Chapter Text
One silly little day in a silly little town, a silly little boy named Noel Gruber woke up to go to work at the Taco Bell in a food court in the mall just outside of Uranium city. He opened his eyes and realized that he had woken up late, and so he rushed to get ready. He hated his job, but his family didn’t have much money, and he was saving up to move away. As he was getting ready, he realized that he didn’t have work today. He flung himself onto his bed and felt the urge to sob at his own stupidity. As he was wallowing in his self-pity, he remembered that while he didn’t have work, he most definitely had school. He sighed the loudest sigh and started getting ready again.
“This schedule is impossible…” He sighed, pulling his shirt on.
He wasn’t looking forward to going to school, as he had to go on a field trip to the fall fair with one of his classmates that he absolutely despised.
Ocean Rosenberg.
He had the strongest hatred towards her. He hated every word that came out of her mouth, whether it was true or not. Every little thing she did made him want to rip out her throat and there was nothing anyone could do to change that.
As he arrived at school, he made sure he had everything that he needed, and then he started his walk to the choir room.
Walking into the room, he saw all but one of the choir members. Mischa Bachinski was late, as usual. Noel let out a sigh, disappointed at the fact that now the trip would be longer, and he would have to put up with more of Ocean’s nonsense. He sat down in a chair, pulling out a notebook and a pen. He had recently started writing poetry, as he found it interesting.
He was just starting to write when Mischa came into the room, almost breaking the door with the amount of force he put onto it. Despite how dangerous he was, Noel had admired him. He would watch as Mischa and Ocean argued over Mischa’s “fiance”, Talia. Talia and Mischa met each other over Mischa’s youtube channel, “Badd Egg”, where he rapped about money in autotune. Noel didn’t feel any type of way towards Talia, or at least he pretended he didn’t. Deep down, he despised her. She got so much attention from Mischa. Every day, he would get on his phone and talk to Talia from the moment he woke up, to the moment he fell asleep.
Noel wished he could get that kind of attention from Mischa. From anyone, really. He wished he could have someone who he could talk to and spend time with, but nobody seemed to care about him. So now, he would just block out the world and keep to himself most of the time. He only ever spoke to anyone if he was yelling at Ocean or if he was being forced to sing some gross song. He wouldn’t even try talking to the other members of the choir, since they were always so busy with random stuff he didn’t care about. The only one he wished he could talk to was Mischa, but he only cared about Talia.
Noel watched as Ocean tried to start a fight with Mischa, but instead of hoping she would lose the argument, this time he hoped she’d win. He hoped for anything to happen that would get Mischa to stop caring so much about Talia, but he knew that something like that was impossible.
As Noel sat and watched the fight between Ocean and Mischa, the choir director yelled that it was time for the field trip. Everybody grabbed their things and loaded up the bus, heading to the fall fair.
When the choir arrived at the fair, Ocean dragged all of them towards the sign-up sheet for the Kiwanis International singing competition. They were the only ones that would ever sign up, and despite that, they always got second place. Or so Ocean told them. “Even in competition against yourself, you can still walk away a loser,” Ocean would say. She was so obsessed with being “perfect” and she thought she was the best person in the world, when she really wasn’t. She collected religions like trophies. Not that she won that many trophies.
Noel was snapped out of his thoughts as Ocean reminded them that the singing competition was going to be starting soon. He glared at her, feeling the urge to pick up a rock and throw it at her. As he was about to reach down and grab one, Mischa got up and grabbed his hand, dragging him with the others towards the venue.
In that moment, Noel felt absolutely miserable.
He wished that Mischa could do that more often, but he knew it was impossible. Mischa looked and acted like your average cishet homophobe, and so despite his desires, Noel inferred that it couldn’t and wouldn’t ever happen. He felt his eyes start to tear up, but he didn’t want anyone to think he was a coward or something, so he fought back the tears as they arrived at the venue. He blocked out Ocean’s rambling about the songs they were going to sing, waiting for the cue that they were about to start.
“...representing Saint Cassian High School! We are honored to be here! Constance,” Ocean motioned towards Constance Blackwood, a nice girl whose family owned a bakery in a more closed off section of Uranium. As Constance told the adjudicator some details about their song, the other choir members got ready to sing.
They had started singing, and so far they were doing well. Noel peeked over his shoulder to look at what Mischa was doing, and noticed that he was texting Talia again. Noel’s glance at Mischa threw him off beat, and he accidentally hit Ocean in the back, causing her to trip up a bit. She sent a glare at Noel, and he rolled his eyes as the two of them kept singing.
At the end of the singing competition, and after the choir had left to find some rides, Ocean started yelling at Noel for hitting her, and he was about to start yelling back, when out of nowhere, Mischa put his hand on Noel’s shoulder and yelled at Ocean for him. Noel’s mind started overflowing with all kinds of thoughts. He was glad that Mischa was standing up for him, since he was rarely off his phone. But Noel also felt the worst sense of guilt for dragging Mischa into his problem.
He thought of how he could’ve won the fight himself, or how he could’ve easily prevented the whole fight. He thought about how the fight was his fault to begin with, which caused him to start thinking about how if he had never existed, he wouldn’t have caused any problems at all. He could faintly hear Mischa and Ocean fighting with each other as he felt a tear roll down his face. He started to notice every little thing going on around him.
He felt how much his hands were hurting from how much he’d been picking at the skin around his nails. He felt how the air was slightly colder than it should’ve been. He felt Mischa’s hands on the sides of his head. He felt himself trembling and he felt the warmth of blood mixed with tears on his fingertips. He felt as he started shaking more aggressively than before.
He felt Ocean grab his hands, pulling them close to her body. He felt the vibrations of her voice through her hands as she yelled for the choir director’s attention. He felt her let go of him as she ran off to grab the director. He felt Mischa pulling him into his arms and squeezing him tightly. He started to hear more of the things going on around him, and he heard Mischa’s voice shaking as he tried to reassure Noel that he’d be okay. He heard Ocean’s footsteps coming closer, and he heard the director telling the three other choir members, “Go on and find the Cyclone. We’ll meet you all there.” He heard Mischa and Ocean frantically attempting to explain what was happening to the choir director. He heard his blood rushing through his veins, and he heard his heart beating loud in his ears. He heard the worry in his classmates’ voices.
He heard the director ask him if he could hear them.
Noel attempted to nod, but all he could manage was a slight shake of his head.
He heard Ocean ask if he was alright, and he heard Mischa telling her how stupid she sounded. He heard the director telling them to knock it off, and Mischa trying not to laugh at Ocean.
He wanted to snap out of it and tell Mischa that he was alright, and that everyone could stop worrying, but he couldn’t seem to find the strength to bring himself back to reality.
That was until he heard Ocean make a joke along the lines of, “only a true love's kiss can break the curse, Mischa.”
He regained his focus almost immediately, directing his gaze towards Ocean.
“What…?” Noel growled, giving Ocean a death stare.
“Heyyy, he’s back!” She said awkwardly.
Noel resisted the urge to punch Ocean, and he wasn’t too disappointed that he didn’t, as Mischa rushed over and gave him the biggest hug of all time. Noel didn’t know what to do, since he barely ever interacted with Mischa in the way he did right now. He just stood there for a second, before awkwardly raising his arms to hug Mischa back.
Noel remembered the feeling of blood on his hands, and he rushed to see what he had done to himself. He quickly pulled away from the hug and snapped his eyes towards his hands, covered in his own blood.
He’d managed to claw through his own skin, blood still flowing slowly from his fingers and dripping onto the pavement below him. He looked up and saw an uncomfortable and slightly hurt expression on Mischa’s face. Noel instinctively went to scratch away at his fingers, but when his hands touched each other, he felt an intense pain shoot up his fingers and through his arms. He winced, and Mischa came over to offer him a bandaid. “I, um, thought you might need this…” He said, holding the bandaid out to Noel. Noel smiled his thanks, accepting the bandaid despite knowing that it wouldn’t help much. He put the bandaid on one of his fingers as the group got ready to meet the others at the Cyclone.
As they were walking, the choir conductor suddenly stopped the group, Noel almost bumping into Mischa. “We’ve had a change of plans…” The choir conductor told them, receiving a text from the other 3 choir members. “Instead of riding the Cyclone first, we’re going to ride the Ferris wheel.” And so they changed courses, making their way over to the Ferris wheel.
When they arrived at the Ferris wheel, they saw Constance and the newest choir member, Penny, having a small conversation.
Ocean started waving at them to try and grab their attention, Constance noticing immediately and waving back, a smile on her face.
“Alright, everybody. Pair up with who you want to ride with.” The choir conductor instructed them.
Penny had paired with Ricky, Constance pairing with Ocean, leaving Mischa and Noel with each other. Noel and Mischa looked at each other, locking eyes awkwardly. Both of them thought it would be weird to just look away, so they were stuck staring at each other for a while. This was until Constance tapped on Mischa’s shoulder, telling him that it was almost his and Noel’s turn to get on the Ferris wheel, being assigned to the cart right behind Ocean and Constance.
As Ocean and Constance stepped into their small, two-seated box, Noel and Mischa stepped up to the boarding platform, preparing themselves to step onto the ride.
They got in their cart as it stopped in front of them, sitting next to each other due to the seating placements. ‘Why can’t they just have one seat on each side,’ Noel thought, ‘god, this is going to be so awkward.’
The two boys sat, waiting for the ride to keep moving.
The wheel started rotating until they went around a few times, eventually stopping as they were near the top of the wheel. Noel took a glance outside of the cart, taking everything in for a second, before he started feeling nauseous. He reached over, still looking down at the fairgrounds, to grab Mischa’s hand. Mischa looked at Noel. “Scared of heights, Noel?” He had asked, the tiniest hint of humor showing in his voice.
“Scared of falling, actually.” Noel responded, squeezing Mischa’s hand a little tighter as they moved higher up on the ride. Mischa squeezed back, tracing circles on the back of Noel’s hand with his thumb.
“That’s fair.” Mischa sighed, taking in the view from the top of the Ferris wheel. Noel turned to his right to face Mischa. He was looking out of his window, the sun starting to set. Noel looked over Mischa’s shoulder at the sunset, taking in all of its beauty. He leaned back and rested his head on Mischa’s shoulder, sighing and holding on to Mischa’s hand like it was the last thing he’d ever touch. He glanced up at Mischa’s face, thinking of how pretty he looked in the sunlight.
He didn’t take his eyes off of Mischa until it was their turn to get off of the ride. He couldn’t believe how late it had gotten, as it felt like they’d only been at the fair for a few minutes. He continued holding Mischa’s hand even after they got off of the Ferris wheel. He wasn’t holding on as tight as before, giving Mischa the ability to take his hand back if he ever wanted to.
Once everybody in the group was off of the wheel, they started traveling towards the Cyclone. Mischa and Noel would occasionally exchange glances as they got closer to the roller coaster, unnecessarily making sure that the other was still present. As they reached the line for the Cyclone, they tightened their grasp on each other, looking for some sense of security before getting on the old wooden coaster.
The line wasn’t so long, as most people never stayed at the fair this late, so they were able to get on the ride fairly quickly. They all sat with the same people as they did on the Ferris wheel, since the seats were once again in groups of two. Everybody made sure their seats were secure, as the ride was about to start. When the coaster started moving, Noel felt Mischa squeeze his hand tighter than he had all day, making his fingers numb slightly.
“You okay?” Noel asked Mischa, a bad feeling lurking in his mind. Something on this ride was going to go wrong, he thought.
“Yeah, just… worried.” Mischa replied, not loosening his grip on Noel at all.
The roller coaster had reached the top of the first hill, starting to speed down the other side, transitioning into the first loop. As they reached the apex of the loop, they heard a loud, metallic screech. They felt the coaster start to de-rail.
They were all about to die.
Being over a hundred feet in the air, there was nothing they could do to save themselves now. There was no hope of survival, and so in his last moments, Noel decided he would die on his own circumstances. As they were about to crash into the ground, he reached over, grabbing onto Mischa and pulling him into a kiss. He felt as Mischa reciprocated, holding him tight as if he’d never let go, when suddenly everything went black and he felt the weightlessness of death.