Todd scarcely had time to suck in a breath between laughs before Neil pounced. Todd's bed groaned and shivered with the impact, and Todd fought against doing the same when everything settled (but for their laughter) and he found Neil hovering over him on his hands and knees. Todd had fallen back against his pillow, and could do nothing but chuckle as unawkwardly as possible and stare up at Neil.

The oversized sweaters they wore were a twisted mess around the arms, but the neckline on Neil's gaped low, away from his neck and chest. Todd tried not to gawk. He wasn't sure what was happening—if this was going to be the final peak of their seemingly endless 'we're just friends' charade, or if it would be another on the long list of Moments With Neil That Todd Tries Not To Obsess Over.

Neil only stared back with a familiar expression of gentle intent, eyes still glowing with embers of mirth. Todd didn't want to rush him, but too many times had Neil looked at him like this and let the moment slip away from them.

But Todd didn't know what to do to reel him in.

"Neil," he tried, softly, with perhaps a little squeak.

As a response Neil bent, slowly, slowly, ever so slowly, until their noses brushed. Todd's breath was so spooked as to be held.

In a whisper Neil asked, "Can I—mmpf!"

Todd gave into an impulse that he never believed he could. He battled away the insecure thoughts and fears and pushed up so their shaky lips met. And when gravity pulled him back down, Neil followed.

They reached to hold each other, but the endless sleeves made for a frustrating trap. Neil huffed into the kiss and broke it just long enough to free his hands and find Todd's own, (which was too long, Todd thought in a daze.) But, eagerly, their lips connected again, and it was made all the more vibrant with their fingers laced together on either side of Todd's head.

The kiss drifted between slow, and fevered, and back again, and once, between fervent pecks, Neil murmured, "I love you."

It was so quiet Todd wondered if he'd been meant to hear it, then whether he'd heard wrong, and then whether Neil had said anything at all. But just in case he thought he had to respond, so he said in just as low a tone, "Love you, too."

All at once, Neil froze and jolted out of the kiss. "What?" he asked, voice pitched high.

He never said it, Todd thought in panic. "N-Neil, I—"

Neil gathered their lips in another kiss, and lept from the bed.

"You love me," Neil breathed, his eyes rounded. Then he shot out the door.

"Charlie," Neil said before Charlie's door was even open.

"Neil! Hey, pal," greeted Charlie from his perch on the radiator.

If Neil wasn't so high on happiness, he would have been surprised to find that Cameron, Meeks, Pittsie, and Knox were all gathered there. But instead he smiled at them with the biggest Neil smile they'd ever seen.

"What's-" Knox began, but Neil cut him off.

"He said he loves me," Neil announced, buzzing in place. When he couldn't hold still any longer, he swept around to each of his friends, clapping them on the shoulder, or paddling their backs, or, as with Pittsie, he pressed their foreheads together as though to transfer some of his joy to his friend. "He said he loves me," he kept repeating.

Charlie, perhaps the least confused of the group aside from Meeks, patted his ecstatic friend on the back. "That's great. What did you say?"

Neil froze.

"You better go tell him," Meeks said. Neil was out the door before he could finish.

It sounded like thunder, when Neil stumbled through the door. Todd, who was sunk into his desk chair, looked up in panic. Each of them wanted to smack themselves, though for different reasons.

With no words of apology strong enough in Neil's mind, he strode up to Todd, knelt so they were level, and took the other's face in his hands. "I love you," Neil said, all bright and ardent, then pressed another kiss to Todd's lips for good measure.

Is this attached to Even Rotten Apples? You decide! (But, no. No, not really. That sequel is on its way, though!)