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Noel didn’t expect to wake up to his phone ringing about ten minutes before three in the morning.
He was barely even awake, vision blurry without glasses or contacts and didn’t even know who was calling.
It was Ocean.
He was about to half-curse her out for calling him so early and waking him when he heard sobbing through the phone, and broken attempts at speaking.
He’d nearly instantly shot out of bed, grabbing his glasses and rushing to his closet for clothes, concerned for Ocean. She didn’t get many words out but Noel could easily tell whatever was happening was bad.
“Oce, Starfire, deep breaths, okay?” He said, a little too frantic, as he set his phone on speakerphone, pulling a shirt he’d stolen from Ricky ages ago over his head, also pulling on a pair of sweatpants – which he also stole from Ricky, not that that was important. Noel heard Ocean’s shaky breaths through the phone, sighing as he hears them even out slightly. “Good, good. I’m coming over, okay?”
Ocean instantly started rambling, repeating the word “No” and saying that Noel didn’t have to and that she’d be fine.
“Ocean I am worried about you, I am coming over whether you want me to or not. I’ll be five minutes, okay? Just five minutes. I’ll stay on the phone with you too.”
There was a few minutes of silence before he heard a muttered “m-kay…thank you” from Ocean.
“Anytime, Starfire.” Noel replies as he’s getting into the driver’s seat of his car.
There isn’t much talking while Nole drives, just the faint sound of Noel’s radio playing Up With People! and Ocean’s shaky breaths and occasional sniffs through the phone.
“Hey, I’m right outside, okay? I have the spare key with me so I’m just going to let myself in, is that okay?”
Ocean made a hum of agreement and Noel exited his car, grabbing his keys and looking for the one gold key – Ocean’s house key. He lets himself in, making as little noise as possible as he takes his shoes off and leaves them by the door, whispering to Ocean that he’s inside. Ocean makes another noise of agreement then hangs up the phone.
Noel makes his way upstairs to Ocean’s room, knocking twice on the door. He hears a weak “Come in” and opens the door a crack to see Ocean sitting in a ball on her bed, rocking back and forth, tears in her eyes and her hair sticking up every which way. Noel’s face softens and he walks in the room completely, shutting the door behind him as he walks over to Ocean’s bed, sitting on the edge of it.
Noel barely sits down when Ocean’s arms are wrapped around his neck. She’s hugging him tight and crying more now, her whole body shaking. Noel hugs her back, and she only cries harder.
“Starfire, hey, it’s okay…you’re okay, everything is okay, promise.”
Ocean shakes her head, still holding onto Noel tight, hugging him, holding him like he’s going to disappear into thin air if she lets him go.
“Starfire I promise everything’s okay.”
“Not…okay…” she mumbles. It sounds like her speech is forced, her voice breaking as she says each word.
“What’s not okay?” Noel questions, running his fingers through Ocean’s hair, trying to help calm her a little. He notices she leans into the touch just slightly.
“Cy-...Cycl-on-e…”
“Oh…” Noel’s silent for a few seconds, a memory of the roller coaster crash flashing in his head. “Did you uh…have a nightmare?”
Ocean nods, her face buried in the crook of Noel’s neck.
“I’m sorry Starfire…nightmares are the worst…especially those ones…” As Noel talks, he’s running his fingers through Ocean’s hair still, leaning against the wall behind him. “Want me to text the choir? Just to cement that everyone’s okay?”
Ocean nodded again.
Noel pulls his phone out of his pocket, and Ocean moves just slightly so she’s now sitting on Noel’s lap, her arms still around his neck, face still buried in the crook of his shoulder.
Noel’s quick to open the main choir group chat, messaging them all.
< NOEL: Sorry for early message but is everyone okay and alive? >
He hears Ocean’s phone go off twice. His text and then Mischa’s, which follows his own by less than five seconds.
< MISCHA: YEP!! OKAY AND ALIVE, NOEL GRUBER!!!
Penny is the next to reply, the rest of the choir – obviously barring Ocean – soon following.
< PENNY: mhm!! >
< CONSTANCE: I’m okay despite being woken up like this…what’s up? >
< RICKY: Alive and surrounded by too many cats, and okay. Are you alright, starshine? >
Noel taps Ocean’s shoulder, showing her the messages. “See Oce? Everyone’s okay, no need to worry. Everyone’s okay and alive.”
Ocean hugs Noel a little tighter, still crying but muttering “th-...-ank…you” into his shoulder.
He replies with “Anytime, Starfire” as he replies to Constance and Ricky’s worries.
< NOEL: I’m alright, Oce though isn’t. She had a nightmare, and I offered to message you all to check you’re all…you know…alive. >
< NOEL: She thanks you for this by the way. She’s glad you’re okay >
< RICKY: Glad you’re okay, starshine. Hope Ocean feels better soon >
< CONSTANCE: I hope Ocean feels better soon too !! >
< PENNY: ^^^ >
< MISCHA: GLAD YOU ARE OKAY, NOEL. HOPE LITTLE ORPHAN A-HOLE FEELS BETTER TOO >
Noel snickers at Mischa’s message, which he shows Ocean a few seconds later. She rolls her eyes, though there’s a small smile on her face. She quickly borrows Noel’s phone to send a quick message, too.
< NOEL: Thank you guys, this means a lot to me. Love you all /p <3 -Ocean >
More messages flood in but Noel just mutes his phone when it’s handed back, setting it – along with his glasses – on top of the small bookshelf at the foot of Ocean’s bed.
“Than-k you, No-...-el…”
“Anytime Oce, you feeling any better?”
She nods, sniffing.
“That’s good. Do you…want to talk about your nightmare?” Ocean shakes her head all too fast. “Okay, that’s okay. You know we’re all safe and alive, happily so, so there’s no need to worry…”
“But…so…viv-vid…”
Noel bit the inside of his cheek, all too aware of vivid nightmares like that himself. “I know, Starfire…I know. But it’s just a nightmare, not real.”
“Bu-t…”
But it was real.
They both knew it was.
Noel took a deep breath, running his fingers through Ocean’s hair again, twirling strands of her hair around his fingers. “It was real, yes, but it didn’t happen in this moment. It’s just a scary vivid memory, it didn’t happen to you while you were sleeping.”
Ocean nodded. “I kn-n-now…”
Noel nodded too, continuing to twirl strands of Ocean’s hair around his fingers. “You’re okay, I’m okay, the whole choir is okay. Promise you.”
Ocean made a noise of agreement, burying her face in the crook of Noel’s neck again.
“Want to try to go back to sleep?”
Ocean shook her head, then paused, then nodded. She paused again and then shrugged.
“We can play music off my phone if that’ll help…or we can just lie down and talk or whatever ‘til we fall asleep…”
“Don’t want to talk…”
“That’s okay with me. And if you want to go to sleep again, I promise you’ll be okay. You’re not alone now, you got me and I’ll fight off those stupid nightmares.”
Ocean laughed a little, and Noel smiled, proud that he managed to get a laugh out of her.
“O-kay…we can try and sleep.”
Noel nods. “Okay. I am going to need you to move off my lap for a second, okay?” Ocean apologizes as she scrambles off Noel’s lap, nearly falling off her bed. “Hey, it’s alright, I just need to move to a more comfortable position.”
Ocean nodded, and Noel moved his phone and glasses over to Ocean’s night table, setting them next to Ocean’s phone. He moves two of the pillows and then sits down on the bed, letting Ocean move anything around if she wishes.
She doesn’t move anything. She climbs into the bed, sitting on Noel’s left, lying down next to him and curling into his side. Her eyes close immediately.
Up With People! starts playing from Noel’s phone a minute later on a low volume, just for some background noise. Noel is running his fingers through Ocean’s hair again, once more twirling strands around his fingers.
Ocean finds it calming, always has. It’s calming for Noel, too. Mutually beneficial.
“Wake me if you have another nightmare, okay?”
Ocean nods. “You…too…”
“If I get one, I’ll wake you.”
Ocean nods again, humming along to the music playing from Noel’s phone, trying to focus on that instead of the lingering feelings from her nightmare.
She sniffs a few times, having stopped crying a few minutes ago.
“You’ve stopped crying…”
“M-hm…”
“Feeling better?”
“M-hm. Feel-ling…better.”
“Good…if you stop feeling better, wake me, okay?”
“M-kay…”
“Sleep well, Starfire…you seem tired, go to sleep.”
Ocean nods, closing her eyes again, which cracked open when Noel spoke. She hugs Noel, focusing on the music playing from his phone and his hand in her hair, and she falls asleep fast, most feelings of her nightmare almost gone.
Noel falls asleep a couple minutes later, only falling asleep after he’s certain Ocean had fallen asleep first.