Chapter Text
Danny’s experience at Camp Unplug wasn’t going as fantastical as he had hoped.
Trying to assist everyone in their activities obviously wasn’t very appreciated, as Mikaela so kindly informed him, and he was starting to doubt he even wanted to stay at all.
He liked to think he wasn’t too attached to his phone, especially because he didn’t have many people to text anyway. (Two main contacts: Dad, Mom.) But he was dying to check it, even if he knew there wasn’t going to be much.
Even so, after being savagely attacked by the hook of a fishing pole by the bay and Cody taking about half an hour to get it out of his leg without him throwing up, he finally sat down and rested for a couple of seconds. Kind of hard because he was usually pretty restless without his phone on him, but ignoring his violent shaking, he felt pretty calm.
Only occasionally would he remember that pretty much everyone was excluding him from whatever illegal activities they were up to without the adult supervision of their (probably) insane counselor; it made him kind of sad, even though he knew his dad would scold him for days if he were ever caught.
The point was, he didn’t have any illegal activities to partake in! So, alone he sat, on an old log by his cabin. There was a wooden chair right next to him, but he was in nature, so he had to use his resources.
Looking around, he saw that everyone was interacting with each other. Sure, Emily might’ve been yelling at everyone, but he wanted to be yelled at too! The only other person he could think of there who might not be with them was… that weird one. He saw him across the field, kneeling on the forest floor.
Don’t get him wrong, he didn’t think that kid was weird too! Just different. Like his dad always used to tell him he was. They’re not the same thing! Well…
He wasn’t sure there was any way he would ever want to talk to Danny. He was always busy with much more important things, like collecting dandelions for resources! Or, whatever he was doing, crawling around in the grass, sniffing little yellow flowers, and taking taste tests. It was probably nothing.
But maybe it wouldn’t hurt just to say hi. He hadn’t before, right? It’d be friendly.
Or was he just convincing himself that he had a valid reason to want to talk to this guy? Danny wasn’t sure. It’s not like this kid’s uniqueness was endearing at all; not like there was anything even slightly sweet about his curiosity about the outdoors. Of course not!
But maybe there was a reason he was the only person Danny hadn’t greeted yet in their couple of days at camp.
Lost in his focus, he tipped the log over, completely losing balance. Instinctively, he put his hands out in front of him and ended up pushing his palm right into a sharp twig. Ouch!
“Gee, that kind of hurt.”
The wound wasn’t big, but somehow, his hand was pouring blood. He stared at it, a bit confused. He got back on his feet. For some reason, he had to build the courage to be able to walk over to the forest. Deep breaths, nearly stumbling, feeling dazed.
“Golly!” Danny shook his head, trying to clear the strange sensations. “I really have to handle my iron deficiency.”
Finally, he approached the weird guy, instantly thrown off by seeing him… chewing some sort of plant?
Danny dusted off his uniform, making sure to adjust his sash to proudly show off all of his badges. He held out his hand to the other, who hadn’t even looked at him yet.
“Hey, I’m Danny! You’re Drew, right?” He swallowed after, thinking he had said that awkwardly. “Drew…” He mused, looking off into the distance thoughtfully.
Instantly, Danny’s attention was caught again when Drew stared rather coldly up at him. He looked tense, like he had just been distracted from doing something pretty important.
“Are you okay? You have something right here, b-t-w.” Danny pointed to the corner of his own mouth, to which Drew frantically wiped his.
“Thanks. Yeah, it’s Drew.”
While he spoke, his eyes darted back and forth from Danny to the plant in his hands. He dropped it and stood up. What a strange character!
“That’s so cool!” Danny beamed, before realizing he was coming off as too excited. “I mean, that’s… sick. Dude.”
Drew tilted his head, blinking idly. It wasn’t like he minded, but also not like he didn’t. Danny came to notice that Drew had a specific stare that wasn’t readable, at least to Danny, who liked to think he was very good at reading people’s expressions. Heck, he got a badge for social interaction! It was just— Drew’s eyebrows; very expressive, but also not, but gave a very intense gaze when resting. The thing was, it made something in Danny’s chest turn, and definitely not in the bad way.
“What happened to your hand?” Drew pointed to Danny’s injured hand, dripping blood, into a little puddle on the floor. Kind of looked like ketchup.
“Um… I was fishing and my hand got caught in the hook!” He wasn’t about to admit he was dumb enough to fall while staring at Drew. He wasn’t about to admit he was staring! Even though it totally didn’t matter.
“Oh,” Drew uttered simply, and Danny almost thought he didn’t care. But then, he reached into his shorts pocket and pulled out a sizable roll of gauze. “One second.”
“Where’d you get that?”
“I have a lot in my pockets.”
“Like what?”
“This,” Drew said simply, pulling out an entire lantern and letting it fall into the grass. “Here, give me your hand.”
Just the phrase gave Danny fireflies (or butterflies, but he liked fireflies more because he befriended one as an eagle scout). For no reason, of course! Silly brain… it wasn’t thinking right.
“Silly brain…” He whispered intelligently, holding out his wounded hand for Drew to tend to.
“Huh?”
“Thanks, I said! I, um, wanted to thank you for helping me.”
“Oh. Yeah, I mean, yeah. You’re welcome, I mean. Yeah.” Drew blinked a few times again before wrapping the gauze around Danny’s hand. Danny had a bright smile, getting a bit braver every second he got to look at Drew. And the more he observed, the more he was convinced he got the other to smile, even just slightly. He saw it with his own two eyes!
Eventually, they were done, and there was no more blood. Drew seemed a bit awkward, but he had the spirit to, at the very least, offer some help.
“I don’t know why they don’t like you, Drew.”
The other furrowed his brows a bit.
“I mean, you seem really cool. Like, really cool! You definitely deserve a friendship badge.”
“A friendship badge? Really?” Drew asked, seeming genuinely interested. It was something Danny—sadly—wasn’t very used to.
“Yeah, totally! Like, I have one right here, actually.”
Danny examined his sash for his friendship badge, finally finding it right in the middle. It had an embroidered design of two stick figures holding hands, who he thought of as him and Drew now. Taking it off, he grinned.
“Here!” Danny held it out for the other to take, who looked pretty hesitant to, but did it anyway. He looked at it in awe like he had never seen one before and never would again. “You can keep it. I have a bunch of others.”
“Whoa…” Drew poked at the badge. “Thanks.”
“Yeah, of course!”
“How’d you get it?”
“I helped this guy named Greg at Scouts put up his tent. It was pretty easy!”
“Whoa. Tent.”
Danny looked down at his feet shyly, hand going up to his hair to tuck it behind his ear. Drew was probably still staring at the badge, but somehow Danny felt a little nervous with the calm silence, only birds and Chloe freaking out about something in the background.
“Hey, where do you sit at the campfire?”
“Oh, I’m not sitting there tonight.”
Danny tilted his head curiously. “Why not?”
Drew stared blankly, looking a lot like he wanted to change the subject. His fist closed around the badge, holding it carefully but securely, kind of like how you would hold a puppy.
“Well, when you do, you can totally sit next to me. T-b-h, I don’t really sit next to anyone who talks to me.”
“Why do you do that?”
“Do w-h-a-t?”
“Okay, I’ll sit with you,” Drew said, nodding to himself. He stared fondly at the grass beside Danny’s feet, kind of avoiding eye contact. Danny was sure it was nothing.
“Totally cool! I’ll see you then!”
“Totally. I—uh, I have to go do something.”
And with the sudden interruption, Drew began to leave in the direction of his cabin. What a very strange character!
“Okay, Drew! I’ll see you! I mean, I already said that… Sorry! I mean, unless you didn’t hear me before… Bye!”
Drew looked over his shoulder and waved back, still holding the badge with endless amounts of care. He had a very specific wave, one where he didn’t wave with his hand but with his fingers; wiggling them like he was waving with each finger individually.
“What a silly guy!” Danny said to himself, putting his hands on his hips as he watched the other leave, not turning away until he saw him disappear into the bushes by his cabin door.
Maybe they hadn’t talked as much as Danny had hoped, (and imagined, when he first saw Drew) but it was still very enjoyable! He was probably just really shy. Sweet, how reclusive he was. Danny had a feeling they’d become good friends.
Very good friends, if he got lucky!
Even better friends, if he daydreamed enough.