Cody awoke with a start. He wasn't dead, and given the circumstances, that was all he could really hope for at the moment. He stared at the bumpy ceiling, tracing shapes out of the tiny shadows cast from the window. Dimly aware of the quilt covering his body, he blinked slowly, clearing gunk from his eyes. He pulled the quilt up and curled inwards. Despite being fully clothed and under the heavy cover, he still shook from the cold.

Slowly, noises filtered in through his ears. Grease popping and that annoying sound shoes make when they stick to hardwood floors. The smell of fried eggs. Cody shifted his body up to look over the back of the couch. In the kitchen, a woman stood in front of the stove. She was built like a statue. Long black hair tied back in a bun and earbuds in her ears. Cody thanked his lucky stars for the small mercy of not getting her attention. He'd much rather just pretend to be asleep. Waking up on a stranger's couch was an odd situation to find yourself in.

He slowly put his head back down and began to find shapes in the ceiling again. It was a little like seeing shapes in clouds. He tended to only see map shapes—the entire country of Italy floating in the sky. Or on the ceiling, as it were now. The real challenge is to come back later and see if you can find the same shape again. He did this for an uncomfortably long time, but he knew it'd be decidedly less comfortable to talk to this girl whose couch he was crashing. She looked like she could snap him in half with one hand tied behind her back and the other one also tied behind her back.

Over time, the sounds of cooking were replaced with eating, then the clang of dishes being put god knows where—but definitely not in the dishwasher where they belonged. Cody thought he could make out the sounds of her walking to her room, but he didn't hear a door. It was still too much of a risk to check if she was gone. He decided to check his phone instead. Still nothing from Gwen. He'd be worried about her if he himself weren't in a pretty sketchy situation. Well, his flight was only two days away now, so if he found a place to crash tonight, he could probably tough it out through the last night somewhere without needing to sleep. He definitely wasn't a stranger to an all-nighter.

A door opened, and the soft sound of footsteps on carpet came down the hall. "You're already up. Great!" Noah said. "That means we can figure out what exactly we're going to do with you."

Cody looked up at the other boy. He had his hair tied back and was wearing one of those blankets with sleeves you used to see on those obnoxious commercials. It was an honestly ugly brown, and Noah reminded him of a Franciscan monk wearing it. He was going to comment on it, but he stopped himself. They'd known each other for a sum total of around two hours and this wasn't the strangest outfit he'd seen Noah in. Instead, he picked a more innocuous topic. "It's freezing in here, man."

Noah chuckled. "Sorry. Heat's expensive. I would've given you more blankets but we only really have the one."

"I'm not complaining. Well, I guess I am, but," Cody said, digging his grave. "I mean, thanks for the quilt."

"Don't mention it. Now, let's get down to business. You have a return flight home, right?"

"Yeah. It's on Monday at 4, I think."

"Then that's easy. Izzy lets me do whatever I want, and I already talked to Eva. She says you can stay the weekend, but if you touch her stuff or wake her up, and I quote, 'you'll miss your spleen.'"

"Geez. That's harsh."

"Don't worry about her. She's just trying to sound tough. I know she loves me and would never hurt a friend of mine."

"I hope not. Is she the one who's totally jacked?"

"Yeah! Did you meet her?"

"I saw her. I don't know that I'd say I've met her."

"Maybe you should," Noah said. He turned his head back towards the hall and raised his voice to be heard in the bedrooms. "Eva! Come meet our guest!"

A voice came back from the hall, low and strong. "Fuck off!"

Noah rolled his eyes. "I expected as much. She's a regular ray of sunshine."

Cody breathed in deeply. He was just relieved he didn't actually have to meet Eva. She seemed a bit too intense for his tastes. Just a little bit.

"Anyways, she did say that she didn't want you here alone, so if you want to stay I need to be around."

"That's fair. I really don't want to impose."

"Nonsense. Finals are over. I officially don't have anything better to do."

"Alright." Cody nodded. "Then you're really okay with me staying until Monday?"

"Dude, yes. In fact, make a vacation out of it. We can do whatever you want."

"Really? I don't know about that."

"Come on. You come out to Chicago alone on a whim, but you're indecisive now that you have carte blanche to do whatever you want? Quick, name something you've always wanted to do in Chicago."

"Um, I guess I'd like to see the bean?"

Noah looked at the other boy, incredulous. "You're killing me here. But I guess you're the boss."

Cody smirked. Truthfully, he didn't really know of anything to do in the city. "Sorry. Them's the rules."

Noah giggled. Cody found it… endearing, in a boyish way. "Alright, alright. I'm going to go change." Noah said. "You can use the shower at the end of the hallway if you want. The washing machines here cost $2.50 in quarters per load, so if you didn't bring a spare change of clothes, I guess you'll just have to be gross." He stood up and jogged down the hall to his room.

Cody looked in his bag. He actually had had the foresight to pack a single change of clothes. He gathered them and began the long journey to the bathroom. It was an exceptionally short hallway, but he was significantly perturbed by Eva's open door. He stopped just before it and inched his head around the doorframe. She had her back to him, pumping weights that he was certain he couldn't lift himself. Without fear of her seeing him, he rushed past the door, tiptoeing to avoid catching her attention. He passed the two other doors he assumed led to Noah's and Izzy's rooms and into the bathroom.

It was tiny and bare. Ugly striped wallpaper clung unevenly on the walls and the plain white shower curtain was pulled onto one side. Cody didn't waste time, though. He stripped and got in. He turned the knob. Icy water poured out, splashing over his feet. Groaning, he turned it to the other side. Still cold.

After about five minutes of tinkering with the faucet and waiting for the water to heat up, he finally managed to get it to an acceptable temperature. He switched on the shower only to be blasted with another wave of supercooled water. He jolted to the back of the shower, letting the water cover his feet. It took another five seconds or so for the water to warm back up, and he could finally take a shower.

It was relaxing, if not entirely necessary. He didn't find himself particularly dirty, but he still opted for the shower to blow off some steam. A small shelf stuck out of the wall just big enough to hold bottles of shampoo, and Cody perused the selection. He supposed he should've used Noah's since he was the one who offered to let him shower here. His main concern, however, was not using Eva's. Of course, there was no real way for her to know, but the mere implication scared him.

So he opted for the bottle of kid's shampoo, one of those highly childish things that had a little eye and smile on the side to make it look somewhat like a fish. He didn't know whose it was, but he was certain it wasn't Eva's. Besides, smelling obnoxiously fruity was way better than smelling like some unidentifiable generic "male" scent.

After cleaning himself, Cody stood under the stream, letting the hot water run down his body. He knew it'd be cold when he got out, so he sat there, savoring the heat for the little time that he could. He figured if he made enough steam he could heat the entire room.

He couldn't make Noah wait, though. If he was going to be a mooch, he should at least be a timely one. He turned off the water and got out. There was a dry towel on the rack; he hoped it was Noah's.

When he was finally dried and dressed, he emerged from the bathroom. Noah was moving things around in the kitchen. Cody looked at him with an eyebrow arched.

"I'm just cleaning up a bit. Making things a bit more welcoming," he said.

Cody nodded. "Are we going soon?"

"Yeah. You just need to download the Metro app."

"Metro?"

Noah pulled out his own phone and turned the screen towards Cody. "It's the app the busses use. You can pay for tickets with it."

For some reason, Cody thought they were going to be driving. "Oh, okay." He pulled out his phone. A message from Gwen popped up. He must've gotten it while he was in the shower.

Lol, what did you do now?

How was he supposed to respond to that? He couldn't tell her he came here. She would be livid. He had to play it cool.

I may or may not have struck out with a girl I liked. Seriously bummed.

The misdirection of it all. He hoped the excuse would stick. He had been rejected multiple times since they broke up, so it was something he could lie about if she asked any questions. He hoped she wouldn't respond, but he knew she was too nice to do that.

He closed the conversation and opened the app store. Metro. "What should I be buying on here?"

"Ehh, depends. You probably want a day pass. Ten dollars," Noah said.

"Done." Cody purchased the ticket. He didn't actually know how the app worked, but he was going to trust Noah on this one. "So, like…" he started, thinking over exactly how to put his next question. "Should we add each other's number? In case I get lost or something."

Noah grinned. "I wouldn't worry about that. But yeah, you can totally have my number." He pulled out his phone and handed it to the other boy.

Cody could feel his face heat up, but he decided not to comment. He took Noah's phone and handed over his own. He pulled up the contacts and added his own name and number.

They swapped back. "Cody Anderson. Nice name."

Cody looked back at his own phone and saw the new contact for "The One and Only Noah." He rolled his eyes.

"Ha! Come on, I need a picture for your contact." Noah put his arm around Cody's shoulder and pulled him closer. He held out his phone, raising it in front of the two. "Say cheese." He leaned his head closer to Cody's, close enough that a stray lock of his hair brushed against Cody's shoulder.

Cody flashed a nervous smile. Noah tapped his thumb on the phone repeatedly, taking picture after picture.

"Let's see," he said, letting go of Cody's shoulder and pulling the pictures up for both to see. "One of them is bound to be good." He began thumbing through each one.

They all looked the same to Cody: not great. "Gross, I look terrified."

"Come on. I think they're cute." Noah looked up at him. "You got this shy, geeky look going on. I dig it."

"I uh… thanks," Cody said.

"Besides, it's just for your contact," Noah replied, putting his phone away. "Now, we should head out. The bean awaits."

"It's actually called Cloud Gate, but I think that's a dumb name," Noah said.

"What's wrong with Cloud Gate?" Cody asked, walking up close to see his reflection close up.

"It's not a gate! Just because you can walk through it doesn't mean it's a gate, and don't even get me started on the 'cloud' part. Some artsy fartsy explanation about how it reflects the sky and brings it closer to the viewer. Complete bull. It's just a big metal bean."

Cody stifled a laugh. "You sure have strong opinions about it."

"Yeah, it's a whole thing. I just don't like that it's the big thing about Chicago. Paris has the Eiffel Tower. New York has the Statue of Liberty. Chicago has a shiny bean. Ridiculous."

"That's fair, I guess." Cody chuckled. What a silly thing to get worked up about. He turned back to the sculpture. "Can I touch it?"

"Who's stopping you? They polish it twice a day, so it's probably fine. It's gonna be cold as hell though."

Cody put his hand on the bean and recoiled immediately. He was right; it was cold. He spent a few minutes looking at his face reflected on the surface, moving to check different angles. "You sure do know a lot about it."

"You know what they say. Know thy enemy; know thyself."

Cody snorted. "And this bean is your enemy?"

"It is," Noah replied flatly. "I've sworn vengeance in the name of the city of Chicago. One day, I will wage an unending war on Cloud Gate."

"Well, I don't know about all that, but it is pretty overrated."

Noah smirked. "See, I told you." His face flushed with accomplishment, like he had already won his fantasy war against the landmark. "So, what else is on Cody's Chicago bucket list?"

His stomach growled almost immediately, as if it were a comedy beat in a movie. Thankfully, he didn't think Noah noticed. He hadn't eaten since yesterday evening, and even then it was only a small snack from a vending machine he had found before the show. "Actually, I'm really hungry right now. I don't suppose you know any cheap food around."

"A ha! I knew it!" Noah said, pulling out his phone. "Sometimes having a plan does pay off." He proudly presented the phone to Cody.

"Huh? Twenty minutes until what?"

"I put us in line at Wildberry a long time ago. Not only is it highly recommended, it's also right next to the park. My incredible powers of prediction know no bounds."

"Really? Cool! Is it cheap?"

"Well, uh… anything's cheap if someone else is paying for it," Noah said. Before Cody could interject, he added, "And don't argue about it. Just thank divine providence."

Cody put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "No arguments from me."

So they made their way over to the cafe. By the time they arrived, they only had a short wait. They sat down and placed their orders. When their drinks arrived, Cody eagerly started devouring his banana split smoothie.

"Slow down there, cowboy. There's no free refills," Noah said.

"Oh, oops," Cody replied. Truthfully, he was just hungry, but Noah was right. He didn't want to drive up the bill too high. Besides, it'd be nice to have something left when his food came. "Sorry, I have a huge sweet tooth. It's a problem."

"Nah, it's fine, man. I'm no epitome of healthy living myself. I live off pizza and microwave meals."

"That sounds like my kinda life." Cody paused for a moment before taking another drink. "I think most people have a sweet tooth when they're younger and then they grow out of it. For some reason, I haven't yet."

"Don't worry. You have plenty of time to grow up and become boring like the rest of us."

"You're not boring."

"That's true. I like to think I'm interesting in the same way that a natural disaster is. It's just so terrible you can't keep your eyes off of it."

"No way! You're totally cool. I mean genuinely interesting."

"I'm already paying for your food, you don't need to butter me up." Noah winked. He took a sip of his drink—a passionfruit lemonade—and made a face.

"What's wrong? Is it bad?"

"Not really. It's passionfruit, so it's just okay."

"What? Why'd you order it if you don't like it?"

Noah pursed his lips. "I just think it's intriguing."

"The taste?"

"No, just passionfruit. I'm convinced that nobody on the planet has actually eaten a passionfruit, and yet it's a not-uncommon flavor. Like, how come there's so much passionfruit flavor and no passionfruit?"

Cody stared at Noah for a few long moments trying to decipher what he'd just heard. "See, that's interesting! Who orders a drink just because they don't understand why it exists?"

"I don't know, that just sounds like something a weirdo would do to me."

Cody tut-tutted. "No way. What's the difference between weird and interesting anyways?"

"Well." Noah pondered. "I suppose the difference is with the observer. Whether or not they care to know more."

"Then there you go. I'm the observer and I say you're interesting," Cody stated with the conviction to end the debate once and for all.

Noah closed his eyes and nodded. "I guess I'm guilty as charged, then. Too bad being interesting caused me to get this drink."

Their food came out at that moment, prompting Cody to remark on its quickness. It was a Saturday morning though—peak hours for a pancake cafe. They had to be quick if they wanted to keep up with the customers.

Cody had Oreo s'mores pancakes, something he knew in his heart should be reserved for a dessert menu. Eating it for breakfast felt sinfully decadent. Noah had a fig omelet, something he also ordered purely out of intrigue. He'd never had a sweet omelet before. He decided immediately that it was good, an eclectic blend of savory and sweet.

"Tell me, then. What's a day in the life like for Cody?"

"Mostly school and work, to be honest. I think this entire situation makes it seem like my life is more exciting than it really is."

"Dude, there's nothing wrong with steady income. What do you do?"

"I work in a hobby store. Comics, cards, that sort of thing."

"And you like that sort of thing? Or is it just a job?"

"I don't know if working there would be worth it if I didn't."

"Ooo. Do you get free stuff?"

"Not generally, but I do get special promos sometimes. Mostly I just like getting to feel like I'm collecting things without having to spend all the money."

"I hear that. A friend of mine collects those little figurines—the ones with the big heads. I told her never to buy me any because I don't want to start wanting more. Expensive habits."

"Dude, we have so many at the store! An entire room full of them, all their little bug eyes staring darts at you."

Noah chuckled. "I'm sure it's not so bad. I think they're cute."

"You think that until you see the walls full of them. Always watching, plotting. You can never tell what they're thinking."

Noah laughed again, this time in full. It was a nice laugh, a genuine one wholly in the moment. Cody had always loved laughter. It's a feeling of relief, if only for a moment. A short moment of unadulterated joy. Even when life was bad, if you could laugh, you'd have at least those few seconds of escape. And he liked it when he could make others laugh. He liked observing people laughing, seeing how they laughed. How loud they were, if they were faking, if they got lost in the moment of it, how their face looked during. He judged that Noah had a good laugh. Unfiltered and with a bright smile.

"So, creepy doll attendant by day. What do you do in your free time? You can't be all work and no play," Noah asked.

Cody thought for a second. "I don't know. I don't really have any hobbies."

"Literal nonsense. You can't tell me that you get home and just stare at a wall for eight hours a day. Anything's a hobby if you like doing it."

"I guess I like playing video games."

"See, that's a hobby. In case you didn't notice, we have a million consoles in our apartment. So if you want to play, you can," Noah said, then looked to the side nonchalantly. "Or if you want to get absolutely destroyed, I could oblige you."

"Really? I didn't peg you as the type to play."

Noah fake gasped. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, but I'll completely mop the floor with you."

"You're so on. What games you got?"

"Listen, we've got so many games. Too many to count. The only ones I'm good at are Smash and Mario Kart, though."

"Pffft, so you say you can destroy me but you're only good at two games."

"Yeah, I can totally beat you in Smash or Mario Kart. As far as I'm concerned, those are the only ones that matter."

"So you have too many games to count, but you only play two of them?"

"Hey, I never said that. I said I'm only good at two of them."

"Well, that remains to be seen."

"Keep talking, dude," Noah said, smirking and rolling his eyes. "At any rate, we can play whenever we get done doing whatever you want in the city."

Cody felt a vibration in his pocket. He checked it and read the message from Gwen with a grimace.

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that! If you want to talk, I'll be free later tonight.

He put his phone away without responding and looked back up at Noah. He twiddled his thumbs under the table, an unconscious gesture to fill up space while he thought of the best way to word his request. "Actually, I was wondering if we could just go back to yours? The city's just a little, overwhelming right now?"

"Huh? Is everything okay?" Noah asked, concern flashing across his face.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine. There's just a lot of people around and it gets kind of crazy."

"Alright, man. Like I said, anything you want to do," Noah said. In short order, he received and paid for the check, and the two were off back to his apartment. Cody was silent most of the trip, and Noah decided not to press anything in public. He saw Cody's demeanor change completely when he looked at his phone. It was clear to him there was more going on than Cody let on.

After arriving in the apartment, Cody immediately sat down on the couch, leaned as far back as he could, and let out a small sigh.

Noah sat down as well, on the other end of the L. "So… do you want to talk about it?"

Cody looked up at him. Did he actually want to talk to a stranger about his love life? Well, it seemed rude to think of Noah as a stranger now, after everything he's done for him over the past two days. He settled on 'new friend' instead. Did he want to talk to his new friend about his love life? Noah seemed genuinely concerned, and he hadn't given Cody any reason to doubt him. What's the worst that could happen?

"Actually, yeah. Thanks," he replied. He turned his head around to look down the hall.

"Don't worry about them. Eva's at work right now and Izzy's actually out of town for the weekend."

Cody nodded. "I'm not even sure where to start with this."

"Well, maybe start with what you're feeling right now."

He inhaled a large breath, trying to gather his thoughts. "I feel," he started. "I feel like shit."

"Why do you think you feel that way?"

"I don't know. It just feels like I wasted so much time on this. I've spent so much time thinking about Gwen the last two years. I honestly, honestly don't know if there's been a single time where I haven't felt so lonely since we broke up."

There was a brief pause. "Do you feel that way often?" Noah said slowly, gently.

"I don't know. I guess. It's just so much worse now that I'm here and she's happy with her boyfriend." He paused, catching a breath. "It's like it's permanent now. Like I know now that she's moved on it's never going to go back to how it was."

"What are you trying to go back to?"

"To back in high school when we were still dating. I was so happy then. Back to a time when I didn't feel so alone every night. She was always there for me, and she never judged me. I miss having someone I could really be myself around."

Noah contemplated for a few moments. "Well… Do you love her?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I love her. We dated for two whole years."

"Of course you loved her then. What I mean is, do you love her now." Noah paused, giving Cody a moment to answer. His only response was a puzzled look. "Wait here, I need to get something important." Noah disappeared in a moment behind his door. About ten seconds later, he was back with a small strip of paper in his hand. "Here, take this. Now, I know this is going to be super cheesy, but read it."

Cody took the paper and spread it out before him. "What is it?

"It's a two-line poem. Just something I do sometimes, but I think this one might help you."

I know my heart longs not truly for you,
But for the golden lens I see you through.

Cody looked back up at his host. "What does it mean?"

Noah sat back down and looked over at the paper he'd just given away. "It means that sometimes, I think we get so caught up in the memories we have with people that we confuse our feelings for that time with our feelings for them. It's like… playing a game that you loved as a child, but then you realize it's actually not that great. We don't know how much we'd love it now, but we have all these memories of us loving it. At some point, those memories aren't attached to the real thing. It gets replaced by some idealized version of it in our heads. I don't know, maybe I'm way off-mark here. It's just something to think about."

The room was quiet for a few minutes. Cody, lost in deep thought, pulled around different ideas in his head. Was Noah right? Was he in love with some other version of Gwen? She had a boyfriend now, so obviously his idea of her was fundamentally flawed.

"Thanks, actually. I don't know if it's the whole story, but I think you might be onto something," Cody said. "I love Gwen. I really do, she's an amazing person, but…" he trailed off.

"But…?"

"But she's not what I'm missing right now. I miss being in love with someone, and someone being in love with me,' Cody said. He let out a deep, defeated sigh. "But god does that make me feel stupid. If I really came out here for a person I didn't love, then I really need to re-examine my life."

Noah shook his head. "I don't think you did anything wrong. In fact, and this may sound cheesy, but I think the world is undoubtedly a better place because you did what you did."

"How do you figure?"

"Life isn't a movie. Those big moments are a special kind of magic reserved for cheesy romance stories. You're trying to bring that magic into the real world. Just because it didn't work out in the end doesn't make it a bad thing." Noah put a shaky hand on his own knee.

"You really think so?"

"Absolutely. Just know, it makes me happy that people like you exist, people who are willing to at least try to make those magical moments happen. It's kind of, I don't know. Hopeful? I'm sure one day you'll make somebody's wildest dreams come true."

"Thanks… I just wish one day was right now."

"Life's always been a waiting game, man. You'll get there."

"Yeah, I guess." Cody leaned back, sinking his head back into the cushion. "You're really good at love stuff, huh?"

Noah let out a quick, nervous laugh. "No way, man. I'm the last person to ask about relationship stuff. It's just that I've felt that stuff before—at least something close to it."

Cody frowned. "Sorry, man. It sucks."

"Yeah, but we move past it."

"Right. I'll have to start doing that. I think the first step is probably beating you in Smash."

A grin flashed over Noah's face. "You're so on," he said, moving to gather all the necessary materials.

Cody smiled. A soft, content smile. Some therapeutic cartoon violence seemed like just the thing he needed at the moment.