#Cameron absolutely indulges a lot of Lightning's unintentional silliness. It's part of his charm.

[total-drama-brainrot]

father ophelia. i need ur multi paragraph analysis on how camning date would happen. who would ask who out

Camning is such a weird pair to consider as an actual couple instead of two mutually pining idiots because I can't in good faith say that either of them would ever admit to having feelings for the other.

Don't get me wrong, Cameron isn't the type to suppress or deny his feeings or anything - in fact he'd be ecstatic at the prospect of having a crush on someone, because it's yet another wordly experience he's been deprived of his whole life that he's living for the first time. And that's exactly the issue; Cameron has no idea how to go about expressing these things, save for whatever romance based literature/tv shows he was exposed to growing up and, knowing Cameron, he'd be more than aware that they doesn't exactly portray a realistic perspective on real-life relationships. So he's back to square one when it comes to knowledge on how to deal with his feelings.

Which would mean he'd be the type to go completely non-verbal in front of Lightning, or otherwise be a stuttering mess. A pathetic puddle of a boy who has no idea how to deal with these new, weird feelings save for whispering "oh no he's hot" to himself.

On the other hand, Lightning is extremely prideful. Extremely prideful. He'd be completely in denial about having a crush on Cameron of all people because he's the antithesis of everything Lightning holds in high regard; Cameron isn't athletic or strong, he's not outwardly headstrong or competitive (at first glance, though Cameron does have a spine hidden somewhere in that red hoodie) and Lightning wouldn't see Cameron as someone who could relate to him in any way. Keep in mind, Lightning's a bit of an egotist, so he'd be under the assumption that his ideal partner would be a reflection of himself.

And Lightning isn't very bright, despite his namesake, so he wouldn't realise that's exactly why he likes Cameron so much. He's impressed by Cameron's fountain of knowledge and keen intellect. He's astounded by how Cameron can use his wit and his determination to win challenges without having to brute forcing his way to victory. He thinks Cameron is adorable and experiences cuteness aggression every time they lock eyes. So on so forth.

So with Cameron's Cameronness and Lightning's staunch denial, there's only one way these two would ever get together.

Lightning accidentally confesses.

Be it through an insult gone wrong during the competition, or maybe a freudian slip in a conversation post-RotI, or even him just plain denying any feelings for Cameron unprompted and inadvertantly outing himself as a Cameron Liker through his defensiveness. Either way, Cameron hears this confirmation of returned feelings and all of the knowledge he's accrued from his mother's books/shows comes in swinging - he asks Lightning to have dinner with him. And surprisingly, Lightning accepts.

...Because it's free food, not because he likes the wimp. That's his excuse.

And the two hit it off. Cameron spends the whole first date sweating profusely but miraculously not putting his foot in his mouth. Though he does oftentimes get too technical and booksmart for Lightning to understand what he's saying, but Lightning nods along politely anyway because he finds the enthusiasm on Cameron's face endearing.

In turn, Lightning's initial jibing insults (which, subconciously, he's only really using to keep up appearences) peter off into genuine compliments as he realises that wow, he actually really enjoys spending time with Cameron, and Cameron is really smart but not condecending in the slightest when he asks for elaboration on things he doesn't understand, and Cameron's got a lot of interesting thoughts that he's never considered, and...

Lightning realises that he might be very, very gay for Cameron.

In turn, Cameron's almost vibrating with excitement because he's talking to Lightning, and Lightning is talking back, and there's this natural chemistry between them that even he in all of his inexperience can feel sparking in the air now that Lightning's walls of superiority have finally crumbled somewhat. He's on a date with the boy he likes and it's going really well.

(None of his research could've prepared him for the actual experience of a first date - and oddly enough, Cameron is thankful that he didn't have any preconceived expectations for the night.)

The night goes well, they eat food at some fancy restaurant that Cameron pays for with his winnings, and as they go to leave Lightning - because he's not one to be outshone in the competitive context of being a "good date haver" - gives Cameron a peck at the corner of his mouth. It's brief, a ghost of an action really, but it's enough to have Cameron visibly light up as he returns the favour.

-

At some point after they've been going on these dates for a while (Lightning more often than not taking Cameron to various sports games "for the experience", and Cameron indulging Lightning by taking him on hikes whilst he studies the wildlife they come across, ect ect) they breach the topic of being boyfriends in an awkward but sweet conversation that Lightning spends the next few months poking fun at Cameron for.