Chapter Text
As the sun rose, so did David. He followed his regular routine- get up, brush teeth, shower (or not, depending on if the plumbing felt like working that day), and get dressed. The only difference was that the campers weren't here yet. They would be arriving shortly, and the eager counselor was itching to meet them and begin their summer of fun.
Gwen was, unsurprisingly, still asleep- she had gotten to camp just last night, whereas David had been here for two days now. He knocked on the door, calling into the room that it was almost time. A faint groan told him she was awake, so he continued his trek to the mail. There was very little in it, save for a letter. It was from Campbell- David's face brightened as he opened up the slip and brought out a hand-written , addressed to him in particular;
David,
I will, sadly, not be joining you and Gwen to greet the campers. Do not ask why, trust me, it's definitely all ok. But if anyone asks this letter does not exist.
I have gotten a letter from one of the parents asking the counselors to "ask for names and pronouns" when greeting the campers. I honestly have no clue what this means, but to avoid conflict, do that. I guess it can't hurt, despite how stupid it seems.
Remember, I DID NOT WRITE THIS LETTER,
Cameron Campbell
David was equally as perplexed as his role model seemed to be, but he shrugged off. As Campbell said, asking for names and pronouns can't be harmful! Even if David didn't know why they wanted that.
Gwen was still in her cabin when David heard the clanking of bus wheels on rocks and vague yelling of children. This wasn't super surprising- she rarely made it out in time for anything- so David was prepared to greet them himself.
The bus crashed to a stop, and the doors whooshed open. A small, brown-skinned girl pranced out. Fake elf-ears were perched on top of her actual ears, and she had donned a small wizard cap. Her grin showed gleaming braces, and she bent down to roll a pair of dice before explaining.
"This place is full of ! Dad was right, this will be an eventful summer!" The girl gathered the red dice and stepped up to David.
"Hello, young lady! I'm David, one of the counselors here!" He leaned down to her, and suddenly remembered the "non-existent" letter.
"Oh-uh, name and pronouns?"
The elf-girl looked shocked for a second, before her smiled returned at full force.
"Why thank you, kind sir! I'm Nerris, I use they/them pronouns!"
David turned his head, confusion apparent on his face.
"How exactly does that work?"
"Its like when you're talking about someone, but you keep them a secret! So like, instead of "she was there", you'd say "they were there", get it? It's what people who aren't boys or girls use a lot!" Nerris said, hands on hips. David bit his lip, confused still, but smiled. If that's what she- they!- wanted!
"Alrighty, Nerris!"
Nerris seemed content with the conversation, and was soon followed by an angry-looking young girl and a curly-haired boy.
"Hello there! I'm David, a counselor! What are you're names? Uh- and pronouns?" David mentally reprimanded himself for almost forgetting.
The girl seemed to mumble something to the ground like "they do that here?" before looking up at David.
"I'm, uh... Max. Yeah. Max. And I use..." Max took a deep breath in. "He/him pronouns. Ok, you weirdo?"
David blinked, confused on how this girl was a boy, but again saved the questions till later. "Howdy Max!"
Max almost smiled- almost- and walked over next to David.
The rest of the greetings went either way- surpising, like with Max and Nerris, or normal, like with Neil, Nikki and Harrison. David felt lost in the answers they gave, lost in certain pronouns he didn't know how to use and lost in kids who's bodies didn't seem to match their responses. But he continued, and led the kids through an exciting tour of the camp. Gwen eventually met up with them when they got to the mess hall, sluggishly waving hello as she waited for her coffee to brew.
When the kids left to figure out their tents and unpack, David started talking to Gwen about his experience with Nerris and Max.
"It's simple, Davey. Nerris is nonbinary, and Max is probably a trans boy. Or transmasculine."
David stared blankly at the girl across from him.
"Ugh. David, c'mon, you're twenty four! How do you not know this? I'M transfeminine! Look it up, I'm going to go make sure they haven't set fire to their tents already."
David was left at the table they had been sitting at, dumbfounded. Nonbinary? Trans? What?
Following Gwen's advice, he went to his room and got out his phone- something he tried not to use during the day- and typed in "what does trans mean?" to google. He watched it load, almost excruciatingly slowly. Normally he wouldn't mind much, but right now he felt desperate for the knowledge. Finally, the page came into view, and David started to read.