Barbie
Letting Constance choose on movie night was always a safe bet for the choir, and Mischa knew it.
When Ocean chose, they watched documentaries or Harry Potter movies, which could be dull, or Noel would complain.
When Noel chose, it was musicals or French films, which Ocean complained about automatically, and Ricky didn’t love either.
Mischa’s horror movies weren’t Ocean or Noel’s favourites, which made no sense to him, because they were totally dope. Facing moral quandaries while watching people slice off their own arms? That was EVERYTHING.
Savannah’s spooky animated films and obsession with stop motion was interesting, but some of them were a bit much for Mischa, honestly, and Ocean didn’t like them either. Ocean didn’t like ANYTHING.
Ricky’s sci-fi movies were just too hard to follow sometimes. Noel hated them, Ocean hated them, and while Ricky happily signed their explanations to Savannah, Mischa and Constance just ended up confused.
So letting Constance choose was always the safest bet. A wholesome children’s animated film with a happy ending, those were her favourites.
Noel never complained too much, because they were nostalgic, Savannah and Ricky liked animation a lot, Mischa liked being introduced to movies he’d missed, and even Ocean couldn’t complain, because then Constance would be upset, and Ocean wouldn’t want to say anything to upset her girlfriend.
“Okay, I pick Fairytopia!” Constance stated, grabbing one of her old DVDs and putting it into the DVD player. “We haven’t watched a barbie movie in ages!”
“I forgot about those,” Ricky signed. “But Bibble was iconic.”
“Bibble?” Mischa asked, confused. His English was pretty good, but he was almost sure he’d never heard that word before. Maybe it was a franchise thing.
“You’ll see,” Savannah said, laughing and wrapping an arm around Ricky’s shoulders.
“You absolutely will,” Constance agreed, taking a seat on the floor beside Ocean and picking up the remote to press play.
“I used to love this movie,” Ocean stated as it began playing on the screen. “And before Noel says anything, no, Laverna was NOT a good villain.”
“She was a girlboss,” Noel stated. “They never let the barbie character be the villain, though, but they should, because she SHOULD have won.”
“No way!” Ocean argued, and Mischa turned to look at his boyfriend, who was leaning on the arm of the sofa with his legs over Mischa’s lap.
“I haven’t seen barbie movie before, which one is barbie character?” Mischa asked, confusedly staring at the screen, which was currently decorated with a lot of colour and flowers.
“You’ve NEVER seen a BARBIE MOVIE?” Ocean gasped, outraged. “Right, we’re binging these soon, we have to.”
“Can I skip that?” Ricky signed, and Savannah laughed.
“You do kind of need to watch these movies, Misch,” Noel agreed. “They were vital to our childhoods.”
“Will look forward to more good movies,” Mischa nodded, and everyone but Ocean laughed loudly.
“No, no,” Noel shook his head, a wide grin on his face. “They aren’t good. These movies are SHIT, but like… ironically. They’re guilty pleasure movies. I love them, but GOD, they’re flawed.”
Just as Noel was talking, a blue and purple fluffy creature flew onto the screen. It looked like a fluffy sentient peanut, which made nonsensical squeaking noises. Mischa didn’t know if it was cute or creepy, but he knew it’s existence was something he didn’t really need, but now that he knew about it, he wasn’t sure what to do with that information.
“What in fuck am I looking at?” Mischa asked, staring at the screen, and everyone laughed again.
“Bibble!” Savannah and Constance both stated in sync, as Ricky signed it.
“He’s a little flying puffball, it makes sense in this universe,” Ocean insisted. “And also, the barbie character is the blonde main character girl in any and all of these movies. Now, stop asking questions and WATCH.”
“Does it make sense?” Noel asked. “How does his existence make sense?”
“It just does, okay?” Constance stated. “Or maybe it doesn’t. Whatever. He’s cool.”
“He is a LEGEND,” Ricky signed. “Best part of this movie, hands down. The only reason to watch it.”
Mischa nodded and stared back at the screen.
What followed was one of the best movie nights he’d ever had. As usual, the choir narrated, argued, debated and made fun of the movie for it’s entire runtime, never shutting up for more than about two minutes, and of course, Noel and Ricky pointing out any even vague implication of queer subtext, much to Ocean’s irritation.
But what caught Mischa off guard was how much he actually liked the movie.
He LOVED it, completely unironically. A relatively simple plot, fun characters, not hard to follow, and he really couldn’t explain why, but it was just… fun.
“So, how was your first barbie experience, Mischa?” Constance asked. “Are you looking forward to watching more?”
He was. He really, really was. But he couldn’t TELL her that, it would completely ruin his gangsta persona! Barbie was dope, but was not gangsta, so he couldn’t admit to liking it. But he COULD support the other’s interests, right?
“Is not for me,” Mischa lied blatantly. “But if you like movies, I will watch with you.”
“Mhm,” Noel agreed, leaning in to Mischa and whispering to him. “You liked it, didn’t you?”
Well, he wasn’t expecting that.
“Do not tell others,” Mischa whispered back. “I need to keep gangsta persona.”
“I won’t say a word,” Noel promised with a smile, and they were then interrupted by Constance again.
“Okay, everyone,” She announced. “Who wants to watch princess and the popstar?”
Mischa did, but he didn’t want to say that, so he just nodded.