Wow, chapter 4 already? That's just scary… But still, every time I look at the comments, or the favorites, or a new PM, it just makes me feel amazing. I thank all of my readers for your encouragement.

Love you all, enjoy the chapter

Just a note, Ulrich is 16 at the time this occurs. Forgive me if that's out of tune with the show.

Dedicated to Your Angel Matt, (Matt, Seth, and the entire family) ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((0))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

"So then, William brought an entire picnic with him, and it was delicious, then we laid on our backs, arms splayed out, turned our heads toward each other, and it just felt amazing kissing him…" Yumi chattered

Ulrich just nodded his head, saying little words of encouragement when necessary, and thought to himself, "Was she really this annoying when we were dating? Look at her, she's about to turn into a chibi! I've never seen her gush like that… Was our relationship really that bad?"

"And we got back late, and we had to sneak in, it was so romantic…."

"How is risking getting caught by Jim romantic?" Ulrich wondered.

He grimaced, turned back to his brioche, and thought of a much more pressing problem. Odd had woken him up by running into the door, opening it, and then diving under his covers. He started snoring, and was asleep for all of ten minutes before the alarm buzzed. He then woke up, sighed, grabbed his painting canvas bag and walked out the door.

Where had Odd been all night? His eyes were all puffy, like he was crying, or it could just be sleep deprivation. Ulrich had seen him in the cafeteria, but Odd just looked at him and ran out the door, breakfast in hand. He was worried for his friend; he hoped this competition would cheer him up.

"If everybody's ready to go, we can head to the factory." Jeremie said, looking out the cafeteria window.

"Good luck you guys; call me if you need me, okay?" Ulrich replied.

"Will do."

And with that, Ulrich ran off to find his best friend.

Ulrich found him out back, watching two burly men load what could only be Odd's painting into a van.

"Ready for our date?" Odd joked. Suddenly realizing what he had said, Odd let out a small "meep" and covered his mouth.

I was chuckling at my best friend, but there was a small twinge in my stomach as I looked at him and said "Whenever you are, my dear!"

Odd's face changed from a shameful pout to an enormous smile almost instantly. "Let's go then! The judging begins in a half hour, and it's gonna take a while to set up."

And with that, the two friends got into the back of the van and rode off.

Let's do this… Yumi thought to herself

TRANSFER…

SCANNER…

VIRTUALIZATION

Jeremie hit the enter key and the two ladies were sent into Lyoko. Landing on the floor of the arena, both stood up and ran down the hallway to the elevator. As the elevator came zooming up to meet them, Yumi thought of Odd and his competition, and silently wished him luck as she moved towards her destination.

While they were on the elevator, Aelita stared at the surreal beauty of sector 5, turned off both her and Yumi's audio feed to Jeremie and said "You aren't helping anyone by your dating of William."

"Ulrich knows he's mine, I just like toying with him"

"Your "toying" is hurting more than just one heart, everything is going to fall off the edge if you keep this up. I never like to intercede, but you have no idea what you are doing to the boy. He's already so delicate, and-

"WHO, are you talking about?" Yumi asked suspiciously.

"Why O" Aelita stopped herself just in time and said "-f course Ulrich. He acts so tough, but you know he's just a big teddy bear!" Aelita gave an Odd worthy smile and Yumi said "I understand…you care so much about everybody, what would we do without you Aelita?"

With that, Aelita turned back on exterior audio and said "We're almost there, Jeremie. T-minus 30 seconds."

She had almost let the name slip, but managed to cover it up. The pink-haired elf had had her suspicions for a few months now, but after she saw Odd looking at Ulrich over breakfast, she kind of figured out that there was something there; at least on Odd's side. She had argued that she and Yumi could go alone to Lyoko for two reasons: So that she could have that talk with Yumi and try to stop her from playing with Ulrich, and, well… She thought Odd and Ulrich were so cute together; it nearly made her squeal in the classic fangirl style.

So yeah, she didn't have any problems if the two decided to date, or Guys with guys in general. After all, love was love. Yumi, on the other hand…

"JEREMIE, I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY! MAKE THIS STUPID THING GO FASTER BEFORE I GO KAMIKAZE ON YA!"

Aelita smiled and began humming.

The ride to the art show had gone smoothly enough, with both boys holding onto Odd's large painting to support it. Now, as Odd registered at the front desk of the hall, he felt anticipation and nausea.

"QUIT IT!" He thought to himself.

Gathering his things, including his extra pass for Ulrich, he ran to find the young samurai, only to find him already sitting at the booth, with his feet on the table and his headphones in. Feeling slightly annoyed, he walked around the table and yanked the headphones off.

"Hey!"

"Ya know, I'm already nervous beyond comparison, and if the judges saw you like that, they would never take my art seriously." Now come on, we're leaving."

Ulrich got up from his chair and said "I thought you had to be present when the judges came and looked at your stuff."

"They changed the rules this year. Now we're supposed to give the judges space when they come." Odd said, pulling a V.I.P. pass out of his laptop bag. "So take your pass and let's go! First I'm going to check out the competition, and then the day is ours!"

Ulrich stayed where he was, a look of suspicion on his face. Slowly he said "You knew about this beforehand, didn't you?"

Odd flashed a smile and said "Weeeeeeeellllllll"

FLASHBACK: The day before.

Odd was sitting in the art room napping, when the door slamming brought him back to reality. He stood up, stretched, and saw William looking at him.

William walked over and said "Sorry about that, I didn't know anybody else was in here, and by the time I saw you, you were already waking up.

"Its fine, I needed to get up anyways." Odd replied, looking at his painting.

I think that one's a prize winner, Odd." William said, gesturing towards the painting. "I wish I would have entered this year, but I just couldn't think of anything good to do. They sent me the form today saying there are still empty spots, along with some other stuff like the rules, and maps of the center."

Well, consider yourself lucky. At least you don't have to spend ten hours in a cramped little booth." Odd said, walking towards the door.

William looked at him and said "You haven't gotten your mail yet today, have you?"

Odd turned around in the doorframe and said "What do you mean?"

William pulled a piece of paper out of his bag and said "They changed the rules this year." He walked over to Odd and showed him the rules sheet. "You don't even have to stay in the center this year. You can do whatever you want, as long as you're back by six for the ceremony."

Odd quickly said his thanks and ran to the mailroom. Sure enough there was a letter for him from the people who ran the competition, along with a paper that read the same as William's. He walked back up to his room, and was about to get out his soccer ball when he thought "That gives me the entire day with…him." Instantly, Odd began creating a plan, one that would allow him to tell Ulrich exactly how he felt about him.

All of a sudden, a tiny voice inside his head said "Are you sure you want to do this? There's no going back, you know." Odd thought about it for a minute. All of his doubts and fears came rushing back, and he felt the nagging voices threaten to break out in chorus. But as an image of Ulrich appeared, the shadows were cast away, and he knew what he had to do. He picked up his cell phone, and did a little research.

After a few phone calls, reservations, and purchases with his parent's credit card (given to him, of course, for emergencies. His parents didn't actually care what he did with it, as long as he didn't buy an elephant or something), his day with Ulrich was all set up.

END FLASHBACK

As Odd was walking out of the hall with Ulrich, he questioned himself again. But steeling himself, he was reminded that it was either this or go crazy. They exited the building, turned left, and then a small black car pulled up to the sidewalk. Grinning, Odd opened the back door and gestured to Ulrich, who gave him a suspicious look as he got in. Odd sat down, shut the door, and the little car began to move towards their first destination.

Meanwhile, on Lyoko, repairs were going as planned. The girls had taken sparring to beat away the boredom

"WOAH, easy there! You almost took my head off…" Yumi replied to a well-aimed energy sphere.

Out of breath, the girls sat down and watched the metal twist its way back into the proper alignment.

"It still looks weird, you know," Yumi said.

"Well, at least I don't have to sing for five hours straight. How do you think Odd's doing in the competition?" Aelita replied, shifting around and trying to find a comfortable position.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Yumi said, flipping over onto her stomach and looking up at Aelita. "If he hasn't demolished the hall yet, the judges are probably looking at his stuff right now.

Aelita smiled and looked at the sub, which was now having its windshield repaired. "And he's going to come in first place?"

"Of course he is." Yumi replied, taking out one of her fans and playing with it.

There was a short silence, punctuated by the creaking of metal, until Aelita said "And you really wanted to shut this down."

"What was I thinking…" Yumi replied, spinning around and looking at sector five in all its glory.

"Ladies, the sub will be complete in five minutes. Then you can go home." A disembodied voice echoed around them.

"Thanks Einstein." Yumi said, now looking at her outfit. "And," she said to Aelita, "where else would we look this hot!"

Suddenly a strange thought popped into Aelita's head. "Hey Jeremie…" She said, trying to keep her face straight.

"Yes, Aelita?"

She looked at Yumi and grinned. "Do I look better on Lyoko or on earth?"

"And which one of us looks better?" Yumi chimed in.

All they heard was spluttering, followed by a muffled sort of crash that sounded exactly like a genius falling out of his chair.

The two Lyoko warriors looked at each other and smiled.

The small black car was going through the city quickly. As for the two occupants in the backseat, one was bouncing up and down in his seat, and the other was calm and collected.

"Well, where are we going?" Ulrich said keeping his eyes trained on Odd.

"Oh, nowhere special," Odd replied, looking at Ulrich and smiling. "Besides, This wouldn't be half as fun if you knew."

"Well, at least I get to spend the time with someone special to me."

Realizing what he just said, Ulrich blushed slightly, and thought "Where did that come from? I hope I haven't ruined the surprise…"

His thoughts trailed off, and he looked at Odd. Odd had calmed down (somewhat), and was not acting like he heard.

"We're almost there" Odd said, looking at Ulrich and smiling.

And as they started to slow down, Ulrich accidentally put his hand on top of Odd's.

Both boys registered the small shock, that strange feeling Odd had that day at the theatre.

Ulrich just blushed and looked away. Odd realizing that Ulrich was embarrassed, decided to gloss over the whole thing.

"Did you just feel that weird chill? I'm going to turn up the heat. Odd pressed the call button on the door and said "Mark, Could you crank up the heat in the back?"

A distinguished voice came out of the small speaker and said "Of course sir."

Ulrich had forgotten about the driver. As he looked around the car, a sudden thought occurred to him.

"Odd, why did you do this? For me, anyways? How did I get an awesome and apparently secretly rich friend like you, and what," He finished, "did I do to deserve an awesome friend like you?"

"You were there for me."

Ulrich almost didn't hear the response, Odd was speaking so quietly.

"You were the first friend I had here, You put up with my insanity and didn't run to the principal begging for a room change, I feel like you deserve all this and more just for being the amazing person you are, And finally," He said, slightly out of breath, "You have the biggest heart I have ever seen, and you would accept me even if I told you all my secrets."

Now, as both boys were blushing in the backseat, Ulrich felt something strange overtake him. Quietly, So Odd wouldn't notice, he unbuckled his seat belt and slid over to the seat right next to Odd.

Odd, looking out the window and completely oblivious to what Ulrich was doing, said

"Oh, and I just…"

But he couldn't finish his sentence, because the second that he turned around to face Ulrich, The brown haired warrior grabbed his shoulders. For the first time in his life, Odd could think of nothing to say. And then, Ulrich moved forward and their lips met at last.

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MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I HAS DONE THE CLIFFHANGER!

Don't you just hate me?

Ayways, Be sure to look for my next chapter, coming by the end of June, as well as my new story, which will be posted the next day.

Once again, Thank you for putting up with my lack of updating, and thank you for all favourites, reviews, and alerts! Constructive criticism is appreciated, while flames will be used to cook a Tofurky.

Thank you again!