A/N: "~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~" denotes the static-y cut to the bathroom confessional.

"Hey."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Noah gave the camera in the cramped bathroom stall a glare. "I know what you're thinking: Wow, what an opener." He jazz-handsed briefly before quickly folding his arms. "I'm sorry for not being able to drum up more enthusiasm over a conversation that's inevitably going to lead to rejection."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

The flatness of his voice didn't even seem to register to Cody, who was at present sitting on the dock with his pants rolled up, swishing his bare feet in the water; he turned and flashed the approaching boy a gap-toothed grin. "Oh hey, Noah! What's up?"

"Not much, honestly," Noah replied. A pause followed that ate the next couple of seconds.

Cody blinked twice. "Oh, okay. Well, in that case, wanna join me?"

The invitation struck him somewhat by surprise. "Sure." He lowered himself to sit cross-legged next to the other teen, taking some care so he wouldn't get any splinters or sit on any rusted nails from the less than maintained dock.

Cody broke the silence. "So, who do you think is gonna be eliminated next?"

"No idea," Noah returned. He didn't really care much one way or the other, as long as it wasn't him or… present company.

"Heh heh," Cody gave his small, typical chuckle. "Yeah. Guess there's not really any way to know until it happens, right?"

"…Riiight," Noah answered.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"'No way to know until it happens'?" Noah got out exasperatedly. "Ugh," he held his head in his hands, "As if I need to be more self-conscious right now." He gestured limply, "I know how it ends. He says no. That's it. Finito. End of story."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

He wasn't going to get anywhere by stalling. "Listen, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," Noah said.

"Shoot," Cody aimed two finger-guns at him.

Great. He was on the line now, with no recourse or easy way out. He cleared his throat. "I know this is probably a long shot, but… Would you be at all interested in pursuing a romantic relationship?"

Both of Cody's eyebrows shot up into the tufts of his hair. "You mean, dating? Me and you?"

"Yeah." There was a stiffness in the way he drew out the word.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Holy moly, I did not expect Noah to ask me to date him!" Cody exclaimed. "Heck, I didn't even know he was… you know," the boy shrugged his shoulders in leiu of saying it. "But I mean, Gwen's been really ignoring all my advances, and Noah seems okay," he seemed to be thinking his way through it there in the bathroom stall. "And it would be way better than being single, that's for sure!" He grinned, thumbsing toward himself, "It's time for the Codester to get in the game."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Sure, sounds cool to me," Cody nodded.

Noah was halfway to standing up and leaving when his brain caught up. "Wait. Did you just say yes?" There was a definite hanging incredulity.

"Uh huh," the brown-haired boy nodded again.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Noah sat with his palms facing up. "I guess there really isn't any way to know until it happens."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Cody was back to grinning. It was time to make his move and prove his skills as the ultimate date-meister. "So, dinner's soon, but you wanna do something afterward?" He pulled his feet up out of the water and started to towel them off.

"Uh… Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good." Noah was still a little off his feet in surprise at the turn of events. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Do you like movies?" He stuffed a foot in one sneaker.

Noah bit back the urge to question how exactly he and Cody were going to go to the movies when they were trapped on Camp Wawanakwa. "Movies are alright," he answered blasély.

Cody had gotten his other shoe on and rolled down his pants. "Cool, then it's a date. See you in a bit!" he waved cheerily, walking back toward camp. Noah remained out on the dock, staring out at the water. So this was really happening. Well, that was an unexpected twist. For once reality TV wasn't a big let-down. He smirked in spite of himself.

—

Dinner had been some kind of asparagus-anchovie casserole (casserole was perhaps a generous descriptor… 'pulped amalgamation' seemed closer to the truth) with grape-flavored Kool-aid to wash it down. Grimacing, Noah reached into the pocket of his cargo shorts and surreptitiously pushed a square of gum through the foil backing underneath the table— with Chef's odorous cooking, he didn't know if he was going to have enough to last himself the entire eight weeks; he definitely didn't want to have to share with any of the other campers in the event they found out he had gum. He glanced up to see Cody returning his lunch tray. The boy hadn't sat with him at dinner, but that was understandable. They hadn't even had their first date yet. Though Noah still had some questions about how exactly that was going to work…

Next thing he knew, Cody was at his side. "Hey! Ready for movie night?"

"Yeah," Noah answered, pushing his plate away. "I don't think I could stomach any more of this even if it meant getting voted off the island." He stood.

The blue-eyed boy chuckled. "I dunno. I thought it was better than last night," he commented.

"Please, don't remind me," Noah's nose wrinkled.

"You aren't gonna finish that?" Owen interrupted suddenly. Noah shook his head. The human disposal snagged his unfinished plate and crammed it into his face, lips smacking. Noah blanched and he turned quickly so he and Cody could leave the dining hall.

He followed loosely beside the other teen, still not exactly sure where they were headed. Cody led them to the boys' cabin and inside; Noah cocked an eyebrow. Obviously they weren't completely alone. Trent was on his bed tuning his guitar. Duncan was lying on his bed tossing darts at a picture of Chris he'd carved into the wall with his pocket knife. And a couple of the others were there too, but everyone seemed to be doing their own thing, paying the two of them no more mind than usual.

"This would've been a little trickier if we weren't both guys actually," Cody commented softly, motioning Noah over as he plodded toward his bunk. He'd taken an extra blanket and stuffed the long edge under the mattress of the top bunk, so it would drape down and create a semi-private nook for the two of them to occupy. He pulled up the corner and gestured 'after you'.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Noah sat with his arms folded amusedly. "This is where I could joke Cody seems to be taking things a little fast."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Sparing a quick glance left and right just to be sure no one was looking, Noah took off his shoes and crawled in. Cody followed right on his heels. There wasn't lots of room considering all the beds in the cabins were twin-sized, but Noah situated himself by sitting and pulling his knees up toward his chest. Cody quickly took to rummaging through his backpack. "Here we go!" he announced happily, procuring his iPod Touch.

"You still have battery life?" Noah asked incredulously. Of course Camp Wawanakwa didn't have the 'luxury' of electrical outlets. As such, his Kindle had died two days ago and he'd been stuck falling back on the few paperbacks he'd brought along.

"Harold let me use his solar USB charger," Cody explained, powering the device on.

"I guess that's one way to avoid a vote off," Noah only half-joked.

"Yeah," the boy beside him chuckled, navigating to the Movies section and swiping the selections across the screen. "So, what're you in the mood for? Action? Drama? Comedy?"

"Well I think I can safely say we already get enough drama around here— thanks, Heather," Noah rolled his eyes. "I guess I'm feeling more like a comedy," he decided.

Cody bobbed his head agreeably. "Ever seen Meatballs?"

"Is that the one with Bill Murray?" Noah asked. Cody nodded again. Noah shrugged, "Yeah, but it's been awhile, so why not."

"Awesome!" Cody said, untangling his earbuds and plugging them into the jack. "Sorry I don't have an audio splitter; we'll have to share." He offered one of the buds to the dark-haired boy.

"That's okay," Noah said as he took it. Cody repositioned, lying belly down and tucking half of his pillow underneath his arms for comfort. He then carefully propped his iPod up against the headboard with a slight tilt. It was obvious from the space Cody had intentionally left that the boy expected him to join him. Noah cast away his hesitation and laid down, nestled comfortably between the wall and the teen he'd been crushing on, focusing his gaze on the little 4" screen in front of them both.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"I don't wanna say laying there right next to Cody was 'bliss'…" Noah confessed, very much sounding like someone who was trying to not say something and failing, "But I suppose it was about as close as it could get under the circumstances, being stuck here at this ridiculous camp surrounded by morons with nothing but terrible food to eat." He shrugged his shoulder, looking away. A moment later his eyes unfocused and he let out an almost dreamy hum.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Duncan relaxed back inside the bathroom stall. "The funny thing is that Dork-o 1 and Dork-o 2 totally think I didn't see them crawl into the same bunk together," he jerked his thumb back. Then his hands went up, "Now, I don't know what they're doing in there, and I'm pretty sure I don't wanna know, but let's just say, I've been to juvie. I know what goes on."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Sorry it's not more theatre-esque," Cody spoke up then, a soft chuckle following his words. He kicked his feet in the air behind him. "Best I could really do with the constraints."

"What's there to miss?" Noah challenged sarcastically, "The smell of stale popcorn underfoot? Crying children? A couple making out in the back row?"

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Cody shifted nervously on the john. "You don't think that was a hint, do you? Oh man, what if it was? What do I do?" He rubbed the back of his head, "Jeez, this romance stuff is trickier than I thought! Eh heh…"

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

It was about an hour and a half later and the movie was nearly to the end. All the other male campers had already gotten into bed and turned out the lights in the cabin, leaving he and Cody in darkness, save for the glow of the little screen illuminating their makeshift "tent". Noah stifled a yawn into his hand; eyelids feeling heavy and limbs feeling heavier. It was all thanks to Chris that he was this tired; the TV host had woken them all before dawn for no reason whatsoever save his own brand of exclusive torment he insisted upon inflicting on them (especially since it hadn't even been a challenge day). He couldn't stay and fall asleep in Cody's bed though. For one, he was still in his day clothes and hadn't brushed his teeth, and for two, being caught by their cabinmates in the morning wasn't something he wanted to try and explain.

"Noah?"

"Huh?" Noah mumbled; he must've missed the very end of the movie. He hadn't even realized his eyes had been closed. "I'm awake," he said quickly, knuckling his eyes.

Cody chuckled. "Guess we ought to get to bed. I mean, who knows when Chris will get us up tomorrow."

"Or how long he'll make us stay up," Noah said before thinking about it.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Please tell me I didn't just bring up the Awake-A-Thon challenge…" Noah slapped his forehead.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Cody tapped his lip. "Huh, you know, I hadn't thought about it until Noah brought it up just then, but I guess it makes sense now he was kissing my ear in his sleep." He leaned back slightly, eyelids folding halfway over his eyes, "Well, it makes sense really. Deep down, no one can resist the Codester."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Cody took it seemingly in stride. "Haha, yeah, that too." He popped his head out of the blanket-curtain. "Coast is clear," he delivered, hopping out and holding it back for Noah to exit next.

"Thanks," Noah said softly, though he wasn't likely to be heard over Owen's snoring. "I'll join you in a moment. I have to grab my things."

Cody nodded and nabbed up his night clothes and toothbrush, heading out of the cabin toward the communal washroom. Once there he quickly changed into a plain white tee and a pair of striped boxers. He'd just squeezed out a dollop of toothpaste onto his brush when Noah joined him. The other boy tugged his sweatervest over his head and began unbuttoning his teal shirt. Cody scrubbed at his teeth, glancing at Noah in the mirror every once and a while.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"One thing I gotta say, this whole 'dating someone of the same gender' seems really… different, I guess?" Cody shrugged confusedly in the stall confessional. "I mean, if it were Gwen or one of the other girls, it'd be really inappropriate to be changing in the same room. But Noah's just another one of the guys. So it's okay for me to look, right?"

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

After having slipped into his silk pajamas (one of the only self-indulgences he had on this island), Noah got to brushing his teeth as well. When they'd both finished up, they left to go back to the cabin. Noah reached for the door. Cody hesitated on the porch, making the brown-eyed boy stop questioningly. "…Something up?"

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Cody pushed the tips of his index fingers together nervously. "Isn't it like a rule that at the end of a date, you kiss the girl at her doorstep to say goodnight? I can't just leave that step out, can I? It's one of the most important ones!" He shook his head, "This really is way more complicated than I expected it to be."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Cody fidgetted. "I was just wondering if you had a good time tonight."

"Yeah," Noah answered, amused but drowsy. His voice had a sarcastic note to it, but he spoke sincerely, "We should totally do it again sometime."

The blue-eyed boy brightened instantly. "Yeah! Okay!"

"So, are we going to go to bed, or what?"

Cody nervously dry-washed his hands. Taking two quick steps forward he closed the gap between them and got up on his toes to plant a smooch on Noah's cheek. "G'night."

Noah blinked in slight surprise, resisting the urge to touch the spot. "Yeah. Goodnight, short-stuff."

"Hey!" Cody protested.

"Just because I like you doesn't mean I'm not going to tell it how it is," Noah responded. The two of them entered the cabin and each went to their own bunk and were quickly off to dreamland.