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As a young teen, Noah wasn’t one to go out with friends or anyone in general. He stayed in his room all day and would only go out if needed, hungry, or to go to school. His parents grew worried about his antisocial behavior— he’d barely even go out with the family. Considering his eight older sisters taunting every second of his life, Noah lacked empathy for anyone around him, including himself. He’d get schoolwork done and keep up with his hygiene, but he was still unhealthy considering his lack of social interaction.
One day in second grade as he read a book alone at recess, per usual, a boy approached him with a party-size bag of chips. Noah, for once, looked up after smelling the salty scent of said chips and saw an overweight boy peer over him with dark, green eyes almost void of any color.
“Salt and vinegar?”
“Yeah! There are better chip flavors, but this was the only kind left in my pantry.” Noah squinted at the bright yellow colors practically shouting at him at the top left corner of the bag.
“Party size?” He asked.
“Yup! A snack size isn’t even a snack for me— more like a bite!” Noah rolled his eyes and returned to his book.
“Obviously,” he mumbled. After a whole page of reading, Owen still stood in front of him while loudly chomping on his chips, almost as if he’d done it on purpose. Noah’s eye twitched as he shut his book, finger placed on the page where he last left off.
“Do you mind?” Noah grumbled. Owen didn’t quite catch Noah's drift and smiled as he sat beside him. Closely.
“Thanks! I was getting tired of standing.” Owen grinned as he took a handful of chips and stuffed it into his mouth. Noah cringed at his sloppiness and leaned away from him. Owen held out a chip with his oily, chubby hand to Noah.
“Chip?”
Noah grimaced at the chip, then to Owen. The boy’s grin showed no sign of an ulterior motive other than trying to gain a friend, which was clear he had none of, so he ceded and placed the chip onto his tongue, letting the vinegar and salt dissolve into his mouth.
Noah thought Owen would forget about that day and carry on with his normal life, but boy did he think wrong. The following day, Owen carried two banana nut muffins out onto the playground. Noah, leaning against a pole while basking in the shade, looked up from the same book as yesterday to see the same boy, also from yesterday, hand a muffin to him.
“Why?” Noah asked after taking the muffin and involuntarily inviting Owen to sit next to him.
“Because you looked lonely. And hungry.” Owen said with a mouth full of muffin.
“I eat just fine. It’s you who eats too much.” Noah picked at the nuts on his muffin, throwing them aside on the grass. Noah felt Owen eye his clipped nails dig for almonds, then back up to his concentrated face. After finally removing all of the nuts, Noah took a nibble off the top of the muffin, feeling Owen’s eyes further bare into his skull.
“What?” Noah asked, finally making eye contact with Owen.
“Nuts?”
“Don’t like ‘em. Got an allergy.” He muffled through his muffin.
From that day on, Owen was careful not to sneak out anything with nuts, or honey, or penicillin. After their primary school years, Owen continued to sneak snacks for him, but it was more of buying snacks and drinks together with the school’s provided vending machines.
“What’s so great about mint chocolate?” Owen chuckled as he handed Noah his mint chocolate bar from the vending machine. He picked up his milk chocolate and hastily opened it.
“It’s not sweet.” Noah shrugged as he leaned against the machine with his shoulder, facing Owen.
“Dark chocolate isn’t sweet and you hate it.”
“‘cause it tastes like burnt toast.”
“But, you like burnt toast?”
“Mhm.” Noah nonchalantly shrugged as he bit into his bar. Owen squinted into nothingness as he tried to comprehend Noah’s reasoning.
“But, that doesn’t make sense.” Noah rolled his eyes.
“Just accept the fact that your best friend likes mint chocolate.” Owen chuckled and snapped off a piece of his bar.
“Taste it. It’s good!” Owen smiled his usual grin, this time with a smear of chocolate at the corner of his lip. Noah stared at the chocolate on Owen’s lip, then the piece he held out right in front of him.
“I’m fine with mint choc.” Noah placed out a hand to reject Owen’s offer. Despite Noah’s rejection, Owen popped the candy into Noah’s mouth and wiped off melted chocolate, and Noah’s saliva, onto his forest green jorts.
Noah still found mint chocolate superior, but Owen changed his mind after giving him the chocolate to try— not like he had much of a choice. Owen’s fingers tasted like the chocolate and other sweets Noah assumed he had beforehand. As they ran away from Coach Hatchet for sneaking out of class, Noah used the lingering scent and taste of Owen’s candy to subside his urge to kiss him on the lips— to remove the chocolate, of course.
Noah thought if he gave it a few years, his weird feelings for his best and only friend would die down. He thought wrong. Four years later in their sophomore year and Owen was still latched onto him, not helping with Noah’s feelings.
One day as Noah sat in his bedroom finishing up chemistry work, one of his older sisters slammed open his room and practically dragged him out by his hair.
“The hell do you want?!” Noah roared as his sister brought her to her room.
“Your fat friend won’t stop throwing shit at my window!” She threw him towards the window in her room. Noah’s eyes widened as he opened the window to see Owen with a handful of rocks he found in the Sterecra residence’s backyard.
“Wrong window, idiot!” Noah hissed. Owen dropped the rocks and yelled through cupped hands,
“Sorry!” Noah slapped his forehead with his palm. He glanced at his sister as he sliced a hand across his neck. His sister nodded and mockingly zipped her mouth shut. He looked down at the grass below before jumping onto his garden shed and the overgrown grass below.
“What do you want, dude?” Noah hissed as he approached Owen.
“There’s a party tonight at Geoff’s and I want you to come!” Owen glimmered. Noah looked down at his gray sweatpants and knitted sweater he received as a birthday gift last year, which still hung onto his body like a curtain.
“I’m not going like this. Nor am I going in general,” Noah looked up from his New Balance 990s. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.” He turned around to his front door. Owen grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled him back.
“Aw, man! Please? Only for a few minutes!” Owen clasped his hands together and gave Noah the most sickening puppy eyes he’d ever witnessed. Noah sneered and turned back around. “Come on! We’ll pop our heads in for, like, five minutes and head back out!” Owen whined as he watched Noah trudge to his house.
Noah turned to face Owen and gave in. “Alright, fine! Just stop making that face.” Noah pointed at Owen’s pouting lip.
“Why? Too convincing?” Owen smirked as they walked onto the sidewalk, accompanied by streetlights every few concrete blocks.
“No. It’s irritating.” Noah rolled his eyes as he kicked a pebble.
“Nah, you just can’t resist my charm.” Noah chuckled and nudged Owen on his shoulder.
“You sound like Anderson.”
“You callin’ me a ladies’ man?”
“You wish!” The two chuckled as they made their way towards Geoff’s residence, which Owen had fortunately messed up the directions and caused a delay in their arrival. Noah, of course, loved their pit stop in the middle of the neighborhood with a lack of directions, but not because he wanted to return home— he was just glad he could milk out a few more minutes of alone time with Owen, as cheesy as he made it out to be.
After Owen dragged Noah to Geoff’s front door, the former rang the doorbell too many times to count and banged on the glass panel, also too many times to count.
“Yo! What’s good, man?” DJ greeted Owen and Noah in. “Oh! Hey, man! Wasn’t expectin’ you to be here.”
“Me, too,” Noah grumbled in his crossed arms. DJ let out a laugh and called Geoff to greet Owen and Noah, who was busy swapping spit with his girlfriend Bridgette.
“Yo-ho-ho!!!” Geoff hollered as he held Bridgette by her hip while approaching the three. “What’s good, G?” Geoff shook Owen’s hand, then Noah’s, who was clearly not eager to do so.
“I finally got Noah to join us!” Owen wrapped an arm around Noah, who tensed his shoulders.
“Where’s the drinks?” Noah yelled in a louder voice than usual due to the booming music and clamorous party guests in the background.
“Sodas and stuff are in the cooler in the kitchen. The booze is in the one out back— don’t tell anyone.” Geoff placed his index finger over his lips with a smirk. Noah hadn’t noticed the stench of alcohol escaping Geoff’s mouth and wafting around the house until he mentioned it.
“Yup. Not telling a soul.” Noah hastily spat out. He crawled out from Owen’s embrace and lashed out the door as fast as he could, but not before grabbing a Dr. Pepper from the soda cooler.
He stepped outside and let the cool winds wash away the overwhelming stench of alcohol. He turned to Courtney furiously vomiting with Gwen by her side, patting her back. Noah was aware of Courtney’s weak stomach, but he didn’t expect her to even touch a bottle of alcohol at the age of 16, let alone as a full-grown adult. He turned to the back door as Geoff brought in the booze cooler, ultimately glad Noah wouldn’t have to experience any more drunken teenagers stumbling their way over.
He leaned against one of the patio pillars and cracked open his can, sipping on the bubbles as he looked up to the night sky littered with stars centering a first-quarter moon. He sighed and collapsed against the pillar, back and neck aching and feet throbbing from the consequence of letting Owen be the compass.
It surprised Noah that he’d taken up the offer to attend Geoff’s party. If he was ever invited to one, which was once in a full moon, he’d turn down the offer and do what he usually did. But with Owen by his side after all these years, Noah began crawling out of his shell and accepting invitations like crazy, but only because Owen would be by his side to entertain him.
Noah then realized that the reason he did stupid shit like this was because of Owen. He had no one to go to parties with, no one to sneak him out to any— until Owen came. He knew he was antisocial when he was younger, and he was totally fine with it. He’d rather stuff himself in a box than have to deal with people spitting out useless information and doing moronic things that’d fuck up their life plan. But not until Owen gave him a different perspective on life. Owen gave him that leverage, but at the cost of falling for him.
God, did Noah fall hard. Owen was like the other idiot teenagers he tried his best to ignore, but unlike the others, Owen didn’t let that stop him. Hell, he probably didn’t even know something was stopping him. Maybe that’s how Noah fell so hard; even after building all of those impenetrable walls and hiding in a steel cage, it took somebody who couldn’t even recognize a barrier for him to fall in love.
Noah thought being in love would be the worst thing to experience— even worse than death. But the fact that he was experiencing it for all those years yet never feeling lifeless showed him how much he underestimated the necessity of social interaction, because one fucking kid that genuinely wanted to befriend him caused him to fall in love, and fall hard. Owen was the reason why he was attending this shit party, and others before. Owen was the reason Noah was existing as a human— going out and doing stuff a teenager normally would. Owen gave him life, and Noah couldn’t help but like— no, love him for that.
Noah was aware his crush on Owen was cheesy; it’s Owen we’re talking about! But he saw someone behind the face-stuffing and loud talking— he saw purpose. A reason to believe in the moronic rituals people his age would perform by crashing cars and getting suspended. A reason to believe befriending someone; loving someone was alright.
He fluttered his eyes open and looked up to the half moon, with lips curling into a smile. Normally, he’d bite back the grin, but he couldn’t help it, just like how he couldn’t help his feelings for Owen.
“Hey, Noah!” Noah turned to the person who called him and immediately looked down at his can, face in total heat. Owen.
“Whatcha doin’?” Owen grinned with a soda can in one and the other in his pocket. Noah looked up at him and sighed, turning to a patch of dead grass in Geoff’s yard.
“Getting a breath of fresh air.” Owen hummed in response and nudged Noah to shift over for space on the pillar. He obliged and gave Owen half the pillar.
“Not feeling the greatest right now,” Owen said with a frown. Noah turned to Owen and frowned as well.
“What’s up, big guy?”
“Izzy dumped me. Like, just now.” Owen mumbled through his Sprite. Noah never liked the idea of Izzy being Owen’s girlfriend. Sure, he already hated the fact that he considered her as a friend, but as Owen’s girlfriend? Owen was already in danger when they were friends— he hoped he wouldn’t have to call the cops on her for domestic abuse
“Why?” Noah managed to mumble.
“Said she wanted to expand her palette. Then I saw her kissing Eva in the kitchen.” Noah couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“No way.”
“Yes, way! I’m proud of Izzy, but right after I get dumped? Come on!” Owen pouted as he finished the last of his soda. Noah watched Owen’s miserable attempt to toss it into a trash bag but missed by a few inches.
“Hey, at least Eva can handle abuse better than you can.” Owen gave a dry chuckle, but Noah knew he was just trying to lighten the mood.
“Never thought Izzy would like girls! But then again, I don’t know anything about Izzy! Well, I did know she’d be dragging Eva to this party, but not for a make-out sesh!” Owen laughed at himself.
“If you knew Izzy was coming, then why drag me here? I told you I gained PTSD from seeing Harold in a Speedo and Speedo only because the Troublesome Three stole his underwear.” Noah shuddered after referring to DJ, Geoff, and Duncan taunting Harold, whose only articles of clothing were his shoes, socks, and a cherry red Speedo, with a bag of his underwear from the last party.
“Well,” Owen looked down at his knotted fingers, “Even though I was dating Izzy, I didn’t know her well. I also don’t know anyone here well, aside from you. You’re the closest friend I’ve ever had.” Owen confessed with a small smile. Noah looked away to hide his burning cheeks.
“Owen,” he managed to mumble, “We tell each other everything, right?” He glanced at his friend.
“Mhm! Well, more like I tell you everything, but I don’t mind!” Owen grinned. Noah held his breath and looked down in his can, which was close to empty.
“I have something to tell you.” Noah exhaled.
“Really?” Owen said in a soft mumble, reserved for only Noah. Noah nodded his head and noticed Owen beam a smile in his right peripheral.
“You can’t tell anyone, either.” Noah turned to Owen, who obediently nodded and awaited his friend’s confession. Noah sighed and took a small sip of his soda before looking up at Owen.
“I don’t like women,” Noah stated. Owen’s eyes widened and he brought a hand to his mouth.
“You’re a misogynist?” Owen frowned.
“What? No— dude, I’m gay.” Noah slapped his forehead with his palm at his failed attempt to come out to Owen.
“Ohhhh.” Owen shyly chuckled after. “That makes a lot more sense.” He sheepishly grinned at Noah, who couldn’t help but smile. His smile soon faded after Owen’s lack of words.
“Are you surprised? Or— or weirded out?” Noah asked in a voice shakier than intended. Owen quickly shook his hands in defense.
“No—no! I’m actually… relieved. I’m glad you told me,” Owen grinned. Noah lost track of how many times he’d done so, mostly because he smiled too much but also because his heart was practically pounding out of his chest where it was hard to pay attention to anything.
“Am I the first person you’ve told?” Owen asked.
“The only,” Noah nodded, “I’m sure my parents and older sisters could tell,” he turned to Owen, “and you’re the only one I can trust.” Owen held Noah’s shoulder.
“Thanks, buddy! Glad to be your friend— even if I’m the only one.” Owen let out a hearty laugh, which caused Noah to do the same in a quieter manner. Noah stared at Owen as his smile faded.
‘Buddy’. That’s what Owen thought of him as. A friend. A friend, and a friend only . Noah thought of him as much more than that; it was only natural for him to be let down at the nickname.
“Noah? Are you okay?” Owen shook his friend’s shoulder after seeing him space out, eyes locked onto his. Noah blinked out of his trance and sighed.
“There’s something else I have to tell you,” Noah mumbled into his can. He sipped the last of his beverage before tossing it into the grass.
“What? Oh— is it a crush? Who is she?” Noah stared at Owen with a blank face. “Right. Sorry. Who is he ?” Owen practically jumped for joy as he waited for Noah to answer.
Noah wiped his hands on his sweater, wet from the chilly soda can. “It… I… He’s, uh…” Noah stammered. Both Owen and Noah were surprised the latter was stuttering— it wasn’t like him to stumble upon his words.
“Is he at the party?” Owen urged.
“M-Maybe?” Noah mumbled. Owen’s eyes practically shined as he held Noah by both shoulders and shook him as if he’d get out an answer.
“Who? Who?!! I need to set up my buddy with this guy!” Noah’s face flustered as he stared at Owen’s oblivious, cheery face. “Aw, man! Noah! You gotta tell me! Who’s the lucky guy—“
“You!” Noah groaned, removing himself from Owen’s hands. Owen brought his hands to his sides as he stood before Noah, who returned to leaning against the pillar.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. You shouldn’t have asked.” Noah bitterly barked, crossing his arms in response to a sudden chill in the air. By that time, Courtney, Gwen, and the rest of the people were now inside the house, playing games or drinking or whatever the hell Geoff had them doing.
It was just him, Owen, and his stupid feelings. Owen’s lack of a response, positive or not, showed Noah his answer.
“Knew it. You said all that supportive shit because we’re best friends . Now, we can’t be best friends! I know you don’t wanna be my friend anymore, and I’m completely fine with that! Better you gone than you still here to judge me for liking you.” Noah exhaled after ranting, bringing his expressive hands down into his pockets.
“… Why?” Owen whispered. Noah looked up to him with a bitter face.
“What?”
“Why do you like me?” He elaborated.
“What I’ve been asking myself, too. For four years.” Owen’s jaw dropped to the floor.
“Oh.” He gaped in a much louder tone.
“Seriously hoped I could get over you. If word got out I liked the likes of you, my reputation would be ruined, more than it already has been.” Owen looked down at his green Nike Dunks.
The atmosphere was suffocating and Noah felt hot in his sweater despite the cold weather and windchills. Noah tried his best to keep a straight, collected face hinted with anger, but his rapid heartbeat stopped him from doing so. He finally told the guy after four years of useless pining— surely he could milk out something, right?
“What are you thinkin’?” Noah finally looked up from his New Balance. Owen, whose quietness was alarming to Noah, looked at him with the most painstaking frown he’d ever managed to conjure up.
“After you told me you, uhm,” Owen trailed off, knowing Noah would get the idea, “I was thinking about it and, uh, remember all the times I flirted with Justin, and stuff?” Owen timidly chuckled after. Noah arched his right eyebrow as he nodded his head.
“I think I, well, might be interested in guys, too.” It was now Noah’s turn to be surprised. His jaw dropped as he eyed Owen in awe.
“Wow.” was all Noah could manage to say.
“And, I think, I…” Owen covered his eyes with his palms. “Might…” Noah’s mouth slowly shut as he rendered what Owen was close to confessing.
“Like me back?” Noah finished for him. Owen gave him a timid look before leaning against the pillar, facing the tiles below him. Color rose to his cheeks, and his hands played with his shirt hem.
“Yeah. That.” He mumbled, glancing at Noah before shyly returning to fidgeting with his shirt. Noah’s lips curled into a smile— one so bright he’d surprised himself— and chuckled softly.
“This is so cheesy.” He said in between soft laughter. Owen audibly swallowed his bile and looked up from his hands, still as chubby as they were when they met in second grade.
“When I approached you. With that bag of chips.” Noah paused his giggling and looked over at his best friend— not so sure if that label even applied anymore.
“Huh?” Noah furrowed his eyebrows, unable to decrypt his words with the lack of context.
“When I started to like you.” Noah scoffed and crossed his hands.
“Wow.”
“Shush!” Owen hissed. “I guess I liked the idea of being friends with the loner—“
“And then slowly falling in love with him over eight years to learn he likes you back? Romantic.” Noah smirked as he shut his eyes. He couldn’t see Owen, but he knew his face was in total heat.
Quietude fell upon them once more, with the atmosphere less suffocating but still very awkward. Noah noticed Owen’s lack of words and decided to open his eyes just to notice him shyly turn his head downwards after staring at him over that period of time. Noah stared at his timid eyes and his blonde hair which reminded him of his golden retriever.
He sighed through a grin and eyed the windows for once, which he’d forgotten about throughout this love fest, and noticed the one and only Izzy Connelly— Owen’s ex-girlfriend— making kissy faces while mashing two puppet hands together through the window farthest from them. Noah’s eyes glared at her as he mouthed a sincere curse and watched her giggle with a devious look. He winced as he leaned against the brick pillar, feeling uneasy as he realized she was probably watching the entire time .
Even if he did lean in for a kiss, Izzy would immediately tattle on them and attract everyone to them. Noah was already on the verge of killing himself when Eva and Izzy began to hang out with him— having that much attention on him would be immediate death. And with Owen? He wouldn’t drag him down with him.
Noah looked up to Izzy once more. She pointed to him, then Owen, and made obnoxious movements and possibly kissing sounds through the glass. Noah sneered at her childish antics, but as he looked over to Owen, he was looking at her, too.
After Izzy was dragged away by Eva, possibly to drink more alcohol or for another session, the two outside slowly eyed each other with a similar shade of red on their faces. It felt morbidly awkward staring at Owen, knowing they saw the same thing.
“Wanna…?” Noah jokingly teased with a smirk. Again; purely to tease.
“… Maybe.” Owen shrugged. Noah knew Owen sometimes didn’t get his sarcasm, but he thought this wouldn’t be the case.
If he told Owen he was joking, then he’d be flat-out lying. But if he told him he did, too, then… Well, there was no serious, life-changing then, but that would mean he would give in to Izzy’s antics, and he unofficially-officially vowed never to do so.
“… You go first.” It was a stupid oath, anyway.
Owen stared at him with wide eyes and a red, hot face. Noah sighed and waved his hand.
“It’s fine. We don’t have to. Not right now,” He quickly added. “We could just… talk.”
“Right. Talk.” Owen faced the charcoal grill on the other side of the patio. For someone who couldn’t keep his mouth shut, he seemed to be awfully quiet this time around.
“Remember that one sleepover, the first one with Izzy and Eva?” Noah faced Owen, who hesitantly nodded. “I think it was when we were watching that horror movie in your room. When we were on your bed together and hugging each other at every jumpscare.” Noah chuckled at the recalled memory.
“When you first started…?” Noah nodded.
“Yeah. Cheesy, huh?” He chuckled. “Then you fell asleep and started snoring. Then everyone else fell asleep and I was the only one left awake. It had me thinking that I never heard the snores of other people besides my family until you invited me to that sleepover. I never would’ve experienced a sleepover period unless I became your friend,” Noah confessed as he faced Owen with a sincere smile, “so, thanks for that. Thanks for everything you do for me.”
Noah hadn’t expected himself to rant for that long; to rant in general, anyway. But it felt good to get those sparks off his chest, and unlike the past eye contact they withheld, this one felt, at the very least, comfortable. But what he hadn’t expected even more was for Owen to lean in for a kiss.
He missed it by a few centimeters and instead pecked the left of Noah’s lips, but he quickly retracted and hit Noah with instant apologies.
“Oops! Sorry! I wasn’t thinking at all—“ Noah burst out into uncontrollable laughter.
“Couldn’t wait, huh?” Noah said through his snickering. Soon enough, Owen joined in, color rising to both of their faces. This reminded Noah of their relationship; being able to do something completely embarrassing then playing it off as a joke and remembering it as a silly mistake. That and a lot of other factors of their relationship gave Noah a reality check— he really liked Owen.
Noah eyed the crinkles in Owen’s closed eyes as he held his stomach in laughter. He looked down to his rosy lips, which were almost unnoticeably chapped due to the windchills of that very night. He stared at the windows of the inside of Geoff’s house, which radiated red, blue, and green strobe lights paired with muffled dance music. With all of those people inside were him and Owen outside, and as Noah looked back to Owen, who was finally beginning to calm down, he suddenly realized how much Owen must like him. Owen wasn’t inside trying to win back Izzy, or fighting to the death with Eva for her love, or chugging down an entire pack of cheap booze from the gas station— he was out on the patio with Noah sharing cheesy feelings in their quietude. He meant that much to him.
Noah tensed his shoulders and clenched his fists, only to unclench them after. He let out a shaky breath before muttering,
“Thank you.”
He held Owen by his chubby cheeks, adorable as they were, and slowly brought his face to his. With their height difference, Noah had to gradually step on his toes as Owen had to lean over, but it was alright. An awaited and proper kiss on the lips made up for it.
Eyes closed, breath held, hands on sweaters and skin, and ears hearing muffled screaming and hollering and the electronic music from inside— it was the two of them. Owen and Noah. Close friends ever since second grade. Kissing on Geoff Algolen’s backyard porch.
Did they care about Izzy watching them? Of course, they did— who knew what she could do? Hell, she could pull Sierra, saving Cody Anderson in the process, out of her pocket and make her record them and post them on both her personal and the official Wawanakwa High blogs, but what mattered more was them. Their reciprocated feelings. The reciprocated kiss.
Noah read romance novels, most LGBT and most voluntary, and they were right about the butterflies and the fireworks and the sparks flying. But that was how it always was with Owen— he didn’t know what would happen next with him; what card he could pull to make him fall harder. As they pulled back and stared into each other’s eyes, both deep brown irises reflecting the stars like a summer camp lake, they couldn’t help but, once again, snicker at each other.
Their kiss was embarrassing, obviously, but they hadn’t laughed because of that— they laughed because they were so comfortable, so alike, with each other, they could do anything without the other genuinely judging them.
It was easy to make Owen laugh, but no one could make him laugh the way Noah could. It wasn’t easy to make Noah laugh, but Owen always found a way to crack him up in the dumbest of situations. Anyone could be close to Owen, but he’d make it obvious who he favored. Nearly no one has managed to be close to Noah because he made it obvious who he favored as well. As much as someone tried to separate them, they just found their way back together.
Noah and Owen headed back in, secretly hand-in-hand, to join the crowd. Noah wasn’t one for parties, but it was alright. He had Owen by his side, ever since he was in primary school and now in this sophomore’s house party, hand-in-hand with a smile ear-to-ear.
Owen’s smile gleamed brighter. His hair seemed softer. His hands felt warmer. Noah was glad he was given the chance to feel loved by the one boy who’d allowed him to feel anything in the first place, and he knew, deep in his snarky, blatant, and pessimistic heart, he’d give everything he could to give Owen all the love he deserves.