Chapter Text
The five remaining teens stand in the limo together, unsure of what they must do now. Penny has found her home, her memories are back to her, but she is no longer with everyone here. With Karnak gone and never to be returning, Ocean, Ricky, Mischa, Noel, and Constance wonder in unison on what happens next.
It never occurred to any of them besides Ricky that they could all just simply walk out of the car door, but it seemed like such an obvious way out of all of it. Ocean’s first thought was to just stay in the limo forever, it seems as though this was their after life. Mischa, Noel, and Constance all thought the same thing, but no one was sure how to put it into words. Everyone just stood. No words were needed to fill the silence, only pure thinking.
Ocean was the first to say something. Of course she was. “Are any of you guys going to say something or are we going to just stay in silence forever?”
“Well what are any of us supposed to say? We don’t really have a plan and it’s simply laid out that we’re stuck here. Maybe forever. Which honestly doesn’t seem that bad,” Ricky says with that shyness back in his voice.
Mischa was thinking about what would happen if he walked out of the limo door with Noel’s hand in his. If he were going to do anything, Noel needed to be alongside him. It wasn’t like this before the accident, but ever since he couldn’t contact Talia with the lack of wifi, Noel became a fill in the Mischa. He got attached. It didn’t ever seem to happen that quickly, but with someone to talk to, someone to hold in reality, it felt so much more comforting and whole than talking to someone on a pixelated phone.
With these thoughts in mind, Mischa slips his hand into Noel’s and rubs his thumb along the side of his hand. Noel gives him a small squeeze and leans against his body.
“Has anyone considered just walking outside of the limo door?” Constance asks, as if two other people weren’t already thinking that way. No one says anything. No one knows what to expect, which is why no one yet dared to do it. It seemed to frighten them all, all except Mischa.
“You are all such pussies.” Mischa takes Noel with him and simply opens the door and steps outside with him.
———
They’re back in their bodies. They’re both in side by side beds in a hospital, gowns on the both of them. Was the whole situation in the limo just a hoax? Will the others come back through the door or stay forever? Unspoken thoughts pass between Mischa and Noel, one’s they doubt the either dares to say.
Mischa stands up from the bed and mutters something under his breath in Ukrainian. “My whole body is feeling sore, your’s?” He gestures at Noel who seems to be drifting off. Yes, being dead was exhausting.
“Oh. You’re sleeping.” Mischa rubs Noel’s back and gently plants a kiss on his forehead. A nurse walks in and sees Mischa standing up and seems as if she goes into shock.
“You’re alive? Everyone’s thought you’ve died. This- this is a miracle,” she says as she rushes around the room, frantic to get something, probably something she doesn’t know she’s supposed to be getting. It’s confusing to Mischa. Why put us in a hospital if we were all supposed to be dead?
All he does is stand there. All he wishes is for Noel to wake up and accompany him. Mischa hates being alone with girls. It’s one of the main reasons he dated Talia online. In all honesty, he didn’t think he could have the confidence to meet her in real life. Ever since his mother put him up for adoption and his new mother led him away to the basement, he lost all trust in girls, women, any of them. He hated it dearly, the constant fear of abandonment ached at him. All he did was hide it away with alcohol.
Noel wakes up from his drift and the nurse gets more shocked as she scrambles around. Neither of the boys are sure she’s even looking for something. She rushes out and then comes back inside at least three different times before leaving the two boys alone for a while.
“I had the weirdest dream,” Noel says sleepily, rubbing his eyes. 𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮. 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺, Mischa thinks to himself. He doesn’t even bother to ask what it was about. He already knows every little detail.
“I need a drink.”