Camp Faithful (Contay camp counselor au)

The Last Time

The rain was pouring down now, the clouds thick over the clearing as everyone sat inside the dining hall. The tables were lined with Bibles as the reverend read aloud. The shuffling of the pages was just as consistent as the loud thunder beginning to echo through the woods, leaving a distinct moist burning smell stuck in Connor's nostrils as he attempted to force himself to focus. He turned to the next page, skimming a few words before settling deeper into the bench beneath him, looking for something more interesting to focus on rather than the stupid fairy tale in front of him.

He tried everything: arguing in forums on his phone under the table, insulting people in comment sections, hell, he even actually started to read the Bible in front of him. But it didn't seem like anything could possibly fix the problem. Even if he were to stand up and start yelling, set something ablaze, or do anything else to call attention to himself, it would only be a temporary solution to an underlying problem. Now, it seemed like the only cure to that endless lull was Taylor, sitting comfortably in front of him with a rather focused expression, reading and rereading each part until he seemed satisfied that he understood. Almost like he hadn't read it a million times already, though that fact was pretty obvious by the personal Bible in front of him, neatly organized and annotated. Wow, and here he thought this boy couldn't get any gayer?

Taylor tried his best to hide the femininity of the activity by only using the colors he considered manly, meaning most of his book was lined with blue and green highlighter, sticky tabs, and sticky notes decorated in rather fancy cursive handwriting. A fact that no amount of toxically masculine color coding could fix. He was still frilly down to his core.

Slowly, Connor rimmed the edge of Taylor's book as it lay flat on the table, feeling the soft gray satin cover that stuck just over the edge of the slightly off-white pages. It was soft beneath his fingers, though the glare he got because of it was far from the same.

"Don't touch my stuff," Taylor whispered, his eyes peeking just below his eyebrows as he stared fiercely, trying to swat Connor's hand like he was simply a bug or a fly resting on the page.

"Why? Do you think I'll get cooties on it?" Connor asked sarcastically, not bothering to silence himself more than his normal speaking voice.

Taylor didn't reply, instead trying to engross himself in the page in front of him. Though it still proved rather difficult the more Connor rambled on, his feet under the table desperately playing footsie with Taylor like he was his crush in elementary school.

"It looks like the gay flag," Connor said matter-of-factly, now tracing his bony fingers up the page to point at the highlighted part, one line colored in green with a white space in between, then the next line highlighted a bright blue, making a little flag-like pattern on the page.

Taylor narrowed his eyes, almost a slight amount of disappointment washing over his face, the comment starting to dig into his skin as he traced his hand to cover the place on the paper. His face flushed as he tried to ignore the kicking at his feet beneath the table.

"I just like the colors, plus it keeps me organized," Taylor spat, his soft jawline growing tighter.

Connor rolled his wrist around before staring down at his palm, "I don't think it's that complicated, Taytay. God hates fags. That's the important thing."

The sarcasm in Connor's tone did far from help the situation, Taylor growing more annoyed the longer he continued to press the issue. If he actually wanted to be here, he would be well aware the Bible was much more than just a list of dos and don'ts...Sure, that was a good portion of it, but that was beside the point. Connor clearly had no respect for anyone. Not his superiors, or his peers, let alone God. So the reason he was actually here was a puzzle of mismatched pieces in Taylor's mind because now it only seemed like he was here to torment him