3 Times Cody Fell for Noah's Voice (And 1 Time He Told Him) (Noco Oneshot)
[this is a request for an anonymous asker. hope you enjoy, especially after the long wait!]
“Hey,” Cody greeted his new roommate as he walked through the door. “I’m Cody, I’m your new roommate.”
The boy who was already in the room, laying down on an already made bed sat up just to look at Cody. He had a book in one hand, and once he caught a glance of Cody, he returned to his book.
“Uh… are you okay?”
The boy nodded. Cody dropped his luggage on the empty side of the room.
“Well you’re just not talking or anything-”
“I’m reading. My name is Noah. Stop bothering me.”
“Oh, sorry,” Cody apologized.
Noah. That was a nice name. Cody had obviously heard it before, it was a common name, but part of it was how it sounded specifically from Noah.
In short, Noah had a nice voice. It was smooth and soothing. But Cody had a feeling he wouldn’t hear it all that much.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Fuck,” Cody dropped his pen on the table, rubbing his eyes. It was past eleven at this point. Cody was doing his math homework, and Noah laid in bed on his laptop.
Noah turned his gaze to Cody. “Do you need help?”
Cody sat up straight, and turned his chair to face Noah. “Yeah. I’m stuck. Are you in multivariable calculus?”
Noah nodded, although it was hard to see in the dark. Cody was using a flashlight to see his paper, the lights in the room were off. Noah stood up and made his way to Cody’s desk, and Cody turned his chair back around.
Cody picked up his pencil, and Noah started whispering directions on how to do the problem. He tried to follow around, but he couldn’t pay attention. All he could think about was how Noah sounded when he whispered.
“Cody! Pay attention!”
“Sorry. I can’t really hear you. Could you just… talk normally? I don’t think you need to whisper.”
Noah sighed. “Fine,” He spoke normally again. “Now listen. The equation of a cone is x squared over a squared plus y squared over b squared equals z squared over c squared. You know that?”
“Yes.”
“So all you have to do…”
Cody listened to instructions, a little better than with the whispers. Even though he was a little distracted. Because it was so unfair that Noah was lucky enough to get such a pretty voice for free.
But, he managed to solve a whole problem! Now he just had to do the rest.
“So, you get it now?” Noah questioned.
“I think so. Thanks for the help.”
“No problem.”
“Really? It sort of sounded like a problem.”
“Oh. Well it isn’t.”
Cody smiled. “I thought you didn’t like being bothered.”
“I can make an excuse once in a while.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Beat again,” Noah smiled. Cody’s mouth hung open wide. Yet again, he’d been pummeled to the ground easily in Kosmic Kaos by Noah. Flawlessly.
“I don’t even know how you do that,” Cody looked at Noah in disbelief, controller loose in his grip.
Noah smiled proudly, sitting up straight for once in his life. “These are the skills that have kept me from having a girlfriend all my life,” He joked. “That among other things.”
Cody grinned himself. Ever since Noah had helped him with his math homework, Cody stopped being afraid of asking Noah to do things with him. And he realized he and his roommate had a lot more in common than he’d originally thought. They both loved Kosmic Kaos and Dragon Assassin, had similar taste in movies (even though Noah mostly made fun of them), and they took a lot of the same classes, so they were able to help each other with homework (well, more Noah helped Cody and Cody said he’d get him back someday). And they were still different enough to not get bored. Cody actually had interest in school, so he got to blab about his in-depth personal research with Noah for hours, while Noah would listen. Noah got to talk about his favorite books, and convince Cody to read them sometimes. And Noah and Cody made fun of each other for their different opinions on sports (Noah couldn’t stand them, but Cody always tried to get him to play dodgeball with their friends on weekends).
“Well, maybe I can make up for being worse at video games than you by scoring with the ladies.” Cody finger-gunned.
Noah snorted. “Yeah right. All myth no legend.”
Cody shut up. Not because Noah totally obliterated him, but because he was a little flushed. Myth had rolled off of Noah’s tongue so perfectly. Cody was floored to say the least.
Noah’s voice wasn’t the only thing about him that was perfect. He had silky brown hair, a charming sense of humor, and deep, brown eyes. Sometimes Cody just had to stare at them.
And he had perfect, unchapped lips. Lips that Cody just wanted to-
“Cody? Are you okay?”
Cody coughed, a little too loud to be natural. “Yeah. Nothing’s wrong.”
Noah raised an eyebrow at that.
~~~~~~~~~~
“But Justin doesn’t want that song on the album, he thinks it’s too unfinished,” Cody ranted. He was sat mirroring Noah on Noah’s bed. It had been a stressful week for his band. Things weren’t working out with the other members, and they couldn’t choose which songs they should include on their new album, and they only had a week left to decide. “So, what do you think?”
“I think I know absolutely nothing about music. I barely even listen to it myself.”
Cody’s eyes just about bulged out of his head. “You what? You don’t listen to music?”
Noah shrugged. “It just isn’t for me. I mean, I like the instrumentals in a few Santana songs, but generally I don’t like music all that much.”
“I mean, everyone likes Santana, come on.”
Noah brushed him off silently.
“Dang it, now you got Black Magic Woman stuck in my head by bringing him up.”
Cody grabbed and opened his laptop from behind him, looking up the song. He clicked on the first audio that appeared after he searched it up. Noah smiled softly.
Cody tapped his pencil against his notebook to the tune. Noah hummed along, and Cody had a small smile on his face.
The song went on for what felt like forever and no time at all, when Noah started mumbling the lyrics to himself as he stared at his book.
Cody’s eyes were wide as he stared at Noah’s moving lips. When the lyrics ended, briefly, he went back to humming, and when the lyrics started, he mumbled again. Call Noah the black magic man, because Cody was enchanted.
When the song ended, Cody was stuck staring at Noah. Noah finally looked up and at Cody. “What?”
“You know,” Cody hung a hand on the back of his neck, “you have a really pretty voice.”
“Oh.” Noah looked like a deer in the headlights. “Thanks,” he muttered sheepishly, averting his eyes.
“No problem,” Cody smiled, a bit more confident. He reached out for Noah’s hand and loosely held his fingertips.
The Total Drama NoCo (Noah/Cody) Ita-Bag is finished!!!
Thank you to the artists below for helping me make this became a reality;
Noah and Cody pins by @vogelchan
Noah chibi pin by @zephyrdusk
Wawanakwka 07 pin by hopeless_robotics
Cody and Noah sticker by dawnsicles
I cannot believe I made this… lmao….
I’ve been a huge fan of Total Drama since 2009 and around 2010, I got super invested into NoCo. And I’ve been shipping it ever since 😭
On my art account, I went on and on about how obsessed I was with the ship back in the day, that was my peak with NoCo. Now, I might be reaching over that peak since I’ve made an Ita-bag 😂
All of my NoCo artwork from this years NoCovember, started by zuureleena on Instagram!
Week 1; Selfie 📸
Week 2; Video game/movie night 🎮🍿
Week 3; Asking out 🥰💞
Week 4; First date 🌊☀️
NoCo was my first big ship, I was obsessed with it from 2010-2012 and it actually helped me with realising I wasn’t straight. I’ve been so nostalgic for the ship as of late and coincidentally, NoCovember was coming up so I definitely wanted to join in c:
First picture is from the first prompt; selfie! Right as Noah took the photo, Cody wanted to give him a kiss on the cheek and was able to catch his reaction.
First picture is from the first prompt; selfie! Right as Noah took the photo, Cody wanted to give him a kiss on the cheek and was able to catch his reaction.
Second picture is from the second prompt; I headcanon that both Cody and Noah love watching really bad movies and laughing about them together. On this night, they picked a bad horror movie. While Cody was laughing away, Noah legitimately got scared. So here they are, credits rolling and Cody is laughing being like ‘that was awful! Right, Noah?’ And Noah’s all nervous like ‘Y..yeah… sure was…’ poor guy actually got scared 🥲
Third picture is from the third prompt; probably doesn’t much too much sense unless you’ve read it but I wanted to draw a scene from a fanfiction I recently uploaded! In this fanfic, they’re around 23-24 here and the two talk about their feelings for each other. Message me if you want a link to the fic 👀
Fourth picture is from the fourth prompt; I wanted to draw them at the beach! Realistically, I don’t think Noah would love the beach much but he enjoys watching the waves and being with Cody. I chose this idea because one of my first dates with my boyfriend was a picnic at the beach 🥰 Also, RIP, Cody’s gonna burn lmaoooo Don’t worry, Noah made sure he wore sunscreen!
Swerving Down a Backroad Away from the Police (Noco Oneshot)
Was driving at the age of eighteen with seven passengers in the car in Canada legal?
No.
Was driving at all under the age of eighteen in Canada legal?
No.
What was Noah doing?
Seventeen years old, one of seven passengers in the car, 10 at night, swerving down a backroad away from the police.
How did he get here?
“LORD HELP ME!” Duncan shouted, jumping in the front seat of Eva’s sister’s van, dropping a backpack full of alcohol into Eva’s lap.
“What the fuck, Duncan?” Eva asked.
“SHUT UP AND LET ME DRIVE!”
Duncan hit the gas and started driving out of the parking lot.
“What happened?” Trent asked, holding onto the car door handle on the right side of the car as Duncan turned onto the road.
“I didn’t know there were police right outside! I usually get away with this!”
“He stole beer and… other stuff,” Eva said, making a disgusted face aimed at the bag.
“Ooh! Sounds fun! I haven’t been in a police chase in a while!” Izzy exclaimed happily, leaning forward onto the central console.
“I hope Eva’s sister isn’t mad we stole her car,” Owen added, peeking up over Izzy to look at Eva.
Eva clutched her brow. “I’m so gonna get grounded.”
“Well I’m gonna get arrested and you are too, you’re accomplices now,” Duncan yelled.
“Fuck you Duncan,” Gwen began, leaning over a now smiling Cody in the backseat to get a better look at Duncan. “You did not have to drag us into this.”
“If I get anything on my record, I’m going to be very mad,” Noah stated, arms and legs crossed.
“Well what are you going to do about it?” Duncan asked.
“Go faster,” Izzy suggested.
“Sounds fun.” Duncan smirked, taking a sharp left.
Cody’s shoulder smashed into Noah’s.
“Ow,” Noah deadpanned.
“Sorry,” Cody apologized.
“Did you ever take driver’s ed, Duncan?” Noah questioned.
“I got a D+,” Duncan grinned, taking another sharp turn on the windy road that they were on, trying to throw off the cop car now following.
Cody grabbed Noah and Gwen's legs to avoid crashing into anyone. Noah tensed up and his heart skipped a beat.
“Sorry again,” Cody repeated.
“Not a problem,” Noah articulated.
It was about this time Noah realized.
With all this extra speed, Noah was now pressed flush against Cody. Cody was holding onto him for dear life.
Noah began to feel hot.
Noah already knew. He knew he liked Cody for a little while now. He knew both Gwen and Owen, who were both in the car, knew he knew. He knew Izzy knew before he did. He knew Gwen was looking at him.
Noah looked at her.
She smirked at him, glancing between him and a blissfully unaware Cody with a clenched jaw.
Noah turned back to facing forward, and just wondered when Izzy and Owen would take a peek in the backseat.
And at this point he noticed everyone was shouting.
“So, are we going to just be okay with the fact that Duncan just came in and decided we were all going to die?” Gwen asked.
“I mean, what choice do we have?” Trent asked. “The deal's been done.”
“Unless you have anything to say about it. I'm talking to both of you nerds in the backseat.”
Owen turned around.
Cody was currently wincing at the latest turn, which shoved him harshly onto Noah's side.
Noah didn't know if this was the correct moment to get butterflies in his stomach, but the universe decided it was.
Owen wiggled his eyebrows, and Noah cringed. All he could do was hope Cody didn't see.
“This is bullshit,” Eva stated, picking up her phone. “I’m calling my sister.”
Duncan started shouting about something, but Noah tuned it out. He looked over to Cody, who had moved his hand from Noah’s leg to clench his sleeve, and pulled on it as they took a right turn, falling onto Gwen’s side of the car.
At this point, Cody was clutching Noah’s wrist. Noah couldn’t focus. His head was pounding not only from Cody but also from the driving. His heart was beating quickly not only from the driving but from Cody.
Noah thought he was bold in his head.
He grabbed Cody’s hand.
A thousand sparks rushed through his body.
God, I’m pathetic, he thought to himself.
Noah was never fond of romance as a child. He thought everyone involved was weak. Or stupid. In most cases, both. He was pretty embarrassed that he ended up having a crush. His younger self would probably taunt him.
Maybe he was weak. Well, not maybe, he knew he was weak. He couldn’t run, never mind a ten-minute mile. Back to the topic- maybe he was stupid. This was most definitely pathetic. But he didn’t hate it.
Cody’s eyes were squeezed shut as they took a turn onto a dirt path. Noah heard screams of “JESUS CHRIST” and “DUNCAN WHAT THE FUCK” but he was preoccupied.
He was holding Cody’s hand.
While crashing through the woods being chased by police.
But a win’s a win.
“Did we lose them?” Noah heard Duncan ask.
Noah turned behind them as they began to drive a little less violently.
“I think so?” Noah replied.
“Did they get the plate?” Trent asked. “Eva could be in big trouble.”
“It’s way too dark and we were way too far ahead for them to see anything,” Gwen responded.
Duncan sighed, parking the car at the end of the dirt road.
Eva actually put the setting in park.
The car unloaded, Owen threw up somewhere, and Noah leaned against a tree with Eva and Izzy.
“So, did you call your sister and tell her about the whole ordeal?” Noah asked.
“Yeah. We yelled about that for like, an entire minute. You really didn’t catch it?” Eva asked.
“No, he was too busy making googly-eyes at Cody,” Izzy smiled.
“No I wasn’t!”
“Yes you were.”
“Not.”
“Were.”
“Was not.”
“Were were were were were were were were were were were were were were were!”
“Uh, I can break this tie,” Trent began, leaning over to the group. “He totally did.”
Noah stopped as Trent walked back away. “I have no comment.”
Eva snickered. “Pathetic.”
Noah facepalmed. “I know.”
“Well hey,” Eva smiled, “I don’t know. Maybe you have a chance. When he isn’t all Gwen it seems like he’s pretty into you.”
“He’s into Gwen.”
“He could be into you too.” Eva shrugged. “Now I gotta tell my sister where we actually are so she can drive us home. I figure Duncan’s already gone before we can actually do anything about it. See you guys.”
She walked off a bit farther, and Noah looked around. She was right- Duncan was gone. But Noah wasn’t going to call the police. If Eva’s sister wanted to do that, she could. Noah didn’t care enough.
Izzy smirked. “So, gonna go talk to Cody?”
Noah glanced over his shoulder to see Cody talking with Gwen.
“Nah. Maybe later.”
“If you say so,” Izzy smiled, and skipped off to find Owen.
Was Noah a little bit scared for sleepovers at Owen’s after what happened last time?
Yeah. A little.
Trent having a video of Noah cuddling with Cody and kissing his ear for some reason was pretty embarrassing. Also, Owen might have the video by now, Noah wasn’t sure.
But, nevertheless, Noah was invited to a sleepover yet again. Thankfully, this time it was only with Eva, Izzy, Cody, and, of course, Owen. Noah figured he’d be able to stand that. There were only so many things that could go wrong, and even if they did, he only had to live with four people knowing.
“Hey Noah!” Owen greeted, opening the door seconds after Noah knocked.
“Hey Owen,” Noah greeted monotonely.
“Everyone’s already here,” Owen informed. “We’re gonna watch Mean Girls right now.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah! It’s my favorite movie.”
Noah sighed. “Fine. Whatever.”
Noah followed Owen down the thin, dim stairway to the open, carpeted family room. Owen’s house always made Noah feel a certain way. It had three stories: the top one being fairly small, only containing a few bedrooms and bathrooms; the middle one being the kitchen, dining room, living room, one bedroom, and a bathroom; the basement was dim and open, and was covered in white carpet and cheap furniture. It gave Noah a sense of nostalgia even though his home was never anything like Owen’s.
As Noah sat on the couch, he saw Cody on the other end with his head resting on his palm. Izzy was doing cartwheels around the basement, and Eva was cursing at the TV. trying to get it to play the movie.
“Your TV is stupid!” She yelled as Owen walked in.
“Are you pressing enter?” Owen asked, walking up to Eva and the remote.
“Yeah! That’s the button you’re supposed to use when you’re selecting something, idiot!”
“You have to select TV again.”
Eva selected the button and the movie started playing. “Oh.”
Owen giggled and Eva blushed.
“Hey! It’s not funny!” Eva yelled, sitting down on the couch between Noah and Cody.
As Owen skipped through the commercials while sitting on the ground, Eva started tapping her foot.
“Move, Noah, this seat’s uncomfortable.”
Before he knew it, Noah was being picked up and dropped in the middle of the couch and Eva laid on the side of the couch where Noah was previously.
“Wow, real nice of you,” Noah commented.
“Shut up!” Eva responded. “The movie’s starting.”
“Oh come on, everyone’s seen this movie like, a billion times. It’s just Cady talking to her parents.”
“Eva, if you’ve ever been to a sleepover, you would know watching movies is so we can comment on them,” Izzy said.
“I actually never saw this,” Cody stated.
Noah looked at Cody with a look of surprise. “No way. My sister made me watch this with her literally every day for a month when I was 14.”
Cody shrugged. “I never really had any interest in watching it. I’m not big on movies.”
“You’re going to love it,” Owen told Cody.
“You won’t,” Noah disagreed. “It’s so basic and boring.”
“Blah blah blah, WHATEVER,” Eva yelled.
So, for the next few minutes, the group was quiet.
Noah was pretty stiff against the couch, because Eva was right, it was uncomfortable. This part of the movie was pretty boring, but then again, Noah thought the entire movie was boring. Either way, nobody had anything to say so far.
“Why do they have cliques like that?” Cody asked as the camera zoomed through the cafeteria. “Why does their cafeteria even look like that?”
“That’s what I’m saying!” Noah agreed.
“I’ll agree on that one,” Izzy said. “Why do they have to separate the smart asians and the hot asians? We all know that Noah is both so that’s inaccurate.”
Noah coughed loudly. “Sorry, what?”
First off, the movie had not said ‘smart asians’ and ‘hot asians’, it had said ‘asian nerds’ and ‘cool asians’. Second off, Noah had never thought himself to look good, nevermind hot. He was average. Probably a little under that. He hadn’t ever put effort into his looks or cared about them until a couple months ago, and the only people who ever commented on it were Cody and his sister.
He was pretty glad Cody was one of the people who noticed, because that’s really, embarrassingly, who he was dressing up for. But Noah still wasn’t attractive.
“She isn’t wrong,” Cody stated.
Noah stopped. He looked straight forward at the TV and did not dare look at Cody.
Cody thinks I’m hot.
It was moments like these that Noah had to wonder. Maybe Cody did like him. Maybe Noah should ask him out.
But then again, Noah was a coward. And whenever he thought about the moments after they happened, he convinced himself they were totally platonic. Cody didn’t like him and never would.
Noah brought the knee closest to Cody up to his face and laid on it to cover it. He didn’t want anyone looking at him at a time like this, especially not Cody.
Eva snickered from next to him.
Wow. Noah was stuck in a room with people who all knew he liked Cody and Cody.
Noah took a sneaking glance at Cody, who turned out to be looking at him.
“Dude, are you okay?” Cody asked.
“Yeah, why?” Noah lied.
“You aren’t. Are you embarrassed or something?”
“No. I’m not.”
“You totally are,” Cody smiled. “What, do you not know you’re hot?”
“I think it’s because you said it,” Eva grinned.
“What the heck Eva?” Noah yelled. “It is not.”
“You weren’t acting like that when Izzy said it.”
“...I needed time to process. I was surprised.”
“Well, now you can have comfort knowing that you’re hot,” Cody stated.
Noah pinched the top of his nose. “Please stop talking.”
Cody shrugged and went back to laying on his side of the couch.
A few other exchanges occurred while watching the movie, but Noah didn’t really pay much attention.
~~~
“We should have a fashion show!” Izzy exclaimed.
Noah rubbed his eyes. “For god’s sake, where would we find anything fashionable in this house?”
“Oh don’t worry. I brought a ton of extra clothes. Just in case I have to run away and live in the woods, you know? And I have some accessories so we can totally be stylish with it. This movie really inspired me to dress up! Come on!”
Izzy ran out of the room, upstairs, and back downstairs with her bag before anyone even bothered to follow her. She quickly laid out all her clothes on the floor. “Okay, let’s pick our outfits!”
“Izzy, I am not going to fit in those,” Owen said.
“Well this is your house, go get your own clothes!”
“I’m not gonna fit either,” Eva stated.
“Don’t worry, I have some clothes big enough to fit you,” Izzy smiled, handing Eva what remained in the bag. “This is the big stuff.”
“Okay then,” Eva turned, walking into the bathroom to change.
“I’m gonna grab some nice clothes from my room,” Owen told the group before running upstairs.
Noah studied the clothes in front of him. He obviously wasn’t going to wear Izzy’s miniskirts and crop-tops, he would never subject himself to such torture. Plus, even though Noah wasn’t as big as Owen or Eva, he probably still wouldn’t fit in a lot of Izzy’s clothes.
Unfortunately, it seemed most of Izzy’s clothes were tight.
Noah ended up picking some jean shorts, a green flannel, a blue pajama shirt, and hoping for the best.
After changing, Noah looked in the mirror.
Jean shorts were not his style. He figured womens’ clothing in general was not his style. He hated how short the shorts were, he didn’t like shorts in general, but at least they were baggier than the rest of what Izzy had.
The flannel was much more his thing, and was very anti-Izzy. He was surprised she had it at all. He liked it, and figured maybe he should get a flannel of his own.
The pajama shirt he had picked really because everything else Izzy owned was a crop top, and he liked that too.
The outfit worked surprisingly better than he thought it would. But before he exited the room, he decided to wear his own jeans instead. He hated the shorts. A lot.
“Next,” Noah shouted as he exited the bathroom.
“Noah! Get over here!” Owen shouted from down the hall.
Noah walked over to where Owen was standing. “What?”
“We’re gonna go down the catwalk!” Owen pointed to some wooden planks placed going from the hallway into a room. “Izzy’s filming.”
“She’s what?”
“Don’t worry, we aren’t sending it to anyone but each other. Anyways, take a blanket so you don’t ruin the surprise like you already did for me.”
It was at this point Noah realized Owen had been wearing a blanket. “Oh, yeah, okay.”
Noah wrapped the blanket around his body and laughed at the stupidity of it, and then followed Owen into the room of the catwalk. Soon enough, Cody followed.
“Okay!” Izzy yelled as Cody walked into the room, wearing a blanket. “Eva’s getting ready to walk the walk and Cody just came out! Too bad it was the bathroom and not the closet. Anyway, presenting the fabulous Eva!”
Owen clapped and Cody facepalmed with a laugh. And sure enough, Eva came down the catwalk and dropped her blanket, revealing her outfit. She wore a mid-thigh length blue skirt, white tank top, and green jacket. She did a little spin with a straight face before she made it to the end of the catwalk and started laughing.
Noah found himself laughing with her.
“I feel so dumb!” She giggled. “Why don’t you have any big clothes that match!”
Izzy shrugged with a smile. “Owen, you're up next!”
Owen ran around the other door to the catwalk, dropping his blanket dramatically. He wore a long-sleeved white shirt… and a yellow skirt?
He started pretending he knew how to do ballet as he danced the catwalk and the other four of the group laughed.
“Where did you get your skirt?” Noah asked.
“I stole it from my mom,” Owen smiled, sitting down.
“Okay, Noah!” Izzy shouted.
Noah sighed and went around the wall, dropping his blanket on the floor before he got to the catwalk. He stepped on the catwalk and rolled his eyes, struck a pose with one hand up and one on his hip, and stepped off. As he sat down, he smiled.
“Cody, you’re up next!” Izzy exclaimed.
Cody ran around the wall to the catwalk. He was smiling as he dropped his blanket and spun around. He wore a denim skirt, green top, and dark green jacket. With every step he did a different pose and at the end did another spin, looked straight into the camera, winked, and burst out laughing as he walked to his chair.
“Okay okay I’m next! Eva, hold the camera!” Izzy ran around the wall and the catwalk where she revealed herself wearing a pink miniskirt, long-sleeve pink crop top, and a white spaghetti strap crop top over it. She did a front-handspring down the catwalk and did a peace sign to the camera.
“Woo!” Owen yelled and started clapping.
Cody and Noah started clapping too and Eva ended the video.
“Well, you didn’t look half-bad,” Cody joked. “You made that pajama shirt work.”
“Whatever. You look good too.”
~~~
“Let’s play roll call,” Eva suggested.
After the fashion show, the group had changed back into their normal clothes and decided to just talk for a minute. But soon enough, they got bored.
“I’ve never heard of that,” Noah informed.
“Oh, it’s so much fun. I used to play it with my sister and her friends all the time. They always made me be it first, but whatever. And we would probably be better off with more people, but we can still play.”
“So… how do you play?” Cody asked.
“So first, there’s a leader,” Eva began. “Then there’s a kidnapper. The lights all have to be off and we walk around the house in a single file line except for the kidnapper. The kidnapper has to grab people from the end of the line one by one. When they’re taken, they all have to hide. Every once in a while, the leader has to say ‘roll call’ and everyone left has to say present. When the leader is alone, they turn on the lights and start seeking.”
“Sounds fun! I’ll be it.” Izzy grinned.
“I want to be the leader,” Owen added. “I think I’d get too scared not being the leader.”
“Great! Let’s turn off the lights.”
Noah reluctantly stood up as Eva, Izzy, and Owen ran upstairs to turn off all the lights.
“I just know I’m gonna get the shit scared out of me,” Noah stated.
“Same here.” Cody rubbed his arm. “I feel like I’m gonna scream and ruin the game.”
Noah nodded. “Let’s just turn off the lights down here. I think the other three have the rest of the house covered.”
Cody walked off to another section of the basement while Noah went down the hallway, turning off all the lights that remained on. As he came back, he bumped his forehead into something.
“Ow!” Or someone.
“Sorry,” Noah apologized while rubbing his forehead. “I didn’t see you.”
“Well yeah, duh. We just turned off all of the lights in the basement. Where are you?”
“I’m right here.”
Noah stuck his hand out to reach for wherever Cody was so he wouldn’t bump into him.
And his hand met another hand.
“Sorry!” Cody apologized loudly, removing his hand
“You didn’t even do anything,” Noah replied, grabbing Cody’s hand back. He was glad Cody couldn’t see him smiling in the dark. “It would be better to know where you are anyways. Let’s just go find the others.”
Noah wasn’t sure if Cody responded, but it seemed as if he had nodded or something along those lines because he followed Noah up the stairs while holding his hand.
Noah felt the walls around the narrow steps and eventually found himself at a closed door.
“Hello?” Cody asked. “Where are you guys?”
Silence.
“Are you guys there?”
Silence.
“What the fuck are they doing?” Noah asked, pulling Cody through the kitchen while holding onto the wall. “Are we going to play or what?”
Cody followed Noah as he guided him through the house. “Are they trying to mess with us or something?”
“Probably,” Noah responded.
“Where are the light switches anyway so we can find them?”
“I have no idea where the light switches are when there’s no doors. There’s no doors on the main floor except for like, two.”
The two stayed in silence for a minute.
Then, there was a scream.
Cody stopped. “Was that Eva?”
“They’re messing with us. Definitely.”
“Wanna go back downstairs? So we can turn on the lights?”
Noah groaned. “You’re such a chicken. Look, they’re gonna make fun of us if we turn the lights on. I mean, we could probably scare them back if we wanted to anyways. Should we?”
“AAAHHH!” Cody shrieked, running straight into Noah’s back and tripping.
“Cody, what the fuck?”
“Get the fuck up I’m out of here!” Cody shouted, tugging at Noah’s arm.
Noah stood up and held Cody’s arm as they started running. “We’re going to run into something, what happened, are you okay?”
“This cold ass hand just touched my back! No, I am not okay. Where the hell am I and where’s the door?”
“Leave,” a horrifying voice bellowed.
“Okay, that’s demonic,” Noah stated. “The fuck type of prank are they trying to play? And who is that?”
“I don’t care if it’s a prank or what, I am leaving this house,” Cody said. “Oh, this is a doorknob.”
Cody presumably turned the knob and opened the door. “Shit, it’s the basement.”
Noah heard footsteps behind them.
“Fuck it,” Cody said, and ran down the stairs.
“Don’t kill me!” Noah yelled.
“I’m trying not to!”
As Noah and Cody reached the bottom of the stairs, they began to hear a laugh. A familiar one.”
“I can’t take it!” Izzy yelled, flicking on a light switch at the top of the stairs. “It’s too funny!”
Cody sighed. “Izzy you scared me half to death.”
“Me too, honestly,” Noah admitted.
“You, you guys started sprinting!” Izzy cackled. “Oh my gosh. I scared Eva too! She screamed so loud but then I told her to play along!”
Noah rolled his eyes. “Very funny.”
“Are you guys holding hands?”
Noah looked down to his and Cody’s hands. He quickly released his hand and crossed his arms, a slight tint of red on his face.
“How did you get your hand to be so cold?” Cody asked, dodging the question.
“I stuck it in the freezer. I guess I should go tell Owen I’m done scaring people.”
Noah’s mouth fell open. “You mean he didn’t have to fall victim to this torture?”
“Yup! Now, we should play that roll call game. It sounds fun!”
“Nuh uh.” Cody shook his head. “I am done getting scared today.”
~~~
“Can we just hang out and play some music?” Cody asked.
The group was laying on the carpeted floor of Owen’s basement, tired after Izzy had pulled shenanigans instead of playing a game like normal people.
“After all of that, that’s the only thing I want to do,” Eva sighed.
“Nobody loves music like Eva,” Izzy smiled.
“It’s true,” Eva agreed. “I call first song.”
Eva pulled out her mp3 player and picked a song.
Noah listened to the beginning, and it wasn’t even seconds until he recognized the song. “Cemetery Drive? Really?”
“What? It’s my favorite song right now,” Eva responded.
“I’ve never heard this in my life, how did you recognize it so fast?” Cody asked.
“Remember my cousin, Caleb?” Noah returned.
“Yeah…”
“He loves My Chemical Romance.”
“Your family has been relating to this sleepover one too many times,” Owen said.
At this point, Noah glanced to where Owen was sitting up at a desk, opening firefox.
“What are you doing?” Noah asked.
“I want to open this up so we can pick a song that isn’t Eva’s,” Owen stated.
“Thank god. Lemme see.”
Noah walked over to the computer and looked up his favorite song. “Play this when Eva’s music ends.”
Owen smiled. “I love that song!”
“Everyone loves that song,” Noah smirked.
Eventually Eva’s song came to an end and at this point everyone except Izzy was off of the floor. Owen pressed play on the video Noah had pulled up.
Izzy perked up as the song started playing. “Oh my gosh! I love Smooth! Owen, come dance with me!
Man, it’s a hot one
Izzy grabbed Owen and started shaking her arms and his to the beat.
Like seven inches from the midday sun
She twirled around and let go of his hands.
I hear you whispering the words, melt everyone
Cody smiled as he watched them dance and stood up, taking Eva’s hand.
But you stay so cool
Cody twirled as well, copying the same movement that Izzy had moments before. Noah watched them with a small smile, standing next to the wall.
My muñequita
Izzy pushed past Cody and into Eva’s arms.
My Spanish harlem Mona Lisa
Izzy rocked Eva side to side and Eva smiled dumbly.
You’re my reason for reason
Cody made his way over to Owen and Owen himself did a twirl.
The step in my groove
Cody stepped a foot forward and Owen took one backwards.
And if you said this life ain’t good enough
Izzy dragged Noah into the middle, taking his arms and running them both around in a circle before dropping him.
I would give my world to lift you up
Owen caught Noah and picked him up off the floor.
I would change my life to better suit your mood
Eva dragged Noah out and awkwardly wiggled his arms. “I’m not really a dancer,” She smiled.
Because you’re so smooth
Before Noah could respond ‘can any of us?’ Cody stole Noah from Eva and walked backwards to an area free of the other three.
And it’s just like the ocean under the moon
Cody spun him around the same way Izzy did, but didn’t drop him.
It’s the same as the emotion that I get from you
He twirled Noah around before catching his shoulder.
You got the kinda lovin’ that can be so smooth
Cody twirled himself around between Noah’s arms.
Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it
He ducked out and mouthed the words before winking and letting go.
The song continued without lyrics for a few moments, and Noah stood there, stunned. Throughout this entire time, Noah had not had the time to process anything that happened.
Cody had spent a lot of time dancing with him. Everyone else only lasted a couple lines but Cody just… kept dancing with Noah. Maybe he was overthinking, maybe Cody just really liked the song too.
But Cody winked at him.
And Noah’s heart was racing a million miles per hour.
And he was out of breath.
And hoping Cody wasn’t paying attention.
But I’ll tell you one thing
Izzy whisked Cody away from where he had begun dancing by himself.
If you would leave it’d be a crying shame
Izzy spun herself and Cody as they both smiled widely.
And every breath and every word
Owen and Eva took each other's arms and Owen basically threw her around in a circle with one arm around him.
I hear your name calling me out
Eva smiled and did the same to him.
Out from the barrio
Izzy grabbed Noah again just to do a dance move on her own, and Noah just moved to the rhythm himself.
You hear my rhythm on your radio
Owen joined the two with a smile on his face, rocking his hips back and forth.
You feel the turning of the world, so soft and slow
Eva made her way into the circle spinning by herself.
Turnin’ you round and round
Cody yet again returned to Noah and spun him around three times.
And if you said this life ain’t good enough
Eva began to mutter the lyrics to herself while Izzy practically yelled them. Owen and Noah watched them both, Owen mouthing the lyrics and Noah just smiling. Cody began to dance by himself as well, also lip-syncing.
I would give my world to lift you up
Owen held Izzy up by her waist in the air as she giggled.
I would change my life to better suit your mood
Cody turned towards Noah, and while still dancing on his own, opened his eyes and mouthed the lyrics happily in his direction.
Because you’re so smooth
Noah found himself smiling back and started lip syncing to the lyrics himself.
And it’s just like the ocean under the moon
Cody’s grin grew wider and he took Noah’s left hand with his right.
It’s the same as the emotion that I get from you
Though they both did their own independent dance moves, they kept their hands together.
You got the kinda lovin’ that can be so smooth
Noah had gone back and forth with himself a million times. He thought Cody liked him but convinced himself Cody didn’t like him. Noah had gone back and forth with Owen a million times. He thought Cody liked him but convinced himself Cody didn’t like him.
Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it
The instrumental part followed these lyrics, and Noah decided to just stop thinking. He was having a good time, he was dancing with his friends, and he was dancing with Cody. He wasn’t required to wonder about whether or not Cody liked him. He didn’t want to bother wondering about it because he was happy enough as is. There weren't enough moments where he just forgot about thinking and embarrassment and just had a good time, and he knew his friends, especially Eva, felt that way too.
Noah let go of Cody’s hand but kept smiling as he made his way to dance with Eva and Izzy.
As the rest of the song faded, Noah fell flat onto his back on the floor.
“I feel you,” Cody laughed heavily, falling next to him. “That was really fun. Owen can you put on Tiny Dancer next?”
“Yeah,” Owen responded.
Noah smiled. This was probably his most successful sleepover so far.
