Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They’re talking about the summer again, about what’s coming, all big, fanciful dreams and apprehensions, when Beat’s shoe sneaker snags under a tree branch.

Neku’s mid-chuckle, his face frozen in that almost-gonna-smile moment, like really smile, that smile Beat had just discovered and can not friggin’ get enough of. Neku’s saying, “Yeah, I hope we get enough sleep at night, or I’ll be abysmal.”

And then Beat’s foot hits the root and he treads air.

Only for a second. But once his shoes skid into the mud, it’s all over. They’re walking a forestry trail along the outskirts of Camp Gatto, curling around the River, and Beat is socks-deep in the muck. Desperately, his arms launch out, searching for purchase—and what do they latch onto but Neku’s elbow?

Neku says, “Oh no.”

For a second there, Beat’s flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him, the sky right above his head, close enough to take a bite out of.

Then there’s a twist in his ankle and a crash like thunder and his mouth’s full of water, and he comes sputtering out of the River with a cough, and Neku’s—oh shit, where’s Neku—

A gasp sounds behind him. Beat whirls around in the water.

Neku takes one look at him and sighs. “It’s, like, knee-deep. You can stand up.”

Awkwardly, Beat paddles his way to his feet.

So. They are both soaked, from their heads to their sneakers. It’s not that hot out, but Beat supposes it’s kind of refreshing. His hair’s up in a choppy blonde ponytail, and he feels the end of it dripping down his back. Neku’s hair is a big orange mess.

Beat starts to clamber toward the edge of the River, but Neku just stands there. He looks like he’s tapping his foot against the murky riverbed.

Beat swallows. “Sup, Phones?”

It’s the nickname he gave Neku when they took the bus to camp together and the guy stayed glued to his goddamn MP3 player, in the year of our Lord 202X, the entire trip.

Neku’s nose scrunches up. He says, “Beat, I have a question for you.”

Beat says, “Uh oh.” He’s not a big fan of questions. Especially not questions from Neku that are phrased that way.

“Beat, can you tell me, how many times have we fallen into the River at Camp Gatto?”

Beat’s throat closes up. “Phones, uh, this isn’t—um—this ain’t a question I feel comfortable answe—”

“Beat. I know you can count to two.”

Beat’s cheeks warm considerably.

Neku pulls a dripping lock of orange hair behind his ear. “Then can you tell me how many times—how many, Beat—that it’s happened just in our first week here?”

Beat forgets what day it is.

“I—uhh—”

“That’s right: One week. It has been one week. Not even a full week, actually. Three days. It has been three days, and we have fallen in the River twice. Here’s a fun fact for you: That’s nearly one time per day. We have almost fallen into the River every single day of camp so far. If only you’d pushed me in yesterday, too.”

“Phones, that’s real interestin’, but—”

“And you know what’s even crazier? There aren’t even any campers here yet. You are accomplishing this feat with your own two feet.”

“Nice pun,” Beat mumbles.

Neku breathes out hot air through his nose. “And now I’m cold.”

Beat awkwardly holds up his soaking wet arms to Neku.

Neku’s expression does this funny thing it does sometimes. Beat’s known this guy all of four days, technically, and he’s already seen his brows scrunch and his lip sort of fold up a few times. It must be a Neku special.

There’s something exciting about getting to know new things about his new boyfriend, and already starting to recognize those things in him.

Then, with a long sigh, Neku lets Beat hug him. “You’re slightly less cold,” he mutters into Beat’s shoulder, wrapping his skinny arms around him.

They do that for a little while, until Neku says “okay” and they waddle their way out of the River. It’s after Beat’s shrugged off his shirt and started squeezing out the water, his boyfriend throwing his broad back a putrid look, that Neku adds, “You’re going to get pneumonia this summer, I just know it.”

Beat’s shoulders twitch. He peeks over his shoulder through his dripping wet hair. “Y-Yeah?”

“And I bet you’re going to get it forty-seven times.”

“Ph-Phones, don’t say that—”

“And I’m going to get it—because of you—a total of forty-two times.”

“Neku— ”

“You are going to fall into the River so often that you catch pneumonia forty-seven times over the course of the summer.”

Beat lets out a whine. “C-C’mon, man, tha’s a lotta times. I can’t get it that many—”

“Oh, but you will,” Neku mutters darkly.

By the time they’ve trekked back to the big barn they do all their big meetings and activity-prepping in, they’ve dried out, but Neku’s still shivering a little. Pouting, Beat wraps an arm around his shoulders and squeezes him close. Neku leans into him, closing his eyes—

And a golf cart’s blaring horn practically rips them out of their skin.

Beat whirls around, his cheeks hot, but he already knows who the perpetrator is.

“RHYME, you little—”

“Hey!” his sister pipes up, her hand poised over the horn, “You’re not allowed to yell at the intern! I don’t get paid enough to be yelled at!”

“You don’t get paid nothin’,” Beat growls. In fact, she paid them for an extra Camp Gatto t-shirt in bright orange with that goofy cat mascot emblazoned across the front of it. It doesn’t make him feel much better, though, because the difference between Rhyme’s paycheck and his is probably about as big a difference as walnuts are from peanuts.

Rhyme sticks out her tongue.

Neku asks, “Is she homophobic, or—”

“Just to Beat,” Rhyme says.

Neku nods slowly. “That’s fair.”

With a dramatic breath, Beat wraps his arm back around Neku. Rhyme makes like she’s gonna hit that stupid horn again, and Beat shakes his fist at her. Before he can do anything more consequential, Rhyme peels off, the golf cart flying away at a speed it probably shouldn’t drive at.

Neku snorts. “She’s cute.”

“She’s the ugliest little sister in the world,” Beat says, which gets Neku laughing, which makes Beat’s heart do a little flutter.

“C’mon.” Neku grabs his arm, finding his hand, knitting their fingers together. “We have small groups. Blew all our free period in the River.”

Beat sighs. Small groups.

Neku snorts. “You act like they’re the worst thing in the world.”

“Cuz they are. I don’t wanna talk about my feelings, Phones.”

“Okay, but are they worse than Rhyme is ugly?”

Beat pretends to think. “Tha’s a good one… I’ll have to get back to you.”

And Neku’s smiling again, and they’re pretty much dry, and it’s almost like they didn’t fall into the River two times out of the three ( technically four, if the first afternoon they spent unpacking counts) days they’d been at Camp Gatto.

A beam warms up Beat’s face.

Hopefully, being a camp counselor’ll be more fun than it will be muddy.

Chapter Text

“Oh—Shiki. Yo.”

She’s still quiet like she was when they first got on the bus together, but she manages a small wave when Beat all but crashes down beside her. Something about those demure folks—her and Neku both.

Shiki’s crazy because she doesn’t look like she’s ever sweated in her entire life. And she’s wearing a cardigan. To summer camp. She’s an enigma in the type of way that’d probably pique Neku’s curiosity but just makes Beat feel dumb. The girl all but hides behind her giant coke-bottle glasses and her little nest of dark hair. 

Poor gal’s already got the start of a sunburn on her nose. It’s the only thing that helps her look more than porcelain. Beat’s lucky his tan skin doesn’t burn easily—even Neku’s already starting to feel the sting of summer.

But then, Shiki smiles a little at Beat. And then—holy shit—she opens her mouth.

“You look exhausted.”

Beat’s cheeks smolder. “I guess I kinda throw all my energy into everything I do,” he says. He’s definitely sweaty. Just comes with the territory, though. Even sitting in the barn on its cool concrete floor, deep in the shade, Beat can feel the sun’s warm rays shoving against the open doorways.

“...Beat?”

Beat cocks his head. “Yeah?”

Shiki’s so hesitant. She’s like a little bird. Even with Beat’s attention captured, she fidgets with her hands, with her glasses, with the little cat barrette clipped in her hair. “You and Neku…”

Beat blinks. His gaze swivels to the other end of the barn, where Neku’s making small talk with a couple other counselors. He doesn’t look too happy about it. He didn’t look too happy about the existence of Beat either, honestly, especially after Beat’d snuck up behind him on the bus and swiped his headphones, just to see if he could get away with it. (He couldn’t. Neku grabbed the cord and all but yanked Beat to a halt. Then Beat got the berating of a lifetime, which he’d deserved.)

“Yeah,” Beat says, smiling lazily. “Me n’ Phones.”

Shiki lets out a soft snort. “You don’t even know what I’m going to ask.”

“Oh, I thought that was like a statement.”

Something close to a laugh edges through her breath. “No, I mean… um… Oh, it’s rude to ask…”

“You should ask, yo. I’ve gotten my ass whooped for asking stupider things, but I promise I won’t whoop yours, and that’s a promise’s promise.”

Shiki giggles a little, accepting Beat’s proffered hand. They shake on the proposition of Beat not kicking Shiki’s butt.

She still smiles nervously under his gaze. “I don’t know how to ask.”

“Yo, we shook on it. Now you gotta ask.”

“That’s true…”

“C’mon. You can do it. I, uh, I believe in you.”

Shiki lets out the awkwardest little laugh, then blurts out: “Are you guys dating?”

Beat stares at her. “Uh. Yeah, yo. Is it not obvious?” Beat thought kissing Neku’s cheek when they got ready for breakfast each morning made it pretty clear, but maybe Shiki just thought he was kissing the homie good morning or something.

“Not at all! I-I mean, I never expected I might meet someone—um—someone like me at camp, so it… it’s hard to believe that, even if you guys are so… open … I just…”

Shiki’s eyes started drifting as she started talking, until she’s gazing at the girl in conversation with Neku. She’s pretty, Beat supposes (he’s not a girl’s guy), with long scarlet hair, a big newsboy cap, and a penchant for tying up her oversized tee shirt into a crop top. Beat’s like, pretty sure that’s against the rules, but nobody’s stopped her yet. She’s got glowing pale skin and it’s almost unreal how not tanned she is. Couple freckles came out from her being under the sun all day.

Beat looks at Shiki. She’s full-on staring at the girl, her gaze soft, her brows relaxed into something that looks easy to disturb, something Beat has to stop himself from poking.

Then Shiki says, “I’ve known Eri all my life, you know? I feel like I’m not nearly as close with her as you guys are to each other. How long has it been?”

“Uh,” Beat says. He clears his throat. “Goin’ on five days.”

“ FIVE— ” Finally, some color on Shiki’s porcelain cheeks. Her mouth hangs open, her tongue practically lolling out. “It’s not—There is no way—f-f-five days ?!”

“Yeah, we really hit it off,” Beat says. He has no other explanation. “Met on the bus and… kinda fell into things by the time we’d settled down that night.”

“That is not— ” Shiki stares long and hard at the girl—Eri. Her voice lowers, desperate. “ That can’t be. ”

Beat shrugs a little, bouncing his shoulders. Shiki looks like she’s going through shock.

Then it hits him.

“ Oh, you’re dating—?”

“SHHHHHHHHHH.”

Even Shiki’s palm, laid flat against Beat’s mouth, isn’t sweaty. She awkwardly peels her fingers off him and mumbles, “We’re trying not to draw attention to ourselves.”

She’s not doing so good a job, then. After shushing Beat, the entire barnful of counselors’re giving the two of them an eyeful. Neku’s brows raise at Beat, who just grins sheepishly in response. Neku snorts, starting to smirk, and Beat’s heart warms. Maybe they do kinda know each other freakishly well for five days. Well, Neku’s gonna have another think coming once Beat doesn’t get sick the whole summer. That’ll show him.

Someone from the center of the cluster of people taps a megaphone, and it blares throughout the room. Everyone winces. Then the bunch of counselors in their purple tees shifts, and Beat can make out the guy with the megaphone who is inexplicably wearing a whole suit and jacket—no shirt, though—in the middle of summer. And it’s all black.

“Greetings, Sheeple of Camp Gatto,” he booms, and a few people groan. 

Beat casts a look at Shiki, who wrinkles her nose at him. He chuckles, murmurs, “We should hang out sometime.” And the way her eyes blow up. It’s sweet. Neku better like her. Beat’ll make Neku like her.

“I see that some of you,” their director continues, “still haven’t found your way to your small groups for the next activity. We only have a week—a week! —until our campers start arriving. I would appreciate a little more punctuality in this establishment.”

Across the way, Neku rolls his eyes. Beat huffs a laugh.

Then he realizes that the guy with the megaphone is not the camp director—and actually, he’s got the slicked-back hair of the assistant director who kept stepping in and out of the camera during Beat’s video interview for the position. He’s just a freakin’ weasel. No wonder nobody’s listening to him. They’re all let out from a year of college and expected to sit still and listen. It’s kind of cute that this guy thinks he can corral them. 

Takes some more yelling before they all start to group up to do that feelings thing Beat didn’t wanna do. At least, not until Shiki gently elbows him and whispers, “ I believe in you.” Then it’s hard to let go of the little grin tugging around his lip, and okay , if they ask him for the highs and lows of the day, maybe he can muster something.

Chapter Text

“Oh my god, Beat, we’re gonna get caught.”

“Nah , we ain’t,” Beat retorts, smacking a tree branch out of the way.

Neku ducks under its swing. When Beat glances over his shoulder, he watches the branch’s leaves scrape the top of Neku’s hair. His boyfriend sticks his tongue out at him and mutters, “You’re as loud as an elephant. We’re going to get caught.”

Beat tries to walk quieter, but his shoes destroy everything they land on. He wonders idly if a more expensive pair of sneakers would’ve been any gentler.

Some more crunching through mulch and bark, and the hill they’re hiking up begins to flatten out. “Look,” Beat hisses, pointing up at the sky.

Neku nudges him. “Aliens?” he teases.

Beat mimes hitting Neku over the head. His boyfriend just laughs. Head rising toward the heavens, Beat gazes at the stars. He’s never seen so many before. He whispers, “Can you count ‘em all?”

“Um…” Neku points out a couple. “I dunno. If we do some guesstimating, maybe a few hundred thousand?”

“Maybe infinity,” Beat breathes.

Neku snatches his hand with a giggle, squeezes it. A trill echoes down Beat’s spine.

Together, they walk through the cool grass, hiking up the low incline. Here, the trees are sparser, letting handfuls of stars through the dark. Neku holds on tight to him, like he’s scared Beat might get lost. Beat can’t fight the smile curling up his lips. It feels good to be cherished.

He’s never—Neku’s his first boyfriend. First anyone. First kiss. First stargazing companion. First person on the receiving end of Rhyme’s Judgment (he’s passing so far).

Once they reach the top of the hill, Beat sits right down, spreading out his legs. Neku takes his cue, slotting right beside him, automatically fitting his chin on Beat’s shoulder. Beat’s heart leaps in his chest. He’s careful when he tilts his head, like Neku’ll snap or something once Beat presses his cheek to Neku’s hair. Neku just nuzzles into him, letting out a slow breath. Beat’s eyelids grow heavy.

He wraps his arm around Neku and gazes at the night sky.

The temperature’s starting to drop, but not by much. Here, in the grassy dark, high up and away from Camp Gatto’s cabins, the land is thick with life. Bugs chirrup around their heads. The wind whisks along the grass, creeping up their legs. Fireflies blink in and out of sight. When Beat breathes in, he smells nature all the way to the very pit of his lungs. 

Neku leans into him, cuddling his side. Beat’s heart tries and fails to jump out of his chest. When he raises his other hand, letting his fingers card through Neku’s spiky orange hair, Neku sighs softly, his cheek fitting into Beat’s palm.

Beat kisses his forehead, then peeks over his hair at the rest of the world. He feels Neku shift against his hand, gazing up at him. Beat’s cheeks color on their own.

Neku lets out the start of a laugh, leaning in close enough to boop his nose against Beat’s. Beat can not stop blushing. Neku laughs a little harder, nuzzling his neck. Beat feels freaking crazy. His arms snatch around Neku’s waist, and Neku just cozies up to him, nearly sitting in Beat’s lap.

“Phones,” Beat murmurs.

“Mm,” Neku says.

“I toldja we wouldn’t get caught.”

“Oh my god,” Neku grumbles. “We’re not out of the woods yet, you know.”

“Nah, but it’s not like anybody’s lookin’ for us. It’s lights out.”

“Also,” Neku adds, his tone inquisitive, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we weren’t the only ones breaking curfew.”

Beat coughs. “What is this about a curfew, Neku. I thought we were adults.”

“Well, Beat, we’re not exactly supposed to leave our bunk beds after Director Kitaniji tucks us in and kisses us goodnight, are we.”

Beat chokes. “I do not remember him doing that to me. When did he do that to you?”

“While you were in the bathroom,” Neku says. He snorts hard when Beat gasps, then realizes Neku was messin’ with him.

“He’s tucked in his own bed, though,” Beat continues, “right? I mean, he’s not gonna waste his precious beauty sleep on some stupid counselors. That’d be dumb.”

“Almost as dumb as breaking curfew just to snuggle with the guy I’m literally bunkmates with,” Neku says.

Beat screws up his lip and lifts a hand. Then he furiously noogies Neku.

“Ow! Hey! Beat! Cut it out!”

Neku groans once he manages to shove Beat off of him. When Beat’s hands scrabble back around him, Neku silently curls up to him once more. Into Beat’s chest, he mumbles, “This is the textbook definition of insanity. You’re just gonna piss me off again later.”

“Am not,” Beat mumbles into his hair.

“Uh-huh.”

Beat rests his cheek on Neku’s. Neku opens his mouth, then just breathes out, letting it go. He turns his head, planting a kiss on Beat’s cheek. Beat’s heart does a loop-de-loop.

He really likes Neku. Maybe he’s only known Neku half of their first week of training, but Neku listens to him. Neku complains about his stupid ideas, but he sticks up for him, too. Stands by him. And he laughs at Beat, in a good way. Not a lot of folks back home do that.

Not a lot of stars back home, either. Planting his chin on Neku’s head, Beat cranes his eyes. As the darkness tucks in around them, he makes out some sort of glowing light strung across the heavens, dripping from random stars.

Beat whispers, “Yo Phones, what’s—”

“The Milky Way,” Neku murmurs. “Haven’t seen it in awhile. You don’t really get too much of that in the city.”

Beat shakes his head, wrapping his arms more snugly around Neku.

Eventually, he really needs Neku’s warmth, because it starts to get cold cold. Dead-of-night cold. Murder cold. Neku cozies way up to Beat, and Beat all but jumps up and down. It feels so good to hold onto him like this. To be this close to him. It feels really good.

Neku shivers. “C’mon,” he breathes into Beat’s ear. “Let’s get up. Don’t want to fall asleep out here.”

Beat pouts, starting to let go, but Neku slumps against him like a stuffed animal.

“Phones?”

Neku moans a sleepy sound.

“Phones!”

“I didn’t mean immediately,” Neku grumbles. “In, like… five more minutes.”

Beat takes one good look at Neku, his features fuzzed out by the night. His eyes are almost completely shut, his back at a diagonal. He’s laid his arms on Beat’s chest, making it none too easy to maneuver out of Neku’s hold.

With a beleaguered sigh, Beat does the last thing he wanted to do.

He scoops up Neku and tromps down the woodland trail, headed for their cabin.

Neku lets out a surprised sound, but then he’s all wrapped around Beat like this was his plan all along. Sneaky. Beat can’t really complain, so he just ducks under the occasional tree branch and wends his way around their roots. He kicks a few of them with his sneakers, but he holds his breath so he doesn’t make more sound than he already has. He can only do so much.

Beat comes dangerously close to tripping down the trail maybe a zillion times, but if Neku notices, he doesn’t bring it up. He’s gotten heavier in Beat’s arms, laden with sleep. Beat holds him close to his heart as he works his way past the last few stones. If he squints, he thinks he can make out the lantern hanging over the front of their cabin. Nearly there, he’s just got—

A light casts right into his face, blindingly pale.

Beat yelps.

“BOO!”

If Beat were a lesser man, he would’ve dropped Neku and fallen over.

Instead, he just capsizes to the floor, carrying Neku and all.

Neku emits an annoyed grunt, then a wince like he’d bit his tongue. Beat still can’t see, what with the light totally swallowing him whole. He hears what he thinks might be an apology when the light cuts out—headlights, he realizes—revealing a grungy golf cart and the worst little sister in the entire world.

Neku climbs his way off of Beat, and Beat surges to his feet.

“RHYME! WHY, YOU LI’L—”

“SHHHHHHHHH,” she and Neku simultaneously whisper-scream.

Beat swallows down the rest of his anger. He still shakes his fist at his sister, though, who snickers at him.

“Why’re you out late?” he accuses, folding his arms across his chest.

Rhyme rolls her eyes. “Cuz I checked your cabin and you weren’t there.”

“And why’d’ja—”

“Oh, is it suddenly a crime for a girl to check in on her big brother?”

“Yeah,” Beat says, “it is, cuz Director Kitaniji tucked you in and everything, and here you are, desanctify—uh—corrupturing—uh—ruinationing the way of the curfew—”

“What is he talking about,” Neku loudly whispers to Rhyme.

“Just nod along,” Rhyme says. “Yeah,” she adds to Beat, “I sure did that thing.” Then her eyes sketch between Neku and Beat, and her brows pop up her forehead. “But you guys weren’t any better, I take it. Were you…”

Her voice lowers, conspiratorial. “What were you guys doing in the woods?”

Beat blinks. He peeks at Neku. They both blush.

Rhyme gasps. “Were you doing those things?”

“Wha’ things,” Beat mumbles halfheartedly.

Rhyme slaps both her hands over her mouth. “In the wilderness? Like animals?!”

Neku tries to shove Rhyme, but she sidesteps him.

“Doin’ what things?” Beat shouts.

“Okay, geez. We don’t want you waking up the whole camp,” Rhyme says. “I’ll give you a ride home as an apology.”

“Apology?” Neku asks.

“Yeah. I’m sorry for interrupting your ‘romantic evening.’” Rhyme makes a face at her brother before slipping back onto the golf cart’s seat, taking the wheel. She pats the open cushion beside her. Giving each other a dubious look, Neku and Beat squeeze in.

The cart putters along, its headlights gliding along the grass ahead. When they pass the Director’s house, Rhyme kills the lights and drives slower, careful. Whether or not he hears them is anyone’s guess, but Beat thinks he’s probably right—Why bother chasing a bunch of kids fresh out of college around when you could be asleep and not worrying about it?

As the ground rolls beneath them, the hushed silence pulling in, Beat blurts, “Neku and I ain’t animals, Rhyme.”

“Neku may not be an animal,” Rhyme allows, “but you snore like a bear.”

Neku poorly stifles a laugh.

“C’mon,” Beat says.

“And you eat like an alligator,” Neku mumbles.

“Ha!” Rhyme takes her hands off the wheel for an entire second just to clap them. “And he walks like a penguin!”

Neku chokes. “M-Maybe a little bit,” he says to Beat’s annoyed groan. “Not to mention he trips over everything like a hippo.”

Beat’s head sinks into his hands. “Say all you want, but who’s the one dating the hippo?” he grumbles.

Neku curses. Rhyme’s peals of laughter strike the air like fireworks. “Maybe,” Neku whispers, “I like that about you.”

Beat peeks up through his fingers and sees the stars scrolling along above them. He reaches out and grabs Neku’s hand from where it’s tucked by their knees. Neku follows Beat’s eyes, then lets out a soft hum.

The magic’s still there.