Choir kids in a Denny’s parking lot
“You’re all talk,” Noel rolled his eyes as he walked out of Denny’s, with Ocean scurrying along behind him and the rest of the choir following close behind.
“I’m not!” Ocean argued. “I could beat you in a fight, I know I could!”
Noel shook his head. Ocean was overly confident and quick, but she was also about five foot tall and had the physique of a field mouse. While he wasn’t much of a fighter, Noel knew he had the advantage here.
“Ocean, you’re scrappy, but you can’t win that fight,” Constance stated, which just seemed to annoy Ocean more.
“You have NO faith in me,” she insisted. “I would absolutely win! Have you ever seen Noel fight?”
“He uses words like knives,” Mischa tried, but Ocean shook her head.
“So can I!” Ocean kept going. “I did debate! But Noel has never got into an actual fight, so I could totally win.”
“You say that like you’ve fought anyone,” Penny commented, and Ocean just looked angrier.
Watching her get more and more irritated when she was wrong was so much fun, and Noel wasn’t even trying to hide how amused he was, smirking at the knowledge that the whole choir knew he was completely right here.
“I used to take a kickboxing class!” Ocean kept pushing to convince the choir, but all of them were totally on Noel’s side, just amusing him more.
“Fine,” Ricky signed, and the choir stared at him. “Prove it. Noel, are you up for a fight?”
Noel hesitated. He could beat Ocean in theory, and he was pretty confident that he could do it in reality, but he wasn’t sure he actually wanted too. Sure, she was irritating, but irritating in a way that let Noel argue with her, debate. She annoyed him, but they were civil. She didn’t deserve to be punched. Probably.
“I’m up for a fight!” Ocean was full of movement, even louder than usual, hyping herself up. When she looked at Noel, obviously noticing his reluctance, she started mocking. “Are you scared, Noel? Are you chicken? See, I knew you were all talk!”
Noel stopped hesitating. If Ocean wanted a fight, she’d get a fight.
“Okay,” Noel nodded, rolling up his sleeves like he’d always seen Mischa do. “Let’s go.”
“Fuck yeah!” Mischa cheered. “Square up!”
“I’ve got ten dollars on Ocean,” Ricky signed, and Mischa offered a handshake.
“I will take action,” he nodded. Honestly, Noel was pretty insulted that Ricky would even consider betting against him, but at least he had Mischa’s support. And his was probably the support that mattered the most, because he was the most familiar with fighting and… stuff.
Honestly, Noel hadn’t the slightest clue what fighting really involved.
“Ocean, are you sure that this is really a good-“ Constance started, trying to deescalate the situation, but Ocean interrupted her.
“Yes, I’m sure,” She said, trying to get in Noel’s face, which was possibly the least intimidating thing he’d ever seen. He was a whole head taller than her, and her wadding on her tiptoes was possibly the funniest thing he’d ever seen. He wasn’t all that strong, but he could probably just pick her up and end this. “Bring it on.”
“Okay, I’m at least making some rules,” Penny stepped inbetween the two, separating them. “Ocean, you can’t hit him in the dick, it’s unfair. And Noel, you can’t punch her boob, it’s been through enough trauma.”
“I punched it ONCE,” Constance protested.
“Once too many!” Ocean called back, and Penny stepped away, welcoming Noel and Ocean to fight.
Noel didn’t want to move first, but that didn’t seem to be a problem, because Ocean was right in with a swift kick to his ankle and a sharp punch to his stomach, making him double over and winding him. There were audible hisses and gasps from the choir as Ocean grabbed Noel’s hair and pulled with what felt like her whole body weight.
This was a bad idea. Both of them were uncoordinated and inexperienced and this could only end in disaster.
Noel stepped forward, stepping on Ocean’s foot, and she yelped, so Noel took that as a good cue to grab her arm and try to drag her in, making her easier to pick up. If he got her off the ground, this would end.
Even though it was kind of fun.
But then Ocean slammed her fists into his chest and pulled free, grabbing his hair again.
“Fight back, Noel!” Mischa yelled out, and Noel decided to go with what he was good at.
So he pulled back his arm and slapped Ocean full force across the face.
The sound was loud, but not as loud as the silence that followed it, only broken when Ocean let out a little whimper.
And when Noel looked up, he saw bloody scratches across Ocean’s cheek.
Shit. He’d forgotten to cut his nails. He’d taken this too far.
But Ocean didn’t look like she was going to let this go. Far from it.
She was seething.
She ran at Noel like a wild animal, her hands like claws coming for his face, ready to get their revenge. Noel moved towards her, hands out to grab her wrists and restrain her, but the moment they touched they were separated, with Mischa winding his arms around Noel and pulling him back and Penny grabbing Ocean and dragging her away, leaning her against Constance’s car.
When he looked over, concerned, Noel saw Constance with a first aid kit, getting a bandage ready for Ocean’s cheek. Ocean was glaring at him, and Penny looked disappointed.
He’d really not wanted it to go this far. It was just a joke.
Ricky looked pretty indifferent, amused, and they were signing to Ocean. Noel couldn’t make out what they were saying, but by the looks of things they were either trying to distract her or calm her down. It was working somewhat, primarily because Ocean couldn’t be glaring when she was watching Ricky sign.
“I fucked up, didn’t I?” Noel asked, breaking free of Mischa’s arms and turning to face him. Surprisingly, Mischa was smiling.
“I don’t think so,” he shrugged. “Sure, you might have hit too hard. But she was one who started it, and in situation like that, it is fight or flight. And you are fighter, Noel Gruber.”
Noel smiled at Mischa, and Mischa threw an arm around his shoulders.
“Ocean might try to kill you, but we will not let happen,” Mischa promised. “And honestly, that slap was kind of dope.”
“Thanks, Mischa,” Noel mumbled, feeling way better. Better than he probably had any right to. “But I’m not a fighter. I just got a good slap.”
“You fought back and didn’t run away, that makes you fighter,” Mischa insisted. “And I know you have good slap, I remember Monique.”
Both of them laughed at the memory. The afterlife was a weird time, and some of the stuff Karnak had then do was pretty wild. Even with everything they did there, though, slapping Mischa was pretty up there.
The both of them walked over to the car, where Ocean was having a bandage applied to her scratches. They didn’t look too bad, just a bit bloody, but it was still too far.
And as much as he hated to admit it, Noel owed her an apology.
“Sorry, Ocean,” He said. “Didn’t mean to make your face as red as your hair, I think that was kind of too far.”
“It was,” Ocean confirmed. “And I accept your apology.”
She turned away again, and Noel saw Constance give her a glare. Constance had the motherly sort of glare that could scare anyone into doing anything immediately, and it made it immediately clear when you’d fucked up.
“And I’m sorry too,” Ocean reluctantly admitted. “I know you didn’t want to fight. I kind of made you to prove a point. And I shouldn’t have gone for your hair, because it looks a mess now.”
Noel immediately went to smooth down his hair, and everyone laughed.
“It’s fine, Noel,” Constance told him, but Ocean shook her head.
Still, things seemed to be normal with them, so that was good.
“At least we know who’d win a fight between us now,” Noel stated jokingly.
“Oh, please,” Ocean rolled her eyes. “If they didn’t separate us, I’d have taken your eyes out.”
“Please, this once, agree to disagree?” Constance begged, and Noel and Ocean gave each other begrudging nods.
But Noel knew he could have totally won that fight. And he’d like to hope Ocean knew it too.
Still, probably better to stick to arguing from now on.