A/N: Somewhat canon, somewhat AU. Thank you to Kaitlyn for reading this over for me. Reviews would be lovely.

Hidden Hero

Miss me?

Aria sighed, resting her head against her locker as she watched him chat with a few of his friends outside. She clutched her books tighter to her chest as she continued to look through the glass window. She had been doing that a lot today, observing him from afar. There was something about Noel Khan that intrigued her. She pursed her lips in thought, trying to figure out what exactly intrigued her about him. Despite what she thought she knew about him, he was still largely a mystery to her, she supposed, and Aria loved a good mystery.

She looked away from him the second he met her gaze, a healthy blush creeping onto her cheeks for having been caught staring at him. Wow, the floor sure was shiny. When she finally had the courage to look up again, Noel had already left for class, the courtyard now empty except for Spencer, who shared the same spare period with her. Aria gave the girl a small wave, motioning for her to come inside. Spare period was a lot less boring when you had a friend around.

Through the glass window, Aria watched as Spencer shook her head, her hand gesturing toward her surroundings. She rolled her eyes, noting that her friend wanted to stay outside. Aria nodded in return, signaling that she was coming outside to join her instead. She was interrupted, however, as she neared the doors leading to the courtyard, Ezra stepping into her path. He was probably the last person she wanted to see right now.

"Hello Aria," he greeted her openly as they were the only ones standing in the hallway at the moment. "I know you have a spare right now. Do you think we could talk?"

She kept quiet, biting her lip, and so, he clarified, "Talk again, I mean."

Aria glanced (subtly) over his shoulder at Spencer, looking for help, an escape, but the girl had already returned to reading her novel. She sighed in frustration, knowing that she had no other choice than to save herself from this unfortunate situation. She was honestly in no mood to talk to Ezra, not now, maybe not ever. Things simply felt different between them now. Whenever her eyes connected with his, she saw the past, not the present and certainly not the future.

"Actually, could we not?" she responded, finally having found her voice.

She avoided his gaze, admiring her own perfectly painted fingernails before her dark orbs shifted even further to look at the floor. She was afraid looking him in the eyes would soften her resolve.

She was really getting acquainted with the floor today, she mused to herself.

How pathetic.

"Aria," Ezra murmured, attempting to change her mind. "Please talk to me."

He took a confident step toward her, but she shook her head, making a move to get past him. She whirled around to face him again only when he caught her wrist, her other hand automatically tightening around her books in a motion to protect herself.

"I love you," he added as a final tactic, his voice shaking, unable to believe that things might actually be over between them.

Normally her heart would flutter whenever she heard those three little words leave his lips, but this time, she felt nothing. She merely wanted to leave, wanted to walk away from him and never look back. Aria opened her mouth to tell him exactly that in response to his love declaration when a familiar (and for once, welcomed) voice interrupted her.

"Touching," Noel commented, entering the school from the courtyard and standing behind Ezra.

Apparently, Spencer hadn't been the only one left in the courtyard after all, she thought to herself, licking her lips unknowingly upon giving Noel the once over. She heard him chuckle, evidently having seen the action.

"Good to see you too, Aria," he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

Ezra let go of her wrist immediately at the sound of his voice, turning around to address his least favorite pupil.

"Noel, you should be in class," he practically seethed, knowing that he didn't need to play nice with the boy when no one of importance was around.

It had been well established that they hated one another and the reason for that hatred was the one common factor they had between them, Aria Montgomery.

Noel stayed rooted to the ground, completely unfazed by the menacing tone of his voice.

"I like to show up late," he excused himself, smirking at him. "Make an entrance, you know?"

He watched in satisfaction as his jaw clenched. He loved getting Mr. Fitz all riled up. He then glanced past his shoulder at Aria, who looked very much grateful for the help. God, she was beautiful. He had missed her a lot during his suspension. As long as she was willing to give him another chance, another shot at them, he would be the first to admit that he had made mistakes.

He should never have blackmailed Mr. Fitz with his relationship with Aria for better grades. Hell, he honestly didn't even really give a shit about his grades. He was a smart kid, you know, when he wanted to apply himself. He had been acting out of pure jealousy. He hated that Mr. Fitz was the one who had caught Aria's eye. He hated that Mr. Fitz was the one who Aria loved.

Noel was hardly stupid. The entire time they were "dating", he knew exactly who Aria was thinking about every time they were together. He knew that every touch, every kiss between them had been a lie. Each time, her eyes would glaze over and each time, he would convince himself that Aria truly wanted to be with him, that she wasn't thinking of their English teacher.

How pathetic.

"Noel, get to class," Mr. Fitz repeated, his tone even more serious than before. "Now."

He opened his mouth, about to tell Ezra where he could shove his holier than thou attitude, when Aria interrupted him. He had missed hearing her voice so much.

"Noel, please just go," she whispered, meeting his eyes, her dark orbs begging him to listen to her.

Reluctantly, he nodded, holding the strap of his backpack just a little tighter as he made a motion to walk away. He turned back to wink at her, making sure Ezra saw the exchange.

"Anything for a pretty girl," he told her, watching in amusement as Mr. Fitz flinched at his words. "Catch you later, Mr. Fitz."

Her breath caught in her throat when he had winked at her. She watched as he strolled away nonchalantly, his encounter with Ezra not having shaken him at all. She loved his confidence, which sometimes crossed over into cockiness territory.

Damn.

After Noel left, Aria had surrendered, letting Ezra pull her into an empty classroom to talk. It had been pointless. Their conversations were becoming repetitive. Every word that left her lips seemed rehearse and every word that met her ears might as well have gone unheard.

"Earth to Aria," Spencer exclaimed, snapping her fingers in front of her face. "What took you so long to get out here?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. Un-freaking-believable!

"Honestly Spence," she chided her, grabbing the book from her hands. "How good can this novel be that you failed to notice that entire exchange in the hallway? Not to mention Ezra practically dragged me into that empty classroom after Noel left. Did you miss all of that?"

As she spoke, her frustrations became more and more apparent. By the end, Aria almost seemed to be yelling at her friend.

"Whoa, calm down," Spencer responded, used to her antics. "You know how I get when I find a good book."

She snatched her book back from her hands and stuffed the paperback into her purse. She rested her head on her hands before addressing her again.

"You seem tense," she observed, giving Aria a knowing smile. "I bet this is about a certain someone's return more than anything. Hanna and Emily aren't as good at reading people as I am. I can tell you still have a thing for Noel."

Aria scoffed, her right hand playing with the bracelet on her left. She had no idea what she was talking about.

"You have no idea what you're talking about Spence," she corrected her, biting her lip nervously. "Noel's not to be trusted, remember?"

"And I agree with you completely on that," the brunette agreed, nodding her head. "But admit it, you still kind of have a thing for him. You two have been having eye sex all day."

Spencer watched as Aria feigned disgust. She mulled over the idea of telling her friend who she thought had saved her that night. Her savior had turned back once during his escape and she could have sworn she had seen the face of Noel Khan for a split second. She had been so dazed, so out of touch with her senses at that moment that she doubted what she had seen was real. Her mind was probably playing tricks on her, but then again, why would she have subconsciously wanted Noel to be the one to save her? If her subconscious was going to conjure up anyone's face at the moment, surely it would have been Toby's?

She had also thought long and hard over the possibility that Noel might have actually saved her that night. She had seen him in the crowd and his clothing certainly fit the description of the kind soul who had saved her from suffering the same fate that Allison had, but why would he save her? As far as she was concerned, Noel was a creep. He gave her the chills whenever he looked directly at her and frankly, she hadn't exactly been nice to him. She hadn't exactly been rude to him either, but there was no lost love between the two. As she and the other girls had discussed many times over, Noel was to be avoided at all costs, even now. The last thing she wanted was for the girls to think she was crazy. Then again, maybe Aria would believe her.

"Hello? Earth to Spencer," Aria said, snapping her fingers in front of her face this time around. "What are you thinking so hard about? Your nose is all scrunched up. It's not an attractive look for you."

"You're hilarious, Aria," Spencer responded sarcastically, tucking a loose curl behind her ear.

Her face grew serious for a moment before she continued, "If I tell you something, will you promise not to think I'm crazy?"

"Does it matter?" Aria teased her, sticking out her tongue. "I already do."

Spencer looked around to make sure they were the only ones in the courtyard before telling Aria that she had lied about not knowing exactly who had saved her that night. Her friend listened intently, her eyes growing wide with shock when she finally mentioned his name.

"Are you sure?" Aria stuttered, a little overwhelmed by her admission.

Why was everything she ever heard about Noel always so damn contradicting? He was such a mystery and the fact that she couldn't figure him out frustrated her way more than she let on.

Spencer pressed her lips together in thought for a moment before nodding her head curtly.

"Yeah, I think I am," she answered her, sitting up a little straighter. "No, I am. I'm sure it was Noel."

The two girls sat in silence for awhile after that, neither of their expressions readable by the other.

"I should go talk to him," Aria spoke up suddenly at the same time as Spencer said, "You can't tell anyone."

"You can't tell me something like this and expect me not to confront him, Spence!" Aria protested, needing confirmation from the boy himself that he had indeed saved her friend.

"No," Spencer insisted, shaking her head. "Promise me, Aria. You won't tell anyone."

She was about to protest again, but she held her tongue, knowing that her friendship with Spencer came first.

"I promise," she huffed, grabbing her things to leave. "But for the record, you totally suck."

Aria ran to the parking lot as quickly as she could once the final bell rang. She wanted to catch Noel before he left. She simply needed to know whether or not he had played hero that night. Spencer would forgive her, eventually.

She smiled when she approached his car, remember all the times they had made out in the backseat. She snapped out of her reverie when she noticed another person reflected in the car window. She spun around, eyes wide, hand over her racing heart.

"Jesus Christ," she swore, trying to regain her composure.

"Actually, I prefer Noel, but whatever floats your boat," he responded smoothly, winking at her. "You lost Aria? I believe your precious little English teacher is about to leave in five minutes. You could still catch him."

"I'm not going after him," she assured him firmly, not knowing why she felt like he needed to know.

Okay, so maybe she knew why, but that was beside the point.

"I love you, but I'm nobody's rebound," he informed her, not realizing what he had blurted out until Aria clarified, "I'm sorry, but did you just say you love me?"

He stood frozen for a moment, panicking on the inside, but maintaining his cool demeanor on the outside.

He scoffed, "What you want to hear and what I actually said are two very different things, Aria."

Noel walked past her then and opened the car door. Just as he was about to close the door, Aria put a hand on the metal rim to stop him.

"Why are you being such an ass right now?" she asked him, adding, "You know, more so than you usually are."

"Look, I have somewhere to be," he informed her, avoiding her gaze and staring straight ahead, both hand gripping tightly onto the steering wheel. "So, I need you to let me close the car door now."

"Noel, were you the one who saved Spencer that night?" she asked him directly, not wanting to beat around the bush.

When he turned to look at her, his eyes boring into her own, she murmured, "Please. I need you to be honest with me."

He scoffed, rolling his eyes at her.

"You mean like how you were so honest with me?" he retorted, trying to hide the pain in his voice. "Our entire relationship was a lie. I was there to fill some twisted void Ezra gave you. You bounded back into his arms first chance you got."

"Partly true," she bit back at him, her gaze falling on his lips. "You were also, for lack of a better word, a creep for the most part of our relationship. The whole blackmailing Ezra thing?"

"Yeah, so I made a mistake, but I only did that because I hated that he was the one you loved. I wanted your attention, negative or otherwise," he confessed to her, raising his voice a little. "Pathetic, right?"

She stepped forward and kissed him then and although he remained unresponsive at first, he ended up kissing her back eagerly.

When she finally pulled away from him, she whispered against his lips, "Well, you have my attention now."

"Maybe I'm not interested now," he told her, his face serious, causing hers to fall.

She pursed her lips in confusion, starting to walk away from him when she suddenly felt him grab her wrist, spinning her around to face him again.

"Get in the car, Aria," he demanded, grinning at her. "Do you honestly think I could ever not be interested in you?"

She returned his grin after a moment, slapping him on the arm playfully for messing with her head. He started to back out of the parking space when she got into the passenger seat.

As she fastened her seat belt, he told her, "In an effort to make sure we are completely honest with one another this time around, one, I did say 'I love you' and two, a hero never reveals his identity."

He winked at her, Aria smiling in satisfaction at his confessions, the first one obvious, the second one less so.

As they drove by Ezra, who was currently putting some stuff into the trunk of his car, Aria smiled to herself, sure that she had made the right choice.

She had finally found her hero.