Uplifting
Category: Real Person Fic
Characters: Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding
Pairing: Noel Fielding/Julian Barratt
Genre: Angst
Rating: PG
Status: WIP
Length: <1k words
Notes: for phoon
Prompts: Mood: Uplifting (lol, watch me struggle! :P) – Themes: Twiglets, pyjamas, photo.
Julian knocked on the door firmly, and frowned when Noel didn’t answer. He knocked again, and then again.
Finally he heard shuffling beyond the blue-painted wood, and the door opened. Julian stared.
There was Noel, looking uncharacteristically grumpy and a little bemused. His blonde-highlighted hair was sticking up in odd directions, every which way, which added to the amusement of his appearance. He was wearing the largest pair of pyjamas Julian had ever seen. They were white and blue stripes, and they seemed to swamp Noel’s small frame, the open neck slipping off one skinny shoulder. Julian glanced behind Noel: the flat looked a right state, with a duvet on the sofa, pillows on the floor, and the coffee table littered with debris. He looked back at Noel, who had raised his eyebrows, as if daring Julian to say anything about his plainly self-pitying mood.
Julian grinned broadly, unable to help himself, “So, what have you come as?”
Noel didn’t look impressed, just pulled the pyjama shirt back up onto his shoulders and turned away, walking back towards the living room. He mumbled over his shoulder, “You coming in, Ju?”
“Yep,” Julian took that as his cue and walked into the flat, shutting the door behind him with his elbow, still holding the item he had brought behind his back.
When he turned round, Noel was sitting on the sofa, once again nestled in the folds of a duvet, staring at the flickering images on the muted TV set. He was avoiding looking at Julian. But Julian knew this, and he knew why… so the action was largely redundant. He ignored the warning signals of a moody Noel, and deliberately went and sat next to him, deliberately rustling the item behind his back.
He saw Noel’s head turn, but Julian remained staring straight ahead, and found himself looking at the shelves at the other end of the room, next to the TV. Then Noel prodded him in the ribs, “What’s that?”
Julian coughed innocently, “What’s what?”
“Don’t be coy, like a… carp, Ju!” Noel smiled a little, despite himself. “You’ve got something behind you back! I know it! You can’t hide treasure from me, my boy! I’m like a pirate!”
It was working. Julian chuckled, “No I haven’t! Really… it must just be your imagination running away with you again, little man!”
“Bollocks!” Noel grinned and launched himself behind Julian, scrabbling at his back.
Julian laughed and, after a while of letting himself be tickled by Noel’s hair, relented and gave up the item: it was a small price to pay for seeing Noel that animated.
“Aha!” came Noel’s voice from somewhere near the small of his back. He emerged triumphant – if not somewhat ruffled – and held up a huge family-sized bag of Twiglets with glee. Julian laughed at how happy and proud Noel looked. “Score!” the cockney exclaimed, and immediately ripped open the bag and began to dig in.
It amazed Julian how someone so very thin could consume so much…. shite. All around Australia, Noel had eaten sweets constantly. It had been a whole year of knowing Noel before he’d actually seen him eat anything substantial: an omlette. No cheese, but almost drowning in tomato ketchup.Julian decided that all of Noel’s personality traits and quirks were down to the fact that he was completely filled – from high-heeled toes to back-combed hair – to bursting with E-numbers. No wonder he couldn’t sit still.
In any case, now the younger man was settled and stuffing his face with meat-flavoured snacks, Julian was able to address the real reason he had come round. “So…” he said, stretching and leaning back, slouching down on the comfortable sofa, hands behind his head.
“I saw the photo.”
Noel froze for a split-second, then continued to munch away. He glanced fleetingly at Julian, and then focused on the TV screen again. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, it’s in the papers,” Julian watched Noel’s face intently. So he saw his best friend flinch at these words. Julian didn’t want to make Noel feel any worse… but he had to know. He just had to. “Do you love her?”
Noel put down the bag of Twiglets with a sigh, pushing them away from him. He rested his right elbow on his knee, and let his head fall into his hand, so he was just gazing at Julian. After a while, he said quietly, “… No.”
Julian found himself letting go of a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding. Relief swam through his blood and made him want to giggle.
Noel, however, still looked a little down. “I’ll miss her, though. Dee’s one of my best friends…” His voice dropped to just a whisper, “I didn’t think she’d leave me, though…”
He looked so down-trodden and lonely in that single moment, that Julian just reached out for him, and pulled him close. Noel’s head fell onto Julian’s chest, and their arms automatically wrapped around one another. Julian could have held Noel like this forever, touselled and in his too-big pyjamas.
“Thank you,” Noel sniffed quietly, face buried into Julian’s green striped scarf.
“No problem. Remember, you’ll always have me, little man,” Julian mumbled, his own sincerity embarrassing him.
Noel laughed, squeezed him, and then looked up. Julian couldn’t help but notice what a lovely grin Noel had… and this one was directed at him. It made him feel very special. Noel held his gaze for one long minute, and then his lips quirked into a warm, genuinely happy smile as he rested his head back on Julian’s chest, and shifted a little closer to him.
“I know, Ju, I know.”
