Genre: Romance/Humor

Pairing: Noah/Cody and Duncan/Courtney

Warning: Slash, but only lightly, really.

Plot: It's Romeo and Juliet for the TDI/TDA cast!

Spoilers: Nuh uh. Takes place between TDI and TDA.

Disclaimer: I do not own, it belongs to those lucky Canadians.

Chapter 3: "My dreams presage some joyful news at hand"

"There is absolutely NO way…"

The red haired girl made an obnoxious noise, holding up a purple, medieval styled dress.

"Come on, Eva. It's for the sake of showbiz! The show must go on! Break a leg, and all that other drama slang!"

"I don't care about showbiz, the show, and I certainly don't care about other people's legs. I am not… wearing… that… DRESS!"

Backstage, everyone quieted and looked at the two girls. Izzy lowered her arms and the dress, smiling abashedly at the others.

"Don't worry, people! I've got this under control; go back to blah blah blah…" Izzy trailed off as she dodged Eva's fists. Suddenly, she felt a hand pressed to her shoulder.

"Izzy, let me handle this."

Surprised, Izzy turned to face Noah. Behind him was a confused looking Cody, and even farther than that was someone that caught Izzy's eye. She dropped the purple dress and nodded to Noah, before running off, screaming like… well, herself.

Noah rolled his eyes at her retreating figure, then turned back to Eva.

"Are you going to calm down?"

The dark-haired girl did indeed look calmer now that the dress was on the floor. The manic look returned, however, when Noah bent down to scoop it up.

"Eva, it's just a dress. You've got to wear it, your one of the most important characters. You should be lucky you got such a big part."

Both people present heard the disappointment in his voice, and Cody wrapped his arm shyly around Noah's waist. The dark-skinned boy smiled.

"It's no more than two hours. Besides, you're Lady Capulet. That means you get to scream your head off at Juliet." Noah leaned in closer to Eva. "Might I remind you that Courtney, your former teammate, is the one playing Juliet?"

Eva's eyes brightened, and she hesitantly took the dress from Noah's arms.

"Okay, fine. But just so I can yell at Miss. Goody-Two-Shoes, and that's IT." Eva's eyes challenged both boys to argue, but instead, Noah made a sweeping bow.

"I wouldn't expect anything less."

Eva's lips twitched, but she walked away before the smile ever really formed. Cody was about to comment on it when a loud crash resounded through the auditorium.

"Oops!" Came a voice everyone knew, loved, and feared. Izzy stood in an exaggerated pose, holding a rope. A loud groan came from the curtain behind her.

Chris and Chef pushed through the growing crowd of people and pulled aside the curtain. Justin lay unconscious on the floor, a spilled sandbag next to his head.

A group of medics arrived shortly, and they declared Justin to be okay, but unable to perform in that night's show. Chris, who had been laughing on the floor alongside Izzy since the accident happened, immediately stopped.

"But- how are we going to find a replacement? No one else knows the lines!"

Cody cleared his throat. "Um… Noah does. He knows the play by heart."

"Cody!" Noah shrugged off Cody's arm to face him. "I can't do it! I got my part, and I'm resigned to it. You should know I don't care about stuff like this!"

Cody shrugged. "But, Noah, you're an incredible actor. You can ask anyone here and they'll tell you that. You're wasted on your part. And didn't you tell me before you wanted to be Paris?"

Noah looked at Izzy. "You didn't do this on purpose, so I would get Justin's part, did you?"

Izzy pouted. "Of course not! Is that something I would do?"

A chorus of 'YES!' rang through the auditorium. Izzy just shrugged cryptically in reply.

Cody turned Noah back to face him. "Please, Noah, you know you want this. You know all the lines already, so just do it!"

Noah felt everyone's eyes on him, and suddenly knew what it was like to get stage fright. He sighed.

"Oh, all right. Since everyone is so for it. But, I will not like it, and I will certainly not be good at it."

---

Cody smiled and leaned against a post. He was backstage, since Mercutio was already dead, and therefore could watch the whole play.

Noah was wrong. He was good at it. He was the best actor on that stage. And he had even claimed beforehand that he had no training whatsoever. Cody found that hard to believe.

Katie and Sadie, who had just been playing the little extra people that made the play seem real, had already commented on what an amazing actor Noah was. Even Justin, who probably hadn't fully recovered yet, congratulated Cody on having such a great actor as a boyfriend. Cody had scoffed at that. Like he really only cared about Noah because of his acting skills.

Still, Cody couldn't help but feel proud of Noah. In fact, at certain times it seemed like Noah was performing just for him, and there was no Juliet, no Romeo, and certainly no audience. Just Cody and Noah: stranded and alone and happy about it.

"So will ye, I am sure, that you love me," Noah spoke towards Courtney, but Cody knew who it was really directed at. The scene continued, a few more lines were spoken, and Noah walked off the stage.

"You are incredible," Cody whispered. This was the first time they had really spoken, because whenever Paris was backstage, Mercutio was onstage.

"You were great, too. I especially liked your last scene. DJ looked quite surprised that you actually fell back on him."

Cody snickered as he realized what Noah was referring to. It was Mercutio's dying scene, where he jumped in between a fighting Romeo and Tybalt, and got stabbed because of it. After telling Romeo that he is going to die, Mercutio exits the scene with Benvolio (who was played by DJ).

As part of his flair for being 'dramatic', Cody had screamed out his last line and fell back on DJ. For being as big as he was, DJ (thankfully) moved quickly, and caught Cody just in time. Still, it had surprised the audience, which mainly consisted of cameramen and interns, and that was what counted to Cody. Apparently, it had surprised Noah too.

"Thanks, but I mean it. You really are amazing. In a lot of ways."

Noah's dark eyes seemed to sparkle in the stage lights. He leaned in and pressed his lips softly to Cody's temple.

"I meant it too."

The two boys watched more drama unfold on the stage, hand in hand. Finally, it was time for Paris's final appearance.

"I'll be back when I'm dead," Noah whispered to Cody, squeezing his hand one last time.

Cody watched as Noah and Duncan started a comical fight; both boys could hardly hold their swords properly. At least he and Geoff, who played Tybalt, were convincing enough. These two were just terrible.

Finally, Noah allowed Duncan to stab his shirt, opening up the small pouch tucked in there filled with ketchup. The sticky red condiment soaked through the white shirt quickly, and Noah collapsed to the floor.

"O! I am slain!" Noah's voice sounded weak and painful, as if it were actually hard for him to talk.

"If thou be merciful, open the tomb, lay me with Juliet…" Noah trailed off as he laid his head on the ground and 'died'.

Duncan picked up Noah's thin body and laid him behind a plastic rock. Little did the audience know that there was actually a trapdoor there that led backstage.

Noah slipped into the dark hole, running for all it was worth. He had to get back to Cody so he could watch the rest of the play… and say something else. Something he really wanted to say.

When Noah finally reached Cody, he heard Courtney reciting her final lines.

"O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die!"

Noah watched as Courtney plunged the 'dagger' into her chest and collapsed onto Duncan. He smiled; they would be there for a long time.

"Hey," he said as he approached Cody and wrapped his arms around him, pulling the gap-toothed boy into his lap. Cody smiled warmly at him.

"So, you're dead now?"

"Dead as a doornail."

"Well, that's good, because so am I. Now we can live happily ever after."

"I wasn't aware dead people had happily ever afters."

Cody leaned back against Noah and tilted his head, pressing his lips to Noah's. "They do now."

Noah broke away. "C-Cody, I-"

"I love you too, Noah."

Noah's eyes widened, but he smiled widely. "For never was a story of more woe,"

"Than this of Juliet and her Romeo," Cody finished.

But their story was happy.

END

A/N: Sorry this was late, I was really stressed from school. In know there were some requests that I didn't put in, and I'm sorry! Ahh, I'm such a terrible person!

Okay, about the ketchup… in Shakespeare time, when someone was 'stabbed' onstage, they would hide a pig's bladder under the guy's shirt and cut it open. This way, it looked like he was bleeding. I thought that would be a little gross, though, so I just made it ketchup!

Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed it!

~Arkadian Toad