꧁*｡ﾟ"I Wɪʟʟ Nᴇᴠᴇʀ" | 𝙼𝚊𝚡 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 *｡ﾟ꧂

Ch. 14 | Cheese. Just cheese

- You flinched as the bucket you, Nikki, and Neil shared fell onto its side. Soapy water stretched across the Mess Hall's imperfect floor. "Can't you guys be more careful?" You asked, trying your hardest to be patient. That was the third time they had knocked over the bucket. And supplies were low. Campbell was making you all scrub the floor with toothbrushes so the interrogation officers that were stopping by would think that this was a "perfect, neat summer camp." 

And Max was gone for the day, courtesy of a magic trick by Harrison himself. He had sworn and pinky-sweared about 100 times that it was an accident, and you would've been bored if you weren't annoyed at the fact that Nurf kept on expertly throwing knives onto your toothbrush and knocking it out of your hand. "Who did that?" You looked over your shoulder at Nikki and Neil, who were both pointing at each other. Your exaggerated sigh could be heard from across the room. "Neil, can you fetch more soap?" You asked, flicking gunk off the toothbrush you were using. "Sure, I need a break anyways. It's in the back, right?" He stood up and dusted his pants. 

"Yeah. Tell Quartermaster that I sent you," you sighed again and pulled out the cereal bar you sneaked into your pocket.Nikki crawled up to you and gave you the widest puppy-dog eyes. You blinked and held it above her head. "Roll over," you instructed. She dropped onto her belly and rolled over, then sat up and stared at you again. You pulled the bar apart and threw it down in front of her. "Good girl." (A/N: This sounds very weird, but Nikki is like.. Ered's- Pfft. There's no good way to say this. Nikki is built up to be Ered's pet dog.) 

"Y/N?" Campbell's voice sounded from in front of you. "Huh?" You looked up at him, startled by his sudden appearance. "Do you want a break?" He asked, looking at his watch. "Sure," you stood up and dropped the toothbrush in the empty bucket. "Let me just fill this with water." You picked up the bucket and walked into the kitchen. Quartermaster was glaring daggers at Neil, who was anxiously searching through the cabinets for dish soap. "Are we out?" You asked, blinking. Quartermaster snapped his head over to you and narrowed his eyes into slits. 

"Kitchens being overrun by kids. The day of reckoning has come," he said, running out of the Mess Hall. "What the hell just happened-?" Neil asked, looking after him. You shrugged and walked over to the tap, twisting the knob and filling the bucket with water. You set it down on the floor and walked over to where Neil had continued looking for soap. "Did you look up there?" You asked, looking up at the run down cupboards. "No, not yet," he replied, following your gaze. You climbed onto the counter and searched through the cupboards.

"Found one!" I grabbed a bottle of dish soap and dropped it down for Neil to catch, which he barely did. "Let's take this back," you jumped off the counter and landed beside him. "Need help with the bucket?" He asked, flicking your attention back over. "No, I think I'll manage," you answered, grabbing it off the floor with a grunt. You tumbled out of the kitchen and over to Nikki, dropping the bucket with another grunt. Neil poured soap into the water and used his toothbrush to mix it. "I'm gonna go take a walk," you ruffled your hair. "Alright, see you."

You walked out of the Mess Hall and out into the clearing. David and Gwen were watching the dirt road where kids would frequently be dropped off. Max was sitting at the entrance of his tent, he was also looking at the road. You walked over to David and pulled on his sleeve. "David? What are you doing?" You asked. David looked at you, "We're waiting for something special." Gwen rolled her eyes, she looked like she was about to contradict him, but a truck pulled up. David squealed with delight and ran over to meet the driver. Gwen followed, bored out of her mind.

You turned your attention over to Max, who was sitting at his tent staring at you. You hopped over to him, "Hey, Max." He burst into a hacking fit, coughing out all sorts of magic items, before wiping his mouth with a groan. "Hi," he responded dryly. "Can I get you anything?" You asked, looking at your feet. Your eyes blazed with concern, and Max didn't know how to cope with concern. He didn't like it when people "wasted strong emotions on him." He tolerated it sometimes, but most times he didn't know how to cope with it.