Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Oh my god, Robin, these shorts are worse than the ones we had at Scoops. I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” 

“It’s not like we had anything else to do this summer. Besides, we only have to wear the uniform for the first week, so suck it up.” She turned towards him and gave him a blinding smile. “For what it’s worth, the green shirt really compliments your eyes. Do you think that the bandana in my hair is too much?” 

Steve pouted at himself through the floor-length mirror he and Robin were standing in front of. The shorts were fucking short. Indecent, in his opinion, especially for a camp full of middle and early-highschoolers. 

He sighed, then glanced at Robin via her reflection in the mirror. He couldn’t help the smile that appeared when he noticed the pink bandana holding her hair back, making her look all bright and summer-y. “It looks great, Robs.”  

“Really? I just don’t want my bangs to get all sweaty and matted against my forehead, but I wasn’t sure how else to tame them.” 

“Seriously, it looks really nice. It’s cute.” Steve took a final look at himself in the mirror, grimacing at the uniformed, freshly-twenty-year-old staring back at him. Robin was right, obviously, they didn’t have any summer plans, but the idea of summer camp still sorta rubbed him the wrong way. 

Robin had been a camp kid, apparently. She had gone every summer in elementary school once she was old enough, then attended theater and band camps over her middle and highschool summers. 

Steve, however, just got left alone at home over the summer, told to busy himself by completing the summer reading for when school started in the Fall. His reading was always done by the third week of summer vacation, and he spent the rest of the weeks swimming laps in his pool, alone , or doing chores around the house, alone , or watching old television reruns, alone. Tommy came over sometimes, even brought Carol with him once they started dating, and things weren’t so bad after that. Still, it always felt like they were using him for his money and his pool, not because they actually wanted to hang out with him. 

Suffice to say, Steve doesn’t know the first thing about a summer-long sleepaway camp. 

There were a few things that were making the experience a bit less anxiety-inducing.  Robin would be there, obviously , and he was put in charge of supervising all water-related play, which was familiar territory. Robin was put in charge of crafts, which would certainly be interesting, given that she could barely even draw a recognizable stick figure. She insisted that camp crafts were just different , and Steve couldn’t exactly argue against that logic, seeing that he doesn’t even know what camp crafts were , so he just went along with her reasoning and hoped for the best. 

The gaggle of kids that he’d gotten to know over the past few years would also all be there as campers, which was odd, to say the least- especially considering how overprotective some of the kid’s parents were. 

(Joyce Byers came to mind as one such example, but in Steve’s opinion, her protectiveness was pretty justified. You don’t just get over your kid disappearing for a week, a child’s dead body being found in a river dressed in his clothing less than 48 hours later, then your actual son randomly being found at an abandoned cabin in the woods a week later with strange scars and no memory of what had happened.) 

It was shocking that the kids convinced their parents to let them go to camp, but Steve was pretty excited. There was even a chance he’d have some of them in his cabin, seeing as he was cabin lead for half of the 9th grade boys, but he also knew there was a greater-than-zero chance that they’d get split up between him and whoever his counterpart was for the other cabin of 9th grade boys. 

He didn’t have a list of the other counselors yet, so he wasn’t sure who this ‘counterpart’ would be. Robin said they would distribute packets with that information on arrival at camp. Robin had also said that it was common for past camp kids to become junior counselors when they aged out of the program, then go on to be senior counselors and stick around through college, and seeing as Steve didn’t exactly hang out with that kinda crowd in school, he doubted that he’d know anyone. 

Steve ran a hand through his hair, fluffing his bangs in the hopes of at least letting his best feature shine in this job, as opposed to the gig at Scoops with that stupid hat. “Do you remember what time we have to get there today?” 

“Uhhh, I think three? Then we’ll have an hour to set up our bed stuff, training and dinner ‘til nine, then training tomorrow and Friday, kids arrive Saturday.” Robin rambled out the information as she applied her mascara in the mirror, shooting a smile at Steve when she was done. 

“Three?! Robin, it’s already noon! How far away is this place?” 

“Oh, right. It’s uh… about three hours?” Robin’s timid response had Steve groaning and grabbing her arm so that he could pull her away from the mirror, tugging her towards his bed where their bags were lying.

“Alright, c’mon, we gotta go, like, now. I have to stop for gas on the way, so we’re already late, which really isn’t a good look, not for our first day.” 

Robin gave an exaggerated sigh, but still complied, opening her gray duffle bag that was lying next to Steve’s green one so that she could shove her makeup and other last-minute things inside. From the corner of his eye, Steve could see various colors of fabric peeking out from underneath her toiletries.

“Are you serious? How many bandanas did you pack? ” 

“I need a different color for every day of the week, Steve! If this is gonna be my summer look, I’ve gotta commit , you know?” 

“Birdie, I love you, but that’s a little ridiculous.” Steve grabbed his duffle bag from the bed and began walking towards the stairs leading to the front door, smiling to himself as Robin’s indignant squawking began while she trailed behind him. 

This was sure to be an interesting summer. 

“Well, it’s official. We are stuck in the middle of nowhere for the next six weeks.” Steve dropped his duffle bag onto the dirt path next to his car with a huff, taking in the scenery around them. The last thirty minutes of their drive had been spent on similar winding dirt roads, barely wide enough to fit a single car, let alone be conducive to two-way traffic. The thirty minutes before that were spent driving on a paved road without a building in sight- so they were really, truly, stuck in the wilderness. 

“Did you bring bug spray? I just realized that I didn’t pack any, and Steve, I will die of bug bites if I don’t use bug spray, my blood is like, extra delicious to them or something, I don’t know, I just can’t survive out here for so long without bug spray-”

“I packed two bottles, one for each of us.” Steve crouched down to his duffle bag and unzipped it, digging out a bottle of bug spray that he tossed Robin’s way. “Use it sparingly, alright? I’m not giving you any of mine when you inevitably run out.” 

“I won’t run out , dingus. Besides, even if I did , you love me too much to see me get eaten by mosquitos, so respectfully, I don’t believe you.” Robin unzipped her backpack and shoved the bug spray inside. She then shouldered the bag and pulled her duffle bag out of the trunk all at once. That was, decidedly, not a good decision, given that the sheer weight of both bags being pulled from the back of the car made Robin’s center of gravity completely shift, sending her flying backwards and falling onto her ass. 

Steve didn’t see it happen, rather heard it, and couldn’t help the snort of laughter that peeled out of him in response to her mishap. 

“Oh my god, are you okay?!” Steve glanced up at the sound of a new voice joining them. His eyes widened when he saw the speaker. 

“ Nancy ?”

“Steve?! What in the hell are you doing here?” Nancy stopped in her tracks, mere feet away from where Robin was still laying in the dirt, her mouth gaping at Steve’s presence. “I- are you- what? ” 

“I’m a counselor, 9th grade boy’s cabin and water activity supervisor. Why are you here?” 

“I’m a counselor too, 6th grade girls and medical care. Mike didn’t tell you?” 

“You know that little shit doesn’t tell me anything-”

“Uh, hello?” Robin interrupted them from her place on the ground, where she was now propped up by her elbows and wearing a confused expression. “Poor, defenseless girl covered in dirt over here?”

 “Right! Sorry. Hi, I’m Nancy, nice to meet you.” Nancy turned away from Steve and reached a hand down to Robin, helping her stand. Unfortunately, the backpack on Robin’s back continued to redistribute her weight the wrong way, sending her stumbling into Nancy. They probably would’ve fallen back to the ground if it wasn’t for Steve’s car being parked in just the right position to have them end up leaning against the body of the car instead, with Robin’s arms falling to rest on either side of Nancy’s body, effectively caging her in.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I’m such a clutz-” 

“Oh, please don’t worry about it, I totally understand-”

“Oh, shit, I totally got dirt all over your pretty khaki skirt, I’m such a mess-”

“It’s fine, we’re camping, I didn’t expect to keep it pristine out here-” 

“Yeah, but still , it looked so nice on you-” 

Steve watched them with his hands on his hips, smirking at their frankly ridiculous back-and-forth. He had to step in before this conversation lasted for all eternity, or before Robin embarrassed herself further- whichever came first. “Robin, I’ve told you before, you’ve gotta lift the duffle bag with your knees . These things are fuckin’ huge, you can’t just grab them like they weigh nothing.” 

“It’s an easy mistake to make, Steve, especially if you’re used to having the duffles handled like the campers do- they just throw them on the ground and wait for the golf cart to distribute them around. No stress… uh, Robin, is it?” Nancy admonished Steve lightly, then turned back to Robin with a shy smile. 

“Uh, yeah. Yep. Right. That’s my name. I’ll just, um… lift this with my knees now. Anyways- where am I going with this?” 

“Oh! Right, let me look.” Nancy dug a folded-up piece of paper out of her skirt pocket, which she promptly unfolded, smoothed the creases out of, then read. “Let’s see… Robin, you’re with the 9th grade girl’s cabin, right? So you’ll be in… Cabin 14, which is actually right next to Steve, he’ll be in Cabin 15.” 

“Perfect! Let’s go Steve, I really want to get settled in before training starts.” Robin picked her duffle bag up and began stumbling down the hill towards the cabins, almost tripping over herself more than a few times. 

Steve huffed out a soft laugh and picked up his duffle bag, shooting Nancy a knowing smile. “It’s good to see you, Nance. We should catch up while we’re here. It’s been a while.” 

“Yeah, Steve. That’d be nice.” She smiled back at Steve, somewhat sadly, then motioned to the general direction she had appeared from. “I gotta get back to scouting the trails, I’m flagging any poison ivy and marking if there’s been recent signs of wildlife so our hiking instructor knows to avoid those areas. I’ll see you at training though, yeah? Have a good time settling in.”

“Thanks, Nance. See you then.” Steve gave a little wave, then set off to follow Robin down the trail. He ended up catching up to her pretty quickly, finding her sitting on top of her duffle bag on the side of the trail. 

When Robin spotted Steve, she crossed her arms and gave him a playful glare. “Nice of you to finally show up. I tripped over a rock trying to drag my bag down to the cabins, I thought I was going to die alone out here.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Robs. You’d probably get found by, like, an owl or something before dying alone on this trail.” Steve snorted and walked past her, ignoring her exaggerated groan of pain as she stood and began to trudge behind him. 

“Oh, yeah, who could ever feel alone with an owl by their side? Get it, who? Man, I crack myself up.” 

“Yeah, Buckley. You’re hilarious.” Steve’s response was deadpan, though he was thankful to be facing away from Robin, as that prevented her from seeing the amused smile that appeared after her joke. 

“Whatever, you love it. Now, I need to know more about Nancy. How do you randomly just know the first girl we run into at this place? And what was that weird energy between you guys?!” 

“Oh, uh- I mean, we dated in middle school? But middle school dating isn’t, like, real dating. Anyways, we broke up when I got to highschool, which coincided with her getting accepted to this private, all-girls boarding school. We tried to rekindle things over her winter break that first year when she was back in town, but the feelings weren’t really there anymore. It was before you moved to Hawkins, and she barely comes back to town nowadays, so I guess I never really thought to mention her.” Steve shrugged to himself as he navigated the last turn of the trail. He then huffed and dropped his duffle bag on the ground upon finding that they’d arrived at the cabins. 

“Damn. Small world, I guess.” Robin caught up to Steve, dropping her duffle bag next to his with a groan. “Fucking finally . I thought my legs were gonna fall off.” 

“For someone who’s camped a lot, you seem wildly unprepared for summer camp, Birdie.” 

“I am notoriously uncoordinated and forgetful, cut me some slack.” Robin shoved Steve’s arm in response and rolled her eyes. “Now, I’m going to start unpacking and decorate my cabin a bit. I recommend that you do the same. I’ll see you in a few?” 

“Yeah, sounds good Rob.” Steve watched Robin all but drag her duffle bag into Cabin 14, then grabbed his own and entered Cabin 15, the second from the end of the row. 

The cabin was sort of musty, but the windows were already open, so Steve figured that it would be aired out in no time. There were seven bunk beds spread around the room, all fitted with a twin bed- save for the bunk bed pushed into the corner, which was fitted with a queen sized bed underneath the bunked twin bed. There were also a few extra twin-sized mattresses strewn around the room.

Oddly enough, the queen bed had three bags piled on top of it, and the wall next to the bed had a few band posters hung up, around the height of the top bunk of the bed. Maybe one of the campers had arrived early? That felt wrong, though- surely the larger bed was meant for the counselor and not for the campers? They were kids , they didn’t need that much space. 

Steve set his bags atop the queen sized mattress, next to the others, then placed his hands on his hips and glanced around the building that would be his home for the next month and a half. 

Sure, it was kinda messy, and smelled of dust and mildew, but it could be worse. 

“Shit, fuck, motherfucker- lift with your knees , dude, don’t drop it.” 

“It’s not my fault . Eds, you’re walking too fast- and this thing is fuckin’ heavy. ” 

Steve frowned to himself at the sound of new voices approaching the cabin. Why did the second voice sound so familiar?

The door to the cabin swung open suddenly, shuddering with the force of the impact. Steve watched as the two strangers stumbled into the cabin, and rather unceremoniously dropped the mattress in the entryway. The first guy looked sort of familiar, dressed in mostly black clothing with his curly hair piled in a bun on top of his head, curls frizzing out of the hairdo haphazardly. 

The other guy, however- that was a face that Steve instantly recognized. “ Gareth?!”

“Steve? What the fuck are you doing here?!” Gareth stood next to the other guy with his mouth agape, eyes widened in shock. 

Steve shrugged and began to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. “Uh- I’m a counselor, actually? This is my cabin. My best friend, Robin- she’s one of the 9th grade girl counselors. She thought it’d be a fun summer job, so… here I am.” 

“Are you serious?” Gareth let out a small laugh, which was echoed by the guy next to him. Steve couldn’t help but feel a bit offended by their reaction- and apparently his facial expression communicated as much, because Gareth grew quiet fairly quickly. “Sorry, Steve. I just… summer camp doesn’t really seem like your thing.” 

Steve crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “It doesn’t exactly seem like your thing, either. Aren’t you, like, in a rockstar phase or something?”

“For your information, Steve , my parents have sent me to this summer camp every year for the last four years. I was invited to be a junior counselor this year. As for the ‘rockstar’ thing- it’s not a phase, it’s a lifestyle. A future, hopefully. I even brought the band with me. You remember Eddie, our guitarist and lead vocalist, right?” 

Steve’s eyes darted to the man next to Gareth, squinting slightly as he worked to manifest recognition of the guy. 

He’d gone to maybe one of Gareth’s concerts, a show his band was playing over the holidays. Gareth had invited him because they were both stuck in Gareth’s house for ‘family holiday week’, a concoction of Steve’s mother Marie, and her sister, Gareth’s mother, Susan. They had apparently decided that year that it was time to try and foster family connections, so Steve and Gareth ended up stuck together, trying to act like cousins even though they had only met a handful of times before that week. 

Gareth’s family, the Emerson’s, lived in Bloomington, which was about a three hour drive away from Hawkins. His parents used the travel time as justification for why they rarely had family gatherings, but they were also quick to jump on a cross-country flight to meet up with a business associate, so… that excuse really wasn’t all that convincing. 

Steve had ended up accepting Gareth’s invitation to see the band perform, then drank throughout the night, eager to take advantage of his opportunity to be out of the house and away from the watchful eyes of his parents. As a result, he didn’t really remember how Corroded Coffin sounded, much less the faces of the band- but he did remember that it was a fun night, so that had to be worth something, right? 

The entire ‘family holiday week’ had ended up being a one-time occurrence after Mr. Emerson and Richard Harrington got into it over politics, but it was a nice family memory, which was a rare thing, and became something that Steve held close to his heart despite the awkwardness of it all. 

“Uh… yeah? I think I remember you- good to reconnect with you, man.” Steve uncrossed his arms and shoved his hands in his pockets. “So, uh- what are you guys doing in my cabin with a bare mattress?” 

“Oh! About that-” Gareth started, but was immediately cut off by a grinning Eddie. 

“Well Stevie, I hope that you’re ready to get cozy. We, my friend, are roommates.”    

Steve was right about what he thought earlier. 

Things could be worse, yeah- and now, they were.

Chapter Text

As it turns out, when campground owners neglect re-roofing a cabin that has water damage, that water damage can cause wood rot, which can lead to a cabin roof collapsing and bugs infesting the cabin that was intended to house half of the 9th grade boys during summer camp. 

Go figure. 

Eddie and his half of the campers had been assigned to Cabin 16, and he had discovered the mess inside of the cabin when he began the process of moving in. Gareth had been helping him with his bags, and because he knew the camp, he was quick to go fetch the groundskeepers to figure out what to do next. They instructed Eddie to move into Cabin 15, then decided to have Eddie and Gareth transfer clean mattresses from the storage cabin a few yards away into Cabin 15 so that there would be enough sleeping space for the rest of the boys. 

It’d be tight quarters for the summer, and in some ways negated the point of having two counselors for that group of campers, but it was too late to come up with anything else, so they just had to work with the cards they were dealt. 

After Steve pitched in to help pack the rest of the mattresses into the cabin, it was time to get started with counselor orientation. The camp had a large ‘main’ building, called the ‘Big Cabin’, which had a folding partition down the middle, separating the meeting, music, and movie space from the kitchen and indoor dining area. The building itself was surrounded by a few picnic tables, and had a few smaller structures scattered around it- one designated for medical aid, one for crafts, and a few other cabins for activities that Steve hadn’t learned about yet.

When he entered the Big Cabin for orientation, trudging inside a few steps behind Eddie and Gareth, Steve was shocked to see yet another familiar face. Jon Byers, Will’s older brother, was apparently working as a camp counselor, too. He only got a few minutes to say hello before things started, but learned that Joyce had cajoled Jonathan into volunteering so that he could keep an eye on Will- and that he’d brought his friend Argyle that he met through a school pen pal program. They had a pen pal relationship so strong, in fact, that Argyle had traveled cross-country on a whim to move in with the Byers semi-permanently, until he and Jon went to college in the Fall. 

It was pretty unorthodox, yeah, but the way that Jon looked at and talked about Argyle told Steve that there was probably a lot more going on there, stuff that Steve wasn’t going to ask about in a cabin full of people he didn’t know. 

He would be figuring that out later, though. 

The beginning of the group orientation was pretty boring, all things considered. They were shepherded into a large circle, then told to introduce themselves to the group under the formula of ‘name, hometown, grade if you’re in school (occupation if you’re not), counselor position, and an alliterative animal to go with your name.’ 

Steve, Hawkins, between jobs, 9th grade boys and water-related activities, snake. His was easy, and Robin’s was almost identical- save for her nervous rambling. 

Robin, Hawkins, between jobs, 9th grade girls and arts and crafts… and I guess I’ll go with a Robin? Like the bird. Not my name... but I guess also like my name. Uh… who's next?

The rest were similarly thrown together introductions, made by people who were clearly uninterested in playing ‘get to know me’ games. There were, of course, a few notable exceptions. 

Argyle, I’m from Lenora, California- but I live in Hawkins now with Jon’s family. I was a pizza guy back in Cali, and though slinging pies is my first love, I’m currently open to employment- hence the gig at this righteous camp. I’ve been assigned to work with the 8th grade boys with Jon here, and I’ll be one of the outdoor activity coordinators. As for an animal, I’m goin’ with the noble Alpaca. 

Eddie, I’m from Bloomington, I have a job at a dive bar in town, but when I’m not doing that, I pick up a few bucks at different gigs with my band, Corroded Coffin. I’ve got that goin’ with Gareth, Jeff, and Grant. Boss at the bar was kind enough to give me a leave of absence so that we could all accompany Gareth to this lovely establishment for the summer and provide our musical stylings for the campers- and don’t worry, we’ve added some PG songs to our usual set, and have been properly instructed to tone down the hardcore vibe, so that’s all good. I’ll be volunteering with arts and crafts on and off as well. Oh! I’ll be in the 9th grade boy’s cabin with Stevie here. As for an animal, I’ve gotta go with the Egyptian Goose, mostly because the way their faces look reminds me of Kiss- which, like, rock on, my feathery friends, y’know? 

After a mix of both uninspired and rather amusing introductions, the counselors were given instructions about what to do in an emergency, were told to get to know their ‘counselor counterpart’, then were given a general schedule for days at camp. 

7:30 am- Wake Up. Girls cabins shower in the morning, boys cabins shower at night. Note: if campers are scheduled to be in the lake, they must shower that night, no exceptions.

8:30 am- Breakfast. 

9:30 am- Breakfast ends, the cabin assigned to clean up from the meal starts working. All other cabins are released for 30 minutes of free time. On weekends, these 30 minutes will be hosted by camp directors in the big cabin to make up for the 30 minute discrepancy in the weekday-weekend counselor break schedule (see 7:00pm-11:30pm schedule below). 

10:00 am- Activity One. These schedules will be given out on Sunday afternoon, and any changes that need to be made will be shared as-necessary with counselors the morning-of.

11:15 am- Activity One ends, free time in cabins until noon. 

12:00 pm- Lunch. 

1:00 pm- Lunch ends, the cabin assigned to clean up from the meal starts working. All other cabins are released for 30 minutes of free time. 

1:30 pm- Activity Two. See 10am instructions for information regarding assignment of activities. 

2:45 pm- Activity Two ends, activity hosts will split, and one counselor will walk the campers to Activity Three while the other counselor begins setup for the next group. 

3:00 pm- Activity Three begins. 

4:15 pm- Activity Three ends, free time in cabins and around the campground (if campers are in a group and are accompanied by a counselor) until 5:30pm. 

5:30 pm- Dinner.

6:30 pm- Dinner ends, the cabin assigned to clean up from the meal starts working. All other cabins are released for 30 minutes of free time. 

7:00 pm- On weekdays- counselors on break until 9:30pm. Campers are to watch a movie, eat snacks, and have free time in the big cabin until that time. Camp directors to oversee campers during this break. On weekends- campers to engage in games or music hosted by the respective activity leaders until 9:30pm.

9:30 pm- On weekdays- counselors to lead cabins in getting ready for lights out. See above (7:30 am) for shower times. On weekends- counselors to immediately go on break, camp directors to oversee movie, snack, and free time in the big cabin until midnight. 

10:30 pm- On weekdays- lights out. 

11:30 pm- On weekends- Counselor break ends, counselors to lead cabins in getting ready for lights out. See above (7:30 am) for shower times.

12:30 am- On weekends- lights out. 

The schedule was a bit brutal, sure, but if Steve was being honest, it also sounded incredibly fun. He could see the appeal of being a ‘camp kid’. The days were packed with activities, had breaks built in to eat food that- from the smell coming from the kitchen- seemed incredibly delicious, and the campers even had time to read or play games with other campers at their leisure a few times a day. 

He’d also learned at orientation that he would be working with Gareth as his fellow water-related activity coordinator, which made him laugh from the coincidence, until he realized that both Marie Harrington and Susan Emerson had been award-winning swimmers in their day, and Gareth was probably the only other counselor signed up that was qualified enough to supervise an assload of kids swimming in open water. 

All in all, Steve had no problems with what he was told at counselor orientation that first night. His earlier assertion about the food was also proven correct when orientation ended and dinner was served- it turned out to be just as delicious as it smelled. 

So yeah, there were no problems that actually arose at orientation. 

No, The problem arose when he got back to Cabin 15 after orientation. 

The camp directors had instructed each of the camp counselors to come up with a theme for their cabin and decorate accordingly, which wouldn’t have been a problem if Cabin 16 hadn’t been shut down. 

Cabin 16 was shut down though, which meant that it was a pretty-big-fucking-problem. 

Steve hadn’t been sure what to go with for the cabin theme, and Robin had eventually stepped in to decide for him. She went with an underwater vibe to match his activity, shoving him towards that section of the party store when they went shopping together. He had fake plastic fish to hang up around the cabin walls, as well as dark blue, light blue, and white streamers to hang on the ceiling to look like the top of the water- and, to him, it looked pretty freakin’ sweet. He’d also grabbed some yellow streamers and a sun-shaped cutout to hang in one corner of the cabin. It was Summer-y, sunny, and fun- it was perfect. 

Eddie had decided to go for a haunted forest theme, apparently. A theme that really didn’t jive with Steve’s summer-y underwater thing, as made evident by the hanging moon lamp that Eddie unpacked from his bag, along with the paper tree and ghost decorations that he was passionate about hanging up, seeing as he’d spent an entire day the week prior crafting them. 

“I gave myself four papercuts, Steve. Four! One on each pointer finger, one on my thumb, and one in between my pinkie and ring finger. Do you know what it feels like to have a papercut in between your fingers? Here’s a hint for ya- it sure doesn’t feel great , I’ll tell you that much.”

“Look- I understand that Eddie, I do, but I did spend some money buying these decorations too, and I really don’t want them to go to waste.” Steve sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand, his other hand resting on his hip. “I just don’t understand why we can’t split the room in half-”

“-I already told you, I made enough trees to cover the entire room, splitting the room in half will make them way too pushed together and there won’t be any room for the ghosts in between the trees-”

“I don’t understand why you can’t put the ghosts on top of the trees and just let the trees be all pushed together! That’s how the trees are in an actual forest, man! They’re not all spread apart and shit, they’re together. ” 

“Because! Because…” Eddie trailed off, his eyes flitting from Steve’s annoyed frame to the paper decorations he had laid out on the ‘counselor’ bed- which was another problem that Steve didn’t even want to entertain in his mind at the moment, thank you very much. 

“...Yeah, alright, I’ve got nothing. Let’s split the room in half.” Eddie sighed and grabbed one of the folded-up paper trees from his pile of decorations. He then slid a roll of blue tape onto his wrist and tore off a piece with his teeth. He hung the first tree to the right of the front door of the cabin, then took a step back to admire his work. “So… are we splitting this place hotdog style or hamburger style?”

“Uh, I’m sorry, what? ” Steve turned from where he was tearing off long strips of streamers, his eyes narrowing in confusion. 

“Shit- I thought you were the one who has worked with kids before! Man, between the two of us, we’re fucked.” 

What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Who the hell did this Eddie guy think he was, coming here and telling Steve that he wasn’t good at his fuckin’ job?! 

Eddie snorted out a laugh as he turned around to face Steve, but quieted when he noticed the pissed-off look on his coworkers face. “Uh, sorry dude. Didn’t mean to, like, offend or anything. I just- it’s a kid’s thing, right? You can cut it ‘hamburger’ way-” Eddie positioned himself in the middle of the room and stretched both of his arms out wide, splitting the room in half with his body. “-or you can cut it ‘hotdog’ way.” Eddie turned on his heel, spinning 90 degrees. He shot Steve a cheeky smile from where he’d ended up. “See? Hotdog, hamburger. Makes a big difference in how we decorate tonight.” 

Eddie probably could have acted like Steve was stupid in that moment, and Steve wouldn’t have been surprised- but his explanation was made with a playful sort of patience, and Steve couldn’t help the soft, charmed smile that pulled at the corner of his lips. 

“Oh. Uh… whichever way is East, maybe?” At Eddie’s thoroughly perplexed look, Steve continued. “Y’know, because the sun rises in the east? I brought a sun, you brought a moon, we could make it into, like… a scene?” 

Eddie quickly brought both of his arms together and clapped his hands once, in a sound loud enough that it echoed in the cabin. “ You , Steve the Snake, are a genius! ” Eddie got to work hanging his other trees, which ended up splitting the room ‘hamburger’ way, as he’d previously explained, while Steve stood still in confusion. 

“Snake?” 

“Hm?” Eddie hummed back, a piece of blue tape in his mouth as he struggled with the angle of one of the trees. 

“Snake. You called me a snake?” 

Eddie hung the tree with the tape, then turned back to Steve with a smile and a shrug. “You introduced yourself as a snake, hence Steve the Snake. ”

Steve quirked an eyebrow and grabbed some of his plastic fish decorations, starting his work on hanging those up. “So what, you want me to call you Eddie the Egyptian Goose ?” 

“Well, I tend to keep that nickname reserved to friends only, but I suppose that you’re working your way to that title- so sure, have at it, Snake-boy.”

Steve huffed out a laugh as he hung a clownfish on the wall. “Just for that, I’m calling you ‘Goose’ in perpetuity.” 

Eddie laughed- a deep, husky thing- and Steve’s ears flushed pink at the sound. 

Huh. That was… interesting. 

Their bickering continued throughout the hour-or-so it took to decorate. By the time they were done, it was nearing 10pm, and though Steve usually stayed up much later than that, the length of the day was getting to him, and all he wanted to do was crawl into bed and pass out. 

There was, unfortunately, one queen-bed-sized problem sitting in the way of that. 

Steve stared wistfully at the bed from his position across the room, where he’d taken to leaning against the wall and crossing his arms as he watched Eddie finish up his decorating by hanging the moon light in the corner. 

After a few more minutes of struggling, Eddie jumped back from the bunk bed he was using as a step-stool and plugged the lamp in, casting a soft white light around the room. It made their decorations look almost magical, brought everything together in a way that had Steve’s eyes widening in shock and prompted a sleepy smile to spread across his lips. “Wow.”

“Yeah, it does look pretty nice, huh? Great thinkin’, Stevie the Snake-y.” Eddie put his hands on his hips and looked to Steve, then followed Steve’s eyeline to where it was trained on the bed. “... Ready to call it a night?” 

Steve hummed his assent, his amused smile turning into a perplexed frown. “Yeah, just figuring out how to make a bed that’s on the top bunk.” 

“What are you talking about?” Eddie crossed his arms. “Dude, I’ll take the top bunk, I’m the one who had the cabin that fuckin’ disintegrated before camp even started. Besides, I’ve got a twin bed back home, it’ll feel the same.” Eddie shoved his empty decoration bag into one of the two bags he had left, then ripped his biggest bag open and pulled out a stack of pillows, followed by some bedding. He immediately got to making the top bunk, forcing his too-big sheets around the plastic mattress and unfurling his sleeping bag on top of the sheets with a clumsy shake to the bedroll. He remained balanced precariously on the ladder of the bunk bed while he prepared his sleeping area, and Steve was helpless but to stand by and try to catch the man if he fell. 

Eventually, Eddie climbed onto the bed to fluff his pillows and do other rearranging, so Steve set to work on making his own bed, moving his and Eddie’s bags to live underneath his bed for the time being. 

Finally, after what must’ve been fifteen minutes, Steve flopped onto the top of his queen bed with a quiet groan. He opened his eyes to see Eddie peering down at him from over the railing of the top bunk, a smirk pulling at his lips. “Gonna get the lights there, Stevie?”

“Ugh. Too tired.” Steve groaned out in response, flopping over so that he could bury his head in his pillow. He hadn’t even changed into pajamas, and he felt frankly disgusting . He brought another set of sheets though, and the camp directors had mentioned something about on-site laundry, so Steve didn’t have the energy to muster to give a shit. 

He could faintly hear Eddie as the boy clamored down from the top bunk, and with a soft click , the cabin was bathed in darkness- save from the light still coming from the moon lamp. Eddie climbed back up to the top bunk and Steve shoved himself under the covers, then shucked off his shorts and polo in uncoordinated motions, deciding that the shroud of darkness and the cover of blankets was enough privacy from a guy he’d be bunking with for the next six weeks. 

As he was drifting to sleep, Steve heard a quiet, sleepy-sounding, “G’night, Snake.” 

Steve smiled to himself and burrowed his face further into the pillow underneath him, muttering out a muffled, “Goodnight, Goose,” in response. 

Chapter Text

“Oh my god, what the fuck do the campers put in these things, bricks ?” Eddie groaned as he swung a giant duffle bag onto one of the bare mattresses in Cabin 15. He huffed out a breath of relief once the bag was settled on the bed, shooting Steve a pleading look. “Can’t we just have them carry their own bags?”

Steve snorted. “Just be grateful that we got to use the golf cart to bring them down the hill.” Steve grabbed another duffle bag from the cabin porch and carried it inside. It had the name Henderson scrawled across it in big, black letters, and Steve smiled to himself. Six weeks in a packed cabin with his kids and a bunch of other strangers. What could possibly go wrong?

“What’s got you so amused over there, Stevie?” Eddie grabbed the black handkerchief from his back pocket and swiped it across his face, sopping up the beads of sweat that had begun to gather there. 

Steve looked over, and forced himself to ignore the way his stomach fluttered when he saw Eddie like that- standing with one hand on his hip, curls matted with sweat, face flushed pink. 

He looked like he’d been put through the wringer. 

God, he looked so fucking hot.

“Uhh…” Steve trailed off, losing his train of thought to the distraction of Eddie’s exhausted frame. “My kids! I’m thinking about my kids. This bag- this is Henderson’s. He’s, like, the main kid I babysit. He can be an asshole, but it’s mostly because he’s wicked smart and he totally knows it. It’ll be interesting to see him out here fending for his life in the wilderness, y’know? He’s less of a ‘nature’ guy, more of a… all-night Dungeons and Dragons session kinda guy.” Steve dropped the bag onto one of the mattresses and went back outside, Eddie hot on his tail.

“No shit! Your kids play D&D? Dude, that’s awesome . I’m the DM for the band! Y’know, I bet I could put together a campaign while we’re here, I brought my books for me and the guys to play during some of our breaks- it might be hard to find enough time to run a campaign, but maybe I could talk Gareth into asking the directors if I can steal the kids from movie time?” 

Eddie paused and Steve glanced towards him, seeing the sudden shift in Eddie’s demeanor. It was like the excitement had suddenly drained out of him, replaced by self-loathing. 

Eddie cleared his throat awkwardly, his hand moving to rub the back of his neck. “Shit- sorry, I’m totally rambling now, my bad, man. It’s just really cool that your kids are more of the ‘nerd’ type- when you mentioned them the other day, I was expecting a gaggle of mini-jocks. Can’t say I was really looking forward to that.” 

Steve rolled his eyes fondly at Eddie’s ramble and grabbed Will’s bag next from the pile, then brought it inside and shoved it on the mattress next to Dustin’s. “No worries, man, I like it when you ramble. For what it’s worth, I guess it would make sense for you to think that about the kids. Lucas is kind of a jock? He plays basketball, but he’s also a D&D nerd. He’s multifaceted. His sister, Erica? She’ll be in the 6th grade girl’s cabin with Nancy I think, and she’s getting into D&D, too. It’d be cool if you brought her into the campaign, I’m sure she and the other kids would love it.” 

Eddie hummed in thought as he grabbed another duffle bag from the porch. He dragged it across the cabin and shoved it onto a random mattress across the room. 

Steve couldn’t take his eyes off of Eddie’s forearms, couldn’t distract himself from the way Eddie’s muscles flexed with the movement. His arms were on full display- Eddie had rolled up the sleeves of his camp counselor t-shirt to his shoulders while they worked, and as a result, his various tattoos were on display. 

Shit. Steve was a little bit fucked, wasn’t he? 

The last three days of orientation had been a bit eye-opening. He’d spent a lot of time with Eddie doing team building exercises. 

When he wasn’t with Eddie, he was with Gareth while they went through water activity training. 

He and Gareth started out their training together with an awkward chasm between them. It was kind of hard to not be that way- how do you act around a family member who you barely know? Eventually, the camp directors left them alone to deal with training another pair of counselors in a different activity while Steve and Gareth swam out to the far end of the roped-off section of the lake to ensure the ropes were anchored down. Steve, desperate to make conversation, made a comment about his dad being an asshole about him joining the swim team, and Gareth chimed in about Mr. Emerson being the same way. They laughed about their moms having similar tastes in men, then got into a conversation about the different aspects of their lives that their parents hated. 

By the end of the day, they had formed a tentative friendship.

His team building exercises with Eddie ended up forming a similarly swift bond between them. They talked about things like music, work, and navigating the world as freshly-minted adults. They couldn’t be more opposite, but their differences ended up sparking more conversations between them. 

Steve was grateful to form a fast friendship with the other counselor- with them sharing such tight quarters, the last thing he’d want is to be at odds with the other man. 

The only not-so-great thing was that his feelings about Eddie ended up shifting towards something… not entirely friendly.

One of their team building exercises had involved a game of capture the flag amongst the counselors. Steve and Eddie had been paired together to guard the flag, and when Jason Carver snuck up the hill that they were standing on, Eddie wasted no time tackling the guy (with force that fell within the rules of the game, of course). Jason had to go to ‘jail’ after he was caught by Eddie, and when his co-counselor popped up, curls popping out in all directions, sweat rolling down his hairline, and face split with a proud grin… 

Well, it opened Steve’s eyes, in a sense. 

Eddie was hot , in a sort of nerdy way. Not Steve’s typical type, but he couldn’t figure out if that was because Eddie was alternative, or because Eddie was a man. 

Maybe it was a bit of both? 

Steve knew he liked guys. He knew what being ‘bi’ meant, and even though Robin was the only one who knew that tidbit about him and Steve had only ever dated women before, that didn’t make his identity any less valid. 

That’s what Robin said, at least, and he was trying to get better about internalizing that. 

Well, anyways- Eddie not being Steve’s usual ‘type’ certainly didn’t stop the sudden onslaught of feelings that he began to experience when he interacted with his co-counselor. Maybe it was embarrassing that Eddie goofing off with his friends made his heart flutter, that Eddie telling him ‘goodnight, Snake’ every night made his cheeks flush, that Eddie exerting his frankly surprising amount of strength made his stomach flip- but Steve was helpless to stop the feelings that arose. 

Steve had a crush, and he had to live for six weeks with that crush hanging over him- literally, because Eddie slept on the top bunk. 

“Okay, if I carry another bag inside, I’m going to need three to five business days to recover.” Eddie groaned as he shoved another duffle bag onto one of the beds on his side of the cabin. While Steve had been staring into space and thinking about how hot Eddie was, his co-counselor had apparently dragged another five bags inside. 

“Oh- shit, sorry, I’ve totally been slacking. Let me grab a few, why don’t you take a seat.” Steve jumped to action, walking out of the cabin to grab two of the duffle bags sitting on the porch. He carried them in and dumped them on nearby beds rather unceremoniously, then repeated that action two more times before he slumped against the nearby wall to catch his breath. 

“Dude, you’re like, rich-rich, huh?” Eddie asked from his spot on Steve’s bed across the room. 

Steve looked up to see him lounging on top of Steve’s blankets, resting his head against Steve’s pillow. Steve raised a questioning eyebrow, giving Eddie a silent signal to continue. 

“Y’know, because you’ve got fuckin’ feather-filled pillows with silk pillow cases. That’s expensive, man. Too rich for my blood.” 

Steve rolled his eyes. “The silk is for my hair, but I guess we have money, sure.” 

“Huh. Yet you’re working at a summer camp.” 

Steve grimaced. “Yeah, well, my dad’s a bit of a dick, and I got cut off when I graduated highschool and didn’t go to college. I have to feed myself somehow. I still live at home and stuff, but groceries, gas, clothes… all that’s my responsibility now. The pillow’s just a relic of the days when my parents thought I had promise.” 

Eddie gave him a look- one that displayed nothing but sympathy- and Steve recoiled, quickly trying to backtrack on his words. “Shit- I, uh- sorry. You probably didn’t want to hear all that. I promise that it’s not that big of a deal. I’m… gonna go grab some more bags.” Steve rushed out of the cabin and onto the porch, taking a moment to fill his lungs with air before getting back to work. 

Fuck him and his proclivity to overshare whenever he got too comfortable around someone. 

Steve took a few minutes to pull himself together, then re-entered the cabin, carrying the last two bags with him. He dropped them next to the last bunk bed without bags on or next to it, then moved across the room and flopped face-down lengthwise onto the foot of his bed, narrowly avoiding Eddie’s legs. 

“Sorry if I, like, brought up weird shit for you, Steve.”

Steve groaned, then rolled onto his side so his voice wouldn’t be muffled. “No, dude, I’m sorry to have, like, spilled that without any warning. I have a bad habit of just… talking without thinking when I’m around people I feel comfortable with.” 

Eddie’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You feel comfortable with me?” 

“Uh, yeah dude.” Steve shifted as he spoke, moving to sit with his back against the wall, his legs stretched out across the foot of the bed. “We’ve been spending practically all our time together the last few days, and when we’re not together, I’m working at water activities with your best friend and you’re working in arts and crafts with mine. I feel like it’s kinda hard to not feel comfortable around you at this point, y’know?” 

Eddie’s mouth twitched up into a shy smile, and he grabbed a strand of his long hair to bring across his mouth, as if he was trying to hide behind it. Cute. “There’s, uh, not a lot of people who feel that way around me, y’know?” 

“Really? I find that hard to believe.”

“Nah, man- you just don’t know enough about me yet.” Eddie’s expression turned dark, and his eyes darted away from Steve, landing on a stray thread hanging off of Steve’s blanket. “Like- the band does, yeah, and Wayne, my uncle, but aside from that… I just don’t have a lot of people in my life. People don’t want to hang out with the ‘freak’.” Eddie spat the word, as if it pained him just to say it- and Steve wouldn’t be surprised if it had. 

“I don’t think you’re a freak, Eddie. Like, yeah, you dress differently, you’re into music that I guess some people think is devil worship, but like… that’s not that bad.” 

“No, Steve, you’re not getting it.” Eddie groaned, scrubbing both of his hands over his face. Finally, he sighed, letting the back of his head fall against the wall behind him with a painful-sounding thump. “I’m not a freak because of metal or dark clothes or D&D- people call me a freak because…” Eddie took a deep breath, then squeezed his eyes shut with apprehension. “Because I’m gay.” 

“Oh.” Steve’s response came reflexively, and he couldn’t help the little smile that began to tug at his lips. 

Eddie was gay.  

Would it be entirely inappropriate to try and start something with his coworker? Absolutely, but at least now his crush wasn’t as hopeless as he thought. 

“Oh?” Eddie’s head tilted forward, away from its place against the wall, and he made eye contact with Steve, his brows furrowed. “That’s all you have to say to that? Oh ?” 

“Uh… yeah?” Steve tilted his head. “Like, I guess that makes you a freak, sure, but what does that make me? Half a freak? Or maybe it’s more like a quarter of a freak- y’know, I’ve never understood it, because it’s called bi , right, so that implies half, I think, but I wouldn’t say I’m half and half, it feels like a quarter is a little bit more accurate-” 

“Whoa! Whoa, just- slow down. Steve, did you just fucking come out to me through trying to make me feel better?” 

Steve paused, his expression pinching in thought. “Yeah, I think so. Y’know, now that I think about it, this is the second time I’ve done that. What do they say? Once is happenstance, twice a coincidence?”

Eddie’s eyes bulged. He opened then closed his mouth a few times in attempts to try and respond, but eventually settled on, “Well now I need to know about the other time.” 

“Ah- there’s not much to tell. I was just talking to someone and I told her that I had a crush on her, then she said she was a lesbian, and then I was all like, ‘me too!’ because I was trying to, I don’t know, make her feel better because she was in like company- but I obviously fucked that up. Still, it made her laugh and now we’re best friends.” 

Eddie’s laughter peeled out of him a beat after Steve had finished sharing the story, and he slapped a hand over his mouth to try and muffle it. “I- you- oh my god, that’s the best thing I’ve heard maybe ever .” 

“Yeah, it was kind of a ridiculous thing for me to say, huh? Anyways- second time, so it’s a coincidence. For what it’s worth, in my book, being gay doesn’t make you a freak. I think that’s all I was trying to say.” 

Eddie’s laughter faded, and his smile turned into something soft and genuine. “That means a lot, Steve- both trusting me with that and saying I’m not a freak. For what it’s worth, I feel comfortable around you, too.” 

“Good, I’m glad. It’d be kinda awkward to work with you if we were at each other’s throats the whole summer.” Steve replied, then checked his watch, his eyes going wide when he saw the time. “Ah- shit, not that I haven’t appreciated this time to chat, but we’re supposed to be at the Big Cabin in five minutes to meet our campers.” 

“Let’s get goin’ then!” Eddie jumped out of the bed, then reached out his hand expectantly towards Steve.

Steve put his hand on Eddie’s and allowed his co-counselor to pull him up and lead him out of their cabin. They sprinted hand-in-hand to the Big Cabin, Eddie only letting go when they were just about to enter the cabin’s doors. 

Steve forced himself to not think too hard about how Eddie’s hand felt in his, or about the way his feelings for Eddie grew stronger after the confession they shared. 

Meeting their campers ended up being pretty amazing. 

Some of the other cabin groups were struggling with wrangling the kids, given that it was one counselor per every 14 or so kids- but he and Eddie didn’t share that problem.

The frustration of being stuck in such a small space with 24 9th grade boys was real, but it was offset in moments like this, when Steve and Eddie got to pair up to wrangle their campers together. The kids seemed far more cautious to fuck around when they had two sets of eyes on them. 

Where Steve struggled to drum up excitement, Eddie excelled, and where Eddie could get distracted, Steve was quick to jump in and bring everyone back on task- in this instance, back to the get-to-know-me game they were playing.

They worked well together, and Steve felt confident that, as long as things continued as they were, the rest of the summer was going to be a breeze. 

Chapter Text

“Mike, it’s been a week. For your sake, for my sake, for the sake of the cabin, I am begging you to please shower.” Steve spoke as he approached the breakfast table, then set his tray down across from Mike with a resounding thud.

Mike groaned in response and took a bite of cereal. “Why? No one cares , Steve. It’s camp . What are you, my mom?” Mike spoke with his mouth full, and Steve wrinkled his nose in disgust. 

“People care, Mike. A lot of people care. All of your friends think that it’s gross, they just love you too much to say anything. Thankfully, I think that you’re a menace that’s been put on this earth for the sole purpose of annoying the shit out of me, so I don’t feel that way. Take. A. Shower.” Steve took a bite of his breakfast- scrambled eggs, perfectly cooked. 

Shit, he was really gonna miss the cooking at this place. 

… He was going to miss a lot about this place. 

How two weeks had already passed, Steve wasn’t sure. 

It felt like these two weeks had been no time at all, but the amount of shenanigans they campers had gotten into so far showed otherwise.

Steve’s personal favorite shenanigan story so far came up two days ago, when Dustin found a slug in his shoe the morning after it rained, then refused to wear his shoes for the entire day. He sat in the big cabin, forgoing all activities so that he could spend time with his new slug bestfriend, who he named Dart. The camp directors ended up having to step in to explain that it was ‘against camp policy to keep pets.’ 

Dustin got a little teary-eyed when he set Dart on a tree stump at the end of the night. 

Just camp things , Steve supposed. 

“I just don’t see what the big deal is. I showered after I went in the lake.” Mike grumbled across from him, bringing Steve back to the issue at hand. 

“You should be showering every day, and your last lake day was last week . You guys have another one happening in a few days, but I am begging you- please do not wait until then to shower.” 

Mike huffed across from him and took another bite of cereal, his eyes tracing the wood grain on the table in front of him. Steve sighed and continued eating his breakfast, letting the sound of various morning conversations from his and other tables wash over him. 

“Goooood morning Cabin 15!” Eddie’s voice boomed next to Steve, greeting the entire long table of their cabin, squished together in order to make room for everyone. Steve winced at the noise, but scooted slightly to his left to make room for Eddie at the edge of the table. 

The table for Cabin 16 sat empty behind them. Technically, the kids could spread out between the tables- and sometimes a few of them did if they were having a tough morning- but somehow, all of their campers had really started to love spending time with each other, and refused to split into their assigned halves when it wasn’t mandated. That meant that they were really only separated for camp activities and chores, and that didn’t seem to bother any of them too much. 

Various ‘good mornings’ from the campers were muttered in return, and that seemed to satisfy Eddie. He sat down in the space Steve made and began digging into his breakfast. 

“How’d you sleep, Eds?” Steve yawned through the question, then grabbed Eddie’s mug of coffee off of his tray to take a sip. He always forgot to grab his cup from the kitchen. It was restricted to counselors only, so the cooks had to keep it back there so the campers wouldn’t try to grab some. 

“Mmm, fine- aside from this terrible stench keeping me up all night.” Eddie grinned, teasing, and nudged Mike’s foot with his own from under the table. 

Mike let out an annoyed huff and moved to get up, but Eddie stopped him with a hand on his wrist and an apologetic look. “Sorry, sorry, just trying to get a smile out of you, man. Look, Mike, I’m just worried about you. Steve and I both are. There’s a lot of gross shit out here- bugs, wilderness, creepy crawlies… how do you know one of those things isn’t living in your hair, y’know?” 

Mike’s eyes went wide, and he ran a cautious hand through his hair while simultaneously shooting daggers at Eddie with his eyes. 

“Oof, sore spot, huh? Oh! Shit, is this- okay, wait, no, I got it. Look, I reported the spider’s nest in the third shower stall to the camp directors a few days ago, it’s already taken care of. No residue whatsoever.” 

“They were everywhere.” Mike shuddered, his grip tightening on his cereal spoon. 

“Why don’t you use another shower stall?” Steve asked. 

Mike frowned. “They’re spiders , Steve. They crawl.” 

“They do, Mike, you’re right, but Steve is onto something. Why don’t you wait around tonight and use one of the showers after one of the other guys is already done? The water will have washed away everything.”

Mike grimaced, unresponsive. Eddie continued. “Look, it’s gotta get done, dude. We’re on week two. You don’t want min-Byers over there to move his bed away from yours, right?” 

Mike shook his head, and Eddie smiled, patting Mike's wrist. “Good, then it’s settled. Tonight, shower. Hell, bring your bug spray in there with you if you want, I don’t care. Just get it done, alright mini-Wheeler?” Mike nodded. “Good. Now, go eat breakfast with your friends rather than hanging around with us lame-asses, yeah?” 

Mike rolled his eyes and acquiesced to the obvious request to move, leaving Steve and Eddie alone at the edge of the table. 

Steve took another sip of Eddie’s coffee, smirking, and Eddie grabbed the mug out of his hands. “Give that back you fuckin’ heathen. Get your own.” 

“Eddie! Watch your mouth, there are children present.” Steve teased, letting Eddie take the coffee without much fuss. It was his, after all. 

“Gimme a break, princess. They say worse shit than that at least six times a day.” Eddie took a sip of his coffee, then set it down between their trays. He dug into his breakfast, and Steve followed suit.

Once both of their trays were clear, Eddie pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “Alright, schedule. My half has archery, hiking, and field games today. Band is leading a singalong tonight. Arts and crafts is dealing with cabins… three, six, and seven today.” 

Steve dug out his own sheet of paper. “Uh… my half are doing hiking, then a music lesson with Jeff and Grant, and.. ugh, they’re rounding it out with team building games tonight.” Steve wrinkled his nose at that, and Eddie huffed out a laugh. 

“God, ending the day with Carver? Gross. Be ready to lift some spirits at dinner tonight, got it.”

“It’s pretty ironic that they have an asshole in charge of team building, huh?” Steve sighed, his eyes scanning down the rest of his paper. “Oh! I have cabins nine, seven, and twelve at water activities today. Will I see you at drop off for seven?” 

“No can do, Steve. Robin’s got the expertise in the craft of the day, so I’m running the group while she’s prepping for the next lesson. We’ll still have lunch together, though!”

The camp bell rang and Steve shoved the paper back in his pocket, then took a swig of Eddie’s coffee and stood up. “Fifteen’s on cleanup for breakfast, so I’ll catch you at lunch, Goose.” 

Eddie rolled his eyes and took his coffee from Steve’s hands. “See ya, Snake.” 

Steve smiled and gathered his half of the campers, shoving them into the kitchen to deal with cleanup from breakfast. Thankfully, having a cabin full of older boys meant that Steve could sit back and direct them to do their jobs. They grumbled about it, sure, and there were always one or two that thought they could get away with faking the work, but Steve was pretty quick to catch on when that happened. It was technically supposed to be his thirty minute break of the morning, given that it was a weekend, but Steve enjoyed using his break to sip coffee and watch his campers do their chores. 

Soon enough, their thirty minutes of cleanup time ran out, their work was done, and it was time to start activities for the day. Steve dropped the kids off with Jon for hiking, then made his way to the lake for kayaking with Cabin Nine. 

Cabin Nine’s activity slot sped by without much trouble, and even though Eddie had mentioned that they’d have lunch together, Eddie’s half apparently goofed off during archery- which is, like, rule number one of things to not do, so they were relegated to the outside picnic tables for lunch as punishment, and would be under more supervision by the camp directors for the rest of the weekend. 

Steve’s group, on the other hand, was exhausted after their morning nature walk, and could barely hold a conversation. 

Days like this at camp were hard. Steve would usually rely on Eddie to get everyone’s spirits up, but Eddie was busy being the ‘bad guy’ outside, supervising his cabin through lunch while ensuring that they understood the error of their ways. Steve couldn’t even catch Eddie after lunch, because Eddie’s half of the cabin was up for kitchen cleanup. Instead, Steve ended up playing Uno with Dustin, Will, and some of the other campers until it was time to get them wrangled for their second activity. 

Kayaking with Cabin Seven went about as well as Steve thought it would. Shoving a bunch of seventh-grade boys into floating objects in the middle of a lake caused a lot of splashing, oar-fighting, and more than one boat being turned over, despite Steve and Gareth specifically prefacing that they couldn’t do any of those things. The kids had life jackets on though, and if their boat got turned over they got sent back to the beach to sit and watch the other kids continue to boat, so the roughhousing ended up calming down fairly quickly. 

Steve ended up walking Cabin Seven to arts and crafts after their activity was done, despite knowing that Eddie wouldn’t be at the activity cabin when he arrived. It would be nice to catch up with Robin, even if it would only be for a few minutes. He barely got to see his best friend anymore, they were both so busy with their jobs. At this point, Eddie probably spent more time with Robin than Steve did, and the same was probably true about Steve and Gareth. It certainly wasn’t unwelcome, it just wasn’t how Steve had expected the summer would go. 

Steve and Cabin Seven arrived at the arts and crafts cabin, and were met with a grinning Robin sporting a light blue bandana. “Hey! Come on in guys, take your seats. If you ended up getting wet at the lake, please choose a seat that has a towel on it. We’ll get started in a few minutes” Robin ushered them inside, then closed the front door behind herself, leaving the kids inside while she and Steve stayed outside. 

Steve’s eyebrows rose. “Are you sure that you should be doing that?” 

“It’s fine! They’ll be fine for, like, five minutes. Us catching up is far more important right now. Okay- so, I have something for you, but it’s not from me.” Robin dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out a woven friendship bracelet. It was dark blue and yellow, and interwoven throughout the threads was the word ‘Snake’ in letter beads. 

Steve took the bracelet with a blush and slipped it onto his wrist. “So, you guys are doing friendship bracelets as the craft today?” 

“Don’t change the subject! Steve, why is Eddie making you a friendship bracelet at arts and crafts?” Robin crossed her arms and fixed him with a knowing smirk. 

“Uh… because we work together? Because he has to make bracelets for as long as you guys do this activity? I don’t know.”

“Uh, no. He hasn’t done any of the other crafts unless it’s been with a camper who didn’t really want to participate. He came in here first thing this morning, learned alongside the campers, and worked his ass off on this one.” 

“Oh.” Steve couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his face at that, and turned his attention to the woven bracelet now at home on his wrist. “He did a good job for this being his first bracelet.” 

Robin groaned, then put both her hands on Steve’s shoulders. “You’re not listening to me, Steve. I think that he… I don’t know, I think that Eddie might like you.” 

“Duh, Robs. We’re co-counselors, of course he likes me. Our jobs would be pretty tough if he hated me.” Steve was playing dumb on purpose, yeah, but annoying Robin was too much fun to pass up.

“Oh my god, my best friend is a dumbass.” She took her hands off of his shoulders to card through her hair, and the motion brought something new to Steve’s attention. 

“Hey, Robs, did you know that you’re wearing a friendship bracelet right now? Do you have someone that likes you, too?” Steve poked her side, and Robin shrank away, swatting at his hand with a giggle. 

“Fuckin- stop , you know I’m ticklish there, Dingus. As for the other thing- I plead the fifth.” 

“Holy shit, you have a crush on Nancy!” 

“Steve!” Robin hissed, slapping his arm. “Be quiet! We’re outside! Also, how did you figure that out?” 

He grinned. “Well, aside from you just confirming that for me, the ‘plead the fifth’ thing is a Nancy-ism.” 

“I hate you, did you know that?”

The cabin behind them suddenly erupted in cheers, followed by a loud crash. “For what it’s worth, I totally support you and Nance. I’d love to keep talking about you two, but it sounds like you’ve gotta get goin’ Buckley.” Steve’s grin turned teasing, and Robin gave him a deadpan glare.

“You’re the bane of my existence.”

“Can’t wait for my friendship bracelet later!” Steve waved at Robin as he stepped backwards, away from the activity cabin and towards the trail leading to the lake. 

“Just for that, you’re not getting one!” Robin shouted back, then entered the cabin. She immediately started reprimanding the cabin’s inhabitants, and Steve shook his head in amusement as he continued down the trail to the lake to the tune of her getting a bunch of boys to clean up their mess. 

The last kayaking trip of the day went about as well as the other two, which was to be expected. Gareth ended up having to run after the activity to clean up for the band’s performance that night, and Steve agreed to handle cleanup of the water activity himself as long as Gareth took the kids back to their cabin for free time. Gareth agreed, and even though dragging the kayaks back to the beach to dry by himself sucked a lot , he was more than happy to do it for Gareth.

It was… weird how much he’d bonded with his cousin in these two short weeks. He had a lot more in common with Gareth than he thought, and they ended up having a lot of fun working together. In two weeks, Gareth had transformed from a stranger to someone that Steve couldn’t imagine living without, and the idea that they would be going their separate ways soon pulled at his heartstrings. The last thing he wanted was for things to go back to the way they were before camp, but he felt silly bringing something like that up now , when they still had four weeks of camp left. 

He’d probably ask Gareth about planning a weekend trip when they got closer to the end of camp. 

Steve was starving by the time he finished putting all the kayaks out to dry. A quick glance at his watch told him that it was already past the start of dinner, and Steve still had to change out of his swimsuit, seeing as he refused to wear his lake clothes to dinner. Steve sighed to himself and began the long walk back to Cabin 15. When he arrived, he grabbed a pair of boxers and sweats from his duffel bag and went to the boy’s bathroom to change and freshen up. He finally arrived at dinner around 6:20, when the meal was already being cleaned up and the guys were on the stage, setting up for their set starting in forty minutes. 

He sort of wanted to go back to Cabin 15 to curl up in bed and cry from the sheer amount of exhaustion and hunger that he was experiencing, but before he could turn around to leave the Big Cabin, Robin Buckley, ever his savior, appeared in front of him. 

“Dude, you look rough . Gareth told me to save you a plate because you’d be busy cleaning up kayaks, and I ended up saving two because I was pretty sure you’d be super hungry after all that. Your kids are already enjoying free time before the band starts, do you want to sit with me while you eat?” 

“Robin, I could kiss you.” 

She wrinkled her nose at that and dragged Steve to her table with one hand, the other still holding his plate of food. “Ew, please don’t. I’d rather you eat your dinner and save those lips for someone else.” She waggled her eyebrows at him knowingly, and Steve shoved her away with a laugh, taking a seat at the table her campers were sitting at. 

El and Max, who had miraculously both been assigned to Robin’s cabin, greeted him with bright smiles, then went back to their activity. Robin had apparently snagged some extra bracelet-making supplies from the arts and crafts cabin to give them an early start on the activity, and they were now slowly figuring out how to weave matching bracelets, following along with a sheet of instructions written in Robin’s handwriting. 

“Here’s your friendship bracelet, by the way. Y’know, because you asked for it.” Robin dropped a bracelet next to his plate, and Steve admired it while he shoved a bite of food into his mouth. 

It was light blue and white, and it had letter beads spelling ‘dingus’ weaved throughout. Steve put it on his wrist, next to the ‘snake’ bracelet, and smiled up at Robin. “Thanks, Birdie. I love it.” 

“Yeah, well, I expect a matching one from you one day soon.” Robin huffed, crossing her arms while she watched Steve eat his dinner. 

“Well, El and Max are learning too, right? Why don’t you teach me tonight while the guys are doing their show?” 

El and Max both perked up at that. Max was the first to speak. “Steve, we can teach you, but it’ll cost you.”

“Cost me what?” Steve spoke through a mouth full of food, making the girls wrinkle their nose and hold back laughter.

“The price of joining bracelet making is that you have to make bracelets for the other members.” El recited. 

“Yeah, and you have to cut out the gross dude shit, too. Chew with your mouth closed.” Max grumbled, earning an elbow to the ribs and an admonishment to watch her language from Robin. 

Steve hummed, pretending to consider the offer. Finally, he nodded. “Fine. But I think I have a different first project in mind, if that’s okay?” 

“That is okay, as long as we get bracelets from you eventually.” El responded before Max could make a fuss about it, and Steve offered the girl a soft smile, then continued to dig into his food. 

He finished up his dinner just as the band was starting to play, and he barely had enough time to drop his plates off in the kitchen before the girls were dragging him back to the table and shoving bracelet-making instructions in his hand. Steve skimmed the writing, knowing that he was just going to rely on Robin’s verbal instructions instead. He then shifted his attention to the small container of thread, flipping through the options until he found what he was looking for. 

Dark blue and golden yellow. 

Perfect . 

Robin gave him a knowing look, and Steve pouted back at her, nonverbally conveying his request that she not say anything and just help him weave the damn thing. 

Robin acquiesced, walking Steve through the steps of beginning the bracelet. While he was getting a hang of the braiding, she began to pick through the letter beads. “I don’t think we have enough ‘E’s here to spell ‘Eddie’,” she muttered under her breath, “but I could run back to the arts and crafts cabin if you want?”

“That’s okay, do you have enough letters to spell ‘Goose’?” Steve responded, keeping his tone as quiet as hers. It didn’t seem to matter, seeing as both El and Max were completely distracted between their weaving and the performance occurring on the other side of the cabin, but still. 

Robin’s attention turned to him, her brows furrowed in confusion. “Goose? Like the animal?” 

“Is there another kind of goose?” 

“...Touch é .” Robin dug into the letters and manifested the beads he requested. 

Steve grinned. “Perfect. Now… how do you get them on the bracelet?” 

Robin huffed, then shoved him aside on the bench so that she could sit with him and show him exactly how to move the thread around the bead to make it rest in a straight line. Steve shifted his attention between her instructions and the show that Eddie’s band was putting on. 

The band was really good- so good, that it was hard to focus on anything other than their performance. 

Steve had seen them play a few times by now, sure, but the more they played the more confident they got. They took requests for songs from the kids and played those in between more camp-style songs, and would even bring some of the campers on stage to jam with them for a bit. Eddie was leading the group, smiling in the way he did where his whole expression conveyed joy, and Steve couldn’t bring himself to take his attention away from the man for more than a few minutes. 

Eddie was like the sun when he was up on the stage. He was in his element. Bright, warm, welcoming. 

The girls- El and Max- seemed similarly transfixed. 

Steve cleared his throat, grabbing their attention. “Hey, do you guys want to get closer to the stage? Bracelets will be around for the rest of camp, you’re not gonna hurt me and Rob’s feelings if you want to join the others.” Steve nodded towards the stage where the rest of the campers were gathered. 

El wrinkled her nose and shook her head, silently going back to bracelet weaving. 

Max shrugged. “The music is too loud all the way up there. It’s manageable over here, y’know? We can still hear it, but we can also hear ourselves think.” 

Steve had come to know Max pretty well, seeing as she was one of his self-proclaimed ‘kids’, and he knew that she enjoyed listening to music loud enough to feel the bass. He also knew, however, that she was one of the most loyal kids he’d ever met. Between the two of them, El was undoubtedly the one who struggled more with loud noises, but Max was too loyal to leave her alone. Under that lens, their current configuration made a lot more sense. 

“Totally. Good point, guys.” Steve replied, earning smiles from all three of the other members of the bracelet-making brigade. 

The four of them continued their bracelet making throughout the rest of Corroded Coffin’s performance. By the time their show was done, Steve had finished the bracelet he made for Eddie, and had started Robin’s, choosing the same white and light blue threads that she went with for his. Robin showed him how to wrap tape around the half-done project to protect it from unraveling, then shooed him towards the stage, a knowing glint in her eye. 

He did as Robin anticipated and walked across the cabin, ending up near the edge of the stage, Eddie’s bracelet in hand. Eddie was busy packing up, but as soon as he spotted Steve, he smiled and jumped onto the ground. The stage was only about a foot and a half off of the ground, so it wasn’t that much of a jump, but he still made it look hot. 

Since when was jumping hot?

“Hey! Thanks for letting Gareth head out for the day without cleaning up, the guys and I really appreciated having him around to set up.”  

“Of course. You guys were great, by the way. It’s cool to see you try out so many different genres of music. Like, from what I can remember from the holiday show, you’re great at metal and that kinda thing, but it takes talent to be good at covering Tears for Fears too, y’know?” Steve punctuated his ramble with a smile. Then, as if remembering suddenly that he was holding something, he shoved his hand into Eddie’s chest. “This is yours, by the way.” 

Eddie’s brows shot up in surprise and he looked down at Steve’s hand, his expression going soft when he saw the bracelet Steve made him. Eddie took it and slipped it onto his wrist, his thumb tracing the letter beads. “Shouldn’t it say Egyptian Goose?” 

“Nah, Robin said all those letters wouldn’t fit. Besides, you’re just Goose to me in perpetuity, remember?” 

Eddie huffed out a quiet laugh and let his bracelet-clad hand brush against Steve’s. They stood in silence for a moment, before Eddie cleared his throat, an apprehensive smile on his face. “Can I… uh, can I show you something?” 

Steve nodded. “Yeah, of course- but, uh, what about D&D? Don’t you usually do that during free time?” He glanced back to the kids, spotting his seven- Will, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Max, Erica, and El- all crowding around one of the tables. 

“Not on days where the guys and I do a show. Going from the band to DM-ing is way too much performing for me in one night.” 

Steve hummed. “That makes sense. What did you want to show me?”

Eddie’s expression morphed into a mischievous grin. “Wait and see.” He slipped his hand into Steve’s, then tugged him out of the Big Cabin, leading him to one of the various trails that would take them to a different area of the camp. Eddie kept their fingers laced together as they walked down the trail he chose. It was beginning to get dark, so Steve figured that it was to ensure they didn’t lose track of each other. 

There was, of course, another reason that Eddie would be holding his hand- but Steve wasn’t about to get his hopes up about that.

They ended up reaching their destination after about five minutes. 

Eddie had taken him to the lake.

Steve glanced over at Eddie, confused. “You wanted to show me the lake? You do know that I work here everyday, right?” 

“Wait, are you serious? I had no idea!” Eddie gasped, his words dripping with sarcasm, then broke into a fit of laughter. “Of course I know that. The lake isn’t what I wanted to show you.” Eddie tugged him towards the storage shed near the edge of the beach. He let go of Steve’s hand to pull open the doors, then ducked inside. He came out a few seconds later, brandishing his prize in his hand. “ This is what I wanted to show you.”

“Vodka?! Eddie, what the fuck ? How did you know that was in there? Hold on- how did I not know that was in there?”

Eddie let out an amused giggle and screwed off the top, taking a swig from the bottle. He then held it out towards Steve. “I got Gareth to hide it in there at the start of camp. Dude’s apparently really great at hiding shit, I don’t know. Maybe you’re just bad at finding shit.” 

Steve grabbed the bottle from Eddie, taking a long swig. It burned, and it was shit vodka, but it’d do the trick. 

Eddie snatched the bottle back when Steve was done with it, took another swig of the drink, then unceremoniously plopped down near the shore of the lake. Steve followed suit, sitting close enough that their legs brushed. They sat together and absorbed the quiet of the lake, the quiet lapping of the water against the wooden beams of the dock washing over them. After a few minutes, Eddie took another swig and handed the bottle back to Steve. 

Steve took a drink, and felt a thump on his shoulder as he did. He glanced over to find Eddie sitting closer than before, his head tilted to rest on Steve’s shoulder, while his hands fiddled absently with the bracelet on his wrist. 

“I didn’t take you for a quiet drunk, Goose.” Steve muttered, letting his head tilt to rest on top of Eddie’s. 

Eddie hummed. “M’not usually. I’m not even drunk. I’ve had, like, three sips. I’m just… thinking.”

“About what?”

Eddie didn’t answer immediately, and Steve let the quiet wash over them again. After another few minutes, Eddie cleared his throat. 

“Steve, you’re somethin’ else, you know that?” Eddie’s hand moved to Steve’s, his nimble fingers tracing down Steve’s knuckles until they reached the bracelet hanging around Steve’s wrist. “Like, I came out here thinkin’ that it’d just be another gig, that I’d get it done, make some extra cash, then go back to bartending. But, uh… shit, man. I don’t know. I never thought I’d find you here.” 

“Eddie…” Steve breathed, speechless. 

“Hey, d’you wanna jump in the lake with me?” Eddie broke the moment that had formed between them rather abruptly, standing up from where he was curled up with Steve. He stumbled his way down the beach, towards the dock, and Steve couldn’t help but respond with shocked laughter. 

“No! I don’t want to go in the lake with you, Eddie- it’s not safe! You’re drunk-”

“-Buzzed, Snake, I’m buzzed-”

“Okay, still . We’re not in our swimsuits, we were in the middle of a serious conversation-”

“-we’re still having that conversation, it just started to feel too sad. I want it to feel happy , and what’s happier than swimming in the lake?” 

Steve opened his mouth to respond, but cut himself off when Eddie shucked off his shirt, revealing his tattooed chest. 

Steve was a weak, weak man. 

He stood up and followed Eddie to the dock. He found a flat patch of ground on the way and set the bottle down there, doing his best to ensure that it wouldn’t tip over. By the time Steve arrived at the edge of the dock, Eddie only had his boxers on, and greeted Steve with a grin. “Ready to go for a swim?” 

“Eddie, I really don’t think this is a good idea-” 

“-I hear you, Stevie, I do.” Eddie nodded, putting on an expression of faux-sincerity. “Here’s the thing, though,” Eddie started, his thumbs ducking under the waistband of his boxers as he spoke. “We’re alone, we’re only a little bit buzzed, and though I am probably entirely biased, I think that it’s a really good idea.” With that, Eddie shucked off his boxers and dove into the water. 

Steve stared down at Eddie’s boxers, stunned. 

Fucking hell, Eddie was packing.

Eddie’s head popped up out of the water a moment later, his watery curls glued to his face. “Steve! C’mon, the water’s perfect.” 

Steve could leave right now. 

He could turn around, walk back to camp, and act like none of this had ever happened. 

The beginning of their conversation on the beach begged to be continued, though- and besides, it’d be a dick move to leave Eddie in the water, naked and alone. 

Especially when they could be naked together . 

“You’re a menace, Goose.” Steve pulled his shirt off, kicked off his socks and shoes, then pulled his pants and boxer briefs off in one swift motion. Without waiting for Eddie’s response, he jumped into the water, sending water splashing in all directions. He reappeared above the surface a few seconds later, and once he pushed his hair away from his eyes, he was met with Eddie treading water less than a foot away from him, a stunned expression on his face. 

“I wasn’t sure if you were actually gonna do it.”

Steve smirked. “I never back down from a challenge.” 

“Apparently.” Eddie quipped back. “Speaking of which…” Eddie trailed off, then shoved both his hands forward in the water, sending a giant wave of water Steve’s way. “That’s for jumping in right next to me and splashing me with water, asshole.” 

Steve gasped, sputtering through the water that Eddie sent his way. “Oh yeah?” Steve shoved his hands in the water and splashed Eddie back, which earned him a litany of curses from the other man, and another splash of water shoved his way in return. 

Steve huffed out a laugh and, deciding to end the splash-off, swam to Eddie and put his weight on both of Eddie’s shoulders, dunking him under the water. 

Eddie reemerged a few seconds later, sputtering, coughing, and laughing as he pushed his hair out of his eyes. “I’m a menace? Are you sure you weren’t talking about yourself earlier, Stevie?” 

Steve opened his mouth to give a witty response, but fell quiet when his eyes landed on Eddie. There was something so… perfect about him like this. His hair pushed back, droplets of water sliding down his face, smiling at Steve like he had when he was on stage with those kids. 

“...Stevie?”

“What were you gonna say earlier?” 

“What?” Eddie mumbled, his eyes moving from Steve’s eyes to his lips. “Oh- before? On the shore? I… I was gonna say that you’re- that I- fuck .” Eddie cursed at himself, his hand coming up to card through his wet curls. 

“Hey.” Steve swam closer, eliminating the small amount of distance between them. “If you can’t say it, maybe you could… show it?” Steve whispered the suggestion, then brought his hand up to tuck a stray strand of Eddie’s hair behind his ear. “If it’s what I think it is, that’d be more than welcome.”

“Yeah?” Steve could feel the puff of air against his skin that came with Eddie’s whispered response.

“Yeah, Eds. Promise.” 

Eddie smiled, a soft, genuine thing, then cupped Steve’s cheek with his hand. Eddie leaned forward, drawing Steve closer as he did, and Steve went willingly. 

Their lips met, and Steve’s heart sang. He wrapped his arms around Eddie’s neck and deepened the kiss, letting his hands tangle in Eddie’s hair as he did. 

Eddie’s grip on Steve’s face tightened, and his other arm moved below the water to wrap around Steve’s back, pulling the man closer. Eddie’s bracelet pressed against his cheek, and Steve huffed out a soft laugh into the kiss. 

Eddie hummed, questioning, and Steve shook his head. “S’nothing, just giggling over the fact that I’m kissing a man who introduced himself as an Egyptian Goose during a get-to-know-me game.”

“Mmm, yeah, that’s pretty lame of you.” Eddie giggled, then captured Steve’s lips in another kiss, lightly biting Steve’s bottom lip as he did. 

Steve melted into the press of Eddie’s lips, and as he did, he felt himself and Eddie begin to duck below the surface of the water. “Mmph- shit-” Steve broke the kiss and began to kick his legs again, laughing at himself. “If we’re going to continue this, we should probably get out of the water so we don’t drown.” 

Eddie huffed, a charmed smile on his face. “Yeah, I guess you have a point there.” 

Steve smirked, pecking Eddie’s cheek before he started to swim back towards the edge of the dock. He pulled himself up on the ladder secured to the dock, landing on the wooden slats with a groan. “Fuck, I hate climbing that thing. Eddie, be careful with the ladder, it’s fuckin’ annoying.” 

“One step ahead of you, Stevie.” Eddie called, sounding further away than he had before. 

Steve frowned and sat up, peering over the edge of the dock. Eddie had apparently turned the other way and intended to get back to the beach by walking up the shore- which was really not a good idea. 

“Eddie-” Steve called, trying to get Eddie to turn around, but he was a second too late.

His co-counselor let out a pained-sounding, “ Fuck”, then doubled over in pain, barely catching his balance before falling face-first into the water. “Shit, Steve, something- my foot-”

“The bottom of the lake is covered in rocks, Eddie. It’s a lake .” Steve scrambled into action, pulling his boxer briefs on and shoving his bare feet into his shoes. He grabbed Eddie’s shoes on his way down the dock, towards the beach. 

“How the fuck was I supposed to know that?”

“Common sense?” Steve grumbled his retort as he walked into the water, wincing at the feeling of water seeping through his tennis shoes. “Here, just stay still- I’ll come help you balance so you can get your shoes on.” 

Eddie nodded, his head ducked far enough down that his chin made contact with his chest. Steve got to him fairly quickly, then wrapped his arm around Eddie’s middle, stabilizing him. “Which foot did you scrape?” 

“My right- and it’s feeling a bit worse than a scrape right now, babe.”

Steve’s heart warmed at the pet name, and he wished that it had been spoken under better circumstances. “Alright, I’m gonna bend down and hold your shoe near your left foot, okay? Just shove it in, then we’ll kinda three-leg-race it to the beach, okay?”

“I do not want to sit my bare ass down on the beach, Steve, it’s all gravel and sand and shit-”

“Then you should’ve thought about that before you decided to go skinny dipping, asshole.” Steve rolled his eyes, pressed a kiss to Eddie’s shoulder, then ducked his hand into the water with Eddie’s shoe, helping him maneuver his foot inside. 

“I thought it would be romantic.” Eddie grumbled, pouting. 

“It was, Eds. It was super romantic. Very cute, great first kiss, loved it, would kiss again.” Steve muttered, placating Eddie. “Now, just like I said, we’re gonna walk like we did in the three-leg-race during counselor teambuilding, alright?” 

“Yup.” Eddie’s clipped reply and pained expression told Steve that they were potentially dealing with something worse than he thought, and had him pulling Eddie along, almost carrying him back to the shore. 

Steve ended up maneuvering them to a patch of grass just past the beach. 

Calling it a ‘beach’ was a bit of a generous term, anyways. It was just the sand and gravel that wasn’t visible when the water was at high tide. 

Steve set Eddie down on the grass carefully, ignoring the pained groan from the man in favor of kneeling down to look at Eddie’s foot. 

“Shit.”

“Oh, fuck, that bad?” Eddie groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. 

Steve winced. “It’s really not great, man. Might put you up for a few days.” Or a few weeks, but he was trying to be optimistic.

Steve sighed, standing back up so that he could figure out what to do next. Eddie let out a soft groan of pain and let his head thump against the ground, his eyes staring up at the sky.

Steve scanned the shore of the beach while Eddie laid prone, and his eyes landed on a few key items immediately available. Namely, an oar, the vodka, and their abandoned clothing. 

“Okay, I think I have a plan, but you have to promise to not hate me for how much pain it may cause.” 

“Pain?” Eddie squeaked, suddenly sitting up on his elbows. “Steve, my foot is cut open and I am naked . I don’t know if I could possibly be in more pain.” 

“Just wait.” Steve muttered under his breath, walking around the shore to gather the items that stuck out at him. He returned a few minutes later, dropping the oar on the ground next to Eddie, then held Eddie’s boxers out to him. “Put these on, okay? I don’t want to even try and get your jeans on right now, but we’re making the hike back to the medic cabin, so you’ll need at least some of your modesty intact.” 

  Eddie sat up with a wince and clumsily pulled his boxers on, his chest flushing pink from Steve’s presence. “Fuckin’ great first time for you to see my dick, exactly how I imagined it.” 

Steve smirked. “We’ll just have to make the second time match your imagination, yeah?” 

Eddie’s flush grew more red. “I- uh, yeah. Sure. Sounds good- great. Sounds great.” 

Steve rolled his eyes and tossed Eddie his t-shirt, then knelt down on the ground next to his foot. “Bite down on your shirt while I do this, okay?” Eddie nodded, following Steve’s orders. Once Eddie was prepared, Steve took a deep breath and poured the vodka over Eddie’s foot. 

Eddie let out a pained scream, muffled by the shirt in his mouth, and Steve winced in sympathy. “I know, I know Eds, I’m sorry- I just need to disinfect the wound as much as possible before the next step, okay?” 

Eddie nodded back to him, shirt still in his mouth as his chest heaved for air, his eyes pricking with unshed tears. 

“Okay, good- that should be all we need to do for now, okay?” Steve set the bottle to the side, then gathered their socks. He tied two of the socks around Eddie’s foot, then rolled another sock onto his foot over the wound. “This should be good for now, I just needed to give your foot a bit more protection for the hike to the med cabin. Go ‘head and put on your shirt, we don’t need to try and go until you’re ready, alright?” 

Eddie took the shirt out of his mouth and gave Steve a thumbs-up, then wrestled the shirt over his head. He returned to his position of lying down on the grass to catch his breath while Steve pulled the rest of his clothes on and returned the bottle of vodka to the supply shed. 

Steve helped Eddie stand a few minutes later when he said he was ready, then showed him how to put the majority of his weight on the oar, making it act as a crutch. They hobbled back to the main area of camp, and the hike that usually would’ve taken five minutes morphed into fifteen between Eddie’s injury and the darkness shrouding their path. 

By the time they reached the medic cabin, Eddie looked like he was about ready to fall over, and Steve didn’t feel much better. He put his full force into opening the door, holding Eddie at his side, and was met with a sight he certainly wasn’t expecting. 

Nancy’s back was against the side of the desk that sat in the entryway of the medic cabin, Robin hovering over her, her arms caging Nancy in. Nancy’s blouse was unbuttoned, her skirt was hiked up, and there was a deep red hickey forming on her neck. Robin was flushed, and her eyes were wide as she stared awkwardly at Eddie and Steve. 

“Uh… congrats?” Steve spoke reflexively, breaking the tension that had fallen over the cabin. 

“Oh my god, I’m going to die of embarrassment-” Robin backed away from Nancy and shoved her hands over her face, giving a muffled scream into her palms. 

“Hey, was that lesbian story about Robin? That’s cute.” Eddie mumbled, his words slightly slurred and his weight slowly shifting as he began to lean more on Steve. 

“Fuck, can I get some help over here Nance?”

“Shit- Eddie, what the fuck happened to you?” Nancy jumped into action, buttoning up her blouse and straightening her skirt as she rushed towards the doorway. She took the oar away from under Eddie’s arm and moved to support Eddie on that side, walking with Steve towards one of the beds in the cabin. “Steve, fill me in?” 

“We were at the lake, and he didn’t realize there were rocks at the bottom. He decided to walk back to shore and tore up his right foot. I cleaned it out with vodka before using our socks to try and bandage everything, but it looked pretty gnarly.” 

Nancy settled Eddie on the bed then stepped back with a sigh, pulling her hair into a ponytail. “Where did you get vodka? Actually, forget it, I don’t want to know. I’ll get this handled here- Robs, can you go tell Heather that she’ll need to cover lights out for my cabin? Steve, you should probably head out to handle lights for Cabin 15, it’s about that time.” 

“Already? Shit, alright. C’mon Birdie.” Steve nudged Robin’s side with his elbow, grabbing her attention. They left the cabin together in silence and headed towards the big cabin to pick up their kids. 

Before they entered, Robin wrapped her hand around Steve’s forearm, stopping him. “So… congrats to you too, I’m guessing?” 

Steve huffed out a laugh and pulled Robin into a side-hug, ignoring her squawking about him still being damp from the lake water. “Glad we both got our shit together, Robs.” 

Robin broke the hug with a shove to Steve’s side. She rolled her eyes at him, but her fond smile told Steve everything he needed to know. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Robin opened the door to the big cabin and they walked through together, Robin mumbling a soft, “I hope your boy’s alright,” before parting to find Heather. 

Steve got Cabin 15 wrangled pretty quickly. Maybe the kids noticed the look on his face, maybe they noticed Eddie’s absence, or maybe they decided to just not be assholes, but they didn’t fight back about getting ready for lights out like they usually did. Steve supervised them as usual, ensuring that they all grabbed their shower supplies and clean clothes before they walked as a group to the boy’s bathroom. He sat outside on a tree stump as his campers took shifts showering. He mentally checked off the campers as they came out of the bathroom, approving them to walk back to the cabin in groups of three. Much to his surprise, Mike even decided to cut him some slack, walking out of the bathroom twenty minutes after they arrived freshly-showered and in clean pajamas. Steve gave him a tired thumbs-up, and earned a hesitant smile in return before Mike joined Will, Lucas, and Dustin in returning to their cabin. 

Steve did a final once-over of the bathroom after he sent the last group of campers away, then climbed into the shower himself, washing off the dirt and grime that came with swimming in the lake. He changed into a fresh pair of sweatpants and his yellow sweatshirt, the softest he owned, and returned to Cabin 15. 

The cabin was quiet when he returned, most of their campers already asleep in their beds. The room was bathed in the soft white light of Eddie’s moon lamp, and in the dim light projected, Steve could see the outline of someone in his bed. 

Steve set his shower caddy down on the ground next to his bed, then sat on the edge, his hand falling on the figure’s shoulder. “Eds?” 

Eddie turned over onto his back, meeting Steve’s eyes with a sleepy-looking pout. “Nancy said I can’t put weight on my foot for a week.” 

“Shit. Stitches?” 

“Mhm.” Eddie’s pout intensified. “M’sorry for stealing your bed, Snakey.” 

“She gave you the good stuff, huh?” Steve huffed out a quiet laugh, moving his hand up to run through Eddie’s curls. “Got you cleaned up too it looks like.” 

Eddie hummed, leaning into Steve’s touch. “I like your bed, ‘smells like you.” 

Steve chuckled, letting his thumb brush against Eddie’s cheekbone. “Don’t worry about taking it, baby, I can sleep in your bed.” 

“No, want you to sleep here. With me. Please?” 

Steve rolled his eyes and pulled back the covers on his bed, crawling in beside Eddie. He wrapped his arms around Eddie’s middle and pulled the man close, pressing a featherlight kiss against his temple. “When you’re better, I’m making you take over lights out duty for the rest of the summer.” 

Eddie yawned, then tucked his face into the crook of Steve’s neck. “Mhm, that’s fair. Night Snakey.” 

Steve sighed and let his head rest against Eddie’s, a smitten smile gracing his features. “G’night, Goose.” 

Chapter Text

Steve woke up to an unfamiliar sort of warmth surrounding him.

Sunlight streamed through the cabin windows, bathing the room in a golden tone. He figured the sun must’ve woken him up, because a quick glance at the clock on the wall told him that it was just after six, and his alarm was set to go off at seven every morning. 

Something brushed against his nose then, and Steve scrunched it up in annoyance, figuring that maybe it was a mix of the sun and whatever was tickling his nose that had him waking up almost an hour before his alarm. He brought a lazy hand up to bat at the thing making him feel sneeze-y, only to find hair below him. 

Brown, frizzy hair. 

Eddie’s brown frizzy hair. 

The prior night’s activities came flooding back into his mind when he realized who was sharing his bed. 

God , they had been reckless and stupid- but shit was it fun. Steve smiled to himself and pressed a kiss to the top of Eddie’s head, breathing in the faint smell of strawberry shampoo. He figured that the shampoo was probably what Nancy had on hand in the medic cabin, but the fruity scent still brought a smile to his face.

Eddie hummed in his sleep, then snuggled closer to Steve, and Steve realized with a striking certainty he could spend forever like this with Eddie in his arms. 

Eddie yawned into his chest, then sat back a bit, blinking tiredly up at Steve. “S’it time to get up yet?” 

Steve shook his head, placing a gentle kiss on Eddie’s forehead. “Nah, I just woke up with the sun. How’s your pain?” 

Eddie flexed his foot underneath the covers, then grimaced, cuddling back into Steve’s chest. 

Steve let out a hum of concern. “That bad? D’you Need to me to go find Nancy, get you more pain meds?” 

“Mm-mm.” Eddie groaned his negative response into Steve’s chest, then curled closer. “Have some in my bag, Nance said I can take them every six hours. M’supposed to take antibiotics with breakfast and dinner, too.” 

“Damn. So much for big, romantic gestures, huh?” Steve responded quietly, bringing his hand up to run through Eddie’s hair. 

Eddie huffed out a quiet laugh, then nosed his way up to the crook of Steve’s neck. He placed a chaste kiss underneath Steve’s ear, then whispered out a tired, “worth it,” in response. 

Steve felt his cheeks flush, and he placed another kiss on Eddie's forehead. “Yeah, alright, just don’t make a habit out of it, okay Goose?” 

“Mmmm… we’ll see.” 

Steve sighed, sitting up so that he could lean over Eddie’s body and grab his bag from the floor. Eddie rubbed tiredly at his eyes, letting out a quiet noise of protest as Steve returned with Eddie’s duffel bag in hand. Steve gave him a withered look and Eddie quieted. 

“Go ‘head and sit up for me, ‘kay sweetheart?” Steve whispered as he quietly unzipped the bag, careful to avoid waking up any of the campers. 

Eddie nodded, biting his lip as he shifted to sit up in the bed, his back against the wall. Steve dug the pill boxes out of Eddie’s bag and grabbed the boy’s water bottle, grateful to find it half-filled with water rather than empty. He handed Eddie his water, then looked down at the boxes. He figured out which one was meant for pain and popped the recommended dose out, handing it to Eddie. “Take these, drink your water, and go back to sleep.” 

Eddie sighed, annoyed, but did as he was told. He handed his water bottle back to Steve when he was done, and Steve returned it with Eddie’s duffel bag to the floor next to their bed. 

“Can’t go to sleep without you holding me.” Eddie pouted at Steve, his eyes pleading. 

Steve sighed and laid back down, gathering Eddie up in his arms. “You’ve been fine the last two weeks, but the second you’re hurt, you can’t sleep without me?” 

“Stevie, I was pining over you the last two weeks, I didn’t know what I was missing. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to sleep without you again.” Eddie mumbled against Steve’s chest, his words holding far more weight than he probably realized. 

Because- shit , that was quite the thing to say mere hours after they confessed their feelings to one another and kissed for the first time… but Steve couldn’t help but echo the sentiment. 

What was he going to do in four weeks, when all this ended and he and Eddie would have to go their separate ways? 

Eddie ended up being bedridden, hopped-up on pain medication for the two days after the lake incident. He got his stitches out just over a week after they were put in, and had to spend pretty much the rest of camp either sitting down or using his crutches. 

The band still played on the weekends, Eddie just had to sit while they did. Steve figured that such a limitation would take away from his energetic spirit, but if anything, it only added to his ability to get the campers invested in the music. 

Despite his injuries, he continued to fill his camp counselor duties. His ability to compliment Steve’s leadership style seemed to only grow and flourish under the circumstances- which made sense, given the amount of time they were now spending together. 

Yeah, Eddie still had to fulfill his duties in arts and crafts, and Steve still had to work in water activities, but when they weren’t doing that, they were together. Steve grabbed Eddie’s food because he couldn’t hold a tray with his crutches, Steve helped him to the medic cabin when he needed to get his foot checked on, and Eddie… well, Eddie wasn’t very keen to leave Steve’s side anyways, so what might otherwise be annoying or frustrating to anyone else was like second nature to them.

The weeks passed quickly, marked in Steve’s mind by every improvement to Eddie’s injury, by every step towards Eddie’s regained independence. Eddie was off his crutches, walking without pain, and back to his regular self by the start of the last week of camp- but he still refused to leave Steve’s side, still refused to return to the top bunk to sleep. 

He’d pretend, sure, but the second he confirmed that all of the campers had fallen asleep, Eddie would climb down from the top bunk and slip into Steve’s bed. He’d kiss Steve’s forehead, wrap his arms around Steve’s waist, and hold Steve against his chest until they both fell asleep. 

Eddie was undoubtedly the best thing Steve gained from this camp experience, but their relationship wasn’t all he was thankful for. 

He watched his kids continue to bloom over the last few weeks of camp, making relationships with people outside of their tight-knit group. The bracelet-making brigade, as it had eventually been officially deemed, grew to have twenty members, and Steve ended up with too many friendship bracelets to wear, eventually wrapping them around his water bottle for safekeeping. 

Eddie’s D&D group similarly grew in size, splitting off into five different campaigns, one run by each of the four Corroded Coffin boys, and one run by Will. It was amazing to see the kids become so extroverted, to see them leave camp with notebooks full of names, addresses, and phone numbers of their new friends.

Robin and Nancy quickly became Robin-and-Nancy over the last four weeks of camp, too. They weren’t as inseparable as Eddie and Steve, sure, but they were usually found glued to each other’s sides, talking about a novel they shared a mutual love for, or discussing dreams about places they wanted to one day travel. 

Even though Steve didn’t spend much time with them, he’d noticed a similar kind of growth in Argyle and Jon as well. They hid their affection better than Robin and Nancy, and certainly better than Eddie and Steve, but it was still there- visible if you were looking for it, stronger because of the time they spent together at camp. 

Last, but by no means least, was the most surprising relationship to come out of his time at camp- Steve finally having someone in his life that was proud to call him family. Gareth had become a trusted source for Steve to go to with all of his questions about Eddie, yeah, but they had formed their own relationship, too. They’d shoot the shit like actual cousins, share horror stories about their parents and talk about the ways they hoped to raise their families differently one day. They acted like real family, and that was something so foreign to Steve, so cherished , that the idea of giving it up at the end of six weeks physically pained him.

All of that to say- it was surreal to see just how impactful the camp had been, both for him and for the people around him. Shocking, to see what a short six weeks could do to a person’s life when they were in a place like this- cut off from the outside world, forced to build genuine human connections with the strangers surrounding them. 

It was those genuine connections that had some campers crying at Sunday-morning pickup. That had them hugging a person who was a stranger not even two months ago, begging them to write throughout the school year. That had kids dragging their parents to meet their new friend and their parents, hopeful that yet another connection could be made between strangers and that they’d be able to get together before next summer, even if they lived hundreds of miles apart. 

Those connections that had Steve and Eddie walking hand-in-hand around the campground after all the kids had been picked up by their parents, scouring the trails for garbage and lost-and-found items, their last assigned activity before it would be time for the celebratory counselor lunch that afternoon, then counselor check-out that evening. Their last official job duty before it would be time for them to go their separate ways. 

Connections, that found Gareth and Steve teary-eyed at that celebratory lunch, that had Steve planning a road trip so that he could come down to Bloomington for a week the next month. That had them setting a goal to continue fostering the familial relationship between them. That had Steve planning to split his time between Gareth and Eddie on the trip, giving equal time to both of the relationships that were in their infancy. 

Those unbreakable connections that brought two opposites together in less than ideal circumstances. That built their relationship up from nothing, that had them working together in perfect harmony by the end of their time together at camp. 

That found a Goose and a Snake, a sun and a moon, the day and the night, and had them falling in love in the middle of summer. 

Sure, camp was over, but Steve couldn’t bring himself to be sad about it. 

Not when he was already looking forward to coming back next year. 

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Art depicting a scene from Chapter 3, created by the outstanding @lamoabss (tumblr, instagram). Thank you so much for creating this and for being such an amazing best friend and beta!! Love you dude. <3 <3