More Than Anything.

Sweet as Sugar.

Over the next few days, Noah continued to get to know Cody. It just felt… right. He didn’t really understand it, but he was drawn to Cody, in an almost spiritual way. Like he was to Ale- No. Noah’s not going to ruin this by thinking of him, he had almost forgotten that that guy was ever in his life. But Cody, he was someone Noah wanted in his life forever.

A month had passed. It was October, the best time of the year in Noah’s opinion. He loved Halloween. Staying in, and watching horror movies with Izzy, Eva, and Owen was the best thing ever! But this year it had a special addition. Cody.

“Let’s watch Scream!” Owen protested, “No, we watched the whole Scream franchise last year.” Eva stated, she was right, plus Scream was honestly overrated.
“Let’s watch something off the dark web!” Izzy jumped up onto Owen’s basement sofa. She was definitely an escaped psych patient. “Fuck no! I vote Hereditary, psychological horrors are the best.” Noah exclaimed.
“Okay, but do we have to watch a horror movie...?” Everyone’s heads turned to Cody, and simultaneously everybody screamed “YES.” Cody responded to them swiftly, “Alright, alright. Uh... Noah’s movie then.”
“HA, fuck all you losers.”
“I agree, Hereditary fucking slaps.” Eva announced.

So that’s what they did, they watched Hereditary. At the head scene, Cody got freaked out and squealed while holding Noah’s hand. Noah was glad the room was dark because holy hell, was he red. And Cody kept Noah’s hand in his own for the whole movie! Noah could’ve actually had a heart attack right there, but thankfully he didn’t. Until Cody asked him this, “ Hey Noah, I want some water but I’m too freaked to go by myself after that terrifying movie. Please come up with me?”
Noah’s heart stopped. But he wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity, “Sure, I think I could use some water too actually.” Owen opened his mouth to speak but whatever idea he had was quickly shut down by Izzy’s nails digging into his forearm.
“Cool, let’s go.”

Cody held Noah’s hand on the way up the stairs to the kitchen, Noah smiled sweet and soft at Cody, and he returned with a simple smile, once more showing his gorgeous tooth gap. Once the duo made it to the kitchen, they got two glasses and filled them with water. But instead of returning straight after, they stayed for a bit. Just soaking in each other’s company.

“God, you’re beautiful” Noah whispered, sweet as sugar. Wait, did he just say that? OUT LOUD? Oh fuck.
Cody looked surprised but quickly smiled. “And you’re angelic, Noah.”
HOLY FUCKING SHIT. Did he actually say that or was Noah hallucinating? “Oh…” Noah swallowed, “Cody, you have your way with words.” Noah replied. “I know.”
And the duo fell back into silence. Pure silence of staring into each other’s eyes in the dim kitchen of Owen’s house. It felt like hours, basking in Cody’s gaze.

Cody broke the silence, “The others are, uh-, probably wondering where we are.”
“Oh yeah, probably.”
Cody did something strange. He gave Noah a quick peck on the cheek and turned around, bolting down the stairs. All Noah could do was stare at the doorway, stunned. Cody Anderson just kissed him on the cheek. Holy shit. He was quickly broken out of his trance by a quick, “You coming?” from Cody. Noah ran down after him, confused and with a glass of fresh, ice-cold water in his hand. Noah cannot believe that just happened, he knew they were close but a kiss on the cheek was definitely not a bro thing. But the worst thing about it is that when Noah caught up with Cody on the sofa, he looked… afraid. Noah knew that wasn’t good. Definitely not.

Owen had put on Midsommer while they were gone, but they were only about ten minutes into it. After about forty minutes Noah was done worrying. He asked Cody to come refill his water with him and when in the kitchen, the waterworks from Cody began.

“I am so sorry! I don’t know why I did that or even did it without asking!” Cody was cut off by a tight embrace from Noah, “Shh, it’s okay. I didn’t mind,” Noah told Cody. “Really?”
“Yeah, of course! Why did you think I’d be upset? “Noah asked, still holding Cody.
“I can trust you, right?”
“Of course, Cody.”
“Well, I had to beg my parents to move because there was this girl named Sierra, okay? She kept following me and sending her… hair to my house! She was seriously creepy, but nobody cared or believed me because I’m a guy and she’s a girl!”
Oh my god, Noah would have guessed something like that would happen to a guy like Cody.

“Holy shit, that’s horrible Cody. I’m really glad you’re away from it now though.”
“Thanks.”
“No need to thank me, it's basic human decency.” Cody just smiled after Noah said that. He pulled away and started splashing freezing water on his face to make it less obvious that he had been crying. After Cody and Noah had got their water, Cody gave another, slightly longer kiss on the cheek to Noah and Noah returned the gesture by going up on his toes to kiss Cody’s forehead. They just smiled at each other while going down the stairs.

 

After the movie finished, everyone was getting ready for bed, with Noah and Cody on a pullout bed, Eva and Izzy on another, and Owen on a spare mattress on the floor even though it was his house. As Owen and Noah were brushing their teeth, Owen asked, “Hey, is Cody alright? He looked like he was crying the second time you and him went up for a glass of water.” Noah didn’t really know how to respond without saying what happened to Cody but thankfully he found a way how to explain.
“A while ago something happened to him that I can’t share. And something happened that made him remember that and he was upset, so I comforted him about it. Nothing more to it.”
“Are you sureee? Because you two looked pretty flustered after you came down too!” Owen drawled. Noah debated telling Owen but decided against it after remembering a conversation that happened once where Cody mentioned his dad was pretty homophobic. Now, Noah trusted Owen, but he did have a quite loudmouth, so he’d rather not tell him, in fear word accidentally came out.
“Nope. Nothing else happened.”
“Oh, okay.”

After they all settled into bed, with some peaceful music playing, Noah snuggled up beside Cody, putting his arm around his waist. Falling into a tranquil sleep.