Chapter Text
A loud piercing alarm jolts Charlie out of his dream-like state. He’d spent most of the night staring at the wall while his mind was filled with so many thoughts that he couldn't even follow one. Just as he was finally falling asleep his alarm brought him back down to earth. The bright light shining from his window makes him want to crawl back under the covers and never surface again.
Just one more day. He thought.
As he gets to Truham, the school is buzzing in excitement for the upcoming summer vacation. Charlie beelines for the art block, listening to everyone talk about their plans for the next few months. Harry Greene loudly boasts about some extravagant trip he's taking over the summer and Charlie can’t help but roll his eyes. Maybe he feels a little jealous of how everyone else is going on trips and hanging out with friends. Charlie’s friends don’t seem too interested in hanging out with him this summer. Tao and Elle have been in their own world since they started dating, Isaac was practically best friends with James now, and Charlie has no other friends.
That’s how he found himself telling his parents that he’d go to a summer camp with Oliver. A decision he’s already regretting. Charlie is not an outdoors person. If he could stay inside 100% of the time, he would.
As Charlie finally reaches the empty art room, he feels like he can finally relax. He picks at one of the newer scabs on his wrist, an embarrassing reminder of last night. He pulls the sleeve of his jacket further down as his heart starts to race. It felt good in the moment, but Charlie couldn’t handle the shame afterwards. He felt so… stupid!
The bell rings, snapping Charlie out of his head. He gets up and heads to form.
— — — — — —
Nick can’t wait for summer. When he was younger he used to go to this camp for a couple months out of the summer and this year he’s old enough to be one of the camp counselors. He’s spent every other summer there since he was around nine, so being one of the people that he once looked up to felt exhilarating.
Camp would be starting in a week, but Nick made sure to pack early so he can spend as much time as he can with Nellie. He throws her ball to the other side of the small field they’re in. A familiar looking figure approaches Nellie and throws her ball for her again before walking up to Nick.
“Nicholassss!” she said in her usual bubbly tone. Imogen met Nick at camp when they were eleven and they’ve been best friends ever since. She’s the only person Nick is out to right now.
“Hi, Imogen!” he says with a warm smile. Nellie comes running over and Imogen throws the ball for her again.
“Aren’t you excited for summer? I know I am. Especially because we're both gonna be camp counselors!” she claps her hands a couple times excitedly.
“Can’t wait to get away from David. Ever since he came back from uni, he’s been pissing me off!” He glances at Imogen's more fashionable clothes. “What’re you gonna do when you can’t wear stuff like that at camp?”
Imogen looks down at her outfit and huffs. “I can be outdoorsy, Nick!”
Nellie comes back with her ball. Nick decides that it’s getting to be a bit too late, so he puts Nellie back on her leash and says bye to Imogen.
— — — — — —
The car ride there is long and all morning Charlie’s been begging his mum to just let him stay home.
“Please, mum, I promise I won’t even be in your way!” he pleads.
“Charlie Francis Spring I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- You already said you’d go! Oliver is nervous and he’s counting on his older brother to be there! Not to mention I already paid.”
“But-”
“No buts! You’re going! End of discussion!”
Charlie keeps his headphones in the entire way there, but he can feel his mum glaring at him every now and then. Tori also keeps glancing at him, but she seems more confused as to why he’s still wearing a jumper in 27°C.
The heat is almost enough for Charlie to just take off his jumper. Almost. Looking at the amount of people here, Charlie pulls his sleeves down over his hands for good measure.
“ Camp Nightwing…” he murmurs. The sign for the camp is old and peeling.
“Like Fear Street?” Tori says, appearing from thin air. Charlie jumps back a bit.
“Jesus, Tori. Don’t do that!” Charlie rolls his eyes as Tori just walks away. He turns to actually take a look at the camp.
It’s really sunny… especially for Britain. There’s tons of people running around. Campers trying to find their cabins, or parents wanting their kids to just stay at home. Charlie glances at his mum, hoping that she’ll ask him to stay. She does not. Charlie can hear a lake somewhere, but he can't see it through the trees and cabins.
As Charlie and Oliver say their goodbyes, Oliver holds on tight to Charlie's free hand. They walk up to find out which cabins they’re going to be staying in, and to Oliver's dismay, they’re in different cabins.
Charlie glances down at his brother's worried expression. “How about I walk you to your cabin and get you settled in, yeah?” Oliver gives a small nod.
The cabins are all pretty small. Especially for having to fit four people in them. In cabin 1, Oliver's cabin, there's already the other three people. Two of them look like they’re a couple years older than Oliver, and the third guy looks around Charlie’s age.
“My name is Jamie.” the older kid says when he spots Charlie and Oliver. He has a bit of a French accent. “Which one of you is staying here?”
“This is my brother, Oliver. He’s staying here.” Charlie says, gesturing to Oliver. Oliver has set down his bags on one of the bunks.
Jamie looks down at Oliver's worried expression before turning back to Charlie. “Is he eh… okay?”
“He’s just never been to camp.” Charlie says. “Not used to being away from our parents, I suppose.”
“Ah well you’ll get used to it soon, Oliver. It’s a lovely camp with like uh stuff and uh… shit.” he says waving his hand in the air.
Charlie raises an eyebrow. Stuff and shit? He thinks. How descriptive.
As Jamie continues to talk up the camp to Oliver, Charlie goes to find cabin seven.
As soon as he walks in he wishes that he never got into the car this morning. There's a guy who seems entirely too happy to be here, and a kid talking about a million miles a minute. Charlie heads to the beds on the other side of the room and sets his stuff on the bottom bunk. The older guy gets up and sits next to Charlie on his bunk.
“You’re on my bed.” Charlie says.
“My name is Nick!” he holds a hand out for Charlie to shake. Charlie stares at him till he just awkwardly puts his hand down. “Right… Uhm. So what’s your name?”
“Get off my bed.” Charlie had no interest in talking to this guy at all, so why should he get to know his name? Fuck that.
— — — — — —
Nick was buzzing with excitement as he got to camp. It’s warm out and everyone seems to be just as excited as he feels. He’s immediately hit with a wave of nostalgia as the familiar sights and smells surround him. The old peeling sign in the front, the tree that he fell out of and broke his hand when he was thirteen, the green lawn that kids would run around on. He recognizes a few of the campers from previous years, but there’s also some new faces.
Nick’s the first one to get to the cabin and he takes the bottom bunk on the left side of the room. He barely has any time to unpack before a boy strolls in and walks right up to Nick. His hair is going every which way and he had thick glasses.
“Are you this cabins counselor? I’m not. I’m eleven. My name is Dylan. You look like you’re called James. Is your name James?” he speaks really quickly and Nick worries that he won't be able to keep up with Dylan this summer.
“No, my name is Nick. And, yes, I am the counselor for cabin seven.” Nick says with a slightly amused smile.
“Do they really have archery here? Or was that for show? That would be, like, false advertising, right? I remember one time my auntie yelled at a waitress because of false advertisement. That was embarrassing. I haven’t gone back there since. Wait, what was my original question?” as Dylan starts rambling again, Nick notices another guy walk into the cabin. He has the prettiest dark curly hair and Nick thinks he’s crazy for wearing a jumper in this weather.
“Uh… archery. You were asking about archery.” Nick answers as he drags his eyes away from the new guy.
“Oh yeah! Do they have archery?”
“Yeah they do- here why don’t you set up on the top bunk here?” Nick gestures to the bunk above his. Without waiting for an answer, Nick gets up and goes to sit next to the new kid.
When he looks up, Nick is momentarily mesmerized by the boy's icy blue eyes and dark wavy hair.
“You’re on my bed.” he says with a glare. Nick is stunned for a second but he decides to just push on.
“My name is Nick!” Nick holds a hand out for a simple handshake, but he’s met with the same glare. Maybe he’s not a touchy person? Nick sets his hand down, feeling embarrassed. “Right… Uhm. So what’s your name?”
“Get off my bed.”
Nick stares at the guy for a second before he just gets up and heads to his own bunk.
Maybe he’s nervous… Nick thought. I’ll get him to warm up to this place eventually.
His attention is snapped to the open door as Imogen knocks on the doorframe a couple times. Instead of the usual fashionable clothes she typically wears, she's opted for a simple outfit. Jean shorts and a camp t-shirt.
“Imogen! How are things going?” Nick says standing up. He’s glad to have a distraction from the failed conversation he had with the new kid.
“Well it was going good… but then I got a pair of sisters who absolutely will not get along! How do I make them get along?” she says exasperatedly.
“Mate, you are asking the wrong person.” Nick says. He can’t even remember the last time that he had a meaningful conversation with his older brother, David. Or any conversation that didn’t turn into a screaming match.
Imogen sighs a bit knowing of Nick's awful relationship with David. “I’m at a loss here, Nick.”
“It’s the first day! Give them some time.” Nick says with a slight laugh. Imogen is always ready to just give up, while Nick doesn’t know when to stop.
Imogen looks around the cabin a bit before turning back to Nick. “Aren’t you supposed to have three campers?”
Before Nick can answer they hear a small voice speak from behind Imogen. “Ahem! Is this cabin seven?”
When Imogen moves, they see the tiniest little boy standing there with a backpack that's nearly the same size as him. He looks a bit too young to be six, but that’s the youngest age that the camp will accept. His hair and clothes are neat and put together. That will not last long here.
“This is cabin seven!” Nick says. “Do you need help with your bags?”
“I’m sure I can manage.” he says. Nick nearly dies on the spot.
The small boy walks over to the bunks where the new kid was sitting. When he sees how tiny the little boy is, he gets up and moves his things to the top bunk.
Imogen calls to the little boy. “Sweetie, what’s your name?”
“My name is Alfonso, but my mum calls me Alfie. You can call me that too if you’d like.”
Nick thinks that the boy's vocabulary is adorable for such a young boy. “Well, Alfie, my name is Nick and I’m the counselor for this cabin. If you need anything or have any questions, you can come to me.”
“I have a question!” says the new kid. “How much is a bus ticket out of here?”
Nick sighs. He gets camp isn’t fun for everyone, but he doesn’t want this guy to bring down the mood for Alfie and Dylan. “I’m not answering that.”
The new kid huffs and sinks down in his bed.
Imogen takes a step out of the cabin “Well I’m going to go check on my campers and, like, walk around. Care to join me, Nick?”
Nick considers this for a minute before he nods. He gets up and follows Imogen out of the cabin.
— — — — — —
This camp is getting more and more unbearable by the second. It’s old and dusty and Charlie already can’t stand Rick or whatever his name was.
He jumps down from the bunk bed that was entirely too creaky. Charlies not going to be getting any sleep in that bed, is he? The little boy on the bunk under him was dressed like an old man. Way too formal for camp, but adorable nonetheless.
He sees that Alfie chewing on something… it’s paper. The kid is eating paper. Charlie takes it away from him.
“I don’t think you should be eating this…” he tells Alfie.
“Why not?” he asks with an innocent look in his eyes.
“Paper isn’t edible, buddy.”
“Oh.”
What the fuck is wrong with the people at this camp? Charlie thinks.
Charlie walks out of the cabin, deciding he can unpack later. He wanted to see if they had anything that seemed fun. Maybe Oliver would like archery.
By now, most of the parents are gone and it’s a lot less crowded. Charlie can see a few more of the activities here. He can see the archery ranch that that Dylan kid was asking about, some kids kicking a ball around, a rack of canoes, and an empty fire pit.
Walking around the cabins, he can now see the lake and he hates to admit it’s a great view. He can see a large tree hanging over a small cliff. There’s a kind of rope swing hanging from it.
Charlie wanders around till he almost tramples a young girl sitting by a pile of flowers. She kind of looks like that Jamie guy. Without speaking, she hands Charlie one of the flower crowns she was making.
“Oh- thank you?” Charlie says. He’s not a huge fan of flower crowns, but the girl is watching him. He puts it on and she smiles.
Weird kid. He thinks.
Charlie continues to wander till he finds what he's pretty sure is the mess hall. Half of the place was occupied by lunch tables filled with games and puzzles. On the other side, there's a couple ping-pong tables and pool tables. Charlie spots Oliver playing ping-pong with Jamie.
The little girl from before pushes past Charlie and heads over to Jamie. She hands him one of the same flower crowns she gave Charlie. Charlie walks over as Jamie is introducing the girl to Oliver.
“Oliver, this is my little sister, Marci.” he says. Marci offers a flower crown to Oliver, who happily accepts it.
“Thank you! How old are you?” Oliver asks.
“Uh,” Jamie starts, “she doesn’t exactly… talk.”
“She’s mute?” Charlie says, walking over. Jamie looks over and nods.
“Charlie, you should play ping-pong with us!” Oliver says. Before Charlie can answer, Jamie is already handing him a paddle.
Maybe camp isn’t all bad…
— — — — — —
As the sun sets, Nick helps a few other counselors set up a bonfire in the fire pit. As he watches the campers settle into the benches surrounding the fire pit, Nick remembers something. He rushes back to his cabin and digs through his bag till he finds what he’s looking for.
“What’s that you got?” Imogen asks as Nick comes back outside.
“Well I wanted to make sure I had plenty of memories from this summer, so I got a polaroid and a ton of film!” Nick says excitedly.
“Oh! Take your first one of me!” Imogen says as she poses. Nick laughs and snaps a picture with a small click! He takes the picture and puts it in his pocket while it develops.
The sun sets and the fire is started. Everyone is gathered around and talking and making smores as Nick walks around snapping pictures of his friends and some of the campers. He sits down next to Imogen. Someone from his other side scoffs.
It’s the new kid. Oh god… Nick thinks.
“You could’ve sat anywhere else, y’know.” he says.
Nick huffs and turns his body towards the guy. “Can’t you at least pretend to get along with me? You’re stuck with me the whole summer.”
“Nah I’m actually good. Not my fault that you’re not used to people hating you.”
“I can’t even know your name?”
“Over my dead bo-” he's cut off as a little boy runs up to him.
“Charlie! Charlie look at the smore I made!”
Charlie grumbles something under his breath and looks back up at the boy with a very obviously fake smile. “Wow Olly! Looks great…!”
Olly smiles and runs back over to the kids he was sitting with.
Nick glances at Charlie's annoyed looking expression. “So… Charlie? That’s your name?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Nick knows he’s going to make it his mission to become Charlie's friend by the end of camp. He turns to Charlie and snaps a picture.
“Hey- fuck was that for?” Charlie says. He reaches for Nick's camera, but Nick leans away.
“For future reference! Obviously.” Nick says with a smile. Charlie mumbles some curses but Nick can’t quite hear him over the sound of everyone else, but his smile grows nonetheless.