My first NoCo fic. I have a case of the writer's block, so hopefully, this short fic will pull me out of it.

Warnings: Slash, death, angst, NoahxCody pairing.

Cody crouched in the thicket, his body curling into himself so he could fit into the small area under the roots of a tree. After 24 hours, he thought it would have registered by now.

Camp Wakanakawa was gone. Destroyed in one sudden blast. If he hadn't gone out to the woods to go to the bathroom, he would have been decimated with the others. The cabins were blown to smithereens, the wooden planks had been instantly turned into pulp. He had just seen Gwen a second ago when he indulged in a quick peek into the the girl's cabins. She had been drying her hair off with a towel and she was arguing with Heather about something, until they both saw him.

"Little creep!" Heather screamed, throwing a shoe.

Cody was yards away before she said anything else. Maybe that was the last thing Heather ever said. Heather was a bitch and now she was gone. It didn't sound right. Heather. Gone. She seemed like a force of nature when she was still there.

Five seconds before the blast, he was hiding behind a tree, trying to think up ways to explain himself. Not because of Heather. Heather didn't matter. Gwen was important. After the blast, this line of thought seemed ridiculous and unforgivable petty. Everyone mattered. Even Heather.

At first, he thought it was a careless action. Maybe Chris had been playing with TNT a bit too much and he had blown up more than he planned. It had been almost reassuring for him to focus his anger on one point. There was still destruction, but maybe Chris would come out and he would beat the host to a bloody pulp.

The police would come and he would be in the papers as a normal, mild-mannered boy who snapped because of extenuating circumstances. Chris's actions would come to light and Cody actions would appear to be justified.

"You wouldn't want me to get angry," he would address a group of reporters after he was freed. He snorted, trying to hold back a laugh that would have only come out sounding bitter. Sick. People were dead and he was laughing.

Beth. Bridgette. Harold. Gwen. Noah.

His stomach twisted into a knot.

Noah.

No. The knot was for Gwen, he reminded himself, trying to will away errant thoughts. He only felt a twist of pain because Noah was someone who didn't really smile for real. It was a tragedy because Noah never enjoyed life.

At least Gwen had experienced love. Despite her anti-social nature, she had made some friends at camp.

If Noah hadn't been even worse at the social skills department, he probably could have gotten along with Gwen. It was hard for him to imagine someone not liking Gwen. That's why he thought of Noah. It was because of Gwen. Yeah. Sure.

"Is somebody there?" A voice asked thinly. Cody turned around, but he didn't see anybody walking around. A twig snapped and suddenly he heard a body fall.

Cody suddenly felt the lightness return to his body.

Someone else! Thank god!

He ran to the source of the thump and pushed through some bushes to get to the clearing. He had been so eager, he had nearly stumbled on the body on the ground.

A red sweater, longish brown hair. High top sneakers.

Noah.

The bookworm moaned, sitting up slowly, rubbing his head.

There was a large gash on his forehead and a bruise on his chin. His arms looked scratched up and his white undershirt was torn pretty badly. He grabbed onto his ankle and shut his eyes tightly, as he hissed lowly from the pain.

"Are you okay?" Cody asked anxiously.

Noah seemed to ignore him as he took off one of his sneakers, revealing a swollen ankle.

"What happened to you?" Cody cried. It looked pretty bad. How was he even able to walk on that?

"A bomb went off." Noah said in his familiar, deadpan voice.

Cody bristled at sarcasm. Is that all he could say after everything had been destroyed? He looked up to give Noah a piece of his mind when he saw the haunted look in the other boy's eyes.

Noah hadn't been protected out in the woods. He had been walking around camp a minute before the blast. Maybe he'd seen...some stuff and wasn't accepting it. Wasn't he just laughing a second ago?

Also, Noah's voice was usually cold, but it wasn't as devoid of feeling as it was right now.

"Is there anyone else?" Cody asked, crawling a bit until he was sitting right next to the other boy.

Noah looked away.

"You're the first other person I've seen. Didn't you check yourself?" The second part was almost accusing.

Cody bit his lip, trying to think of a response. He didn't even think of that. He had been too afraid to move away from the spot he had been standing in when the blast happened. He didn't even have the nerve to think about going back.

Noah sighed at the long pause. His eyes looked a little red and his cheeks were a little bit wet. Had he been crying? A selfish part of him was glad that he hadn't been there to see it. He probably would have lost it if he'd seen someone like Noah crying.

"Where were you...when it happened?" Cody asked.

"Chef's cabin."

Cody swallowed nervously. If Chef was in his cabin, Chris probably didn't cause it. He usually got Chef's help when he tested his crazy challenges. Chris was someone who couldn't function without an audience.

"Why were you there?"

"Sometimes he lets me borrow some books. He's the only one that reads around here."

"Why borrow from Chef? I have a lot of comics you can borrow and Harold has even more."

Noah rolled his eyes, his body seeming to relax a little at the snippet of normalcy.

"Books. Not comic books."

"But Chef's so-" Cody couldn't even find a word to convey how horrified he was that Noah woud willingly spend more time with the terrifying man.

But one look at the bookworm's stony face stopped him right away.

Cody hugged his legs, feeling a little sick, as though he'd said something truly awful. There was a long silence and Noah turned away. Cody could see Noah's shoulders shuddering. He wasn't crying. At least, it didn't seem like that.

"Noah-"

"Chef saved me." Noah said quietly.

Cody shivered, unable to look away or even breath even though he wanted to so badly. Noah turned to face him.

"When the bomb went off, he pushed me down and covered me with his body. He protected me. He took the blast. The c-cabin collapsed on us and he died."

Cody grabbed his hand. It seemed like the right thing to do. Noah squeezed his hand, looking away. There was nothing either of them could say.

"Maybe we can find a phone or something that still works. If Chris hasn't escaped in his boat, we could even-"

"Chris is dead." Noah said grimly. "I thought it was his fault at first. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but he was sleeping in his cabin next door when it happened. He was dead when I found him."

Cody gulped at the loss of his target for revenge.

"Whey did it take you so long to get back here?" Cody asked.

"When Chef pushed me down, it knocked me out. I don't know how long. When I woke up, I had trouble getting him off me."

No wonder Noah was so angry nobody had come looking for him. Chef probably weight twice as much as Noah.

Cody shuddered at the thought of Noah being trapped under a dead body.

"I'm sorry." he whispered.

Noah shook his head and lay back against the tree trunk.

"You can try for Chris's boat. I won't be walking anymore with this ankle."

"Alone?" Cody asked, not wanting to lose his contact with Noah so soon after finding him.

"Don't be stupid." Noah said in exasperation, even thought it was pretty obvious he didn't want to be alone either. "You can't carry me."

"I'll be back soon," Cody said with resignation. He started to stand up when Noah suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

"Noah-?" Cody started, before being cut off by a gentle kiss.

His lips only touched Cody's for a moment, but his warmth lingered.

"I'm sorry," Noah said with a heavy blush, looking unusually flustered. "I had to- needed to- Just in case."

Cody couldn't look at him.

"I'll be back." he said simply.

At the corner of his eye, Cody could see Noah nodding grimly. The other boy was trying to avoid looking at him.

He started to run to the dock.

"Could we forget what just happened?" Noah asked.

Cody pretended he was too far away to hear.

TO BE CONTINUED

This will be short one. The second part is the final part, so you won't be left hanging too much. Hurrah.