Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Bro first mentioned summer camp, you were completely against it. There is no way you’re going to be stuck in the middle of nowhere making potholders and goddamn friendship bracelets while you sweat your balls off. And even if you liked that kind of thing, you won't be able to talk to your two best friends all week. Rose and Jade have been the favorite part of your day for almost two years. It's like unplugging your life support and expecting you to do jumping jacks. And your brother is expecting you to drop them for seven days and seven nights. The truth is, he is going to be out on a business trip and doesn't want to leave you alone. It’s been proven that while you like being alone, you’re not so good when you feel lonely.

Of course, the solution to this is to send you to a friendship-building camp with all the other socially awkward fuck-ups. What could go wrong?

You're sort of stuck in a strange place because you grew up with female socialization and don't really know how to get along with guys that well. After you came out, any friends you had had distanced themselves. It's not cool to be friends with the weird transgender kid in Texas. The only significant male person in your life is Bro. 

You stood in the mirror for nearly an hour when your first binder arrived in the mail. It's gray material contrasted greatly with your pasty freckled skin. Luckily, you were born with a relatively androgynous face. Take away your tits and boom it's almost like you were born with a dick. 

The night before departure day, you didn’t pack anything. It still seems like a big joke that Bro would pull out on in the last moment. But sure enough, you wake up due to the heavy pounding on your door, and the joke begins to lose it's humor. Two duffel bags full of your stuff are placed at the foot of your bed. You groan and pull the blankets back over your eyes. There's no way you're going to get out of this one. After sitting there for a moment, you let out a sigh of defeat.

Bro already packed everything. All you have to do is get dressed and grab your camera along with a few rolls of film before you're out the door. He's waiting for you in the truck by the time you grab a granola bar and lace up your Chucks. You slam the car door just to piss him off and throw a shaded roll of the eyes in his direction. He glances back at you and smirks.

"Oh come on, it's just for a week."

You throw your duffel into the back seat and huff, crossing your arms. "Would've been nice if I've had a choice."

"What's the fun in that? Maybe you can 'rise out of the ashes' and transform into a bird. Like the ones in your room. Except maybe not dead." He backs out and you both begin the journey to Camp Phoenix.

Upon arriving, small pods of people have already started to form. It's almost the same thing as watching March of the Penguins but with sweaty teenagers. Bro fist bumps you and speeds off once you're in the grass, making more noise than is necessary.

Just as you feared, a perky camp counselor notices your arrival and walks over to you beaming. Her smile actually seems genuine as she gets closer and consults her clipboard.

"Hey! I'm Lola. You must be Dave Strider?"

You adjust the grip on your bag and subconsciously lower your voice before speaking. "You know it, the one and only."

Lola marks your name off the clipboard and chuckles a bit. "I could've spotted a Strider from a mile away," she gestures to a growing pile of suitcases behind her, "you can leave your stuff over there. Then, just follow those kids to the dining hall for some breakfast and rules. Nice to meet you, plan on having an awesome time this week!" And just like that, she's off greeting another incoming camper.

You definitely take your time making your way over to the flagpole in which all the bags are situated around. As you scope everyone out, it is clear as your shades are smudged and need to be wiped on your shirt for the umpteenth time that cliques are already forming. You better kick it into high gear if you’re going to have anyone to talk to.

Two people checking out each other’s cameras catch your eye and you step over to see what they’ve got. 

Raising your hand in greeting, you attempt to ooze confidence. “Hey, name’s Dave. Saw you comparing cameras and thought I might join in.” At this you raised yours up in acknowledgment. 

The short pale boy holding a Leica T switches the camera to his left hand and reaches out to give you a handshake. His grip is firm and professional. “Hallo, nice to meet you. I’m Kolt,” He points to the other person who seems old enough to be a counselor. “This is Willow.” The way he pronounces his ‘w’s leads you to believe he might be visiting from another country. Cool. Maybe he can get you out of conservative south Texas. 

Willow gives you a wave and sweet smile. She gestures to your torso. “Nikon?”

You shrug off your camera strap and hold it out to her. “Film, 35mm, F3. You?”

Trading, she hands you her D5300 Nikon. “Digital, 24.2 megapixels, built-in wifi.” 

Your eyebrows raise in approval. “Damn girl, I’m impressed.” She shoots you an appreciative glance.

Kolt looks up at Willow then to you, “I didn’t know anyone our age still shot film, how do you develop it?”

“I’ve got my own dark room at home, it’s kinda shitty but I make do.” After a little fiddling with the D5300, you hand it back.

A shrill bell rings for a few long seconds. Willow looks around at everyone still outside and turns back to look down at you both. “That's breakfast.”

Kolt straightens himself out and starts heading towards the cafeteria. “Thank goodness for that. I have hunger.”

Willow follows after him and giggles, her long blonde hair flowing behind her. “Don’t plan on eating for a while. We still have to spell out the rules and get to know everybody.”

You groan. “Please tell me no huge circles of people will be involved. I’m allergic to those.”

“Hope you brought your epi-pen.”

"There are so many people here, know you anyone?" He starts scanning the busy room absentmindedly.

“Nah, my brother only sent me here so that I wouldn’t blow up the apartment.”

Kolt smiles politely; as he opens his mouth to reply, his eyes widen and his posture straightens out. Darting from you back to whatever is two feet to your left, his eyes blink rapidly. 

Curious as to what could have gotten your new acquaintance so riled up, you turn around. A slender girl with bright piercing eyes and curls looser than a thrift store turtleneck is speed walking towards your table. Her smile is wide and contrasts with her smooth brown skin. 

As she gets closer, she breaks into a run and yells "Donnerwetter! Bist du das?!" Her speed is stopped when Kolt stands up and they rush into each other's arms like a pair of friendly battering rams. Both grip tight to each other for a few seconds and say words that you don't quite catch. Trying not to stare at them like a creep, you look around the room that the pair seems to have forgotten exists. 

Kolt turns to you with his arm around the taller girl and a huge grin plastered on his face. "Das ist," he clears his throat, "This is my best friend from childhood."

She's wearing the same smile as Kolt and waves enthusiastically at you. "I'm Jaya," she moves the hair out of her eyes before reaching a hand out.

You supply your usual 'sup' nod and shake her hand. "I'm Dave. Funny how Kolt was just asking me if I knew anyone and then you show up."

They both smile and look at each other before breaking into a fit of giggles. The short boy recovers from his bout of laughter and whispers under his breath "Unglaublich," then turns to you. "Dave? Let's meet after breakfast. I want to catch up with Jaya."

"Oh yeah sure, go have fun you guys." You smile quickly and turn back to face the now empty table. 

"Danke!" Kolt says to your back before leaving with his newfound friend. 

Slouching in your seat, you notice that the buzz has died down slightly, as more people are beginning to find places to sit. Hardly an hour after arriving and you've already been ditched by the only people you've talked to. Typical. 

Your thoughts are interrupted by someone lightly tapping on the microphone in the front. A cheery voice replaces it. "Hey guys! If you don't already know me, my name is Lola and I'm the Youth Supervisor here at Camp Phoenix. My job is to make sure that everyone is safe and feels comfortable while having fun! Now before we can start eating, we have to go over the rules. Rule one: Never-"

You block out the rest of whatever Lola is saying. By the looks of it, you aren't the only one. You start scoping out the place for an interesting picture but don't find much. The low ceiling and concrete floor are just about as inspiring as a blank wall. While scanning the group of counselors standing behind Lola, you make eye contact with Willow. You hold up your camera and ask with your eyebrows if you could take her picture. She nods and pulls at her cheeks with her long fingers, scrunching up her eyes. You fiddle with the aperture and focus before 'click'. She moves her attention back to Lola but gives you a discreet thumbs up.

Following the moment you set your camera down, you feel eyes boring into the side of your face. Against your better judgement you look to where it was coming from. You're met with a pair of excited blue eyes that are hiding behind a mop of black hair only two tables away. Your stomach performs an ollie. The boy in question flicks those blue beauties down to your camera then back to you. You point down to it, then to him. He nods and flashes you with what you now see are slightly bucked teeth. You lift it up and start focusing your lens. Through it, he's half smiling and holding up a peace sign. Of course, what did you expect from someone who looks like such a nerd? 'Click'. 

By now, Lola seems to be getting to the end of her speech. You guess that only a third of the room is listening at this point. Even with her microphone Lola is having a difficult time hearing herself over all the side conversations happening in front of her. 

"And remember! The goal of this week is to have fun!! Make sure to eat a good breakfast so you'll be ready for all the great activities we have planned later!" 

As soon as she finishes talking the blue eyed kid is rushing over to you. "Can I see the picture you took of me?" Oh jeez. Despite hardly shooting many people, it's always disheartening to have to inform someone that they might not ever see the photograph you just took. 

"Sorry man, this is film. The soonest you'll be able to see it is a little over a week." 

He deflates like a leaking balloon at the sound of that and looks at his feet, "Oh, sorry. I'll see you around?"

"It's no problem, and yeah. See you round." 

The boy turns around to walk away and you curse yourself mentally for not getting his name. Breakfast goes by uneventfully as you munch on subpar scrambled eggs. Everyone is so caught up in the friends they made that morning that no one bothers you. Whatever, you're used to it. Honestly you're surprised that no one has misgendered you yet. It's hard to gauge how well you pass when hardly anyone at school acknowledges that you came out.

Lola gets back on the microphone and announces that everyone needs to get into a 'HUUUGE' circle. Your stomach drops. Oh god, Willow wasn't kidding. Counselors start pushing the tables against the back wall and a majority of the campers follow suit. Slowly the circle begins to form, it's lumpy at first but Lola adjusts it accordingly. 

Someone you don't recognize cups their hands around their mouth and starts yelling. "Everyone! We're gonna go around starting at my left and state our name, pronouns, age and an interesting fact." 

What? Did you just somehow miraculously teleport into somewhere much more liberal than Bumfuck, Texas? You're reminded of where you actually are when a girl wearing a koala shirt raises her hand but begins talking before being acknowledged. 

"Uh, can you inform me what the point of that is? It's completely obvious what pronouns people use. It's not like we have any trannies here." She gets this self-satisfied grin on her face when the smatter of people around her laugh. Anger boils up in you more violently than a forgotten pot of spaghetti cooking on high. 

Willow steps in before anyone else gets the chance, her anger matching your own. "It's not always obvious what gender someone is by how they look. Camp Phoenix will not tolerate discrimination of any sort. That includes gender discrimination," her voice grows louder and makes your ears prick up, "If you're not okay with that, we can call your parents and have you explain to them why you got kicked out." Even from the opposite side of the circle, Willow's presence towers over koala-girl's. She shrinks back with apologetic eyes and says no more, clearly intimidated. 

The silence suffocates the room and an air of awkwardness permeates to your very core. No one dares to make more noise than is needed to turn to their newfound friends with wide eyes. 

Lola claps her hands and you audibly gasp. The tension in the room thins out as she begins talking. "Alright! I'll go first! My name is Lola, I use she/her pronouns and I'm 19. Something interesting about me is that I make friends easily!" 

The camper next to her hesitates for a moment before almost shouting out their information. The transition from person to person is interrupted a few times as people realize they weren't paying attention a little too late. Once the circle rolls around to you, and you've practiced what you're going to say a few hundred times, you're ready. 

"I'm Dave, he/him, 16, and I like photography." You do your best to smooth out the shakes in your voice and lower it as much as possible without making it noticeable. Thank god everyone is probably too engrossed in themselves to pay much attention to you. You considered bringing up your collection of dead things, before you remembered that that is something that will make it easier for people to label you as freaky. Sticking to something safer was the better option. 

The rest of the circle goes by without many hiccups. You actually zone out a few times and damn, you missed the black haired boy's name.

Someone announces an icebreaker in which everyone goes around and talks to as many people as they can. The orderly circle morphs into a busy bee hive. Mostly, you just let people come to you and wander around. It's not like you want to be here anyway.

A loud whistle followed by a counselor's voice guides everyone outside to a dirt pit. The rules of tug of war are explained and eager campers line up on either sides of the sturdy rope. The hour goes by with shouts of success and defeat. You aren't really paying attention. Instead, you look around for interesting pictures, framing the images in your mind. Before you know it, another whistle brings you back to reality. 

"For the next couple hours, we're all going to go on a nature hike in the woods," they explain, "Find a buddy or two and stay with them until lunch time. Don't wander off the path," they wink, "Or a bear might eat you!"

At that, everyone frantically scatters around, attempting to partner up. Your eyes go wide as you realize there's no one for you to turn to. Jaya and Kolt are holding hands to your right. To your left, Willow is smiling down at a nervous 13 year old in a good-natured fashion. Running your hand through your hair a few times, you attempt to find someone you can relate to. Fuck, almost everyone is already matched up. What kind of hell is this? 

 You're about to officially Flip Your Shit when a girl you hadn't noticed before steps over. 

"Uh, hi. I can't find a partner either... wanna team up for now?" She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. 

Might as well. "Sure, why not?" 

A group of counselors lead the way into the forest. You wordlessly walk next to the girl. She sort of reminded you of Jade. Well, at least appearance-wise; Jade was much more confident and outgoing. The one you know would have jumped over to whomever she thought looked the most fun and announced exactly what she was thinking. You smile at the thought of her, this experience would be much more bearable at her side.

The both of you walk slower than the rest of the group and fall behind within a couple minutes. After a few more moments, your partner coughs into the crook of her arm. 

"So um... I'm gonna go back to camp. You'll be alright?" She stops walking and turns backward, her eyes still on you. 

You nod, continuing on your way as she goes hers. You contemplate wandering off the path, specifically as you were told not to do. Before your foot can crunch the year-old fallen leaves, something catches your eye. Something with dark skin and deep blue eyes.