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At 9 pm, on the dot, Ocean taps on his basement window, like she does every school night. And without fail, Mischa lets her in.
“Lets her in” is an understatement. Perhaps exaggerated by Mischa’s own height, but Ocean is tiny. She barely comes up to his shoulders, there’s no way in hell that he would just let her drop into the basement from the tiny window in the corner. No matter how annoying the know-it-all is, no matter how rough he seems, he isn’t heartless. Once Mischa hears the little tap tap tap on the little window in the corner of his basement, he opens it up and holds Ocean under her arms as she hops into the room. She's so light that it barely feels like anything to pick her up. For someone so uptight, she never seems to mind how tactile the action is.
Once Ocean’s inside, Mischa reaches up and gets the medium-sized, patchwork duffel bag that she always brings with her, since she’s too short to reach the window once her feet are on the ground. Without fail, Ocean immediately takes the duffel from his hands and begins to pull out her school uniform, walking over to the washing machine in the corner and stuffing them in.
Today, the washing machine doesn't exactly close, since Mischa had “accidentally” bumped into it (read: kicked it after he stubbed his toe on its corner). When Ocean pushes it shut, it holds for a moment, and slowly opens with an awful creeeeeeak. Ocean pushes it to shut again, and yet again it holds before it emits that creeeeeeak. She repeats this thrice more, and upon hearing that godforsaken creeeeeeeeeeak she kicks it shut with so much force that she falls back into the old bean bag that Mischa’s long since grown out of.
The washing machine stays shut this time, but now it’s Ocean’s turn to emit that sickening creeeeeeeeak noise as she breathes in sharply and then breaks down into heaving sobs.
Mischa only sighs and moves towards Ocean. Even in the midst of a breakdown, Ocean’s (quite frankly) frightening tenacity makes an appearance as she grasps the front of his shirt and buries her face in his chest, her breath still stuttering with the force of her crying. He manages to maneuver the pair of them to rest on the old beanbag, and Ocean curls up by his side while his limbs spill over the beanbag. Her tears have made a sizeable wet patch in the middle of his shirt, and her nails are kind of digging into his chest, but he doesn’t move still she starts to calm down.
She’s still crying, but she’s since quieted down. Mischa doesn’t try to speak, he knows she won’t answer. The first time Ocean had shown up at his house, he had screamed at her what the fuck is wrong with you? and she had only screamed back at him, throwing her school uniform into the washing machine and then also throwing her spare inhaler at his head. He had learned to shut up after that, and just let Ocean run her course.
After that, he had also learned that his house was only a 5-minute walk away from hers while Constance's was 20 minutes away, and that her clothes had always smelled of weed whenever she showed up.
Once Ocean’s sobs have quieted down into faint irregular breathing, her grip on his shirt slackened, he goes to pick out a spare shirt and some basketball shorts to replace her patchwork pajamas that also stink of weed. She looks ridiculous with how big the clothes fit on her, but it’s a step up from what she had on previously.
Now, it’s a gamble whether or not Ocean chooses to stay the night or walk back home. When she chooses to walk back home, the next morning Ocean will show up at his front door this time, cheerfully greeting his adoptive mother before making her way to Mischa, where he already has her school uniform ready in his arms. She’ll take a minute to get dressed in the bathroom, and then wave goodbye and say a little see you at choir practice! with her nose turned up in that superficial Vote For Ocean! tone of voice that he’d long since been accustomed to hearing from her.
When Mischa goes into the bathroom, he’ll see the clothes he lent her folded neatly on top of the toilet seat, and then he’ll scoff and throw them in the corner of his basement where all his dirty clothes are. He'll then look through the pile of clothes for Ocean's patchwork pajamas that he had washed the night before, shove them in his bag and give them back to Ocean at choir practice after school.
When she chooses to stay the night, it’s usually when the weed smell is particularly strong and her breathing is particularly raspy. She’ll claim the old beanbag for herself and curl up like some little ginger dog in the middle, and Mischa will resign himself to watching over her while messaging Talia.
When he had first told Talia about Ocean’s visits after the second time Mischa heard that little tap tap tap on his window, she had laughed when he had called her a little ginger a-hole and told him that he was being a good friend. When he scoffed and told her it was annoying, she only laughed again and said You don’t believe that, love. You’re a very good friend to her. You know she needs it.
On some level, he knew how odd it was to be helping Ocean like this. At school, Ocean was a force to be reckoned with, bulldozing her way through class and ruling over their little choir with an iron fist as the best soprano St. Cassian’s has ever seen! like the little engine that could. But truthfully, he knew his love was right. It wasn’t like Mischa didn’t know how it felt to have parents who didn’t care about you in any way that actually mattered.
While he texts Talia, he’ll make sure to stay within arm’s reach of Ocean. And when Ocean grips the edge of his shirt unconsciously but somehow firmly, there’s a tiny feeling in his chest, something soft and beautiful.
When she wakes up in the morning, she will do so far earlier than Mischa. She’ll shed the borrowed clothes and change into the school uniform that had been left drying the night before, and slip out through the front door before anyone in the house notices, already off to school.
In the choir room, she’ll scold Mischa for texting his imaginary girlfriend when we’re supposed to be practicing for the Fall Fair! and Mischa will scoff and her and tell her to fuck off little ginger a-hole. Ocean will then announce the trip they’ll be going on to the fair to get you guys excited for our performance! This time we’ll be sure to get first place!
And while Ocean is busy arguing with Noel over their choreography, while Father Markus talks to a new student in his office, Mischa will check to make sure he still had Ocean’s spare inhaler (yes, the one that gave him one hell of a bruise above his left eyebrow) in his bag.