I really like your fic recs and I don’t really keep very up to date with the latest sanders sides stuff on ao3 so, favorite fics from the past week?
Oh uh... lets see today is 8/5/2020... and I’ll do my fav fics that have just been posted or updated this week:
Swept Away - Part Three of my favorite Sirens au, where Logan gets swept up in a storm and wonders if anyone will miss him (they will).
The Variables - Logan bought a house in the middle of nowhere so he could avoid having to ever talk to anyone else ever again. The ghosts have other plans.
You Can Picani Family You Want - Emile fosters two kids and quickly learns he’ll do anything to see them smile.
Atypical Destiny - LAMP soulmates are determined to make their polyamory work, even if no one else thinks it will.
‘Cause Every Time We Touch, I Get This Feeling - Touch starved Janus falls for touchy-feely Patton.
Rays on My Skin - Virgil is six when he discovers that he has multiple soulmates and absolutely none of them speak his language. Oh and also three of them don’t know he exists.
If You Give a Side a Lion - Remus and Roman have some things to work out, but first it looks like theyre gonna have to save the universe, along with three other guys, an alien prince, and his assistant. A Voltron AU that I didn’t know I needed.
The Story of Emile the Seer - Emile is unfortunately born with the ability to see the future. Theres a lot of awful things people would do about that.
Alleyway - Logan finds a baby in a dumpster in an alley and decides to keep it.
Slower Than Words - Virgil can’t see. Patton can’t hear. But theyre stuck in a cell together while people conduct unethical experimentation on them, so maybe they can learn to communicate?
Old Scars, Future Hearts - Virgil has a problem asking for help when he’s overwhelmed, but this time? This time the others are already angry at him. And they wont want to help him if they’re angry at him, right?
the shapes in the silence - Virgil turns into a cat-sized Dragon when he gets overwhelmed which only becomes a problem when Patton finds him hiding in the pantry and thinks he’s a figment from imagination and not another side. And if the Light sides like him so much as a dragon....well maybe he should stay that way.
breathing and other rhythms that used to be easy - A Nightmare brings Virgil back to the dark side of the mindscape, just to check, just to make sure, just to see that Deceit and Remus are still breathing and thats it. In and out. They won’t even know he was there.
Road Trips and Missing Persons - Patton goes out for groceries and doesn’t come back home because he gets kidnapped by a child with a knife. Virgil is on the run from his crazy mother after she killed his father. Janus will do anything to get to his brother before his mother does. Remy isn’t actually dead. And Logan will strangle his entire family for not answering their phones.
Bounty - A sequel to Abduction in the Space Family series: Space, aliens and Virgil is a human in the middle of it all. Excellent series, 20/10 and I will cry about it. thanks.
The Curse of Hanahaki - In which Remus plays himself by cursing Imagination so that anyone who falls in love will cough up flowers. Aka Hanahaki but with a tangible plot.
fall out of in love with me - Deceit asks Remus to make him a potion to dilute his intense feelings for Virgil before they crush him at the absolute worst possible time for Virgil.
A Wager. - Virgil meets professional gambler and they mage a wager they both come out winning in.
i’ll sink for you - Deceit can hypnotize anyone, but Virgil is all to willing to be his plaything.
Save the Moment - Patton takes pictures of everything. Janus notices more than he should.
Lavender - Patton can’t handle the sound of Logan and Roman’s argument, but thankfully Janus steps up to the plate.
Mind Over Matter - Being a human in Space is just asking for trouble. Being forced to fight in fighting ring just makes Virgil another sad statistic. However, choosing not to fight his clearly harmless opponent....that makes him different.
The Apartment - Virgil moves into his first apartment and becomes best friends with the elderly man who lives next door and tells fond stories of his numerous grandkids that can never seem to make time for him. Virgil is unaware this is how to get himself adopted into a new family.
sweet tea in the summer - Roman and Patton are the sweetest of lovers through the years.
How two exasperated doctors adopted three robots - Rival Scientists Janus and Logan both have the great idea to see what their company is hiding on the same night. They were not prepared for the answer, but they can definitely get used to it. (Bickering Loceit? uh hell yeah.)
Breathe Out - Virgil will become minion for one chance to get out of the closet, thanks. aka: The other darksides are terrible, and Janus thinks that he and Virgil might be able to work well together, and somehow that puts Virgil on track becoming a Light side whether he wants to or not. (And I gush because everything this author writes is amazing)
The Debate - Part of The Other Side of the Mirror au, where Janus, Remus, and Virgil are Thomas’s core sides and big bad scary Logan shows up to ruin everything. Except that he’s actually helping and Janus might have to reconsider if the other sides are actually as bad as he’s made them out to be.
And It Fell Away - Patton and Virgil are part of the Earth Kingdom army. Janus is part of the Fire Kingdom infantry. It seems that the only thing they all have in common are their need to escape the current battle and then the war itself, if just to save their own lives.
Come Alive - Patton tries to end it all but not-so-friendly vampire Janus stops him. Now there’s just an agreement: Patton spends one year as a vampire in the underworld city for the supernatural, and if they decide living still isn’t worth it they can take a stake to themselves, but...Janus is willing to bet they can find at least one person whos worth it. Ft: everyone falls in love with Patton at first sight, as it should be.
by the book - Librarian Virgil runs the adult section of the library, but his most interesting visitor is the tiny child who talks too fast and has really super attractive dads.
Pen Pal - Logan’s roommates all get together and Logan doesn’t think he has a place there with them, so he withdraws and turns to his pen pal for company.
Wedding Crashers - While standing at the alter for his arranged marriage to a princess he will never love, Logan doesn’t think his really lovers are coming for him. He’s pleasantly surprised.
You Haunt Me And I Like It - Ghost Virgil has had a lot of roommates before without ever needing to show himself, but this one is just too skeptical for him to leave alone.
Wow that is a lot more than I thought I had!
Looking for more fics? I’m got more lists here on my Fic Rec Masterlist!
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Klance Fanfic Rec List
I’ve currently got 118 Klance Ao3 links saved and I wanted to share some of my favorites so here ya go: (There’s a Shklance at the bottom btw)
He Who Fights Monsters by magisterpavis
Words: 64,888 Smut: yes Completed: yes
This is a really slow burn fic with a captivating plot and guys. Dragons. There’s so many dragons. This author is also one of my favorites btw I love them.
Summary: In a world where monstrous dragons terrorize humanity daily, the Garrison trains valiant Knights to slay the evil beasts and defend Earth. But when Knight cadet Lance Espinosa is kidnapped by a strange red dragon who kills its own kind, certain truths are revealed...and so are the true monsters.
Dirty Laundry by Anonymous
Words: 85,042 Smut: there’s a heated makeout scene or two but no actual smut Completed: yes
If you haven’t read this do you even ship Klance? It’s the fake dating fic to top all fake dating fics. It’s so sweet and feely you’ll cry buckets and it’s also incredibly funny. I’ve probably read it like 5 times. Kinda slow burn kinda not? Internalized homophobia and homophobia from family warnings.
Summary: "Two whole months of free laundry in exchange for two weeks of being my fake boyfriend. Deal?”
Keith hesitated for a moment. Was this really worth it? Hardly. Lance was an asshole, and he wasn’t sure what fake dating would entail. But, free laundry was free laundry, right?
“Alright, it’s a deal.” Or: Lance makes the mistake of telling his Mom he has a boyfriend coming home with him for Christmas. Keith makes the mistake of agreeing to be Lance's 'fake boyfriend'.
Ignorance is Bliss by YouAreInAComaWakeUp (Nikanaiko)
Words: 172,675 Smut: no Completed: yes
This is probably the number one most emotional fic I’m gonna list here. There’s ghosts guys and that means characters I hold dear to my heart are dead so warning there. Pretty sure I was sobbing through multiple chapters. Real slow burn, but the build up is so worth it especially with how amazing the plot is. I’ve got quotes from this fic hanging on my wall rn that’s how fantastic the writing is. Suicide and internalized homophobia warnings.
Summary:As it turns out, learning that your house is haunted makes the ghosts a lot more aggressive. Who knew? Ah, well. At least one of them is hot. And he's the less-evil one, too, so that's always a plus.
The Message by shipstiel
Words: 132,787 Smut: no Completed: yes
This is kinda a texting fic? So lots of bants and comedy, mostly Lance cracking jokes and Keith being done with his life. It’s a really cute fluffy thing. Depression, car crash, nightmares, and mentions of suicide warnings
Summary: (4:07) okay, but considr this, and hear me out here
(4:08) so like, a photobooth u can do with ur pets like there’ll be lil costumes that u can dress them up in, and u can do liek, period costumes and shit with them
(4:09) omg, can u imagine, u and ur cat/dog, and theyre in a lil 1800s dress and one of those lace umbrella things omg so cute(4:15) Why the FUCK are you texting me at four in the morning with this— Keith is texted by accident by some idiot one day, and honestly he's not even sure why he responds. Or why he keeps responding. Yet somehow he finds himself drawn in, and okay, so maybe this fool is mildly entertaining after all. Who would've thought.
True Love or Something by DeerstalkerDeathFrisbee
Words: 188,626 Smut: no Completed: kinda??
This is more of a collection of short stories based around Keith, Lance, and the gang than an actual plot filled fic and normally I don’t like that sort of thing, but I’m in love with this because it’s so funny and cute and despite it having 37 parts and counting, it doesn’t get boring or tedious at all. There’s a couple angsty parts especially regarding Keith’s Tragic Backstory but it’s all around just amazing.
Summary: “So that was…”
“If you say painless I’m shoving you into another snowdrift.”
“Okay, that’s fair. But you got a lollipop!”
“That you stole from pediatrics.”
“I’m a very good date.” Lance accidentally crashes into his new neighbor in front of their mailboxes and somehow ends the night with a very attractive (and slightly concussed) date.
Mistakes were made (Skinny band nerd takes it up the ass from the beefcake football captain) by Lynn1998
Words: 50,727 Smut: yes Completed: no Last Update: Jan 31 2017
I normally wouldn’t recommend unfinished fics, especially ones that haven’t been updated in over a year but I honestly just really like this one. The smut is top notch and there’s plot, fluff, and angst in there as well. I really like it.
Summary: Lance can't stand the captain of the football team…so why is he having sex with him?
I Swear to You by AlyxRae
Words: 123,991 Smut: no Completed: yes
Bodyguard AU!!! Altean Prince Lance with Galra Bodyguard Keith is literally my favorite thing ever I love it. This fic gave me whiplash with the amount of times everything went from nice and happy to death and destruction in a heart beat it’s crazy. Least to say, lots of angst.
Summary: With the destruction of their home planet, the remaining Galra are forced to take refuge with the kind Alteans. Much darker plans begin to take shape and a young Galra solider is made the bodyguard of the Altean Prince, with orders to kill him when the time is right. However, the charming prince manages to capture the Galra's heart and ends up being captivated by the solider in return.The prince and the bodyguard are thrown into perilous adventures, all the while trying to stay together and keep each other safe.
Shadow of the Past and Ghost of the Future by wittyy_name and Zizzani
Words: 75,120 (GoF) 83,198 (SoP) Smut: no Completed: no Last Update: Feb 22 2018
These two fics are mirror fics, which is so cool. Basically Lance gets sent one year into the future and future Lance gets sent back one year. SoP is from Lance’s POV while he’s in the future and GoF is from Keith’s POV while future Lance is in the past with him. I really love this fic and I’m always checking in for updates, which come in pairs (one for each fic). It doesn’t matter which order you read them btw.
Summary: (SoP) When Lance is thrown through time, he finds himself one year in the future, in place of the Lance that should be here.He finds his team to be remarkably familiar, yet distinctly different. They have more scars, a better grip on the whole saving the universe thing, and over a year’s worth of teamwork to bind them together. But the weirdest part? Keith seems to be a lot more touchy with him. Not that he’s complaining… much.The team must try and work out how to reverse the two Lance’s places and restore them to their original timelines. But despite the fact that they’re still his friends, Lance can’t help but feel a little out of place among a team that’s been through so much with a Lance that just isn’t him. And it doesn’t help that the team is on edge around him, refusing to tell him anything for fear of influencing and changing the past. Things get even more complicated when they have to rely on the team in the past to complete the switch, leaving Lance to little more than sit, wait, and attempt to fill in his future self’s shoes.
(GoF) When Lance is thrown through time, his future self from one year ahead is transported to the past in his place.This Lance is faster, stronger, and markedly more mature. Not only that, but he's distinctly more intuitive about his teammates and A LOT more touchy with Keith.The team must try and work out how to reverse the two Lance's places and restore them to their original timelines. Things only get more complicated when the Future Lance can't seem to remember where he was when the switch happened, and he refuses to reveal anything about his own time for fear of influencing the team's decisions.
The Hurricane In His Veins by magisterpavus
Words: 249,189 Smut: yes Completed: yes
So this is actually Shklance because I don’t have enough recs for this ship to make it it’s own post and this fic is honestly just really really good. It’s probably my favorite out of everything here. It’s a vampire AU and I love it so much. The plot is incredible (the author should publish a book tbh it’s that good I’d buy it), there are some really cute moments, and it’s goddamn hilarious. There’s the perfect combination of angst, smut, and fluff and I’ve read this about 10 times since I discovered it a couple months ago. I suggest it even if you don’t ship Shklance tbh it’s that good.
Summary: It’s the summer after high school graduation, and Lance, Hunk, and Pidge are spending three months together in Pidge’s sleepy California hometown, Rosewood, before they all go their separate ways in life. It’s supposed to be fun and relaxing, filled with long days at the beach and even longer nights playing video games; a last hurrah with Lance’s best friends.But when one of Pidge’s ridiculous cryptid searches leads the trio to a mysterious pair of vampires in the woods and the web of magic and murder that they’re entangled in, the summer gets a lot more complicated…and more dangerous than they could’ve imagined.
Like I said, I’ve got 118 bookmarks so if you guys wanna pop into my asks or messages and see if I’ve got something specific, please do!
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Byrock Lake Summer Camp
its time for another rosawatts fic, i guess. lol.
thank you anon for sending this in!! i was excited to use these emojis bc theyre actually MY favorite emojis!! however. this fic probably isn’t what you were expecting like. at all. lol it was the only way i could think to connect these emojis!! this could also be considered a ‘platonic’ rosawatts fic technically? bc theres nothing romantic in this fic just btw
also just an fyi for this fic- people named charlie and traci are mentioned in it! traci is eva’s canon sister (who i headcanon as older than her) and charlie is eva’s twin sister who i like... completely made up. charlie isn’t canon lol. just lettin yall know. (she’s also in another one of my fics)
one last thing! this fic is a little more than 5k words, and word counter says it should take about 20 minutes to read so you should probably settle in if you do plan on reading it. anyway thanks for reading this mess until here lmao
It had been a very hot and humid summer at Byrock Lake Summer Camp. It wasn’t even summer yet, per say, since it was only nearing the beginning of June, but it was reaching the point of the year where it’s temperatures are the highest ever. It’s located in such a place that makes it feel like summer weather even if you’re visiting in the middle of December.
Summer heat brought all the other summer related consequences along with it. Sunburns, headaches, along with lots and lots of bugs. Spiders ran rampant along the grounds, setting up camp in almost any corner they could get too. Fire ants nests were found almost everywhere along the grounds, barely five feet apart from each other. Mosquitoes seemed to appear almost out of nowhere, completely destroying anyone who had forgotten to put on bug spray. The smell of bug repellent was abundant everywhere you stepped in an attempt to try to get all of the insects under control.
Byrock Lake, at the very least, had semi-decent cabins. They looked like log houses, except a lot smaller, and each group’s cabins were all located within ten feet of each other. The boys’ cabins were at the top of the hill; the girls’ nearer the bottom. These cabins also had no means of modern air conditioning, all that was used were old fans that made so much noise that there’s no way anyone could fall asleep with them on.
This is where thirteen year old Eva Rosalene and Neil Watts were going to spend two weeks of their precious summer vacation.
The reason that they had been sent to this summer camp together was mostly for a band get together. Every year, their school’s band director tries to get the entire band group on some sort of excursion together so that they could all spend some more time together, and get to know each other better outside of school. The band director, along with the school, always chooses one of the cheapest summer camps to send all the kids to so that they could pay it all off immediately. The parents don’t have to pay any money to send their children on these trips, so there’s virtually no reason for the parents to not send their kids.
On the entire three hour bus ride to Byrock Lake, Neil had barely taken a second to breathe in between his sentences, complaining about their destination.
“I mean, Eva, come on! How can you be even slightly optimistic about this place? It’s going to be hot and sweaty and so gross! For two weeks! That’s, like, basically an eternity!”
Neil, sitting on the side closest to the aisle in the seat he’s sharing with Eva, has turned his body sideways to face Eva head on as he complains to her. Eva stays quiet, politely listening to her friend go on and on about this summer camp.
When Neil finishes this last sentence, he huffs loudly and crosses his arms, still facing Eva. She looks at him blankly, not giving the thick-glassed boy next to her the reaction he’s looking for. “How do you even know this place is going to be bad? You haven’t even seen it yet.” Neil looks at Eva incredulously after she says this. “Eva, really? Have you not heard about past band members talking about this place? It’s horrible! There’s bugs everywhere.” He says this last one with his arms waving around, trying emphasize the word everywhere.
Eva rolls her eyes at Neil. “Then wear bug spray.”
Neil ignores this comment, and continues. “They don’t even allow electronics! Can you believe that? How are we supposed to have any kind of fun without video games?” He turns to the side, pouting and crossing his arms again. Eva raises an eyebrow at him. “Wait, I thought you told me you brought your GameBoy along with-” she says, before she’s quickly cut off by Neil shushing her loudly and placing one of his hands over her mouth. Eva lowers her eyebrows, glaring at him. Neil takes his hand away when he knows she’s done talking.
He leans in closer to her, speaking in a half whisper. “Are you kidding me, Eva? You can’t announce that! There’s teachers sitting at the front of this bus! I don’t want this to get taken from me. Not again. My parents would be pissed.”
Eva half smiles, thinking about the last time he got his GameBoy taken away from him. He had brought it into class one day, aiming to play it while they were taking a test, and asked Eva to ‘cover for him’. She just rolled her eyes and didn’t say anything when the teacher started making her way towards Neil. It got taken away for almost a week.
She moves past the fact that Neil has attempted to smuggle his GameBoy into their summer camp get together, and starts trying to encourage Neil. “Well, I don’t think it’ll be all that bad. Besides, my mom said that it would be fun.”
Neil glances over at her. “How does she know?”
“What?”
“Did Traci and Charlie go?”
Eva looks at Neil with a look of confusion. “Neil, if Charlie went, she’d be on this bus right now. We’re in the same grade. Also, she’s not even in band. Why in the world would she be on this trip with us?”
Neil ignores Eva’s quips at him. “Well then, how about Traci?”
“I think this whole thing was started after Traci left middle school, so… no.”
Neil sighs loudly, and slumps himself down in his chair. “Then your mom lied to you.”
“Don’t call my mom a liar!”
“Besides, my parents didn’t bother to entice this summer camp to me. They knew it wasn’t going to be that great- they just signed me up for it and shipped me off.” Neil looks down at his feet. “I think my dad just wanted me out of the house.”
Eva looks at him, not knowing what to say next. Neil’s home life had always been a touchy subject with him. Anytime she’d try to bring it up, Neil would immediately shut down or try to change the subject with a joke. She never knew what to say when he brought it up.
They sit in silence for a few minutes, Neil still slumped in his seat, looking at his feet, and Eva had busied herself looking out the window. The dark green trees outside had gotten more and more abundant, and the amount of commercial buildings outside had decreased. It was obvious that they were getting closer to wherever this summer camp was.
“We don’t even get to go swimming.”
Eva looks over at Neil in surprise, not having expected him to start up a conversation again. He’s still looking at the ground.
“Well, this place is called Byrock Lake. It literally has the name lake in the title, and we don’t even get to swim in it?” Neil glances up at Eva, as he starts going on another tangent. “I mean, I think it’s the least that they could do. It’s going to be way too hot there.”
Eva smiles, glad he’s back to his normal self, not dwelling on his life at home. “Maybe you could sneak into the lake to go swimming. I wouldn’t put it past you.”
Neil looks at Eva, and smiles. “Yeah, maybe I will.”
She looks taken aback at Neil’s response. “Neil, I was- I’m joking. Don’t do that. You could get kicked out.”
Neil rolled his eyes. “Oh no, I could get kicked out? Of this lousy summer camp which is one of the last places I want to be this summer? Oh, how horrible. I can’t even imagine.”
Eva was about to say something about how angry his parents might get if they got a call saying that Neil had gotten kicked out of Byrock Lake Summer Camp for trying to swim in the lake, but decided against it. She didn’t want to bring up his parents for no reason. She decides to just elbow Neil for his sarcasm, and Neil laughs.
A teacher at the front of the bus stands up, and all the kids instantly go quiet, including Neil. As much as he might talk about breaking the rules, he’s too straight laced to ever actually do it. As all the students direct their attention at the teacher, he starts talking.
“Alright, kids, we are approaching Byrock Lake Summer Camp. Please make sure to exit the bus as quickly as possible, and grab all of your belongings from your compartments. The school is not responsible for any items lost because you left it on the bus. As soon as we are all ready to go, your group leaders will take you to your cabins so you all can set up. Feel free to ask your group leaders for instructions afterwards.” He takes a quick scan over all the students once he had finished, and then turns around to sit in his seat again. All the kids start talking again, and Neil groans in his seat.
“Man, I can’t believe I got Mr. Castells as my group leader,” Neil pouts, talking about the scary-looking man who had talked just a few seconds ago. “You got Mrs. Noel! You are so lucky, Eva. She’s so nice. I wish I had gotten her.”
“Well, I don’t think it would make any sense for a girl group leader to stay with the boys.”
“Eva, I wasn’t being serious.” He says, turning around again to face her. “I just meant… man, I wish I had gotten anyone but Mr. Castells.” Eva laughs. “Better not say that too loudly or he might hear you. You wouldn’t want him to take away your GameBoy, would you?”
“Eva! I told you to be quiet about that!” Neil says flusteredly, through clenched teeth, as Eva laughs.
The bus then quickly slams on the breaks and almost every kid hits their head on the seat in front of them. Neil, due to the fact he was sitting sideways, was slammed forward and fell into the tiny space in between his seat and the seat in front of him. Eva busted out laughing at seeing her friend stuck haphazardly in a small space. His face turned red from embarrassment, and quickly picked himself up out of the space as the other band members started leaving the bus, Eva still laughing at Neil’s mistake. Neil mumbles to her to knock it off, too embarrassed to say anything comprehensible to her.
“Alright, smooth guy, get a move on,” Eva manages to say in between fits of laughter. Neil quickly stands up, not looking at Eva, and they make their way off the bus, making sure to mumble a quick ‘thank you’ to the bus driver so that Mr. Castells doesn’t yell at them.
Once they get off and grab their duffel bags from under the bus, the bus driver quickly speeds off back onto the road, leaving all the kids behind. Neil sighs beside Eva. “Man, this is horrible already and I haven’t even been here for a minute yet.” He glances at Eva, and then spins around to follow the rest of the group. As Eva joins him, she can’t deny that she thinks he’s right. She can already feel herself start to get sweaty due to the immense heat in the area, and she can hear the cacophony of buzzing mosquitoes in the surrounding area.
“Oh, and another thing!” Neil angrily says to Eva, as she catches up and starts walking besides him. “The boy’s cabin is at the top of the hill! I have to lug this whole duffel bag up a hill, are you kidding me? You have it so easy. Your cabins are at the bottom of the hill.” Eva giggles at Neil’s exuberant manner of complaining. “Oh, get over it. I think you’re gonna be fine.”
“That’s what you think,” Neil says. He starts acting as though his bag is weighing down on him, and he’s struggling to carry it. “Oh, Eva, I don’t think… I can make it… this might be the end for me… this duffel bag is just way too heavy to carry up a hill…” Neil says, speaking as though he were a tired, old man, which makes Eva start laughing. Neil lights up when he sees that Eva finds his shenanigans funny. She turns to Neil, eyes twinkling. “Alright, old man, hurry up. I don’t want to get left behind by the group.”
Eva turns around and starts walking, smiling as she hears Neil yell, ‘Hey!’ behind her, and his footsteps running to catch up with her.
* * *
Sat down at one of the cheap tables the camp had bought for it’s barely air-conditioned dining area, Eva had been eating her dinner in a plastic tray, sat down with her other band friends. She kept quickly scanning the dining hall, wondering where her best friend had gone off to. She didn’t think that he’d just sit without her, but it was definitely worrying her as an option.
Her fears were quickly put to rest when she saw a quick movement to the left of her and the loud clack of a plastic tray being set down. She looked over, and saw Neil quickly taking a seat next to her. The other people at the table glanced over him, but quickly turned back to their own private conversation.
“Neil? Where were you? I was worried you sat down without me.”
He turns to look at Eva and puts on his mushiest voice that he can muster. “Aww, Evie, did you miss me? How sweet!” Eva immediately rolls her eyes. “Nevermind. I take that back. I wish you had sat somewhere else without me.” Neil fake pouts at Eva, which draws out a small smile from her. Neil, satisfied, moves the conversation forward.
“So… you don’t wanna know where I was?”
“I literally asked you where you were when you sat down.”
“Oh. Well, I wasn’t listening.” Eva sighs at him, and Neil continues. “I was playing my GameBoy!” He shows her his GameBoy discreetly under the table, where he was holding it, showing a Pokemon battle screen.
Eva looks at him with a deadpan face. “That’s really what you were doing instead of coming to the dining hall?”
“Yes, Eva,” he says, pressing the yes as though it was obvious that this was the most important thing in the world. “Anyway… I need to ask you something,” Neil says, as he shoves the GameBoy into one of his pant pockets. Eva looked at him cautiously. “Well, when you phrase it like that, I don’t know if I want you to ask it.” Neil waves his hand in a dismissive way in front of her face. “No! It’s nothing bad. It’s just… I want you to stay up kind of late in your cabin tonight. I wanna show you something.”
“That’s not a question.”
Neil lets out a drawn out groan. “God, Eva, just- will you stay up late in your cabin tonight for me? I would like to show you something.”
Eva smiles and crosses her arms confidently. “Thank you. And… I don’t know. Won’t you get caught? Because you’re sneaking out of your cabin, yeah?”
Neil rolls his eyes. “Pssh. I’m not scared of getting caught.” Eva glares at him with this obvious lie. Neil pretends like he didn’t see. “I’m not in the cabin with Mr. Castells, so I’m gonna be fine.” A whistle blares near the entrance to the dining area, and all the students look over to see their group leaders standing by the door. Mr. Castells starts waving the students over, and most of the kids start standing up to leave. Eva and Neil stand up with the rest of the kids, heading over to their respective leaders.
“Just, promise me you’ll be up, okay?” Neil says hurriedly, as he starts walking towards Mr. Castells.
“Uh, yeah, Neil, I’ll try,” Eva responds, and then turns around to get into the line in front of Mrs. Noel. She turns to the other line where Neil is, and he gives her a thumbs up before they start walking in different directions towards their cabins.
* * *
Sure enough, at around midnight, Eva hears a knocking on her cabin window. She quickly jumps, having just been starting to doze off. She was starting to think that Neil had been joking about meeting her at her cabin, or maybe he ended up chickening out. But sure enough, when she looked outside the window, she saw her thick-rimmed glassed, light brown haired friend staring at her through the other side. Eva stares at him, astonished. Neil simply waves back at her with a toothy grin. He then waves the universal gesture for ‘come forward’.
Eva leans closer towards the window, and Neil puts his head on his forehead and shakes his head, obviously sighing. He then leans towards the window and points to the direction of where the door is. Eva then understands- Neil was trying to get her to come outside.
She quickly throws on a jacket over her clothes- even though the days might be sweltering, the nights can feel like they’re freezing- and tiptoes outside as to not wake any of the others. Once she gets to the door with little to no noise, she makes her way to where Neil was standing. When he sees Eva, he cocks his head to the side. “Eva. You thought that gesture was ‘get closer’, and not ‘come outside’? Really?” Neil says, in a hushed whisper so that no one inside of the cabin can hear them. Eva looks downwards, embarrassed. “I didn’t know what you were trying to insinuate! You weren’t saying any words, it was kind of difficult for me!” Eva responds, in the same whisper as Neil. “Besides, I can always just go back into my cabin.” Neil’s eyes widen at this threat. “No no no! Don’t do that. Please, this is important to me.” Neil gives her puppy dog eyes when he says this, and Eva just laughs and rolls her eyes.
“Okay, show it to me.”
Neil looks at her, one eyebrow raised. “What?”
“You said you wanted to show me something. Where is it?”
“You’re going to have to follow me to come see it.”
“Wait, what?” Eva said, a little too loudly, which was quickly followed by a shush from Neil. Eva starts again, now in a whisper. “You don’t have it with you?”
Neil sighed. “It’s not really a thing I can just carry with me, Eva.”
“Okay, well how are we supposed to walk around in the dead of night?”
Neil flashed his toothy grin as he held up an incredibly bulky flashlight. “I came prepared. Come on, Eva. How’d you think I got down here?”
Eva gave up, and let Neil win the conversation. “Fine, okay. Lead the way.” Neil smiled at her, stepped onto the dirt road in front of the cabin, and once they were a safe distance away from the cluster of cabins, they turned on the flashlight.
* * *
The area they were walking seemed even darker than it would’ve been originally. The surrounding brush around them was so dense, and the trees around them so tall, that they could not even see the sky. There wasn’t even a star to light up where they were walking.
Eva started shivering next to Neil. “Are you sure you know where you’re going?”
“Absolutely positive,” Neil responds confidently. This does not help Eva’s fears in the slightest, as Neil has told her this multiple times in the course of their friendship, almost every time having him totally and utterly confused as to what he was actually doing.
Eva glances at him, not trusting him even a little bit, but finds Neil facing forward and marching towards their destination with an aura of confidence around him. Eva looks forward, too, doubting her earlier suspicions about Neil having no clue where he was leading them.
The two of them continue on their way, Neil still smiling, obviously excited for their end goal and Eva, next to him, shivering in the cold forest. Eva side eyes him as they make their way down this dirt trail, the only light source they have a small, bulky flashlight. She tries to start conversation, so that she doesn’t have to walk through a dark forest in dead silence.
“This place better be good,” Eva says, half joking, trying to get a reaction out of her friend. He chuckles and glances over at her.
“Oh, trust me, it’s pretty great.”
“Good enough to get caught and kicked out of a summer camp for?”
Even though Eva can’t quite make out Neil’s movements in the dark, she can assume that he rolled his eyes at her remark. “Eva, please, you need to stop worrying about that so much. I know your mom would have a hissy-fit, but I’m sure she’ll get over it eventually.” Eva thinks to herself that she wasn’t scared about her parent’s reactions, but Neil’s. He continues his train of thought. “Besides, we aren’t going to get caught. None of these counselors care enough to go out in the middle of the night to go catch some kids.”
“They’re camp leaders. Not counselors. They aren’t getting paid for this,” Eva says, stifling a yawn throughout her sentence.
“I think that just proves my point even further.”
Eva is about to say something else to Neil, trying to keep the conversation going, when she suddenly feels a drop-off and feels like she’s falling through space and time. She looks down and realizes that her foot had only gone down only a few inches than what she had expected. The air around her immediately seems to warm up, and it seems just a little bit lighter than the forest before. She looks around her and realizes that they have exited the forest.
“Hey Eva, watch out, there’s a drop off there,” Neil says with a monotone voice.
“Wow, thanks for the heads up. I really appreciate it,” she replies as Neil snickers.
Neil steps closer towards her, stepping down the drop off with no reaction, unlike Eva before him. “Alright, close your eyes.”
Eva spins around quickly. “What?”
“Just close your eyes!”
“I don’t think I trust you enough to do that.”
Neil sighs. “Eva, come on.”
“How am I going to walk through this place if my eyes are closed?”
“It’s dark enough already that I don’t think you closing your eyes will be much of a difference. Besides, I’ll guide you,” he says, finishing on a note of what felt like true sincerity to Eva. She gives up, sighing, and looks back at Neil. “Promise you won’t do anything bad?”
“Jeez, Eva, do you really not trust me that much?”
Eva glares at him until he answers the question.
“Fine, fine. I promise I won’t do anything weird. Does that make you feel better?”
“It does,” Eva says, smiling, and closes her eyes. She feels Neil grab her forearm. “Alright, I’m just gonna try to lead you. It won’t take that long.”
The next minute or so consists of Eva, blind, wandering through a dirt trail with only Neil to guide her. She trips over rocks and small branches multiple times, and Neil tries to convince her multiple times that this place will truly be great. Even though it didn’t take very long, it felt like an eternity to Eva who had to wander blindly.
“Okay, we’re almost there,” Neil said, still trying to calm Eva’s nerves about where they were headed. “It’s gonna be great. Just… step up a little bit.”
Eva follow’s Neil’s directions and kicks her foot up way high, and her foot hits something, which quickly causing an ‘OW!’ from Neil’s direction.
“Jesus, Eva, not that high! You just kicked my leg,” Neil yells, and it causes Eva to start laughing. “Christ. I’m gonna have a bruise there tomorrow.” Eva keeps laughing at Neil’s exaggerations. “Alright, Eva, this time, only put your foot like a couple inches in the air.”
Neil manages to get the blind Eva up onto the area that he was trying to get her to go. Instantly, Eva can feel the feeling of wood planks beneath her and the soft swaying of the area they were standing on. Eva smiles, taking a guess at where they were located.
Neil continues to grab her forearm, and leads her a couple steps forward, once stepping behind her and positioning her shoulders to face a certain way. Eva continues smiling. “Can I open my eyes now?” She hears footsteps moving beside her, and Neil answers, “Yeah, in just a second, hold on.” Eva looks over to where she expects Neil to be standing, her eyes still closed. “Do I get bonus points if I’m able to guess where we are?”
She hears Neil sigh, a ways behind her. “No. You don’t get bonus points. No guessing.” She hears a few more cautious footsteps, getting quieter, so she can assume Neil is walking away from her. “Okay, Eva, open your eyes!”
When she was finally able to open her eyes, she just expected to see Byrock Lake, but in the dark and she’d barely be able to make out the water. Only part of her prediction was correct.
Yes, she was standing on the pier to the infamous Byrock Lake, but it was so much better than she had imagined. In the sky, the stars were so bright that they looked lighthouses at the far end of the sky. There were more up there than she had ever seen in her entire life. The entire sky looked like someone had taken white paint, and splattered a dark black canvas with as many dots as they could manage. She could only see stars in the sky- the moon that day had been a new moon. Eva took a few moments just collecting in her brain the image of the beautiful starry sky, before she had looked down at the water.
Byrock Lake was reflecting everything that Eva had just seen in the sky. The water was pitch black, but the soft rippling of the water allowed it to easily reflect the starry sky. The stars in the water looked like they were moving and spinning around, like a galaxy over millions and millions of years. Eva gasps out loud and covers her mouth with her hands.
“Oh my god, Neil, this is…” she says, not finding a word to describe what she sees before her.”
“Pretty great, huh?” he says, walking up from behind and then taking his place to the left of her. “I knew that you would like it.” He looks over at Eva, who’s still entranced by all the beautiful stars in the sky and the ones that looked like they’re trapped in the water.
Eva takes off her long sleeved jacket- it had gotten warmer when they had exited the forest- and is left in her Byrock Lake Summer Camp t-shirt that all the students were directed to wear on their first day. Eva sets down her jacket, and makes her way closer to the edge of the pier, Neil still watching her movements. She kneels down at the edge of the wooden dock, and placed her hand on top of the water, touching the stars from above. The water feels warm as she plunges her hand into the lake. Her hand quickly seems to disappear, due to how black the water is, and more shining stars take the place of where her hand used to be.
Neil eventually walks over to where Eva is kneeling, and continues to stand as she looks into the dark abyss. “It looks like a liquid galaxy,” Eva says, moving her hand around in the water, disturbing the surrounding area of stars. Neil laughs. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way you could put it.” He continues to stare at Eva for a few minutes, before rolling up the hem of his pants and taking off his shoes, setting them on the dock. Eva looks up at him. “What are you doing?” she asks, but gets no response as Neil sits down at the edge of the dock, legs leaning off which go into the warm water. Neil puts his hands behind him, holding him up, saying nothing. Eva quickly realizes what he was doing, and does the same. Soon enough, they’re both sitting at the end of the dock, looking out on a sea of stars.
“How did you know about this place?” Eva asks, looking over to her left, still seeing Neil staring off into the distance. He smiles. “My grandpa took me here once.”
Eva stares at him, eyebrow raised. “On the whole bus ride up you were non-stop complaining about this place.” Neil laughs. “Yeah, well, when I went with my grandpa it was just us. I didn’t have to go along with a hundred kids that I barely know and eat sub-par food for two weeks.” Eva looks back at the water, internally agreeing with him.
“We always loved to go stargazing. We’d try to go to many different places to see a different view.” Neil laughs. “Well, the stars don’t look all that different, but the different environments surrounding you can always be a fun change.” Neil looks over at Eva, who is now the one still staring out onto the lake. “I sat on this dock for hours when I saw all of this. Amazing how much of the sky is covered up by pollution, huh?” Eva voices her agreement.
They sit there on the edge of the lake for a little while, Eva swinging her legs, messing with the ripples in the water, and Neil seeming perfectly content with not moving at all. Eventually, Neil speaks up, a smile on his face. “Hey, Eva?” She doesn’t look up at him, still to entranced by the sky above and in front of her. “Yeah?”
Before she even has a chance to fight back, she feels a pair of hands on her back, pushing her forward. “Wait, wait, wait- NEIL!” Eva yells quickly, just before she’s pushed tumbling into the lake in front of her. She quickly swims up back to the surface, wiping the wet hair out of her eyes and spitting out water that she accidentally inhaled. “NEIL WATTS, I SWEAR TO GOD-” Eva starts to yell, but when she looks up, she can see Neil setting down his glasses and backing up to the end of the dock. He starts running full speed towards the lake. Eva’s eyes widen.
“Neil, no, I swear, if you splash me I will-” Eva starts, but not before Neil yells excitedly, jumps off the end of the dock as far as he can, and splashes in only a few feet away from where Eva was swimming. Eva immediately wipes the hair out of her eyes again, and opens them to see Neil Watts swimming beside her, a wide toothy grin on his face and his hair, usually combed right down the middle, all swept back by the water.
“I hate you. So much,” Eva says through gritted teeth, glaring at Neil who was still smiling at her. “Oh, come on, Eva, that was fun!” He glances at her, a little worry showing on his face. “You’re not gonna get out, are you?” Eva smiles a little bit at how worried Neil got. “Well, the damage is already done, I guess,” she says, with a fake melodramaticism in her voice.
Neil looks at her, surprised by her answer, and grins widely.
Eva smiles back.
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