#rambles and things noted by a summer camp counselor

[raycatz]

Something something dry firing a bow (pulling back the string and loosing without an arrow nocked) is bad for its structural integrity (as the energy that would go into propelling an arrow instead goes into the bow itself.) Link does this when out of arrows in botw/totk. Notably though, in botw/totk, dry firing doesn't cause damage to the bow, whereas irl it's something that absolutely would.

Maybe there's something here for fics? I feel like Wild would know better though 'xD but dry firing is something that could result in a bow exploding in your hands like what's seen in botw/totk when they break.

[lettucebee17]

Hi! This is my first ask i've ever done, so I hope this isn't weird or anything but anyways

did you have anything else on your summer camp au? (I was just scrolling when I found it and became slightly obsessed) For instance do any of the boys find out about the mers/fae/magic in general? What do the staff like Vargas or Sam do at the camp?

anyways you've successfully given me brainrot about this little camp and I'd love for just any facts or ideas you may have!

Hello! Don't worry about your ask, you're doing fantastic!

I have so many random thoughts about this AU, it's just so hard for me to organize them cohesively for other people to understand (I really ought to get on actually writing it sometime....) Including but not limited to, this gem from my personal notes about the AU:

But to touch on your specific questions:

At the point when the AU would start (the beginning of the summer when all of them would be there and the freshman would be first years at the camp), no one has discovered any sort of concrete proof about any magic or the identities of the fae or the merfolk. Floyd has probably had a few close calls with specifically Malleus because Malleus likes to take walks at night by the lake and Floyd likes to swim at night, but Floyd is perceptive enough that he's heard him coming every time and has been able to hide under the water (touching on that though, there is a chance that Floyd has seen malleus without the glamour and knows about his horns, whether or not he would've said anything about that is up in the air).

There have also been a few weird happenings with magic that the campers haven't really been able to explain and Malleus and Lilia know are magic-induced, but Crowley is quick to brush things like that under the rug.

Things don't really start getting weird until Yuu shows up, since they have a weird thing going where magic doesn't affect them but is also kind of more attracted to them. So naturally, as whatever plot I will eventually fully establish unfolds, more and more of the boys will find out about the existence of magic (probably starting with the first years since they're friends with Yuu). Yuu also can see through the fae glamours and therefore can still see Malleus's horns and Lilia's ears and they definitely still call Malleus Hornton, much to everyone's confusion. I think they can also probably see little fish-like features in the Octatrio, like the tweels pointy teeth and perhaps square pupils on Azul, hints of merfolk markings, stuff like that.

I think people finding out about that stuff would probably unfold alongside the plot, plus certain people who are closer to the mers and the fae would find out over time.

In terms of the staff, they run activities and whatnot around the camp, Sam less so than the others since he's more in charge of supplies and goods (of which he always has far more than one would think possibly, especially since he doesn't ever leave to restock). But I think he still occasionally runs certain activities like movie nights or campfire stories, things like that. He also runs a s'more station at the campfire every night.

Vargas is in charge of most of the more physical activities (kayaking, horseback riding, archery, hyper specific summer camp sport, etc.)

Trein is in charge of mostly indoor, educational activites (teambuilding stuff, learning survival skills, crafts, etc.)

Crewel is in charge of the more nature oriented activities (hiking, ropes courses, identifying edible plants, etc.)

I toyed with the idea of having a counselor in charge of each cabin but there are only four of them so three cabins would be left with probably nameless ocs for counselors, but it's still a possibility (if I went with this idea, Sam would be in charge of Octavinelle, Trein would be in charge of Heartslabyul, Vargas, Savanaclaw, and Crewel, Pomefiore). But that's TBD.

Sorry if I rambled for a little while, I don't know if any of this information is really that comprehensive or helpful... But I hoped you enjoy it anyway, I apologize for the brainrot but also, welcome to the club!

[derpyy-y]

Haha guess who's getting back into camp camp? Me! Anyways your ocs are pretty neat, and I'd like to know more about Fish and Jingle. Did Jingle kill someone?

HI HELLO thank you!! :) i love rambling about them

as for jingle, he follows a cannibal clown trope- its his main thing! he totally gives everyone the creeps and nobody trusts him one bit, but they don’t quite realize he’s actually a serious threat for majority of the summer (they chop their feelings down to paranoia and ‘We Are Stereotyping This Poor Clown Boy’) until things are much more apparent in his storyline. he has a main gag of being the reason that scotty isnt at camp anymore, there was simply only room for ONE ginger clown in this establishment…

since absolutely no one trusts him though (except one specific boy in a vampire getup), he has a hard time luring others! i like to think the main trio try and do an investigation on him in ~S4 and it goes really south as an episode idea though :)

ON A LIGHTER NOTE, FISH— fish (they/he/she) is in snorkeling camp, they’re definitely more of a background character for most of the show due to the fact they hardly speak and hate being dragged from the lake! he’s incredibly shy and anxiety ridden, but loves everything about the water. fish is really funny tbh they have a gag of just being in the background doing weirdass shit with no explanation, theyre just really to themself lmao. she’s really close with david and he’s their favorite counselor evidently throughout the show, which makes david really happy because nobody appreciates him ever 😭. fish brings him a dead fish one time though as a gift and he is mortified . so i guess there are ups and downs

they also run away during city survival with their only trail being a pair of abandoned flip flops (they hate shoes) and my oc counselors have to go on a wild goose chase of trying to find him and …. Most of their campers, to be honest . these kids be running AWAY

[thesugarclubs-blog]

The Summer Camp - AU Bucky Barnes x OC

warnings: murder, blood, oral (m receiving), friday the 13th vibes, Minors DNI

word count: 9.7k

WP: https://www.wattpad.com/1271991584-the-summer-camp-willow

Masterlist

“I promise sweetheart, you’re going to love this place.” Willows's mother excitedly tapped on the steering wheel after rambling through the only five perks Howling Woods Summer Camp had to offer.

 “I went here when I was your age and it’s how—“ 

“You met dad… I know mom.” Willow finished for her mother. A nervous pit of anxiety filled her stomach. At 18 the last thing she wanted to do this summer was babysit a bunch of snot-nosed kids but her mother promised that if she at least went one year, Willow could pick the out-of-state college she had her eye on.

“It’s gonna be a great sweetie.” her mother beamed from the driver's seat. 

Willow had her doubts about the extreme promises of newfound friendships and bonding activities. She’d rather be at home or at her spot by the beach reading or listening to her records before she inevitably left her small town for bigger and better things. This was her unfortunate last hurrah and it would take a lot for her to change her mind that this summer wasn’t going to blow. After what felt like a lifetime, her mother's car pulled into the gravel lot past the Howling Woods Summer Camp sign. 

They parked and Willow collected her things from the car and gave her mother one final goodbye before turning towards the camp. Her only sound of freedom was her mother's tires on the gravel behind her, fleeting off into the distance. The camp seemed normal, with a large mess hall to greet the campers and a row of cabins to the right tucked just along the tree line. 

Willow could already hear whooping and laughter followed by the unmistakable sounds of splashing as her feet carried her towards the lake. She tutted along with her duffel bag hanging off of her shoulder until a petite redhead came into view. The girl was sitting at the edge of one of the picnic tables watching over a group of kids playing with horse shoes. 

“Excuse me?” Willow’s voice cracked slightly. An awkward smile spread across her features as the girl turned. “I’m uh... I’m Willow. I’m supposed to check in with James?” 

The girl's brow furrowed for a moment before her eyes went wide, snapping her fingers. “Oh! You mean Bucky! Are you one of the new counselors?” She asked, standing up and clapping her hands together. 

Willow sighed with a soft nod. “Yeah, I am.” 

“Well, Willow, it’s nice to meet you! I’m Wanda! Come on, I’ll take you to see him.” Her voice was bubbly with a smoky quality to it that made Willow smile. Wanda snaked her arm with Willows and began leading her towards the lake. “Knowing him he’ll be down here with Stevie, pretending that they’re actually lifeguards.”

She nodded, taking note of another name to remember. They reached the lake and saw two young men jumping off a floating platform. “Boys! Come meet Willow!” Wanda called from the edge of the water.

Willow adjusted her duffel bag on her shoulder and nervously chewed on her lip, and then she saw a man with long, dark hair and piercing blue eyes that she could see from afar emerge from the lake. 

Water dripped down his sculpted torso, his blue short shorts just barely clinging to his hips and muscular thighs. He had gorgeous, sharp cheekbones and full lips that curled in a smile the second he laid eyes on her. His friend was just as gorgeous and muscular with long blonde hair, large biceps, and a pair of bright red short shorts. 

"They like to think they're hot shit-- You left your whistles in the office, you goons!" Wanda called as she shook two yellow whistles in her hand. The dark-haired one flashed Willow a smile that made her knees knock together as he approached and stuck his hand out.

 "Sorry, Wands. Hi, I'm Bucky. This is Steve."

Willow stared, mouth open, for way longer than she should have done. It was only when Bucky raised his eyebrow at her that she realized and she shook her head slightly, putting her hand in his. “W-Willow” she managed, flushing pink.

Bucky‘s toothy grin was plastered to his face as he shook her hand, his thumb rubbing gently against her skin. Willow felt goosebumps on her thighs and a solid flutter from the butterflies in her stomach. “Well, hey there,” Steve drawled as he squeezed excess lake water from his incredibly red, impossibly short shorts.

Willow cleared her throat and dropped her hand from Buckys extending it to Steve. “Nice to meet you both” she swallowed thickly. 

Steve brought her knuckles up and pressed his lips to them, “We are very happy to have you, Willow”. Bucky shoved Steve’s shoulder, causing a booming laugh to leave his chest. 

“Will you boys behave?! You're gonna scare the poor girl away” Wanda rolled her eyes. “Sorry about them...”

"I promise we’ll behave now." Steve said, apologizing in a fake sickly sweet tone. His hair, a dark brown from being wet, fell into his stormy blue eyes. 

"Stevie, we all know y'all will not behave." Wanda said with an eye roll.

“You wound me.” Steve scoffed, a delicious smile forming on his lips as he slapped his huge hands against his bare chest. 

“If you're done screwing the new girl with your eyes, can one of you take her up to her cabin?” Wanda tilted her head to the side and snapped her gum at both men before slapping her hand flat against Bucky’s chest. The whistles rattled together as he took them and both men lifted them over their heads.

“Come on then, new girl. With me.” Bucky grinned, wiggling his eyebrows and unhooking Willow’s duffel from her arm. “I’ll take that, it’s a bit of a hike.” 

“Stick to the trail, Bucky! Don’t confuse her with your stupid shortcuts!” Wanda called after them and Bucky replied with a dismissive wave of his arm.

"So," Willow starts as they begin going up the trail, trying to ignore the chill that runs through her body at the sight of the towering trees closing off the trail on both sides, 

"What are we doing first?" She sees the ghost of a smirk cross his face before it's replaced with a serious face when he turns to her, "Training. You're not working with the kids on your own today."

Willow couldn't help but be surprised at his expression. She didn't think someone here actually took their job that seriously? She looked down at her feet for a second before Bucky leaned into her line of sight with a broad smile. 

His hand caught her arm and Willow felt like she was shocked. "I'm kidding. You think this place has fuckin' training?" he giggled as he continued walking, Willow rolling her eyes.

“Does this trail ever end?” She laughed softly as they headed further into the tree line. Bucky smirked, turning back to her. 

“Why? You afraid to be alone with little ole me?” He said mocking a pout. Slight irritation licked at her as that knee-knocking grin spread across his face again. 

“Maybe you should be the one afraid of me.” She smirked.

“I’m shaking.” Bucky laughed lightly, hand bumping Willow’s as they walked, sending a flare of heat down her spine.

He grinned at her and she felt butterflies in her stomach. God, he's cute.

"Nice to know someone around here has some bite. You're gonna need it, these kids are little fuckin' monsters."

Willow laughed as Bucky raised an eyebrow.

"I doubt they're that bad."

"Yeah? I caught two of them eating Elmer's glue right out of the tub like it was cake batter, another one got his head stuck in the railings of one of the cabin staircases and his friends covered his head in Crisco to try and get him out. And another duct taped his friend to a fucking tree and left him there during a storm. They're demons, and they'll eat you alive if you let them." He paused and looked her up and down. "But you look like you can handle 'em, darlin'."

“Sounds like a typical weekend in my hometown.” Willow deadpanned.

Bucky stopped and turned to face her before letting out a giant belly laugh.

“Yeah, New Girl, you’re gonna do fine,” he said, slinging his arm over her shoulders and continuing their journey. “Cabin’s just up here.”

They followed a small dirt path up to a large, log cabin. Willow stared up at the cobwebs and dust that adorned the porch. Some lawn chairs were scattered near the door and there were partially crushed beer cans littered across the entryway. 

Howling Woods was advertised as rustic and rugged, but this is not what Willow was expecting. Bucky ushered her up the stairs, giving a half bow as she giggled. 

“After you” he announced proudly, as he quickly swept an empty condom wrapper off the stairs and onto the ground. 

Well, she thought as her feet creaked against the wooden steps, at least the counselors seem to have fun here.

The two of them entered the cabin and Willow took in her surroundings. Messy bunk beds lined the wooden walls, with clothes trailing out of different suitcases and bags. “It’s …. nice” she commented, her brows furrowed as she walked further in. A floorboard creaked from a room beside her and just as she was about to open the door, a tall blonde leaped from behind in and wailed, his tongue hanging down his chin. Willow screeched and stumbled backward as her hand went flying into him. 

“Walker what the fuck!” Bucky pushed him back as the blonde howled with laughter.

"You dipshit." Bucky boomed at the blonde, looking like was about to beat him up. 

"Woah, back up, Barnes. I was just joking around." The blonde kid named John Walker, walked off before Bucky could sucker-punch him.

"You should be careful scaring people" Willow hummed just loud enough for him to hear. 

"And why is that sweetheart?" Walker turned around as he bounded down the creaky steps to look at her. 

"We're all alone out here in the woods, you don't know what's out there that might be bigger than you" she smirked and watched the color drain from his expression. 

"That was dark," Bucky laughed over her shoulder as he tossed her duffle bag onto the bed. "should I be worried about you getting cabin fever out here?"

“Don’t worry, Bucky.” She turned back and smiled sweetly, “you’ll be safe if I go crazy, you’re too cute to die.” 

He held his hand over his heart and sighed dramatically, “Thank God! I knew my dashing looks would get me more than just a good lay one day, too bad Johnny boy!”

John gave them both a dirty look, lingering more on Willow's face as she tried to hold back a giggle before he walked away. "He's fun" Willow stated with a deadpan face as she eyed the bunk beds to try and pick a clean looking one, Bucky laughing behind her, "Yup, Johnny boy is a hoot." He added sarcastically.

Willow plopped down on the twin mattress, a small puff of dust rising from the movement. She pulled her braid of long blonde hair over her shoulder. "So...which one is yours?" she asked, "I might want a tour sometime...since you did such a great job of walking me here, I mean."

She watched as Bucky's eyes went wide for a moment before taking a step towards her, "You definitely aren't shy." he started as he leaned down to her, "Are you, sweetheart?"

“I don’t know handsome,” Willow said, standing up, pressing Bucky backward a step. “I’d say I’m just, good at getting what I want.” She glanced down at his shorts, the outline of his dick prominent, before looking back up at Bucky and winking.

His eyes went wide and she watched his Adam's apple bob up and down in his throat. He definitely wasn't expecting that. Willow has always been a little disarming, guys never expected her to be as bold as she was. Bucky blushed and stammered, water still dripping from his hair down his chest. 

"I-- you--" 

"Don't dish it out if you can't take it, sweetheart," she whispered as she gently tugged on the whistle around his neck, watching his cock get hard. Those shorts really didn't conceal anything.

Leaning in even closer, she traced one of the water droplets with her finger down his chest, stopping as she reached his stomach. Bucky couldn’t help but tense his abs as he sucked in a shaky breath. Willow dropped her eyes again and then dragged them back up to his.

“Down boy,” she whispered, lifting the corner of her mouth in a smirk.

"Fuck." he whispered before he hungrily pushed her against the wall and engulfed her lips in a hungry kiss, so carnal and raw that it shocked her a little bit. Willow leaned into him, indulging his quick, hot tempered need to have her but she wanted to have some fun with the handsome camp supervisor first. 

Willow pushed against his chest with her hand as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, "So eager." she giggled and wrapped her fingers into the rope of his whistle. "Get on the bed," she ordered. 

His wet brown hair fell into his face as she pushed him back gently with the palm of her hand. He dropped to the bed using his hands to brace himself and leaned back so he could look at her. His blue eyes were bright and wide with excitement as she stood over him. "Atta boy," she smiled, "such a good listener."

Willow tilted her head, curling a piece of hair around her finger as her gaze traveled over his body, all toned and wet and laid out just for her. Not even an hour into her camp experience and she had the hottest counselor wrapped around her little finger. God, she was good. 

“Where to start…” she hummed, eyes falling to Bucky’s cock as he eagerly tugged at the waistband of his shorts. “Uh, uh, uh. Are you gonna be good for me, Bucky?”

A whine escaped his pink lips, nodding his head as his tongue ran over them. Willow shook her head unsatisfied, "Words, baby. So let's try it again; are you gonna be good?" She whispered as she leaned over him, a single finger trailing from the dip in his throat all the way up to under his dimpled chin as she looked into his beautiful, blown-out eyes.

"So good," Bucky whispered, long lashes fluttering closed as he tilted his head down. He pressed his soft lips to the palm of her hand and butterflies erupted under Willow's skin. 

She gripped his chin, pulling him up to her mouth. The kiss was all tongue and teeth again, soft whines coming from both of them. Willow wasn't sure what was happening, but she wanted to fuck him bad.

Willow felt the warmth of his large hands wrap around her, his touch setting fire to her already burning skin as he pulled her into his lap. She could feel just how painfully hard he was with every slight movement of her hips, eliciting a soft moan to escape her lips. Bucky's body writhed beneath her, no doubt searching for any form of release. Willow nipped at his bottom lip, tugging gently as she pulled away. 

"Now, that's not behaving is it?" She asked breathlessly.

“Sorry, sorry,” Bucky gasped, stilling his hips as Willow buried her hands in his hair, twisting in the strands. “Buck! You in there?” came Steve’s voice from outside, just before he burst through the door. They turned to look at him, Willow still in Bucky’s lap, his hands on her waist.

Willow jumped out of Bucky’s lap and he stood up, running his hand through his hair as Steve stumbled through the door. His eyebrows shot up and he grinned. “What’s goin’ on in here?” 

“Nothing,” Willow and Bucky replied in unison. 

“Uh-huuuuhh. Sure. Buck, we gotta prep for the campfire session tonight.” He turned to Willow and wiggled his eyebrows. “You wanna see Buckaroo chop some wood for the fire? Or did you guys wanna save the wood for after hours if you know what I’m talkin’ about?” 

“ROGERS!” Bucky shouted. He lunged at his friend as he ran out of the room giggling while Bucky sighed.

“That punk has a sixth sense, I swear,” Bucky laughed a little awkwardly. 

“Well, his timing’s not the best, I’ll give you that,” Willow grinned, “but if I get to watch you put those muscles of yours to work I guess I can take a rain check.” She stepped up to him and kissed him again, short but full of fire. “We’re gonna finish this later,” she whispered against his mouth before turning and heading out of the cabin, leaving him slack-jawed and breathless.

Willow smiled to herself as she jogged back down the path, hearing splashing and laughter in the distance. She needed a second to cool off after that little moment in the cabin. It was a warm day anyway, and the slight breeze felt good against her skin. Bucky was wrapped around her little finger, and she was excited to see exactly what he was packing in those short shorts after the campfire.

She walked out by the water and looked down at the pier, watching the rest of the counselors splash around. As she stood watching, she heard a branch snap from the woods beside her, causing her to spin quickly and peer into the dark trees. “Bucky? Is that you?” Willow called.

Her breath accelerated as she looked around to see if she could see who was there. She started shaking, more branches cracking, the sounds becoming louder.

Walker stepped out from behind a tree, a smug grin on his face. Willow rolled her eyes and shook free of the creeping feeling that crawled up her spine. 

"You look disappointed I'm still alive." He laughed. "I come in peace," he held his hands in the air and joined her on the dock. "You know I thought I recognized that pretty blonde hair," he tugged on her braid as his breath made her skin hot. "You're that Voorhees weirdo. My dad knew your mom in high school. Heard she was a…" Walker's eyes turned down, trailing over her body, "freak. Are you like your momma?"

“You know nothing, John,” Willow replied through gritted teeth, taking a step back. “And I suggest you keep your hands to yourself.” 

John laughed, leaning against a wooden post as he crossed his arms over his chest, “Or what? You’ll set out your little lapdog Bucky on me? I heard she was a feisty one too, your mom, had a temper.” He taunts.

If only you knew... She thought as flashes of her mom's flaring temper around their house crossed her mind. Rolling her eyes, Willow shook those thoughts out and pushed on her hands to get up and leave, looking down at John, "I don't need to set someone on you, I can easily do what I want on my own, use that temper. So stay the fuck away from me, Walker!" She sneered at him before walking away from his smug face, hiding her shaking hands.

"You know," he yelled to her back as she crossed the dock. "They still tell stories about what they did to her back then." Willow stopped, straightening up. She had heard the stories too. They said it's why her mom wouldn't let her go out, no going to parties. The only thing she could do was sneak in and out her bedroom window every night. She was surprised when her mom offered to bring her here, no, nearly demanded it.

Anger flared in her chest as Walker chuckled from behind her. Her hands balled into fists as she spun back around and stomped toward him. Walker just grinned, arms crossed over his chest. “My dad said your mom had a real pretty mouth on her despite her being a freak.” He sneered. “Lookin’ at you now, I can see he was right. Like mother, like daughter.” Willow’s sneakers thudded against the old wood as she paced at him, throwing up her hands and shoving him back into the lake with every ounce of strength and rage in her. 

“Willow!” Bucky’s voice echoed against the trees behind her, “What are you doing!?”

“Taking out the trash- sorry for polluting the lake,” she said, glaring down at Walker who was standing waist-deep in the lake. 

“Fuck you, Voorhees, you’re a bigger freak than your mom!” Walker sneered. Willow took a step towards him but felt a hand on her arm, holding her back.

"Hey," Bucky whispered, "he's just a prick. Don't worry about him." Willow turned around and sniffled, tears misting her eyes. Bucky smiled and wiped them away, his thumb brushing her cheekbone softly. "He's gonna get canned at the end of the summer anyway." 

"WHAT?!" Walker shouted. 

"I SAID GARGLE MY BALLSACK, WALKER!" Bucky shouted. Willow laughed and Bucky blushed, gesturing toward the area where they were setting up the campfire. "C'mon. You can supervise me, give me tips on how to chop campfire wood."

He grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together as he led them towards the others. “What was he saying to get you so wound up, New Girl?” He asked softly. 

“Just stupid shit about…ghosts” she muttered in return, frowning darkly before turning a beaming smile towards him. “Anyway, enough of that dick. If you get the biggest wood pile I’ll give you a reward. Maybe s’mores, or maybe something more…” she teased.

Bucky cocked an eyebrow at her as they joined the other counselors in a small clearing. Steve gave them both a nod and a wink and Willow introduced herself to some of the others - Kate, Peter, Sam, Yelena, Scott, and Hope. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming as they planned the campfire activities. As Willow listened to Peter excitedly ramble about his favorite campfire songs, her eyes wandered to Bucky as his pile of wood grew taller. The veins in his hands bulged as they flexed around the handle of the axe. Her eyes ran up his muscular forearms, to his bulging biceps, and finally- his incredibly lean shoulders. She practically drooled as beads of sweat ran down his chiseled abs. He made eye contact with her and gave her a shit-eating grin  before he wound up and brought a powerful strike down against the block of wood. A deafening crack sang through the clearing as she imagined him splitting her open, in an entirely different way. Peter nudged an elbow into Willow’s side, hurtling her consciousness back to Earth. 

“Can you even hear me? Seems like the two of you have really bonded” he said with a wink. 

Willow blushed hard. “Yeah well, we got interrupted before we could really bond if you know what I mean.” she sighed.

Yelena’s eyes widened as she nudged Willow, “Damn new girl, you’re settling in just fine!” She commented, sending Kate and Wanda into a fit of giggles. 

“Well, he can’t seem to stop staring at you. So it looks like you’ve got yourself something fun to do for the summer.” Hope replied with a wink.

Willow chuckled and her smile widened as she thought about the prospect of spending time with Bucky. And her thoughts were fucking filthy.

She barely had the mind to see Steve wandering over. He shooed Peter away with his hand, flicking his lighter on and plunking himself down next to her. His legs straddled the massive log with ease as he stuffed his lighter away and rocked in closer so that his face was nearly touching the side of hers. "Whatcha thinking about?" He whispered, taking a puff of his cigarette. 

She turned, their eyes meeting, and gave him a wicked grin, "I'm thinking about all the ways I'm going to finish what you rudely interrupted earlier." 

Steve buckled down with laughter, his hand clutching his chest and his smoke hanging loosely from his lips, "I really fucking love this girl!" he boomed into the clearing.

She laughed along with him, her cheeks flushing from the attention his words drew to her, she felt his gaze on her body, making it prickle with goosebumps on her skin. Taking a deep breath, Willow's eyes involuntarily wandered back to Bucky as he finished stacking up the wood, making his way over to sit on her other side, they were almost caging her small frame in between them. 

"How's that for wood chopping, eh?" He leaned to whisper in her ear, a proud grin taking over his face as she turned to him, pretending to be in thought just to tease him, "I don't know," and his smile began to drop before she continued, "pretty impressive, I guess." She finished reaching her hand to wrap around his bicep, squeezing it lightly. Bucky was about to reply when all heads turned to the approaching figure, effectively silencing everyone.

Twigs snapped as a man emerged and Willow had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Steve turned his head and she could see his shoulders shake from across the fire pit. The man was wearing shorts so small it made Steve’s shorts look like capri pants. A white crop top hung loosely on his torso, adorned with not one, not two, but three whistles. "Not getting started without me, are we?" the man asked, an eyebrow cocking up as his tongue darted out to wet his mustache. Steve full-on snorted and Wanda slapped his shoulder as he wiped away a tear.

"Uh--Zemo..." Peter started with a wince, "I think you grabbed one of the girls' shorts..." The man glanced down, running long thin fingers across the dead animal currently adorning his upper lip. "No, no Parker. These are mine." Steve howled with laughter as he fell backward into the dirt, his hand across his chest while Wanda buried her face into her hands. Willow turned her head slightly to hide her own laughter into Bucky's arm. She could feel his own shoulders shaking against her skin which only made it difficult for her to stop.

“Alright, someone get this fire going, it’s time you all heard about the one they called, The Ghost,” Zemo said, clapping his hands together. Steve and Bucky set up some logs, sparking a flame with Steve’s lighter and getting a roaring fire going. “The Ghost was a regular man once, they say. Before he became what he did…” Zemo trailed off, fire crackling, everyone entranced. “He was the best of the best, no one could catch him, no one ever saw him coming, and those who didn’t live long.” Willow shuddered, despite the heat from the fire and being huddled closer to Bucky.

It was starting to get darker and Willow heard a twig snap in the distance as Zemo kept telling the story. Her heart started to race and she reached out to hold Bucky's arm as she looked around the quickly darkening forest behind them. John flashed her a shit-eating grin from the other end of the campfire. "Scared, Voorhees?" 

"Fuck off, Walker. Dumb shitbag," Steve quipped. He reached down and threw a rock, laughing as it bounced off of John's thick skull. 

"His stories are all bullshit anyway, sugar," Bucky whispered. He grinned and pulled her close to him, his hand resting on her thigh. Willow could feel the cool metal from his silver skull rings against her warm skin. Zemo blew one of his whistles and everyone around the campfire jumped. 

"Ow! Zemo, what the hell?!" Bucky shouted as everyone covered their ears. 

Zemo glared at him. "Don't be rude, Barnes."

Bucky made a scoffing noise in the back of his throat and flipped Zemo off low enough that he didn’t see but Willow and Steve did, making them both snicker. Bucky moved his hand further up her thigh squeezing gently, and she shuddered again but this time it wasn’t because of Zemo’s story. She turned her face into his neck and pressed a gentle kiss against the soft skin there and she felt the vibration of his hum on her lips. 

Zemo cleared his throat, giving them a pointed look. “As I was saying…”

Zemo continued with his story, his voice booming. The man obviously had a passion for the theatrical. The fire crackled and threw a gentle glow against everyone’s faces, captivated by the story of The Ghost. Except Willow, who was captivated by Bucky’s fingers, tracing circles against her thigh. He ducked his head down and pressed his lips ever so lightly against the side of her neck, nipping at her pulse with his teeth. She felt wetness pool in her panties and took her bottom lip between her teeth. “Zemo’s ghost stories are always a crock of shit,” he whispered in the shell of her ear. His tongue flicked against it and she stifled a moan. He squeezed her thigh again. “Why don’t we go get some more firewood?” He pushed his nose against her soft, blonde hair, inhaling deeply. “I think I know a piece of wood you’ll really like,” he growled.

Willow's breath caught in her throat, as she nodded once and almost jumped off the log they were sitting on pulling Bucky with her. She cleared her throat, “We’re uh, gonna get more firewood” she mumbled quickly. 

They made their way out into the woods, Bucky gripped her waist causing a loud giggle to escape her lips, as she spun around and pressed into a tree. “Shh angel.. no interruptions this time” Bucky hummed, capturing her lips with his.

"You promised me a piece of wood, Barnes. Now, let’s see." Willow lowered herself onto her knees. "Yes, I did." He swallowed hard as Willow made a quick way of his shorts and briefs, his cock standing to attention just for her.

"I don't know if you won the contest," she giggled, stroking the length of his shaft with the back of her forefinger. "Back at the campfire, Steve was making a compelling argument that he-" 

Bucky pulled her up and stopped her talking with a slow, hungry kiss. Taking her bottom lip between his and took his time savoring her. 

"Naughty," she huffed breathlessly and pulled her hand from his erection. "I want to hear you beg." 

"Willow," he pressed his lips to her neck in a fury, panicked and needy they stopped just below her ear. "Beg, Bucky." She whispered against his hair, wrapping her hand around the back of his neck so she could pull on the small strands around his nape.

He groaned as she pulled his head back by his hair, hissing at the sting of her pull.

She started placing small chaste kisses to his cheeks, jawline and down his neck while she taunted him with her other hand tracing figures around his hip bones. Bucky's breathing was ragged and shallow, his body twitching under her touch.

Licking a hot stripe up to his ear, Willow bit down gently before teasing him, "Come on, baby. Let me hear you."

Bucky's breath was hot on her shoulder as he huffed sharply, his body pressing her further into the bark. Willow placed a kiss on his clenched jaw as her nails raked against his cock, the swollen head now obvious against her hip. His head fell forward against the tree trunk. 

"Please,' he groaned. "Please, let me feel your mouth. Fuck I want you so bad." 

Her hand reached down between his legs, stroking him as little whines escaped his lips. His eyes were completely rolled back as he rutted his hips against her hand. 

Releasing him, she slid back down to her knees. 

"Maybe if you stay still enough, I'll let you finish," Willow whispered, looking up at his flushed face.

"Please..." He begged into the bark. 

She smiled at the melting puddle of a man standing in front of her. Twice now, Willow had reduced him down to a whimpering mess and it only made the fire in her own stomach burn brighter. 

Willow wrapped her hand around the base of his length, stroking gently as small moans slipped from his plush pink lips, his forehead still pressed against the tree. She positioned herself, raising up slightly before licking the bead of precum that had gathered on his tip. Bucky hissed at the contact which only encouraged her more as she wrapped her lips around him and began bobbing her head slowly.

Bucky was shaking, holding still as Willow swirled her tongue around the head of his dick. 

“Darlin’ please, let me come,” Bucky pleaded, voice cracking. Willow looked up at him, humming and watching his eyes roll back into his head. She pulled back, a string of saliva connecting her lips and his dick before breaking. 

“I suppose you’ve been good,” she murmured, stroking his cock. “Okay, baby, you can come, whenever you’re ready.”

Willow wrapped her lips around him and sucked on him until her cheeks hollowed out. Bucky groaned, tangling his fingers in her hair. His hips snapped and forced his cock deeper and deeper into her mouth. She dug her fingernails into his thighs, hearing him groan above her. His rings clinked together as his fingers bumped into each other. Bucky began to whine, desperate and aching for her.

"Fuck, princess, that's so good. Fuck, you're gonna make me come--"

A scream echoed through the air and Willow pulled back, gasping.

"What the fuck?!"

"Nonononono!" Bucky begged, biting down on his lip. "No, please, baby, I was so close! It's just Steve fucking around out there!"

A twig snapped, echoing through the woods. Willow got to her feet and looked into the darkness, her eyes wide and frantic.

"Bucky, there's someone out there."

He tugged on her shirt gently and whimpered.

"Come on, Willow, there's nobody! Nothing happened! It's just Rogers-- HEY, STEVE! FUCK OUTTA HERE, WILL YA?"

They both paused and all Willow heard was a thick, eerie silence that seemed to fill the forest around them with dread.

A bloodcurdling scream cut through the air. High pitched, filled with fear and grief. The hair on the back of Willow’s neck immediately rose. It was coming from the campfire- and it was one of the girls. “What the fuck is happening?” she whispered, feeling a sudden chill in the air. 

“Willow- wait- maybe you could-“ Bucky pleaded as Willow grabbed his hand and ran back towards the group. Another scream as they got closer, this time from one of the guys. She hoped to God that, somewhere along the way, he’d tucked his cock back into his shorts.

Willow stopped dead in her tracks and Bucky ran directly into her back. The entire group was gathered by the fire, all shaking and crying. Zemo was crying the hardest. She followed their eyes to find Walker’s body slumped over a bench about 10 feet away, near the s’mores ingredients. His throat had been slit, and there was a hunting knife sticking out of his back. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Scott shrieked, kicking the ever-loving shit out of a nearby log.

"Walker was killed." Bucky swallowed hard, toughening his stance. Surrounding him, people screamed, and loud cries echoed through the air.

"He said he was going to the bathroom," Wanda whimpered from where Yelena held her an arm's length away from Walker's dead body. "And then he stumbled back out of the forest like that."

"Where's Rogers?" Bucky asked his hand around Willow's in a vice grip. Peter shrugged, just trying to console a hysterical Zemo. 

"I'm right fucking here," He barked. He walked into the light of the raging campfire, a hot pink bandana tied into his long blonde hair, and war paint smudged across his cheeks. He pumped a shotgun with one hand as he stomped toward the axe and pulled it from the wood effortlessly. "Here, take this. There's something, or someone hunting us," he tossed the axe in Bucky's direction before kneeling next to the dead body.

It nearly smacked the camp supervisor in the face but Willow caught it in her palm and twirled it in her hands. 

"That was really hot," Steve paused to look at her with playful consideration as he gripped Walkers hair and yanked his lifeless head up. "Definitely a someone," He said looking at the rough knife cut across John's pale throat. Peter puked at the sight of the blood to the left of Zemo, every marshmallow in his body tumbling to the ground violently.

Scrunching up her face in disgust, Willow slapped his hand off of Walker's head, "Stop that! I don't know what's more disgusting; the blood or the vomit." She yelled at Steve as her eyes traveled across everyone's scared faces.

Bucky had collected himself enough that he was now ushering the kids away from the sight of John's body with Wanda helping him.

"Look," Willow called out to get everyone's attention, "We need to know what the hell is going on here!" As a few people nodded their agreement.

"Just get everyone inside and then we can re-group and maybe search for whoever did this" Willow ordered her fellow counselors as she glanced back at the dead body, the sight of blood trailing down the pale skin making her skin crawl.

Willow turned away from the sight of John's limp body on the ground and back to the group of counsellors that were still huddled together. Bucky made his way back to her, following her eyeline.

"Hey! You heard her! Get the kids inside the mess hall!" His voice boomed through the thick night air, his hands now on his hips. They watched Peter usher Zemo inside while Wanda and Kate gathered the rest of the kids.

She turned to him, "We need to find out if anyone else went missing besides us and John during Zemo's story."

Bucky's brows furrowed, bright blue eyes meeting his. "You think someone here at Camp did this?" He asked, pointing to John.

Steve huffed as he stood, "Bucky's right... John was an asshole but no one here hated him that much."

She ran a hand over her face with a shrug. "The camp is pretty secluded though. Whoever did this is either here or some psycho hunting down teenagers in the woods for fun.”

“Ain’t that a happy thought,” Bucky muttered, swiping a hand through his hair. 

“Well, you and Buck were the only ones I saw leave, so I’m betting on the psycho. Let’s get inside and break into teams, search the camp until we find them,” Steve said firmly, grip shifting on his shotgun.

“As long as no one is alone and someone stays to watch the kids,” Willow added, Bucky nodding along.

Willow, Steve, and Bucky headed into the camp counselor office.

Steve grabbed a baseball bat from the corner and tossed it to Bucky, who caught it with ease. Willow glanced over at him and he grinned, despite the fear in his eyes.

A knock at the door startled the three of them. Bucky jumped the highest, a loud squeak spilling from his mouth. They could see the shadow of feet underneath the door. Willow gripped her axe tightly, and Bucky held his bat up even higher over his head, ready to strike as Steve inched toward the door.

"Whoever that is, better be ready to answer me or I'm gonna blow your fuckin' head off!" Steve shouted.

"It's me and Scott!" Peter shouted. "Zemo and the girls are with the kids, we came to help!"

The three of them sighed and Steve wrenched open the door. Bucky and Steve yanked Peter and Scott inside by their collars.

"Are you fucking crazy?! There's a psycho out there!" Bucky hissed. He looked down at Scott. "What the hell is that?"

"A wiffle bat," Scott replied.

"It's fucking plastic, dude!" Bucky sighed.

"WELL, WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO ABOUT THAT?!"

"Hang on," Steve mumbled as he searched in a closet.

He tossed Scott a crowbar. Peter had a large kitchen knife in his hand.

"We'll go left near the woods, and you guys go the other way near the beach," Steve told them.

They nodded and the five of them burst out of the camp counselor office. Peter and Scott sprinted toward the beach. They heard another branch crack near the forest and Steve sprinted toward it, going full Rambo as he cocked the shotgun.

"ROGERS!" Bucky called. "Fuck, I'm going after him."

He sprinted off toward his friend.

"BUCKY!" Willow screamed and Bucky grinned as he jogged backward.

"I'LL BE RIGHT BACK!"

“For fuck sakes.. HAVE NEITHER OF YOU SEEN A HORROR MOVIE!?” Willow called after them, clear frustration and fear coming through in her voice.

Willow groaned and stood there for a moment, before jogging slowly in their direction. There was no way she was standing there in the dark woods by herself. Not like this.

When she finally spied them in the trees again, she slowed to a fast walk throwing her arms in the air.

“What the hell was that abo-…” her words were cut off as she tripped over what she assumed was a log and fell to the ground. “Ow fuck!” She groaned, Bucky and Steve jogging over to help her up.

Willow rolled to the side and managed to pull herself to her knees as she wiped her hands together, feeling something wet and sticky covering them.

Bucky knelt in front of her, "are you ok?" he asked. "Oh fuck," he swore before she had time to tell him that her ankle was sore and knees scraped.

"What is that?" She whispered.

"Who..." Steve huffed, "it's Hope."

Willow sat up on her knees, forcing the nausea down when she realized that she was covered in the dead girl's blood. Her shirt was hanging ripped from her bloody body and her chest was cleaved open with a large, rib splitting wound down the center.

"What the hell could have done that?" Bucky helped Willow from the ground, sweeping the leaves and moss from her body.

Steve lifted his shot gun as another twig snapped in the distance, "I don't fucking know man but whatever it is, whoever it is. They're stalking us."

Willow's whole body was shaking uncontrollably, for all the bravado she had, being covered in someone else's blood was enough to make her scared.

She held onto the boys as they checked her over, halting their movements as she grabbed their hands.

"We can't split up, it's not safe" she tugged on Steve's arm as he was about to head off in a random direction in the dark, he was shaking too, his eyes wide.

"But we need to find whoever is doing this," Bucky started, not willing to give up and wait to be killed off too. Willow nodded, looking determintally at him, blood was covering most of his arms due to him helping her up.

"And we will.. we will jus-" she was abruptly cut off by a scream sounding somewhere around them, making them instantly rush back towards the camp, armed and hoping to all they're on the right trail.

"STICK TOGETHER!" Willow screamed at them.

The boys ran slightly ahead of her as she tried everything to ignore the stinging sensation her ankle was currently shooting up her leg.

Bucky and Steve both came to a halt in the center of the clearing. Steve promptly raised his shotgun as Bucky turned back, reaching his hand out for Willow as she caught up to them. "What is it?" She asked, stepping from around the two towering men.

"Zemo?" Steve's voice cut through the deafening silence. A gasp left Willow's lips as Zemo turned to them, Scott's limp body falling to the grass below his feet.

"Welcome back kids!" Zemo's voice sang through the air, his crop top completely covered in blood and the kitchen knife Peter had was hanging in his right hand. His toothy grin glistened in the moonlight, sending a chill over Willow's body as she gripped the axe tighter. "Did you like my scavenger hunt?"

“What the fuck? You killed them for a- for a fucking game?” Willow asked, taking a step forwards in anger, Bucky trying to pull her back.

“You think I killed them?” Zemo laughed, it turning hysterical as he stared at Willow. “Wait’ll you see-“

Zemo stopped talking suddenly, and a trail of blood formed at the corner of his mouth before his body slumped to the ground, a hatchet sticking out of his back.

The moon came out from behind the clouds, illuminating the person behind Zemo.

Willow shook and Steve pointed the gun at the figure who stepped into the light, a large knife in one hand. Wind rustled through the trees and Willow kept waiting for someone else to step out of the shadows. They were wearing a burlap sac over their head and turned to face Willow. Her heart leapt into her throat and Bucky stepped forward to protect her.

"Hello, dear," an extremely familiar voice rang out through the dead silence. "I just couldn't stay away from here after all these years!"

Willow's eyes went wide as the killer ripped off the mask to reveal her mother's smiling face staring at her, eyes black like a shark's, and hollow.

"What the fuck..." Steve whispered.

A sinister cackle came from her mothers lips, as she tossed Peter's severed head to the ground. “Willow dear, I have to thank you. If it wasn’t for you getting this job, none of this would have been possible”

Willow stood, frozen as she stared, unsure if she was going to vomit or burst into tears. This couldn’t be her mother. No, this was some imposter or shapeshifting monster. Her mother could never.

“No…” was all she managed to whisper.

“What the fuck…” Steve spoke a little louder.

Bucky ripped the gun from Steve’s hand and cocked it as he took a few steps forward and pointed it at the killer.

“Bucky no!!” Willow begged “please.. give her a chance to explain.. there has to be something.. I can’t just let you..”

“I knew you’d always protect me, kitten” her mother smirked as she twirled the knife around.

Bucky turned the shotgun on Willow, "are you in on this?"

She couldn't even think let alone process what Bucky was accusing her off. Why was her mother here? What connections to this camp could she possibly have that would drive her to murder teenagers?

"Drop the weapon pretty boy," her mother laughed. "Willow has no idea, look at her. I didn't raise an idiot," her mother snapped and came to stand over Zemo's lifeless body. "I came to make things right. This camp used to be the only safe place in my life," she swung the knife around in the air wildly as she spoke.

Willow didn't recognize this person, whoever her mother had become in the shadows was sick and tormented. This was not her mother.

Bucky spun the gun back on her mother, unsure where to point in the chaos. "What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped at her.

"The handsome ones are always the most dangerous," her mother rolled her eyes.

"Bucky isn't like that," Willow argued, stepping forward with her axe still gripped in her shaky hands.

"Bucky isn't like that," her mother mocked. "What, you sucked his dick and now you're an expert on his personality? I'm doing this for us."

"What do you mean for us?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS MOM?" Willow questioned the woman standing in front of her, trying to steady the axe in her hand as she tried to step closer to her. Tears were filling her eyes and making her vision blurry.

Bucky's arm shot out to stop her, the shot gun trained on her mom and his eyes too while Steve shouted at her, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!" his eyes running from Willow's face to her mom's. Anger and betrayal written all over his face.

"I'M GETTING TO YOU!" Her mother screeched, pointing the knife at Steve. "All of you boys are the same. Just like your Fathers," Her mother seethed. "Stupid, arrogant and only looking for pussy and the moment you don't get it, you turn mean and cruel."

Willow pushed against Bucky's hand, against his own protests. "What are you talking about!" Her voice shaky.

"John Walker Senior and his band of assholes including your father," She moved the knife towards Bucky, who raised the shotgun a little bit higher, "and your father." Her mother trained the knife back onto Steve. "They ruined this place for me. Got me fired all because I refused--'' Her voice cut off from the anger seeping from her pores. Even in the dim moonlight, Willow was losing sight of the woman standing in front of her. It wasn't her mother, it was something much darker.

“They all think they’re so safe, so comfortable in the power they hold over others. Who’d have ever suspected that their children would die gruesome, horrible deaths.” Willow’s mom took a step towards them and Steve hefted the gun at her head.

“Don’t fucking move,” he growled, and Willow’s mom sighed, looking to her.

“Don’t you ever get tired of being around assholes like this?” she asked, and Willow shook her head in disbelief.

"Mom, you're not thinking clearly--"

Her mother cut her off with a cackle that echoed through the air and made the three of them shudder. She smiled, taking a step toward Steve as she looked him up and down.

"Oh, don't you worry about me, sweetheart. I'm thinking just fine." She paused and trained those black, empty eyes that Willow no longer recognized on Steve's face. "I'll tell you what, Rogers. I'll let you choose how you die."

Steve's gun was trembling in his hands and Willow's mother took another step toward him, a psychotic and malicious grin spreading across her face.

"What's the matter, Rogers? Scared?"

“Of you?” He scoffed, and swallowed thickly, trying to put on a brave face. “Only cowards kill for reve-…”

Willow's mother lunged forward, slamming the knife between Steve’s ribs and twisting upwards, a wide smirk on her face as she watched the tall, broad man gurgle blood before his knees collapsed below him.

In the heat of the moment, Bucky pulled the trigger, hitting Willows mother throw the eye socket. Her limp body fell into the dirt, as Bucky threw the gun and collapsed on the ground, cradling Steve’s head in his hands.

“Hey, hey, hey … look at me Rogers, you’re okay” Bucky pleaded. “You have to be okay..”

Steve brought his hand up to Bucky's chest and smiled weakly at him, “… til the end of the line, pal” He whispered, as his head fell backwards and his body went limp.

A sob tore from Bucky's throat as Willow stood frozen in place, "Buck," she whispered through her tears.

His head snapped to where her mother had collapsed in the dirt, only her body was gone and only a thick pool of blood was left in her absence. "The lake," Bucky looked back to her, his eyes red and jaw tense. "There's canoes on the shore we can reach help."

"The kids, they're in the dining hall," Willow wasn't even sure how she was speaking, time felt sluggish and weird. Her mother had killed so many people. She looked down at the blood on her hands and blinked the tears from her sore eyes. The blood of your friends drawn from the blood of your kin she thought as her eyes drifted to the pool of blood left from her mother.

Bucky was standing now, tying Steve's bloody bandana around his wrist and checking his pockets for shotgun ammo. He marched over to her, covered in so much blood, streaks from where he had wiped the tears from his bloodshot eyes left on his cheeks. He pressed a hand to her face and forced her to look at him, "she's not after the kids, she's after you and me. We have to get to the lake."

Willow instinctively leaned into his touch, closing her eyes to take a steadying deep breath. She could feel Bucky's thumb rubbing gently across her cheekbone and as she opened her eyes he tilted his head down, to catch her gaze. "We're gonna get out of this...okay? Come on." He said and she knew that he was mustering up any ounce of courage he had left in him.

"Okay." She whispered as his hand dropped from her cheek, grasping hers and leading her towards the lakeshore.

They grabbed a canoe, dragging it into the water, hopping in and picking up the paddles. Bucky was in the back of the canoe, steering them away from the dock, deeper into the lake. When they were far enough away from shore, Willow stopped paddling, carefully turning around to face Bucky.

They sat for a moment in the stillness, then Willow said, “Did that really just happen? Tell me I’m wrong and my mother didn’t just go psychotic and kill nearly everyone. Tell me it’s gonna be okay, tell me- tell me…” Willow was getting more worked up by the minute.

“Hey, shh, it’s okay, we’re okay, we’ll be okay,” Bucky murmured, leaning forwards and cradling Willow’s face in his hands.

"I feel like I should be comforting you," she breathed.

Her eyes welled up with tears, mixing with the sweat, blood and dirt that had gathered on her face.

"You must hate me, Bucky."

Bucky shook his head.

"You didn't know, Willow. It's not your fault that your mom was a total psycho."

She began to cry and Bucky put his canoe paddle inside, next to him, grabbing hers to keep it from slipping into the water. He cupped her face in his hands again and smiled.

"We made it, right? That's all that matters."

She let out a broken sob, unable to control it anymore.

"I'm so sorry."

Bucky stared at her, his bright eyes searching hers. He was on the verge of tears. He just lost everyone, and he was still trying to be brave for her. He cleared his throat.

"You don't have to be sorry. Just kiss me."

Willow sniffled and moved forward, rocking the canoe, but they didn’t seem to care. She captured his lips hard and desperate, combing her bloodied hands into Buckys hair. 

He moaned against her lips and placed his hands on her ribs, gripping her skin to keep her steady. 

Her lips parted and their tongues jammed together, a mess of saliva, sweat and others blood mixing between them. 

“Fuck Bucky..” Willowed whined, tugging on his hair and making him groan against her lips.

"We're gonna be okay," he pulled away from her and peppered her bloody face with rabid kisses. His hands gripped her tightly and slid her to the edge of her wooden seat until she was completely wrapped in his legs. "I'm going to get you out of this," he tangled his hands into her hair and pulled her against his lips.

Willow whined, kissing him back as her fingers tangled into the hair at the nape of his neck. The kiss was messy and this was definitely not how she wanted to spend the start of her summer but being in this canoe with her lips locked to his, the feeling of safety began to wash over her.

She pulled away, pressing her forehead to his, their chests heaving, "Please don't leave me." Willow whispered, her voice still shaky and her confidence and bravado completely gone at this point.

“I’m not going anywhere, I told you, we’re making it out of this,” Bucky said, pressing his lips to hers again before pulling away. “We’re safe out here, I promise.”

As the words left his lips, a body popped out of the water and a haunting howl echoed through the night, piercing their ears. Willow and Bucky screamed as a hand reached out and tried to pull the canoe over.

It took Willow a few seconds to realize that it was her mother with a large bloody bullet wound in her eye and her mouth agape in a desperate, furious cry. Bucky grabbed a paddle in both hands and held it like a spear.

"GO TO HELL!" He roared as he jammed the canoe handle into her mother's eye socket.

Another howl, but this time it was one of pain. She kept trying to grasp onto the edge of the canoe and Bucky snarled as Willow picked up her own paddle. They had to end this. As terrified as she was in that moment, she knew what they had to do. 

Willow began to slam the paddle against her mother's skull, watching blood and bone fly into the water. Bucky pulled the paddle from her eye socket. Her fingers were still holding on to the edge.

"THIS IS FOR STEVE, YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

He turned the handle around and jammed it into her neck. Willow watched in horror as her mother's head was severed from her body, sinking into the water. The pruny fingers that gripped the canoe slid off of the wood and the body disappeared into the black water below.

Bucky and Willow stared into the water, breathing hard, their paddles and faces covered in blood. It was all over the canoe, too.

"We have to get the fuck out of here," he whispered. He grabbed Willow's hand. "I'm not gonna leave you. Okay? I promise."

She nodded and Bucky kissed her again before they plunked themselves down and began to paddle as hard as they could until they reached the other side of the lake. She could see police lights, and she knew they were going to make it out of here together.

It was over.

[linafication]

what kind of camp is the summer camp that the squad goes to !

fuck yeah good question !! im gonna copy & paste this sorta Rambly Lore from my notes app & hopefully this answers ur question >:3 the character sylvia carlile has not been designed yet but she is mentioned quite a bit here >:3 also this kinda sounds like me being fake deep keep in mind I wrote this at like 12 am & I’m not a very good writer djgkdjgj <3

The island the camp is located on doesn’t really exist. Well, it does exist, just not in the usual sense of our reality. It’s only there & tangible to those it invites in (not consciously, just at random, although there are things you can consciously or unconsciously do to attract its subconscious attention)

it’s kinda like its own interdimensional ecosystem of sorts. every creature & being & phenomena within the island is the island if that makes sense. it’s all connected & it doesn’t make fuckig sense & some parts of the island tend to disagree with one another or are vastly different in layout of phenomena but they’re all connected (like the difference between a foot & a lung yknow. very very different on their own but all part of the same body ya im kinda stealing this analogy from tma whatever it’s cool)

of course, some humans will wind up trying to harness that power. and some will even come in blind and innocent, only for the island to harness them. Miss Sylvia Carlile was of the latter. Sylvia was the host of one of those Family Living Shows in the mid-to-late 1970s. She’d quite quickly risen in fame due to her sweet, charming, & Painfully enthusiastic personality that her audience would just eat up. She was one of those people who did it all for public image, doing whatever she can to keep up that angelic persona she’d sold so well for so long.

& in the early 80’s, she decided to found a summer camp.

It was a big spectacle. She purchased an entire small island off the coast of washington state & started bringing in work crews (yes a whole fucking island. the island itself is very small but. she’s using the whole damn thing to build a summer camp. that’s a big fuckin summer camp everything was going smoothly. too smoothly.

you see, the presence of the work crews had taught the island something. it liked company. it had dealt with humans long enough, but always humans with the intent to conquer and take. these people were harmless. the perfect company. the perfect food.

Once the camp is built & counselors begin to be hired, things start to go a bit off the shits <3

The island just about erases itself. No one remembers the camp. Outside of the campers, people who work there & of course, Sylvia herself. no one recalls the camp or even the island ever existing. Even members of former work crews had memories of taking other jobs in place of their time building camp Carlile.

Sylvia brought something to the island that it had never had before: connection. Human connection.

It’s only fitting that Camp Carlile, named in the honor of its founder, would take its founder & make her a part of it. But of course, if you add an invasive species into the mix of cosmic nonsense that calls itself an island, you’ll get an interesting reaction. Not only did the camp transfer some of its own self onto her, it absorbed some of her back into it. & Sylvia Carlile was a deeply flawed human being

Sylvia will live for as long as the island wills her to, & it doesn’t seem to want to give her up anytime soon. Her ambition will be left unchecked (within the loosely defined confines of the camp itself). The world outside camp Carlile has forgotten her entirely. & she’ll drag as many more into a similar fate with no life outside the camp just to keep it fed. unrestrained summer fun !!

[7-wonders]

a one shot where the reader and xavier have been crushing on each other for a while then they express their feelings and make out while sitting out on the dock over the lake at camp redwood?

Word count: 1.4k

“Montana, truth or dare?” Trevor asks dramatically, taking a swig of his beer as he cocks an eyebrow at the blonde bombshell.

“Uh, truth.” The counselors of Camp Redwood are gathered around in the boys’ cabin, playing a rather juvenile game of Truth or Dare to celebrate the night before the campers arrive.

“What…what’s the riskiest place you’ve ever had sex?” You roll your eyes, having figured that the man whose one glowing achievement is getting kicked out of a Jane Fonda workout video because of his huge dick would ask a sexual question.

“In the locker room, right after one of my aerobics classes,” she smirks at the awed noises that come from her fellow counselors, knowing that this would cause an uproar. 

“Shit, with who?” Ray can’t help but to be curious, asking the question you’ve all been thinking.

“I never kiss and tell,” Montana says airily. “But it wasn’t anybody here, that’s for sure.”

“Alright, it’s your turn to ask, Tana,” Brooke says quietly, knees tucked to her chest as she nervously watches Chet and Montana pass a joint back and forth.

“Hmm, okay.” She sucks her teeth, looking around the room with narrowed eyes. “Xavier! Truth or dare.”

“Dare,” he says in that cool voice that makes goosebumps prick at your skin, “because I’m not a pussy like some people in this room.”

Montana rolls her eyes. “Whatever, you’re just jealous that it wasn’t you I fucked in the locker room.” It’s a well-known fact that the two had quite the messy relationship and breakup, the effects of that still seeping into their friendship. “I dare you to play Seven Minutes In Heaven.”

“Really? Are we in middle school?”

“Says the guy willingly playing Truth or Dare.”

“Fine!” Xavier sighs, looking around. “You want me to go stand in the closet, then?”

“No, let’s spice it up. Go and wait out on the dock.” Xavier stands up, waving mockingly at the group before sauntering out of the cabin. Montana waits until the screen door clatters shut behind him before turning back to the circle excitedly. “Alright, let’s take a vote! Who should be Xavier’s mystery girl?”

“Can I nominate Chef Bertie?” you joke, referencing Bertie’s clear rebuff of Xavier’s sarcastic advances earlier in the day. 

“No, but I want to nominate you.” Immediately, your heart drops into your stomach.

“Montana, no! That’s not fair!”

“Why’s it not fair? I thought Montana was the one who dated Xavier,” Trevor asks.

“I did. But, sweet (Y/N) here has a crush on our Xavier, who happens to feel the same way,” Montana chuckles.

“Nah, Xavier’s whipped for (Y/N), he’s got it bad,” Ray chimes in.

“No, he doesn’t! Ever since I told Montana when we were drunk, all you guys have done is take pity on me. There’s no way in hell he likes me like that,” you insist.

“Well, now’s your chance to find out!” Montana counters.

“And what if I don’t go?”

“Please, (Y/N)?” Montana asks, smiling and batting her eyelashes at you as she grabs your arm. “Do it for me. You’ve said that you want this summer to be life-changing; start with this!”

“Fine,” you say after a pause. “But I’m not going to guarantee anything will happen.”

“That’s alright, just face your fears and go do something that makes your heart race.” Mallory stands with you, keeping a hold on you as you walk to the door to make sure that you actually do make it out the door. She nearly pushes you out of the cabin, waving at you as the door shuts behind you. “Have fun!”

Wrapping your arms around yourself, you start to walk quickly in the direction of the lake. Logically, you know that Mr. Jingles isn’t lurking out in these woods, 14 years after he killed every camper and counselor at this very camp. The campfire story from earlier, however, is hard to get out of your mind as your ears strain to hear any sort of jingling keys from behind a tree.

Xavier’s standing at the edge of the dock, biting his nail (a nervous habit only you and Montana know he has) and looking out at the water. When your footsteps sound on the wood of the dock, he turns around. 

“Oh good, it’s you!” Your heart flutters momentarily. “Was worried it was gonna be Jingles instead.” Hiding the disappointment, you shrug and walk closer. 

“What, your own scary story freak you out?”

“Hey, you never know what’s lurking in the woods.” You sit down on the edge of the dock, letting your feet dangle above the water as Xavier sits next to you. “So, you drew the short straw?”

“It was either me or Trevor, and I figured you’d rather talk with me instead of staring at that furry ‘stache of his for seven minutes.” Xavier laughs, the sound of it making you smile before you both fall silent.

“So…” Xavier says awkwardly.

“So…”

“Oh, are you cold?” You look down, not realizing that you still had your arms wrapped around yourself. “Here, take my jacket.”

Before you can protest, Xavier’s large purple jacket is draped over your shoulders. You pull it tighter around you as your face heats up, smelling Xavier’s cologne wafting off of the fabric.

“Aren’t you gonna be cold?”

Xavier shrugs, shaking his head. “Nah, I’m fine.”

“Well…thanks.”

“Y’know,” Xavier says, leaning back on his hands and cocking his head towards you, “I am really glad that it’s you who got picked, and not because you’re not a murderer or anything like that.”

“Really? Thought you would have wanted it to be Brooke or Montana.”

“Montana would end up drowning me in the lake if I gave her the chance, and Brooke isn’t my type.”

“I would have thought she was your next conquest, with the way you were all over her earlier.” You punctuate the sentence with a friendly nudge against his shoulder and a wink, not wanting to sound like you’re jealous.

“No, that was just…she reminds me of my little sister, y’know? I felt bad for scaring her, and wanted to remind her that it was okay and I was just telling a story.”

“You have a little sister?”

“Yeah, she’s gonna be a junior in high school.” Xavier smiles wistfully, and your heart clenches painfully at the softness he’s displaying.

“So why are you happy it was me then?” Even in the dim light of the moon, you can see Xavier’s cheekbones become dusted with pink.

“Besides the fact that you’re pretty bitchin’? I’ve…kind of had a thing for you for a couple of months now.”

“A ‘thing?’“ you squeak, nearly in disbelief that this is actually happening.

“A crush, I guess, since apparently we’re middle schoolers now.” His blue eyes flick over to you, laughing nervously when he sees how wide your eyes are. “Fuck, I shouldn’t have said anything. Chet’s been telling me to go for it for, like, a month, but I’ve been too chicken to do anything, and now I’ve probably fucked everything up.”

“Xavier!” you put your hand on his leg to stop his rambling. “I like you too. Montana planned all of this, she must have known that we were both too scared to do anything.”

“Shut up,” he says with a smile, “there’s no way a girl like you is into me.”

“There’s no way a guy like you is into me.”

“Let me prove it to you?” Xavier asks, his eyes flickering to your lips before he looks back at your eyes. 

Speechless, all you can do is nod as Xavier starts to lean in, tilting you chin with his hand as his lips meet yours. They’re just as soft as you thought they would be, and you can feel him smirking against you as you eagerly reciprocate the kiss. Your lips work against his, and you’re almost shocked at how slow and sweet he’s taking things. From what Montana had told you about their whirlwind relationship, everything about him was rough and fast.

“Time’s up!” Montana’s voice shouts from back at the cabin, breaking you and Xavier apart. 

You both smile shyly at each other, Xavier standing up and pulling you up with him. You note with pride that he doesn’t let go of your hand until you get back to the cabin, and then only to open the door, but the sight of his jacket keeping you warm is more than enough to send the room into a delighted uproar. You couldn’t care less about their reactions, lost in a hazy glow as Xavier sits next to you, refusing to let you out of arms’ reach. 

[judesstfrancis]

31 👀👀 (also 34 and 35?) -🍊

31. Do you have any OCs? Tell us about them!

anon I love u so much for this question thank u <3

the oc's I have most on my brain rn are from my original horror story that I'm working on!! the two main characters are mari guerra and carter bright, mari is an ace lesbian and carter is a bi trans woman and they were both really good friends at summer camp when they were younger. they kinda kept up for a while after they left but contact drifted off bc they're from different cities and it's easy to lose track of things growing up and going to high school and everything u know how it is. anyway after a few years of not talking they meet again when they start working for the same camp they met at (they also fall in love, they're both delighted to see each other again bc they mutually had feelings as young pre-teens they just didn't know how to express that)!!

jude hollis is mari's goth best friend that I came up with on a whim bc I think every horror lesbian needs a goth best friend. jude is nonbinary and pansexual/aromantic and uses she/he/they pronouns!! (mari and carter both use she/her.) jude was actually one of mari's favorite counselors at camp and even tho there's about 5 years between them they became pretty close pretty quickly. they also lived on the same street growing up!! so instead of tragically losing contact after camp ended like mari did with carter, they fell into a steady routine where jude acted kind of like an older sibling and drove mari to school/watched her while her parents were out/helped her with her homework and mari's house provided a nice welcoming refuge from jude's own when he needed it. they have been absolutely inseparable ever since.

a minor-ish character in the same universe who is also the love of my life is eddie robles, the camp caretaker and all around dad figure to everyone who has ever set foot on the camp grounds. everyone loves him and even tho jude was never a camper herself, she in particular is very close to him bc he helped them out while they were going through a lot of stuff with their parents back at home. if u do not have people who affirm your gender at home eddie WILL do it for u <3 eddie has a husband I know this much for sure I just haven't fully conceptualized this yet. I think his name is teodoro tho. maybe. this is just the basics of the more Present cast but if u wanna know more please do ask I love them so much

34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.

from the "tim survives the unknowing" tma au that currently lives in my notes app:

"I didn't forgive you, at the time, I meant that. But I don't like who I was, when I was like that. I know I don't--I'm not excusing you, you were a dick and I was more than justified, but...I miss you. I still don't know if I'm...over it, if I do forgive you, but I do know that I want to. I don't want to be like that anymore."

35. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

I am like buzzing in my seat wanting to ramble about the haunting au that I'm currently in the process of updated esp [spoilers redacted] but I cannot bc. well [spoilers redacted] u know? anyway I suppose I can ramble about how much I love everyone who's commented on that story so far tho I've been working on it for so long and I never thought I'd get it to a point where it was Finished lmao but I did and everyone is so so nice about it!! they're so excited about what's going to happen and I know I say it every five seconds but I am OBSESSED with reading everyone's comments to see what their personal theories are. like people are picking up on so much and stitching it all together and I'm always like 👀👀 the rush I get from that is unmatched I love all of u so much

[seasonofthegeek]

Camp Fake It Til You Make It

This drabble featuring Alya and Kim is an anonymous ko-fi request from the fanfic trope mash-ups featuring the prompts “summer camp AU” and “fake dating”. Thanks so much for the support, Nonny!

___

“Please, Al, pretty please with a cherry on top,” Kim begged, following Alya from table to table as she put down cabin place cards for the campers that would be arriving soon. “I’m literally begging you. I can get on my hands and knees if you really want. I can even put my big toe in my ear if that helps.”

Alya paused her task long enough to look back at him and raise an eyebrow. “In what way would that help?”

He blinked. “I don’t know, but it’s what I’ve got to offer. It usually makes people laugh.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She pushed past him to start on the next row of tables.

"Why?”

“Because it feels weird and it would be lying for no good reason.”

“The very good reason is because Ondine’s dating the guy running the obstacle course and I’m going to look like a loser to everyone if I’m single now and she’s already moved on when we were engaged last summer.”

“Why do you even care what people think?”

Kim slumped down on one of the benches and watched Alya continue to wind through the tables. “I don’t know. I never have before but...” He scrunched his nose. “I guess maybe I’m still not over her.”

“Well, duh.”

“Hey.”

Alya dropped the remaining place cards on one of the tables with a sigh and made her way back to Kim, taking the bench opposite his. “I thought you guys parted on good terms.”

“We did, I guess, but...but they were mostly her terms,” he shrugged. “I’m not mad at her or anything because it would’ve been bad to get married when she wasn’t into it, but I still miss her.”

“You might be a little smarter than I gave you credit for.” She winked when she saw his frown and was glad to see it smooth into a small smile though it still held an edge of sadness. “I guess I’m just wondering how it’s going to help you if everyone thinks we’re dating. You’re still going to be upset about Ondine, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess,” he admitted, “but I’m trying not to be.”

“It’s okay to be upset if you aren’t a butthead about it, but is this just something to try to make her jealous?”

Kim shifted uncomfortably. “Not entirely.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Max said getting a fake girlfriend for the summer might help me move on because people were statistically more interested in drama and and me still being single while Ondine isn’t would be more dramatic,” he rambled, “and you’re the only person I can imagine trying to pretend with and it not be weird.”

“It would still be weird.”

“Nu-uh. We’ve known each other, like, forever, and we don’t like each other like that and all you’d have to do is stand near me during meetings and stuff. We already hang out during free time anyway.”

“What about Alix? All the stuff is the same with her too.”

“She’d laugh in my face if I said any of this to her.”

Alya pulled at one of the loose frays from her cut-off jeans. “You promise it won’t get weird?”

“I double doozy promise,” Kim swore.

“And what do I get out of this little deal?”

“Oh, uh, hmmmm. What do you want?”

“A free pass to use you as a fake boyfriend in the future if the need arises. One of my aunts likes to visit and it gets exhausting telling her I’m not seeing anyone.”

Kim beamed at her and held out his hand. “It’s a deal. You’re my fake girlfriend for two and a half months and then I’m your fake boyfriend whenever you need me.”

Alya eyed his big hand warily before placing her own in it. “Deal.”

___

“One of the many perks of being my girlfriend--”

“Fake girlfriend,” Alya reminded him.

Kim continued, nonplussed. “Is that I happen to be an excellent maker of s’mores.” He held a line of marshmallows speared on a steel rod over the open fire.

“You’ve made me s’mores before so I think that’s just something you do.”

“Ah, but Boyfriend Kim’s s’mores are ultimately better than Friend Kim’s s’mores.”

“Well, I guess I’ll be the judge of that.” Alya braced her palms against the edge of the smoothly cut log and leaned back. The fire was almost too much heat on the muggy summer night but it was still nice to look at. “These are always my favorite nights.”

“The ones without the campers?”

“Mmhmm. It’s that nice period between finishing with one set and not dealing with getting ready for the next one just yet. That’s tomorrow Alya’s problem.”

“Yeah, I get that. You had a good group this week though.”

“They were sweet,” she agreed. “How were yours?”

“Fun as hell. I got them to all try to rope swing at the lake and not one of them wussed out.”

“We have different hopes for campers,” she noted. “I’m glad you had fun though.” She caught the odd way he was looking at her and it made her feel...something she wasn’t used to feeling around Kim. She cleared her throat. “You might be too hot.”

“What? Oh!” Kim yelped as the marshmallows caught fire and he dropped the rod into the flames. They both watched the lumps of sugar goodness blacken and fall off.

“So you were saying Boyfriend Kim is better at this? Have you seen him around anywhere?” Alya teased.

___

“I can’t believe you two finally hooked up.” 

Alya glared at Alix who smirked in return. She made the mistake of looking past the smaller woman to see that Alix’s comment had grabbed Ondine’s attention on the other side of the small changing room by the pool. She was doing a poor job of attempting to look like she wasn’t listening to their conversation. Great.

“It’s not a big deal.” Alya jerked the top of her sock up too quickly and heard the fabric let out a pointed ripping sound. She ignored it and picked up her shoe. Alix knew she and Kim weren’t really dating. She’d figured it out the first week of camp so she was obviously doing this for Ondine’s benefit. A month and a half in and Alya had been able to avoid any major awkwardness from the situation and here came the half-pint with hot pink hair to stir the pot.

“I think it’s awesome. He needed someone smart and pretty.” Alix stretched out on the bench, apparently in no hurry to change out of her bathing suit and into her counselor uniform. “I’ve never seen him so happy.”

Alya could feel her face burning and didn’t dare look in Ondine’s direction.  “Yeah, he’s great,” she muttered noncommittally. “You better hurry or your cabin is going to go crazy without you there.”

Alix waved a careless hand. “I got a buncha goody-two-shoes this week. They wouldn’t dare.” She stretched lazily and stood. “But yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it.”

“See you at dinner.” Alya gave her a direct look that she’d seen make lesser people shake but the most reaction she got from Alix was a slight upturn of her mouth. She hurried out of the changing room and ran straight into Ondine who’d been suspiciously loitering right outside the doorway.

“Oh, sorry.” Ondine tucked a short lock of hair behind her ear and a blush was spreading out beneath her freckles. “Um, I couldn’t help but overhear...”

Alya tried to meet her eyes but settled for looking at her nose instead. “Oh?” The word caught in her throat and she held back a grimace.

“I just thought I’d say...well...” She sucked in a loud breath. “I’m glad Kim found you. He’s wonderful and I hate things didn’t work out the way we thought they would, but...oh, but now he has you, and I just think that’s, um, that’s great,” she finished lamely. “So...great for you guys.”

“Thanks,” Alya repled slowly. “I appreciate that.”

Ondine gave her a quick nod and then she was quickly walking past her and out of the gate around the pool. Alya took a moment to gather herself before following the same path but veering away towards the boys’ cabins instead of returning to her own.

Halfway there, she spun on her heels and retreated in the direction of her cabin. Her campers would be waiting for her and she needed to be a responsible counselor. She could fake break-up with her fake boyfriend later.

The more she thought about the situation, the more irritated she became. It’d been unfair of Kim to ask her to play along with his charade. There had been no consideration for her feelings in the whole matter and now she was--

Alya stopped in her tracks, a twig snapping under the heel of her sneaker. Now she was what? Why did she care if Kim was thinking about her feelings? What did that have to do with anything? It wasn’t as if she had feelings about Kim, at least not anything more than friendship feelings.

She didn’t.

She most certainly didn’t.

She started to walk again, but this time slower as if her feet weren’t certain they wanted to reach their destination. It wasn’t as if there was anything wrong with Kim. He was obviously attractive and that dimple in his left cheek that showed up when he smiled was definitely nice to look at. He was goofy but it was endearing and even if he wasn’t exactly smart in the way most people think of, he noticed more in others and their feelings than most people and that was an asset all on its own.

It’s not like falling for Kim would be something to be ashamed of, but Alya didn’t have those kind of feelings towards him. They were friends and fellow camp counselors and fake boyfriend and girlfriend and that was the extent of it. 

That was it.

She was almost sure of it, but the funny feeling in her gut was making her wonder.

___

“I made sure Ondine knew you and Alya are dating.” Alix made air quotes around the last word. “Oi! Manon! If you keep swimming with that lanyard around your neck, you’ll die!” She eyed the young girl in the lake and then nodded in approval when the lanyard was tossed on a float.

Kim went for nonchalant and failed miserably. “How’d she react?”

“I don’t know. Weird. I heard her telling Alya she was happy for you guys, but it sounded all fake.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to get back with her if this whole jealousy plan works. Come on, dude. Don’t be dumb.”

“It’s not a jealousy plan.” Kim stood and picked up a stray beach ball that landed on the pier and punted it back out into the lake to the cheers of campers. “It was just supposed to help with the drama.”

“Ah, the drama. This is why I don’t date, well, and like a thousand other reasons.”

He rolled his eyes. “I thought you liked Ondine. You were going to be my better man at the wedding.”

“Which I still say is a step up from being the best man,” she nodded. “Max can shove it.” She flicked at a water beetle that had crawled up the plank towards her hand. “I don’t know. I never had a problem with her, but I don’t like the way she did you so now I don’t like her.”

“Aww, you do care about me,” Kim teased. 

“Shut up.”

His expression grew serious. “I don’t want you to not like her because of that. She didn’t do anything wrong.”

Alix shrugged. “Anyway, what’s the deal with you and Alya?”

“What do you mean? You know the deal.”

“Okay, sure, the deal.” She made air quotes again. “But I’m talking about the real deal that neither one of you want to admit to.”

Kim looked at her in confusion. “Uh, what?”

“You honestly don’t know that you’ve fallen for her?”

The universe was on his side because before Kim was forced to answer, there was a chorus of screams as one of the male campers broke the surface of the water with a bloody gash on his temple from showing off during his jump. Kim stood and went to the edge of the dock to help the laughing boy out of the water.

He didn’t dare look at Alix as he passed by. Her words were still ringing in his ears.

____

“I can’t believe we’re about to start the last week. I feel like this summer went by a lot quicker than the others.” Alya watched Kim force marshmallows onto the roasting rod and frowned. He seemed distracted and irritated and not his usual cheerful self during the campfires they had at the end of each week once the campers left. 

“Yeah, I guess.” He swore under his breath as one of the marshmallows tore and dropped to the ground.

“Do you want some help?”

“No.”

“Okay.” Alya didn’t like the way his quick response made her feel. She’d started looking forward to these nights, counting down the days and hours until every camper left the grounds and she could meet Kim at one of the more hidden fire pits and enjoy a relaxing night with just the two of them. She refused to look too deeply into why she’d grown to love them so much, falling back on the easy answer that it was simply a nice treat after a long week of babysitting. “We don’t have to do this tonight if you’re too tired or something.”

Kim’s head whipped up and he looked at her with wide eyes. “No, I want to.”

She felt taken aback by his expression. “Okay...you just don’t seem like you’re in the best mood.”

He picked up the fallen marshmallow and tossed it into the fire. “Sorry. I think I’m a little bummed we’re at the end already.”

“Is it because I’ve been such a great fake girlfriend?” Alya batted her eyelashes and tried to pretend that she didn’t care what his answer was.

Kim grinned at her but it didn’t have the same spark his smiles usually held.  “Something like that. Was it as bad as you thought it would be?”

She considered it. “The s’mores made up for the awkward bits.”

“I better get to roasting then.” His smile took on more of a genuine feel and that made Alya relax.

“Hop to it, mister.”

He saluted her and finished spearing the marshmallows.

Alya watched him, trying to decide if she wanted to continue in the same conversational direction or change the subject. She opted to be brave. “Do you think your plan worked?”

“Hmmm?”

“Was there less drama since other counselors thought we were dating?”

“There would’ve been less if Alix wasn’t around.” He shook his head. “But yeah, I think it really helped. Thank you.” He met her eyes over the fire and Alya felt like her heart was leaping into her throat. He really was gorgeous.

“It was no big deal,” she answered and was surprised her voice didn’t sound as shaky as she felt.

“I guess you’ll want to fake break up at the end of the week, huh?” Kim watched the marshmallows soften and Alya watched him.

“I...well, that was the deal, I guess.”

“Yeah.”

“But, you know, there will be the counselor appreciation thing like two weeks after we leave here.”

Kim frowned. “I forgot about that.”

“So I guess if we still need to be dating for that, we can be.” Alya bit her lip shyly.

“That would probably be good if you don’t mind.” He met her eyes but then quickly looked back down at the marshmallows as he pulled them away from the flames.

“I don’t mind.”

“Good.” Kim’s lips spread in a wide grin as he began to assemble their s’mores.

Alya echoed and knew she was smiling like an idiot. “Good.”

“And you know, when you look at it that way, next summer really won’t be that far away so it might be easier if--”

“Kim, just ask me out already,” Alya interrupted.

He jumped a little and then beamed at her. “You wanna keep being my fake girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Ah.”

“But for a few s’mores, I could be persuaded to be your real one maybe.”

“Is that so?”

“Eh, we’ll see how the night goes,” she teased, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and excitement.

Buy me a cherry coke?

[topweeklyupdate]

TØP Weekly Update #100: Centenary Celebration (6/21/19)

That’s right, guys, gals, and pals! We’ve made it to the hundredth installment of the TØP Weekly Update! And to honor that, we’re going to kick it back to the ol’ format and do a deep dive into all things Twenty One Pilots from the last seven days. Let’s get it!

This Week’s TØPics:

Spotify Location Sessions

Celebrating the Life of Blake Shelton

Is This Finally It For “Chlorine”’s Chart Time?

Reflections on 100 Updates

My TØP Discovery Story

Major Releases, News, and Announcements:

Sneaking in at the very end of the week, the band dropped a “Location Session” acoustic performance for “Chlorine” last night on all platforms. The latitude/longitude coordinates included in the title translate to the center of Mexico City. This could mean that the song was initially conceived in the city, or it could mean that this was where this version was recorded, perhaps during the private show they delivered a few weeks back. I find the latter more likely, particularly as the recent private show in Brooklyn already leaked some alternate arrangements to a few songs. But who knows? It could be part of a much bigger master plan. We’ll just have to see how the rest of these Sessions roll out- we’ve really been left in the dark on this one.

Interviews, Performances, and Other Shenanigans:

Really, the biggest piece of news from this week is that Josh Dun turned 31. This saw the expected outpouring of love for Debby Ryan and Tyler Joseph’s life partner online from friends, family, and fans. The best celebration for the fans, though, came to us onstage at the show in Birmingham, where Tyler not only agreed to lead everyone in singing “one of the worst songs ever” but offered a video tribute to the most important men born on June 18th- you know, Blake Shelton, Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar (almost) and the first Fast and Furious movie (Tyler thought this joke was so funny he lay down on the stage to laugh it out).

Never one to be left out of the spotlight, Tyler showed us a clearer picture of how Jenna has cleaned up their tour bus space, blew a kiss to a person with a pride flag during “Holding On To You”, and congratulated some fans who got engaged in the pit.

But wait, there’s more! We also got another press conference interview where Tyler talks about how to get inspired and his opinions on The Bachelorette, Josh discusses Jim vomiting up salt water, and they both talk about how they manage all the bags of money sitting around and who they’d want to sit on them if they were chairs (really). Another interview had Tyler speculate on snorting spaghetti, while another press conference saw the boys speculate on when “Trees” might leave the setlist (You hear that? That’s the sound of a million Clikkies crying out in terror at once.)

Chart Performance:

Sadly, the release of the Location Session will probably not be sufficient to save our girl “Chlorine”. After a random uptick in performance last week, “Chlorine” fell back down on Bubbling Under and on most chart metrics. This song’s been taking me on a real roller coaster that I think might finally be over.

Upcoming Shows:

Next week will see the Bandito Tour continue to wind through the United States, with shows in Houston (Toyota Center; 19,000 capacity), San Antonio (AT&T Center; 19,000), Austin (Frank Erwin Center, 17,900), Oklahoma City (Chesapeake Energy Arena, 16,500), and Memphis (FedEx Forum; 19,000). Then the week after that... well, we’ll talk about that tomorrow.

100th Update Retrospective:

It’s truly hard for me to wrap my head around how long I’ve been curating this little blog and all the ways that it has evolved and changed over the last three years. When I started the blog back in August 2016, it was really just a place to sort my thoughts about the band I loved more than any other for much longer than that. The first update still only has a single note, a reblog from my personal account, and I never really expected this blog to receive any more attention than that. The fact that this series persisted even when the Hiatus made it impossible to stick to its titular promise is remarkable, but not nearly as much as the fact that people actually care about what I have to say about these two dummies. I’m so grateful for everyone who has taken the time to read, share, and respond to even one of my ramblings.

To wrap up this update, I thought I’d share my story of how I discovered this band nearly six years ago. If you’re not here to hear some rando ramble about himself, feel free to move right along, but for the Real Ones who have been here for some time, let me catch you up to speed...

It was 2013, the summer after my junior year of high school, and I was absolutely miserable. Now, I tended to be miserable in general back then- I was a teenager struggling with depression, loneliness, and trauma- but I had a special reason to be on this particular week. I had gone to a church camp located on a lake that was nearly a full day’s drive from my house. On the first day of the trip, I slipped while climbing a cliff down by the shore and hit my back on a rock, pretty seriously injuring myself. I stubbornly refused to return home or go to a hospital, so I got bandaged up on site and spent the next three days laying out on the beach alone, watching everyone else have fun while I willed my back to heal. 

Since this was a nature retreat, my sole distraction in this time was a 50-song playlist made by one of the church leaders that looped on repeat in the same order for the entire week. With no choice but to actively listen to the lyrics to each of these songs, I grew to really dislike most of them. Yet two of those songs, both sung by a guy with a particularly interesting whine, stood out to me as especially interesting. The singer was talking about stuff I really could relate to, not just in this moment of loneliness but even more in my life back at home. This guy was talking about struggling with your own brain, about trying to find something greater than ourselves to hold on to, about how to turn your hands towards something constructive, about trying to find connection with others through music. Listening through the other 48 songs was worth it to get to those two.

I asked the counselor who wrote “Holding On To You” and “Guns For Hands”. He told me about this new band called Twenty One Pilots. And my life hasn’t been the same since.

Power to the local dreamer.

||-//

[knitstars]

okay no fancy formatting here because i’m mobile and too impatient to wait till i’m not to post this sorry folks but it’s time——

the camp camp verse

mabel and dipper obviously both end up with trauma as a result of weirdmageddon ( and other bits of the summer too probably but thats the big one ooo wee ) and because of the change in their mental health, their parents decide the can not go back to gravity falls ever again, or keep in touch with their grunkles. ( if you’d like to read more of my hcs / rambling on this note check out this )

so instead, they send them to camp campbell.

mabel tries her hardest to make the best of things, she does a pretty great job too! she’s signed up for art camp, but her interests go all over the place and she doesn’t mind at all that it’s turned out to be a mess of different camps. she warms up to her surroundings really quickly no matter where she is, and it helps that she really likes david a whole lot. when she makes both him and gwen matching sweaters with “#1 counselor” stitched on the front, his is delivered with a whisper that he’s a liiiittle more number one.

at some point, though, she finds the crushing weight of realizing she’ll never get to go back to gravity falls or see all the friend and family who mean so so much to her again hits her full force. i haven’t decided how or when this happens yet ( i’d love to do a thread for it eventually to flesh all this out more!! especially because i have no set plans for her recovering from it+moving forward ) but she definitely ends up having a big breakdown when it does.

also she still knits herself a new sweater daily, she exclusively wears her yellow ones here to coordinate with the camp colors.

[loverlylight]

Hey, this is a submit post because I listened to all of Blackgaard saga basically while I was at work this past week, and I wrote up all my thoughts about the current book AND it is rambling and only goes until like, just shy of Waylaid. And thoughts I had before I even got to DBD: LITERALLY STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS FYI:

So Richard knew Greg Kelly, who lead him to Blackgaard, but wait, I thought Jellyfish did? Or did he just know Jellyfish and they both ended up in CCDC, and then Jellyfish learned about Blackgaard? Jellyfish seems to know so little about Richard.

DDSS was only the summer

Webster Development Company is owned by Dr. Blackgaard, so he wanted the land in the first place - due to the Webster Company wanting the Filmore Recreation Center from the very beginning - Ep Recollections

But he failed to get it, so he tried to get into town FIVE YEARS LATER!!!! Why five years?!!!

The Filmore Center was built in the Depression, but the land is where the mineral is, and the old church burned down, right?

Connie must have been at camp longer than a week. Obviously kids stayed a week, but I assume her position as camp counselor was longer than a week? Obviously in all that time things had to go down with Richard and Eugene.

Eugene’s Dilemma:

Eugene did a random check after he got used to the computer system. So it wasn’t immediately (though he was probably really quick, he’s EUGENE for goodness sakes). Obviously Richard wanted the job, but couldn’t have it because of Eugene. Maybe Richard knew Nicholas before Eugene was hired, but obviously Richard was manipulating Nicholas from the get-go. By listening to the show, Richard had to know Nicholas before Eugene was hired, so that part is a bit confusing.

Because Nicholas was changing the grades, and Richard didn’t need actual access to the room to change the grades. He’s a good manipulator.

So listening to ED, Richard was manipulating Nicholas three months prior to Eugene being hired, about a month before Eugene and Connie were fired, and then Eugene got the position a bit later. Time is a little skewed… Because the grades being changed were before Eugene came, the dates made Whit realize Eugene was keeping a secret.

So at the end of that ep, Richard says he has a better job lined up. My understanding from the novel so far is that Blackgaard’s job wasn’t paying much (“power”???), and that’s why he started to change the grades. So I think Eugene got hired too fast in the novel, lol.

In Nemesis, Richard said the building had been recently built - so it was empty and Blackgaard needed a business license to open it up. The book says otherwise via Glossman, because the area was dead… maybe it was rebuilt or a shell?

Maybe it all makes sense with Richard & Nicholas at the college while the building is built, but Eugene working at the college at that time doesn’t fit.

Blackgaard wants Connie’s answer soon, because Blackgaard’s Castle opens up in a few weeks (before the vote for the business license)

Noted that Richard is okay with manipulating everyone, but not okay with hurting anyone or burning down the barn.

But Richard goes along with Blackgaard because after they connect, Blackgaard does start dangling threats in front of Richard, which does worry Richard. Which is why he can go from pissed to calm in an instant. Which is definitely how he acts around Blackgaard in DBD.

And then by the time the Battle Starts, the Castle has been opened for a couple of weeks. SERIOUSLY THOUGH. WHY DID HE WAIT FIVE YEARS?!!!!

Also, how dumb is Blackgaard? Did he really think Richard got the password from Lucy?!!! DOES HE THINK WHIT IS THAT DUMB?! And Richard still taunted him?! WHAT THE HELL. THESE TWO CONFUSE ME AS BAD GUYS.

Was the Israelites when Whit was teaching High School for 13 years? Or just Sunday School?

(I apologize if I swear. I have a tendency to do that unconsciously)

____________________

Yay! :D

Yeah, before the books I assumed when Richard said Greg led him to Blackgaard that meant he was the one who first introduced the two of them, but now I’m thinking what he meant by that was that, once they were released from the detention center, Greg found Blackgaard knowing that Richard wanted to keep an eye on him, and then told Richard about him then. (I have this whole fic idea in my head where Greg and Richard became friends in the detention center and Richard warns Greg about getting involved with Blackgaard but he does it anyway in order to help Richard out. And then of course he gets in over his head and gets killed and that does not sit well with Richard, like at all.) And yeah, it’s weird that according to the books Richard and Jellyfish knew each other before getting involved with Blackgaard, especially because, as you said, Jellyfish really doesn’t seem to know much about Richard. (I mean, he was like “oh yeah, I guess you did mention you’re from Odyssey, I guess I forgot”, which... makes no sense if they knew each other from way back when.) Idk, it doesn’t clash TOO much with previously established canon, and if the reason Jellyfish went to jail in the first place was because Richard told the police about him it’d explain why he hates him so much (which was never really explored in the radio show), but... yeah, it still doesn’t feel quite right.

As far as the waiting five years, on the Adventures in Odyssey Oddcast (which I recommend checking out if you can, by the way, it’s really fun) they theorized the reason Blackgaard took the five years to come back to Odyssey was because he spent that time getting his doctorate in child psychology, and that theory makes a lot of sense to me.

Again, citing the Oddcast, it seems like it was renovated in the Depression but was around beforehand? The history of the building of Whit’s End has always been a bit hard for me to grasp.

Huh... yeah, I can’t recall how long Connie’d be at the camp. We know it’s two weeks from Eugene’s Dilemma to The Nemesis and that Eugene’s Dilemma ended while Connie was at camp, but I’m not sure how much time that took place during. (Like... the timeline is Bite of Applesauce, then less than a month until Eugene’s Dilemma, then two weeks until the Nemesis, then anywhere between a few weeks to a month or so until The Battle, right?)

Yeah, I always assumed Richard had known Nicholas for a while (I’d also been estimating a couple of months, and obviously reaching back to the first time the grades were changed) and had been using him to change grades before the computer job was even announced. So the timeline in the books is... nonsensical. If Richard has only known Nicholas for a few days it’s just... it makes no sense.

Considering the info from the show and the books, I think what he was trying to do was clear out all the businesses from the area, demolish them and then build Blackgaard’s Castle on the land. I think so, anyway? But yeah, the timeline would be okay if they didn’t try to cram Richard’s college mishaps into basically the same week as Eugene’s Dilemma.

I know, even as a kid I got the feeling Richard was like “this was not what I signed up for” but since Blackgaard was basically blackmailing he decided it was better to go along with it than risk getting in trouble. (Which, y’know, is kinda analogous to what happened with him and Nicholas...)

And yeah, Blackgaard’s kinda... he gets a lot smarter in future episodes, doesn’t he? ^^” To be honest, I never really got why Blackgaard thought “ah, a child, obviously she will have valuable information about the secret computer program I want to steal!” Like... seriously dude?

Huh, I didn’t even think about the Israelites in conjunction with Whit’s years as a teacher. I know it sounded like the kids involved were either in grade school or middle school, and given Billy’s age in DBD I always placed it happening shortly before the show started. (By the way, Billy/Connie is probably the least sensible Connie ship I have, but it’s also my favorite, so *shrug*)

(& that’s okay.)

[caramel-and-pine]

01 - End and Beginning

If David had known that was the last year of Camp Campbell he would have done some things differently. Surely he had enjoyed every day of that year with the same energy and joy he had all his life, but still, he had a few regrets. He wishes he had paid more attention before hiring Daniel, for example. He also wishes he had worked harder to give Preston a night at the Sleepy Peak theater or put more effort into building Nerri's cardboard tower.

All things considered, that had been a good year. Not so much that it was worthy of being the last but still very good.Truthfully, David has only one big regret about that year, and it boils down to he wishes he had been better to Max.

Max had been the most difficult camper ever, but David can't think of a person who has ever needed him more. Even now, ten years after the last night of Camp Campbell he still remembers, clear as day, the moment he decided that saving Max was more important than saving the camp. If he knew that he wouldn't be able to save Max for more than a mere few hours he would have made an extra effort to make him happier during the summer.

When David, Max, and Gwen returned to Camp Campbell after their escapade all the kids were gone.There was an official closing note taped to the door of the mess hall, probably left there by the Quartermaster before he too left. Max wasn't awake to see this, though, the day had been difficult and the ride on the car lulled him to sleep. As soon as they arrived David took him to the counselors' cabin and put him on his bed.

David didn't feel like sleeping that night but when he was about to leave Max the boy sleepily grabbed his wrist and didn't let go. The counselor laid down by Max's side, cradling the kid against his chest and watching the shadows move across the wall until the pale colors of dawn gifted him with some sleep.

When David finally woke up Max had rolled away from him on the bed so he silently moved away and into the mess hall. The sun was already completely above the horizon, and at that time the hall would be receiving the first campers for breakfast but that day only David and Gwen were there staring at the emptiness. There, alone, with the echo of the rising birds, they cried for the first time.

"What is wrong with me," questioned Gwen with a broken smile. "I kinda hated those little bastards but now I just want to see them again!"

"It is okay, Gwen," David squeezed her in a hug. "We will figure this out, the kids will be fine and so will we."

"Will we?" The tears still swam in her eyes but she was quick to dry her face with the back of her hand.

"I believe we will," David replied with a genuine smile.

"And what about Max?" Gwen's voice was very small when she finally gathered the courage to make the question.

David hesitated for a moment. The memory of Max's empty enrollment papers, the image of his green eyes full of tears, the rushed but tight hug he had given him, all of this created a jumble of thoughts and emotions inside David.

"We don't even have his last name on his papers," continued Gwen. "How will we contact his family, or, even more importantly, should we contact his family?" Her words were heavy with implications David didn't want to contemplate so early in the morning after so little sleep. As usual, he quickly tried to be optimistic.

"Max is an intelligent kid, he will help us figure this out."

"I will, and you shouldn't," Max's voice, still full of sleep, caught their attention as the boy made his way into the mess hall, Mr. Honey Nuts loosely held in a hug.

"Max?"

"You shouldn't call my family," Max clarified, "as I said before they don't care. You should call a social worker."

"Social worker?" David echoed numbly. "What happened to your family, Max?"

"They just don't give a shit, David," Max replied in his usual dry way. "My dad died in a car accident and my mother's new husband hates me, so you should call a social worker." Silence fell on the empty hall.

"Max, who enrolled you in Camp Campbell?" Gwen asked carefully after a long moment.

"I did it myself," Max's reply was muffled as he hid his face against Mr. Honey Nuts' plushy head. "I wanted an excuse to go away from home for a while, and honestly it sucks that even this blew."

David and Gwen exchanged worried looks but before any one of them could speak Max spoke again.

"David, I'm hungry. Can we have breakfast now?"

A smile formed on David's face.

"Oh we sure can, Max!"

The three of them joined in the kitchen to prepare a big breakfast of eggs and bacon – after all the pantry was full and with no more campers the food would spoil fast. While cooking, a strangely familiar atmosphere was created, a peacefulness that had David humming as he scrambled the eggs and neither Max nor Gwen complained about it. After some time they had a big pile of scrambled eggs at the center of the table, a dozen bacon strips on each one of their plates and tall glasses of cold grape juice set neatly in front of the window. The mood was light, especially considering how tense the previous night had been. David was rambling about random topics with Gwen and Max occasionally answering him, and despite the strange dynamics, all three were satisfied.

Until they heard a car screeching tires against the concrete of the empty parking lot.

David and Gwen turned around to the door just in time to see it being forcefully opened by a frowning man with a quite murderous expression on his face. A woman, with skin as dark as Max's and a mane of straight black hair, quickly entered the hall after him.

"Max!"

The boy turned around slowly, surprise written on his face as she approached. She knelt before him, a small baby bump noticeable on her belly.

"I am so glad to find you!"

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Max was talking to his mother but his eyes were fixed on the man who had opened the door. There was the usual defiance on his face but up close David could clearly see a glint of fear in his expression.

"Pack up, you little bastard," the man said from the door. "We are taking you back."

"Excuse me, sir," David said, standing up and placing a protective hand on Max's shoulder. "This is private property and I don't allow such behavior in this place. Apologize to Max."

The man looked David from head to toe and despite his brave façade, the counselor shivered with anxiety under his scrutiny.

"Lara, take your brat already and meet me in the car, if I stay here any longer I might catch this faggot's germs or something."

David was left speechless. The man turned on his heels and left, the door closing slowly and ominously behind him.

"Are you Max's mother?" Gwen asked the woman once the man was gone.

"I am and I am sorry he gave you so much work. We're here to take him back home so please excuse us."

"Madam, pardon my manners," David said, hand still firmly planted on Max's shoulder. "My name is David, and this is Gwen, we are counselors here at Camp Campbell and we would love to help Max and you even after the end of our activities."

Max's mother, Lara, looked at David with a subdued look on her face. David was no expert in makeup but it looked like she had a lot of foundation and powder caked on the side of her face, especially around her left eye, and she didn't seem able to meet his stare.

"Listen, are you sure you want to go back home with the angry guy there?" Gwen asked as politely as she could. "We have a car, we can take you and Max somewhere safe."

Lara looked lost. She opened her mouth to say something but, at the same moment, the man started to honk impatiently.

"I am sorry, Ron is just stressed that he had to drive all the way here to pick Max. We will be fine."

And with no further words, she snatched Max from David's grip and towed him away. The boy barely had time to reach for his teddy bear, his face growing pale as he got further and further away from the counselors. Shock froze David and Gwen for a few seconds but they managed to follow them out of the mess hall.

"Madam, at least give us a telephone number so we can check on Max sometime in the future."

Lara shoved Max into the backseat and closed the door firmly. The boy fell on the seat, Mr. Honey Nuts toppled to the floor, and David stared helplessly as Lara quickly scurried to the passenger door and entered the car.

"Fuck off faggot, if you try to check on me or them you'll show you what happens to fags who mess with real men."

The tires screeched loudly as the car quickly disappeared in the distance.

"David! What do we do?!" Gwen screamed at him, anxiety and fear clear on her face.

David ran into their cabin to fetch the keys to the car but when they finally made it to the main road there was no way of knowing in what direction Max had been taken. They sped through the highway and reached Sleepy Peaks in record time but Ron's car was nowhere to be seen. Tears were streaming down Gwen's cheeks when they stopped by the police station to register an occurrence.

The police officer was polite but inefficient at best. When he asked for Max's full name Gwen and David exchanged desperate looks and David's voice was small and broken when he admitted that they didn't have this information. Or any actual information about Max or his family other than his mother's first name and the fact that his father had died.

"I am sorry but with this little info it is impossible for me to help you," the officer said, slowly hitting the backspace key on his keyboard. "I'll give you the contact of the station if you remember anything worthy you can call us and we'll see what we can do to help. Have a good day."

And just like this the police officer turned around and walked into the other room, leaving David and Gwen alone and desperate. They wandered around Sleepy Peaks asking everyone about Ron's car but after an hour or so it became clear that they had not gone that way.

"Maybe we can track them down if we return to the camp and take the highway South instead of North," David said but there was absolutely no hope in his voice.

"Yeah, we can," Gwen agreed equally as hopeless.

They drove for hours until they ran out of gas and didn't find a single sign of Max. They parked the car on the side of the lane and walked to the nearest gas station with eyes peeled open, but there wasn't a single soul passing by. They returned to the camp when the moon was high in the sky and found the scrambled eggs still there, Max's plate still full of bacon and his glass filled with watery grape juice.

David's stomach growled loudly but he couldn't stand the idea of eating – not there and not at that moment at least. Gwen took his hand and gently guided him to the counselors' cabin where they huddled together in her bedroom, too tired to do anything but too scared and frustrated to actually sleep. Once more David spent the night with eyes wide open, the light from Gwen's alarm clock blinding in the darkness of the night.

In the following morning, there were deep dark circles under both David's and Gwen's eyes. They moved through the deserted camp in silence, gathering their things and packing up with slow and unsure movements. They ate some fruit in the kitchen and left everything else untouched, sooner or later the FBI would come to search Campbell's property after all.

Gwen drove until the next town and then David took her place until they arrived in Gwen's hometown. They exchanged phone numbers and swore to keep contact and to do everything in their power to find and rescue Max. Before leaving she hugged him tightly and he responded with an equally as tight embrace.

"We will figure this out, I promise," he said softly.

"We will," she echoed before kissing his cheek and pulling away. "Stay in touch, please."

"Sure, Gwen. Take care of yourself," he entered the car and waved briefly before taking the return to go back to his own hometown. He had no idea what to do except continue being, well, David. So he forced a smile on his face and drove while singing the Camp Campbell anthem despite the ever-growing need to cry and scream nestled on his chest.

Check this chapter on AO3.