Noah and Nicole sat in the living room together while Noah patiently awaited Cody's arrival. He looked over to the clock on the wall, which read 7:02. Cody was two minutes late, which was making Noah antsy. Nicole touched a hand on his shoulder, which startled him.

"You okay?" Noah looked back at her, then back at the door. He coulnd't ouldn't focus or keep his temper under control.

"No, I'm not okay. I would really appreciate it if people were punctual." He said, still looking straight at the door. He couldn't focus on her nor could he keep his temper under control at the moment. Nicole scooted closer to him and laughed silently.

"Give him some slack. He's probably nervous, too; he came out to you, not knowing you were gay, then later on you kissed him out of no—" He shushed Nicole, speaking in a whisper.

"God, just say the word gay one more time, don't you?" She took a moment to realize what Noah was talking about, but then realized what he was trying to get at and hushed her voice.

"Why don't you want Joshua or Bethany to know? Why haven't you told them? You've been out since middle school." Noah was beginning to feel frustrated, but tried to calm himself down.

"It's complicated, okay? I only ever wanted to tell you, mom, and dad."

"Why wouldn't you just-" The doorbell rang, which interrupted their conversation. Noah took a deep sigh as he went to get the door, but much to his dismay, the man behind the door was not who he was waiting on.

"What are you doing here?" Noah asked. Trent started walking towards Nicole, giving her a hug as she got up from her seat, and kissing the top of her head. He wore a red flannel unbuttoned over a white shirt with blue jeans, and his hair was parted back.

"It's nice to see you too, Noah." Trent looked over to Nicole. "Did he not take the news of us well?"

"No, no, he's good with us being together. He's just expecting someone is all." Nicole tried her best to be vague about what was troubling Noah, as she was sure Noah wasn't ready for Trent to know Cody was coming over, let alone that he had a crush on him. He continued to try and calm himself down while waiting for Cody, and began to ask Trent and Nicole a question as they walked over to the front door.

"So, where are you going?"

"We're going on a date." Nicole said.

"Well yeah, I know that." Noah retorted. "Sorry, I am just... still not used to this." He didn't know what was more awkward for him in this moment, seeing his sister with her first boyfriend or seeing his sister date someone he met and competed with on a reality TV show.

"It's $5 college student night at the bowling alley, we better hurry so we can get there before the lanes fill up." Trent said, looking at his watch. He looked over to Nicole. "You got everything?"

"Yep. See you soon, Noah." Trent and Nicole waved goodbye and left to go into Trent's car. As he listened to them drive away and was alone with his thoughts, he felt the nerves getting back into him. He wasn't sure what would happen tonight with Cody, but he really wanted to make sure it went well. As more negative thoughts crept into his head, he heard the doorbell ring and stood up to grab the door. This time it was Cody.

"Hey, Noah. Nice seeing you again." He said cautiously. Cody began to lean in for a friendly hug, but Noah dodged it with a handshake, which he let go of quickly after not knowing why he did that.

"Come on in." Noah held the door open for Cody as he allowed him to enter the house first. He led him straight to his bedroom to avoid anyone seeing or hearing him and closed the door.

"I can explain. I promise." Noah said as soon as he closed the door. "I feel really sorry about what happened last night."

"I'm not mad, Noah." He stopped in his tracks, as he had expected Cody to be angry. He should be angry.

"You're not?"

"I actually really enjoyed the kiss. Well, until you kicked me out. That… kind of hurt me." Cody and Noah walked over to the edge of his bed and leaned there. Noah put his hands in his lap while he paused and tipped his head back to sigh, then after a few moments, he looked Cody in the eye as he straightened his back.

"I just ask that you listen to what I have to say. I don't deserve it, but if you decide to never speak to me again after that, I'm okay with that. Just as long as you hear me out. Give me five minutes at minimum." Cody nodded and smiled at him as Noah prepared himself to preach his life story to him. This was something deeply personal that he had hidden form the world, and he was beginning to feel like this may be a mistake. He wanted to back out, but he continued to speak.

"I'm gay. There are three people on this whole earth that know this information. Well, now four."

"Is it new?"

"No. I've known since middle school. I told my mom and my parents and that was it. But, they sort of took that to the grave." Noah looked down to breath, then back at Cody. "I was never really interested in romance, but I just knew I wasn't into girls." He took another deep breath as he continued to tell his story.

"My parents died when I was 15. That I already told you, but I didn't tell you about how I was already slipping into depression before it happened. I was depressed, and I had self-esteem issues, so when this all happened, it made me feel even worse, especially because I was with them while the accident that led to their death happened. I wanted this pain to go away so bad, I knew I couldn't stay here and work through my grief, so when Total Drama Island auditions popped up, I auditioned in hopes to escape for a bit and to win that grand prize for Nicole and I. We felt like a burden to our family members, and I just wanted to help us feel like we had something of our own."

"When going into Total Drama, I changed everything about me to fit in. Eventually, it sort of just manifested into my personality outside of the show. I was shutting everyone out who questioned my personality change, I took my frustration out on everyone, especially those who were undeserving, and I insulted others to try and make myself feel better. It didn't make me feel better, and I spent a lot of time crying silently under the covers at night like a coward. There were only two people on the island I had a hard time conveying that personality to, and that was you and Owen. Owen I understood, but you, I never did. I never understood until a few weeks ago, when I realized how much I like and care for you, and how much I have liked and cared about you deep down since we met on Total Drama. I always thought it was a phase, but it wasn't."

"When I was with you last week, when I kissed you, I truly have no idea how that happened. When we kissed, you gave me an energy that felt like maybe I could change and go back to the person I was before my parents' death. I know I can't just magically cure my depression, but I want to manage it. That's why I went back to therapy this week."

Cody nodded as he looked at him and took this all in. He could see Noah beginning to tear up, which was a side of him he had never seen before.

"I used to think that this stupid show ruined my life, but I did this all on my own. I pushed everyone away when I needed the most help. It wasn't the show who 'ruined' me, it was me, all me. I want to be the person I used to be, and I don't want to shut anyone out anymore." Cody placed his hand on Noah's hand, and looked him in the eyes and smiled.

"I would love to get to know that person." Cody said. Noah took another breath and nodded, and his breathing was beginning to be unstable as he spoke. The more unstable his breathing got, the more he tried to push his tears away, but it was becoming rather difficult.

"I started doing art again, that night when I kicked you out, for the first time in four years."

"You do art?" As he saw Cody's face perk up, he began to feel calmer. He was surprised at how open he could be around him.

"I used to, like I said. I actually… painted you, if that's not weird?" Cody smiled.

"Can I see?" Noah sighed.

"You can't, because I ripped it. It's in my wastebasket. But I painted you some more if you wa-." Cody got up from the edge of his bed and stood in front of him to look for the wastebasket.

"I wanna see the ripped one."

"What? Why?" Noah crinkled his nose as Cody took it out of the small garbage pail in his room and sat on the floor, starting to put the pieces together like a puzzle.

"If it meant that much to you that you painted again, it's got to be worth it." He looked down once more as the pieces were coming together, and he looked to Noah. "Do you have any tape?"

Noah went up to his desk as Cody kept on putting the pieces back together, then handed the tape over as he sat next to Cody, watching him put the pieces together in awe.

"I painted some much nicer ones." Cody shushed Noah as he continued to put it together, and after a few moments, he finished and clasped his hands together, proud of what he did.

"There." He took a good look at the painting and smiled. It was a photo of him, surrounded by a sunset of colors. He didn't say a word, but just stared at and admired the painting while smiling. This made Noah deeply uncomfortable.

"Do you… like it?" He asked. Cody put his hand on Noah's shoulder, leaning him in for a kiss. Noah kissed him back, but this time, he kissed back voluntarily. As they let go, the two smiled at each other and grasped hands.

"You're not gonna kick me out again, are you?" Cody asked seriously.

"No." Noah laughed at Cody. He was relieved Cody wasn't upset at him. They sat in silence as they looked down on the floor until Cody spoke up.

"So, what does this mean for us?" He asked. Noah looked up.

"What do you want it to mean for us?" Noah asked. "I want to date you. I want to be boyfriends. If that's... cool with you." He looked at him wide-eyed and got nervous when Cody didn't answer right away. "Unless you want to just go on a few dates first and see what would happen, I don't want to ru—" Cody took his hand and chuckled softly, watching him stop.

"I've never seen this side of you before."

"What side?"

"Being nervous." He said. "On Total Drama, you just always seemed so confident in everything you said or did." Noah frowned.

"Yeah… sometimes I think of those days and I don't even recognize myself. But then again, I haven't recognized myself in a long time." Cody shook his head and kissed his hand.

"Yes. I will be your boyfriend."