Work Text:
Noel would normally not have a problem (well, not a huge one) with his boyfriend's addiction to his phone. It's not like the habit would be hard to break; after all, Misha was on it 24/7 when he was long-distance dating his ex in Ukraine.
But come on, during movie night?
Noel looks away from the movie, Saw V, and glares up at his boyfriend, who has an arm around Noel as he snuggles into Misha's side. Misha hasn't even tried to look at the score or at him in 20 minutes. He was texting someone, and he was more focused on that than himself.
In all honesty, Noel thought he was going crazy. They have been dating for a month, and it has been bliss. Misha was an amazing, caring, and sexy boyfriend, but recently, he noticed something was off. After the night he dropped him off, he has been on his phone more often, a lot more stressed, and also seemed to be losing a lot more sleep.
Is it weird that Noel only noticed this after a month of dating? Maybe. In his defense, it was strange how Misha tried to hide it, and at first, Noel thought it was just a fluke.
But as it stands now, noticing how weird everything involving Misha and his phone was…
Noel frowns; he wouldn't cheat on Noel. No matter how much the paranoia ate at him, it wasn't in character for Misha. He was passionate and extremely dedicated, hell, he was planning to marry a girl he hadn't even met in person! Noel knows him; he wouldn't do this. Misha could be mean, but he wasn't cruel.
So then, who the hell was he texting?
A sudden growl snaps Noel out of his thoughts as he turns to Misha, who was glaring at his phone a bit before taking a deep breath, before turning to Noel once more, “Poet, I'm sorry I don't want to cut the date off, but something came up and It is urgent.”
Noel felt something ugly burrow in his chest. He could tell Misha was lying; he had this tell where he balled his fists, and he was doing that right now.
What is Misha hiding from himself?
Externally, Noel just sighs and gets off him, “It's fine, just go.”
Misha cringes, worry fills his face as he gets up to pat Noel’s head, “Noel-”
Noel dodges it, leaning to the other side of the sofa, “Just go, Mish, I'll see you tomorrow.”
Mish flinches away, then moves to the door, and Noel wants to cry. It was crazy, he wanted that bad love, but now he got something similar, and he didn't like it. The price of romanticizing the idea he supposed. Then why isn't Misha chasing after him?
Misha turns around to look at Noel, who at that point was watching him leave. He gives a soft, tired, ashamed, smile, “Good night, Poet, love you.”
Noel wants to say it to, but it felt sour with how quickly the relationship solidified itself into secrets; it hurt more than he wanted. Noel just turns away, and Misha leaves, the door clicking shut.
Then, it was just Noel, alone with his thoughts and the sound of Saw V accompanying it. He curls into himself, the thoughts swirling in his head.
Misha was hiding something, but what was it?
Was he selling drugs?
Going out to fights?
Meeting up with someone..?
…Cheating, on him?
Noel just curls into himself even tighter, the tears falling out now in wet, ugly sounds joining it. God, the moment he finally steps into reality and finally gets an actual boyfriend that isnt uber creepy in this tiny goddamn town in bumb-fuck nowhwere Saskatchewan, he turns out to be a dirty cheat.
The world felt like it was closing in on him; he kept thinking about everything Misha had told him up to that point.
The times he held his hands,
The times he called him his “poet”,
Those times he kissed him…
They were lies, weren't they?
Like everything Misha had been doing since the relationship got even more serious.
Fuck, Noel couldnt be alone with his thoughts right now.
He quickly looks for his phone and scrolls through his contacts until he stops at 1 name.
Constance Blackwood
Noel presses the call button, letting the ringing run.
“Noel? Hey, what's up?”
Noel breathed a shaky breath, the crying evident in his voice, “Hey Con, do you have a minute?”
He hears shuffling, then, “Of course, are you okay? You sound like you had a rough night.”
Noel let out a bitter laugh, wiping some tears, “Ye-yeah, kinda. It's been going on for a while now.”
Noel and Constance stood beside the risers, talking to Ricky as they waited for Misha and, surprisingly, Ocean to arrive.
Noel and Constance talked all night, both realizing that his boyfriends and her best friend had been spending a lot of time together, which Noel didn't know about until Constance told him last night.
So after a minor panic attack on Noel’s part since there was a very huge chance that Misha had been cheating on him since they started dating, or something even worse, Constance had to calm him down before he did something drastic. The two decided to confront them both at choir, and ended up roping Ricky into it since they didn't want Ricky to be confused during the confrontation.
“Still don't understand why I needed to know,” Ricky’s machine said, “but I'll support you two if that's what you need.”
“Thanks, Ricky, honestly, I'm alright…Just confused! But Noel?” Constance turns to him, who was nervously picking at his nails. “Are you gonna be alright?”
Noel turns to her, a tight smile on his face, “Of course! Why wouldnt I be alright before I confront my boyfriend about the possibility of him cheating on me for nearly the whole duration of this fucking relationship with a girl I thought was my friend!” He wheezed, “I'm totally fine!”
Constance touched his shoulder, “Noel…”
“It's fine, Connie…If he is cheating, then at least I caught it before it got even more serious…” Noel said.
The scary part, though, in Noel’s opinion, was the idea that this would be his only serious relationship ever. He didn't know when he'd escape this dead-end town, he didnt know when he’d kiss someone like he kissed Misha, he didnt know when hed find someone who could make him feel god damn it! Not the way Misha did…
“God, I'm so pathetic for getting this worked up over a guy I haven't even dated for a full year-”
“Stop with that, Noel.” Ricky said, rolling towards him in his wheelchair, “Misha gave you this false sense of hope, and it makes sense you're upset over it. It's okay to be mad at him.”
“Ricky’s right! He kept secrets from you, Noel.” Constance added, “Ocean kept secrets from you, too, Cons.”
“Well, I'm not in a romantic relationship with her, am I? She is my best friend, but she could have had an affair with Misha, and that is not okay. We are allowed to be mad, okay?”
Noel nods, a small shaky smile starts forming.
He feels a bit more comfort knowing if this ends up becoming a shit show, there would be two people backing him up through his anger.
He hopes at the very least, Ocean and Misha would try to look apologetic after all this went down.
As he thought about that, the choir doors swung open and a sweaty Ocean who wore a baggy black hoodie over her uniform came waltzing in with a disgruntled Misha following right behind her.
“Hi!-Sorry we’re late, but Father Marcus stopped us in the hall to tell me that I had to run choir today because a staff meeting was gonna run awhile-”
As Ocean rambles, Misha moves to stand beside Noel.
“Poet, hey-” Misha raises his hand to pull him close, but Noel steps away. Misha looks at him, puzzled, “Noel?”
Ocean stops talking, the eyes in the room turn to them.
“Noel? Are you okay?” Misha asks
Noel pursed his lips, “What do you think?”
Misha looks at him, startled, and Noel swears he and Ocean make brief eye contact before Misha swallows and looks away. “Is this about my behaviour the last few days?”
Noel rolls his eyes, “No shit it’s about that! What the hell have you been up to?!” He stalks towards the Ukrainian, anger boiling over. “You're always staring at your phone, you keep blowing off dates we plan, you don’t even pay attention to me! Like, what kind of guy leaves his boyfriend alone during a movie night without some sort of explanation!”
Misha balls his fists, “If you're saying that I-”
“That you what? Cheated on me with fucking Ocean?!” He whirls around and points at the ginger in question, who looks like she’s about to throw up under the gaze of her best friend and the others. “It’s not much of a stretch is it? You don’t think I haven’t seen you two getting closer? You didn’t think Connie, hasn’t noticed how much more Ocean texts and talks to you now?!”
Misha blinks and turns to Constance, who nods in disappointment, “I noticed a while ago, I didn’t want to believe Ocean and you would stoop so low but” She turns back to Ocean who looks to be at the verge of tears. “But, I guess I didn’t know both of you that well.”
Then Ricky spoke up, “That’s pretty fucked up for both of you too do, specially you Misha, you couldn’t wait a year.”
Misha and Ocean now look like they were both sick to the stomach, guilt was evident in their eyes. Noel couldn’t help but feel a wave of horror pass over him, it had really happened huh?
Misha fucking Bachynskyi cheated on Noel Grueber with Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg.
Monic would be laughing at this right now, talking about how she expected as much. A hooker didn’t fall in love so foolishly and so fast.
Then again, she was a fantasy, like this relationship was apparently.
“…What the hell do you both have to say for yourself?” Noel finally said, stormy eyes at the two people that had made Noel’s romantic life crumble down in front of him.
Misha opens his mouth, his face pale, he responds, “Noel, I promise you that I haven’t been cheating on you with Ocean.”
“Oh yeah?” Noel scoffs, “Let me pretend I believe you, then what the hell have you been up to?”
“Preparing for a baby.” Ocean said, the first thing she had said since the argument started.
The whole room turns to her, the mood shifting into a stunned silence.
“…What?” Constance gasps.
Ocean looks down ashamedly as she touches her stomach, “It’s roughly a month old but, before Misha and Noel started dating, Misha and I ended up in a…weird situation that involved alcohol and it resulted in us sleeping with each other.” She rubs her stomach, biting the inside of her cheek, “It was a one off, we were planning to leave it all behind and go back to normal when I got my period later and I found out I was pregnant.”
“It was around the time I confessed to you, Noel, when she told me.” Noel turns back to Misha, who looks back at him with so much sorrow, Noel felt like he couldn’t breathe, “She had decided she wanted to keep the kid, and I wanted to support her, and she asked it keep it a secret for a bit until we had our whole shit together, I’ve been talking to her on phone for a while to schedule a proper appointment at hospital for a check up and figuring out where we could safely raise the kid.”
Noel felt his mouth jaw drop a bit, this…this is what they’re been doing?
Misha takes his hands into his own and kisses them gently, tears running down Misha’s face. “Noel, poet, kohaniy- I’m so-s-so sorry I kept this fr-from you-I-” Misha lets out a gasp, trying to keep his composure. “Wow-I-I am physically weeping-”
“Misha…” Noel whispered, feeling awful now.
“I’m sorry too.” Ocean said, somehow not crying, looking at Noel and the other two, “I-I should’ve told you all sooner, and should’ve let Misha tell Noel…I was worried about what you would think of me, for deciding to keep a baby that was conceived under the influence when I talk so much about how bad it is and I…”
Noel felt his throat close up. He really should’ve gone about this a different way now, huh? Exposing teen parents like this. Somehow, the cheating idea didn’t sound as bad as it did a few moments ago.
They were all silent for a moment, then fingers tapping on a screen echoed.
“Congrats, do you know the gender?” Ricky asks, catching everyone off guard.
Ocean answers, “We don’t know yet, it’s still early to tell but we have an appointment this Thursday-”
Constance suddenly goes up to Ocean and wraps her in a hug, “Oh! I’m so happy for you! I’m sorry for what I said-”
Ocean tenses, then laughs wrapping her arms around her friend, “It’s alright Connie- I’m sorry too.”
Ricky joins them, and the three’s energy seems to start lifting up the spirits, Noel couldn’t help but feel a bit grateful for that.
He turns back to Misha, who was stealing, squeezing his hand like a life line but had stopped crying.
“I understand if you want to break up-”
“I’m not breaking up with you, Misha.”
Misha looks up at him, shocked. “What? For reals?”
Noel chuckles, “For reals…You're in a tough time right now, you need support, and I want to help you and Ocean as you navigate that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m upset as hell that you kept the fact you slept with Ocean a secret from me, but you clearly got your karma for it and it was not like I didn’t do anything wrong here,” Noel tilts his head a bit, looking away guilty, “I blew up in front of the choir instead of ask you properly.”
“It’s okay, real reaction for what I did…” Misha agrees,
a thought then pops into Noel’s head, “Wait, I know you and Ocean are parenting this kid, were you guys like into each other? Or like still into each other.” Noel asks, suspicion coming back.
He gets back a horrified look and a shaking head, “No! Me and Ocean got black out drunk and accidentally fucked, we don’t like eachother like that.”
Noel nods, “Okay, cool, just making sure.”
Misha then looked down at his feet, “So…we are still dating?”
Noel nods, lifting Misha's chin up to look at him properly, “Yeah, we’re still dating.”
”And, you don’t care that I’m teen dad?”
Noel simply shrugs, he knew it was a bit of a loaded questions and he knew there was a lot of work ahead but he had a feeling he could handle it.
“We can make it work, Mish, I know we can. Just be honest with me, alright?”
Misha then grins, a bright relieved grin that Noel couldn’t help but blush at. “Yeah! Yeah, I can do that…Thank you, poet…I love you.”
“I love you too…Don’t think you're off the hook though, I’m still angry.”
It be okay though, Noel thought so atleast.