CODY AND NOAH ARE ENEMIES BUT THEY'RE GAY BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THEY'RE GAY

05.

best bass player<3
beep beep

best bass player<3
you done fixing your hair because im outside im not gonna honk the horn cuz then your parents are gonna think im an asshole but get outside

codykins<3
AAH IM NOT LATE AM I ??

best bass player<3
no but im also picking eva up

best bass player<3
and if you don't hurry ill let izzy sit in the front and we both dont want that

☆

The car door opened, and all passengers got to see a, very much, grinning Cody. "Hi!!"

"HI CODY!!!"

He sat in the front seat, "Hi Noah!"

"Hey." Noah was wearing his usual button up with the vest. He looked nice, but he always looked nice which made Cody super annoyed.

"Come onnn Noahhhh, stop making googly eyes at Cody, we have to pick up Eva !!"

"Shut up, Izzy."

"Buddy! Don't tell Izzy to shut up."

Cody giggled.

"Yeah, Noah, don't tell Izzy to shut up."

"You shut up."

Izzy groaned, "Just driveeeee!!"

☆

After picking up Eva, and a quick detour to the supermarket so Cody and Izzy could get as much candy as they could fill in their hands, and a remark from Noah, who claimed that if they ate that much candy in one sitting they're gonna have to go and get their stomach pumped, they had arrived at Geoff's house.

Everyone was instantly hit by the loud music and irritating stench of alcohol.

Cody fake-gagged, "Barf. What is that smell-- Ohhhh, we're at a party.."

Izzy and Owen continued their conversation, she was already excited, "My money's on Heather, she'll totally black out first-- Ooh! Ooh! Or Linds!"

Noah glared, "My money's on Izzy."

"Shut up, Nooah! I can handle my liquor!"

"I don't think you should drink at all--"

Eva didn't let him finish, "Noah's right. Although he can't drink either way since he's driving us home."

"Barf. What is this a PSA? Owen, let's see what dumb stunt Tyler's trying to pull!"

Eva followed them from behind, annoyed she was going to have to play babysitter for the night. This left Noah and Cody alone, in front of Geoff's doorstep.

Noah looked around, trying to ignore the loud music and trying to ignore how nice Cody looked under the party lights, pink and blue illuminated his nervous grin, "Uhhh-- we should enter too, I guess."

Cody seemed out of it, "Yeah!"

☆

Almost an hour or maybe two had passed. Unsurprisingly, Cody hadn't left Noah's side. Noah didn't complain. He wasn't a huge fan of parties, or loud music, or loud people. But his nerves seemed to calm when Cody pulled him from room to room, quoting movies, talking about how much this reminded him of "that zombie episode of Community", getting "mad" at Noah for not understanding his references, being pretty..

Holy shit.

Noah kind of liked Cody.

Usually, when the dorks he considers his friends (Izzy, Owen, etc) dragged him to a social event like this one, he'd groan and complain. A lot. He was the one who asked Cody to go with him. Why? Because he definitely kind of liked him. He absolutely definitely kind of liked his arch-nemesis.

He kind of liked when he'd ramble about all those movies and TV shows, because he kind of liked his voice, he liked his smile, his eyes, his hair, how he blushed when he called him an annoying nickname. He had to admit, to say he "kind of" liked Cody, was a huge overstatement.

"Noah-- I have a headache.."

"Why? Aren't you sober? Where does it hurt??"

"Aw. You're worried about me!!"Cody grinned, "I'm sober - the music is just too loud.."

Noah tensed, "Let's go outside."

☆

Letting Cody hold his hand, so they don't lose each other in the crowd, felt really weirdly nice. As nice as it felt, Noah had to hope that Cody didn't notice how sweaty the interaction made him.

Cody sat down with him on the sidewalk while eating the leftover candy he apparently had.

"So," Noah fidgeted with his fingers, "Did you have fun, was it everything you ever dreamed and more, Codykins?"

Cody sighed, "Don't call me Codyki--"

"Codykins."

"It was okay? Like, it was fun but also weirdly loud? I liked it-- But maybe I just like hanging out with you- um."

Noah grinned, "Oh, so you like hanging out with me, I thought we were "not on the best of terms"?"

Noah tried not to panic. He was obviously aware of how Cody held a huge dislike towards him, but also aware of how Cody apparently happened to like hanging out with him. Which was it?
He overthought about everything, and admittedly, he was going to overthink this, too.
It didn't take him very long to realize he liked the guy who almost puked because he had eaten way too much candy in one sitting. He was a coward, a loser, who was definitely not going to tell Cody how he felt, but he wasn't going to lie to himself.

"Pffft-- You talk too much."

"I think I don't talk enough."

"Agree to disagree." Cody giggled as he folded a candy wrapper until it was seemingly microscopic. "I think you should shut up for a change."

"I think you should stop eating that candy, or you're going to puke--"

Cody laughed awkwardly,  and Noah figured he probably had heart-shaped eyes as he continued to stare at him. "I think you're-- um.. stupid!"

"Really, Codykins, was that the best you could do?"

"I was on a time-crunch!" Cody muttered, blush crept up to his cheeks. "Don't call me Codykins.."

Noah stared. For once, he didn't have a snarky or smart-ass reply to Cody's little jokes.

☆