Camp Camp Oneshots and Ministories (normal version)

When you learn Max can't swim

As soon as I learned Max couldn't swim my fanfic senses where tingling and I wanted to write something like this. I've also been craving fluff from the trio since they're all so pure and adorable. You guys know what's coming. I'm a sucker for drowning angst and mother hen Neil. 

Deep, dark and cold. Max flailed his arms helplessly as he felt his body get pulled further and further away from the surface. He tried to scream for help, for anyone, even David. All he could see were the bubbles floating out of his mouth and breaking the surface. His heart was racing in terror as if it had already accepted his fate for him.

Max didn't have any time to be envious of those floating bubbles because as soon as he opened his mouth, his lungs filled up water.  His body immediately tried to cough up the water and breathe in fresh air. Instead it took in the dirty water, the water all the other campers had pissed in only a few hours ago. His lungs burned like fire, turning his cries for help into screams of agony. 

Behind him he heard a booming sound erupt from over the prominent ringing in his ears. Max's arms were gradually getting more and more tired. Every time he moved his arms, they would ache even more than they did the last time. Max didn't have the energy to freak out when black dots danced around the already dark lake. Another sound came from behind him, followed by another. 

Before he knew it, a pair of arms wrapped around his right arm, holding it still. Max felt his arm getting tugged as his body started to float further towards the surface. Another pair of arms hugged his other arm, pulling him up even faster. As more dots crowded around his vision he struggled to hold on to consciousness. Max fought to lift his head up to see the bright sun shining through the water, almost blinding him. Bubbles floated towards it as he continued coughing out the air he had left in his lungs. 

Max's mind barely registered his forehead breaking the surface of the water. People were shouting around him in panic, their voices fusing with the ringing in his ears. Max didn't have the energy to fight to the top as the world became darker. His head lolled forwards as black consumed the world around him. 

Max heaved up water as it painfully went up his throat, spluttering all over his chest. He gasped in every breath he could while taking in some water that he coughed up a few seconds later. Someone's hands were pressing against his chest, causing his body to spasm on the ground. That same person was breathing heavily, even hiccuping. The hot sun was beaming down on his face so hard he felt like it was being cooked. 

"Nikki, help me roll him over!" a whiny voice cried. 

Max was rolled on his side by two pairs of arms as he coughed up more water, or vomit. He couldn't tell which one it was. He propped himself up with his arm which shook underneath his weight. One pair of arms helped prop him up, taking the pressure of his arms, while another pair held up his head and rubbed circles on his back. 

"Neil? Is he okay?" 

Once Max was done coughing all he wanted to do was lie down and sleep. His arm buckled, his body flopping to the ground.   The arm rubbing circles in his back comforted him as if it were saying that it was going to be alright, which seemed to go against what his friends were thinking.

"Y-yeah," Neil muttered. "Of course he is. He's Max."

"'M fine," the boy forced out. 

Before he knew what was happening, Max was yanked off of the ground and into someone's embrace. Their breaths were jagged and pained as they sniffed. Whoever was hugging him buried their head into his neck as warm drops of water trickled onto him. The warmth of their body was comforting as he shivered against them.