Freshly out and still working on the pride aspect, Felix signs up for Camp Luna, a summer camp labelled as LGBTQIA+ centric. Still skeptical of the whole pride thing, he agrees to attend, but writes himself a rule list.
Felix's 12 step plan for a pr...
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THIS IS THE START, THIS IS THE START.
I pushed open the door to my cabin — cabin 7 — and immediately wished I hadn't.
I struggled through the door, suitcase and duffel bag dropped in the middle of the floor, and was promptly smacked in the face with a share pack of sour gummy worms. I let out a, rather embarrassing squeal, as they dropped to the floor in front of me. I snatched them up, and promptly tossed them out the open window.
"Hey! Those were mine!" I counted seven other boys in the cabin, I was obviously the last to arrive. I already knew that the cabin's were separated due to gender and I also knew that it wasn't going to be very good for my health. The one who approached me with the protest stuck his hands on his hips and glared at me with fervor. He was shorter than I was, skinnier but more muscular too. His hair was a faded purple.
"Well maybe you shouldn't have been throwing them around" I answered, with a shrug. The only unclaimed bunk was a top bunk near the window, above a short guy that was built the same as a brick wall. I shoved my suitcases by the end of the bed as the purple haired guy stomped outside to retrieve his candy.
There was a giggle from another top bunk where I found a tall, skinny guy staring down at me. "Who are you?" He asked. The boy sitting beside him slapped his shoulder.
"Hyunjin you can't ask that to everyone. They'll introduce themselves when they're comfortable" This guy was also tall, with sandy brown hair. Hyunjin stuck his tongue out at the other boy.
"But then what if they forget? How am I supposed to know who they are?" My head already hurt, and I supposed it would be worse as time passed. I sighed, climbing my way up to the spare top bunk.
"I'm Felix," I introduced myself to make him happy and he leant right over the bunk and stuck his hand out. I shook it. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to fit in here, these guys were quite eccentric, and I was more of an introvert. But I wanted to try. I was at a place where people would understand me, where people might have even had very similar experiences to me.
If I could make friends anywhere it would be here.
"I'm sorry about them," someone else made their way into the room, emerging from the archway that led into the tiny kitchenette. I'd seen it as I made my way over to my bed, it didn't have much aside from some cabinets and a mini fridge. He was about the same height as me, buff as hell, and held a colourful can of an energy drink brand I'd never heard of.
"It's fine." I murmured, trying to look anywhere but at him. He was the most attractive guy I'd seen yet, and I'd passed many on my way to the cabin.
"Well, I'm Chan." He popped tab of his drink and took a sip. I tried not to watch his throat as he swallowed. "The showers here are unfortunately communal, but they're not so bad really. We actually even have tags that hang on the doors so people know they can't peek. It happens more than you'd thing but they respect it, surprisingly"
Communal bathrooms were my ultimate horror, because of, well, reasons. I just had to remind myself that everyone here was like me. It was a queer youth camp, for crying out loud. Surely my boundaries would be respected here. I didn't say anything. Chan continued to speak.
"Have you chosen your activities for the week? Because most of us still need to do it." I shook my head. Truthfully I hadn't even thought about it. They were supposed to be chosen by the evening of the first day, but I'd been too busy trying to settle in. "Perfect, come with us"
The camp hall was smaller than the mess hall, and really just held a lot of fold out tables and chairs. There were posters on the walls advertising all the different activities and if I was honest, it was a little overwhelming. Chan came up beside me and pointed out the most interesting activities.
"I'm gonna put down for giant swing, kayaking and river cruise. If you put those down too you'll have a group of friends already, unless you really want to do something else" I thought for a moment, but decided to go with Chan's idea.
"What about the others?" I asked, wondering where they came in as I watched Chan scribble his name down for a few of the swimming competition events. I suddenly desperately wanted to know what he looked like while he was swimming. Maybe he had abs, he was muscular everywhere else so it made sense, gliding through the water. Shaking droplets off his bare skin.
I shook myself out of that fantasy as quickly as I could; I was headed into dangerous territory and Chan was nothing but a new friend I had made. That was it. I didn't even know if he was gay. Maybe he was here because he was asexual or something. Oh my God, maybe he was here because he was actually non binary. And I'd been fucking up his pronouns this whole time!
"What are you thinking so hard about?" He chuckled. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks, embarrassed that he'd caught me thinking so hard about him.
"Are you gay?" I blurted, before smacking my hand over my mouth in horror. I didn't mean to say that. I had been thinking it, sure. But I didn't want to actually ask him. It didn't need to be common knowledge and it wasn't necessarily any of my business either. "Sorry I—that's not what I meant"
But thankfully, Chan looked amused. He threw his head back and laughed, and I felt better. "You want my story, right?" I nodded, sheepishly. "Well there's really not much to tell. I'm gay. I've been coming here for about three years now and I love it. It just really feels like home here, like the other people understand me. What's your story?"
I nodded, because I knew what he meant. Growing up in a fairly small town, I had never felt understood. Before, when I believed I was just gay, I knew there were whispers about me. I knew people were skeptical about me. I was the only out person at my school, and while no one had outwardly bullied me, they weren't exactly nice about it either.
"Well I'm, uh, trans. I came out two years ago. I guess it wasn't received very well, considering I came from a small town. You get how it is"
Chan gave me a sympathetic smile. Usually I hated it when people looked at me with pity, but with Chan it felt different.
