimetres into your skin, barely one eighth of an inch. You’ll hardly even feel it, and then it will make your mouth totally numb for the actual pulling of the teeth. All okay so far?”
Misha made a tight little noise of agreement in the back of his throat, and Noel squeezed his hand comfortingly. “It’s true, Mish, you barely feel it.”
Daniel rolled over in his chair with a cotton bud in his hand. “Just some numbing gel, to make it even easier on you.” Misha nodded again, staring up at the ceiling. The grip he had on Noel’s hand was teetering on the edge of painful.
Noel carefully stroked his thumb along Misha’s wrist, trying to keep his boyfriend’s attention away from the pliers in his mouth. Daniel kept chatting through the whole thing.
“You’re in college, then? What are you studying?”
“I’m doing English Lit,” Noel replied. “I’m hoping to become an editor, maybe, but I also write poems in my spare time, and I’m working on a novel.”
“Oh, fascinating! What’s it about?”
Noel flushed a bit. He doubted that this random dentist would really understand the appeal of writing or reading a novel about a Parisian sex worker back in the 1920s. “Lots of clever little things,” he said vaguely, and Daniel chuckled. Misha’s hand tightened its grip on Noel’s.
“Okay, we’re all set there. Just bite down on these cotton balls for me to stop the blood. I’m sure you already have some Tylenol at home, but I’ve found that a day of resting in front of the TV with a bowl of ice-cream can work wonders for any lingering pain as well.”
Noel laughed, and Daniel winked at Misha before pulling the tray away and gesturing for him to climb off the chair. “I have the teeth here if you want to take a look at them,” he said, pointing to the tray. The teeth were sitting on a piece of tissue paper, already washed clean of any blood.
“Dude, that’s so dope!” Misha leaned over and scooped them into his hand, holding them close to his eyes. “Noel, we can have matching teeth!”
“I didn’t get to keep mine,” Noel said. He wasn’t sure if he should be upset or disgusted at the thought, but at least Misha seemed happy.
“Usually we just throw them away,” Daniel admitted. “But sometimes people like to take them home, for whatever reason.”
“I’m going to make madwickedawesome bracelets out of these,” Misha decided, and Noel shuddered.
“Ugh, please don’t.”
“What, you don’t want to have piece of me with you everywhere you go?” Misha asked, and Noel made a loud gagging sound.
“Come on, let’s go get ice-cream before I throw up.”
“Bye, guys,” Daniel called as they left. Misha was still carefully cradling his teeth in his hands.
“Would you not have asked for a box, or something?” Noel complained.
“Nah,” Misha decided. “I like seeing you squirm.”
Noel shuddered again. “Those were in your mouth two seconds ago! Forgive me for being kind of grossed out!” He took a closer look, and his face twisted in disgust. “They look like little aliens. It’s disgusting.”
“You look like little alien,” Misha muttered defensively. “I think they’re cute. I can’t believe you’re insulting me like this.”
“I’m not insulting you! Just your freaky little keepsakes.”
“These were part of me literally five minutes ago! Home grown, yo!”
Noel made a gagging sound again. “Don’t say that, I’m begging you.”
Misha frowned at him as they climbed into the car. “I would never be so mean about your gross teeth.”
“No,” Noel agreed. “You’d ask to make jewellery out of it.”
“I think it would be cute,” Misha complained. “It’s romantic.”
“No, romance is writing a poem or getting flowers. Making keepsakes out of your own teeth is one step away from witchcraft.”
Misha’s smile got a little more serious for a second. “Thanks for coming with me, poet. It means a lot.”
Noel’s eyes softened. “Any time, Mish. I love you, I want you to be comfortable all the time.”
“It wasn’t even that bad. I thought it would be way worse when I saw the size of the needle they gave you, but it barely stung.”
“I know, that’s what I was telling you. And at least it’s over now.”
Misha pulled out the cotton balls in his mouth and poked gingerly at his face. “Still bleeding.” He popped the cotton back in and turned the key in the ignition. “Ice-cream?”
The car park at the supermarket was full, so Noel headed in alone to buy their ice-creams while Misha drove laps around the building. Instead of buying individual cones, he bought a tub for them to share back at one of their dorm rooms.
“Cookie dough?” Misha asked.
“Obviously. Are we going back to my room?”
“Yeah. Am I picking what we watch?”
Noel smiled. “Is it Saw VI or Drag Race is the real question.”
“The two genders,” Misha responded.
They pulled up outside Noel’s dormitory building and headed inside, with Noel carefully carrying the tub of ice-cream. Misha was finally able to get rid of the cotton balls in his mouth, wincing as he did so.
“So, are we thinking Drag Race or Saw?” Noel asked. He didn’t particularly like either, but the look on Misha’s face when he suggested them made him smile.
“Drag Race, definitely. I’ve been tortured enough today, no need to watch it happen to other people too. Even if they’re dicks.”
Noel let Misha settle onto his bed and busied himself searching for his laptop under the piles of textbooks on his desk. When he turned back, Misha was grinning at him.
“What?” Noel asked, and Misha just laughed and shook his head. “Come on, why are you looking at me like that?”
“I just can’t wait to watch Drag Race,” Misha told him. “Come on already, the ice-cream is going to melt.”
“Oh yeah!”
Noel pushed the laptop into Misha’s hands and pulled out the ice-cream and a couple of plastic spoons. “Here, get that set up.” He hopped up onto the bed and wriggled so that he was pressed shoulder to shoulder with Misha, then balanced the ice-cream on his lap and held out his hands for his laptop. “Drag Race it is.”
It was nice to sit pressed up against his boyfriend, eating ice-cream and watching shitty television. Noel turned to his right and kissed Misha’s jaw, careful to avoid putting pressure on any swollen areas. Misha turned to face him as well, smiling.
“I love you, poet,” he said, leaning in and brushing his lips against Noel’s. Noel jolted back, glaring.
“Careful, don’t hurt your mouth!”
Misha rolled his eyes and pulled Noel in closer again. “It’s fine. Let me kiss you.”
Noel hesitated for a moment longer, then scoffed and leaned back into Misha’s touch. He closed his eyes at the gentle, cool pressure of Misha’s lips, letting the sounds of the laptop fade into irrelevance. Misha’s hand left his arm to cup his neck, pulling Noel ever so slightly closer.
The hand on his neck was warm, and Noel let his own fingers run across Misha’s cheekbones and tangle in the hair behind his ears. The kiss was ended too soon, though, by Misha pulling back with a loud noise of surprise and a hand clapped over his mouth.
Noel’s heart jolted a bit. “Mish, are you okay?”
Misha grunted in affirmation and tipped his head back a bit. “Mouth bleeding,” he explained, voice muffled by his hand. “Tissues?”
Noel sat frozen for a second, and then his face cracked into a grin. “Oh my God, you idiot,” he muttered to himself, getting off the bed to find a packet of tissues. “What, you couldn’t wait until you didn’t have actual open wounds in your mouth to kiss me?”
He laughed quietly to himself as he searched, ignoring Misha’s muffled noises of indignation. “Dumbass,” he giggled.
He found his tissues and tossed them over to Misha, who balled a couple of them up and shoved them into his mouth.
“Not funny,” Misha complained.
“It is,” Noel said, as kindly as he could manage. He climbed back onto the bed and wrapped his arms around Misha, pressing loving kisses to his shoulder. “I love you, but you’re never living this down.”
Misha groaned and shoved him away, moving to sit on the other side of the bed. “I’m never kissing you again, that much I’m sure of.”
Noel cackled and moved closer, grabbing Misha’s hands. “Oh, Mish, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“No, too late,” Misha snapped. “You made your choice.”
Noel pouted and moved even closer. “Please?”
Misha just turned his head away. “This is going on the YouTube,” he grumbled.
“What, I Filled My Boyfriend’s Mouth with Blood and Now He Won’t Stop Laughing at Me?” Noel suggested.
“More like, I fought through extreme pain to show affection to my boyfriend, who threw it back in my face and now has to suffer the consequences.”
Noel sighed. “I’m sorry, baby. Please forgive me for laughing at the fact that you kissed me so hard that you made yourself bleed.”
“Say it like you mean it.”
“I’m so sorry, angel cakes. I didn’t mean it, I’d never treat my darling boyfriend so terribly. Pretty please with a cherry on top, I’d do anything to make you forgive me.”
After a moment, Misha’s frown melted away and he grinned. “I was trying to think of something to make you do to earn my forgiveness, but I think this way I prove that I’m a better boyfriend than you.”
Noel let out a noise of disbelief that was silenced by Misha leaning forward and pressing a quick kiss to the tip of his nose. “There. Apology accepted.”
Making Misha’s hospital appointment took longer than Noel’s had, which was possibly to be expected after he got his top teeth out so suddenly. In the days leading up to it, Noel was constantly being bombarded with questions about what to expect.
“They bring you into a different room, and then they put a tube in your arm. There’s really not that much to it. I’ll be with you up until you fall unconscious, okay?”
For the first time since they moved to Prince Albert together, Noel was allowed to drive Misha’s car. He enjoyed every single second of the experience, even with Misha sitting next to him and white-knuckling his armrest.
“Misha, come on, I’m not that bad at driving,” Noel complained.
“I know, кохання, I never said you were,” Misha replied, confused.
“Yeah, but you’re sitting there looking like I’m about to flip the car off a bridge. You need to relax, babe. It’ll all be over in a flash, and I’ll be taking care of you the whole time, okay?”
Misha frowned over at him. “I know. It’s just that I haven’t been to hospital since I broke my arm in Odesa when I was twelve.”
“But you know it’s all going to be okay, right? You were there with me, all that happened was that I got really sleepy.”
He watched out of the corner of his eye as Misha’s hands relaxed a bit. “You promise you’re going to be with me the whole time?”
“Not in the actual operating studio, they probably wouldn’t let me in there, but I’ll be there when they put you under and I’ll definitely be there when you wake up, okay?”
Misha let out a slow breath. “Okay.”
When they got to the hospital, Noel silently gripped Misha’s hand for support. They headed up to the reception and gave the man working there all of Misha’s information, then sat and waited for someone to come get them. Misha’s leg was bouncing, and Noel reached out and laid a comforting hand on his knee.
“You’re okay, babe. It will only take a minute.”
Finally, they were called over to a room, where a nurse had Misha lie down on a bed. “This is so stupid,” he muttered embarrassedly to Noel once the woman had left. “I am grown man, I can walk to operating room myself.”
“Not once you’re unconscious,” Noel reminded him, and Misha’s mouth tensed.
A different nurse to the one before pulled apart the curtains surrounding Misha’s bed and grinned brightly at them. “Hi, guys! You’re Misha, aren’t you. Great. I’m Sierra, and I’m going to be taking care of you today!”
Misha nodded tensely at her, still holding Noel’s hand.
“Okay, I’m going to bring you into a different room to talk to our anaesthesiologist, and just ask a few questions. But first, I have a couple of forms for you to sign, and I have to put in your cannula. That’s just the little tube that goes in your arm so that we can give you your medicine.”
Noel watched as Misha’s face went pale. “Okay.”
“It’s alright, Mish,” he soothed. He stroked Misha’s wrist as Sierra took his blood pressure and measured his heart rate and followed along as she wheeled Misha’s bed into the other room.
“Dude, I’m getting really stressed,” Misha whispered shakily. Noel grabbed his hand again.
“Mish, I know you can do it. They’ve done all the hard parts, now it’s just about falling asleep and letting them do their job. And then I’ll be taking care of you again, yeah?”
Misha nodded, his face softening. “Yeah.”
As soon as Misha was unconscious, Sierra directed Noel back into the room to wait for Misha. “It’s such a short surgery, he’ll be back here in less than forty-five minutes. And then we’ll wait for him to wake up and watch him for about an hour, then you’ll be on your way!”
“Thanks,” Noel told her honestly. He settled down and pulled out the notebook that he had brought to pass the time, starting to jot down some ideas and little snippets of poems that he wanted to complete.
He had no idea what Misha was going to be like after this surgery. He’d never seen anyone coming off general anaesthetic before apart from himself, and he still couldn’t remember a thing about what it had been like for him. Misha was still frustratingly vague, only saying things like “you were just tired, I don’t know.”
Hopefully Misha would be the same. Noel leaned back in the chair and flicked through some of the old pages in his notebook with a sigh.
True to her word, Sierra returned after just under forty-five minutes, pushing a very unconscious Misha along with her. He had his mouth stuffed with gauze and the cannula had been removed from his arm, replaced with a bright green plaster.
“I’ll leave him to wake up. There’s a little button over his head right there, will you press it when he’s awake? He’ll probably be fairly out of it, I wouldn’t expect much in the way of talking.”
“Okay, sounds good.” Noel put his notebook away and scooted over to grab Misha’s hand. He had promised to be there when Misha woke up, which would probably be within the next few minutes.
And just as expected, a minute later Misha raised his other hand to his face and let out an uncomfortable groan. Noel squeezed his hand gently. “Mish, are you awake?”
Misha’s eyes opened and he blinked blearily at Noel. “Що?”
Noel’s eyebrows knitted together, and Misha mirrored his expression. “What?”
“Де я?”
“Mish, I can’t understand you.” He reached up and pushed the button over Misha’s head, then returned to holding his hand.
“Що ти маєш на увазі?”
“Mish, you’re speaking in Ukrainian. I don’t speak Ukrainian.”
“Ні, я ні?”
Noel let his head drop down onto their clasped hands and groaned softly. This was going to be a long day.
“Where am I?” Misha tried, accent thicker than usual and muffled by the gauze in his mouth.
“There you go! We’re in the hospital, remember? You had to get your wisdom teeth out.”
Misha reached up and felt the gauze in his mouth. Noel was forced to step in when his frown deepened and he went to pull it out, with a quick slap to the wrist and a “No!”.
Sierra poked her head in and smiled to see that Misha was awake. “Oh, perfect! If he’s doing well in about an hour, I’ll let you guys go. Until then, just keep an eye on him and push the button if you need me!”
Misha watched, transfixed, as she left. “We go home now?” he asked, and Noel shook his head.
“Not yet, babe. We need to make sure you’re okay.”
Misha looked at him strangely. “I’m fine. Look at me. No problems!”
Noel laughed and kissed the back of his hand. “I know you’re fine, we just need to wait a while.”
Misha leaned back with a frustrated groan and let his head thump against the pillow. “My mouth hurts,” he complained.
“I know, baby. It’ll feel better tomorrow.”
Noel half expected a response, but Misha had fallen asleep again within the two seconds it took for Noel to answer him. Noel considered pushing the button again, in case Misha wasn’t supposed to fall asleep, but he looked so sweet with his head tilted back and his lashes dark against his cheeks that Noel couldn’t bear to wake him.
When Sierra poked her head back in half an hour later, she smiled at the sight of Noel sitting and flicking through his notebook with one hand trapped under Misha’s sleeping torso.
“I hope it’s okay that I let him sleep,” Noel said worriedly.
“Of course! You can wake him up in half an hour and head off, I’ll come in then to make sure everything’s okay.”
The half hour passed relatively quickly, although Noel could feel his trapped hand slowly going numb. After a while, he balanced his notebook on his lap and used his free hand to shake Misha’s shoulder.
“Mish? You need to wake up now, I’m bringing you home.”
Misha’s eyes fluttered open again and he stared blearily into Noel’s face. “Noel Gruber?” he mumbled against his pillow.
“Yes, Misha Bachynskyi?”
Misha’s eyes narrowed. “Should you not be in choir?”
Noel blinked at him. “What?” In a panic, Misha tried to sit up and leap out of bed. Noel jumped up next to him and tried to hold him back. “Mish, what’s going on?”
“Choir,” Misha insisted. “We’re late, Noel Gruber!”
Noel couldn’t hold back his laugh at Misha’s anxious face. “Mish, we’ve been out of high school for the last two years.”
“Mish?” Misha asked, and Noel’s smile dropped.
“Yeah, that’s your nickname.”
“I have a nickname?”
Noel frowned. “Misha, are you okay?”
“Do you have a nickname?” Misha asked insistently.
“I mean, you call me poet and stuff, I don’t know,” replied Noel hesitantly.
“Poet? Why?”
Noel’s stomach was filling with a nasty sinking feeling. “Because you want to. You always said I’m a man of words.”
It didn’t look like Misha remembered the fact that they were together, and Noel was scared to mention it. What if he thought that he was still engaged to Talia? What if Noel called Misha his boyfriend and it made him angry?
“You are man of words,” Misha exclaimed, grinning up at Noel with his cheeks full of gauze. “I am clever to come up with nickname like that.”
“Yeah, you are,” Noel agreed.
“Are we in university?” Misha asked. It seemed like he had forgotten everything since early senior year, definitely before he and Noel started dating.
“Yeah. You’re doing Language Studies, and I’m doing English Lit.”
“In Uranium?” Misha asked, and Noel laughed again.
“No, we came to Prince Albert together.”
Misha stopped for a second and frowned. “Not Ukraine?”
Noel’s stomach flipped, but he ploughed on. “No, not Ukraine.”
“Why?” Misha asked, sounding like a child again.
“Well, we wanted to go someplace together, and we both got scholarships for here.”
Misha was looking up at him, wide-eyed. “Why did we want to go to college together, Noel Gruber?” he asked, and Noel cursed internally.
He’d really gone and put his foot in it now. “Because we’re dating,” he said, almost under his breath.
“What did you say?”
Noel cleared his throat and spoke a tiny bit louder. “We’re dating, remember?”
He hardly dared to glance up, but when he did, Misha’s face was crumpling. Oh God, had he just ruined Misha’s delusions of being together with Talia?
“Are you okay?” he asked, terrified, but Misha cut him off by throwing his arms around Noel’s shoulders with a sob. “Mish, what?” Noel’s brain short-circuited with shock, unsure of what to do with the boy in his arms.
“I’m so happy,” he heard, muffled against his shoulder. He let out a shaky breath of relief.
“Mish, what on Earth is going on?” Noel asked. He was almost giddy with relief that Misha wasn’t disgusted by him.
Misha pulled away and wiped furiously at the tears on his face. “Aw man, I can’t cry,” he complained. “I’m just so happy. I can’t believe we’re dating! When did we start? Did I ask you out? Are we going to be together forever?”
Noel staggered back under the onslaught of questions, unsure what to answer first. “Um. We started going out in the middle of senior year. And yeah, you asked me out.”
Misha grinned at him through his bloodstained gauze. “I’ve had a crush on you forever, Noel Gruber,” he said, and Noel flushed. “You’re so beautiful, you’re like an angel. I never thought I would end up with you.”
Noel smiled and grabbed Misha’s hands. “I’ve had a crush on you forever as well, Misha Bachynskyi. And I think you’re pretty angelic when you want to be.”
“Right now?” Misha asked hopefully, and Noel’s smile faltered.
“Well, if you took away the fact that your mouth is full of bloody fabric, and the fact that you can’t remember the last two and a half years of our relationship, then yeah. Right now.”
Misha frowned. “I need to get rid of this stuff in my mouth.”
“What? No, don’t do that. It’s stopping you from bleeding all over the bed.”
“But I need to kiss you, now that we’re dating!”
Noel barked out a surprised laugh. “Absolutely not.” Misha’s mouth started to tremble, and the last thing Noel wanted was to bring on another crying fit, so he decided to clarify. “The last time I kissed you when you had teeth pulled, you started bleeding all over my dorm room. And besides, we’ve had nearly three years of kisses. Surely you can hold off for a few days?”
“I would remember three years of kisses,” Misha insisted. “Trust me, if I don’t remember kissing you, then it hasn’t happened.” He seemed so confident that Noel didn't want to shatter his dreams, but it had to be done.
He leaned in a little bit closer, holding both of Misha’s hands in his. “Misha, my love,” he said gently. “You’re delusional.”
Misha frowned at him. “You are bad boyfriend.”
“Funny, that’s what you said the last time, too.”
Sierra poked her head in through the curtains again, smiling to see that Misha was awake and talking. “Perfect! Misha, I’m going to get you to climb on out of bed and try and walk around a bit for me.”
Noel motioned for Misha to get out of the bed, but he point blank refused unless he could hold Noel’s hand while doing it. “I’m sorry,” Noel muttered embarrassedly, walking in circles with his boyfriend. “He just found out that we’ve been dating for the last two years.”
Sierra laughed. “Don’t worry, we actually get that a lot. I’m going to give you the ward phone number so that if there’s any complications you can let us know, and then you’re good to go!”
“Thanks so much,” Noel told her gratefully, and Misha echoed his sentiment. Misha was still fairly shaky on his legs, so Noel wrapped an arm around his waist and dragged him out to the car.
Misha collapsed into the passenger seat, smiling fondly at Noel as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “I still can’t believe how lucky I am,” he said softly. Noel blushed a bit and turned to look at his boyfriend.
“I’m the lucky one here. Maybe not right this second, but generally speaking.”
Misha frowned as he tried to figure out that sentence in his head, but eventually gave up and went back to staring at Noel’s profile as he drove. “What are we doing now?”
“I’m bringing you back to your dorm. I’m going to keep an eye on you for the next while, just to make sure you stay safe and fed and all that stuff.”
“Okay,” Misha responded. He clearly wasn’t too upset about the whole arrangement.
“Do you really not remember anything?” Noel asked. He was interested to find out just how far Misha’s temporary amnesia went.
“I don’t know. I remember choir, and you, but that’s about it. And I remember that this is my car. Why are you driving? Should I not be driving?”
“Now?” Noel blurted out incredulously. “Are you having a laugh? Mish, I love you, but you’re high as a kite. You’d kill us both.”
Misha sunk further into the passenger seat and crossed his arms sulkily. “Bad boyfriend,” he muttered under his breath, and Noel rolled his eyes fondly.
They got back to Misha’s dorm, where Misha already confirmed that his roommate would be staying with friends a few days in advance. Noel had bought a can of soup that he could heat up when Misha was hungry, so he set that out next to Misha’s water bottle and pain medication.
“What are we going to do?” Misha asked. Noel checked his watch; nearly seven pm.
“Are you hungry?”
Misha made a face at the thought, and then nodded. “Yeah. What can I eat?”
“Soup.”
“I don’t like soup,” Misha complained.
“Yes, you do. I bought this one especially for you, because it’s your favourite. You’ve always liked mushroom soup.”
“Mushrooms?” Misha exclaimed in disgust. “I hate mushrooms.”
“No, you don’t,” Noel explained patiently. “I’m going out for a minute to heat it up, but trust me, you like mushroom soup. Stay here.”
He headed out with a large bowl and his can of soup to the shared kitchen, which was blissfully empty. He had to get back to Misha quickly, before the poor soul took it into his head to start wandering around looking for Noel. The soup only took about three minutes to heat up. Noel spent that entire time darting between the microwave and the corridor, trying to make sure that Misha hadn’t wandered off.
When he got back to Misha’s room, he was barely surprised to see that the other boy had already managed to fall asleep. He was lying on his back with his arms hugging his chest, looking for all the world like a dead body in a coffin. Noel carefully set the bowl of soup on the bedside table and shook Misha’s shoulder.
“Mish, wake up,” he said gently. Misha opened one eye and groaned in annoyance.
“I’m so tired,” he complained, and Noel laughed softly.
“I know, baby. I just need you to eat some soup and drink some water, and then you can go straight back to sleep.”
Misha sat up with a loud, drawn out sigh, and held out his hands for the soup bowl. His eyes were still heavy with sleep as he spooned the stuff into his mouth. His gauze had mysteriously vanished, but it didn’t seem as though his mouth was bleeding anymore, so Noel wasn’t too worried.
“I like mushrooms,” Misha mumbled sleepily.
“I know you do, babe. Come on, drink some water and take some medicine, and then you can go back to sleep.”
He held out a couple of tablets and Misha’s water bottle, happy that Misha was in such a pliant mood.
“Can I sleep now?” Misha asked, and Noel nodded. “We’re boyfriends, right?”
It was like Misha just wanted to double check that nothing had changed since Noel had left the room. “Of course,” Noel assured him. Satisfied, Misha held out his arms.
“Come here,” he demanded.
“Misha, your mouth,” Noel pointed out, but Misha ignored him.
“Come here,” he insisted.
With a heavy sigh, Noel crawled onto the bed and next to Misha, letting the other boy wrap his arms around his shoulders. “Will you kiss me?” Misha whispered, eyes shining hopefully.
“Only one,” Noel warned. He leaned in and carefully let his lips brush against Misha’s, alert for any signs of pain or bleeding. When everything seemed to be fine, he settled back into Misha’s arms and ran a hand through his boyfriend’s hair. “Go to sleep now,” he murmured, hoping that the warmth and the feeling of his hands would lull the Ukrainian to sleep.
“Yes, sir,” Misha replied sleepily, eyes already sliding closed. Surprisingly, Noel found his own eyes drifting shut. The combination of the dark room and the comforting warmth of his boyfriend was sending him right off to sleep. Just before his eyes shut fully, he leaned in and pressed another kiss to Misha’s forehead.
“I love you so much, Mish,” he whispered, almost to himself.
“I love you too, кохання,” he heard Misha respond sleepily, and then felt him settle deeper into the bed. Noel followed suit. Hopefully by tomorrow, Misha would be more himself. Or, at the very least, remember his boyfriend of almost three years.