#soft!noah

Curiosity had gotten the best of you, so you rose up out of bed, reaching out to grab the pastel purple egg from your bedside table. It rattled softly as you picked it up; he went through the trouble of filling these damn things too?

You popped it open to find a Hershey's kiss, as well as a tiny piece of paper that has nothing more than a poorly drawn bunny face on it. You laughed softly to yourself at the sight, unwrapping the candy and popping it into your mouth. Sure, it was 10 in the morning, but you couldn't help yourself.

It's only when you got up out of bed that you spotted the fact that that was not the only plastic egg. In fact, there was a trail of them on the floor, leading out the door into the hall. You almost missed the tiny basket right by the door, wrapped in a ribbon.

Had he been planning this out for a while? What a dork. Your dork.

This was far too cute to ignore. You grabbed the basket, picking up each egg and placing it inside.

You followed the egg trail as it went down the hall, downstairs, and into the living room, leading to Noah as he lounged on the couch, phone in hand. His head perked up, but he didn’t look at you, as if he was trying to pretend he didn’t notice.

“Someone had fun this morning.” You greeted him with that statement, and he couldn’t stop the smile that crept up onto his lips.

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” He kept his eyes glued to his phone. For the frontman of a band who has made some cinematic music videos, he sure was a terrible actor.

“You absolutely know what I'm talking about. When the hell did you buy these eggs?” You shook the basket a little. The eggs made little clattering sounds as they hit against each other.

“I'm as surprised as you are. You should've seen my reaction when the bunny ran through here.”

“The bunny, huh?” This oughta be good.

“Yeah, he told me not to tell you he was here though. So if you find me dead tomorrow after choking to death on jellybeans, you know what to tell the cops.” He couldn’t even try to hold back his laughter as he told his silly little story. Halfway through, he was chuckling through his words, and finally he looked up at you with a stupid grin on his face. 

“Let me guess, the bunny told you to keep the eggs where he hid them so I could find them, too?” You approached him slowly, brow raised in pure amusement.

“Yeah, crazy shit right— ow!” His nose scrunched up as you flicked it with your fingers. Noah's eyes narrowed in a playful glare. “What was that for?!”

“Spill the beans, bunny boy. How many more eggs are there?” You sat yourself on the arm of the couch, looking down at him with an amused smile on your face. His gaze immediately softened as he met your gaze, as if what he wanted out of this endeavor was already achieved.

“How many do you have now?” He reached to pluck the basket from your hands, quietly counting them. “That issss… 12 eggs? There’s 12 more in the backyard, then you get your prize.” 

This alone told you that he absolutely put a lot of thought into this whole little egg hunt thing. After all, it’s Noah Sebastian; he puts 100% into everything he does, even if it’s something cute like this. You’d come to love that about him over the years. Making new music? 100%. Cleaning the house? 100%. Taking care of you when you’re sick? 100%. Playing Easter bunny? 100%.

“Don’t tell me you—”

“The Easter bunny.”

“...The ‘Easter bunny’... got me a basket too.”

“Of course he did. He said you’ve been very good this year.”

“I thought that was Santa’s thing.” You stood up from the arm of the couch, stretching your arms as you prepared for another round of looking for eggs. Never a dull moment, being married to Noah.

“Well, it could be an Easter bunny thing too.” He fell silent for a moment, the gears turning in his brain. “It’s- it- don’t think about it too much, okay? That’s what he told me, don’t shoot the messenger.”

You burst into a fit of laughter, bending down to press kiss to his lips, which he happily reciprocated. Noah rose from the couch, but rather than stretch along with you, he was already walking elsewhere.

“You go head to the backyard, I’ll be there in a sec.”

“Where are you going?” You tilted your head, watching as he was already halfway down the hall. 

“I have to pee so fucking bad, it’s not even funny.”

“Why didn’t you go to the bathroom sooner?”

“I didn’t want to risk going to the bathroom if you were going to be up any minute! Then you would've come down here to an empty couch!” His voice grew more and more muffled as he descended down the hall, yelling his explanation to you as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

“You're a dumbass!” You called back.

“You love it!”

There’s a dozen eggs in your backyard.

You hadn’t done an Easter egg hunt since you were a kid, and quite frankly you didn’t think it was going to be nearly as fun as it was. Dressed in your pajamas, hair unbrushed, equipped with only a basket of colorful eggs, you began your search. You walked in circles around the yard as Noah watched you, a cup of coffee in his hands that he sipped on as he observed. The smile hadn’t left his face since you came downstairs, and it most certainly wasn’t going anywhere now.

“That’s one!” You called out as you found your first egg, holding it up triumphantly. 

“That’s my girl! 11 more to go!” He called back, sitting himself down on, you guessed it, the hammock. Noah had eagerly insisted that it should be put back up in the springtime, and one look into his excited puppy dog eyes made you cave and agree. 

“Make that 10!” You responded about two minutes later, holding up your second egg before placing it in your basket. 

“Who knew you were so good at finding things?” Came his response, his foot planted on the ground as he gently swayed himself on the hammock.

“You did! I’ve found your keys so many times it’s not even funny!” You gave him a look over your shoulder, and he grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah, well…” He had nothing to say to that one, so he shut his mouth.

The next 30 minutes continued like this, you announcing each egg you found and him giving you words of praise in return. Admittedly, you thought at first he hadn’t hidden the eggs very well, but now that you were at 2 eggs left, you were totally stumped. You had to give him credit, he’d put some serious work into this.

“You stuck?” Noah asked as he approached, noticing the way you’d started wandering aimlessly in search of your last two eggs. You turned around to face him.

“Yeah, I didn’t take you for a master at hiding eggs. You got me.” You admitted as you knelt down in the grass, counting out all of the eggs just in case you were off in number. 

“Well, of course the Easter bunny is something of a natural.” He struck a stupid little confident pose, hand on his hip as he basked in the ego boost. He laughed as you muttered “fuck off” under your breath in response. “I see an egg, though. I know where it is.”

“You do? Where?” You snapped your head up, standing up straight in an effort to follow his eyes to the location of it. Unfortunately for you, he immediately looked away. 

“You have to find it, that’s the rule.” He shrugged, moving to take a step back. 

“Oh, come on! Least you can do is help me find it. Please?” Noah had puppy dog eyes that could make you agree to just about anything, sure, but so did you. You made sure to really play it up while you were at it, batting your eyelashes and even putting on a little pout. 

“Okay, fine, don’t look at me like that!” He laughed, admittedly not putting up much of a fight to resist. It was you, after all. How could he ever resist you? “Right now, you’re pretty warm.”

Hot and cold system it was, then. You nodded, turning around and taking a few steps forward.

“Warmer.”

You walked even further forward, then took a step to the left.

“Colder.”

To the right?

“There you go, warmer. Almost got it, babe.”

You felt silly, taking these short steps, but by now you’d stopped worrying so much about acting like an adult. This was fun, the most fun you’d had in quite some time, and you could spend hours hunting for these stupid little eggs if it meant spending quality time with your husband.

“You’re hot! You’re so hot!” He suddenly exclaimed, nodding at you encouragingly. “In more ways than one! You’re like right there!”

“Where? Where!?” You looked around quickly, your hair hitting you in the face as you frantically searched your immediate area for the egg. “You’re fucking with me on purpose! It’s not even here!” 

“Look up.”

You slowly lifted your head, and that’s when you spot it in the tree, well hidden around the spring flowers. A damn good hiding spot. You reached up, grabbing it and putting it in your basket in a dramatic way, as if throwing a basketball into a hoop.

“We have an egg hunt champion right here, and it’s my wife!” Noah jogged up to you, wrapping his arms around you and lifting you off the ground in a hug. You screeched like you always did, terrified he’d drop you despite knowing he would never let that happen. Only a few moments later, he sets you back down gently. “C’mere, check out what I got you.”

Noah took your hand in his, interlocking your fingers as he took you to the little outdoor table set, where a basket of goodies sat in one of the seats. He pulled it up and set it on the table. From what you could see, it was full of snacks and candies, a rabbit stuffed animal, a hoodie, and a white headband with bunny ears on top.

“Oh my god, this is so cute… all this for me?” You were overjoyed by the sight of it, digging through the basket of treats eagerly to see everything that was inside. Everything you enjoyed was here, and the hoodie was something you put on immediately after taking it out of the basket. The cool morning breeze was starting to make you shiver.

“Of course it’s all for you. Do you like it?” Noah stood beside you, fixing the hood of the hoodie for you, then planting a kiss on the side of your head.

“I love it, are you kidding me? This was so much fun, too! You didn’t have to go through all this trouble, if I’d known you were doing this I would’ve made you a little basket!” A kiss on the side of the head was not nearly enough for you in terms of affection, which didn’t surprise him in the slightest. You wrapped your arms around him and he held you, resting his chin on your head.

“I got what I wanted out of this, don’t worry.” Noah spoke softly, and a silence hung in the air after he said that.

Every time he had something personal to share, or a feeling to express, the emotion would hang in the atmosphere, and it would take a few moments for him to muster up the courage to talk about it.

You never pressured him to open up, never demanded he elaborate any further on anything, so just like every other time, you simply waited in silence. Even if he wouldn’t say anything at all.

This time, he did.

“You know how I am with holidays like these. But the last thing I wanted was to be bitchy and crabby all day, so… I figured I’d do this for you. I’m happy when you’re happy.” He breathed out a sigh, looking down at you with that soft gaze you’d grown to understand was only for you. “So I got what I wanted.” Noah’s smile wavered, as if there were still a wave of emotions he was keeping to himself.

“I’m proud of you.” You smiled back up at him, and he nodded, not able to get the words of thankfulness out of his mouth. “I’m glad you did this. I had so much fucking fun, too. I mean, shit, I guess egg hunts never get old.” 

“Good,” Noah let out another sigh, perhaps of relief, “I’m glad. Maybe this’ll have to be a tradition for us. Our special little Davis family tradition.” His tone held a bit of pride at the mention of a ‘Davis family tradition’. Ever since you two got engaged, he was attached to the idea of you both being a family, of merely having something he could call a family of his own.

“Sounds like a plan.” You agreed, reaching over to the basket to grab the bunny ear headband. You placed it on his head, stepping out of his arms to admire your work.

“What’re you-” Noah reached up to touch the ears on his head, raising a brow at you. “These are supposed to be for you, that’s why they’re in your basket.”

“Oh, but you’re the Easter bunny, aren’t you? You said so yourself, Mr. ‘Easter bunny is something of a natural’.” You did a poor mimicry of his voice, flexing your arms and puffing out your chest.

“...Yeah, I guess I did say that. Fine, whatever.” He rolled his eyes, though judging by his smile you knew he didn’t mind. After all, it was making you happy.

“You look adorable. Look at you! Maybe I should start calling you Noah Bunbastian.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Noah Sebunstian?”

“No.”

“I got it.” You stepped back once more, a mischievous grin on your face. “Nobun Sebunbun!”

“You’re just making it worse!” He plucked the headband off of him, shaking his head so his hair would fall back in place. He held it out to you expectantly. “Don’t think I’m cut out for this bunny life. No reason to be the Easter bunny if I have something sweeter than candy right in front of me.”

“You are so fucking corny.” You took the headband from him, putting on the bunny ears.

“You looove it.”

“I do, unfortunately.” You let out a dramatic sigh, before once more pulling him closer. “And I love you. Thank you for this, really. I’m so happy I get to do things like this with you.”

“I love you too, more than anything.” Noah cupped your cheek with a hand, his thumb stroking your skin as if he were worried you’d shatter like porcelain. You two basked in the moment as the sun shone down upon you, as if the world itself was observing the happy life you and your husband shared.

“Only 23.” But something was still on your mind.

“...What?” He blinked at you in confusion.

“The eggs. I only collected 23 of them. So we should probably grab the last one before we go in. You know where it is, right?” You’d assumed that he just got too excited and wanted to give you your basket. He could be like a golden retriever sometimes, it wouldn’t be the first time he spoiled a surprise for you.

He just stared back at you, not saying a single word.

“...Noah. You know where the last egg is, right?” You repeated, slower.

“...Um... yes?”

“Oh my fucking god, you don’t know where it is.” You pulled away from him, covering your face with your hands as you began laughing all over again. Noah’s face was red with embarrassment at the realization that he had completely forgotten about the final egg.

“Well, this backyard isn’t massive! We can find it! C’mon, let’s search together. Stop laughing at me, I’m just one guy! Stop it!” His efforts to make you stop laughing only made it worse as you picked up that little basket of eggs, with him in tow trying to explain away his little mistake.

You both searched for that egg for an hour, figuring that the combined effort would make it easier to find. In the end, neither of you found it, and ultimately gave up the effort in favor of going inside and enjoying the rest of your Easter together.

Neither you nor Noah would find that egg, and would eventually forget about it, until it showed up in October when you raked the leaves in the yard. You’d remember that day as you held it in your hand, and place it on his bedside table for him to find the following morning.

(READER POV)

It wasn't your first time in the pit but the moment you feel a guy pushing himself a little too close to you, you start to wonder if Noah had been right that you should've joined Matt in the soundbooth.

As cool as that would've been, you wanted to be closer to the stage. You loved to watch him perform, he was such a showman that he always had you mesmerized by his stage presence, it was just a shame this time you were witnessing it, it was accompanied by an asshole who couldn't keep his hands to himself.

You didn't want to draw attention or cause a fuss, you weren't a stranger to the way people could get a little too close in the pit, but this was different. 

The first time you could've excused it as an accident, but each time you tried to move away was followed by him closing the space again and moving his hands where they shouldn't have been on you, you knew there was nothing accidental about him or his intentions.

You were so far taken out of the concert that you hadn't even noticed the music come to a stop and when you do, your eyes are meeting Noah’s, seeing the irritation clear as day across his features and a flash of something in his eyes you’d never quite experienced witnessing before, but you think it’s rage. 

(NOAH POV)

I’m usually better at keeping my composure and remaining more professional than this, but the moment my eye catches you and I see the uncomfortable look on your face I know something is wrong. 

My eyes shift to either side of you and the people that surround you, catching the guy who seems to be crowding your space the most. I see you move away, or do you best to with the limited space you have and find myself instinctively signaling to Matt who’s at the back of the crowd to cut the music.

“Is there a problem out here?” I’m looking straight down at you but then my eyes drift past to the guy who boastfully chimes back.

“Not a problem here dude. Keep singing.” 

I laugh because this guy seems to think he's a jokester and I already can’t stand him, much less for the fact I know he is much too close to you. It’s taking everything in me not to jump down there and drag him away from you myself.

“Maybe if you keep your hands off the ladies in the pit then I'll go back to singing.” I try the direct approach because maybe this asshole needs a little shame to go along with the ass kicking I'm dying to give him.

“The only lady down here I'm touching is mine.”

That’s it. I see red and my eyes meet yours and I know you can sense that’s what’s happened.

I take a step closer to the edge of the stage and laugh once again into the mic, shaking my head. “That’s funny. Very funny. Because I think you’ll find that’s my girlfriend and I'd really appreciate it if you’d keep your hands to yourself.”

I’m not offering any semblance of a chance for him to rectify his actions, not really, because I can already tell the type of guy he is and by the time I hear another smart ass retort I'm already jumping down from the stage close to the barricade and jumping over it.

I completely ignore the sound of fans screaming and yelling at me, both out of utter shock and excitement. I b-line for you and push myself between you both, protecting you from the asshole who's still attempting to paw at you from past me.

I’m usually a lot more calm and collected than this, but with the right buttons pressed I act on instinct rather than rationality. My hands forms into a fist but I fight the urge to smash it into his face, instead going for the collar of his shirt and grabbing him by it. I have an extra few inches of height on him and even if I look scrawnier in comparison, my strength outdoes his when I begin to easily drag him through the crowd.

“Allow for me to show you the way out, asshole.” I don't have my mic but my voice is loud enough for the fans down in the pit to hear and even when he tries to fight against my grip, tearing his shirt and complaining about it in the process, I don’t relent. It's only once I meet the security waiting close to the edge of the pit that I hand him off. 

He continues his verbal dispute while they lead him out, but my focus is back on returning to you and pushing through the crowd back to where I know you’re standing.

The fans make a space, enough for me to approach you and when I do instinctively reach out, my hands brushing up along your arms as I take you in, giving you a once over to make sure you look fine.

“Are you okay?” My eyes meet yours and I nod when you give me the okay, but I no longer like the idea of you out here in the pit, and solo at that, so I turn and guide you towards the the barricade, one arm protectively around you while I outstretch my other to usher fans out the way. 

When we reach the barricade I brace my hands on your hips, ready to lift you. “On the count of three.” I hit one and two but by three I'm already lifting you and I hear the scream when the unexpected comes with me raising you from the floor.

“You said on three!”

I laugh as you call down to me and I just feign ignorance with a playful; “Did I?” Before lowering you down with the help of security standing on the other side, before I climb up and jump back over myself. 

I reach for the microphone as I approach the stage, ushering you up with me, one hand resting on the lower of your back and when I speak again it's into the microphone. “Now you’re going to sit over here, where I can see you.” I say it in a mock serious tone as though I'm a parent scolding you and it causes the crowd to erupt into a roar of laughter.

This time I lower the mic away from picking up anything I say as I crouch down in front of you, reaching to take your hand. “You're definitely okay, right?” I know how anxious you can be, it’s what makes me so in tune to what you need or want depending on the circumstances and I know how unlikely you are to voice them. It's why I press again to make sure you are okay, to double check, hell even triple check if I have to, just to know that you feel okay and safe.

When I'm satisfied I press a tender kiss to the back of your hand and give a final nod of approval, as if confirming you’re okay and that I am to continue on with the show. It’s not ideal and wouldn't be acceptable, but I'd probably close a show down in a heartbeat just for you. Even if it did result in Matt losing his shit on me.

“And we’re good. We’re good. She’s good. She’s going to stay right there, aren't you babe?” 

I'm back to speaking into the microphone and continuing on with the show, my eyes easily focusing on you as I grin. 

“Well, this wasn't how I planned for this to happen. I guess it's only fair you all understand why I stopped the show. Other than the obvious. We don't tolerate any behavior like that at a Bad Omens concert. You want to act like that, I will personally happily show you the door as you saw there. As for why I did, well like I said, she’s my girlfriend.” My face lights up with the declaration, practically preening over the fact. 

My privacy is something I've always favored and you’ve been understanding of that, particularly in regards to our relationship, but I have no problems declaring it and sharing it sooner than we intended, if the circumstance calls for it.

“So that’s my girlfriend.” I say it again, scrunching my nose and pacing the stage as though a shy child declaring their first crush. “Look at her over there. She’s probably thinking I'm insane.” 

I look back over at you and when I do I catch Nicholas laughing too and nodding, because I know he thinks I am. Hell, all of the guys probably do, though it's not exactly a secret when it comes to you. 

“You’re not in wonderland anymore, Alice.” The remark is more for you, an inside joke that only we and the guys are in on, but seeing your smile is worth making it, even publicly in the middle of my set. 

“I’ll be fine, she said about being down in the pit and were you? If you wanted to come up on stage all you had to do was ask.” I know I'm getting distracted, I can hear Matt laughing in my ear while reminding me to get back to the show, but seeing the smile on your face and watching you laugh, no matter how much you blush over it is worth every second of the delay. 

“Okay, I really should get back to the show now shouldn't I?” I hear a collective ‘yes’ from the fans and nod. 

As the music starts back up, the lights follow a little dimmer, the colors changing for the next song in the set and it's fitting for the moment because a song I made out of near spite, with the intention of creating a radio hit on purpose has become something more, something significant and makes my heart skip a beat when I think of you in relation. 

“Good, this is Just Pretend. Now sing it with me.”