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It was another summer at camp. Obi-Wan always looked forward to being a counselor at this camp, even though he had been out of college for years. To him, it didn't matter if he was paid.
He wanted to be to these kids what some counselors were for him when he was their age. When he was struggling to fit in. When he was struggling with everything.
And now he was one of the counselors, with his partners. And they were paid a lot, because the camp had some wealthy people backing it, insisting on the best for these kids.
This was a camp for kids with nowhere else to go, for kids with parents who could not afford typical camps but could also not stop working during the summer to look after their kids.
This was a camp for anything a kid could dream of. They had music, dancing, horseback, swimming, hiking, art. And so much more.
Obi-Wan taught the sword fighting classes. It wasn't actually fencing so he refused to call it that. He also did acrobatics and gymnastics on top of teaching writing and doing some tutoring for the kids who should have been in summer school to catch up. Or who had passed but asked for help anyways so they didn't get behind the next school year.
Cody taught horseback, archery, and painting. He loved his summers in the camp.
Rex taught swimming, music, and wood carving. He was just happy he had chosen to be a teacher normally which made being a camp counselor so much easier than just asking for two months off in the summer.
But while at camp, their careers didn't matter. They had their campers, they took breaks, hung out and kissed like teenagers. They spent nights telling stories and roasting marshmallows with the kids. They spent days out in the sun, having a lot of fun helping the kids start to thrive.
So it was just another enjoyable summer.
Until it wasn't.
On top of Obi-Wan hiding something from his partners.
.
Obi-Wan had cancer, and it had him coughing up blood these days. It was bad, and the prognosis wasn't good. He decided not to sacrifice his summers at the camp for treatment that had a less than fifty percent chance of working. He would figure out after the summer what to do, how to tell Rex and Cody... if he would tell them.
Obi-Wan returned from another coughing fit. He stopped and watched Rex and Cody laugh and joked together. They were close. They were together before he met them.
And he had never quite felt like he belonged with them. He hardly felt like he belonged anywhere besides the camp.
They hadn't even noticed his health problems, hadn't noticed his increased doctor visits, didn't notice when he broke down crying in the middle of the night.
They wouldn't miss him. Obi-Wan was considering just leaving them and going to die in peace. He didn't want to fight cancer. He'd been fighting his whole life and fighting cancer on top of that... it was one thing too many.
He just wanted to give up. One more summer. Then it would be all over.
.
Two weeks in, and things were... strange. Loud noises at night, traps laid out that campers nearly stumbled on. Things moved in the cabins when they weren't there.
After a meeting with the other counselors, it was decided that Cody, Rex, and Obi-Wan would go out and look for the culprit and scare them off.
That was the worst night of their life.
They separated and started looking for clues.
Cody stepped on a trap and the jaws closed around his ankle. He yelled in pain and fell over. After a few moments, he got over it enough to carefully pry the jaws open and pull his foot out on his own. He was still breathing heavily after he did what he could for the bloody wounds.
He cursed and stood, testing how the wounds took his weight. Not well. He grabbed a thick branch to use as support and continued his search.
He hoped the other two were having better luck.
They were not.
Obi-Wan was having to stop and cough frequently. He just hoped no one would notice if there was blood.
Rex narrowly avoided several holes, growing concerned. He was starting to feel like he was being hunted. Not any animals... but them.
The night continued and got creepier and creepier. All of them sustained injuries, but they never so much as caught a glimpse of the person setting everything.
And then came the screams of an entire cabin of campers. They raced back, stumbling and limping.
The person they had been trying to find was holding the cabin hostage.
Obi-Wan recognized him first. "Tarkin!"
"You do remember me, eh Kenobi? Got me in trouble all those years ago. Haven't been able to find a job since."
"You were an abusive jerk. Not my fault you made such poor choices." Obi-Wan replied flatly, though he was shaking. All those years ago... he had been a teenager, and was the primary victim of his violence. No one had noticed.
He didn't see Rex and Cody exchange surprised looks. They knew he had been at the camp, but they had thought he had gone years they hadn't gone. But they had been there the year Tarkin was fired, and everyone knew about the abuse. Why did they not remember Obi-Wan?
Tarkin then started spewing some nonsense about making the entire camp pay for what happened.
Obi-Wan listened, tried to pick apart his plan. He saw one way out of this. "Take me instead."
Tarkin stopped, and stared at him.
Obi-Wan raised his hands and stepped forward. "Take me instead. It's me you want, it's me you blame. So, you can have me, if you let those campers go."
Tarkin grinned maliciously and grabbed Obi-Wan, dragging him away.
Obi-Wan decided that if he died tonight, it would be better than the slow death he was already doomed to. A small price to pay for the rest of Camp, for Cody and Rex.
.
Cody rushed to one of the visibly injured campers. "It will be okay, you're safe now. We'll take care of you."
Rex joined him, at least until there were other counselors, then they found an excuse to duck away.
They were far enough away from any town that it would take a while for the police and ambulance to get there.
"Do you remember Obi-Wan?" Rex asked Cody.
"Now that I'm thinking about it, I do remember a skinny red haired kid who always hovered in the background, looking like he wanted to fit in but struggling. He talked with us sometimes. I remembered wanting to get to know him but wasn't sure how."
"Oh that kid. That was Obi-Wan? I always felt bad for him. Rumor had it that technically he could afford other camps, but he had such a terrible father his father chose this one, and... he mentioned high expectations and... and none of this is going to help us find him."
"Right. We need to figure out where Tarkin has been hiding. He's not hiking out here every night. He's somewhere nearby."
Rex's eyes widened. "Remember the abandoned house? I bet they're there."
Cody nodded. "Let's go. I want Obi-Wan back."
"Me too."
.
Obi-Wan had his eyes closed, blocking out Tarkin's ranting and raving. He didn't care about what he had or hadn't did. He didn't care about the insults, didn't care about anything but his impeding death.
Finally, Tarkin stabbed him Again and again.
Obi-Wan cried out in pain. He tried not to cry but tears slipped out anyways.
Tarkin started pacing, ranting and raving as he waved the bloody knife.
Obi-Wan started finding it hard to focus. He was really starting to feel the blood loss.
Just before his eyes closed, Cody and Rex burst in and tackled Tarkin, ignoring his insane ranting and the large knife.
Obi-Wan stared, trying to focus on them. Why were they there? They were supposed to stay safe.
He didn't see what happened but after a bit, Rex and Cody were kneeling on other side.
"Oh no, Obi... this is so bad..." Cody took off his jacket and applied pressure.
Rex just held his hadn't hand and cried.
This only made Obi-Wan more confused. "Not... supposed to cry..."
This only made Rex cry harder, and Cody to start crying.
"Y-you're dying, Obi," Cody whispered. "How... how can we not cry?"
Obi-Wan struggled to stay awake. "But... not gonna... miss me... got each other... I'm.... just the third wheel."
Rex jolted as if shocked, eyes wide as he stared at Obi-Wan.
Cody collapsed over him, sobbing. "Not the third wheel, Obi, never the third wheel. You're our partner! Not..." he just continued sobbing.
Obi-Wan continued to be bewildered. He wasn't sure what was going on, why Cody was so upset. They didn't love him. They just needed a third to make their relationship look better. Right?
Rex was shaking as he met Obi-Wan's eyes. "You are so important to us, Obi-Wan. We don't want to lose you. I don't want to lose you."
Obi-Wan blinked. "Was gonna die anyways... got cancer."
And with that bombshell, he passed out.
Thankfully, police and paramedics arrived shortly after that.
It was touch and go for a while.
And when Obi-Wan woke up, his partners were right by his side, anxiously waiting. They had never left his side. Or rather, one was always with him while they took turns doing things like cleaning up or eating.
He was still confused as they pampered him, as they got him everything, desperate to prove to him that they cared about him. They proved to remember his favorites of just about everything.
They gave him updates on the camp (still open, one of the patrons was going to give Obi-Wan as much money as he needed for the cancer), talked about what happened to Tarkin, and gave him their undivided attention, barely even looking at each other.
It took them almost all of Obi-Wan's recovery to convince him that they wanted him, that he should fight the cancer, and they would be with him every step of the way.
They really had been unintentionally shutting him out before. And it never happened again.