Chapter Text
Keith grumbles, still half asleep, as he's being rudely wakened by his alarm clock. He stretches his limbs and yawns, before he rolls onto his side and checks his phone. 6:32am, it reads on the dimly lit screen. Keith groans; he's got about an hour left, before his brother - Shiro - comes and picks him up to go to camp together.
Ah yes, Camp Voltron. A lovely little summer camp somewhere in the middle of nowhere about a ninety minute drive away from the nearest town. Shiro has been working there as one of the camp counsellors for six years in a row now and has tried to convince Keith to come with him countless times. Keith, being in no way, shape or form a summer person, has never once in his life stepped a foot anywhere near the camp. Until now.
After hearing his brother talk about the camp again and again and again, never running out of new stories to tell and pictures to share with his little brother, Keith eventually agreed to come with him to Camp Voltron. He wanted to know what his brother's excessive enthusiasm was all about. It's just a shitty camp, full of shitty kids. Can't be that great, he had thought, but agreed nonetheless. To say Shiro is excited to have his brother come with him, is a huge understatement. Shiro is thrilled, exhilarated and hasn't stopped talking about it since Keith had agreed to come. And now the day has finally arrived.
Keith tries his best to make his hair look at least somewhat decent, but fails pathetically and eventually decides to go with a messy man-bun. "Doesn't even look too bad", he mutters as he looks himself over in his mirror. His outfit isn't anything special; black jeans, dark grey t-shirt and a denim jacket on top and, of course, black fingerless-gloves. He can't even remember the last time he left the house without those gloves.
As soon as he steps outside the front door, he immediately regrets his decision to come with Shiro to camp, when he feels the early morning sun hit his face. It's only 7:30 in the morning, yet it's already burning hot outside. Keith ponders whether he should go back inside, crawl under his blanket and not come out until summer is over, but before he can make his final decision, Shiro's Pickup Truck comes to a hold right in front of Keith.
"Ready for camp?", he asks excitedly, leaning out of his car's window.
Keith stares at him for a moment. Shiro was made for the summer. He's wearing a tanktop, that displays his arm muscles perfectly, cargo shorts and on top of his fluffy, white hair sits a pair of sunglasses. Shiro looks stunning. As always. Keith always feels extremely self-conscious in the presence of his brother and it has become a habit of his to unconsciously cross his arms in front of his not-so-muscular chest whenever he's anywhere near him. He looks Shiro straight in his dark grey eyes and sighs defeatedly. "I don't think so, but-", he says and unfolds his arms, but Shiro cuts him off mid-sentence.
"Oh, come on, Keith! How many more times do I have to tell you that you'll have a great time." Shiro seems a tad disappointed, but only for a split second, before his bright smile reappears on his face. "Plus, if it turns out, you don't like it there, you can make fun of me for crushing on Adam as much as you want all summer long. Not in his presence, though!"
Keith bites back a grin. Shiro has had a crush on one of the counsellors -Adam- since his first time at camp. They're good friends now, but Shiro's crush never abated. Every year -especially in the weeks right before and after camp- Keith has to listen to Shiro's lovey-dovey fuss and it takes every ounce of Keith's being not to laugh at his brother's amorousness. It's nice to see Shiro in a not-so-serious state of mind, though. Whenever someone so much as mentions Adam's name, without even talking about Shiro's Adam, he gets all flustered and shy. This moment is no exception.
Keith smirks at his brother. "For real? Could have told me that earlier."
Shiro smiles back. "Don't overdo it, though, unless you want your butt kicked in literally every single camp activity."
His brother rolls his eyes in return. "You wish, dude. You know exactly that I, the great Keith Kogane, am undefeated in Capture The Flag."
Shiro laughs it off and mentions for Keith to get in the car. "Alright. Now take your junk and get in the car already. You don't wanna be late on your first day, do you?"
***
They don't talk much on the way to camp. Shiro is listening to an audio book and Keith, not at all interested in the story, is looking out of the window, not really listening to the music, blasting through his headphones. He can't stop thinking about everything, that could possibly go wrong; the thoughts just keep coming and Keith sees no way to stop them. What if I die? What if one of the kids dies? I could get lost in the woods and no one would find me and I would starve to death and-. His train of thought is interrupted by Shiro's calming voice.
"Only ten more minutes", he cheers and playfully hits his brother's shoulder.
Said brother flinches at the sudden touch. He takes his headphones off and turns to look at Shiro. "Pardon?"
Shiro glances at Keith, before returning his attention back to the traffic. "Hey, uh- are you ok, buddy?", he asks, concern underlining his question. "Is your anxiety taking over again?"
Keith is silent for a moment. He doesn't quite know how to explain it to his brother. "It's... not that simple. I mean, I know that it's going to be ok. I know that the chance of one of us dying is rather slim, but I can't stop thinking about it. What if it does happen? What if one of the kids dies and it'll be my fault and I'll probably end up in jail and I-"
Shiro puts a hand on Keith's shoulder in an attempt to calm the younger one. "Hey, Keith, look at me." He turns his head to look at him for a brief moment. "No one is going to die, alright? No one has ever died at Camp Voltron and that won't change just because you're there now. The kids will love you and so will the other counsellors, you'll see."
Keith nods, not quite convinced, but a lot less anxious.
"Now tell me, what are you most excited about?" Shiro attempts to change the topic and succeeds.
For what little is left of the ride, they talk about Keith's expectations and Adam, of course. It isn't long until they finally arrive at Camp Voltron.