𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 | 𝚓𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚝

𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 | 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝟷/?

[photo: from the misfits video "Carson is bad at camping." Sorry for the quality! | wc: 1,449 | note: I wrote this months ago, it was the draft that made me decide to publish this book (though I did not like it so I never put it out). This story will probably be updated pretty slowly, but it's all I have completed at the moment. I've spoken with my distributor and the album was pushed back to July 8th due to miscommunication with the content of the lyrics (I currently live in America and work with an American distribution company without French speakers, they must've tried a basic translation for the lines and were unsure of some of the idioms/phrases present). Honestly, it was one of the tamest ways things could go wrong so I'm not even remotely upset about it. I'll also be moving to a new state (northeast coast from the midwest) for university this summer so updates will be slow for a while, but there will still be updates! Thank you all for your immense and unending encouragement, patience and so many reads. I am truly astonished by your kindness and generosity every day. Thank you!]

The van rolled to a stop and chaos erupted from most of your fellow passengers. Obvious through their speech or walk, everyone had been heavily drinking or smoking besides you, Jonathan, and Carson. Donuts were passed out and greetings exchanged, but, shortly after, you had to make your way to the actual camping site.

After a little bit of extra driving, on the reckless side, as was tradition, you all had finally found the camping area and divided the workload among yourselves—Travis on firewood, you, Carson, and Noah on tents, Bucks on drinks, Jonathan on food, and Fitz with the van. The plan deteriorated rather quickly, though, and within minutes you ended up just observing the others.

While some of the guys went up to the top camp to start a fire, you stayed by Jonathan who found a stuffed animal lion and was holding it tightly in his arms. As you neared his side, he extended his arm to wrap it around your waist and you leaned your weight against him.

Carson swung an airsoft gun around, drawing the camera's attention, which you naturally shied away from and chose to instead pass your time at the upper camp, away from the cameras that seemed to target you at the other site.

Being up there would of course get you in some shots, but not as many as the lower camp which had far fewer people to film.

As you walked you wondered if your thinking was misguided, did it make any sense to go to the place with more people to be antisocial? As the fire came into view, it felt like it was too late to turn back. Suddenly, quick movements became visible and silhouettes became figures running from the flames.

"What the f—?" You started but Chad's scream cut you off.

"There's a bomb!" He announced, trying to sway Bucks away from the fire where you had since learned they had thrown a deodorant can.

While it took longer than anticipated to explode, the ultimate explosion caused uproarious shock and laughter from the boys around you, as well as yourself, as the shouts of concern from the lower camp began to reach your ears.

After a few more minutes, a drizzle of gentle rain, and lots of laughs, you were ready to return to the serenity of the other group. Upon announcing your departure to the group closest to you, Mason and Eric offered to join you and check in on the other group's progress.

The three of you began your descent to the other camp, discussing whether you thought they had finished setting up the tents that you would need for the long night ahead.

"Hey, Y/N?" Mason cut through the conversation and spoke atop the crunching of leaves and the soft patter of rain, his voice slightly slurred.

"Yeah, Mason?" You adjusted your hands in your pockets and paid closer attention to your steps.

"You really like Jonathan, don't you? Have you and him, you know, had—" He rested his hand on your shoulder. He smelled like cigarette smoke and whiskey.

Eric spoke up, "You don't have to answer that. He doesn't mean to pry, he's just too stupid and drunk to know any better."

"It's alright. I really do like him, Mason," you raised your eyes but quickly brought them back down to avoid the rain, "He means everything to me."

"That's gay," Mason laughed uproariously before taking a swig from the small bottle he held in his other hand and letting go of your shoulder. The air around you felt clearer and you felt your respect for natural air deepen.

Eric shook his head, "Sorry about him. But, I've got to admit, not to get mushy on you, it is honestly really nice to see the both of you together. You seem to compliment each other."

You smiled, your heart feeling warm and full, "Thank you, Eric. I think so, too."

The rain started falling harder and you gathered with the others under the "Fiesta," which Travis insisted it be called.

Your eyes searched for Jonathan who was busy messing with one of the tents. You smiled as he slipped around and then dove head first into the flap. From your side, Travis followed your gaze and then looked back at you with lidded eyes and a shrug, "You picked him."

As if on cue, you can hear him exclaim, "It's so wet in here!"

"I sure did, and I wouldn't change that for anything," you chuckled to yourself and shoved your hands in your hoodie pouch as the tips of your fingers began to grow numb.

"Ewww, stop it," he scrunched his face making you giggle, but you shrugged it off anyways, your conversation with Eric and Mason still at the front of your mind.

As the weather cleared slightly you found a folding chair by the fire and picked it up. You yawned and checked your phone to find that it was only 8:56pm. Blinking your eyes awake, unsure how you were already this tired, you decided that you were going to stay up as long as everyone else did and were determined to follow through on that decision.

You held your chair to the fire as Jonathan joined you. He snuck an arm around your lower back and kissed your forehead, "How's your day been so far, sweetie? I haven't seen much of you."

"Tiring," you let a soft grin settle on your face at his warmth, "But good. How's yours been?"

"Wild, but good, too," he agreed, pulling away from you to move his chair closer to the flames, "Y'know, I don't really think this is going to dry these chairs. They're soaked all the way through."

"I don't either. I just needed something to do," you share a quiet laugh and set your chair back down, still leaving it near the fire, and, as he followed suit, you offered, "Do you want to go to the cabin?"

"Yeah, that sounds really nice, actually," he admitted, taking a few steps away from the rest of the group, all of them seemingly determined to dry out their chairs, "Do you have anything you need to grab first?"

"No, I think Ryan brought some stuff up there already anyways," you moved your hands from your damp pockets and tucked them under your arms to no avail. Spotting a solution, you stuck them into his hoodie pouch where he kept his hands. He instantly, as if led only by instinct, intertwined your fingers with his.

"You're freezing," he observed, a tinge of guilt in his voice. He adjusted his hands to wrap around yours and provide more warmth, his larger hands having no problem completely encapsulating yours. You were too busy to notice, fixated on his smile and the slight tint of pink that appeared around his nose.

"I'm alright, just a little cold," you leaned against him while you walked and corrected yourself, "Ok, maybe a bit more than a little cold."

"Well, we'll just have to change that, then."

[it'll get better from here, I promise. this is so old it's hard for me to read and therefore edit. Also, it's based off of the misfits camping video and the podcast episode where they discussed how it went if you want to hear more about this. I'll be straying away from the original events a little, but it'll be informed by those two videos as much as possible.]