Genre: Romance/Humor
Pairing: Noah/Cody
Warning: Really sappy slash

Plot: Noah's accidentally confessed… to Cody! What's he going to do now?
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: Me no owny.

Those Darn Keys

Noah grunted as his head came in contact with the wall for the hundredth time. He winced a little and put his hand over the spot where he could feel a bruise coming.

"Why am I such a coward?" He asked no one in particular.

"That's an easy one!"

"Gah!" Noah jumped back and placed his hand over his heart to stop the erratic beating. "Izzy, what are you doing in my apartment?"

"Nothing," the red-head sang. Noah realized that she was not alone; Eva was standing in the doorway also.

"I should have never given you that key, Eva, if I knew it was going to be used for evil," Noah complained. The muscular girl just shrugged.

It may seem like a surprise, but all of the TDI castaways had remained close friends since their experiences, much to Noah's dismay. He would have liked to go and live a peaceful, anti-social existence with his books and his cat. Yes, he was a cat person.

It wasn't that they were annoying, in fact, most of the former-contestants tended to leave Noah alone. It was that after going through some of high school and all of college with these people, Noah found it necessary to move them from his 'acquaintance' list to his 'friend' list.

He also found it necessary to rank a certain someone very high on that 'friend' list. A certain someone who had been the object of Noah's affection for a very long time.

A certain someone who was excellent at video games. A certain someone who could hang out with Noah for hours and never once annoy him. A certain someone who was brunette with a gap-toothed smile. A certain someone who was a boy, and who was most definitely straight.

This was the source of Noah's problems, and the reason he had been bashing his head into the wall for the past half-hour.

He had just confessed to Cody.

111

Two Hours Earlier:

"You're already on Level Nine?" Noah shook his head and looked at the score flickering on the television. "That's not fair; can't you let me win once?"

It was a well-known fact that Noah hated to lose, but Cody never just let him win. He made Noah work for it, which made the boy happy. It told him that not only was Cody not afraid of him, but also that Cody was honorable enough not to give up.

And unfortunately, Noah admired that a lot.

"Oh, come on Noah, you can do it. Here, I'll help you," Cody wrapped his hands around Noah's so both boys were holding the controller. Noah fought back a blush as he let Cody show his fingers where to move.

"And that's how you defeat it. Wanna try on your own?"

"No, I- er," Noah ducked his head so Cody wouldn't see the blush. "I should get going."

"Oh, gotta date?" Cody smiled slyly at Noah, who frowned.

"You know I don't 'date', Cody."

"Of course, you're too good for girls. Or is it that you've already got someone in mind?"

Noah stood up abruptly, and Cody followed. "That's not it, Cody, I just…"

Cody watched Noah's face flush, though his dark skin hid it fairly well. "You do like someone, don't you?"

There was no answer. "Can you tell me who it is?"

"No!" Noah started to make his way to the door, but Cody grabbed his arm.

"Noah, come on, please?" Cody's bottom lip jutted out sharply. "I won't tell."

"Cody, we're not in kindergarten. I'm not afraid of anyone knowing, I just don't feel like telling you."

"Hah! So you admit you do like someone!"

Noah's face fell as he realized he had been tricked. "C-Cody, you…"

Cody grinned triumphantly at the shocked Noah. "I win, now you get to tell me."

Noah shook his head. "You won't like it, Cody. In fact, you might just hate me for it."

Cody laughed. "I could never hate you, Noah. Besides, I already know you like guys."

Noah's expression was priceless. Cody would have laughed harder if it hadn't looked like Noah was about to cry.

"H-How did you…"

Cody shrugged. "I know you too well, I guess. But not enough to know who it is you like. Now, I order you to tell me."

Noah was backing up to the door inch by inch. "C-Cody."

He reached the door knob and turned it slowly, taking a deep breath.

"It's you."

And before Cody could react, he had flung himself out the door.

222

Back to Current-ness:

"You did what?!" Izzy asked angrily.

"I ran away. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Gee, I don't know! Maybe you could've stayed there and heard his answer?!"

"I already know what it was, Izzy. I-I just have to avoid him until he forgets, or until I move on. Then things can go back to normal."

Eva shook her head. "Things were never normal between you guys. You've gotten closer than any of us have with each other, besides the couples. If you give up on him now, you won't go back to that."

"Are you saying he'll hate me?" Noah's face visibly fell.

"No, what I'm saying is that if you ignore him, and he does like you back, he might move on. If you move on, he might ignore you. You'll be going in circles with him, and I know that's not what you want."

Noah sighed. "But he hasn't called, he hasn't come over, he hasn't taken any initiative to tell me his feelings."

Izzy grunted angrily. "Maybe it's 'cause he's still trying to sort out his feelings, you jerk."

Noah's head hit the table, but he ignored the throb of pain that shot through the bruise. "Ugh, I should have known. Geez, I'm an idiot."

"Can't argue with that," a voice called from the doorway. The three looked up in surprise at the newcomer.

"Cody?" Noah asked, scrambling to his feet and getting ready to run. Izzy grabbed his wrist. "Why did I ever give you guys the keys to my apartment?!"

"Because you love us," she said, walking to the door and dragging Noah with her. Eva followed.

"Here you are," she said, slipping his wrist into Cody's hand. Cody grinned when Noah froze at the touch.

Noah heard the door slam, indicating the girls had left, but he was almost entirely concentrated on the hand at his wrist.

"Noah…" Cody started, loosing his grip when Noah shivered. "I don't hate you."

Noah felt tears brim his eyes, but he pushed them back. He never, ever, cried.

Cody let go of his wrist, but only to wrap his arms around Noah's middle.

"What are you doing?" Noah asked, tensing.

"What I've wanted to do for a long time," Cody whispered, tilting Noah's head back and capturing his mouth in an awkward, upside-down kiss.

Noah's eyes fluttered closed as Cody's arms tightened around his waist. He pulled his head back reluctantly.

"Cody- you don't have to do this-"

"But I want to. I have for a while." Cody's face suddenly grew red. "Sorry, that sounded cheesy."

He let go of Noah and walked to the living room, sinking down on the couch. Noah followed him quietly.

"I-I know you hate the romantic goop, Noah. I tried not to say it, but it kinda slipped out. You must think I'm a complete idiot now, right?"

Suddenly, Noah burst out laughing. "C-Cody," he said in between guffaws. "I've always thought you were an idiot."

Cody pouted jokingly. "Really? But I thought you loved me?"

Noah's eyes glinted as he crawled onto Cody's lap. "I do. A lot."

"Four words? That's my declaration of love?"

Noah sighed and pressed his lips softly against Cody's, making both their faces flush. "How about three?"

"I love you," they said in unison. And Noah was glad, for once, that he had given those keys out.

The End

A/N: Ahaha, hey. Weird thing, this. It was originally gonna be a songfic. How 'bout that, huh?

I apologize. This is so corny. Oh, gosh. Did I really write this?!

Sorry guys. If you like it, I'm glad. If you don't, I don't blame you. This is like, really cliché, really sappy, and really… oh, you know what I mean.

One Good Thing: Noah's so uke-ish in this. I love it. He's always the seme in my other fics!

Thanks for reading, please review!