Chapter Text
Very early in Ocean O'connel Rosenberg's life she realized two things.
The first was that a healthy, stable relationships seemed to repel her mother.
The second: how quirky and wacky her stepbrother was.
Ocean didn't notice anything unusual the first time she saw Noel Gruber. The boy came from a noble family, had exceptional manners and was really funny.
Noel seemed to put together totally beautiful worlds in his mind, he never refused to play with dolls like the other boys or to dress up as a princess for tea.
In addition, he was a great confidant with whom Ocean often shared gossip. Noel would scoff at his stepsister's taste in men, but he would never tell anyone. Neither did he broach the idea of her getting a boyfriend as soon as she grew up, as most did.
Noel made up for that, he spent his time fantasizing tragic and romantic scenarios, talking about a beautiful gentleman with good manners.
Ocean never questioned it, because she never thought that he imagined himself as the protagonist of those stories.
She probably guessed it at some point, but her mind was elsewhere. Adding that she did not feel in a position to question her stepbrother.
It was Noel who took care of the two girls when Ocean's mother and Noel's father began to have disagreements.
Ocean and her sister were too young to understand that their marriage wasn't for love, that it wasn't like most of her fairy tales she read.
But Noel understood perfectly and tried to get them as far away from that unpleasant scenario as possible.
He distracted them in the afternoons, taking them somewhere full of beautiful landscapes, with delicious cookies to eat. Then at night, overshadowing arguments with his dramatic interpretations of fairy tales, changing the endings, showing a different world.
At first Ocean was angry about it. Fairy tales were supposed to end well, to end happy, but Noel made them tragic, full of drama.
Over time she got used to it and learned to love them because of Noel's smile when counting them.
However, they eventually found out about all those problems.
Ocean watched her stepfather leave on a Monday morning. She was going down to breakfast when she saw him put on his trench coat and grab his cane before leaving.
He never came back.
So, that night, Ocean's mother tried to give an understandable explanation to the three boys. She told them that everything would be fine.
Ocean noticed that her gaze was trying to avoid Noel's nonchalance.
No one mourned the loss.
When Mr. Gruber left the house and Noel became the man of the family, the relationship between the half-brothers took a hit.
Mainly because of how reluctant Noel was to deal with that title in the traditional way. Noel had no genuine interest in getting married, even when the time came. He didn't like having to overshadow the figure of his stepmother either. He respected her just as he respected his late mother and just as he respected his stepsisters. He didn't see the point of lowering a woman to take the command post.
Ocean's mother didn't quite agree with that position.
It was at another bad news dinner that the relationship between Noel and his family was almost completely broken.
And where Ocean understood where that peculiarity of his brother came from.
Noel was practically rejected by his family when he openly stated that he did not want to marry a woman. Ocean was in the middle of the fire; he loved Noel, but also her mother.
When she and her stepsister began to lower the boy to the point of stripping him of all status in the home, Ocean didn't know what to do.
And she really didn't do anything.
They only exchanged words from time to time, mainly insults. The only sincere communication they had was through glances and small gestures. Ocean would leave Noel jewelry at the door of the old room he was in and he would leave Ocean's favorite candy in the same way.
Both supported each other silently but sincerely.
And in all that time, the sweet Ocean began to change. There was no longer a shield to hide from her all the strange and cruel world to which she was subjected. She didn't understand what exactly was her role in it, so she wanted to do her best.
She wanted to make a change for the better.
She followed the rules to the letter, she became the perfect girl, the perfect heiress.She never had a problem achieving what she set out to do, no one looked down on her and everyone greeted her enthusiastically on the street.
She was the opposite of her brother, who grew like a rose bush in the gloom.