[Baconwizard]

"Aw, that'd suck," Zane said with a laugh, leaning back into Cody. He grinned at Cody, expression soft. "Contrary to popular belief, I can make a pretty mean breakfast, if I'm awake enough." Zane chuckled, then gently squeezed Cody's hand in his. "I'll make something for you sometime."

[zapdragon555]

Cody smiled as Zane squeezed his hand, loving the warm feeling, and he nodded. "I might just have to sleep in, then..." he murmured, then chuckled, shrugging sheepishly. "I have a bad habit of rising with the sun, but sometimes I sleep in." He noticed he was leaning his head on Zane's shoulder, and he caught the eyes of a woman passing by, his cheeks flushing pink as he tucked his face into Zane's coat collar slightly. "S-sorry... about this," he said slowly, voice very small, a rueful smile on his face. "I-if you feel weird about it, we don't... have to hold hands and stuff, i-in public... th-though I guess I look enough like a girl that... i-it'd be okay..." Cody trailed off, suddenly a little angry at himself for continuing to say such strange things, and he shook his head rapidly. "Um--i-ignore me..."

[Baconwizard]

Zane looked over at Cody, his eyes widening slightly in confusion. His hand tightened on Cody's, and he shook his head. "I like holding your hand," he said, offering a small smile. "If you don't want to, that's fine with me, but I don't mind holding hands with you." Zane squeezed Cody's hand once, encouraging. "Even if you were a beefy guy, I'd still want to hold the hand of the person I like."

[zapdragon555]

Cody blinked in surprise at Zane's words, and before he could stop it an incredulous smile split his face, a chuckle spilling out of him. "Aww..." he mumbled, looking sheepish as he glanced down at the ground, his hand tightening on Zane's. "I-I just... I dunno. High school was a little rough, I guess," Cody said cryptically, a nervous sort of laugh escaping him before he cleared his throat quickly, covering up whatever strange thing flickered behind his eyes with a smile. "I don't mind as long as you don't mind. I-it's... it's really nice, actually. It feels... r-really nice," he murmured, cheeks coloring. "Holding hands and walking down the sidewalk like it's nothing..."

[Baconwizard]

A small smile softened Zane's face at Cody's words, and he nodded slowly. Highschool, huh. Zane hadn't realized that he was bisexual at the time, so he dated a few girls, inwardly wondered why he wanted to be more affectionate with some guys, and passed through his school with the normal amount of stress and drama. He supposed that he had had it comparatively easy. "It is nice," he replied, swinging their joined arms back and forth as they walked through the streets. "Holding hands is one of the nicest things to do. And so is hugging." Zane grinned, then paused as they turned right, headed towards a small park.

[zapdragon555]

Cody glanced up at Zane, then down at their hands, a warm smile lighting up his features as he let Zane swing his hand back and forth. "Big truth to those words," Cody chuckled, squeezing Zane's hand, drawing confidence from it. He looked up as they entered a small park, and Cody smiled as a small pack of kids ran by with frisbee in hand, then looked up at Zane, shifting his backpack a little with his free hand. "I think I've walked past here before... b-but I didn't know it had trails connected to it." It made sense; if Cody looked around, he could see the area across the park was mainly full of trees.

[Baconwizard]

"They're pretty small. Perfect for a little stroll like this." Zane said with a chuckle, leading Cody along the trail. "There should be a little space around here. In the summer, though, when the weather is good, we should definitely go outside of the city. Go to a lake, or something. It's been forever since I last swam in a lake." Zane looked up at the cloudy sky, smiling slightly, then he looked back at Cody with a sheepish look. "Sorry, I must sound like a real outdoors nut."

[zapdragon555]

Cody held tight to Zane's hand, carefully stepping over occasional roots as their path went into the trees. "Oooh," he breathed, eyes widening and smile growing. "I-it's been years for sure, for me. I-I think I last did that when I was, like, in middle school or something," he laughed, glancing up as Zane did. Oh, it did look a little rainy... "No, no, i-it all sounds really exciting. It's making me wish I spent more time outside," Cody chuckled, stepping a little closer to Zane, his arm brushing against the other boy's. "This trail is pretty," he observed, eyes darting from tree to tree. Regardless of their bareness, given how close it was to winter, they still looked quite pretty in Cody's opinion.

[Baconwizard]

"The outdoors club at school has a ton of stuff to do. Like skiing and kayaking stuff. I try to go when I have the time and the money." Zane smiled, then looked at Cody, then followed Cody's gaze around the woods around them. "It really is, isn't it..." Zane paused, then moved off the trail, bringing Cody along, and he plopped down in a little clearing. He patted the grass next to him, beaming up at Cody. "Here's good, right?"

[zapdragon555]

Cody blinked at that, a small, rueful smile on his face. College sounded fun, he thought, then gasped a little as Zane suddenly moved off the trail. He followed along, then stared at Zane as he sat down, a grin crossing over his face. "Y-yep, this looks good," he chuckled, sitting down beside Zane in the grass, shuffling around on it until he got comfortable. "Ahh, let's see..." he murmured, taking off his backpack and unpacking the sandwiches and drinks, handing one thermos to Zane and taking out the other for himself before opening the sandwich container and dividing them up. "Well, I-I thought it was gonna rain, but we might beat it," he chuckled, unwrapping his sandwich.

[Baconwizard]

"If it does, we have ponchos," Zane said, taking his thermos and sandwich. He peered up at the gray sky between the tops of the trees, a contemplative look on his face. A wind ruffled his red hair, and he made a noncommittal noise. "We still might be able to beat it. It's not the end of the world if we don't." Zane took a bite of his sandwich and began to chew, looking at the yellowed grass by his foot. Swallowing, Zane looked over at Cody, a smile on his face. "Hey, this is random, but what's your favorite color?"

[zapdragon555]

"Mhm. It won't be much different than that time at the nursery when we got soaked," Cody chuckled, taking a bite of his sandwich and smiling at the taste, sighing in contentment. He blinked when Zane spoke, looking a little bemused. "Oh... huh," he mused, tilting his head back in thought. "I've... never thought much about it. Like, a-all my clothes are blue, so I guess I might say blue, but..." Cody's eyes flicked to Zane, staring at him for a moment as he trailed off in quiet thought. Finally, he smiled and shrugged. "I-I've always kind of liked orange. Like, the color you see in a sunset. I've always wanted to see a real one without the high rises getting in the way," he chuckled, shrugging sheepishly and biting into his sandwich again, feeling a bit silly.

[Baconwizard]

"True," Zane said with a chuckle, thinking back to yesterday's hose fight incident. He bit down on his sandwich as well, chewing thoughtfully. When Cody began to answer his question, he turned his attention back to the blonde boy, brown eyes thoughtful. His first guess at Cody's favorite color was definitely blue. The soft pastel color, like a winter day, just seemed suited to Cody's light hair and pale complexion. But orange... Zane smiled at that, one hand going to loop through a curl near the side of his face. "Orange can be a bunch of different colors. Like, the really bright oranges are so gross-looking, but the softer ones are really nice. They remind me of autumn. Or the sunset, if you mix in a bunch of purples and yellows." Zane leaned back on his elbow, munching on what remained of his sandwich. "I imagine if you go out west a bit, you'd be able to catch a really pretty sunset."

[zapdragon555]

Cody smiled at that, glad Zane understood his meaning, and nodded slowly, gazing up at the treetops. "They had some pretty nice sunsets in Wisconsin," he mused softly, eyes lidding slightly in thought before nibbling on his sandwich again with a small sigh. "I'd rather not go back there, though," he added then blinked, realizing what he'd said. Unlike the other times, however, he didn't seem to freak out much, though he looked a bit uncomfortable. "But going out west on some kind of big trip... I'd love to see the country," he said with a smile, drawing up a knee to lean his chin on it.

[Baconwizard]

Zane studied Cody's profile as he spoke, watching the way the boy's eyes lit or dimmed as he spoke, and the way Cody's ponytail curved over his back. Cody was a really pretty person. Of course, Zane had thought that before, but the thought seemed to strike him at the strangest moments. Zane chuckled, lying out on his back in the winter grass. "Well, I mean, there's not much west of here except the national park and the Pacific ocean. But a road trip back east would be super fun. Just pile into the car and drive until you hit the ocean. Sounds nice. A big tour of America. It's surprising how much neat stuff there is in this country, that no one even knows about or has heard of. Everyone just wants to go to Disney World."