Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

in the tiny town of Uranium, there lived... well, a very interesting group of teenagers. currently, all six of them were in their schools choir room, attending their first class at St. Cassian. they were preparing for a competitionn happening the following day -- or, most of them were, anyways. one sat in a corner of the room, slouching, idly tapping away at his phone. Ocean huffed and rolled her eyes when she finally noticed, stomping over to him.

"Mischa!" she called, snapping her fingers in front of his face. he looked up at her slowly, expression turning stony at her interruption. "you should be paying attention! out of all of us, you easily need the most work."

Mischa grunted in a very noncommital way, a slight glare forming on his face. "you're the only one that cares about this little contest. we placed second last year. as the only contestants."

"i care!" Constance interjected, frowning over at the exchange.

"you don't count, Connie, you only care because Ocean does," he responds, looking towards her with a teasing smile. her face flushed a deep red and she turned away, shaking her head to herself.

"she super does count! and she doesn't only care because i do. we just happen to both value the success of this team. unlike you," Ocean's statement ended in a dissapproving tone as she turned and took her place in front of the room once more. Mischa chuckled to himself as she went.

"you say that like it's supposed to be an insult but it's just true," he said, stretching his limbs out as he sat up a bit straighter and pocketed his phone. Penny snickered from her seat, eyes twinkling with delight at the bickering between her friends. she leaned towards Ricky, giving him a gentle nudge.

"odds on Ocean biting his head off?" she asked in a mock-hushed tone, mischevious grin on her face. a quiet laugh escapes him as he types into his aac device.

"i give it ten minutes tops," the robotic voice read out, turned down just enough that Ocean had to strain her ears to hear it properly.

"really? i'd say more like five," Noel chimed in without bothering to lower his voice, watching Ocean as she rolled her eyes at all of them.

"that's it! everyone focus on the task at hand!" she said, arms crossed over her chest. the others smiled at each other, a few more lighthearted jokes shared before they settled down enough to get back on track. most of them didn't particularly care about the outcome of the next days competition, but they knew it mattered to Ocean, and they would be doing it regardless of how they personally felt on the matter. might as well go along with this final rehearsal anyways.

the rest of the day passed by as normal as ever, the chamber choir parting ways once the period was officially over. Penny walked Ricky to his next class, chatting aimlessly about the latest episode in some sci-fi show she had watched last night as she shouldered other students out of his way. Noel slid a pair of headphones on and began wading through the crowd of teenagers on his own. Ocean speedwalked down the hallway, Constance right beside her, more reciting her to-do list than conversing. Mischa walked slowly, his peers parting to form a path as if scared of bumping into him, as he stared down at the screen in his hands. all in all, a perfectly average day for a perfectly average town.

that is, until a very strange meteor decided to fall right in the middle of it. there had been hardly an warning beforehand, and the little there was had certainly not been enough to get anything but people out of the way. Mischa, always glued to his phone, was second to hear of this, only beaten by Ricky, who had been stargazing when it fell. both of them sent messages to a group chat the choir shared at practically the exact same time.

[mewow] did anyone else see that meteor? 🙀
[badegg] LMAOOOO METEOR JUST FELL WHERE THE CONTEST IS BEING HELD

a minute passes before any of the others respond.

[lambchop] DSHGDSHG??? YOU CANT BE SERIOUS
[cottoncandyclouds] oh no, do you think the event will be cancelled? :[
[o.o.rosenburg] I swear to G-d if it is I am going to do something very unholy.
[badegg] ooooo u gonna swear?
[o.o.rosenburg] Absolutely not!

they all continued on like that for quite some time, playfully teasing each other and making jokes at the others expenses. one by one, each of them turned in for the night, succumbing to inevitable sleep.

Chapter Text

the next day started just as any other would -- save for Ocean's lamenting in the group chat over the news of their competitions cancellation and the others trying to console her with promises of visiting the fair in town on monday -- with the choir getting ready for the day. Ricky's parents drove him to school, giving Mischa a lift as well. Penny walked alongside Constance, the two of them talking about their plans for after school now that they were free. Noel and Ocean both walked alone for a short while before their paths crossed and they stayed together for the remainder of their commute. fairly uneventful, as one would expect.

mostly uneventful, really. Ocean and Noel encountered something rather strange on their route; a large group of people were putting on what seemed to be a flash mob without any backing track. Noel felt as though something was off about the performance, but Ocean was fully prepared to shrug it off entirely and continue on her way, disregarding the lack of background music, until the both of them were yanked into the number.

"ye-ah, yeah, yeah, just a typical day! that's got me feeling in this beautiful way -- no rhyme or reason! we could sing a duet,"

Ocean yelped as the woman on the street grabbed her by the hands, pulling her close. didn't she realize how inconvenient this was? some people had places to be and educations to further, thank you very much.

"dance a style or two! or i'll make you a bet -- just a smile will do!"

forcibly spun around, Ocean stumbled slightly before she could regain her balance and bumped into Noel, a glare settling on her face. really, she was fine letting these people have their fun, but at this rate she was going to be late. had this lady mistaken them for people that were supposed to be in on the whole thing? really, that would be quite hard to do, considering they were wearing their school uniforms. perhaps they just wanted audience participation, and they were the only audience in sight, so if that was the case it was fairly understandable... but still! Ocean O'connell Rosenberg hated improv, she was not the girl for the job!

"sometimes i just wanna shout on top of roof and mountain tops; all the world is paved in gold! yesterday is retroactive, got myself a new perspective, i strut it up and down the road!"

still trying to maneuver her way through the crowd without stepping into anyones path and dragging Noel behind her, -- truly something much easier said than done when you're surrounded by people dancing in the street -- Ocean had started to hear a faint music beneath the vocals. quite the odd place to start it, but who was she to judge? she didn't even want to be listening to the darn thing. now, if only those two would step a little further apart... cripes, that same woman is pulling her back towards the center of everything.

"so i throw out my worries, and my old skin away. doin' what i want to on this la dee da da day!"

the crowd repeated that last phrase a few times, spinning around each other, gaps just big enough for her to squeeze through them forming in the rings of people every so often. she was almost out, almost free to continue on her commute -- really, how hard was it for people to respect a schedule these days? -- when a seemingly homeless man grabbed her by the arm and yanked her backwards, causing her to yelp again.

"spare change for the homeless?" he asked, and she almost felt bad for him, but she really did have to get to school. Noel put a hand on her shoulder and gestured in the direction of St. Cassians, a worried look on his face.

"um, no, sorry, i'm actually kind of in a hurry, so --"

"hey, that's alright --" the man let go of her arm and shrugged, hands held up by his shoulders in a gesture of surrender. she turned to leave, only for someone else to spin both her and Noel around, directing them back towards the center of everything. once she gained her balance again, she noticed... good heavens, was he in on it too? "'cause i may not have a home, but that's way okay, 'cause i prefer to roam the streets all day!"

honestly, she couldn't care less about the whole number at this point. the background music had grown louder, and admittedly, it was fairly catchy, but she had somewhere to be!

"the world is my house," everyone did a twirl, ending in a half bow. "the dogs are my food. oh, look, a new blouse --" the homeless man plucked a plastic bag out of the air, holding it up to his chest as if it was some sort of high-end designer shirt. Ocean's nose crinkled at all of this. "and a new trash can too! i used to want to kill them all while high on bath salt zombie drugs and snacking on a dead mans face."

Ocean stumbled backwards, directly into Noel, as he leaned towards her, ending his movement in a nod, face grim before it abruptly shifted to a more cheerful expression.

"but that just feels like yesterday -- this song takes all the pain away, my politics and house views changed. dancing on the concrete used to hurt a lot, but now i've got new feet, and this jams just way too hot!"

the crowd once more breaks into their la-dee-da's, rings of people spinning and twirling around each other in perfect harmony. they must have practiced for quite a long time. Ocean finds herself almost humming along with them -- no! she had to get to school, none of her teachers would accept 'there was a pretty catchy musical number on the street' as an excuse for tardiness! not that she would be late late, she just wouldn't be early for choir, which would be so wrong. she was always early for choir. she shook her head weaving through the crowd again, almost making her escape before the woman that had originally pulled her into this twirled directly in front of her.

"do you wanna save the planet?"

taken aback, Ocean simply stared as the crowd echoed the statement, though slightly changed -- 'do you' swapped out for 'of course you.'

"do you wanna save the planet?!" the woman repeats herself, crowd echoing the melody again with different words -- "well there's just one way you can do it!"

"by singing a song, singing along!"

the whole crowd split into separate parts, their voices intermingling in such a mesmerizing way. Ocean almost wanted to stay exactly where she was until they were completely done. though didn't she have somewhere to be..? the music came to an end almost abrubtly, crowd dispersing, chatting amongst themselves as they made their ways down the sidewalks.

right, school! Ocean shook her head and chastised herself -- silly girl! how could that possibly slip her mind? -- turning back towards the school and continuing the trek, Noel stumbling along behind her.

a vibrant blue began to creep into the edges of their eyes, unnoticed, or perhaps just ignored, by all those they passed.

indeed, quite the average morning for a very average town.