#s'mores siblings | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kazoosandfannypacks · 2 months

Text

summary: when an apollo camper falls for an aphrodite camper, heart-shaped cough drops and haikus written with glitter gel pens aren't too far behind. word count: 6815 words a/n: it started as a simple headcanon. apollo's kid falling for aphrodite's. i told a few friends on discord about it, and they ate the idea up so much, i knew i had to write something about them. this story is about two ocs, but you'll see a few familiar faces in here too, and if you're paying close enough attention to context clues, you can figure out where eva and kodi's story fits in within the pjo timeline. taglist: @poptart-cat-78 @fynn-arcana @babsbabbles @laughingphoenixleader {if you’d like to be added to my halfblood 5&1 taglist/pjo taglist, let me know!}

also on ao3!

five times it paid to know an apollo boy (and one time being an aphrodite girl paid off too)

~eva's first summer~

Eva wasn't surprised that, in a camp with archery, flying pegasi, and lava in the dish pit as well as on the climbing wall, she'd gotten herself hurt within her first week at Camp Half-Blood.

But, although she hadn't sat down and considered all the possible injuries available to her at Camp, if she had, getting a papercut while opening a chocolate bar for s'mores wouldn't've exactly made the list.

And yet, even in the dim lighting of the camp's bonfire, she could see very clearly the scratch on her thumb.

"That kind of injury takes some serious skill," someone said.

She couldn't see his face in the low lighting by the bonfire, but she saw him hold something out to her.

"Need a band-aid?"

"Thanks," Eva said. She took it from him and unwrapped it.

By the time the bandage was around her thumb, the stranger had disappeared into the crowd, and she shoved the wrapping into her pocket.

She'd almost forgotten that moment had happened by the time she got back to her cabin. But now that she looked at it in the light, she saw that the band-aid was a shade of hot pink— her favorite color, and the same color as the accessories she'd worn with her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that day.

~eva's first summer~

When Eva was a little girl, she always looked forward to Valentine's Day. It made more sense now, looking back on it after her demigod diagnosis, why her decorated shoebox mailbox was always filled to the brim with heart-shaped lollipops, tiny treasures, and cards with cartoon character puns on them. Of course Aphrodite's daughter would attract a lot of attention from her classmates.

Not long after she settled into camp, she realized Cabin 10 was one giant Valentine's shoebox. Eva was used to coming back to the cabin each evening and seeing her sisters' bunks surrounded by flowers and chocolates and her brothers' bunks cluttered with assorted candies and letters that smelled like perfume. As long as there were Aphrodite kids who treasured cheap attempts to buy their affection, there would be kids from the other cabins more than willing to oblige them.

But Eva didn't get gifts like that, at least, not as much as her siblings. She spent a lot of that first summer reminding herself that she was still the youngest in the cabin, and that her time to shine would come soon enough.

In the meantime, though, she'd just have to get used to all the flowers. She had just the luck of having a bunk next to Silena— kind-hearted, beautiful Silena, who could scarcely glance in a boy's direction without him falling for her. Eva soon found out that where there were boys falling for you, there were flowers, and where there were flowers, there were allergies, and she figured the best way to dispel the issue quietly was to stop by Cabin 7.

A normal camp would have a camp nurse, maybe a nurse's assistant on staff, and wouldn't be much more than a phone call away from the nearest hospital. Camp Half-Blood's medical treatments pretty much amounted to "tell someone at Cabin 7 what's wrong, and if they can't patch you up, well, there's not much a mortal doctor could do for you anyways."

~💘~

As Eva approached the cabin, she noticed there were several chains by the door, each one with a different label underneath.

"PULL FOR URGENT EMERGENCY"

"PULL FOR IMPALEMENT"

"PULL FOR PRANK-RELATED INJURY"

"PULL FOR WALK-IN CONSULTATION"

That last one sounded the most like what she needed, so she pulled that chain and heard a chime go off in the cabin.

"I'll be out in a second," a voice said, and a moment later the door opened to a blonde boy, not much older than Eva, whose eyes widened when he saw her.

"Oh my gosh, are you alright?" he asked, with so much concern on his face she might as well have been actively on fire.

"Yeah," Eva wrinkled her nose, "just a slight problem I was hoping someone could help me with."

"Oh, good," he said, "I, uh, what can I do for you?"

She hesitated a moment, not sure what would happen if word got out that Aphrodite's new daughter was allergic to flowers.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Anything for you," he said, then coughed so hard Eva thought that he might need a doctor, "I mean, uh, of course."

"I found out I'm allergic to flowers," Eva whispered, "and Drew said that if I wake her up with my coughing one more time, I'm gonna be the one who needs beauty sleep."

"That's perfect!" the boy said.

"My allergy is perfect?" Eva asked.

"No, no," he said, "I have just the thing. Don't go away!"

He scurried back into the cabin, and about a minute later he came back with a bottle and a cloth pouch.

"These will help the allergy," he handed her the bottle, "take one each night before bed, and you should be cough free. But, just in case!'

He handed her the pouch as well and she opened it to see several heart shaped lollipops.

"What are these?"

"Newest breakthrough in Cabin 7 medicine," he said, "making your own blend of cough drops is almost a rite of passage, but I've turned the science into an art form."

Eva held one up and sniffed it. "You made cough drops into lollipops?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

They stood in silence for an awkward moment.

"I gotta go," Eva said, "but thanks for everything."

"You're welcome," he said.

She walked away, slightly confused and highly appreciative, though the whole of the moment was soon lost in the hubbub of demigod adventures.

~eva's second summer~

The biggest problem with being a child of Aphrodite is that your skill set usually boils down to "distraction." Another unfortunate truth is that sometimes "distraction" boils down to "do the hard part and run through the woods so that someone else can get the glory for your actions."

Unfortunately for Eva, this was one of those times.

All of Red Team had been hopeful for their own chance to shine when Clarisse announced that she wouldn't be going directly for the flag this time. She claimed it was a solid strategy for her and a couple of her siblings to divert the enemy's attention, so she volunteered to take patrol up along the lake instead of in the woods as usual.

However, this shuffling of the troops meant that Eva and a couple of the other Aphrodite campers were on a new mission: distract the enemy while the remaining Ares campers rush the Blue Team's flag.

Things had gone pretty much according to plan there. A few of the Apollo kids had been guarding the flag, and more than half of them had abandoned their post to chase down the Red Team's distraction.

But although the chase was part of the plan, Eva hoped the boy running after her would just give up already. She wasn't sure how much more of it she could take right now.

As the forest passed by around her, she glanced over her shoulder— just long enough to see her pursuer's determined smile— then looked back ahead of her, in just enough time to notice the tree root in front of her, but without enough time to avoid tripping on it.

She landed with her hands in front of her, the wind knocked out of her for a moment.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry," his voice behind her said, "are you okay?"

Eva pushed herself up a little and turned her head to see the boy who'd been chasing her, now with a concerned look on his face.

She wanted to make a clever remark and then run past her enemy and make her escape, but as she tried to push herself up further, she realized the pain in her knees and chin, and especially her hands.

"I'm alright," she huffed, sitting up and looking at her hands, both of them brushburned and dirt stained, and one having a decent sized cut.

"No you're not," he said, and knelt down in front of her, "you're bleeding in five different places."

"I'll be fine," Eva said.

"At least let me take a look at it. Apollo's my father, I…."

"I know," Eva said, "and you'll take me back to Blue Team's jail as a wounded prisoner."

A drop of blood fell onto Eva's shirt, and it took her a few seconds to realize where it had come from. She touched a sticky spot on her chin, then looked at her fingers to see a streak of red and brown.

"Capture the Flag isn't my concern right now," he said, taking off his helmet to reveal a familiar face, with a mop of fair blonde hair that would've looked even lighter if it wasn't so sweaty, paired the warmest brown eyes Eva'd ever seen— the boy who'd given her the cough drops and allergy pills last summer, "let me patch you up, and I'll give you a fifteen second head start."

"I guess that sounds like a deal," Eva said. She was supposed to be the distraction anyways, and this camper wouldn't be after her teammates if he was occupied with her instead.

"Good," he said. He'd already taken off his chestplate as well, and he pulled a knife out of a holster at his side.

"What are you doing?" Eva asked.

"Emergency bandages," he said, cutting a strip off the bottom of his shirt, "maybe this'll convince Annabeth to let us bring more first aid supplies next time. She says they only slow us down," he cut another chunk of the fabric off his shirt, "but this would go a lot faster if I didn't have to tear apart my wardrobe to do it."

"You don't have to."

"Nonsense," he said, pouring some water from his canteen onto one of the cloths, "you wouldn't've tripped if I hadn't been chasing you. May I?"

She nodded as he took her right hand and dabbed her open palm with the wet cloth. She tried not to wince too much.

"Sorry," he said, "I wish I had something better to clean this out with."

"No need to apologize."

Once her hand was clean, he wrapped a strip of the fabric around it, and tied it tightly.

"Here," he said, handing her the wet cloth, "wipe up that cut on your chin, then apply pressure to stop the bleeding."

She followed his instructions as best she could as he cut off another chunk of his shirt and wet it.

"You know a lot about first aid," Eva said.

He smiled a little as he took her other hand and dappled off the dirt.

"I'm not the best of my siblings," he said, "but I do what I can."

Eva knew all about struggling to be the best, having consigned herself at this point to the fact that she wouldn't even be third best among her siblings for a very long time.

"I'm Eva," she said.

"Evangeline Blythe," he nodded, "I know. This is your second summer, right?"

"That's what it says on my necklace," Eva said, glancing at the single clay bead on the string around her neck.

He held up his own necklace with two beads on it. "Then I guess this is my third. I'm Kodi Archer."

"I remember you from last summer," Eva said.

"You do?" Kodi asked.

"You gave me something for my allergies," she said.

"Glad to make an impression," he said, cleaning the spots of dirt off her scratched-but-not-actively-bleeding knees, "that's also not the first time we met."

"It's not?"

"I'm just sorry I didn't have any hot pink bandages on me this time."

"That was you?" Eva asked, recalling the bonfire and the perfectly accessorized band-aid.

"Yeah," he said.

Kodi looked back up at her, a smile on his face as their eyes met for half a moment. His eyes then shifted, however, to the cloth she had pressed against her chin.

"Let's see what I can do for that chin," he said, his hand brushing against hers as he took the cloth from her.

She hardly noticed the sting of the wet cloth on her cut as he tilted her chin up with his other hand, giving her a better view of his face in the golden lighting of the sun, warming his eyes to an even richer hue. He hadn't been this nice to look at last summer, but he'd apparently grown into his nose, and his height, and some confidence had no-doubt come with it, all of which paid off nicely together.

Her gaze was drawn away when she heard a sound in the distance: the blaring of a horn, signifying the end of the game. Kodi stopped a moment as well, looking up as though trying to see where it came from.

"That's a relief," he smiled.

"Who do you think won?"

"Doesn't matter," Kodi said, "I'm just glad I didn't have to explain to Luke and Annabeth why I was stopping to help you and would've given you a head start instead of taking you prisoner."

"At least you don't have to report to Clarisse," Eva offered.

"I don't envy you on that one," Kodi said, dabbing away the last of the blood on her chin, "now, keep applying pressure, and stop by Cabin 7 to get it looked at once you get back by the main camp, okay?"

Eva rolled her eyes.

"At least grab yourself a couple real bandages?"

"Do they have hot pink ones?" Eva smiled

"If you tell them I sent you," Kodi smiled back, resheathing his knife. "Now, do you think you can walk with your knees all scraped up?"

"I think so," she said, trying to stand up off the ground.

"Here," Kodi jumped to his feet, then held a hand out to Eva, who gladly took it and let him help stand her up.

"Thanks for everything." Eva said, taking a couple steps with minimum difficulty.

"All in a day's work," he said.

In the distance, they heard quite a ruckus.

"What's that?" Eva asked.

"Sounds like some commotion over at canoe lake," Kodi said, "probably nothing important."

~eva's third summer~

Eva had no idea where the haikus were coming from.

It started one day at dinner, when she got up to make her offering to Aphrodite, and came back to find a three-by-five index card on her napkin. One one side was her name— Evangeline, not Eva— written with a smudged pink glitter gel pen. The other side had three lines written on it.

She stayed at the table after most of the other campers had left, when it was a little quieter and easier to focus on the words scribbled on the notecard:

"if the sun should rise

and see the way your face shines

it would be ashamed"

That was it. The only other thing on the card was a heart, near her name, a classic Valentine's heart with an arrow through it, and a scribbled line near the top corner that looked like something you'd do to get the ink in a pen flowing.

By now, Eva was used to this kind of stuff. Toward the end of last summer, a couple of the Demeter boys started competing to win her affection, and she found her bunk surrounded each day with fresh flowers (which, of course, led to frequent trips to Cabin 7 for allergy medication and a weekly supply of heart-shaped "cough-pops," as Kodi had branded them.) It wasn't uncommon for the Hermes kids to slip candy bars into her pockets and backpacks for her to find later. One of the Ares kids had dedicated an arm-wrestling victory to her, and one of Mr. D's boys had just about run out of elaborate pickup lines to use on her.

Being well-acquainted with this kind of stuff by now, Eva slipped the poem into her backpack and went on with her evening.

~💘~

That night before bed, she pulled the notecard out of her backpack, only to discover a second notecard with it. Her name was written on this one as well, with the same arrow-struck heart next to it, but there were two marks in the corner, and the glittering ink on the other side read:

"your smile is like the

dripping of nectar, like a

lump of ambrosia"

It was a pity that whoever wrote the poem wasn't there to see her read it, because they would've seen another one of her smiles as she read it.

She stacked both notes together neatly, and was about to set them on her nightstand, when she realized there was a third notecard already there. The unlined side, once again, bore her name and and the same kind of heart, this time with three marks in the corner, and a haiku that read:

"your laugh is a song

that i've always known without

knowing all the words"

Eva couldn't help but laugh just a little as she read it, then stacked all three notes on her nightstand and went to bed.

~💘~

As they tidied up the cabin the next morning, Eva smiled with a newfound confidence. There's always something special about having an admirer, but even more deliciously romantic about a secret admirer, one who writes you poems and tells you the sun doesn't hold a candle to you.

"Is there an Evangeline in this cabin?"Aurora, one of the first-year campers, asked.

"Yeah, that would be me." Eva sighed. Her dad had always said he gave her the name because it was a beautiful name, and she was his beautiful daughter, but she'd never been a fan of the impromptu Disney karaoke sessions she'd see whenever she introduced herself by it. "Eva" suited her much better.

"Someone left you a note," Aurora said, holding up a three-by-five card.

"Where?" Eva asked, walking over to her.

"Tacked onto the door," the girl said, "I found it while I was sweeping."

Before Eva could get to her, one of their older brothers, Mitchell, grabbed the note and read it out loud.

"'You are a poem, and I am just the reader,'' he read, slowly, his tone slightly mocking, "'I've mem'rized your words.' What a piece of…."

"None of your business," Eva snapped, taking the note from him and looking it over carefully, noting the lines in the corner and familiar handwriting. A favorite pastime of the Aphrodite kids was making fun of the horrible attempts at poetry the other kids would write for them, but for some reason the mockery of this one seemed out of place.

"Relax, Eva," Drew said, "tell me, who's this new beau, Evangeline?"

"I don't know," Eva said, calming down a little in spite of her anger.

"Someone from Apollo's cabin," another guy said, looking over Eva's shoulder.

"You don't know that," Eva shrugged. Several Apollo campers came to mind.

"Well, it is a poorly written haiku," Mitchell said.

"And there's that arrow through the heart," he said.

"Who do you think it is?" Aurora asked.

"I don't know," Eva shrugged, "but it's not the first one, either."

Now that the whole cabin was invested in this story, she showed her siblings the other three notecards and told them where she found them, as they laughed at the words comparing her to ambrosia and singalongs.

"Those are some hard-to-get-to places to sneak a poem into undetected," Mitchell said.

"Could be a Hermes kid, then," Lacy suggested.

That didn't seem right, but Eva couldn't say why.

"Could be anyone," Silena said, "but for now, let's finish getting the cleaned up and head to breakfast. Just because those Posiedon boys are gonna lose at cabin clean up again doesn't mean we shouldn't try to win."

And with that, the campers got back to work.

~💘~

Within a week, Eva had found five more notes in various pockets of her backpack, one at her seat at almost every meal, one on her nightstand each night and her cabin door in the morning, and three in her shorts' pockets (and how they got there without her noticing, she didn't want to know.) Each of them came with her name and a heart pierced with an arrow, a series of strikes up in the corner (which she soon realized were tally marks, the highest one up to twenty-nine so far, though a few in between were missing,) and a haiku, likening her to arrows, celestial bodies, anything beautiful you could think of (except, strangely enough, flowers,) and an assortment of diseases and ailments. Any time she found one, her nearby brothers and sisters would gather around and giggle and gawk over the attempts at romance.

Eva, however, treasured every one of these notes in her heart. With each note she found, her secret admirer became even more of a point of interest. At the end of that week, her curiosity got the better of her, and she hatched a plan involving a stakeout out front of her cabin. Whoever was hiding these notes came every night to leave them on the door, and tonight she'd catch the cupid culprit in the act.

~💘~

It was nearly midnight, and her tiredness had almost caught up with her as she crouched behind a flowering shrub outside the cabin.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of someone coming, and perked up to watch. This part required the most secrecy. If they heard her, no doubt they'd come up with some alibi that didn't involve haikus and thumb tacks. She'd have to catch them in the act. Quietly as she could, she watched as a figure approached the door, stuck something to it, and started to walk away.

Quickly, Eva shone her flashlight at the note, just to check that it was indeed another three-by-five with her glittering name on it, then turned the light on the intruder.

"Going somewhere?" she asked.

He looked like he was gonna jump out of his skin, but instead turned back around to face her. She recognized him as one of the Stoll brothers from Hermes' cabin, but even in better lighting she wouldn't be able to tell you which one.

"You've been writing me haikus?" Eva asked.

"Oh no," he said, his hands over his head in a way that made Eva feel like she was some kind of cop. "I'm just the delivery boy."

"You're running errands?" Eva asked.

"Half-Blood's gotta make a living," he said, "and I'm just using the skills dad gave me."

Hermes was a master of sneakery and delivery, and there was a reason the Stoll brothers were the heads of his children. Every demigod knew that if you want something done sneaky and you want it done right, you turn to the Stoll brothers.

Every camper also knew that they could both be easily bought.

"Who put you up to this?" Eva asked.

"My 'client' paid a high price for my silence," he said.

"Oh?" Eva asked, "and how high a price would I have to pay for the opposite?"

"I'm not a sellout," Stoll said, "even among thieves and pickpockets, there is honor."

"Such a shame," Eva smiled, smugly, knowing she had a bargaining chip worth much more than money, "because that means I won't have to tell my lovely sisters that you were part of this 'secret admirer' plot."

"Why should that matter?" he asked.

"They haven't been able to stop talking about it," Eva said, "someone being so clever and sneaky in the name of love. They always go crazy for guys in touch with their romantic side."

"Really?"

"Oh, sure," Eva said, "If they found out you were involved with this, oh, they'd be all over you."

"They would?" he asked, his voice weak.

"And of course," Eva said, knowing exactly how to seal the deal, "the best thing about attracting my sisters' attention? Being a child of Aphrodite pretty much guarantees more candy than you'll ever be able to eat, more than enough to share with such a daring romantic soul as your own.."

"Any peanut m&ms?" he asked.

Though they were a favorite slip-into-your-pocket candy from the Hermes kids, the Aphrodite kids seldom appreciated them. However, there was no one at camp who loved them more than Connor Stoll, who'd burn a pack of them for his father on the regular, and that gave Eva a pretty good hunch who she was talking to.

"Too many to eat," she said, "it's a shame, really."

"What's a shame?"

"Oh, you know," Eva said, "the fact that you'd rather keep your silence than attract the interests of a dozen beautiful girls with a lifetime supply of chocolate."

Eva turned, with a smile on her face, knowing she'd made an offer he couldn't refuse.

"Do you promise you won't tell him I told you?" Stoll asked.

She turned back to him.

"The only person who'll know about this conversation is my siblings, who will get to hear about how wonderfully romantic the great Connor Stoll is."

He smiled, so Eva assumed she had guessed properly as to which brother it was.

"I don't know," he said, with a wink, "Kodi paid a good price to tell me not to tell you."

"Kodi?" Eva asked, "Kodi Archer?"

Aside from her trips to Cabin 7 for allergy pills, cough-pops, and brightly colored band-aids, she hadn't spoken much to Kodi since the Capture the Flag game at the start of last summer. She'd attracted the attention of a lot of guys last year, and even more this year, so a lot of her attention-seekers fell through the cracks. She couldn't keep up with every boy who went out of his way to do something for her.

"I don't want any trouble between myself and the guy who makes my medicine," Connor winked again, and nodded in confirmation, "but don't tell anyone besides your sisters."

"You got it," Eva smiled, "now, you should get outta here before the harpies catch you."

"That's not a concern when you know what you're doing," he laughed. He pulled something out of his pocket and threw it into the distance, and Eva watched something in the sky chase it into a far-off tree.

"How did you…" Eva asked, but when she looked back at him, he was already gone.

Since she didn't have any magical harpy-escape-plan, she decided it best to head back to the cabin.

But she stopped a moment at the cabin door, running her fingers along the index card. Had she been paying attention, she could've figured it out without Connor's help. No one at camp called her "Evangeline," except Kodi. He'd written it in what he clearly knew was her favorite shade of pink. The arrow piercing the hearts doodled on the notes represented Cabin 7, and also the boy whose last name just-so-happened to be Archer. There were metaphors to sunshine and medicine and archery all throughout the poorly written poems, and while any other poet would've likened her to beautiful, fragrant flowers, only Kodi knew of her allergy. Not everyone on campus would trust the word of one of the Stoll brothers, but the facts lined up in this one.

She sighed, and decided not to bring the notecard back to the cabin with her. It would be better to leave it there for her siblings to gawk over in the morning.

~💘~

The next morning, Eva regaled the tale of her stakeout to her cabin mates, a captive audience, especially for her version of the story, in which Connor had taken the task of leaving the haikus solely "for the sake of romance" and "keeping the delicate flower of young love alive" and a few other poetic turns of phrase that made him into the kind of guy that at least a few of her siblings would fall for by the end of the story.

The other big change in this version of the story was that when she recounted it, Connor was not so easily bought, and claimed to "honor the romanticism of mystery," meaning he disappeared into the night before telling Eva who her secret admirer was.

In Cabin 10, names were thrown around often. Eva could list off the top of her head at least a dozen demigods who'd tried gestures like this to win her siblings' affections. Gossip was more juicy when you had names and faces to go with the story.

But for some reason, Eva didn't want this to be juicy gossip, though, quite frankly, she couldn't quite put her finger on why. So, she kept Kodi's name out of the discussion, suggesting to her clamoring sisters that maybe the best way to get that information was from Connor, either through sweet-talk, or just sweets in general

~eva's third summer~

It was Eva's turn to help Silena in the stables. It always fascinated Eva, how comfortably Silena got on with the pegasi, and vice versa, especially because Eva was terrified of them. It wasn't just pegasi; she was afraid of horses too, and though she'd never seen a unicorn, she was sure she wouldn't want to. No matter how much Silena would tell her it was safe, that the pegasi wouldn't hurt her— and even having a satyr and that Percy kid translate the pegasi's whinnies for her multiple times— this was something Eva couldn't shake.

And yet, that afternoon she found herself in the stables with Silena.

"I wish I could talk with them," Silena said, brushing a winged palomino.

"Why?" Eva asked, polishing a saddle as far from the pegasi as she could be.

"I think they know more than they let on," she smiled, "kind of like you."

"What?" Eva's nose wrinkled.

"I heard you talking to Connor outside the cabin last night," Silena said.

"You what?"

"I knew you were gonna stay up and get to the bottom of the secret poet mystery," Silena said, "so, I waited up to listen in. Kodi likes you?"

"Not so loud!" Eva said.

"The only ones around to hear us are the pegasi," Silena said.

"And they know a lot more than they let on." Eva rolled her eyes, then looked back down at the saddle in front of her and buffed up a stain.

If Silena had anything further to say, she didn't say it. Instead, she rubbed her wrist, anxiously, then bit her lip, with a far-off look in her eyes.

"I'll be right back," she said, before Eva had time to question her or protest at being left alone with the flying death horses.

"May as well get this over with," Eva muttered. She picked up the horse-brush Silena had been using and decided to try to face her fears head-on.

Everyone had always told her these kinds of creatures were more afraid of her than she was of them, which seemed stupid because they weighed at least ten times more than her and had a mouth bigger than her entire face.

But whoever had said it was apparently right, because the pegasus she approached seemed startled by her mere presence, and the last thing Eva remembered before hitting the floor was the pegasi standing in front of her, reared up to a terrifying height on his hind legs.

~💘~

Eva knew stable floors to be notoriously hard and dirty, and yet when she came to, she felt like she was lying on fresh bedsheets on a mattress. Instead of being surrounded by hay and the smell of a stable, she saw tulle around her, and smelled something delightfully clean.

"I know this room," she thought, "I'm in the Big House."

Usually, campers only stayed in the Big House for medical emergencies. As her consciousness regained itself, a pain in her head did too, and she realized why she qualified.

Trying not to move her head too much, she looked around the room. Out the window was total darkness, like the middle of the night. Flowers were gathered, not near her bed, but on the other side of the room. The only light in the room was a lamp, which sat next to a chair that was next to the bed, and in that chair sat someone Eva knew well: a dimly lit Kodi.

He didn't look like he'd intended to fall asleep. Instead of a blanket, his lap was covered in notecards, and he hadn't returned the cap on the pink gel pen in his hand.

She turned over, just a little, and felt something out of place on her pillow: a notecard, her name written in familiar handwriting, with an arrow-pierced heart, and more tally marks than she wanted to count. The other side contained three simple lines.

"evangeline, please,

you've got to wake up because

i kind of love you."

The rest of the kids in Cabin 10 would've laughed their heads off at the words "kind of," but she was focused on the word after them: love. It was one thing to say you like someone, or have a crush on someone, or you think someone's cute. But to say you love someone, even just "kind of?" In the last three summers at Camp Half-Blood, and all those years of grade-school Valentine's and getting hounded for her phone number, not one of those guys had ever said they love her. And now, Kodi had.

But Kodi hadn't just said that he loved her, he'd shown it. Maybe the hot pink bandages weren't a coincidence. Maybe the heart-shaped cough pops were made with her in mind. Maybe there was a reason he'd helped his Capture the Flag enemy. Maybe he hadn't left her side since he heard about her pegasus incident, and wanted her to see a friendly face when she came to.

Even if none of that was true, there was no denying he'd gone out of his way to pour his heart out for her. Given the lengths he went to to get his poems to her and the price he paid for Connor's silence, it was clear that he wasn't doing this to get something in return. He just wanted her to know that she was special, and she was loved. That was all he'd been telling her from the beginning, wasn't it?

~kodi's fourth summer~

From the first time he met Evangeline Blythe, Kodi had known one thing: she was special, and she deserved to be loved like it.

Of course, his friends and siblings tried to dissuade him. Demigods and mortals alike throughout history had grown a sudden belief in "love at first sight" after meeting Aphrodite kids, and it never worked out as planned.

Kodi, however, was great at working out plans. He saw the way she accessorized each day, and sent for some colored bandages to meet that need. Every time he saw her felt like Valentine's Day, so when her coughing fits started, it'd only made sense to make heart shaped "cough-pops" to capture that essence. And when he realized that helping her with her injuries in capture the flag wasn't enough to compete with all the other boys who sought her attention, he started his most ambitious project yet, which took a long while (and several pink gel pens) to execute, but the payoff was well worth it.

He was a worried mess when Silena called him to the stables, and even more of a wreck when he saw Evangaline's lifeless form, and the blood dripping from her forehead. He was thankful he always kept a bit of ambrosia on hand. Had his shirt been able to voice an opinion it would've been ungrateful, though, that Kodi had thought ahead to keep hot pink bandages and a knife on hand, but didn't keep any cloths on hand. A chunk of his shirt was cut off without a second thought as he wiped the blood off her forehead and prayed a million prayers to his father.

He'd gotten her to a more stable condition— no pun intended— though still unconscious, and brought her back to the Big House as safely as he could on the back of a pegasus.

Kodi had insisted on staying by her bedside until she woke up, and Chiron said that would be fine, as long as they weren't alone together. Silena volunteered to stay with them, feeling excessive guilt over not being in the stable to stop the problem before it happened.

Around midnight, after an unexpected heart-to-heart with Silena about his feelings for Evangeline, he'd told her to get some sleep, and that he'd wake her up when Evangeline did.

In the meantime, Kodi had plenty of time to write some more haikus, and had just slipped the best of them on her pillow when his exhaustion from the day's events finally kicked in.

~💘~

Kodi woke with a start when he felt something touching him, and looked down to see a hand on top of his. The hand was slender, nails well-manicured in a shade of pink that perfectly complemented the bracelets around the wrist.

His eyes followed the arm to Evangeline's face, her eyes open and her lips smiling at him as she lay on the bed next to his seat.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," she whispered, despite the fact that the sun hadn't even risen yet.

"You're awake," he whispered back in surprise, "and you're… holding my hand?"

He wasn't sure how this had happened, but he tried to move his hand away from hers, just in case, but instead her hand chased after his, and caught it.

"I am," she smiled.

"Why?" he asked, and when she looked disappointed, he followed up, "not that I'm upset, just a little confused. Did I miss something? Maybe you're delirious? I should wake Silena, or maybe get Will…."

"Not yet," Evangeline said, "I'm thinking clearly. I'm actually thinking a lot more clearly about a lot of things than I have been in a long time."

"What kind of things?"

"I never asked to be Aphrodite's kid," she said, "we don't get to come up with strategies or fight epic battles or tend to the wounded with great expertise," and she smiled and squeezed his hand, "but we do have it lucky."

"How?" Kodi asked.

"When your mom is the goddess of love," she smiled, that pure smile that somehow had a way of healing his soul every time he saw it, "the most confusing thing anyone can ever go through suddenly makes a lot more sense."

"What's that?"

"This," Evangeline said, holding up the note he'd left on her pillow, "'I kind of love you' too," she said.

"You do?" He asked, and he hoped she liked his smiles as much as he liked hers, because there was no stopping the one that now spread across his face. All that planning and working at getting her attention had actually worked.

Instead of responding, she squeezed his hand three times, and he'd listened to the modern poets enough to know it meant "I love you."

He responded the same way, but after the third squeeze, he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, the world stopping a moment as he looked up and saw the blush creeping along her cheeks, that perfect shade of pink she'd taught him to see everywhere.

"You said you needed to wake Silena?" Evangeline asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"Can it wait ten seconds?"

"Why ten seconds?" Kodi asked.

"Because," Evangeline said, leaning closer toward him off the edge of the bed, "that gives me just enough time to do this."

Then, she kissed him, and if it had lasted ten seconds or ten hours, he wouldn't've known the difference, and he wouldn't've cared. It still would've been overwhelming. He still would've thought it ended too soon. It still would've taken him a few hazy minutes to recover. Even after passing out in a stable and spending a day in a hospital room, her lips still tasted like chocolate and strawberries, and they pressed against his as gently as a feather, pulling away just as softly.

"Wow," he whispered, between deep breaths, "I think I kind of love you more than I thought I did."

She giggled a little, and said "me too," and it was the capstone of the greatest moment of his entire life.

The sun was just beginning to rise out the infirmary window, and as perfect as it would be to say they held hands and watched the sunrise together while Apollo painted the skies in glorious hues, no one could honestly say that's what happened that morning— because Kodi was much more interested in watching Evangeline than in anything the sunrise had to offer.

#percy jackon and the olympians #kazzy's ocs #evangeline blythe #kodi archer #5 and 1 #kazzy writes #fanfiction #silena beauregard #drew tanaka #percy jackson book spoilers #kazzy borrows uncle rick's sweater #kazzy writes fanfic #camp half blood #tw blood #connor stoll

15 notes · View notes

twoidiotwriters1 · 6 months

Text

Daughter of Olympus (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: I'm obsessed with Leara's flirty banter, it's the best -Danny Words: 2,537 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter / Next Chapter Listen to: 'Everything Has Changed' -by Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran

XXXVI: Kinda Want to Kiss Him, Kinda Want to Push Him Into Traffic

Leo's team lost, so he isn't in the ideal mood to have a serious talk, but Ara goes through with it anyway. While everyone's distracted singing and eating s'mores, she starts the awkward conversation.

"I wasn't hiding things intentionally," she speaks in a whisper, even though the kids around them are loud.

"So why does it feel like you are?" Leo's got a frown on his face that she hates to see.

She clasps her hands together and places them against her lips. "So, basically, I'm dumb."

"You could at least try a compelling excuse."

"I thought you wouldn't care!"

"I don't want you to go," he stares at the campfire, shoulders falling a little, "I know your parents asked you to—"

"They're not forcing me. I mean, they decided without telling me first, but if I were to push back, they wouldn't stop me."

"So you're saying... you want to leave?" Leo looks at her. "Is it your prophecy?"

Ara thinks of the vision she saw of Janus, and a chill runs down her spine. The place is not that dark, but they're still close enough to get away with a few things. Ara reaches for Leo's hand and holds it firmly.

"Rachel has recited it twice by now, it's getting serious..." Ara makes a face. "That's not what I wanted to talk about, though."

"Alright... so what is it?"

"Last year, Percy was hiding from more than just a prophecy, and I understand him better now," she sighs. "I watched him tiptoe over his feelings for years until he couldn't anymore, and it only made things harder. We're alike that way."

Leo stares at her with a frown. "Your mother is the goddess of love, Ara."

"And that's all the more reason to be afraid of her!" She exclaims. "And don't even get me started on Eros! There is a reason why my siblings play matchmaker with others and not themselves—"

"But aren't you supposed to... well, love it?"

"It doesn't mean I understand it. My sister Silena advocated for romantic love, defended it, and made use of it. Others, like Piper and I, focus on prosaic beauty and platonic love. Kids like Drew focus on the physicality and idolization of it. Love has many faces, and I never look where to look."

Ara focuses on the kids around the campfire, it's during this time that she gets to see everyone's soul light. She knows what they love, and to have that leverage over so many people can be overwhelming.

"I can't tell if I'm leaving because it's going to make me a better leader, or if I'm going away because I don't want to like you more than I already do."

Leo doesn't want to laugh, but it comes out involuntarily. "You're afraid of liking me too much?"

He's talking in a normal voice now, so she speaks in an even quieter whisper. "You're the first boy that likes me back—"

"Shut up."

Ara looks around in alarm. "Why?"

"No, I mean, that can't be right," Leo scowls. "That can't be true."

"I told you—"

"I remember what you said, but you also mentioned having a first date—"

"Yeah, and you know how that went! Even my first kiss was a fiasco..."

"Please, tell me you're not talking about me," he pouts.

"What? No, it was with a friend—"

"You kissed Lily?" Leo raises his voice.

"No!" Ara pinches his arm. "Be quiet!"

"Nico?"

The girl turns around again, thinking Leo's spotted the younger demigod. "What? Where?"

"No, doofus!" He snorts. "You kissed Nico?"

Ara feels weirdly insulted. "Ew! No! He's like the annoying little cousin I acquired when I got adopted."

"He overexcites you a little too much for me to believe that."

Ara pinches the bridge of her nose. "Alright, let's circle back, okay? I want to make good use of this week, so I don't feel like I'm dipping out."

Leo keeps on teasing her. "Dunno, I kinda want you to feel bad about it..."

"That's not funny."

"It's kinda funny."

"Leo!"

"Arae."

When he says, her name sounds like a prayer instead of a curse. She tries hard to conceal just how much it delights her.

"What's your full name?" Ara crosses her arms. "I need to sound stern and Leo isn't gonna cut it."

"Great question! Unfortunately, I refuse to answer."

"Leoooo," she complains, making use of her puppy eyes.

"Stop that before I kiss you in front of everyone," he whispers a warning, his thumb stroking the back of her hand. "You'll leave once the week ends?"

Ara glances down at his hand, they're both glowing. "Yeah."

"I want us to be official by the time you leave."

"What!"

Leo hushes her, though he's smiling. "Jackson, be quiet!"

"Leo, I'm a veteran in this camp," she expresses anxiously. "When my friends got crushes, I was front and center making their lives hell, I loved teasing them—"

He laughs. "Oh, so Karma's gonna getcha real nice, huh?"

"I don't wanna be thrown into the lake," she groans, moving her hand away.

"Come again?" Leo tilts his head in amusement, his body tilting forward when she moves.

"When campers start dating, we throw them in the lake."

"Oh, like when Piper and Jason got together? That was fun," he smirks. "I'm game!"

"Sorry, I forgot you're insane," she frowns. "It's the middle of winter!"

"I'm always warm," he shrugs with a shit-eating grin.

"Let's see if you can handle me for a week first," Ara concludes, knowing she can't win the argument.

"I'll be fine," the boy replies confidently. "I'm the best thing that's happened to you since Reese's created its own cereal, right?"

Ara tries not to laugh. "That's not how I said it."

"I took creative liberty."

The girl shakes her head. "I'm going to bed..."

"That an invitation?"

"Leo!"

Ara wakes up right on time the following day. At first, she can't remember why she's so giddy, she didn't have any dreams, then she remembers Leo and has to take a moment to roll onto her stomach, kick her feet in the air, and giggle.

Once she calms down, Ara gets up and gets dressed. Lily shows up and Ara takes the clipboard off her hands, reading through it and adjusting the to-do list so she ends up going to the bunker right before her free hour.

"I've been thinking about what you said yesterday," Lily says as they walk through camp. "I think we can use your free hour to play video games."

"That's a great idea!" She replies. "Can we invite others?"

Lily pauses. "Who?"

"The Stolls, Jason, Leo, and Piper," Ara grins. "You know, so they feel welcomed! Jason needs to grow attached to us..."

"Uh-uh, one would think dating Piper, a Greek demigod, would be enough," Lily raises a brow. "Are you sure this isn't about your poster boy?"

"Whaaat?" Ara snorts. "No!"

"You gave away all the tasks he offered you, so now you have no excuses to spend time with him."

"What are you talking about? My to-do list says that I'll be going to the bunker today!"

"No, that's my to-do list, yours is only the first four."

Ara frowns, going over the list a second time. "That's confusing."

"You never read the list," her friend chortles. "You try to memorize it, then you spend the rest of the day asking me what's next."

"Well, I get things done, don't I?"

Lily snorts and rolls her eyes. "Anyway, I'll pretend I believe you. But I don't think Leo can sit still for more than five minutes, he's like a bouncy ball. Good luck keeping him inside a tiny room."

"He's alright," Ara tries to act like Leo's name doesn't make her want to smile like an idiot. "Hey, do you know his whole name?"

Lily wrinkles her nose. "I heard it was Leonardo, but he may be lying, you never know with him."

"Huh," Ara doesn't know why, but it doesn't sound right to her either.

"Why?"

"He didn't want to tell me."

"Why do you always fall for the guys with weird natures?"

"I don't know, Lily, why do you like stabbing people?" Ara taunts her. "We don't choose our favorite things, they just show up one day and it's like 'Okay, I'll obsess over you now!'"

"So you're obsessed with Leo?" Lily teases her.

"Next time we train together, remind me to kick your ass."

Ara visits the bunker and she brings Connor along as a distraction, they're both carrying large tote bags full of snacks.

"Hi, everyone! We brought lunch!" She announces to the crowd.

They're immediately surrounded by a flock of demigods. Lily's the last one to approach, and Ara's unable to hide her curiosity. "Where's Leo?"

Lily sips on her Capri-Sun. "Why do you need him?"

"Are you his new assistant or something?" She raises a brow. "I just wanna know."

The girl grabs another juice and then vaguely points to the ship. "He's in there. I'll take you."

"No, thanks. I got it."

"If it's about the ship's design, I should join—"

"It's not a—Why am I explaining myself? I'm the General!" Ara loses her temper. "You're dismissed, Saggio."

The girl laughs. "Non distrarre a lungo il nostro ingegnere, Generale, o ti costruirà una nave difettosa," Lily taunts her.

"Hey that's not fair, I still don't know Italian well!" Connor pouts.

Lily guides him to her workbench. "Don't worry about it, come help me design Ara's room."

"Don't put anything weird in it!" The girl warns them.

Lily gives her a thumbs-up without looking back. Ara wants to stay and make sure, but she brought Connor with her for a reason. She loves Lily, but the girl is a nosy little jerk. Ara is too, of course, that's why they're best friends.

Ara walks into the empty ship and gets a little overwhelmed. The thing is huge and she doesn't want to get lost in it, but luckily for her, on the first left turn, she finds Leo crouching near a wall and muttering to himself as he measures something.

Ara sneaks up on him. "Hey!"

Leo jumps out of his skin, dropping the measuring tape. His curls burst into flames. "What the heck is wrong with you?!"

Ara laughs, helping him up. "Many things, but I just like how you burst into flames when I startle you. Like an octopus squirting ink."

Leo picks up his measuring tape. "You're a terrible person."

"I am," she rummages through her almost empty bag. "And you like me anyway."

"Just because I begged you for a date, kissed you, and said I'm crushing on you big time, doesn't mean I like being bullied. I accept your bullying 'cause you're stronger than me and I can't fight you," he quips.

Ara hands him an apple and a water bottle. "Talking about that... you should train."

"I'm good," he replies, taking a huge bite out of his fruit. He swallows it before speaking again. "Busy building the greatest warship in history."

"We won't always be there to protect you," she crosses her arms. "I would sleep better if you knew how to use a sword..."

"I know how to use a sword! You poke the soft spots! It ain't that hard, doll," Leo taunts her, continuing with his work. "Besides, I was chosen 'cause I'm an inventor. Can't do that if I lose a limb."

"We can reattach limbs. Paolo has gotten his arm reattached a few times already."

Leo looks at her. "Please, tell me the second time was because they put it backward on their first try."

Ara steps forward and holds his face. "Are you not interested because you don't like training, or is it something else?"

The boy struggles to maintain eye contact. "I don't have what it takes to be a good swordsman or an archer—I'd probably stab my foot..."

"Guns exist?" She suggests, half-joking.

"I know I'm from Houston, but I'm not that kind of Texan," Ara tries not to laugh, but Leo notices her expression and keeps going. "I would shoot myself in the butt. Probably make my visits to the bathroom way shorter, everything would come right out—"

She bursts out laughing, letting go of his face. "I'm being serious!"

"And I don't want that," Leo reaches up to cup her face. "I'm pretty sure I could make a weapon on the go if I'm ever in real danger."

"At least train to be in good shape," she insists. "You can climb the lava wall with me, and learn close combat?"

"Exactly how close the combat is?" He smirks.

She pushes him away giggling. "Anyway, I came here for a reason, not just to scare you."

"That's good to hear," Leo takes another bite of his apple. "What is it?"

"Lily fixed my schedule, so I have an empty hour every day. I told her we should invite our friends—"

"Am I your friend in this situation?"

"For now, yes. It'd be a good excuse to spend time together and hang out."

"In a secluded space, where no one is looking," he steps closer to her. "Just like the one we're in right now."

Ara blushes. "I mean... the rec room isn't this big..."

Leo takes another bite of his apple and watches her with a strange look in his eyes. "We could get away with some fun stuff anyhow..."

His skin is glowing again, just like hers. His words are making it impossible to think straight.

"That's a yes?"

"Yeah. I'm counting it as a date."

Ara looks away, the room feels a thousand times hotter now. "I—uh... that's all. I gotta... visit Pollo."

In the little time it takes her to finish the sentence, Leo pushes a strand of hair behind her ear and then holds the side of her face.

"Don't," she says. "There are people around..."

"Be honest," he inches closer. "You're worried they'll judge you for dating me? I mean, I know I'm no jock, but..." Leo is joking, but when Ara doesn't deny it, his smile falters. "Doll, that was the worst moment to stay quiet—"

She pulls him in, kissing him firmly. Leo doesn't burst into flames this time, instead, he wraps his arms around her. He tastes like apples.

"M'not ashamed," she mumbles once the kiss ends. "I'm flustered."

"Got it," he grins, leaning his forehead against hers.

"I—uh, I do have things to do though," she chuckles. "So I should..."

"Yeah," he doesn't budge. "Of course..."

"I can't leave if you don't let me," she grins, trying to move him.

"Just one more kiss— Just..." Leo pecks her lips. "One..." He kisses her again. "More..." He tightens his grip around her, kissing her longer than before. "Kiss."

Ara's melting in his arms, and she's not even self-conscious about it at this point. Leo holds her face and pecks her lips one more time before stepping back. His smile broadens. "There. One and done."

She's looking at him in such a way that it makes his chest hurt. Leo hears someone approaching, and he doesn't care if others find out, but Ara does. He clears his throat, struggling to remember what he was doing before the girl walked in.

"Thank you for the food. I... I'll see you later."

Ara nods, still watching him with those warm eyes and flushed cheeks. He feels like he'll involuntarily combust if he continues to look at her, so he turns around and forces himself to continue working.

Once she's out of the room, Leo stops and leans one hand on the wall while the other holds his chest and clutches onto the fabric of his shirt, as if trying to push his heart back into place. He feels dizzy in the best way possible.

Leo can't believe this is happening to him, but he's definitely not complaining. He vows to do everything in his power to keep Ara by his side for as long as the sun shines above their heads.

Next Chapter ->

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @ash-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles

#twoidiots writing #pjo fanfic #pjo #pjo hoo toa #pjo fandom #percy jackson and the olympians #leo valdez x oc #leo valdez fanfic #doo

19 notes · View notes

poisonioushearts · 7 months

Note

slides in (fashionably)

hiii how are you? hopefully good :]

can i request general mateo relationship hcs, if you write for him? specifically a s/o who's also in the shadow decree and an esper

i enjoy him a normal amount. thank u!!

I had two requests for Mateo (the other asking for non-esper wanderer) sooooo I'm just going to combine both of you don't mind! Here we go!

(I may soon make a self aware and players fav w/ Mateo as well)

I'm on a roll finally 💪

Gender neutral reader

Warnings: not proofread, probably some grammatical errors

Mateo Relationship Headcannons

SHADOW DECREE (ESPER)

Missions together 100%

Doesn't matter if you weren't assigned together-he will be working with you.

He knows you can defend yourself-he's seen how you fight, but he's still protective of you.

His past general instincts kick in whenever he's in the middle of a fight with you- even if it's just the two of you.

He laughs a little, when he tells you the story of why he joined the Shadow Decree. You were so livid, and pissed, cursing him out with some very unique words it made him smile in the sense that you both shared the same anger.

He actually had to break the news to you that Nickolas was already dead because you had gotten up and about ran to find him.

Yeah you were still upset.

Xuan Pin would've probably been there, playing against Mateo in a game of chess, and the story would kind of just flow and get told during that time.

One of the things you said was: "How dare he frame my daughter!" "[name] I'm not related to you-" "I don't care I already signed the adoption papers." "The what-?"

So yes, you and him are like- practically parental/older sibling figures to Xuan Pin. (Even though she's an adult.)

WANDERER (NON-ESPER)

Stargazing dates. Often caused by you because you pay attention to the small things. As someone who is "powerless", a human, you focus on the smaller things.

The stars, the moon, the sun in a cloudless day, a flower blooming in the cracks of stone. It's just a thing you two have where you point out something so simple and marvel at at while he looks at it with you and at you.

He will purposely choose missions that will correspond where you are going.

You aren't an esper, and respectfully, not as physically strong as someone who is one.

So he will protect and defend you with his life because even though you can fight decently, you don't have much resistance.

You don't have god-like powers running through your veins. You're just human.

It's enough for him, but it won't stop him from worrying about your well-being.

You also worry about him with how much he worries about you.

When he's working inside his office, you bring him food and stuff. Making sure he is taking care of himself as well.

When he told you about Nickolas did, you you quiet. Then you rummaged in your bag and pulled out a lighter. "[name] why..?" "To burn the rest of his corpse." "[name] no-" "[name] yes."

He makes sure you don't have a lighter in your bag from then on.

GENERAL

He doesn't talk much, but he listens.

If you are a talkative person he'll listening to you rant about whatever and he'll remember it all.

If you don't talk very much, he'll take note of your actions and pay close attention to the words you speak so he can recall it later for future reference.

Strong but silent type.

He's intimidating but a softie for those close to him. He's the big spoon, sometimes, sometimes, he will be the small. But when you wake the roles have already switched.

There was a point where you attempted to cook food over his eye/hand fire. You were able to make some s'mores-barley.

He loves quality time. Just being in your presence is enough.

Thanks for reading! Reblogs are greatly appreciated!

#dislyte #x reader #gender neutral reader #esper reader #shadow decree reader #wanderer reader #non-esper reader #mateo #dislyte mateo #mateo x reader #relationship headcannons

21 notes · View notes

panthera-tigris-venenata · 1 year

Note

Do you have any favorite Descendants headcanons?

Yes! This is absolutely a permission to share an absurd amount of them, right? (Say yes, please-)

Anyway. Canon is a suggestion and so is Rise timeline.

Uma and Harry have been married pretty much since Ben's coronation. They... Kind of got drunk along with every other Isle kid and decided to get married, as you do. It's legal. They don't remember a thing.

Neither does Harriet. CJ however knows and is just waiting for the best opportunity to tell her brother. The Lost Revenge crew also knows, mostly, but just assume that the Captain and first mate also know. Which would make sense.

The mother of the Hook siblings was a siren (that bloodthirsty type that lures sailors to their deaths) and Captain Hook was completely in love with her. He was also completely blind to all of her murder attempts.

As a result, the Hook kids think that murder is a love language. Like, yeah. Mama tries to kill papa from time to time. That happens. It works for them.

They are having fun.

As is Ursula. She watches Hook family drama (tm) as a telenovela and used to take baby Uma with her. This might or might not be how Uma and Harry met.

None of the Isle kids knows how death works. This would be because Hades decided that Isle kids and their still-alive siblings are too much headache to deal with, especially while on vacation, when technically, the Underworld is a problem of his younger brothers.

CJ Hook treats the Underworld like a bus station. Hades has resigned about when she was ten and now lets her take the Cerberus for a walk from time to time.

The Isle kids regularly try to make s'mores over Hades' hair. The only one who ever got Hades to cooperate was Anthony Tremaine, while looking after his baby cousins, who really wanted the s'mores. That would be because he actually asked. (And Hades felt his suffering on a deep personal level. Younger siblings.)

The Tremaines have the only neutral territory on the Isle. You see, if you fight by the Tremaines, you'll get kicked out of the hair salon and you won't get your hair done. This threat works because the Isle kids are vain as fuck.

Anthony Tremaine/Harriet Hook/Ginny Gothel. Mutually destructive threesome.

Audrey Rose and Anthony Tremaine are vibing. They bonded over fashion, their horrible grandmothers, and Auradon's disaster finances.

Audrey is generally vibing with the pirates, as she deserves.

Aro ace Audrey Rose.

Freddie and Celia Facilier and Marya Rasputin are basically half-demons from a different end of the spectrum.

Freddie can walk absolutely quietly even with all the gold trinkets CJ gives her.

Uma and Freddie wore ninety percent of the Isle gold at some point or another. The last ten percent is still locked in EQ's vault and the Isle kids are very much trying to break in.

Uma just. Feeds people to the sharks. That's a thing that happens. She also doesn't necessarily bother to kill her hostages before that. (Harry very much supports this. He might drag some hostages to her, too. Murder is a love language and all that.)

Claudine Frollo was adopted by the Hook siblings and is a part of the Lost Revenge crew. She is a bitter bitch and I love her.

She is also wholeheartedly convinced that the Lost Revenge is a cult, and she is right.

The de Vil cousins couldn't give less of a fuck to the rivarly between Uma and Mal.

Evie has already mentally killed Cruella in about forty six different ways. She is counting.

De Vils, Hearts and Hooks argue over who wears red the best. They can and will kill over it, but that's fine. Death is a social construct.

Fairy Godmother sealed off Jane's magic.

On the Isle, Mal misses the concept of wings, freedom, something that she has never had.

Evie has social anxiety due to ten years spent alone with her mother.

Mal can be controlled by a laser pointer. As can CJ. And Harry. Yzla and Zevon. Marya Rasputin. Begrudging Uma and Harriet. Technically, Claudine Frollo, who will start praying and backing off and will never touch the surface with the laser dot again. De Vils and Faciliers know this and they are having a blast. (Carlos will just shine a laser pointer away from him when he wants to work on his trinkets and it works.)

Alice accidentally fell down the rabbit hole on the Isle and consequently kidnapped a kid. That kid happened to be a twin sister of CJ Hook. (Alice and Ally's ages don't match. This works ✨)

There is a reason why there are three schools on the Isle. The reason is: „You could never pay me enough to deal with more than one sibling at time, now fuck off.“

If I remember anything else, I'll add?

#disney descendants #thanks for the ask!

72 notes · View notes

0celesteisthebest0 · 2 years

Text

Bonfire

Word Count: 4,075

Pairings: Will “Ironhead” Miller, Santiago “Pope” Garcia, Frankie “Catfish” Morales, and Ben “Benny” Miller x female reader. (No relationship with Benny and Will because that’s just weird and they’re siblings y’all ONLY SIBLINGS)

Warnings: hurt/comfort, descriptions of PTSD, mentions of Redfly( one mention but like a warning nonetheless), fluff? Just a whole lot of domestic feelings.

Authors Notes: !!!!!!! It’s been a minute since I’ve done one of these lol soo HI HI missed y’all! Yes this is the poly fic I’ve been working on and yes it’s a hurt/comfort! I honestly never expected to write a poly fic for these boys but it’s all thanks to my dear friend Elle that I’ve gotten attached to them! @ohheyitsokay has the most brilliant work relating to the poly boys and I do hope everyone goes read them rn 😌. Also ELLE our conversations related to the boys inspired me in certain section I thank you for those conversations we have together I always enjoy them!!! AAAA okay I really like this fic and I hope y’all enjoy this!!!

——<><>—<><>——

Crackling wood warmed the cool night and the sweet taste of s'mores lingered on your tongue. Nostalgia tends to prick you when you recall the smell of ash against your noise, sticking to your skin as the remnants of past bonfires blow away from your memory.

But with them those memories get replaced with new ones, one’s where Santi and Will talk to each other about their layered history. Where Frankie listens quietly, drinking his beer while Benny half listens and pulls out the treats for the fire.

Benny started warming up marshmallows, the fire enveloped the treat, burning it so the outer shell was charred. You didn't know why he liked them like that but you always indulged Benny and what he wanted.

Frankie placed another log for the fire to burn, the ash poked your nose but at least it warmed you. Well it could’ve warmed you better, the coldness still tinged your fingertips so on instinct you hovered your hands over the flames. Coldness like this wasn’t the norm in the past weeks but it seemed that the temperature was changing once again. Even the soft cotton long shirt you wore did nothing for the shivers and as the wood cracked you decided to deal with the cold.

“I think I need a thicker sweater.” you grumbled to yourself, moving off of the plastic chair that took forever to get comfortable in. Frankie hummed and shook his head.

“Baby come here,” he set his beer down and you got closer to the three of them huddled up. “Sit on my lap, I’ll warm you up.”

The chair he was sitting on was another one of those cheap plastic ones that could snap at any second. You made a face at him and he gave you a bright grin, displaying his dimple, and that bright twinkle in his eye being highlighted by the fire.

“I got strong thighs,” that’s what made you laugh.

“Don’t I know it Frankie but let me get that sweater,” you grinned and his skin found yours slowly, getting you to focus on him for a second.

“Let me get it for you,” he lifted himself from the chair, “Take my spot, these two are yapping my ear off.”

“You like our stories ‘fish!” Santi replied to Frankie’s joke, Frankie just slipped away with a big grin on his face. “He likes our stories,” Santi reiterated to you and his hand went to squeeze your knee.

“I like your stories too,” you hum and his eyes brighten slightly. He nudged Will communicating with him with raised eyebrows and Will just shook his head.

“You really gonna tell her that one…” Will muttered while drinking his beer and staring at the fire somewhat melancholic.

“If it's the lemon story, you should definitely tell it,” Benny replied while putting a burnt marshmallow between the piece of chocolate and the graham cracker.

“Benny…”

“We aren’t arguing about my marshmallows again. Tell your story Santi,” Benny shut down the conversation with a crunch from the graham cracker. Santi huffed but started the story with a small grin and describing a younger Frankie that you hadn’t had the luxury to meet.

It was full of a lot of unnecessary descriptions that only Santi would really see and he added in little ramblings between his thoughts. Stories branching from one place to another but you loved it either way. The best part of it in your opinion was the faces of Benny and Will as the rambling between the main story happened.

Benny would get him to ramble more and Will just sat there with a fond smile on his face as the story got lost into different thoughts. As Santi got into the topic once again Frankie emerged from the door with your hoodie in hand, his wide smile as he approached turned into a sigh.

“I didn’t bite into the skin of the lemon Santiago, stop telling everyone I did that,” he was supposed to sound annoyed but you didn’t find it convincing. He handed you your hoodie and kissed the top of your head.

“Wasn’t gonna say that,” Santi replied with a pout and Frankie brought the other chair closer to the four of you. Frankie continued to grin from Santi’s continuance of insinuating that the lemon was what got Frankie and Santi to become friends.

You looked as the pair bickered like a married couple and ultimately started to laugh from how ridiculous they were being, Santi offered him something to drink and Frankie nodded.

Conversation continued from there, lots of asking of how everyone’s weeks have been, little things that the group have been meaning to tell each other. It was nice to hear about the little things that Frankie found joy in at work.

From there thoughts and other stories melded together, the passage of time not at all linear as everyone enjoyed their time together.

Benny captivated the group’s attention with a story about the local critters, talking about a particularly hungry raccoon rummaging through the garbage late at night. The only person who didn’t seem as invested in the story was Will. He seemed to be transfixed in the flames of the bonfire, engulfing the wood and burning it into ash and dust.

His jaw was tense, squared in thought. He didn’t seem to notice the giggles from the others but he did notice your worried stare. Will gave you a tight smile in return and you frowned at his need to cover up what was bothering him.

“I'm gonna turn in,” Frankie interrupted your thoughts with a soft kiss on the cheek, his warm hand rubbing your shoulder, comforting the cold that slowly took over your form once again. “Don’t listen to everything Santi says, alright baby,” he winked at you and you played along.

“Malo…” Santi muttered under his breath as Frankie ruffled Benny’s hair before going inside. Benny stared at the door humming at the thought of going inside but turned to you with a small grin. You knew he wanted to say something before joining Frankie in bed for the night.

“You heard the lemon story before, haven't you,” Benny whispered the question into your ear with giddy laced in his tone. He noticed.

He always noticed things like this and you were secretly glad that he figured out the small secret that you kept to yourself. Santiago Garcia liked to tell stories, to the point that he would repeat his favorites. You wouldn’t interrupt him when he did, you simply nodded and grinned when he smiled so brightly from your attention.

“Maybe,” you responded to Benny who grinned, “I like how he tells them.”

“I do too,” he kissed your jaw and your heart skipped a beat and he lifted himself from the chair and yawned loudly. “I’m gonna go cuddle with Frankie, getting a bit cold for my liking.”

“I’ll join you two in a minute, my knees are acting up,” Santi hummed as he rubbed the muscles of his knees. The heat from the fire no longer being a comforting warm but a dull sensation, most likely causing Santi’s knees to experience pain. Benny wordlessly walked over and offered him a hand, knowing that he’d be better inside than outside.

“You two coming in, the fire is just about out,” Benny pulled Santiago up and both of them turned towards you and Will.

“I’m alright, I’ll see you inside,” Will said somewhat clipped and Benny stared at him momentarily knowing that something was up. “Night Ben, night Pope,” he added, still staring at the flames that were slowly dying down.

“I’m gonna stay for a bit,” you hoped that your stare conveyed that you were gonna talk to him. The other two left wordlessly, Santi kissing your forehead before he vanished inside.

There were two empty chairs between the two of you and you started moving toward him slowly, not wanting to interrupt his thoughts that were intertwined with the fires.

“Is this seat taken,” you pointed to the one that Santi was using and he just shook his head, not giving you a verbal confirmation. You plopped down to the seat, staring at his tense jaw and insistent need to look at the ashes that the fire left. Only sparks of ember remained, the flame that warmed you was extinguished. “Are you alright Will?”

He stayed quiet from the question but he did unclench his jaw which you saw as a victory in some form.

“Did the others notice?” You frowned when he asked the question but he continued. “Did they notice that something was wrong.”

His voice faltered slightly and he immediately tried to reign the emotion in. Will had his tell when something was wrong.

All of them did but Will’s would start quiet, a stagnant noise in a dark forest waiting for something to crack. It would only burst when he pent it up for too long.

You’ve only seen it once, it was when you first started this relationship with him, with the others. It was difficult to interlink their lives in such a romantic sense, so a lot of issues of communication happened. You are happy to say that the five of you are better at it now but things like this still happen. Closing off emotions was a rare phenomenon but it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Or that it didn’t matter.

The comfort of Will mattered to you and right now he was so tense you were afraid that he was going to pop.

“Is it a bad thing if they did notice?” You didn’t say the question out of sour intentions. You wanted him to get out of whatever thought process his brain was feeding him through questions.

His eyes meet yours, bright blue eyes that are no longer filled with ash. It took him a minute to respond.

“No it isn’t.”

Out of habit you placed your hand on his chair, not on him in case he was sensitive to someone touching him.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” It left your lips soft and uncertain but you hoped it comforted him.

Cold winds whipped around you two and his sigh was carried by it.

“I don’t like bonfires,” he muttered while looking at the burned wood. “Hate the smell, hate how it sticks to you…” he didn’t continue but you assumed that there were more reasons he didn’t feel comfortable doing this.

There was another silence between the two of you, your eyes were still focused on Will’s stoic face that was covered with a fluorescent light. The outdoor light shined on you two as this moment of stagnant silence continued. It wasn’t that you didn’t know what to say, it was more that you wanted him to know he could keep going if he wanted to. Maybe you were making him more nervous with this bout of silence.

“If they make you uncomfortable then we won’t do them anymore,” you stated with no further arguments on the statement and he breathed in hard.

“Sweetheart, I don't want you to walk on eggshells around me- I’ll get over this,” you frowned from that statement.

“Comfort is a two way street Will. If you are uncomfortable with something we stop doing it,” you continued even though his jaw tensed up again. “Being uncomfortable is something that happens but this is something else, isn’t it?”

It was a topic all of them had issues with… you saw the aftermath riddled across their faces when the topic of the situation they got into reared its head. Certain things would bother them and the way to avoid those reactions was to remove it in its entirety, remove the trigger before it could do it’s damage.

“I thought I could power through it…the others were enjoying it so why couldn’t I?” He sighs again, rubs his hand against his beard.

“It affects everyone in different ways,” you muttered, his hand reaching out for yours. Even with the cold, Will radiates warmth. “They’re gonna understand.”

There’s a moment where he’s trying to list out if that statement was correct. The analytical part fighting with the more critical part of him. He blinks away any more thoughts and just squeezes your hand, muttering something about your cold fingers. Will pulled you closer to him, his forehead touching yours and even though his hands were warm his cheeks tinged of the chilly weather.

“Let's get you warmed up,” it was his version of thank you. He lifted himself from the chair and pulled you up with him, seamlessly he pulled you close, kissing the top of your head. He held your hand as you walked into the house, the warm lights of the kitchen highlighted Santiago’s curls.

“You two alright?” He was fixing up a drink for himself, hopefully something that wasn’t caffeinated, he’s had too much of that today.

“ ‘M doing better…I’ll tell you later Santi I’m tired” Will patted Santi's back, letting go of your hand but his warmth didn’t leave your fingertips. “I’m gonna change-Frankie in the room.”

Santi pointed towards the living room where the T.V light showed a sleepy Catfish and Benny sprawled on the couch. You couldn’t help but grin from the sight. “I bet he’s gonna knock on the couch again and complain about his back.”

You lightly smacked Santiago’s shoulder from his comment and he gave you a kiss in apology and popped two ibuprofen for his knees.

“You gonna turn in for the night, Iron?” Frankie called, eyes still dropping due to the fact that half of his body was covered by Benny’s.

Will hesitated slightly as he walked off to the room, but he responded with a quiet voice.

“Nah…I’m just gonna take a shower to get rid of the smell,” you stared at his tense back, “I’ll join you and Ben on the couch in a minute.”

Your worries dissipated with that statement and with that you decided to find a place on the couch. Frankie welcomed you with open arms and you quickly removed the hoodie in favor of the warmth that he radiated. His hands reached for you and quickly brought you to his chest. You didn’t pay attention to what documentary was on instead your sole focus was on the soft features of Frankie. Santi found a place beside Benny as you snuggled close to Frankie.

The energy you had for the day slowly depleted with his soft touch, the humming of conversations hit your ears but it felt more like a lullaby than actual words. So many things happen in such a small time that it tends to sweep you up and worry, with them it’s always easier.

Of course you worry about them when the time comes but they reassure you when it does happen and you always knew that open conversations will happen.

The sensation you felt with them was warmer than any bonfire could be, warmness that could usher you to sleep in a matter of minutes. Rubbing your face against Frankie’s chest was all that you needed from life.

You could feel the vibrations of his voice while he quietly murmured something to Benny. It was a white noise that you could rely on. The couch sank near your left side causing you to startle slightly but you sank back in the embrace of Frankie. Will’s hand rested on your thigh, squeezing it slightly as an apology.

“What are we watching,” Will muttered to what you thought was Frankie but it could be you.

“A movie,” you muttered, eyes still closed.

A snort escaped Will's throat, “ ‘ppreciate you sweetheart.”

——<><>—<><>——

Will took the day off today. He saw it as the sensible decision considering his feelings from yesterday loomed over him.

Even with that shower that smell lingered and it kept sending him back to the tops of the mountain, trying to find warmth. Trying to find a way back home after the problems that continued to pile up. Trying to keep warm no matter what…even if it meant burning money in the case of Benny and the others.

How the scent of burnt paper stayed on his skin like the sin of what they did never washed away. How he didn’t react when his friend passed. How the waves didn’t clean them of the scent and how all he smells is ash.

The fires fill the air with ash and he just feels polluted by the thoughts of that trip.

They’ve talked about it extensively but he hates it when something so small and minuscule like a smell brings him back.

He’s grown from this…so why is he back at square one.

“Will-“ it was a mere echo against his thoughts up until Frankie’s hand reached for his shoulder. He was yanked back to the present immediately and the tension of his shoulders grew.

“Fuck… sorry I-“ he didn’t know what to say or what to do.

“Hey, it's alright, I’m right here.” Frankie moved his hand from him and the tension waned from his shoulders. “You want a minute.”

“No. I’m alright ‘fish,” Frankie raised his brows at him and he relented. “Last night was rough for me is all.”

Will loosened his grip from the kitchen counter and turned towards his forgotten coffee mug. It was teetering off the ledge as he grabbed it.

“You seemed quiet last night…I just chalked it up to work,” Frankie responded, scratching his chin. “What’s bothering you?”

“The smells…”

There was a part of him that felt silly for admitting that something of this degree would affect him so much but he knew Frankie would understand.

“Oh,” it seemed like he connected the dots quickly and leaned on the counter, somewhat close to Will.

“I know, I’m not back there but just the smell sets me off,” he set down the coffee he doesn’t remember brewing for himself. His mind kept pushing things back and forth from his memory and taunting them towards him, Frankie rested his hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright, you’re alright we aren’t there,” he remarked rubbing the tension from his shoulder. “I know what you mean Will.”

“I’ll manage, I'm just dealing with it,” Will reaffirms while taking a sip from the barely warm coffee. The bitter taste gave him small bits of energy for the day.

“Will,” Frankie said in a tone Will recognized as ‘cut the bullshit and just talk to me.’

“What can I say Frankie I can’t do anything about it-“ he stopped from continuing and took a slow breath to even himself from the burning feeling in his throat. “No use in dwelling.”

He was over the hump in some way or at least he thought he was. In the end of the day he…was not that warrior that he once thought he was anymore. He was just… him now.

Maybe…

He pinched his brows trying to quiet his mind for the moment and file those thoughts another time and organize them to a degree where he wasn’t stagnant at the constant and consistent feeling of smoke and ash on his skin.

“Hey,” Frankie said, barely above a whisper to not overwhelm any other thoughts that looped through his mind and muttered a familiar phrase. “I ain’t going anywhere, I’m right here Will.”

“I know…I know. I feel a little bad is all,” he admitted sheepishly for not wanting to admit that. He just didn’t want them to walk on eggshells around him but from the look on Frankie's face he obviously didn’t mind. Frankie’s hand reached for his and squeezed it, silently reassuring him.

“What's the thing you always say…” His lips pouted to the side, deep in thought. “Best way to deal with this is talk it out and-”

“Breathe,” how could he forget. Frankie’s hand grazed the one that was still tightly holding his cup of coffee. With the graze of his fingers he loosened the grip on the mug and Frankie quickly stole it from him.

“We aren’t gonna have a bonfire in a while but whenever we do we take things at your pace.” A sigh escaped Will’s throat and he nodded, absently staring at the amount of dishes that were piled up from yesterday’s activities. “When did you go to sleep last night?”

Will scrunched his face and tried to recall last night, memories muddied against each other. Past and present coexisting. He remembered that you turned in after a couple of minutes of the nature documentary ‘Fish put on to ease his mind. Santiago soon joined you after a particularly interesting scene regarding lizards.

“After two episodes of that british crime show,” Frankie did his best to remember the lists of shows Will would watch but it was just easier for Will to describe them like that.

“Ah, and aren’t those episodes like fifty minutes each,’ his bright brown eyes stared at him wide.

“What are you getting at “Fish.”

“Sleep a couple more hours, is what I mean. You look tired and this coffee sure as hell won’t help you,” Frankie sipped the mug with a grimace but continued to do so even if it wasn’t sitting right with his stomach. He was uneasy about leaving all these dishes for Frankie to do and not to mention the mess they left in the backyard. They still needed to clean the back and the bonfire pit.

“We have a lot of shit to do today,” he muttered while pointing his chin towards the dishes. All Frankie did in reply was slowly nudge him out the kitchen.

“Me, Benny, and Santi have a lot of shit to do today. All you gotta do is take a nap and take care of our girl,” he winked at Will. Frankie’s fingers traced down Will’s back, sturdy fingers easing his worries. “That okay with you, bright eyes?”

Will smiled at Frankie and easily relented, there was no fighting with Frankie, not listening to him was a poor decision. He learned his lesson with that early on.

“Don’t hurt yourself alright,” he stated while slowly opening their shared room. He was sure that Frankie responded with something snarky but it was dull to his ears when he entered the peace of their room. You were still huddled up in a mess of blankets, all those blankets couldn’t replicate the three warm bodies that you shared a bed with.

Your smell was the first thing that hit his senses as he sank on the bed. Almost immediately he brought you close to him, needing to remember the smells of sweetness, of the laundry detergent they use, of anything and everything that reminded him of you. Not of ash and smoke filling his head, clouding his judgments.

The blankets were tangled between your limbs, hands reaching out for him in your half asleep state. Smoke no longer filled his mind, the lists of things to do and feelings to understand fell into the background. The serene sensation of warmth bubbled within him and it was only heightened with your sleepy state.

Will did his best not to move, not wanting to wake you from your slumber, you’ve worked so hard and being able to sleep in like this was something to not be disturbed. His fingers rubbed circles into your skin and the heat of your skin made him forget how much he was missing for not staying in bed with you in the mornings.

“Thank you,” he murmured into your skin knowing that you wouldn’t be able to hear him or maybe you did but you seemed to be lost in your dreams. His nose rubbed against your neck, kissing every part of your skin hoping this would show you what he couldn't say through words.

He was no longer letting those flames engulf him, the fire was a temporary object. When he has with them and with you, isn’t. As he remembered that he deeply breathed in and recalled the crackling wood from earlier and the fond moments linked with yesterday night. The soft laughter that easily slipped your lips as Santi kept teasing Benny and Frankie.

An exhale out brought him peace and the pricks of nostalgia no longer bothered him like it did before because he was reassured by the people he cared about.

He’ll be okay. He just needed to breathe.

#triple frontier poly fic #triple frontier #santiago garcia x reader #ben miller x reader #will miller x reader #frankie morales x reader #hurt/comfort

127 notes · View notes

hugheshugs · 2 years

Note

Coupd you do something where Ethan edwards is the readers bf and they go to her familys lake cabin and her cousins love him but when they get time alonethey have lots of fun?

you'd known ethan for quite some time before you two started dating, so most of your family already knew and loved him. this summer, your family's lake house was more full than usual with your parents inviting their siblings and their families.

he was nervous to meet everyone at first but the minute they saw him, they loved him just as much as you did. especially your little cousins.

"c'mon fluff, we gotta go find the turtles!"

"there aren't any turtles in the lake, kid."

"i saw them, i swear!"

you laughed at the little one, ellie's, nickname for him—it was quite accurate if you were being honest. most of your days were spent that way for the rest of the trip. him being preoccupied with making the kids happy while you sat back and watched with your older cousins. it was funny, really, but he always joined you as soon as the kids went to bed.

you were sat in his lap toasting marshmallows by the campfire as you all sat in a circle, sharing stories from when you were young. well, you and ethan didn't participate, simply listening to the chatter of everyone else. you were too distracted by the feeling of finally being in each other's arms, no matter how many days went by like this.

"they really like you, fluff," you teased, running a hand through his hair.

"oh, come on. not you too," he groaned, shaking his head aggressively to get your hand away.

"hey!" you shoved his shoulder. "i used to call you fluff when we first started dating."

"that's right," he remembered, opening his mouth for you to feed him the marshmallow on your stick.

"thanks babe," he smiled with a mouthful, causing you to roll your eyes at his antics.

you cupped his cheek in your hand and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, tasting the sweetness on your tongue. his hand gripped you tighter, trying not to pull you closer as you were surrounded by family.

"i love you a lot eddy," you mumbled against him. "thank you for coming."

"i love you s'more."

"ugh, i hate you."

#ethan edwards #ethan edwards blurb #umich hockey blurb #hockey boy blurb #hockey blurbs #ethan edwards x reader

143 notes · View notes

punkeropercyjackson · 17 days

Text

"I'm making me my own hero!"

38 notes · View notes

okaihauexpress · 4 months

Text

all my gen (non-shippy) jet lag fics!

i have included fics where you can read it as platonic or shippy, or where a ship is a background detail. i'll make sure to highlight these in the list! i'll also highlight what season the fic is set in, any special relationships or aus, and if there's any triggers (though make sure you still check the tags for any fics you click on) i've also only included completed fics for ease

wishing we were more than friends teen & up | sam & brian | background brian/ben | set in s4 | wc 1,521

holding back the flood teen & up | sam & brian, sam & toby | sam & toby are siblings! | big fantasy au prequel | wc 5,626

at the edge of lament general | sam & toby | set in s5 | wc 1,536

hauraki detour general | sam & toby | set in s5 | wc 3,957

everything is fine (but i guess i'm not okay) teen & up | sam & ben | set in s5 | wc 4,246

she will be the warrior of the north and southern seas general | sam & toby | fantasy au one-shot | wc 2,626

another moment would've been too much general | sam & brian | wc 2,659

sing you lullabies teen & up | sam & toby | set in s5 | wc 2,461

at least we're not alone general | sam & adam | set in s3 | wc 2,690

bulletproof general | sam & adam & ben & toby | wc 1,021

i'll die from the emotions that i kept down for years general | adam & ben | trans male ben | set in s5 | wc 2,007

Корона твоя general | sam & adam & ben & toby | set in s5 | wc 1,828

i'm scared that i'm falling behind general | sam & toby | set in s5 | wc 1,778

with broken wings we learn to fly teen & up | ben & toby | fantasy au one-shot | wc 4,313

i see you for who you are general | sam & toby | asexual sam! | set in s5 | wc 2,026

siamo i soli svegli in tutto l'universo general | ben & adam | can be read as shippy | set in s4 | wc 1,422

i'm a volcano that is going to explode teen & up | ben & adam | set in s5 | wc 1,636

take a little sip of venom now mature | sam & brian | tw: suicide attempt, major character death | nuclear war au | wc 4,186

dreams i have ignored teen & up | sam & brian | set in s4 | wc 2,162

you told me the right thing (at the right time) general | sam & ben | trans male ben | set in s3 | wc 3,613

victory's your only payment general | sam & brian | big fantasy au prequel | wc 2,324

i can smell you like an animal mature | sam & ben | tw: major character death | vampire au | wc 4,245

diçka mrena frymen ma nal teen & up | sam & ben | wc 3,119

i asked for nobody's help teen & up | sam & ben | wc 2,611

promise me it's gonna be alright general | ben & adam | set in s2 | wc 1,390

abriguito pa tus pena' general | sam & ben | wc 1,144

life is just a game (and i'm playing for the win) teen & up | sam & ben, sam & brian | tw: major character injury | formula 1 au | wc 8,411

colder by the minute teen & up | sam & adam | set in s6 | wc 6,652

you're alive general | sam & adam, adam & toby | star wars au! | wc 1,811

evolutionary advantage general | sam & ben | can be read as shippy | wc 1,184

it's ghost time! general | sam & ben & adam | wc 951

some kind of fairy tale general | ben & toby | star wars au! | wc 1,701

take a sip from the devil's cup mature | ben-centric | tw: murder | wc 1,377

safe with me general | sam & toby | set during s5 | wc 1,350

somebody's watching me general | sam & brian | wc 675

s'mores & spooks general | sam & brian & ben & adam | wc 1,441

kiss it better teen & up | sam & ben & adam | wc 2,938

australian sensibilities general | ben & toby | set in s5 | wc 646

avuncular energy general | sam & scotty | wc 1,851

meow meow ceo general | sam & dave | werewolf au | wc 700

together, or not at all general | sam & ben | weeping angels exist | wc 1,292

too late general | sam & michelle | fantasy au one-shot | wc 1,212

voice cracks teen & up | sam & ben | trans male ben | set in s8 | wc 3,093

a safe pair of hands teen & up | sam & brian | wc 1,348

things that go bump in the night teen & up | adam & sam & ben & toby & michelle | sam & toby are siblings! | background ben/adam | wc 7,659

cursed general | toby-centric | wc 1,224

trick or treat! general | adam & sam & ben & toby | sam & toby are siblings! | wc 1,621

a taste of love general | ben-centric | wc 1,323

blinded by the cold general | sam & ben & adam | wc 2,630

say "don't go" general | sam & brian | wc 1,049

the next hot chocolate general | sam & ben & adam | wc 1,019

lightly salted french fry general | sam & michelle & ben & adam | wc 1,528

summits & surprises general | sam & brian | wc 1,304

mirrors teen & up | adam-centric | trans female adam! | wc 1,858

#jet lag the game fanfic

7 notes · View notes

foreveralwaysanauthor · 10 months

Text

Camp Wanamaker (Ch. 2/10)

June 24, 2023

Notes - Guess who had one of the busiest weeks of her life, yet still managed to write 35 pages - that’s right, it’s me! Guess who also forgot that Royce's birthday falls halfway through the week and she had already written out the day it takes place on, so she had to go back and add a hint at his birthday being, you know, a thing... Yeah, also me.

Chapter 2 - Gives You Hell

Sundays, typically, were free days in the O’Brian household. Before Damien and Chelsea’s separation, they spent Sundays doing something as a family. Bowling, arcades, go-kart racing, and visits to museums became the norm until everything was finalized. Although the pair chose to stay in the same house to take care of the children and watch them grow together, Sundays were a common thread of adventures and excitement they would spend as a family. Over time, however, the excitement faded as schedules filled up and the children grew interests of their own. Though there were the occasional Sundays spent in the back pew of the church in the next town over or attempting to have fun at the town’s practically unused candlepin bowling alley, most days were spent bustling around Sanbornton - each member of the family doing something different than the next.

Contrary to popular belief, Vivien enjoyed Sundays. Well, most of the time. As she had been the oldest of the siblings, she remembered the most from the time before their parents’ divorce. She could recall going on long drives in the family’s minivan, hogging the bench seat in the far back all to herself, and using Pac-Man to kick a bunch of ghost asses as she button-mashed her Atomic Purple Game Boy. More often than not, she spent her Sundays draining her parents’ bank accounts wherever they went and filling the rest of the back seat with stuffed animals and bags filled with souvenirs. Despite those days being long gone, Vivien still found herself enjoying Sundays in particular, just for a different reason.

As her family’s schedules became cluttered and they had less time to spend on day trips to far-off places, she had begun spending more weekends with her Aunt Hayley and her girlfriend, Charlie, sometimes staying from Friday night to Sunday evening with the woman she had always felt close with. During the summer, however, things were different. The first time Vivien had spent a full summer with Hayley and Charlie, she was ten, and the pair had signed up to work at the summer camp Chelsea and Hayley’s parents owned - Camp Wanamaker. Vivien was the youngest person there when they arrived that Sunday, as Hayley and Charlie were there for the workers-only week. Most of the people at the camp enjoyed having Vivien around despite her age, and, as the first week came to a close and bus-loads of campers began piling in on the following Monday, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment that her week of being treated like the camp’s princess was over.

Now that she was older and had spent many of her pre-teen and teenage summers at the camp as both a camper and a cabin lead, Vivien had grown to deeply appreciate Sundays for what they were: bookends. The summer seasons at Camp Wanamaker technically started on a Sunday for the workers as that was the first full day they would be there, and the season ended with the big, end-of-summer showcase on either the second or third Sunday of August. Sundays were, quite literally, the beginning and end of her summers at camp.

Maybe that was why Vivien liked summer Sundays so much.

Sundays at Camp Wanamaker hardly ever changed. More often than not, Sundays were a constant in a world fueled by chaotic variables. Unlike most days at camp when counselors would chase down the kids they were responsible for and drag them to whatever activity was next for the day, Sundays at the camp were a day to rest, lounge around the cabins with your bunkmates, and eat s'mores around the campfire. Imagine Vivien’s surprise when she showed up to the mess hall on what was supposed to be a normal Sunday to see Carrie and Royce working well together in the kitchen, talking and laughing like old friends.

Perhaps, however, we should start our story a week prior to this incident, on Sunday, the eighteenth of June.

Waking up in a room without stars on the ceiling was nothing new for Vivien O’Brian. Well, at least not during the summer. Waking up to the sound of gentle breathing was new, however. Slowly shifting her head upwards, Vivien found herself watching Royce as he slept soundly beside her. They had only done this a handful of times in their relationship - most of them accidental sleepovers on the Birch family’s living room floor - but Vivien found something oddly soothing about the gentle rise and fall of Royce’s chest as he slept peacefully. Trying not to roll her eyes at herself, Vivien let out a soft sigh; she was turning into Mick - sappy enough to fill an entire maple tree.

As much as she loved feeling like a mushy, lovesick, twenty-something-year-old, Vivien slowly detached herself from Royce’s grasp, giving the snoring blond on the other side of her boyfriend a chance to absorb Royce’s unending warmth as she rose from the bed and grabbed her glasses from the nightstand before creeping out of the room as silently as she could. Heading around the balcony toward the room she had claimed the day prior, Vivien tried not to laugh as she passed the room where a certain auburn-haired male muttered a cuss in his sleep and rolled onto his side with an incoherent, grumbling complaint. Reaching her bedroom, Vivien softly closed the door and checked her phone for the weather before pulling a swimsuit from her dresser and bringing it with her to the bathroom to change into once she was ready for the day to begin.

By the time she had made it down to the water, the sun was just barely breaching the horizon, casting an array of reds and pinks across the sky. Vivien sighed to herself as she stood at the waterline; if old wives’ tales could be trusted, red in the morning meant storms to come later in the day. Glad to have chosen to take a morning swim, Vivien ditched her towel and glasses on the sand under the pier before venturing into the chilly water. Once she was far enough out, Vivien dove into the water, happy to get the worst part over with as she resurfaced, staring up at the sky as though it could tell her what was in store for her that day.

To be fair, she had no intention of doing much apart from the norm. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were a staple, but apart from that, she had no plans. Maybe, if she felt up to it, she would go to the archery range with Mick or go up to the counselor’s lodge to teach herself how to play her grandmother’s old violin in the vain hope that her terrible, wounded-cat-esque playing would encourage the older woman to teach her how to actually handle the old string instrument. As Vivien let the water carry her further from the shore, she took in a deep breath and relaxed - it felt nice not to have plans for once.

Time became nothing more than an illusion as Vivien floated on the water, the sun gradually warming the waves as it steadily rose overhead. After what felt like nothing more than a few minutes had passed, Vivien jolted as a hand captured her ankle. The hand released her as she began treading water, coming face to face with the blurry visage of who she presumed was none other than her boyfriend.

“Royce?” she questioned.

“Not quite,” the voice replied, a smirk noticeable in the male’s tone.

Vivien usually felt pretty confident in her ability to differentiate between voices, but for some reason, she couldn’t tell who this person was. “Are you one of the people I’m staying with?” she asked.

“No,” the man replied.

Cautiously, she questioned, “Do I know you?”

“You might if you were wearing your glasses,” he snickered. Ah, so whoever had chosen to approach her had a sense of humor - duly noted.

If he knew she had glasses, there was a chance she truly did know whoever it was, but Vivien wasn’t easily convinced. He could have easily spotted her glasses on her towel and taken that information with him. Then again, she had left her things under the pier. With a sigh, Vivien asked, “Are we close to shore?”

The water sloshed around them as the mystery man looked around, “We’re near the end of the pier.”

With a nod, Vivien gestured for the man to lead the way and followed the sound of splashes until she found sand under her feet again. After running a hand over her dripping hair and wiping her eyes of water, Vivien followed the edge of the pier until she found her hiding spot. Taking her glasses from where she’d left them, Vivien placed them on the bridge of her nose and wrapped her violet towel around her shoulders, clutching it close with wrinkly, raisin-like fingers before turning toward the only other person on the beach. Standing not far away with a crooked smile, shimmering green eyes, and drenched, golden brown hair was a man who, if the tattoo of the Spider-Man symbol on his wrist was anything to go by, was a bit older than Vivien. Though he had no shirt on, he was quick to pick one up from the sand, taking his phone from it before shaking it free of sand. To her dismay, however, nothing about the person before her rang any bells. He just looked like some random guy.

“I’m sorry,” she began slowly, sending the man an apologetic smile, “I’m not sure I recognize you.”

The man chuckled, “That’s alright, Viv. I get it. I’ve changed a lot since you last saw me.”

“I guess so,” Vivien chuckled nervously.

Instead of pressing further, the green-eyed man unlocked his cell phone and tapped on it before scrolling a few times and tapping on something. With a smile, he turned the phone around to Vivien and held it out to her, allowing her to take it as he said, “That might help.”

The picture he had chosen was an old photograph that had been taken long ago at a party at the next town’s roller rink. Vivien vaguely remembered the party, recalling the disco ball shining brightly overhead, the many falls to the wooden floor she had taken, and spending time with the birthday boy in the arcade after both of them had collided into a heap and scuffed up their knees. Despite the birthday boy being born a year before her, Vivien had grown up with him, both of them being in the same class from kindergarten to sixth grade and spending most of their evenings at the boy’s house, doing their homework together before battling each other to the death on different games his family had that Vivien’s didn’t. They were quite close, and, if Vivien remembered correctly, the boy’s birthday party was the last time she had seen him before his family’s move to Seattle.

Examining the photograph, Vivien found herself staring at a younger version of herself - metal-filled mouth and all - who sat beside a boy with dark hair that had only just begun to grow back in after his buzz cut, their matching green eyes shining as they gave each other bunny ears. As the puzzle pieces began to fall into place, Vivien looked up, finding those same green eyes shining back at her. Moving the phone up so that she could look between the two, Vivien breathed, “Noah?”

With a widening smile and a nod, he chuckled, “Hey, Vivien.”

Noah Michaels had certainly changed over the five years they had been apart. The once-geeky boy had transformed into someone who could have easily walked off of the set of some beach show. His previously buzzed hair was now long, he stood quite a bit taller, and, if Vivien had to guess, he had been working out over the years. However, that didn’t change the fact that she could vividly remember forcing him to dress up as Anna from Frozen when they were seven so that she had someone to perform with at the school talent show when her friend Ivy got the flu the day before. Regardless of how much had changed over time, Noah was still the dumbass she had grown up with.

“I thought you guys moved out to Washington,” Vivien claimed as she handed back the phone.

“We did,” he confirmed. “Seattle to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to some small town in New Jersey, and from there back to Lisbon.”

“You live in Lisbon now?”

“Mhm,” Noah hummed. “Dad left the military, and we decided to move back to the area to be closer to family.”

Vivien nodded, sparing a glance at the cabin as the front door creaked open, and a barely alert Royce made his way outside. Turning back toward Noah, she asked, “So, what brings you to camp?”

He chuckled, “I ran into some of the guys from school and they were telling me that they were going to work the summer here, so I decided I’d try it out too. What about you?”

“My grandparents own the place, so I’m here every year,” Vivien replied as Royce neared her. Stretching out an arm, Vivien pulled her boyfriend close, allowing him to kiss her cheek before turning back to Noah and saying, “Noah, this is my boyfriend, Royce. Royce, this is Noah; we grew up together.”

“Nice to meet you,” Royce yawned, holding out a hand.

Noah was quick to latch on with a smile, “Likewise, man.”

Royce eyed the tattoo with a raised eyebrow and asked, “Is that from Spider-Man?”

As emerald eyes glimmered, Noah nodded, “Yeah, it’s the Tobey Maguire one. I got it for my birthday back in October.”

“Nice,” Royce commented, stifling another yawn as he turned to Vivien and smiled. “Were you out swimming for a long time?”

“I’m not sure,” she shrugged. “It was around five when I got up.”

“It’s six-twenty,” Noah claimed, checking his phone before clicking it off again.

Vivien chuckled, “I guess I was out there longer than I thought.”

The three stood around almost awkwardly for a while before Noah grinned and said, “Well, I’ll let you two spend some time together. I’m going to get my morning swim in.”

“Since when do you swim?” Vivien questioned as Noah set his shirt and cell phone on the edge of the pier. “Last I knew, you sink like a rock in any body of water.”

Noah let out a bark of laughter, “I used to, yeah. I took swimming lessons in LA and ended up joining a swim team last year. I’m hoping to do a triathlon in a year or two.”

“Holy shit, man!” Vivien laughed. “I don’t even know what I want to do in an hour or two, let alone a year or so.”

Noah chuckled, running a hand through his hair and pushing it out of his face, “Yeah, well, I’m hoping to compete with my dad at some point, so I’m trying my hardest to prepare for the day when it comes.”

“Ah,” Vivien breathed, nodding in understanding. “Well, in that case, I suppose we better let you get to it.”

“Thanks. I hope you guys have a good rest of your morning,” Noah smiled. Turning his focus onto Royce, he added, “It was nice meeting you, Royce.”

“Yeah,” Royce nodded as the other boy headed toward the water. “It was nice meeting you, too.”

With a final wave to her friend, Vivien took Royce by the hand and guided him back toward the lodge, allowing him to sit on the wooden porch swing at the front of the building as she took advantage of the outdoor shower on the side. As Vivien recalled stories from her childhood with Noah, Royce watched the taller, older boy swim across to the other side of the lake with ease. Royce laughed distantly as Vivien made a joke about cake and water balloons as he watched Noah glide across the water. If that had been him, Royce would have had to stop time and time again to catch his breath and try not to panic as large fish brushed his legs. Back home, he had no problem in the water as sea creatures kept their distance from the crashing shoreline, but after accidentally kicking a fish in the lake the night before and feeling its slimy scales glide across his leg, the thought of it happening again made Royce’s skin crawl. How Noah was handling himself so well, Royce had no idea, but he was impressed all the same.

As Vivien finished washing the lake water smell from her hair, Royce moved so that she could sit beside him and the pair watched the sky glow in an array of hues until it was almost time for breakfast. Sitting beside Vivien as he stabbed a piece of his pancake with a fork, Royce wasn’t too surprised to see Noah approach them with a smile, asking to join them for the first meal of the day. After going through a round of introductions, most of the people at the table fell into an easy conversation with Noah, listening to him recount stories from his adventures over the years. When Royce later asked if Vivien wanted to join him in the library, he was only mildly disappointed that she had already promised Noah that she would show him around the campground. After giving her a hug and wishing her a fun time with her friend, Royce watched them leave with a small smile before heading to the library to lounge around for a while.

When it began raining after lunch, Royce was sure she would return to the lodge to lounge in the living room and play cards with him and Bentley. However, he didn’t see her again until dinner when she and Noah burst into the mess hall soaking wet and laughing about something nobody else had any clue about. Happy to see his girlfriend enjoying herself with an old friend, Royce simply sat and listened as the two rambled on about all that they had done throughout the day. After the meal was over, the two finally split off and Vivien chattered on about the fun she’d had with the older boy for a while before eventually settling in on the living room with Riven, Royce, and Bentley. The quartet played a rather intense game of Monopoly that went well past lights-out, but nobody else in the lodge said a word as they were far more interested in who would win the game than they were about what hour it was.

Riven got sick of having to pay Bentley every turn and “accidentally” flipped the board as he exasperatedly laid back on the floor, coincidentally kicking the coffee table instead of Bentley’s thigh. With the game over, the cabin mates went their separate ways, heading to their bedrooms to change after wishing each other a good night. Once he was changed into his pajamas, Bentley headed for Royce’s room, sitting on the bed while Royce picked out an outfit for the next day. Royce listened with a smile as Bentley rambled about his day, having spent most of it attempting to mold a lump of wet clay into a vase in the pottery barn. Then, a simple statement caught his attention.

“Then, when Viv and her friend came in, I stopped for a while and we hung out,” Bentley claimed, tossing a hacky sack he’d gotten from the activity shed into the air and catching it in the other hand.

“Oh yeah?” Royce wondered as he turned toward Bentley with a smile. “What did you guys do?”

Bentley shrugged, “Noah painted for a while with Viv and then he helped me cut the clay I wanted to work with since I had taken too much and it kept falling in on itself.”

“That’s cool,” Royce commented as he moved to sit on the edge of his bed. “What do you think of him?”

“He’s pretty cool, I guess,” Bentley offered. “I’ve only known him for a day, though.”

“Yeah,” Royce nodded. “Kind of hard to have an opinion after just a day.”

Bentley hummed, “But if Viv trusts him, I do too.”

Royce adjusted his pillow as he nodded. Bentley was right; although it had only been a day, Noah had gained everyone’s trust because Vivien knew him. It was a quick adjustment, but an easy one. Though he hadn’t spent much time with Noah, he seemed to be a good companion for Vivien outside of the people she now shared a cabin with. Royce smiled to himself as he relaxed into his mattress, glad that his girlfriend had another friend on the grounds of her family’s camp for the summer. Seeing her so excited to have reignited an old friendship made Royce happy all the same. Taking in a deep breath, Royce tried to think of ways he could try to get to know Noah better, wanting to put in an effort to become friends with Vivien’s old schoolmate.

Perhaps things were easier said than done.

Mondays were the one day every week Miles always dreaded. It wasn’t just the typical, “Monday means back to work or school, therefore, it sucks,” type of deal either, it was something much more than that. Regardless of whether or not he had to do anything, something always seemed to occur on a Monday to make him want to do nothing more than slam his head against a wall. It could be something as simple as his alarm not going off and it would still send his entire day down the drain. Sure, there were a few odd days where nothing would happen and he would simply be on edge all day, waiting for the inevitable, only for it to never come, but those were few and far between.

Today just so happened to be one of those rare days.

He had gotten up just before the camp’s speaker system began to play Highway to Hell, pushing himself from the blankets just as the song cut off halfway through and Vivien’s grandmother came over the speaker with an apology before starting a new song; he had arrived at the mess hall just in time for a new pot of coffee to be made available, earning himself a fresh cup of hot coffee that somehow managed to wake him up more than two cups of espresso could; his assignment for the day was to work in the fitness center, managing everything from the desk unless asked otherwise; and, to top it all off, he had free time to work on the song he and Vivien had been working on in their free time. As far as Mondays go, it was clear to Miles that this one far surpassed any other. However, that just set him even further on edge than he already was.

Miles wouldn’t say he was necessarily surprised when Vivien’s friend, Noah, crossed the threshold into the fitness center, but he was a bit taken aback to see Vivien with him. As far as he knew, the closest Vivien had come to working out was her time on the ice at her skating rink and her ballet classes, but as she followed the taller male to a leg press machine and instructed him on how much weight to add, Miles smirked to himself. He knew Vivien had legs of steel - she had to in order to be such an impressive skater - but it wasn’t until she easily out-pressed her friend, that he realized just how strong she was.

By the time it was nearly noon, Miles had watched the pair go through most of the machines, competing to see who was stronger or faster. From just over his notebook filled with musical notes, Miles watched the two argue about who ran further than who on the treadmill over the duration of a single song. With a shake of his head, Miles went back to working on his music until a hand grabbed the top of the book and he was forced to look up at Vivien’s cockily grinning face.

“Can I help you?” he drawled.

“I need an impartial person to keep track of my distance because someone-” Vivien glared over her shoulder at her friend, “-keeps restarting my machine when the song is over.”

Glancing at the green-eyed boy who didn’t bother wiping the mischievous smirk from his face before turning his gaze back toward Vivien, Miles sighed, “Do I have to?”

Before Vivien could answer with a sassy remark - because, yes, he did have to do his job - Noah spoke up, “You’re the one who’s currently in charge of the gym, aren’t you?”

Miles presumed that the boy’s remark was probably intended to be a humorous quip, but he found nothing overly funny about the teenager’s deadpan delivery. If anything, the boy sounded serious about the question. The only reason he gave the boy the faintest breath of a chuckle was because of the short snicker Vivien gave and, even then, it was obvious his reaction was forced. After giving Noah a quick once-over, Miles’ gaze flickered to Vivien and he placed his notebook on the table before rising from his seat. “I’ll be there in a minute,” Miles claimed with a nod.

Vivien gave Miles a quick smile before turning to Noah and saying, “Why don’t you go ahead? I have to tell Miles about something his girlfriend said this morning while he was too busy snoring into his coffee cup.”

Noah let out a short snort and nodded, “Yeah, alright.”

As Noah walked off, Vivien stayed glued to her spot before the desk and, once he was far enough away, she turned to Miles again before softly saying, “Noah isn’t the best at jokes.”

“I noticed,” Miles muttered, glancing at the boy.

“He’s trying,” Vivien offered. “He’s been homeschooled for a long time and I think it kept him from making a ton of friends. I think he’s just trying to navigate everyone’s sense of humor. It may not sound like it sometimes, but I promise, he is trying.”

From the moment he had heard about Noah, Miles was more than a bit apprehensive to accept him. While he wanted nothing more than for Vivien to be excited to spend time with her old friend, the way Royce’s eyes dulled ever-so-slightly while Vivien’s glowed as she sang the boy’s praises at the breakfast table, made an uncomfortable pit begin to grow in Miles’ gut. Despite his instincts screaming at him to tell Vivien he felt off about the boy she was so delighted to spend time with, Miles could see just how eager she was for him to accept her friend. So, as he swallowed his commentary for the time being, Miles took in a deep breath and reached across the table to nudge Vivien’s shoulder.

“Relax, kiddo,” he began as he rounded the desk. “I get it. I’ll pass the message along to the others to make things easier for him.”

“Really?” Vivien questioned. “You would do that?”

“Of course,” Miles agreed. “Now, let’s get this race over with before lunch.”

Vivien beamed, sliding an arm around Miles as they walked toward the waiting treadmill, “Merci, Miles.”

Bringing an arm around the brunette’s shoulders, Miles grinned, “Toujours, Vivien.”

Once the lunch announcement echoed throughout the camp and the fitness center was empty, Miles gathered his notebook and drink and left for the mess hall where almost everyone from their cabin was already sitting around their typical lunch table. As Miles joined the line of people waiting to fill their plates with food, he glanced over at the table where Royce sat between Vivien and Bentley, the three of them laughing and talking as they always did. The trio looked up as a familiar head of golden brown hair approached, but instead of continuing on to sit with the other workers he was bunking with in one of the cabins on the far side of the camp, Noah took up a spot across from Vivien.

Taking in a breath and forcing himself to smile as the kids noticed him looking over at them, Miles jumped as a hand landed on his shoulder. Chuckling, Vivien’s grandfather removed his hand as Miles turned to face him, “Just me, son.”

“Sorry, sir,” Miles apologized as he placed a slice of pizza on his plate.

“Don’t be,” the man brushed off. “And, Miles, you don’t have to call me sir.”

Peering at the man from the corner of his eyes, Miles chuckled nervously, “I’m not sure what else I would call you.”

“Most of the counselors call me Chief,” George suggested, glancing around cautiously to see if his wife was watching before adding another two slices of pizza to his plate. Turning back toward Miles with a bright smile, the man placed a hand on Miles’ arm and continued his previous train of thought, “Vivien and some of her friends, however, call me Grandpa George. The choice is yours, son.”

Smiling at the man’s gesture, Miles nodded, “Alright, then. Thank you.”

“Of course,” George said, patting Miles on the arm before stepping around him. “Now, would you care to tell me what’s going on in that head of yours?”

“What do you mean?” Miles wondered.

George’s eyes shone knowingly as he met Miles curious stare. “You’re worried about something. I want to offer help if I can.”

With a heavy sigh, Miles glanced at his plate before looking over to where Bentley and Royce were listening to Vivien and Noah blather on about their day, “I’m not sure it can be helped, really.”

“Ah,” George breathed, following Miles’ line of sight to where his granddaughter and her friends sat. “You’re worried about Noah coming between Vivien and your brothers.”

Whirling around to find George once again, Miles asked, “How did you figure that out?”

“I’m old,” George shrugged. “I see things clearer now than I did when I was your age.”

“Tell that to your eye doctors,” Dawn commented as she joined them. Turning her gentle gaze onto Miles, she smiled, “Truthfully, Miles, you don’t have much to worry about when it comes to Vivien.”

“It’s not necessarily her that I’m worried about,” Miles admitted.

“Noah, then?” Dawn presumed. When Miles relented a nod of confirmation, she shook her head. “Long ago, when they were still just children, we all used to say that the two of them would be a cute couple. Nowadays, however, I couldn’t say the same.”

George nodded, “They’re good friends, sure, but there is nothing romantic between them on either side.”

“How can you be so sure?” Miles asked. “All day yesterday and today, he’s been attached at her hip.”

Dawn found George’s eyes and sighed, “That might be my fault. I asked Vivien to show him around this week and help him feel more comfortable. He’s shadowing her until Sunday. After that, I believe we’re setting him up as a lifeguard at the pool.”

“So it’s just for this week?” Miles asked.

Dawn hummed as George nodded, “It should be, yes.”

Reassured that things would return to normal by the end of the week, Miles smiled and thanked the older couple before making his way to the table where everyone was listening to Bentley talk about how someone got slammed in the face by a basketball earlier in the day. Once lunch was over and everyone was allowed some free time, Miles accompanied his brothers to the art barn, where Bentley proudly showed them how he managed to make a lopsided bowl that he insisted Miles could put by the door to hold his keys. After spending a few hours messily attempting to make something out of a lump of clay, the dinner bell rang and they cleaned things up before leaving to see what was being served in the mess hall.

Later that night, when Miles was sitting on the joined section of the pier with Royce and Bentley to watch the sunset, he took in a deep breath and turned to Royce and asked, “So, what do you think about this Noah guy?”

“He’s alright,” Royce shrugged, swinging his legs back and forth in the water. “He’s not overly talkative with anyone other than Vivien, but he’s getting better at talking with me and Benny now that we’ve hung out a little.”

Miles hummed, “Viv’s grandparents said that he’s shadowing her for the week to see if that helps him get more comfortable with people.”

“They picked a good person to help him,” Bentley said. “She’s one of the most outgoing people here.”

With a chuckle, Miles nodded, “Yeah. I guess they were really close as kids, so I guess that helps.”

“Viv said that, when they were little, a lot of people thought they would be together at some point, but that she thought it was weird,” Bentley claimed.

Ah, so Bentley had been worried about it too. Miles fought to keep himself from grinning at just how secretly protective his baby brother had gotten to be. “Her grandma told me something similar,” Miles agreed.

Dodging the obvious question of his thoughts on the matter, Royce turned to his brothers and smiled as he said, “They were talking about doing archery with us tomorrow. Maybe we can try to help him open up more while we’re hanging out.”

Miles shared a subtle look of disappointment with Bentley before turning to Royce with a smile, “That sounds like a great idea, RJ.”

“Yeah, because there’s nothing like getting someone to talk when you’ve got a weapon in your hands,” Bentley sarcastically claimed, earning himself an elbow from Miles.

Despite his best efforts, Bentley arose early that Tuesday morning, finding himself alone with a note on the table beside his bed that told him Royce and Vivien were going to spend the morning sitting on the porch and reading together. Unlike Royce and Vivien, he never liked rising early or using the morning to do anything productive. If he could have done so, he would have rolled over and slept in until at least eight or nine. However, he knew the wake-up call would come over the camp’s speakers sooner rather than later, so he pried himself from the comfort of his blankets and drowsily pushed himself to venture down the stairs.

True to the note they had left, Bentley found Vivien and Royce sitting on the porch swing together, a book open between them as Royce read aloud. As Bentley stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind him, Royce paused his reading, smiling at his younger brother as he said, “Morning, Ben.”

“Mornin’,” Bentley mumbled, taking what space was left on the swing as Vivien slid closer to Royce.

As Bentley’s head fell onto Vivien’s shoulder and Vivien’s, in turn, dropped onto Royce’s, Royce chuckled and began reading once more, his soft, dulcet voice dragging Bentley closer to the brink of sleep. It wasn’t until Wouldn’t It Be Nice by The Beach Boys began playing over the speakers that Bentley realized he had fallen asleep. After attempting to pull Bentley away from his new sleeping spot, Vivien headed inside the lodge and dragged Riven outside, getting her skating partner to pull Bentley from the swing. Riven went a step further, however, picking the half-asleep boy up and settling him on his back before making the journey to the mess hall a while behind the others.

Bentley’s nonsensical mumblings about wanting to go back to bed did nothing to steer Riven back toward the lodge, instead making the older boy chuckle, “If I had the choice, I’d be right there with you, half-pint, but Vivien dragged us into this, so we’re going to have to see it through.”

Scoffing as he rested his chin on Riven’s shoulder, Bentley huffed, “It’s not like it matters. She’s gonna spend all day with Noah anyway.”

“You don’t like Noah?” Riven questioned quietly.

Bentley’s noncommittal noise did little to answer, but he soon decided, “He’s nice and all, but Miley and I think Royce is a little bothered by him having Viv all to himself.”

Riven hummed in understanding, giving the young blond a nod as he thought things over. Ever the observant one, Riven had quickly found Royce sitting a bit quieter at meal times when Noah was around. It didn’t take a genius to see that, whether Royce knew it or not, he was at least a little bothered by the boy’s presence. Choosing to steer away from the topic until he had looked more into it, Riven asked, “Is Miley what you call Miles?”

With a nod, Bentley muttered, “Me, Royce, and sometimes Viv.”

Letting out a confused chuckle, Riven wondered, “Why sometimes?”

“He gave her permission to call him that when she stayed with us over vacation,” Bentley claimed, “but she says she only calls him that when there’s an emergency or if she needs help.”

“Has she ever called him Miley?”

“Twice that I know of.”

“What happened?” Riven asked.

“The first time she called him that, Miles wasn’t too thrilled,” Bentley snickered. “She was doing it to tease him and he explained that was a nickname that only Royce and I could use.”

“But now she can use it?”

“Yeah,” Bentley nodded, “but she’s only done it once since then that I know about.”

Riven nodded, attempting to recall whether or not he had been there when Vivien had called Miles by his nickname. When he couldn’t, he softly asked, “Was that in your world or ours?”

Just as Bentley opened his mouth to answer, the realization of what Riven had said hit him like a brick wall. Instead, his mouth slowly closed and, as Riven peered back at him, he forced a small smile and asked, “You mean our state or yours?”

“No,” Riven chuckled. “I know what I said.”

“What do you mean?” Bentley chuckled. “We don’t live in another world.”

Smiling knowingly as he stepped over a tree root that stuck up out of the ground, Riven smiled and shook his head, “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a terrible liar?”

“Yeah,” Bentley sagged. Glancing at Riven’s hazel eyes, he asked, “When did you figure it out?”

“A while ago,” Riven shrugged. “Don’t worry, though; I never told Vivien or Mick about it. I haven’t told anyone about it, actually.”

“I wasn’t overly worried about that, actually,” Bentley smiled.

Riven smirked, “They already know, don’t they?”

“They do,” Bentley confirmed. “But if you want to surprise them with the fact that you know, I won’t say anything to them.”

With a chuckle, Riven nodded, “I could have some fun with that.”

A brief round of laughter filled the air between the boys, before Bentley wondered, “So, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you figure it out?”

Sighing, Riven began, “I’d had an inkling that something wasn’t quite right when Pip seemed hesitant to show me pictures of her boyfriend. At first, I thought that maybe he was a criminal of some sort as Vivien had sort of dodged ever having a ‘teenage rebellion’ phase, but when I was eventually shown a picture of this kid who looked like he couldn’t hurt a fly, I was more than a bit suspicious.”

“Understandable,” Bentley nodded. “Did you look him up or something?”

“I tried to, with no results,” Riven confirmed. “Deciding that I would be getting nowhere fast if I kept pressing on like that, I let it go.”

“So, what happened?” the blond pressed. “How did you figure it out?”

“It was an accident, really,” Riven explained with a short laugh. “I bought a set of old beach movies from this shop my dad frequents with the idea to see if there was any way I could use some lines from them at the beginning of our song recordings.”

“Instead, you found us.”

The auburn-haired male nodded, “Right on the title screen when I put the DVD into the player.”

Bentley snorted, it seemed as though Riven and Vivien were more alike than he had previously thought. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

With a shrug, Riven admitted, “I figured you guys would say something when you felt ready to.”

“Viv wanted to,” Bentley claimed as Riven set him back on his feet, “but everyone else felt it was a good idea to keep it to ourselves until we figured out how to do it without freaking you out like we did Vivien.”

Chuckling Riven smirked as he asked, “I take it she didn’t take it too well?”

“She was pretty much shell-shocked at the time,” Bentley stated, “but it got better after she sat through the show and asked us about a million questions.”

“Typical,” Riven chortled.

As they made their way toward the front door of the mess hall, Bentley snatched Riven’s wrist and asked, “You’re not going to tell anybody, right?”

“Are you?” Bentley quickly shook his head, so, in response, Riven shook his. “Then, no. It’s our secret, half-pint.”

Glad to be able to feel somewhat closer to the older skater, Bentley made sure Riven sat beside him at the breakfast table, the blond eager to get to know him as something more than Vivien’s friend from practice. When Noah joined the table, Riven easily picked up on Bentley’s amiable unease, followed closely by how Royce’s energetic chatter about some book series he’d been enjoying in the library seemed to take a backseat to Vivien’s childhood friend’s tentative ramblings about swimming.

Although Riven could tell Vivien wasn’t nearly as enthralled by the sandy brunet’s talk of a triathlon as she was in the book her boyfriend was enjoying, it didn’t appear as though Royce could see the minute way Vivien’s fingers drummed on the table or how her attention seemed to flicker like a dying flashlight. When Royce chimed in with something to add to the conversation, Vivien’s incessant tapping stilled and her focus was solely on the curly-haired boy to her right - something Riven was sure went unnoticed by most of the people at the table. Trying not to make his observations known, Riven simply continued eating, allowing the others at the table to carry on with their morning conversations as he sat in near-perfect silence.

As they all began to clear the tables and prepared to head out to their stations for the first half of the day, Riven followed Bentley to the trash with a pile he had gathered. While they worked on draining the excess maple syrup from a few plates, Riven locked gazes with the blond and offered, “If you need my help talking to Royce about this, let me know.”

Bentley glanced over Riven’s shoulder, presumably at his brother, before finding Riven’s eyes once again. “Are you sure?”

Riven nodded, “I can try to get something out of him tomorrow when we’re both holed up in the health center.”

“Thank you,” Bentley breathed.

Smiling at the younger blond, Riven said, “Anytime.”

According to the schedule, Riven’s first Wednesday at Camp Wanamaker would be spent in the most boring building on the grounds - the health center. Hardly anyone ever ended up in the health center during the training week. At the most, maybe three or four people would come in asking for something to help their headaches or period cramps. Overall, it was a fairly boring spot until the campers arrived.

Children always brought chaos to camp. Splinters, twisted ankles, and the occasional tumble from the rock wall or smack to the face from a volleyball were fairly common when the children arrived. Without them wreaking all sorts of havoc on the grounds, the health center was quiet. The tedious chores of sweeping floors and taking inventory were taken care of fairly quickly in the morning and again at night, but once the typical tasks were done, there was nothing else to do. As Riven stared across the room to where Royce was occupying his type with a book he’d borrowed from the library, he let out a sigh.

Royce peered over the top of his book, finding Riven’s head tipped back as the older boy stared up at the ceiling. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m bored as hell,” Riven groaned. “This is, by far, the worst place to be holed up all day.”

“Tell me about it,” Royce huffed. “Today is my birthday.”

“How come you didn’t ask for the day off to go hang out somewhere?” Riven asked. “Chief would’ve let you go.”

“He also would have had to let out my brothers, Viv, and anyone else who wanted to spend the day with me,” Royce deadpanned. With a shrug, he said, “It’s not worth it anyway.”

“It’s your birthday,” Riven stated. “You should be allowed to do fun shit instead of being holed up in here with me all day.”

“It doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would,” Royce shrugged. Choosing to set aside his book in favor of distracting his girlfriend’s closest friend, Royce stood and crossed the room to sit on Riven’s desk. “What would you rather be doing?”

“Literally anything else,” Riven chuckled humorlessly. “I would even take archery at this point and we both know how that would go.”

Royce fought the smirk that wanted so desperately to appear. The day before, he had spent time at the archery station with the majority of his cabin mates and had seen Riven both try and fail to land a single arrow on the target. Clearing his throat and smiling at the auburn-haired boy, he offered, “Do you want me to run to the cabin and grab a deck of cards? You could beat my ass in poker for a few hours.”

Taking in a deep, contemplative breath, Riven nodded, “That could be fun.” Royce smiled and pushed himself away from the desk, but before he could get far, Riven suggested, “Why don’t you check in your desk first? I think Erica and I spent a few hours building a house of cards last year and we might have left the deck in one of these desks.”

Royce nodded, rounding his desk and pulling open each drawer, searching them before pulling a tattered cardboard box out of the second to last. Shaking the box victoriously, Royce beamed, “Found them.”

“Alright,” Riven smirked. As Royce grabbed his chair and wheeled it over to Riven’s desk, Riven cleared a spot on his desk. “So,” he began, “do you want to play blackjack or regular poker?”

Royce shrugged, “I’ve never really played either one, so I don’t know. Dealer’s choice, I guess?”

“I’ll teach you,” Riven said with a smile. “Blackjack would probably be a bit easier to start with since it’s just math.”

��Really?”

“Mhm,” Riven nodded, taking a piece of paper and a pen from his desk and writing out the card numbers on the paper. “You just have to get as close as you can to twenty-one points without going over.”

“That sounds easy enough,” Royce smiled.

Riven hummed, “Everything is its normal number apart from the aces and the royalty cards. Royal cards are worth ten and aces can be either one or eleven points.”

Royce looked over the paper as Riven turned it toward him. “The suits don’t matter?” he asked.

“Nope,” Riven declared with a smile as he pulled the cards from the box and began shuffling them. “Just try to get close to twenty-one. If you want another card to add to your deck, you say ‘hit,’ and when you think you’re close enough and don’t want to risk going over, you say ‘freeze.’ At least, that’s what my dad taught me.”

Royce nodded, watching Riven shuffle the cards a few times before asking, “Are you close with your dad?”

“Pretty close, yeah,” Riven claimed. “After my mom died a while back, he and I grew a lot closer. We’re all we have left, so we try to keep our relationship in good standing. Bentley said your mom died a while ago, too, right? Were you close with your dad after that?”

Royce took in a deep breath and sighed, “No. When our mom died, our dad went sort of off the rails - drinking and all that.”

“Is that why your brother didn’t take Chief up on his offer of a drink last night?” Riven asked as he placed two cards in front of Royce - one facing up and the other down.

“He offered Miles alcohol?”

Riven nodded, “He usually offers the older counselors a drink at some point just to sit around and get to know them better. It’s never anything hard - maybe a beer or something - but he takes one cabin at a time and offers them either something lightly alcoholic or a soda. I heard him talking with your brother when I was helping Bentley clean tables.”

“Do you know what he chose?” Royce questioned as he looked over his cards.

“A soda,” Riven stated. “Hit or freeze?”

Chuckling at the measly nine he had gotten, Royce said, “Hit, please.”

As Riven placed another card face-up on Royce’s side of the table, he continued with their previous conversation, “I think Chief gave him a can of cream soda and brought him back to the office to talk with him more.”

“I was wondering why he came back late,” Royce admitted as he recounted his cards. “I’m going to freeze there.”

“Good job,” Riven commented with a smile, taking a moment to look over his cards before adding another to his pile. “I’m frozen too. Let’s flip them and see who’s closer.”

As they both flipped their cards over, Riven smiled as Royce came out with a nineteen and his own hand managed to be just a point shy. “I won?” Royce wondered softly.

“You did,” Riven agreed, placing his hand of cards on top of Royce’s and pushing them to the side. As he flipped another set of cards onto the desk, Riven asked, “Do you think you’ll ever drink?”

Ryce was quick to shake his head, “I doubt it. After watching our dad spiral into drunken stupors more than once, I don’t think I want to touch the stuff.”

“Wise decision,” Riven applauded. “Vivien shares a similar opinion, but she’s had wine before.”

“She’s not old enough to drink,” Royce slowly mused, his head tilting to the side.

Riven smiled as he recalled, “It was an accident. We were screwing around in the winery and took some of the sample cups thinking they were punch for an upcoming wedding reception.”

Royce grinned, “What happened?”

“We got absolutely trashed,” Riven snickered. “Her mom was pissed while our dads were too busy laughing their asses off at us. I guess we both had guzzled about four cups of chocolate raspberry wine before they found us.”

“Holy shit!” Royce squawked.

“Oh yeah,” Riven laughed. “To make things even worse, Vivien started cussing at her parents - told her mom to fuck off and flipped her dad off.”

“How old was she?”

Riven glanced at his cards as he thought about his answer before replying, “I was almost ten, so she was maybe six or seven.”

“Wow,” Royce breathed. “I can’t imagine her doing anything like that, especially not so young.”

“Like I said, it wasn’t intentional,” Riven shrugged. “After that, she’s sworn off alcohol, but she does taste-test the season wines her family puts out every once in a while. It’s just not enough to get drunk on.”

Royce nodded and checked his cards, smiling as the image of a young, chaotic Vivien running around her family’s winery, drunk off her ass and flipping people off, filled his thoughts. “I guess she and I have more in common than I thought."

Spotting the opportunity to get his point across, Riven glanced over at Royce and nodded, “Add that to the list of reasons you shouldn’t be worried about her friendship with Noah.”

Freezing, Roycer slowly looked up, finding Riven’s calm stare aimed back at him. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Placing the deck of cards aside, Riven folded his hands together on the desk and leveled Royce with a small grin, “I can tell you’re bothered by how close they’ve been, whether you see it or not. Granted, you two have time together in the mornings and after dinner, but it bothers you, at least a little, that he’s been attached to her hip for the last few days.”

“I trust Vivien,” Royce stated firmly.

“And I’m glad you do,” Riven said placatingly, “but I’m not questioning how much you trust her. I just want you to know that it’s understandable if you’re uncomfortable with another boy, around your age, hanging around your girl all day, every day.”

“She and Noah are just friends and I know it wouldn’t go further than that,” Royce said, but to Riven, it almost sounded as though he was trying to convince himself of that. “Besides, he’s supposed to be shadowing her until the campers begin to show up. Even if the situation did bother me, which it doesn’t, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it.”

“You could, actually,” Riven claimed. When Royce’s curiosity became evident, Riven smiled and said, “I’ve known Noah as long as Vivien has; if it makes things better for you, I can always swap out with her.”

Before answering, Royce actually appeared to think on the idea, his eyes flitting around before finally stilling. With a shake of his head, Royce replied, “It’s only three more days.”

“Four,” Riven corrected. “The campers don’t come until Monday, so you have until Sunday night.”

“Still,” Royce sighed, “I can handle that. After that, things will go back to normal, and I can pretend this never happened.”

Riven examined Royce’s face and, despite having the intense urge to shake the boy until he relented, he couldn’t find any reason to. Royce’s steadfast expression gave Riven little wiggle room, but as he knew he had, at the very least, offered Royce an out if he wanted it, Riven chose to wave his white flag of defeat and picked up the deck of cards once more. “Alright,” he said, “but just remember what I said. I’m here if you need me.”

“Thanks,” Royce breathed, allowing a small smile to tug at his lips. “I appreciate it.”

“Of course,” Riven nodded. Adjusting his grip on the cards, Riven smiled as he asked, “Now, hit or freeze?”

It wasn’t often that Royce got the chance to spend one-on-one time with Mick. Most days, they were too busy with their individual interests and schedules, but that Thursday was something different. When Royce entered the downstairs section of the Lakeside Lodge, he found he wasn’t the only one awake. Mick had pushed the coffee table out of the way before putting her headphones on and beginning her usual morning exercises, but when she took notice of the young brunet, she smiled and invited him to join her. Shrugging, Royce set his book and cell phone aside before joining the woman.

They talked for a while about the different stretches Mick did every day, but there wasn’t much to their conversation apart from that. Breakfast came and went as uneventfully as it always did, but as Royce joined back up with Mick on the steps outside the mess hall, he found himself feeling almost excited to spend the day lifeguarding with her. Jade and Erica joined them at the pool after a while, having taken the time to go back to their cabin to put on clothing that would be more forgiving in the heat of the snack stand. While Erica and Jade took their spots in the little shack near the pool entrance, Mick and Royce perched themselves on one of the lifeguard chairs. There wasn’t much to do as most everyone had to work in other positions, but as the day grew hotter and the heat became more noticeable, a select few workers entered the pool to cool off from the heat of the sun.

Royce was grateful for the overhead umbrella they had over the chair to keep themselves cool from the heat, but as Mick climbed down from their perch and grabbed a pair of popsicles to snack on, he realized just how hot it had gotten. “Thanks again, Mick,” he said before sucking down some of the extra juice from the plastic tube.

“Of course,” she replied with a smile. “I wasn’t sure if it was you or Viv who preferred the blue raspberry ones.”

“We both like it,” Royce shrugged. “She just prefers watermelon.”

As Mick nodded, she sighed thoughtfully, “I think I’m the only one in the entire cabin who likes the banana-flavored ones.”

“Is that what the yellow ones taste like?” Royce questioned. When Mick nodded, Royce laughed, “I thought they were lemon!”

Mick made a face of disgust and shook her head, “Ew, no. Lemon-scented anything makes me think of cleaning supplies; that’s why I picked the box with the banana-flavored pops.”

“Huh,” Royce chuckled. “Learn something new every day, I guess.”

“I guess so.”

The pair sat in near-silence as the few people in the pool took turns blasting each other with sprays of water. Taking another bite of his popsicle, Royce allowed his thoughts to fill his head as he stared off into space. After the conversation he’d had with Riven the day before, he had continuously found himself deep in thought on the topic of Noah and his relationship with Vivien. While Royce was confident in his trust of Vivien and knew he had nothing to worry about on her end of things, he couldn’t exactly say that he had the same trust in Noah. He hadn’t known the other boy for a full week yet and his apprehensiveness with the boy’s presence was becoming more and more obvious.

Slowly taking in a deep breath, Royce pulled his attention back to the present and looked over at the people swimming about in the crystalline water before him before turning his gaze toward Mick. As her neighbor, Mick was most likely to have known Vivien the longest. Maybe she would have some sort of insider knowledge on the situation. As he tried to think of a way to broach the situation, Royce heard a laugh that drew his attention away from the older girl. Finding Vivien laughing as she walked with Noah toward their station at the tennis court, Royce allowed himself to smile. Maybe he had no reason to worry about any of it. Maybe he was just overreacting. They were old friends, after all.

Mick seemed to have noticed the trio as she let out a soft laugh, “It’s so nice to see them together again.”

Shifting his gaze from the pair to the brunette beside him, Royce asked, “Who? Viv and Noah?”

Mick nodded as she turned to Royce with a smile, “Yeah. They were so close when they were little.”

“Mick said they went to school together,” Royce acknowledged.

“They did everything together,” Mick agreed. “No matter what they were doing or where they were, they were always together.”

Royce hummed, “So they were like me and Bentley when we first came to town?”

“In a way,” Mick shrugged. “You could never find one of them without the other.”

With a nod, Royce glanced back toward the pair, just barely catching Vivien throwing a tennis ball across the court at Noah, hitting him in the shoulder with a cackle of victory. He couldn’t quite make out what was being said between the pair, it was obvious that they were getting along as they always had. Noah picked up the ball and hurled it back across the net between himself and Vivien, cursing as Vivien dodged his throw and instead chucked another ball at him. Smirking at his girlfriend’s determination to pelt her friend with fuzzy, green balls, Royce chuckled, “They seem to be getting along well.”

“I’m not surprised,” Mick smiled. “The two of them were so close before that I bet it feels like no time has passed to them.” With a short, thoughtful chuckle as Vivien found a bag of tennis balls to assault her friend with, Mick claimed, “You know, a lot of people thought the two of them would end up together someday.”

The news had Royce’s attention at once. The thought brought an uncomfortable sinking feeling to his stomach and he was sure that, if he hadn’t been sitting, he would have fallen to the cement surrounding the pool. Nobody had told him this. How many people knew? Did Vivien and Noah feel that way as well at some point? As he watched the two on the tennis court laugh and screech insults at each other, Royce could see his girlfriend’s beaming smile and a tense strain of impending doom spread through his chest as Noah ducked under Vivien’s attack and brought his arms around her knees, hauling her over his shoulder while she squeaked at the sudden height difference.

“Really?” Royce wondered softly as he watched Vivien drop the balls she had collected in favor of thumping a fist against Noah’s back, begging to be let down.

Mick hummed, “Back then, I think everyone thought they would be a cute couple, but I can’t see it now.”

Allowing his gaze to fall on the brunette beside him, Royce asked, “You can’t.”

“I doubt anyone can,” she claimed as she turned toward him. “After all the time they’ve spent apart, they’re just getting accustomed to being around each other again. I think them spending so much time together now is just giving them a chance to get to know each other all over again.”

Royce nodded slowly, “Things have changed a lot since they last saw each other.”

“They have, yeah.” Mick glanced back at the pair as Vivien whacked Noah on the shoulder with her tennis racket. With a snort, she said, “One thing remains a constant, though.” When Royce’s eyebrow raised in a silent question, Mick said, “Vivien has no interest in him as anything more than her friend.”

“How can you tell?” he asked.

“Well, for one, it’s obvious how much she adores you,” Mick stated with a smile. “I’ve never seen her as happy as I have since she’s been with you. Two…” Mick shook her head, “I don’t think she’s ever seen him as anything more than a friend. The two used to beat each other up and harass each other on a daily basis, which, by the look of things, I don’t think has changed.”

“She’s like that with me sometimes,” Royce admitted.

“It’s different,” Mick stated. “With you, she’s gentle and, when she does shove you around, it’s playful and soft. With Noah, it’s like an actual fight; they know each other’s limits and dance around them with ease. To him, she’s one of the guys and he knows she can hold her own. To her, he’s another Riven - a sibling-like figure she can push around without worrying about getting in trouble for it.”

Once Royce felt as though he had absorbed the concept, he softly asked, “Is that why you think they wouldn’t make a good couple anymore?”

“That’s one of many reasons,” Mick chuckled with a nod, “but yeah, that’s the jist of it.”

Royce hummed and brought his melting popsicle to his lips before tipping it up and draining some of the juice from it. He was grateful it had been Mick that explained it to him. Most of the time, she made things make sense more than anyone else could. She had a way of explaining things that could make even the most tense person relax. He took in a deep breath and looked over the swimmers making laps in the pool before glancing over at Vivien and her friend. Royce smiled as he watched the two begin an easy-going match, sending the ball across the net - or attempting to, at the very least. Maybe Mick was right - he had nothing to worry about.

Friday, as it so happened, was campfire day at Camp Wanamaker and, as most of the campers were, Butchy was busy finding logs to burn. Though the camp had a storage area on the side of the main office filled with logs to burn, Vivien’s grandparents had given everyone the task of finding some wood to burn on their own. Some had ventured toward the lake in search of driftwood or fallen logs on the tree line, but Butchy had taken it upon himself to search the area around the amphitheatre as hardly anyone had headed there. With a collection of sticks and kindling, Butchy took in a deep breath and headed toward the fire pit that had yet to be started. Just as he set his pile down beside the circle of rocks, Royce came out of the tree line on the other side, pushing his way past some shrubbery with a grin and dropping off some wood to burn.

“Hey, gattino,” Butchy greeted, waving the younger boy toward him. “There are some good size logs where I was looking. Do you want to help me get some?”

“Sure,” Royce smiled.

Butchy smiled in return, bringing an arm around Royce as they headed back toward the trees. The pair talked as they walked through the woods, discussing everything from what they’d had for breakfast to some movie Royce was letting Vivien drag him to when they got the chance to leave camp for a few hours. As he loaded Royce’s arms with firewood, Butchy chuckled, “I don’t know what happened between you and Vivien, but I’m glad you two resolved whatever it was.”

“What do you mean?” Royce questioned as he followed Butchy to where a fallen tree blanketed the ground.

Butchy turned back to Royce and shrugged, “It just seemed as though the two of you were, I don’t know… a bit off the past few days. I just figured you two had sorted things out and that’s why it feels like you both are back to your normal selves.”

“We weren’t fighting or anything,” Royce stated. As Butchy laid a few small branches on the ever-growing pile, he said, “I just needed time to process her friendship with Noah, I guess. They were really close as kids and were spending a lot of time together the last few days, but I talked it over with a few people and I feel a lot better about it now.”

Butchy nodded, giving Royce a small grin as he recalled, “You know, Mickie and I had a similar issue a while back.”

Royce’s eyebrow raised as he asked, “You did?” When Butchy nodded in confirmation, Royce breathed, “Wow. I didn’t think that was possible for the two of you.”

“It’s possible for anyone,” Butchy stated. “Back then, our relationship was pretty secretive to anyone in her world and, when one of her closest friends came over for a visit, I was pretty tense. His name was Hudson and he would sit closer to her than he did to anyone else, they would talk about things I had no clue about and, when I tried to do things with them, it felt as though I wasn’t wanted.”

Pausing, Royce realized he had been in the exact same position. “That’s what happened to me with Noah,” he claimed. Shaking his head, he turned to Butchy and asked, “What happened?”

“Obviously, we were fine,” Butchy chuckled. “I found out they thought of each other as siblings. They had grown up together as their parents were close friends and had grown up treating each other as family. Just like with your situation with Noah, I found that I had nothing to worry about.”

Royce almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He couldn’t imagine Butchy having much of anything to worry about; he always seemed so sure of himself and, as far as appearances went, he could have found anyone to be with if things with Mick went to the wayside. However, the knowledge that even someone like Butchy had gone through something similar in his love life and still came out on top, was reassuring. Watching Butchy pile his arms full of branches and fallen tree limbs, Royce smiled, “Thank you, Butchy.”

“You’re welcome, gattino,” Butchy grinned, gently nudging the boy toward the amphitheatre. As they began walking, he added, “You had nothing to worry about in the first place.”

“What do you mean?” Royce asked as he turned to look back at Butchy.

Instead of answering directly, Butchy asked, “You know how they say the eyes are the windows to the soul?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, take a good look at how Vivien looks at you,” Butchy said with a knowing smile. “She loves you with all of her heart and it’s obvious.”

The idea had Royce smiling despite himself. He would just have to pay more attention to her eyes when he saw her next. Flicking his attention back to Butchy, he asked, “Are you sure?”

Butchy chuckled, shifting the wood in his grasp to one arm as he reached up to pat Royce on the shoulder, “I, of all people, would know. The two of you have a rare kind of love, bud. Don’t waste your time worrying about something that will only keep you from seeing what’s right in front of you.”

As Butchy gave Royce one last reassuring pat on the shoulder and continued on toward where they would soon be lighting the fire, Royce stood in place, grinning like an idiot to himself as he registered all that Butchy had told him. It was reassuring, to say the least. Pleased with the hopeful statements Butchy had given him, Royce turned to the camp and continued trekking through the woods, glad to be given more reassurance that he was on the right track. Once everyone returned from their searches for kindling, Royce took his seat on one of the wooden benches closest to the fire pit and allowed his smile to only broaden as Vivien sat beside him, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder.

The weekend, according to Royce’s schedule, were the days to dread most. The schedule for the first week had been easy enough to follow, but Royce had been silently dreading the weekend schedule he had been given. Whoever decided to pair him with Carrie in the playhouse on Saturday and in the kitchen on Sunday, had to have had it out for him. Although he had promised Miles he would at least try to be more civil with the blonde, he wasn’t sure that entailed him listening to Carrie sing show tunes all day.

After breakfast, they had made their way to the playhouse, Royce fighting the urge to tell the blonde to just be quiet as she sang some lyrics from a show she, Mick, and Vivien had made them start watching in the evenings. By the time they had finally gotten to their designated building for the day, they had met up with the other playhouse workers and Royce was subjected to hearing them blather on and on about which show they were hoping the camp would put together over the summer.

While Royce certainly cared about theatre - he had to with Vivien around - he wasn't very fond of the idea of being on stage in front of everyone and their families. He was more than willing to help out if they needed help painting sets or writing scripts, but having to memorize lines to be on stage would absolutely be outside of his comfort zone. When he made this fact known to the others, only one other person seemed to agree with him and, to Royce’s dismay, the ginger girl had nobody from her cabin with her to keep her participating and ultimately sat on the edge of the stage, more occupied with her cell phone than anything else.

After sending a few members of the group to the art barn for paints and other supplies, the group sat along the edge of the stage waiting for Vivien’s grandmother, Dawn, to arrive. They didn’t have to wait long as the doors to the barn were pushed open and Dawn took a moment to flip the doors’ respective stoppers down to keep them open. Making her way to the stage, Dawn smiled as she scanned over those present, “Well, it appears we have a full cast of players ready to help with stage prep today.”

One boy with blond-tipped hair hurried to offer Dawn a hand as she headed for the stairs on the side of the stage, “Ten in total, Nonna.”

“More than enough for today,” she commented as she stepped further onto the stage. As the workers moved into a line across the stage, Dawn examined them all briefly before smiling, “As I’m sure some of you have heard through the grapevine, we’re narrowing down our list of performances for the end-of-summer showcase.”

Murmurs of excitement passed over the group before Carrie raised a hand and asked, “Are we getting rid of more today?”

“Better than that,” Dawn said. “We’re narrowing it down to the final option.”

The boy with the blond-tipped hair - Royce was sure his name was one of those weird ones that his parents probably thought was different and creative, but was really just ridiculous - ran for the side of the stage, dragging back a whiteboard with five pieces of paper still taped to it. Each paper had a different show’s title and logo on it, but Royce couldn’t understand the hype as everyone else got excited about the listings. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he knew, was one of Shakespeare’s plays, but he couldn’t see many children sitting still long enough to enjoy it. Legally Blonde and Hairspray had made it to the finals, but, if he was going to be completely honest, Royce wasn’t surprised; the shows were energetic and fun - something they could captivate any audience with. Clue had made it into the mix and, although it wasn’t a musical, it was certainly a fun addition. The last show on the whiteboard was a show called Arsenic and Old Lace, but Royce wasn’t sure exactly what that show entailed.

Though Royce could claim he was intrigued, it appeared as though he wasn’t nearly as excited as some of the others present as Dawn reached up and hovered a hand over the different names. Anytime she came close to stopping over a certain one, there would be exclamations of shock or pleas for her to take something else from the board. Then, her first choice came like ripping off a bandage - quick and painless - and A Midsummer Night’s Dream was torn away, leaving a small piece of paper stuck to the tape that refused to peel away from the whiteboard. One by one, the names were pulled until only Clue and Hairspray remained.

As though she was on the edge of her seat, Carrie gripped the only thing close enough to her that wouldn’t fall over - Royce’s arm. The blonde’s claws dug into Royce’s arm unknowingly, but as Royce turned to glare at her and tell her to remove herself before he did, he saw the genuine excitement glimmering in her eyes and chose to hold off on his remarks, allowing her to use his arm as an emery board as Dawn reached for the last paper. Royce watched with mild anticipation as the older woman held both papers in her hands, but as she pulled both from the board, holding one above her head in victory, even Royce felt a surge of elation. Hairspray would have been his pick of the bunch anyway.

After giving a brief speech about the musical and how they had chosen it to allow some of the campers to perform as well, Dawn began dismissing them to different areas. “Marcus, Thalia, you two are on props. There is a large bin in the storage room that should have some of what you need. We’ll get donations for the rest.”

The redhead who had been on her phone throughout most of her time in the playhouse followed a short boy to the side of the stage, the two of them disappearing behind a curtain. The boy who stood beside Dawn said, “Kiran, Summer, you’re going to be helping us with the costumes. We’ve started on a few, but we need more help.”

Dawn smiled as a paid stepped from the crowd and moved toward the curtains to watch everyone else get sorted out. Another pair was assigned to see how many chairs they could fill the audience with and, before Royce knew it, the older woman was calling his name. “Royce and Carrie, you two are going to be working on painting set pieces with me.”

Royce’s brain stalled. Was she serious? Was she really telling him to spend the rest of his day with her and Carrie? Did Vivien not tell her about how strained his relationship with Carrie was? Maybe she had and the woman simply didn't care. No, Dawn seemed too nice to do something like that. Maybe Vivien put her up to it! That sounded like a more likely cause. Vivien was forever trying to get the two of them to work past things. He wouldn’t put it past Vivien to ask her grandmother for help moving things along.

Being caught up in his thoughts, Royce missed the older woman’s dismissal of another pair and only realized he was being left behind when Carrie nudged him and told him to follow them. Containers of paint and a few wooden boards were brought outside, and the trio sat around a picnic table to work on their projects. As they worked, Carrie and Dawn began talking about their enjoyment of musicals and theatre in general while Royce got to work on using an image from Dawn’s phone to help him paint a copy of the musical’s hairspray can onto a board. After a while of radio silence on the boy’s part, Dawn reached over the table and dotted the back of his hand with a splotch of yellow paint.

Royce glanced down at his hand before looking across the table at the woman with widened eyes. “I’m sorry, did you say something?” he asked.

Dawn smirked, “No, sweetheart. You’ve just been awfully quiet. Is everything alright?”

“I’m fine,” Royce claimed, perhaps just a bit too eagerly.

“Are you sure?” Carrie tried.

“Yeah,” Royce said. Although Carrie looked ready to press further, she simply took in a deep breath and sighed as she went on with her work, allowing Royce to continue on with his work. Dawn hummed thoughtfully, but left the subject alone as she continued painting. After a while, Royce couldn’t take the silence anymore and glanced over at the woman before asking, “Do we all have to participate in the showcase performance?”

Glad to have finally caught on to the root of the issue, Dawn set a soft smile on her face and nodded, “In some way or another, yes.”

“Do we all have to be on stage at some point?” Royce questioned. “I don’t like being on stage like that.”

Before Dawn could answer, Carrie smiled as she mused, “Miles isn’t a fan of it much either, but he’s gotten out of his shell at least a little since I’ve been with him.”

“Not like you gave him much of a choice,” Royce muttered under his breath.

Ignoring the snide comment directed toward the blonde, Dawn answered Royce’s previous question, “Even the people who worked on the set design go on the stage at some point.”

After a tentative pause, Royce seemingly resigned to his fate as he nodded and breathed, “Okay.”

As Royce rigidly returned to his painting, Dawn smiled gently and said, “You know, even my husband despises being on that stage sometimes.”

“Really?” Royce questioned.

Carrie nodded, “I would have thought he would be used to it after running the camp for so long.”

“Well, I’m sure part of his reasoning is that he knows I’ve concocted some sort of end-of-year prank for him,” Dawn claimed with a shrug, “but I know he detests being on stage anyway. I just don’t see how.”

“I can,” Royce scoffed. “Up there, you’ve got blazingly hot lights shining in your face, you have to memorize a bunch of songs and dances and know when to come in for them, and we can’t forget the fact that there are at least a zillion eyes on you, judging you at all times.”

Dawn nodded thoughtfully before smiling, “But this stage is different.”

“What do you mean?” Royce asked.

“This isn’t Broadway,” Dawn said with a reassuring smile. “Up there, there is no judgment if someone forgets what to say or do. I mean, hell, if you want a good example of that, go ask Chief to show you last year’s performance of The Play That Goes Wrong. That entire show was a trainwreck, but everyone loved it.”

Royce allowed the woman’s comments to sink in before he asked, “Nobody cares if you screw up?” When Dawn shook her head, Royce tacked on, “I thought you have to be perfect on stage.”

“Nobody is perfect,” Carrie said before Dawn could. “Everyone messes up at some point or another. On the stage, we’re merely players putting on a show. As long as you have fun and enjoy yourself on the stage, nobody will care how well things go as they’ll be more focused on your energy and acting.”

Dawn nodded in agreement, “The only thing we ask of everyone is that they try to have fun no matter what they do or don’t do on stage.”

“And, if it makes it any better,” Carrie began, “you’ll have everyone you love by your side - and me, of course - and we’ll all be rooting for you no matter what you do.”

For a fleeting moment, Royce had the instinct to correct the blonde on her statement, adding her to the group that he cared about, yet he bit his tongue, holding back the instinctual comment as he gave a sharp nod. The thought of the blonde being on the list of people he cared about had never occurred to Royce before - at least, not that he knew of - and the instinct to speak his mind on the topic had certainly never come around before, so Royce had no clue where it had come from. Brushing it off as something to do with Miles and Vivien’s incessant pleas for him to mend whatever imaginary bond they saw between himself and Carrie, Royce took in a deep breath and thanked both women with a smile before returning to his painting, not once bothering to wipe the yellow paint from the back of his hand.

Normal Sundays in the Murphy household were spent on the couch, watching cartoons while they ate a late breakfast. However, that rainy Sunday morning felt anything but typical as Royce rose early and made his way to the mess hall to begin working on the breakfast he and Carrie would be serving to the line of hungry counselors and other staff arriving within the hour. Carrie arrived not long after, pulling her hair into a bun of sorts before taking an apron from the hooks on the wall and joining Royce as he pulled a variety of food from the refrigerator.

“What are we making this morning?” she asked as Royce placed a gallon of milk on a nearby metal counter.

Royce turned toward Carrie before nodding to the whiteboard beside the fridge, “It’s on the calendar. The list of everything we need is on the paper taped to the wall next to it.”

After thanking Royce, Carrie made her way to where the listing was. Breakfast at camp was simple more often than not. There was always a selection of cold foods left out for the residents to make for themselves - cereal, microwavable oatmeal, yogurts, an assortment of berries, fruit salad, and bread for toast being left on a counter off to the side of where the rest of the food was kept in heated containers. It seemed as though the options for the day were going to be simple staples as everyone would probably end up scarfing down their food in favor of getting things ready before the campers were destined to arrive the next day. According to the list, eggs were to be either scrambled or placed in breakfast sandwiches, a minimum of fifty pancakes were to be made, and a smaller portion of breakfast tacos were to be made up, wrapped, and pinned with toothpicks before the arrival of the first counselors.

“I didn’t realize just how much food was being eaten every day,” Carrie claimed.

“Yeah, well, now that you realize it,” Royce began as he began cracking eggs into a metal bowl, “do you think you could get started on making something? I can handle the scrambled eggs for the tacos and everything if you want to start on something else.”

Carrie nodded wordlessly, taking an extra bowl from the set Royce had pulled from the cupboards and looking over the supplies before picking up a box of pancake mix. “‘Just add water’ pancakes? How is that supposed to make it taste good?”

Looking up from the eggs he had been whisking, Royce gave Carrie a disbelieving stare, “You weren’t complaining when you ate them yesterday.”

“Yesterday, they had blueberries in them,” Carrie retorted.

“Then add blueberries or chocolate chips or whatever you want,” Royce shrugged, turning back to his eggs as he brought them over to the griddle to cook them. “Just don’t go overboard; it’s supposed to be quick and easy so that we have it done by the time everyone gets here.”

Carrie nodded to herself as Royce turned his back on her, grabbing a measuring cup from the counter and tearing the bag of pancake mix open. Dumping the bag into the bowl, Carrie grabbed another and crossed over to the sink, pouring cup after cup of water into the bowl until she had enough to mix into the pancake powder. Carrying the bowl over to the counter, Carrie took her time pouring the water into the powder-filled bowl, but just as she was grabbing a whisk to mix everything with, the kitchen door swung open, and a head of golden brown hair entered the room.

Royce turned to see who had come to visit them, yet quickly got back to work as he spotted Noah’s usual smirk. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Isn’t this usual when you go out to swim?”

“Normally, yeah,” Noah agreed, observing Royce’s handiwork as he entered the room, “but Viv asked me to come and check on you guys while she’s at a short meeting with her grandparents this morning. She said you guys don’t always get along.”

“We don’t,” Carrie agreed as she stepped up to the griddle next to Royce’s and began pouring out the first of many pancakes, “but we know when to set that aside for the greater good.”

“Well, that’s good,” Noah chuckled. “I was worried I would have to start breaking up a fight or something.”

“Nope,” Royce said, trying desperately to focus on not scorching the eggs before him.

Noah hummed, watching the pair work in silence for a while, “You know, she always talks about you guys when we’re together.”

“She does?” Royce asked.

“Yeah,” Noah agreed. “She’s got some weird-ass nicknames for all of you, though. I mean, who calls someone named Bentley, Beemer? It’s not even the nickname for the Bentley car company. It’s for BMW.”

Taking in a slow breath, Royce fought to keep himself calm as he clenched his teeth and replied, “At the time, she couldn’t remember which company it was, but Bentley liked it, so we went with it.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Noah sighed. Giving a chuckle, he continued, “I think some of her nicknames are funny, though.”

Carrie leaned forward so she could see Noah as she smiled patiently and claimed, “I do too, but they’re individually hers, and she’s almost always sincere when she uses them.”

Royce peered over at Carrie, finding the blonde’s smile to be welcoming despite her eyes portraying her desire to get Noah out of the kitchen so that they could work in peace. As Royce turned back to his eggs, he found himself smiling at the thought of Carrie kicking Noah out through the swinging doors using some moves she’d had to learn for the spy show she was in recently. Shaking the thought from his head, he chuckled, “Even when Viv calls Riven an ass, she’s got some kind of fondness to it.”

“Yeah, I heard that the other day,” Noah snorted. After a moment, he claimed, “I’ve heard most of her nicknames when we’re with other people, but I have a few I can’t see the reasoning for.”

“Like what?” Carrie asked.

Noah didn’t hesitate as he asked, “Why does she call your older brother ‘Miley’?”

“What?” Royce pressed, pausing in his scrambling of the eggs.

“Just yesterday, while we were hanging out with him on the basketball court, she called him Miley and started teasing him about losing the ball to her,” Noah recalled. “I thought it was kind of stupid. I mean, who calls a boy by a girl’s name?”

Royce could feel the urge to tackle the teenager through the swinging doors rising with every breath he took, but before he had the chance to verbally demolish Noah for his lack of tact regarding Miles’ nickname, Carrie spoke up, “Actually, it’s a family nickname. His brothers have called him that since they were little and, naturally, Vivien picked up on it after a while.”

Either Noah didn’t pick up on the glare from Royce that would have driven him six feet under or he simply ignored it as he smiled and claimed, “That makes sense.” After a while of silence, he asked, “Is there anything you guys need help with?”

“No,” Royce stated firmly, ready to get the older boy out of the room before he did something that would result in him ending up behind bars.

Carrie plastered a smile on her face as she leaned forward and said, “If you want, you could restock the staple foods in the mess hall. Other than that, we’re all set.”

Noah nodded, giving a final departing statement before exiting the kitchen to grab things from the pantry to put out for the morning meal. As soon as he was sure that Noah was gone, Royce let out a sigh and let his head hang for a moment as he breathed in a breath of relief. Wanting to help the brunet by her side although she was unsure of how he would react to it, Carrie placed a hand on his back and rubbed a small circle between his shoulder blades before returning to the pancakes before her, adding some to the plates she had set aside. Once Royce had calmed himself a bit, he hurriedly scooped the eggs he’s been cooking into a heated plate that would keep them warm until the rest of the workers arrived.

As silence fell over the room, Carrie found herself glancing at the younger boy more often to check up on him, but as they finished their respective foods and worked on slicing open packages of sausage and bacon, Carrie asked, “I do have to ask, why do you call Miles that?”

Royce looked up at the blonde, finding himself giving her a small smile as he replied, “It was something our mom called him. If I remember correctly, it started as ‘Smiley Miley’ before fading into just Miley. Most of the time, Bentley and I call him that in order to either get out of trouble or let him know we’re hurting without outright saying it. Sometimes, though, it’s just to feel closer to our mom.”

Carrie smiled thoughtfully, distantly wondering what their mom was like. Maybe, in some not-so-distant world, she had already met the woman the Murphy boys loved so much. Maybe Miles had introduced them early in their relationship and the two got along like mother and daughter. Carrie wondered just how many things would be different in a world where the brothers never lost their mother. Shaking the thought from her head, Carrie turned to Royce and asked, “Now he lets Vivien call him that too, huh?”

Royce nodded as a beaming smile flooded his face, “She doesn’t do it often at all, but I guess she does it more to tease him than anything. He doesn’t seem to mind it, though, as it’s only happened a few times.”

Carrie glanced toward the door as she heard something being torn open on the other side. Noah was still working on filling the tray of other foods, it seemed. Turning back to Royce, she asked, “It bothers you when someone from outside of your family calls him that, though, doesn’t it?”

“Usually, yeah,” Royce confirmed. “Viv is an exception since she’s known him for a while.”

“Of course,” Carrie chuckled. “It only makes sense that, since he sees her as his family just as much as you and Bentley are, he would allow her to call him such a personal nickname.”

Almost surprised with the blonde’s easy acceptance of his statement, Royce grinned and nodded as he continued cutting open bacon pouches and setting them on a plate to bring to the griddle. After the meat was fully cooked and ready to go, the two settled into a rhythm as they worked on making breakfast for everyone. Once Royce was done filling a tortilla with eggs and a few strips of bacon, Carrie would add sausage and sprinkled cheese before wrapping them up and setting them aside.

As she took another wrap from Royce, Carrie said, “I know it probably won’t mean much to you, but I’m proud of you for not letting things with Noah get to you.”

Royce snickered, “It took everything in me not to jump across the counter; somehow, I don’t think I handled that all too well.”

Carrie shook her head with a smile, “I meant with him spending so much time with Vivien these last few days. It feels like he’s been up her ass this last week, and you’ve handled it with ease and grace.”

“I did?” Royce questioned.

“Regardless of whether or not you felt like you were, I think you were,” Carrie stated. “Most boys, especially in their teens and early twenties, are insecure in their relationships and get jealous easily, but you seemed so confident in your relationship with Viv that I never once thought I would have to get Miles to step in.”

As Royce slid two strips of bacon into the tortilla and handed it to Carrie, he sighed, “At first, I was only acting like I was alright with it, but after talking with Riven, Mick, and Butchy about things, I think I felt better about it all.

“Regardless of whether or not you were merely acting,” Carrie began, placing a hand on Royce’s arm with a smile, “I know it wasn’t easy, and I congratulate you for being so mature. It was very impressive.”

Finding nothing but sincerity in the blonde’s oceanic eyes, Royce allowed himself to smile as he muttered, “Thanks, Carrie.”

The two continued on with their task only a few minutes more, their hands stilling as the doors to the kitchen swung open and an out-of-breath Vivien entered, rambling about the meeting she’d been in as she threw an apron on. However, as she turned around and saw Carrie and Royce working together in a mostly-clean kitchen, no angrily thrown pans wedged in the walls or knives held to the other’s throat, the brunette stalled, her brain short-circuiting at the scene before her.

Looking around as though she was anticipating someone to jump out of a cabinet with a camera, telling her she was being pranked, Vivien asked, “Did I just enter the Twilight Zone or something?” Royce watched his girlfriend for a moment before turning to Carrie with an amused grin. As the pair locked eyes, they burst into laughter, only furthering Vivien’s confusion about the situation. With wide eyes, Vivien watched the two laugh as though her reaction had been totally out of pocket and softly muttered to herself, “Yeah, I definitely entered the Twilight Zone.”

#Camp Wanamaker

22 notes · View notes