Essential Circuitry

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Camp Rock or the Jonas Brothers. Camp Rock belongs to Disney and the Jonas Brothers belong to themselves.

Characters: Shane, Jason and Nate

Words: 1, 189

Author's Notes: So now we finally get to Connect 3 actually meeting each other! I've been planning this for awhile and I will admit that I kind of like how it came out. Hope you do too!

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It was a given that Shane would be the first person to arrive at Camp Rock. He and his uncle had already been there a week, setting up and moving furniture and equipment, before the other campers started arriving. Watching as everyone else mingled with each other, trying to act blasé and casual while in fact fighting down nerves, Shane grinned to himself before simply bounding down to his cabin, already knowing where it was.

Throwing the door open, Shane glanced between the three beds before grabbing the one to the right of the door. It may have been furthest from the bathroom, but it was also the one facing west – meaning the morning sun wouldn't bother him at all. Dumping his belongings, though he took care when laying down his acoustic, Shane hopped up onto his bed, tapping his feet as he waited for his cabin mates to manage to find him.

A good fifteen minutes had passed before the door was hesitantly pushed open. Taking in the figure with a single long, sweeping look, Shane could only assume that this was Jason. His hair was straight and his eyes a bright hazel. Without thought the boy chucked all his stuff onto the bed opposite Shane's, Shane wincing as he watched the guitar case bounce as it hit the quilt.

Deciding to make himself known, Shane slid off his bed, leaning forward to catch the other boy's attention. "Hi," he called.

Jason started, swinging around and seeing him for the first time. "Hi!" he chirped back. "How hard do you think it is to look after a cockatiel?"

"I-…I what?" Shane asked, the question he was asked not the one he was expecting.

"A cockatiel," Jason repeated. "It's a bird. How hard do you think it'd be to look after one?"

"Oh, uh…not very…?" Shane replied uncertainly.

"Huh," Jason mused, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. "See, because I have a pet cockatiel and Mom said she'd look after it for me all summer. Now, I love my mom and everything but she's never minded a bird before. I told her I'd bring it here but she said no, which I think is unfair by the way! If people can bring toads to Hogwarts for a whole year, then why can't I bring a bird here for less than that?"

Shane didn't answer, more confused than anything. Did he understand what this kid was saying? Yes. Did he get why it was relevant? Not really.

"Ooh, nice guitar!" Jason suddenly exclaimed, staring at Shane's acoustic with a wonderstruck expression. "Is it yours? Can you play it?"

"Of course I can play it," Shane huffed, a little offended by the implication.

"Okay then!" Jason grinned, dropping down onto his own bed, an expectant look on his face.

It was only then that Shane realised what Jason had meant. He hadn't been asking if Shane could play guitar in general, he was asking if he would play it right now. Still unsure about this cabin mate, who seemed eccentric at a minimum, Shane cautiously sat back down on his bed, reaching for his Martin.

"What kind of music do you like?"

Jason's question caught him off guard. Not because of the content, but because his voice had suddenly swapped to something of a more serious tone. Glancing up and see that the slight wildness in Jason's eyes had left, Shane realised that music was something this boy took very seriously.

"Anything really," Shane finally answered with a shrug. "I write a lot of my own stuff though, so I guess that's the kind of music I like."

Jason's eyes widened almost comically. "Dude, you write music? That's awesome! You have to show me some of your stuff!"

While a naturally confident person, Shane would admit that he was a tad bit nervous right now – more because he had been caught unawares than anything else. He was about to launch into evasive tactics by asking what type of guitar Jason played when the distraction was provided for him in the form of their cabin door being pushed open.

Timidly, a smaller boy stepped into the wooden cabin, eyes ducking away from the unintentional stares that were being sent his way. Biting his lip, Nate nodded slightly to the two boys before padding his way across to the only spare bed, carefully placing down everything he'd brought.

"I guess you must be Nathaniel," Shane said, finally finding his voice and bouncing over, a hand extended.

"It's Nate," he corrected, shaking the offered hand as shortly as possible.

"Okay," Shane said slowly, rocking on his heels. "I'm Shane and that-" he pointed to his cabin mate "-is Jason. I guess we're all cabin mates for the summer."

"Awesome!" Jason beamed, face splitting into a grin. "This summer is going to be great, I just know it…Do you think there are many birds around here?"

Nate shot Shane an incredulous look, to which he shrugged. "I have no idea," he murmured to the thirteen-year-old, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "He's been going on about birds since he got here. Something about his pet cockatiel and whe-"

"Get off me."

Shane started, looking down and finding himself staring into a pair of suspicious, but also uncertain, deep brown eyes. "W-what?" he stammered, mostly out of shock.

"I said, get off me," Nate repeated, annunciating each word. "Why are you touching me?"

"Because…" Shane replied, removing his arm while Jason looked on with wide eyes.

Nate quirked an eyebrow. "Because…"

"I don't know," Shane provided, voice hardening slightly. "Because I wanted to."

"Oh-kay!" Jason exclaimed, jumping between them, pasting a wide smile on his face. "Let's not fight, let's…let's…play some music!"

"No thanks," Nate mumbled, shaking his head and heading back towards the cabin door.

"You know this is a music camp!" Shane called after him. "You're going to have to play eventually!"

Nate shot him a glare before shoving the door open, letting it thud shut behind him as he headed off towards the lake, hoping to find somewhere quiet and deserted.

"Uh…did we make him mad?" Jason asked, puzzled.

"I don't know," Shane shrugged. "Whatever it is though, kid's got serious issues. He's kind of a brat."

"You only just met him!" Jason protested indignantly, folding his arms. "Maybe he's not all that bad. Give him a chance, okay?"

Shane took a deep breath, calming himself down and trying to rein in his fiery temper. "Okay," he finally conceded. "Maybe he's nervous or…having a bad day or something. He's probably just scared of us because he's the youngest guy here."

"So, you mean like he's trying to prove himself?"

"Yeah," Shane murmured absently, staring at the now shut door. "Something like that."

Still, he hoped that's all it was. Because if this kid had an attitude, he'd live to regret it. After all, Shane had picked his cabin with the intention of his cabin mates being cool. If Nate wasn't, then he would find himself moved before he knew it.

But, for now, Shane was willing to give him a chance – for now.

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A/N: so Shane is actually turning out be a bigger jerk than I originally intended. I will say that I like him like this though. And yep, Jason still loves his birds and Nate's a bit standoffish. Your thoughts?

DG777