WOW it has been a LONG while hasn't it?
Honestly this whole chapter's been giving me trouble to write, more than I thought it would. And I also had someone that said the fit gave the "noncey" vibes, and yeah that definitely didn't make me feel comfortable to talk about this fic for a while. But some time has passed and I feel more comfortable talking it again. Because I missed this fic, like I assume y'all do too.
A special thanks to Caleb13frede and cakeonfire911 for helping out of some rough writing patches with this. And after writing and thinking...yeah we gonna need a Buddy System Part THREE. Because I love dragging things out apparently.
Enough of me talking! Let's get into the fic!
Chapter 12
"The Buddy System" - Part 2
Previously on Summer Camp Wawanakwa…
The next activity is camping in the woods. With the weather, bears, and the pajamas of the opposite sex.
Kids paired up as buddies, some of them more enthusiastic than others.
We finally got our first bathroom joke after 10 chapters, which is like a decade in TD writing years.
A joke that led to Noah and Owen getting separated and lost, and Chris having to find them.
Tyler somehow managed to evade a description of getting hurt, so we'll just say he tripped on a rock off-text or something.
And I, the writer, initially tried a rewrite but deleted it cause I realized I actually have no clue how to write and it changes way too much of the story we have now.
But what other feats will befell the kids? Well, y'all are about to find out now on
Summer! Camp! Wawanakwa!
….yeah I guess that doesn't really have the same TD intro ring.
"BOYS!"
Chris stumbled around the branches and tree trunks, trying to avoid tripping on his walk. The last thing he needed on top of this search was a twisted ankle. Chris stopped on a free patch of grass.
"NOAH!", he cupped his hands and called out into the forest. "OWEN!"
Aside from the crowing of birds, there was no response.
The man groaned and looked up at the sky. It was getting dark, turning into a dark gradient of burnt sienna and blue. Some of the stars were already visible.
"Great", he muttered, taking his backpack off. "Where's that flashlight?", he unzipped the bag, prepared to go searching for it.
"Here you go!"
"AAA!"
Chris was taken aback by a small redhead popping out, flashlight outstretched in one sleeve covered hand.
"IZZY", he shouted, recovering from his near heart attack. "What are you doing?! You're supposed to be with the others!"
"But you said we had to stay with our buddies", she explained. "To make sure we all stay safe."
"That was just to get to the campground. I don't need another one of you getting lost." Chris pointed in the opposite direction. "Now go back to the camp."
But instead of going back, because that would make Chris's life too easy, Izzy got to the ground, sniffing out the area.
"What are you doing?", Chris raised an eyebrow at her.
"They haven't been in this area", she perked her head up. "All that's been around here is a bear."
Chris' eyes went wide. The last thing he needed to encounter was a bear. But then an epiphany hit him. "Wait, can you sniff them out?"
"Yeah", the girl nodded enthusiastically. "I trained myself cause I wanted to be a bloodhound, but then I learned they aren't actually vampires...but now, I can smell really well. My parents have a HARD time hiding any cookies from this baby", Izzy pointed to her nose for emphasis.
Chris thought about it. While he was risking a camper being out in the woods with him with only the elements. But at the same time, if she found those boys sooner, that would mean the sooner he'd get to go back to the camp.
"...ok", he finally decided. "You can come with me."
"Hooray", Izzy cheered. "Let's go!"
She went back on all fours sniffing the ground, trying to find any trace scents of beef jerky.
Chris sighed following her, "Well this is-"
"JUST GREAT!"
Noah rolled his eyes and dramatically flew to the ground on his back.
"It's bad enough I have to be tethered like a preschooler and sent to a night of camping with no basic electronics or plumbing in sight", he wanted. "But now I have to spend it LOST too?!"
Owen watched the hoodied boy let out a loud groan of annoyance, some birds flying away from the sound.
"Aren't I suffering enough?!"
No Noah. No you aren't :)
"Aw this is GREAT Noah", Owen gave a big giant smile in the midst of the situation. "Now we get to have a REAL camping experience. Braving the elements with nothing but our wits and basic instincts. Really roughing it!"
"I don't wanna rough it", Noah protested. "This whole camp is already roughing it enough."
"You say that now, but you're gonna love it", Owen kept his optimism up. He looked up at the sky, the sun barely a crack over the horizon and the sky finally starting to turn to an indigo. "We'll start by finding some proper ground. Somewhere close to water, but not too close to any high ridges."
"Gee, wonder how hard water's gonna be to find on an ISLAND", Noah rolled his eyes. "We might as well start collecting branches to make a villa by the beach."
"..wait you're RIGHT!"
"Wha-AAA!" Noah quickly felt himself being pulled in the ground by Owen, skidding over rocks and being hit by branches as the larger boy ran. Noah would've been more surprised at how fast Owen was, if he wasn't being yet at every turn in the process.
"Camping by the beach is PERFECT", Owen moved some shrubs out of the way to come across the sandy area. He finally stopped by the dunes to survey the setting. "Close to water, close to fish, AND we can follow it back to camp tomorrow! Great idea Noah!"
Owen turned back to the smaller boy, who was more visibly frazzled being dragged through rocks and shrubs.
Noah spat out a twig and dryly snarked, "Happy to be of service."
—-
*GRUMBLE*
A loud grumble broke out into the woods, as Chris clenched his stomach. It was around dinnertime, and there was still no shot at the boys in sight.
"Ughhh I'm SOOO hungry", Izzy loudly whined. Apparently she shared the same sentiment. "Chris when are we gonna eat?!"
"We're gonna eat as soon as you find those campers", Chris snapped out. "Now keep tracking!"
Izzy whinged, but went back to sniffing, less than enthusiastically.
Chris followed behind her, trying to search for something, anything in his backpack. Chef must've put some kind of snack in there for him.
After feeling, he finally found something. A single granola bar. It wasn't much, but it was better than starving. Chris had brought it out to unwrap, but stopped as the wrapper crinkled loudly.
The small redhead tracking instantly turned to Chris at the sound. "What was that?"
Drat, Chris cursed to himself. I can't eat this with the kid here. She's gonna bug me to share it with her.
"I dunno. Probably a racoon or something", Chris brushed it off, hiding the bar in his hands out of her sight.
Izzy looked at him for a second, eyebrow raised, before shrugging it off and getting back to the ground.
Chris sighed in relief, and quickly put the granola bar back in his backpack. He'd have to wait until she was more out of distance to snack down.
"Ok!"
Owen tossed his socks onto the sand, his shorts bunched up to his thighs. He grabbed the sharpened stick and started to walk into the lake.
"This is not gonna work", Noah started to walk with him, his shoes also gone and shorts bunched up.
"It WILL", Owen insisted, feeling the squishier sand in his toes. "This is how all cavemen used to get their fish. It's a classic hunting technique"
"If it's so classic, they wouldn't have made fishing rods", Noah rolled his eyes and shuddered at the cold water. "And if you didn't notice, we're not exactly in the Stone Age."
"Shh", Owen inspected the water, looking for any sources of scaly life. "We just gotta keep our eyes peeled."
"Eyes peeled? What does that phrase even MEAN", Noah ranted aloud, seemingly to just himself. "There's literally no way you can actually peel your eyes! They're not bananas!"
Owen chuckled. "But I do SEE the APPEAL in them", he joked back to Noah.
Noah looked at him with a struggling lip. "That wasn't funny", but the quiver in Noah's voice implied otherwise.
"OO! I see one!" Owen raised the stick up and immediately jabbed it straight into the water.
Noah coughed as the water splashed onto his face. He opened his eyes in time to see Owen hold the stick up in victory. And on the other end was a flopping, stabbed salmon.
"YES", Owen cheered loudly. "We are men! Men hunt fish!"
"Men are 10 years old", Noah rolled his eyes, but still smiled. It was nice to know they at least weren't gonna starve tonight. "Now men make fire?"
"Now you're getting it", Owen nodded enthusiastically. He let Noah lead the way to the beach this time.
"Good thing we caught this once too, I am STARVING", Owen chuckled. "I wonder what everyone else is having for dinner."
"If it's from Chef, it probably isn't even edible", Noah winced in disgust, before looking back at their caught fish. "How do you know how to catch fish?"
"My grandpa taught me", Owen shook his foot dry on the sand. "Last summer I even caught a shark."
Noah scoffed. "Yeah right."
"No, it's TRUE", Owen insisted. "I can prove it! It bit me in the butt!"
Noah barely had a chance to raise an eyebrow before Owen's pants were lowered down.
"Check it out!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Harold's head poked up at the scream, the echo causing birds to fly off into the new night sky.
"What WAS that?", he asked aloud.
"I don't think I want to find out", DJ squeezed his bunny closer.
The 2 were interrupted from their thoughts by the sound of banging metal.
"FOOD'S UP!"
The kids quickly assembled in front of Chef. Finally after all that walking, it was DINNER.
Chef grabbed a pile of sticks he gathered around by the fire, and one by one skewered them with a raw red sausage.
"WEENIES", Heather was the first to get her dinner.
"It's campout food", Chef glared at her with a "duh" tone. "What did you expect?"
More hot dogs were stabbed into sticks, the kids leaving one by one with their dinner and gathering around the makeshift fire to heat it up.
"How long is this gonna take", Lindsay watched her hot dog slowly cooking over the fire
Heather shuddered, "Why do people actually ENJOY this?"
"Indeed", Alejandro wouldn't have even accepted a sausage if Chef had made it an option. "The great outdoors doesn't have much "great" to offer."
Heather looked up at the older teen, before looking back at her burnt dinner. "Right", her cheeks turned slightly red by the fire embers.
More of the campers started to sit around, living up the night scene a little bit.
Chef mentally counted down the sticks left for the packages of weenies, keeping in mind to leave 3 behind. He grabbed the last stick from the pile, but when he turned back to the fire, Chef realized the line was empty.
"Aw COME ON", he nearly knocked the whole pot down in frustration. "Don't tell me we lost ANOTHER kid."
"Hmm", Sierra cocked an eyebrow, and started to look at the campers in their dinner. "Where's Izzy", she found the missing kid pretty quick.
"Um", Ezekiel finished swallowing his bite. "I think she said she said she left to pee."
"...Really", the teen girl had no knowledge of this happening. "When did she say that?"
"Like a little after Chris left, eh", Ezekiel took another bite full.
"That was HOURS ago", Alejandro stood up in shock. "There's no way she's had to pee for that long! Why didn't you say anything?!"
Ezekiel shrugged, his mouth still chewing.
Chef groaned. "Great. Who knows where that kid is out there now."
*Sniff sniff sniff*
Izzy pressed her nose further in the dirt, crawling through the woods following the lingering scent of beef jerky.
"Getting a whiff of anything girl", Chris felt like he was talking to a dog hunting for game, instead of hunting for 2 small boys.
Apparently Izzy thought the same, as she suddenly stopped and pointed upwards with her nose. "They're just through these shrubs."
"Oh thank God", Chris started running through the shrubbery to get closer to the source. "Hopefully we'll get them back in time for SOME dinner left."
The girl followed fast behind, still on all fours for maximum speed.
Behind the shrubs and trees, the source to Izzy's scent trail….was a large barren cave. Chris looked around, trying to find any signs of life, but nothing.
"...Boys", Chris called out into the cave. He could hear faint bat flaps in between the echoes, but didn't get a response.
Hesitantly, and begrudgingly, Chris stepped foot into the cave to get deeper, Izzy slinking closely behind.
"Noah", Chris called as he cautiously walked further in the cavern. "Owen", still no response. "It's me, Chris. Just come out so we can go back to the campsite-"
CRUNCH!
A loud crunch followed one of Chris's footsteps. He looked down, and saw a wrapper underneath his foot.
"What the-", he looked down in confusion, then looked back up to see more beef jerky wrappers strewn about through the stalagmites.
"Weird", Izzy piped up from behind him. "This is where the scent ends."
Chris scratched his head. "But if the boys aren't here…then who brought all these wrappers?"
GRRRRRRRR!
A loud growl quickly answered Chris's question, his eyes went wide as he felt the warm breeze, reeking of raw fish.
"Oh."
"Perfect"
Owen sighed, watching the fire start to flicker from the flint in his hands. The small flames started to grow larger fast from the wood. 2 larger logs were placed around the fire, in a makeshift rotisserie.
"Is the fish gutted", he turned to the smaller boy, at most a foot away from him.
"Im trying", Noah picked at the flesh with frustration. "It's hard to do this without an actual knife."
"Oh I got it", Owen cracked his knuckles, and promptly slammed one hand down the fish's mouth. In a single swoop, the larger boy reached down the middle of the fish, and pulled out an entire spine. Flawlessly, like he was pulling a tissue out of a box.
"Wow", Noah's eyes went wide at the display. "How did you do that?"
"It's all in the wrist", Owen beamed. He skewered the newly deboned fish on a stick, and placed it onto the logs, the fish starting to cook over the fire.
"No I mean, you just lifted it out like it was nothing", Noah clarified. "You can make a fire. You can cook fish, and debone it bare-handed. Where did you learn all this?"
"I told you; Grandpa", Owen looked at the fire, a little melancholy. "We went camping like this for years. Every summer. He showed me all the ropes; fire building, fishing, making shelters, how to search for proper ground. Even scat tracking", Owen chuckled a little. "Scat."
Noah hated it, but he chuckled at "scat" too. "Sounds like you and your grandpa are pretty close."
"Yeah", Owen's small smile started to vanish again. "We were."
"Oh", Noah gulped, realizing his faux pas. "Oh I'm…I'm sorry-"
"It's ok", Owen tried to brush it off. "Mom said it was gonna happen someday. And I still kind of get to go camping this summer. It's…it's just different."
Noah looked down at the sand, a little unsure of what to say.
"Did you ever do stuff like this with your grandpa", Noah looked back up, realizing Owen asked him that.
"No", Noah shrugged. "My grandpa died when I was 3, I didn't really know him."
"Oh", Owen looked back at the fire again, turning the fish occasionally to get it even-cooked. Noah looked at him, then at the ground, trying to think of something else to say.
"But", he started to say. "I do a lot with my Nana."
Owen looked back at Noah. "Really?"
"Yeah", Noah rubbed the back of his neck. "We bake together. My other siblings weren't really into it, but I like it. She'd tell stories and share old family recipes, and I'd get the spoon at the end."
"Aww", Owen . "...Wait is that what you were talking about when you licked my-"
"And she likes my video games", Noah quickly interrupted him. "Like, she doesn't completely understand all the strategies of Kosmic Kaos, but she likes the story cutscenes, so she knows enough of what happens for me to talk to her. And it did become easier for her to play since I started moderating the site-"
"Wait", now it was Owen's turn to interrupt. "You mean you run a site? For like the actual video game?"
"Sure do", Noah got a little cocky in his smirk. "Four years running. Not my fault all those tech guys keep leaving holes in their scripts."
"WOW", Owen's eyes went wide. "You must be like, REALLY smart."
"Eh." Noah shrugged. "Just a simple 180 IQ. Nothing impressive much-"
"NOTHING IMPRESSIVE", Owen stood up in the sand. "That's like, SUPER smart Noah! Like a genius."
Noah shrugged again, that smirk still on his face with all this validation. "I guess you're right, big guy."
"180", Owen marveled, looking briefly back at the fish. "You must have a lot of kids asking you to do their homework."
Noah blinked a bit, and looked back at the ground, a little taken aback. "Not really. I don't really know a lot of other kids."
"Really", Owen prodded, both at the fish and at Noah. "But what about at your home? Out of a whole class, there's gotta be one fourth grader-"
"I'm not in fourth grade", Noah looked at Owen.
"True", Owen turned the stick over to the other side. "I guess after this summer, fifth grade-"
"Eleventh."
Owen nearly dropped that fish into the fire at the sound of that. He turned back to Noah with wide eyes.
"Eleventh?"
"When I get back home yeah", Noah nodded. "Third grade was way too slow for me, so I skipped a few grades-"
"A few? You're in high school!" Owen gasped aloud. "Do you like, get to go to teen parties and stuff? What are football games like? Do they still have mozzarella sticks there?"
"They do", Noah said. "And I dunno, I don't really like football, and most teens don't want to have some 10 year old at their makeout rave so", Noah waved it off. "I've never been invited to one."
"Awww. Well they're missing out on a cool guy", Owen reassured Noah. Noah stared, but slowly smiled at Owen as he looked back at their fish. The flesh was flaking and just the right shade of medium pink. "Oh sweet! It's ready!"
"This is nice"
Cody blew on his marshmallow as the kids sat around the campfire. As he took a bite, he looked over at Eva, the 2 sharing an earbud each from her MP3 player.
"Warm fire, clear sky of stars, good music", he listed off the positives of the present. "Doesn't get much better than that, does it?"
Eva could've sworn Cody purposefully looked straight at her at that last part. "...No, it doesn't", she smiled back at him. With a light arm punch, just for good measure.
"It IS nice", Beth nodded, her marshmallow still in the flame. "But what else are we supposed to do?"
Lindsay shrugged. "I think this is it."
"You mean the same thing we do every night by the pit?!" Heather groaned. "What a waste of time."
The other campers sat in silence, just the fire crackling and heating their marshmallows. It was a semi-peaceful silence until-
HOOT!
"AAA!"
Bridgette jumped up, a little spooked by the outburst.
"It's ok". Geoff tried to reassure her. "It's just an owl."
"Oh", Bridgette sighed a little. "It's just kind of spooky, being out this late in the forest."
"Yeah I know what you mean", Gwen nodded solemnly. Then, she pulled out a flashlight with a mischievous smile. "You know, this reminds me of another scary story-"
"NO!"
Gwen could barely hold in her laugh as the other kids looked at her with panic.
"PLEASE don't!" DJ was the loudest to protest. "The LAST thing we need on top of bearquakes and skunks is ANOTHER scary story."
"Agreed", Alejandro chimed in, despite how he never heard her stories. "We're not trying to have everyone stay up all night."
"Yeah", Katie nodded. "One forced awakeathon was more than enough."
"What?"
Before Alejandro could get an answer, Chef bursted through the convo bubble.
"Alright, that's enough time out", he yawned, already changed into pajamas, somehow. "I want you ALL in the tent in 15 minutes."
"Thank goodness" Heather was the first to head over. "We're almost gonna be done with this activity."
"Oh, don't I know it", LeShawna agreed and yawned. "How long have we been in the woods?"
"It's only been a few hours", Ezekiel answered.
"Wait really", LeShawna raised an eyebrow. "Feels like we've been left here a year." She shrugged and reached into her bag, pulling out a purple nightgown. "Well none of those bears or anything better mess with me or my sleep. I'm gonna change in the bushes."
LeShawna left off while the other kids got out their night supplies, and changed into pajamas.
"I don't know dude", Tyler walked towards the tent in the clothes he and Harold picked out. "Do you think she's gonna think I look mature enough in this?"
"Ah definitely", Harold walked to Tyler's side. "You practically look like an adult already."
"Thanks", Tyler turned to Harold, and his eyes went wide at the sight in front of him. "What are THOSE?"
Harold looked down at his onesie. "What? Tigers are cool! I wanted a liger one, but none of the stores had them. But I think I look pretty awesome."
As Harold talked, Tyler noticed LeShawna making her way back, and giggling a little at the sight, and walked over to the boys.
LeShawna put a hand on Harold's shoulder. "Tyler I'm gonna be honest. You look…SUPER good!"
"Thank you", Harold fist pumped the air. "I knew these were a good choice! I'm gonna make everyone jealous."
Harold strutted to the tent, the onesie tail dragging behind him in the dirt.
"... it's kinda kindergarten-y isn't it", Tyler whispered to LeShawna.
"It IS", she whispered back. "But he looks so happy."
Tyler nodded in agreement.
"Hey Tyler!"
The young brunette turned around at his name to Lindsay, the blonde now in a sparkly pink pajamas, and a matching eyemask.. He gulped and waved back.
"H-Hi Lindsay", he walked towards her too. They stopped right before they could walk into each other, smiling.
"...Nice pants", Lindsay pointed down at the footballs. "They look fuzzy."
"Oh uh, yeah. They're really comfy", Tyler nodded, and pointed at her pants. "Yours look…sparkly."
"Yeah. They are", Lindsay also nodded. "They're like Belle Forests'".
"Belle Forests?"
"From Legitimately Blonde", now the sparkly thing on Lindsay were her eyes. "It's like the BEST movie ever!"
"Even better than a sports movie?"
"DEFINITELY", Lindsay nodded. "Oh my gosh you HAVE to see it. I hope somebody asked for a movie day from camp."
"Yeah, I didn't. We already did mine", Tyler chuckled, reflecting on their dodgeball day. "What did you ask for?"
"Oh! A-"
15 IS UP! GETTING LIGHTS OUT NOW!"
Lindsay and Tyler looked back at the tent, and the kids rushed into it.
"Oh uh", Tyler extended an arm out. "After you."
Lindsay giggled, and made her way towards the tent. Tyler watched her go, before heading on hs way to follow.
"WOAH!"
THUMP!
Lindsay turned back from the tent entrance and saw Tyler, facefirst in the dirt.
"I'm ok!"
"ROAAARRRRR!"
The biggest misery Chris was expecting from this night were mosquitos. The cold. A kid or 2 kicking him in the face in their sleep. All sounded inconvenient and a pain, but each sounded like heaven now compared to a large grizzly bear roaring in his face.
The bear prowled closer to him, Chris moving back each step, until he was at the edge of a wall. There was nowhere else to turn, nowhere to run.
"So THIS is how I die", Chris winced as he accepted his fate. "And I didn't even win a Gemmy."
The bear raised on its hind legs preparing the big blow, Chris closed his eyes in suspense.
"Raaaarr-uggghhh"
….Except that suspense was still lingering.
A few seconds passed of more various growls, before Chris finally opened his eyes. And there he saw this large brute of the forest
….being purple nurpled by a 10 year old redheaded girl.
Wincing in the newly afflicted pain, the bear crawled on the ground, grabbing onto its chest and growling. Izzy quickly led Chris' hand out to the exit.
"Are you CRAZY", Chris shouted out to Izzy.
"Yeah!" Izzy just gave him a large toothed smile in return. Well, at least she was honest.
Chris stood for a second, before turning around to bolt out of the cave, and back into freedom…
Unfortunately, that was a second too long because he was promptly stopped by a sudden force of weight pinning him to the rocky ground.
"ZZZZZZ"
Chris heaved with all his might, but was stuck under the weight of a 9 ton grizzly bear, passed out cold from the purple nurple.
Chris groaned in frustration. "Great! We're STUCK!"
"No we're not."
Chris looked up to Izzy, sitting on top of the bear like a cat. She jumped off to the ground, and then buried herself under the brown fur, like she was snuggling under a pile of blankets. After a few moments, she popped her head out beside Chris, satisfied under one of the bear's arms and long claws.
"NOW we're stuck", Izzy beamed, oblivious to how bad their situation was now.
Chris sighed at his fate. "Thank you."
*Siiigh* " This is nice."
Owen stretched out in the sand, looking at the stars above, twinkling in the bluish-black sky. The sounds of crickets chirping, the small fire still crackling, and the waves of the beach crashing were soothing noises to accompany the vision. And the full stomach of salmon.
"This is what nature is all about. The bounty of the sea, the beauty of the stars, and the gentle breeze to cool from the summer heat." Owen breathed in deeply, taking it in, truly in his element. "Isn't it great Noah?"
Owen looked over at his tethered buddy, huddled up in a fetal position faced towards the lake.
"Uh, yeah", Noah looked back at Owen briefly before looking back at the small waves.
"You're not even looking at them", Owen chuckled, and looked back at Noah. "Are you ok", Owens' smile dropped in concern. "You're not getting sick are you? I cooked the fish right."
"No it's not that", Noah fidgeted a little in his place in the sand. His eyes were locked in on the waves, watching them rise to the sand before subsiding back away into the body of water.
"Oh. Is it something else?"
Noah's eyes looked down at the sand for a second, before going to the lake again, before eventually closing. He sighed, exasperated, as the sound of the waves filled his ears.
"I have to go."
"Oh", Owen got up from the beach, shaking the sand off his shirt. "Well, we'll just go back in the woods real quick then."
Owen started to walk towards the forest, before he noticed a familiar dragging sound. He turned around to see Noah at the other end of the tether, still huddled in the sand, not moving by his own volition.
"Noah-?"
"Huh?" Noah shuddered in his spot, still facing the lake. "Oh, uh…l"
Noah eventually stood up, shaking off the sand from his hoodie. He turned around to Owen, eyebrows at a worrying furrow instead of their usual lax apathy. He seemed more closed into his zipped hoodie too, like he was trying to make himself smaller than he already was.
"What's wrong", the unease didn't go past Owen.
"Uh-nothing", Noah still didn't move from his spot on the beach. "Y-you know, it's fine. I can hold it. It's cool."
Owen didn't look convinced, and also didn't move. "It's ok buddy we can just go now and then go to sleep-"
"No I can wait til later", Noah shrugged it off.
"And how will you do that tied to me", Owen tugged a little on the tether to emphasize, and chuckled. "I don't think you can pull me across a beach-"
"Oh I think I can", Noah grunted a little on the last part, before tugging Owen a little back closer to him. Owen's eyes went wide for a second, before he tugged back.
"But it doesn't make any sense to", Owen sounded a little more annoyed, pulling Noah closer to the woods.
"No, I can go later", Noah held his ground and pulled Owen back to the beach.
"Just go NOW", Owen pulled on the other end. The 2 were locked in a tether tug of war, Noah's feet dug deep in the sand to hold his ground against Owen's strength.
" I can wait Owen", Noah grunted, trying to keep his grip onto the rope. "It's no big deal-"
"Well you're MAKING this into a big deal", Owen grunted, trying to pull Noah out from the sand. "It's just peeing in the woods! Animals do it all the time!"
"It's NOT that Owen", Noah briefly lost a grip with sweaty fingers, but gained it back. "I don't want to go with YOU!"
"Why NOT", Owen let go of the tether with one hand to shrug. "You went with ME just fine! It's cool, we're both DUDES here!"
Noah swore he felt his heart stop for a second. He let the tether go for a second, a second long enough for Owen to gain the upper hand.
"OOF", Noah fell face first into the sand as Owen dragged him back.
"Noah!" Owen grabbed Noah by the shoulders back to standing. "Are you ok?"
Noah didn't move from his position in the sand, just lying there. Owen grabbed Noah and pulled him up onto his feet again.
"...Noah?"
Noah didn't answer. He just stared out into the woods, and then back at Owen.
Noah didn't answer. He just stared out into the woods, and then back at Owen.
"...Owen…how well can you keep a secret?"
So fun fact: initially I made the weenies they eat beans to have this fart joke cutting into a convo Gwen and Trent have, but then I saw the reboot and...yeah I...I just can't do it.