Quicker Apologies (Total Drama, Noco)

34- Words, Meaningful Words

"I'll be fine, I hope, thanks though," Cody said to Gwen who gave him a big hug as she parked in front of the police station. He had to get interrogated to try and prove if he was or was not guilty for either of the deaths that happened while he ran away.

"Just don't fuck up and say anything that'll get you in trouble, okay?" He nodded before stepping out of the car and waving at Gwen like a kid on their first day of school getting dropped off by their mum.

Leading up to the talking, it went by like a blur as he waited to be called into a room. Not because of the whole "time flies by when you're happy" thing, but because he was so nervous he'd fuck up like Gwen said. He'd instead been bouncing his leg while humming to himself a lullaby his mum probably sung to him as a kid.

"Cody Anderson," they called his name and with that he stood up and followed the people Cody didn't know the name of. He didn't know whether they were police, detectives, or something else, he just hoped they wouldn't send him to prison.

As Cody sat down in the chair, the person talking switched on a camera and sat down before talking. "Please state your name and the date for the recording."

"Cody Anderson, November 16, 2019," Cody responded in a shaky voice. Should he not have dressed this nice?

"Thank you, i'll begin with the questions now." Fuck. "What happened before you found Noah Sterecra in the alley?" God fucking damn it, Cody thought. He didn't think he'd ever have to say this story. This tear jerking upsetting story.

"We-" he inhaled slowly and picked skin at his fingers. "We got into a small verbal fight, he left and after about an hour I went out looking for him." He felt the need to specify that it wasn't physical incase they thought he'd had something to do with the teens jumping Noah.

"So do you believe you could've helped with Sterecra not passing?" Cody hoped this was a hallucination like in the movies and really they asked a simple easy question. But they didn't.

"Well I mean, fights in relationships are normal and healthy. So in a way I guess not but also yes," Cody hated admitting that he felt guilty. Gwen and so many other important people told him it wasn't his fault but he can't let himself believe it wasn't atleast a bit his fault.

"What was your said "relationship" with Sterecra?" How can some people be so dumb to not take a hint. Obviously it was more than a friendship.

"Uhm, he was my boyfriend and we had been dating for two years at the time," Cody was too scared to lie.

"And is it true that you made Noah run and hide from police with you?" Where the hell did they get that idea?

"What? No! Look, I wasn't even the one in trouble with the law, that was him!" He didn't mean to throw his dead boyfriend under a nonexistent bus, he was just too scared to lie, like earlier.

"Can you elaborate?" His anxiety began to get worse the more questions the detective asked.

"I decided to run away from home like about one or two months ago, he insisted on coming along. So we ran, well drove I guess, to Muskoka and I had the idea of breaking into the house, empty house, we saw. The owner came back, Sierra Davidson, who was my stalker in year 11. She started climbing onto me and-" Cody had to pause. He decided against mentioning the part where Noah also got SA'd because he doubted they'd care. "He attacked her out of self-defense. That's why we were on the run for so long, practically across Canada," Cody was crying now. The detective, on the other hand, looked like he didn't give two shits.

"So what you're saying is that you helped him hide from the police?" Did he not care what Cody went through? Or better yet, why Noah did what he did? Was that just fucking irrelevant to them?

"Yeah, I guess so," Cody said while wiping a burning tear off his cheek.

"You don't have to lie. He's dead now, he can't go to jail, and if what you said about Ms. Davidson is true, you won't get time either," what the fuck was he on about?

"What?"

"With all due respect, Anderson, that sounds like a story from a film or novel; it sounds fake," why would he lie?

"I'm not lying."

"So how did family not find out?" The detective said in an annoyed sounding laugh.

"They did! Mine, atleast, I don't know about his," he truly didn't know if Riley or Noah's parents knew what happened other than him leaving and passing.

"So how were you two not in jail before?" He sounded pissed as hell. Like he was about to hit Cody straight across the face.

"Because we hid." The sarcasm and smartass traits Noah had Cody picked up on. He liked to annoy people, so Noah being a smartass easily showed him how to be annoying.

"Alright, back to Noah, did he have a history of anger issues?" Random.

"Not that I know of, no?" Cody was half confused what it had to do with anything.

"Do you know the name of the teenager who jumped Sterecra?" Cody shook his head.

"No, but I do blame myself for his death, like you said earlier," Cody didn't exactly want this to turn to a therapy meeting, so he hoped they'd move past this part quickly.

"How?"

"If I hadn't had mentioned how much of a struggle I found it to keep his needs met, he'd still be alive, y'know?" The detective looked sympathetic now.

"Probably in court though," the elder replied in a shrug.

"But still alive! If I hadn't had got him to go in the house with me, he'd be alive and not in trouble," Cody realised how he was just trauma dumping everything rather than proving innocence.

"I see, but it isn't your fault, you were just his boyfriend he tried to protect." That word, protect, made him want to up and leave right there if he could. Noah was his protector, and he fucking hated that. He loved and adored the fact that Noah cared but he was livid about how he couldn't help and protect Noah. Protect him from those hormonal twats. Because if he did, and Cody knew this, his protector would still be alive.

"Yeah, but I chose to let him run away with me. I don't think I can ever forgive myself for that," but Cody didn't think, he knew he could never forgive himself.

The next half-hour of questioning Cody found it both too upsetting and boring to care. He'd only respond in yes, no, head nods, or head shakes. The detective later told him that next week he'd be on trial to prove that he and mostly Noah were innocent. Noah's mum had asked for Cody to testify because of him both being a witness and her son's boyfriend.

(a/n: i realised i just gave sierra two last names so i went back and changed it back to davidson, this is just a repost)