I Wanna Be, I Wanna Be, I Wanna Be Boyfriends

Chapter 1

"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."

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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.