Noah sat at his work desk, coffee in one hand, the pages of his History of Western Art textbook being turned by the other hand while simultaneously being glued to his work computer at his shift with the library. Noah did not need to keep his job, financially, but still wanted that stability of having something to do outside of home and school. Most days in the library were a walk in the park, and with the seniority he had among his coworkers, he was able to sit and study when it was slow, which he was currently taking advantage of.

As he continued to read through his textbook, he hadn't noticed the clock changing to 5:00pm. It was closing time for the library, and he could hear Mildred locking the doors and his co-worker on an overhead message saying, "Attention library patrons. Please make your way to the front and begin checking out any materials you'd like to take home. Those on the computers, please start to save your work and print anything you need before exiting." Noah put his textbook aside as he stood up to start checking out the line of people before him. He watched in the distance as Mildred began to clean up and organize some stray books, and with the help of his coworkers, they were all able to leave within fifteen minutes of closing time. As they stood outside and all walked over to their cars, Noah waved everyone goodbye and drove off. Noah was home in ten minutes, and the dog began to come up to the door to lick his ankles.

"I'm home." He couldn't hear anything from Cody, which made him think he was getting ready for another stream. He saw Cody had ordered a pizza and left a note for him.

Big stream tonight, didn't have time to cook. ordered some pizza & left some for u. Pineapple.

He smiled, loving how Cody always remembers his favorite type of pizza. He decided to take his pizza into his room as he went to start on his submission for the art fair.

Noah figured he would have absolutely no problem whipping something new up for this art fair, but after spending all his time studying and learning about the mechanisms and joys of art, he found it hard to apply it onto a canvas. It was as if inspiration struck out on him.


Three hours had gone by. In those three hours, Noah had gotten nothing done. He had a blank expression on his face as he held a paintbrush in his hand and stared directly at the blank canvas, thinking of ways to fill it. He had spent the majority of his life devoted to art. He loved art and he had no doubts about it being the one thing he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He had gotten so excited to get back into it after taking himself out of art for years but he couldn't understand how he couldn't produce just a single painting. He didn't realize how much time had gone by until he watched Cody come into their room after his stream.

"Noah?" Cody said quietly. Noah's setup was facing the door, so Cody couldn't see what he was saying or doing. This startled Noah as he sat up and moved his easel a little bit to the right of him so he could see Cody from the corner of his eye.

"Oh, are you done streaming already?"

"Yeah, I am."

"What time is it?" Cody looked down at his phone.

"8:30." He took a pause. "A-Are you okay?" Noah put his head down as he thought about his question and whether or not he was okay. Cody sat down on the end of the bed, waiting patiently for Noah to show his face and look up at him. Noah was feeling very overwhelmed, and once he felt like he wasn't feeling as 'overdramatic' as he felt in his head, he picked himself up and looked over to Cody.

"I have a project due in a few days for this art fair we're doing, and I'm just so…" Noah snapped his fingers to try to figure out the right words of what to say in his moment of fluster. "I don't know. I used to be able to produce dozens of sketches and drawings when I was younger, and now I can't even do a simple painting. Do I even like art anymore? Am I even good at art anymore?"

"Of course you still like art. You're just burnt out." Cody told him as he sat closer to him. "When the Drama Brothers got back together after World Tour, I didn't want to touch my keyboard. I was still stuck in a relationship with Sierra and had nothing to write, and in fact, none of us thought we had it in us anymore to make some good quality music. But once we got back into the rhythm of things, it was just like clockwork. Why don't you show me what you've got so far?"

"Well, this is just the background of just one of the paintings. I need to create at least three." Noah got up from the bed and turned his easel around. The two peered over at what Noah had so far, which wasn't much. "It's a hospital background."

"It looks good so far. What is it supposed to be?"

"My idea for the booth is painting my grief with my parents, as well as going on reality shows to escape that grief." Noah sighed into his hands as he tried to think about how he could word his thoughts correctly. "I was using Total Drama to escape my reality. I created a new person within myself to push down the trauma I endured from my parents dying." Cody stayed silent as he thought through what Noah had just said to him.

"It's a stupid idea, isn't it? I'll just figure something e-" Cody began to shush him as he went behind him to massage his shoulders, something that always calms Noah down.

"It's a great idea. I'm sure it will all come together when you finish it." Noah turned around to look up at him, still in his chair.

"You think I'll even be able to go through with it?" Noah asked.

"Of course I do." Cody began to flop into their bed, and Noah began to laugh as he looked down at his watch.

"Cody Anderson, in bed before 3am?" He mocked.

"Yeah, well, I've been up for almost 24 hours now." Noah gasped, his jaw practically hanging onto the floor. Now that he thought of it, he didn't feel Cody come into bed last night, and he wasn't in bed when Noah woke up.

"What do you mean you were up for 24 hours?!"

"I've been working really hard on my stream stuff. I want to soak it all in before I take a break to do my music engineering stuff starting in January." Cody said. He held his arms out for him. "Come cuddle with me?" He gave a smile showing off his tooth gap, which Noah could never say no to. He wanted to keep working on his art fair project but knew he would keep going nowhere if he sat there uninspired and burnt out. Noah gave in and began to scoot his easel away and put his painting supplies away as he climbed into bed, going immediately into Cody's arms. He breathed a sigh of relief, as he finally felt relaxed.

1 Week Later

Noah stood at his booth with Cody, Liv, and Matt as he had Nicole on FaceTime, showing her his booth. He had his main painting in the middle, as well as other paintings he speed-made once he had his mojo back and gathered more inspiration.

"I wish I could be there to see these in person."

"It's almost winter break, I'll show you soon." Noah told her.

"I know, I just wish I could be here with you, I mean. This is such a big moment for you. We're always there for each other for the big moments." Nicole told him. "I'm so happy you're painting again, Noah."

Noah smiled. "Thanks. I'll see you soon."

"See you soon. Tell everyone I say hi." Liv and Matt waved into the camera.

"Nice to meet you." Liv told her.

"You, too. I'm glad to see Noah have some friends."

"Seeya." Noah waved and hung up the phone, then stuck his phone in his pocket.

"Seriously Noah, I can't believe how talented you are." Liv said. Noah smiled as they took another look at his painting. He looked at the main painting in the middle. He wanted to paint a reflection of what it felt like locking up his grief to avoid having to open up and heal from it, so he painted his elimination from Total Drama World Tour. As he parachuted down to the bottom, the color of the sky got increasingly darker. As Noah fell down, there's a mountain in the distance where he could see what happened during the Earthquake incident that killed his parents through an outsider's lense. Over the past few hours, his booth had gotten lots of reception, and other students were able to open up to him about their grief of losing a parent as well. He had various other paintings that described his grief, as well as one of a young Noah and Nicole sitting together on his hospital bed with tears in their eyes after learning of their parents' death.

"It took a lot out of you to paint these, I'm sure." Matt told him.

"It really did." Noah gave a slight smile as Cody put his hand on his shoulder.

"I've gotta go back to my booth. We'll see you in class, Noah." Liv said as she gave him a hug. The four waved goodbye to each other as they walked away. As they left, he took a look again at his paintings with Cody. The two of them were silent as they stared at his creations. After a couple of minutes, he turned around as he heard Hannah, Spencer, Bethany, and Joshua come over.

"This art fair is awesome, uncle Noah!" Spencer told him. Joshua came up and gave Noah a hug.

"I'm really proud of you. Your paintings are amazing." Bethany gave him a hug as well as she cried.

"I'm sorry, pregnancy hormones." Bethany weeped. She sniffled and took a deep breath to calm herself down. "I miss them. They were the best in-laws ever. I'm so happy you're able to reflect on your grief."

"I never would have been able to do something like this let alone paint again without your support all these years." This made Bethany begin to cry again, and she gave him another hug. Hannah came up to Noah's hip and gave them both a side hug.

"Don't cry, mommy." Bethany laughed as she bent down as far as she could to stroke Hannah's hair and look her in the eye.

"Your grandma and grandpa were two very special people, Hannah." She told her. "I know you probably don't remember them, but they loved you and Spencer very much." Noah kneeled down as Hannah gave her a hug.

"It's time to go home, mom's gotta go to bed." Joshua said to the kids.

"Can't we stay for five more minutes?" Spencer groaned.

"We could take them home, we're going to be finishing up soon anyway." Cody said.

"You sure?" Bethany asked.

"Yeah, no big deal." Noah said.

"Not too late, okay?" She pointed over to Spencer and Hannah. "Be good."

"We will!" They said together, smiling.

"Text me when you're on the way back." Joshua said as he patted Noah on the back. "See you later." The two of them walked off, with Bethany more waddling off due to her swollen feet.

"Cody, can we take another look around before the fair closes?" Spencer asked him. Cody looked over to Noah.

"Will you be okay by yourself?" He asked. Noah waved them off.

"Go ahead. I'll be here." Cody smiled as he took Hannah by the hand and followed Spencer, who went right back to a booth he had been looking at earlier. Noah sat down at his booth, overlooking the rest of the students. For the first time in a long time, he felt like he really fit in.

A/N: This was such a fun chapter to write! I hope you all enjoyed it, and I can't believe that I'm almost done with the story! Please leave a review if you liked it, and don't forget to follow my writing Tumblr (same name as here) to catch up on any behind-the-scenes action!

~Sami