Fanfic #215 Counselor Steven by Tinka_chasing_Life(StevenUniverseXCampCamp)

This fanfic is a fusion between Steven Universe and Camp Camp following Steven. I really like this fic because it's an interesting idea that's well executed and it has great character interactions based on the two series.

Synopsis: Steven takes a break from his road trip to get a part-time job. He ends up with a full-time job at a summer camp in the middle of nowhere. It's not what he expected, but he ends up staying regardless.

Rated: T

words: 49k

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29248179/chapters/71818686

Here's the first chapter:

„- been having doubts lately."

"About?"

"About this road trip. Maybe it was too early? I've been driving later into the night and keep getting up later in the morning. If it slips anymore, I might end up taking my meds late." He already had, this morning, but only by a small margin.

"Do you wish to return home?"

He sighed. "Not really. I'm still having a great time otherwise, and it's still amazing finding all these new places, I just feel like it's too much freedom again." He tried to keep the 'again' in his head, but that did not really work that well. "Really, the main problem right now is that my schedule keeps getting delayed. I drive longer to make up for it, but end up more tired and sleep longer, it just keeps repeating."

"Perhaps you do need some stability for a while. Have you considered taking a break? You could try getting a part-time job when the opportunity arises and stay in one place for a while. When you feel grounded again, you can easily quit and be back on the road."

"…I suppose."

"I believe it would help. A lot of young people get part-time jobs for financial reasons, but I've known quite a lot that were more than happy about the structure it gives them." She really knew how to play him. It kind of was her job after all. Steven hummed in a non-committing fashion.

It was kind of hard to get up in the morning by himself when he could just get another ten minutes of sleep. That rarely worked out as well as hoped and he would end up oversleeping again. Being only halfway through his road trip and already failing at it was really discouraging, but Mrs. Jambel was, of course, right once more. The only schedule he had was the one he imposed on himself. And while he would like to stick to it, it seemed like that wasn't in the cards right now.

Another sigh. "What should I do, then? I don't really know how to do this sort of thing."

"Well, you don't need to jump at the first thing you see." Mrs. Jambel smiled "I know that may sound contradicting, but if you see a help wanted sign from a bar needing a dishwasher, it's completely fine to pass it by if that's not how you want to spend your time. Look for something that interests you anyways. And if you find something you would really like to do, there is no shame in asking for work, even if there they are not actively looking for help."

He nodded. There was a familiar sound in the background of the videocall and his therapist turned to shut off the alarm.

"Seems like that's it for now. Did you have anything else you wanted to talk about?" She asked, getting ready to take notes.

"Hmm, no." Steven considered for a second longer. "We've covered the most important things. I'll see you next week?"

"Of course, Steven. Have a good week!"

"You as well!" he smiled back before ending the call. Taking a deep breath and letting it out again, he stood up and stretched. Then he gathered up the water bottle and blanket he'd set down on the forest floor.

He did not really like to video chat with Mrs. Jambel from his car, so he tried to find quiet spots to spend the 45 minutes in privacy. On occasion, that meant a motel, but more often than not, he found himself getting to use various bits of wilderness as his background. His therapist liked to comment on it every time, which was always a great ice breaker.

As Steven folded up the blanket and got ready to move on, he reflected on today's session. The forest scenery had sparked a conversation about how he was currently in what felt like the middle of nowhere, heading towards the next big city. Something he was pretty excited for, seeing as he was in dire need of a proper bed. Sleeping in the car had been a necessary evil now and then, but in the past couple of days, it had become a little much. And he still had perhaps one day to go before he hit the city, but he figured that maybe he could arrive earlier if he drove until midnight.

Mentioning this had, of course, set off the long-lasting conversation they had just finished.

It was good to talk about it though, seeing as he was now more than ready to let his schedule be for a bit. He'd have to call Lars and Connie, to postpone their planned meet-ups this next week, but if he got a job for a while, at least they would know where to find him.

"Not that that is going to be anytime soon." He sighed as he turned another corner only to be facing down more trees. These woods seemed to go on forever, and he hadn't seen many cars driving down this road, either. He did see some interesting wildlife, however.

Imagine his surprise when another turn later, the trees cleared up to reveal a town hidden away in the forest.

"Oh wow!" a smile spread across his face. If there was any way to get a bed for a night, there was no way he was passing this up. He parked – hoping it was actually a place where he was allowed to park – and exited his car. At first sight, the town seemed like something ripped straight out of a Lonesome Lasso comic. From the font on the old looking shops to an admittedly random-seeming tumbleweed. "Where did that come from?" Steven mumbled to himself as he tried to check his phone for a place to stay. Sadly, the connection that had already been spotty earlier had now completely bailed on him. Oh well. Seemed like he would be doing this on foot.

Locking his car, he started down the street. He had parked next to what appeared to be a clothing store, but it seemed like the dresses here were as old as the rest of the town looked. There was also a bank with an ATM across the road, and he took the opportunity to get some cash. Since it would be difficult to get him an own bank account without valid identification or social security number, so his dad had opened a second account, transferred some of his money there, and gave Steven pretty much free reign over the account.

They had been tackling the whole 'not actually a US citizen' issue every once and again in therapy, but a solution was still not forthcoming. He did make sure to drive extremely carefully though. Otherwise, he tended to avoid thinking about it too hard outside of therapy sessions.

On that note, when he turned the corner, he found a hardware store, a bar, and the most new-looking building in the town, which was proclaiming 'GIRLS GIRLS' in hot pink neon signs. Another, less flashy one named the building 'Muffintops'.

He decided to turn back the other way to look for a motel, a slight blush on his face.

It had been much earlier on his road trip, but he knew that wasn't his sort of… establishment. It had been the third or fourth big city he had been in, and he had been… mislead. Seeing as he was 18, no one actually stopped him. When it turned out he had not walked into a regular bar, he had run straight back out. Once he'd gathered his wits, he had called Connie to apologize. It had been an embarrassing situation, but at least Connie could laugh about it.

It turned out there was no motel in town. Really, there were only two streets and a total of eight buildings, one of which was boarded up and in utter disrepair.

Steven sighed heavily. Seemed like another night in the car. The sun was already low in the sky, and he was sure that if he kept driving now, he would surely be in on the road until much too late at night. He supposed he could at least look around a little. The only really interesting place was probably the bar, but he wasn't really looking to drink. Perhaps they had water or at least something to eat.

Honestly, he had half-expected that no one actually lived in this town anymore, so he was relieved when not only were there two people working inside the bar, but also two old men having a drink at the bar. They also did have some pretty good options for dinner. It was actually a really nice atmosphere, and he did end up getting a map of the area after talking to the waitress about his current situation.

"There's a couple of towns in the area if ye know where to look for 'em." She circled some locations on the map with her pen. "This one is Sleepy Peak Pizza Bros., they're pretty much the only thing over yonder. Here ye can find a motel and some grocery stores, as well as the local law enforcement." She continued to give him a warning about certain areas that were known for sightings of dangerous wildlife, then went to get the food he ordered. Feeling a lot better already, he happily ate his dinner before heading out again. The area the waitress called Sleepy Peak was apparently more of a network of single buildings all scattered around the endless forest surrounding them. Some of them didn't even have roads leading up to them!

Shaking his head, he went back to his car and started driving. He would need to backtrack if he wanted to get to the city by tomorrow, but figured it couldn't hurt. The salad at that bar was surprisingly good.

Night had fallen by now, but the drive was peaceful regardless. He passed by a large sign showing the way to some camp. According to the waitress, there were several of them by the lake near Sleepy Peak Peak. Which, aside from the redundant seeming name, was apparently also a volcano. Steven figured it must be a dormant one if there were several large collections of children spending their summer near it.

The next cluster of buildings came later than he thought, and he was beyond relieved to finally check into a motel for the first time in days. After checking for bugs, he got settled in for the night at last.

The next morning brought a pleasant surprise. The motel had a notice board hung up, which Steven had initially checked out because it had a big warning plaster over it concerning… squirrels? Anyways, the good news was that there were a lot of newspaper clippings on it, some detailing a missing pet or a bargain at a local store. Most of it wasn't all that interesting to him, but there was a small section of the board where a couple of 'Help Wanted' notices were hung up.

"Huh." That seemed way too easy. Or not.

Most of the notices here were either not for him or he had doubts they were even serious offers in the first place. One of these notices was looking for a chicken dentist! He hadn't even known there was such a thing! Actually, did chickens even have teeth? Or would someone looking into a chicken's mouth still be called a dentist?

Another was from an electronics store 'seeking boy genius' and yet another was from a hardware store. He recalled seeing both of those stores in the small town he had left the other day. Perhaps he could check in on the hardware store offer. He wasn't good with electronics, so the other option was out as well.

There was also a notice from a summer camp looking for help and another looking for campers. He had to re-read that one, but it actually seemed like they were looking for campers. Someone must have accidentally posted that on the wrong side of the board.

Steven took out his phone to take a photo of the hardware store offer, then after some consideration, also the one from the camp looking for a co-counselor. That couldn't be harder than babysitting Onion, right? …Though maybe, he would try for the hardware store first. It had been a while since he had time to work out, but certainly, that kind of work included some heavy lifting. That actually would be a welcome change from sitting in a car most of the day.

Before leaving, he went to the grocery store to stock up on drinks and some fruits and veggies for the road. He had a cooler in the free space in front of the passenger seat where he could easily reach for an apple or something similar, but since he hadn't seen a town in a while, there wasn't much in there anymore. He had taken care to get proper food twice a day, but the rest of the time he had slowly eaten away at the reserves in that cooler. Water was also running low, so he ended up buying two six-packs of large water bottles, a couple of bananas, and apples as well as some carrots and a pre-packaged sandwich. And, feeling indulgent, he also got himself some Chaaaaps. Maybe it was a little much, but yesterday he had been really worried about not finding another town to stock up. If that town hadn't been there, he would have eaten his last apple for breakfast and driving for hours before getting a proper meal in the city.

For now, he ate his sandwich – not the best breakfast, admittedly, but better than nothing - and took his pills with some water before he got started working on his car. Over the past few days, empty water bottles had piled up on the backseat, so he picked them all up and tossed them into a trash container by the motel. Making sure his car's interior was all cleaned up, he got back in and headed back to the town with the hardware store. It felt distinctly strange to think that technically, he was still in the same town. It seemed like the locals considered this town and the other as parts of one. Then again, he had seen some strange places on his trip, so really it shouldn't surprise him.

This time, he checked the time it took him from one 'side' of town to the other and was shocked when it actually took him almost an hour. He must have gotten too used to driving long stretches at a time, or maybe he had just been too tired to appreciate the large amount of forest between one part of Sleepy Peak and the other. Well, others. Since there were apparently many more remote cabins or gas stations or who-knows-what that made up this community.

Once he was finally in front of the store in question, he paused. What exactly did it mean, to work in a hardware store? Steven was thinking a lot of heavy lifting, which was no big trouble for him and had the bonus of exercise he had barely gotten while on the road. It also meant interaction with customers, but if it was anything like that short time he had 'worked' with Sadie in the Big Donut, that should be fine as well. Then again… he looked around and was once again taken aback by that lone tumbleweed being blown through town. Business must be slow in this store. So aside from stocking, he might just be sitting around a lot. Still, he shrugged and finally entered.

But by the time he breached the topic of the advertised job, the cashier grimaced.

"Yeaah, sorry 'bout that." The lady shook her head. "The job's already taken."

"Oh." Steven frowned. Was the bulletin not up to date? He voiced this concern to the cashier.

"Oh no, it is!" He laughed. "This was just poor luck. We literally just hired the guy yesterday. I don't think management got the memo yet to send someone to take down that ad."

"Alright then." Steven nodded. Perhaps he still had a shot at the other place? "Well, I guess I'll just have to check out that other place."

"There is another place hirin'? I mean… apart from that guy goin' on about his rooster's teeth?"

"Do chickens even have teeth?"

"Normally I'd say no, but that guy is persistent!" The cashier laughed. "And who knows, maybe it's some weird mutation or somethin'."

Steven chuckled. "Well, no worries, I'm not going there. I have no education in looking at people's – or rooster's – teeth." Or any education at all. His smile fell a little. Still, it was enough for a small part-time job, so that's what he was going to do. Like many other human teenagers do. "I'm checking out this summer camp."

The cashier's smile became a little forced. Like Mr. Smiley looked when he was angry at a customer. Steven backed up a bit.

"Ah, word of advice? You seem like a nice kid, so…" he shrugged. "I suppose this is Campbell's ad? You won't be gettin' the best pay there. Actually, you won't be getting' regular pay even. So if you are tryin' to pay rent or anythin', I'd suggest looking in the city."

Well, he wasn't really in it for the money. "Okay. Thanks, but I'm good. I'm looking for…" stability after a life of too little of it? His human side? A break from his road trip of self-discovery? "the experience, I guess." He trailed off.

"Hah, in that case, there is plenty of that down at Lake Lilac."

Which proved to be true. The very first experience Steven had at the address indicated was a hastily scribbled note on the entrance to the camp.

'Campsite was taken over by squirrel army. Turn west and follow the edge of Lake Lilac for 1,5 miles (about 30 minutes) to find the new location of Camp Campbell!'

At first, Steven took this for a prank. But a quick trip into the campsite revealed that there was indeed a group of squirrels in the cabin… having dinner. There was a group of squirrels wearing accessories and eating dinner at tables.

For a moment, he was torn between investigating versus just leaving and doing what he came for. Then he was startled by a shrieking squirrel pointing dramatically at him, which caused every other squirrel to stop what they were doing and stare at him. Raising his hands in surrender, he slowly backed away from the window he had been looking through and was glad when he wasn't mobbed by angry cute animals. Seemed like he would be trekking through the wilderness for a bit.

He was pretty impressed when after exactly 30 minutes of walking, he came upon a campsite looking exactly like the one he had just left. It was really uncanny, but at least it seemed like there were humans around this time. An old man had just entered the replica of the dining hall he had found back where the other campsite had been. Feeling a little better, he checked the photo he had taken of the ad again. It said to speak with 'Gwen'. Steven wasn't really sure where to go from here. Could he just enter the cabin to ask the old man where he could find her? He thought on this as he approached, but was caught just before he could knock.

"Hello there!" Steven startled a little and turned to face a twig of a man with dark red hair and a giant grin. "How can I help you?"

"Um." He vaguely lifted up his phone with the ad. "I was looking for… 'Gwen'? There was an ad for a job offer-"

"Oh, that!" The guy waved it off. "That must have been weeks ago! Now that Campbell is helping out, I don't think we need-"

"DAVID!" an irritated woman's voice cut in and Steven swiveled around again to see a dark-skinned woman glare at David. Was that- Had she been crying? "Fuck you, David, we do need the help. And since Daniel was never paid, I saved that money for when we would finally get another offer, so don't you dare send this guy away!"

"Okay then, CBFL! I'll just go and fill out-"

"You will keep an eye on the kids, while I fill out the paperwork."

"Alright-y! Come along Max!" The guy – David, apparently – picked up a boy who had been trying to hide behind Gwen.

"Damn it, no! I still need to make Gwen feel less like shit!"

"Language." David scolded.

Gwen shook her head. "Nothing would make me happier than getting another hand on deck, so go with David, Max." She gestured at Steven to come along. "Come on." Though it sounded more like a question than a request.

"Nooo! David, do you want another Daniel?!"

"Oh, don't be silly Max! Campbell can't fire me now, remember!"

"That isn't what I meant!!"

Then the two others had left and Steven was standing in front of a woman who had definitely been crying and seemed desperate to get someone to help out. He… he couldn't walk out now, right?

"Are you… still interested?" came a tired and resigned question from Gwen. Steven bit his lip and made a soft 'hnnggg' noise.

"I…" Did he want to bail? He wanted to help- But wasn't that the problem here? Was he allowed to help, or should he go find a job in the city? "I-… I just need to make a call."

"Oh." She sighed.

"Really." He said. "I'm… gonna be right back."

He stepped away a little but did not leave her line of sight, which at least made her look a little more hopeful. He went through his contacts. At this time, his therapist would likely not be available just yet, but he knew who he could call.

"Hello? Connie here."

"Hey, Jam." He smiled at her voice.

"Oh! Hey, Biscuit!" she laughed a little. "Sorry, I didn't check the caller ID."

"No problem. I just… I need some advice if you have a moment?"

"Sure, I have a little time. What is it?"

He quickly relayed the situation to her. She asked a few follow-up questions before seemingly figuring out what to say.

"Are you going to regret walking away from this?" she asked.

He cast a look at Gwen, who was still casting him hopeful glances while trying to appear as though she wasn't looking over. "Hmmm, possibly?"

"And are you going to regret staying?"

"Uh, also, possibly?"

"Well, you have been talking about this with Mrs. Jambel about getting a job, right? What do people do when they are working?"

"Huh?" He didn't quite understand that question.

"My mom works as a doctor, which means she helps people get healthy again or she helps them stay healthy. My dad helps people who want to keep their property safe from delinquents. And… well, Vidalia helps people decorate their homes with nice art! It's the nature of work to help people in specific areas." She paused. "That is what I think at least."

Steven nodded. "And since my therapist already suggested getting a job for some stability, that must mean it's okay, right?"

"I would say try it. If the job is as hard as it seems, they must be used to people quitting, so I'm sure if it's too much for you, they won't force you to stay." Connie laughed. "And if they try, I'll get them to change their minds!"

Steven laughed. "Alright then! Sounds good. I guess there is no harm in trying."

"Keep me up to date on what happens, alright, Steven?" she asked softly.

He felt his cheeks warm a little. "I will. See you soon?"

"I will need your location so I can take Lion there, but sure. Are we keeping the date?" Their next meet-up had been scheduled for later the next week.

"Sure."

"Love you!"

"Love you too." He replied, with a soft smile, before Connie hung up.

When he put his phone away, he quickly became aware of Gwen's eyes fixed on him. He nodded and came back over to her, seeing relief in every line of her body.

"Thank god, you scared the hell outta me with that!" she joked weakly.

"Sorry. Just needed to confirm something."

"That's okay. Let's get you to the counselors' cabin and get that paperwork done."

The counselors' cabin was a building that was a little smaller than the mass hall. On the inside, there were two beds on side of the cabin, as well as a desk with a chair. Two armchairs were set near a really old-looking TV off to the side. In the corner left of the entrance, there was a huge pile of cardboard boxes and random stuff

"You can take the chair if you want." She offered as she dug around a cabinet full of disorganized files. Seeing as there was only that one chair, Steven decided to respectfully decline. In reply, Gwen pulled it up to the table and sat down once she found what she had been looking for. "Alright then."

She made a few notes on the papers, then began the interrogation.

"Can't believe this hasn't come up yet. I'm Gwen. What's your name?"

"Steven."

"I need your full name for the paperwork, you know."

"Oh! Right. It's Steven Quartz Cutie Pie DeMayo Diamond Universe."

Gwen blinked. "Uhm. How do you spell that?"

She ended up handing over the paperwork for him to fill in his name, then stared at it for a few moments before shaking her head and asking the next question.

"How old are you?"

"18."

"Hm, that's not much older than Ered… Whatever. Any prior work experience?" she asked.

"Hmm, does working in a donut shop count?" he asked.

"Eh, technically we're looking for people who worked with kids before, but at this point, I don't care if you came from Mars and had never seen a human child before."

Steven's smile froze a little and he forced a chuckle. Just a joke. "I did babysit once in a while." And Onion was… well, Steven was still not sure. Certainly not a normal kid, though he wasn't entirely sure if any kid he knew was normal. Peedee, perhaps.

"Well, it doesn't really matter to me what experiences you have, seeing as I had close to none when ending up here, either." She shrugged and wrote down a couple more things. "Now, just a few technicalities."

Gwen handed over the paperwork, as well as a clipboard to write on.

"Just fill in your contact info, education, social security number, and whatnot."

He blanked. "Uhhh, so… about that-"

"Please don't tell me that's a problem."

"I could… make something up?" he offered tentatively. He could write down Connie's school and the address of the beach house, as well as his bank account, but he couldn't actually make up a Social Security number. What if it already belonged to someone? Also, he had no idea how many numbers they had to have.

"Fine, that's cool, no need for an address, we can just use whatever, you know."

He stayed silent.

Gwen raised a brow. "What? Did you not go to school, or what?"

He grimaced and tried for the biggest problem. "I have no social security number."

She boggled at him. "Did you seriously go off the grid at your age?!" she asked with hysteria in her tone.

"…I never had one." This did not seem to help in the slightest. For a moment Gwen just wheezed with a hundred-yard stare before taking a deep breath.

"Alright…. Alright. Okay. That's- not optimal, but considering Campbell…" she dug around a little more. "Right." She sighed. "Listen. We do this off the books, alright? Don't worry, you are not actually missing out on any insurance, because this camp is essentially broke and we don't get that kind of stuff anyway."

"So… I can stay?" he had the feeling that perhaps that was not the question to ask here, which intensified at the look Gwen gave him.

"You want to stay?" She asked.

"That is kind of why I'm here." He joked weakly.

"You get 60$ a week." She said flatly.

"Okay?" he used to get 10$ for babysitting Onion, and he had not been paid while working at the Big Donut. This job seemed more like babysitting, but it was also shared between several people, so it seemed all fair enough.

The silence stretched on for a moment longer.

"In that case, welcome aboard!" she threw her hands up incredulously, then took the paperwork from him and crumpled it into a ball before tossing it into the trashcan. Then she leveled him with a serious look. "And if it turns out you are more of a liability than a help, I won't hesitate to toss you out," she told him.

Steven nodded. "Don't worry. I'll do my best," he promised.

"Alright then." She sighed and glanced at the corner full of boxes. "Sorry, this might take a while? Seeing as David and I are the only counselors, we kinda used the third bed as a shelf. Which means we'll have to clean it up before you can move in." She lifted one of the boxes, which was full of broken tools and random knick-knacks. That was all he could see before Gwen suddenly paused and closed the box again before she turned to Steven. "By the way, do you have a car?"

Steven nodded and chuckled. "Yeah. Would be kind of hard going on a road trip through all the states without one."

"Great! Wait, so you don't actually have a lot of stuff to move in here, right?" She asked. "I mean, we're still gonna clean it up, but how about you go get your stuff here first?"

Steven thought back to the time he worked at the Big Donut. "When do I start working, by the way? Do I need to do some sort of training first or anything like that? I've been a babysitter before, but I don't know how much of that is useful here."

Gwen waved him off as she carefully pulled down the box she had just opened and slid it over to the bed on the left side of the cabin. "Uff. Nah, don't worry. I think I still got a handbook David made lying around somewhere, I can give you that and some of our notes on the kids. Just… don't actually follow the handbook?" she dug around the desk for a while. "There are a couple of things in there that are actually important, like what you can and cannot talk about when you're around kids, but from what I've been observing, this particular group of kids couldn't care less."

"So, that's the plan? Clean up, get settled in and read that handbook?"

"Pretty much, yeah. I'd say you can use today to watch and learn, since I should keep tabs on the kids so they don't kill David. A-ha, there it is!" She pulled out a folder from a drawer. She flipped a couple of pages, then tossed it to Steven. "There you go. Again, only the first ten pages or so are actually relevant. I'll get you our notes later, soo…." She looked around with a sigh. "Okay. You." She pointed at him. "Are going to get your stuff. Meanwhile, I'll get my things sorted out and tell David to do the same. How long will it take you to get your stuff?"

Steven shrugged. "I walked here from that other campsite, the car is still around there. So a little more than half an hour? But don't worry, I can-… we can move things together."

"That would be great actually. I should get most of this sorted by then. Now Shoo." She waved her hand at him. "Go get your car, we'll handle the rest when you get back."

He held up the folder still in his hands awkwardly, "Uhhh…?"

"Just leave it," Gwen gestured to the table, already picking up a box labeled 'magazines'.

Steven had saved the location of the camp on his phone. The internet connection out here was horribly slow on its own, but he had gotten a data plan for it a while ago when he realized he would have to have a reliable way to talk to everyone while on the road. The walk back to his car was a good opportunity to think about what he had just signed up for.

Over the past few years he'd obviously come to realize that what he had learned about the world from TV was often a far cry from reality. Still, the only experience – as much as he could call it that – that he had with summer camps was the Camp Pining Hearts series. But judging from that boy he'd seen earlier, this summer camp was not for teens, but for younger kids. For a short while, he entertained the thought of how it might have been like to go to a summer camp. He didn't even know if there were any of those near Beach City.

Was the frontier adventure he had with his dad and Ruby been like camping? They never put up a tent, but he was pretty sure that wasn't actually required for camping? People camped in RV's a lot too, didn't they? He sighed. That wasn't a far cry from a van, was it? Maybe he had actually been camping all his life! Just… in a town. Still, he had some survival knowledge from Connie. Steven wasn't really sure if that was important or not, but he had it.

But the main goal here was to get a better daily routine. Did he take his meds today? He checked his phone, where he kept a checklist. The box was unchecked, even though he had remembered that he did take them this morning. Had he forgotten to check the box, or was his memory playing tricks on him? He groaned and put down a question mark as a note for today, feeling shame for the other question marks that appeared increasingly often. He wasn't at a concerning number yet, seeing as for most of them he was sure he'd taken them and just forgot to log it, like today. Still, there were also a couple of 'late' markers in there and he didn't want it to get any worse.

So, no more putting his alarms on snooze in the morning. He would still have to ask when he would have to get up, but since he would have to take his meds at 7 in the morning, he was sure it would be fine.

His car was covered in acorns. It didn't seem like anything was broken, so he took the brush he kept along with a dustpan and cleaned it off. By the time he was done, it was almost 10 am. Actually, Steven was pretty content when he turned on the engine and set up his phone to lead him back to the actual campsite. He'd just gotten a part-time job within just a few hours! Maybe he would call Sadie later and ask how long it usually takes. That thought also reminded him that he would have to reschedule a few meet-ups, so before he started to drive back, he set a reminder for himself to do so this evening.

The drive back took considerably less time, even though the entrance to the camp was a little harder to find. Still, he managed to get back within fifteen minutes and parked his car next to the other one, next to the cabin he was going to live in for... For how long, actually? Steven still had to ask how long and at which times he would be working.

"I'm back!" he greeted as he entered the cabin. Gwen turned to him with an empty cardboard box in her hand.

"Well, good timing." She said as she set the box down next to a couple more. "This is the last of my stuff, I think. I'm just going to go and tell David to get his things as well. Though, I don't think there is much of his in there."

"Great," Steven nodded. "By the way, I was wondering what the working hours were? Just so I know for when to set my alarms and such."

"It's all in that folder, but we work all the time. If a camper comes to you in the middle of the night crying, you gotta go and get the snake out of the toilet or help them get over their homesickness, that sort of stuff. Buuuut- We usually get up around 6 am to get things ready. Breakfast is at 7:30, lunch at one in the afternoon, dinner at eight and bedtime is technically non-existent, but it's supposed to be quiet after nine. Though David usually does the night rounds, so you don't really need to worry about that just yet." She shrugged and picked up the box again with some effort. "I'm just gonna get this put away, then we can go get David, okay?"

While she went outside to put away the empty boxes, Steven glanced at the bed. There were only two boxes and a couple of blankets left. He noticed the handbook on the table and picked it up, deciding to take a quick look inside. Steven let the pages run over his finger like a flipbook. Gwen had said only the first few pages were important, and he could see why she might think that. Apparently, the rest of the folder was pages and pages of sheet music.

"Alright!"

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Gwen opened the door to the cabin. "Now… I get to switch with David," she paused and sighed. "Let's just go."

They walked back to the mess hall and Gwen led them around to the other side. A clearing greeted them, full of various constructions and with a bunch of kids spread out on it. Steven did a quick headcount – ten kids in total, each with an empty cardboard box and most visibly distressed. Gwen was quickly approaching the red-haired guy Steven had met earlier – David presumably – who was currently talking to a couple of the kids. As they approached, he beamed at them and went to meet them halfway.

"Well, good to see you back again!" he greeted Steven.

"I told you, he just went to get his car here," Gwen replied. "Also, I already cleaned my junk off the spare bed, so now it's your turn. The box of logs sure isn't mine. I'll mind the kids in the meantime."

David's grin faltered a little. "Um, Gwen are you sur-"

She glared at him and pointed towards the counselor's cabin. "Move it."

"Alright-y!"

Steven watched David retreat. "I don't think he likes me." He wagered. The counselor was clearly worried about leaving Gwen alone.

"David likes everyone," Gwen replied. "It's not you, we just had a…" she sighed heavily. "Situation, this morning. I'll be just great, as long as-"

"Heyyyy, Gwen!"

"Fucking. Shit." She groaned. Steven was taken aback by the language she was using, considering the age of the kids surrounding them. One of which had managed to sneak up on them, the same boy he saw with her earlier that day. "What?"

"You're just who I was looking for." the kid said with an honestly kind of forced-looking smile. "I got something that will blow your mind!"

"Max, not now, I can't leave the new guy alone."

"What, he seriously stayed?" the boy scoffed, dropping the act and squinting a glare up at Steven.

"Uh, hi?" Steven waved with a small smile. "I'm Steven." The kid just glared even more.

"Don't you dare," Gwen frowned. Steven darted a look from her to the boy in the hoodie, who was now wearing a little smirk.

"Whatever do you mean, Gwen?"

"I mean it. Stop." She pointed at him as he slowly backed away towards the mess hall with his hands in his pockets.

"I'm not doing anything." He shrugged. "In fact, I'm going to go aaalllll the way over there to not do anything there. Where you cannot see me." He turned and started running towards the mess hall.

"God fucking damn it." Gwen started to run after him, then stopped after two steps. "I need to keep an eye on him, please can you keep yours on the rest of the kids?" Before he could answer, she swore again and took off after the kids that had now disappeared into the mess hall.

Steven stood as the lone adult on a clearing with nine kids and wondered what 'keeping an eye' on them meant? Was he just supposed to look out that nothing happened? Should he introduce himself?

"Who are you?"

Steven whirled around to the nearest group of kids. All four were sitting or lying on the ground and staring up at him. There was one with one of those things around his neck that he'd seen in pictures of old-timey people. He'd always wondered if those hurt.

"I'm Steven."

"Are you ein new camper?" the smallest one asked. Steven shook his head.

"No, no. I technically start tomorrow, I think. As a counselor, I mean." He felt awkward standing, so he sat down with his legs crossed.

"Huh, I didn't know they were still looking for another counselor." The boy with the tophat mused.

"Yeah, I heard the ad I saw was apparently older?" Steven shrugged. "What are your names?"

"I'm Harrison."

"Mein name is Dolph!"

"Preston Goodplay."

"I am the Fair Lady Nerris the Cute."

"It's nice to meet you. What are you doing?"

"Ugh." Harrison rolled his eyes. "We're supposed to be making these dumb time capsules. Like anyone knows what to put in them now." He grumbled.

"How old are you?" Nerris asked. "I thought you would be a camper for sure!"

"I'm 18."

"Have you ever made a time capsule?"

He shook his head. "No, what is it?"

"Well," Preston spoke up. "it seems like we are supposed to capture our current SELF in a mere collection of TRINKETS and our goals and dream in a SIMPLE LETTER!"

"But what if I don't become ein famous artist?!" Dolph exclaimed. "Then this box will just end up causing me shame!"

"I don't even know what we are supposed to put into the dumb letter," Harrison added sullenly.

Steven felt like he had an idea about what a time capsule was supposed to be but still had to ask. "So you make the box, then keep it until you are ready to open it?"

"We are going to bury them," Nerris explained.

Steven raised a brow. "What, here?"

The kids looked up from their boxes.

"So when would you dig them up again? If they are buried at your home, at least you would be able to get them easily. But if they are buried here, how would you even get to them."

"You're RIGHT! We may not SEE these monstrosities again in OUR LIVES!"

"But now I will be thinking about it!" Dolph complained. "And it's going to mess with mein art."

"That's not so bad." Steven shrugged. "At least you'll get it out of your system."

"I don't know what I would do if I can't become ein artist." Dolph was staring into his box again and the other kids appeared similarly lost in thought.

"Yeah," Nerris nodded. "If I can't be a great dungeon mistress, who am I going to be?"

"Even if we do not participate in the creation of THESE-" Preston shook his box. "I will never forget my TRUE PASSION! And when I end up a mere shell of a man, after failing to get the recognition my work DESERVES, then the memory of this day shall HAUNT ME! FOREVER." He dramatically buried his face in the box.

Steven had to chuckle a little.

"DO NOT LAUGH AT MY PLIGHT!"

"No, no, I wasn't-" had he been this dramatic at that age?

Steven was thinking. It was a strange thing to think about, but would his younger self be disappointed in him? He was certain when he was the age these kids were no one could ever really disappoint him. And he was happy with who he was right now, even if he may have preferred to get here with less… baggage than he had. He wondered what he might have put into a time capsule but then shook himself out of it.

"Really, it's not that bad not becoming what you wanted to be as a child." He tried.

"Did you finish your life-long quest?" Nerris asked. Steven blinked. Then he nodded.

"Well, then that's easy for you to say." Harrison shot back from where he was now lying on his back on the ground. This time Steven shook his head.

"Actually, yes, I did." He elaborated. "And it sucked."

"Huh?" the kids made.

"I finished what I wanted to do and it was very hard." He tried to explain as carefully as possible. "And it was actually so difficult, that after I was done, I didn't want to do anything like it again."

"I knew it, we are going to fail!" Dolph shrieked.

"Maybe, maybe not." Steven tried to reason. "I… I really wanted to be something specific as well. Like you want to be an artist and-…" he waved a hand at the other kids, asking them to fill the gap. He needed some time to think about how to phrase this.

"I will become an illusionist." Harrison waved his hands in the air above him, then clapped and was doused in confetti. His arms slumped back to the ground as he tried to blow a rogue piece of confetti away from his mouth. "pft-ff… Tada."

"While I will become a true sorceress of Vinyamar!"

"And I shall dazzle thousands on Broadway! Ideally."

All four kids sighed.

"Well," Steven replied, hesitantly, but in the only way he felt was still human enough. "I wanted to be like my mom. But it was actually… better, I guess, to just be myself." He chuckled. "I wanted to go to space! But that wasn't really all that great an idea."

"Did you say space?" gasped a new voice behind him. He turned and saw a boy wearing a fishbowl and dressed like an astronaut. "Oh, also, do you have a clock?" the boy showed him his box, which was full of various timepieces.

"Uh. Yes and No. In that order." Steven replied.

"Can you tell me something about space?!" He asked with big eyes.

It's terrifying, it's beautiful, it's lonely and cold and you never know if you are safe, spinning in a bubble all alone makes you wonder which way is up and which one is down, everything on foreign planets wants you dead, hell, everything on earth wants you dead-

He cleared his throat. "It's… big?"

The kid stopped bouncing in place and gave him a …look? Was that pity? "Oh, I know." Then he turned and left.

"Never mind Space Kid," Harrison said. "He does that."

"What's his name?" Steven asked. He looked after the other boy and realized he had not been watching the other kids. A quick look around told him they were all still where they had been before.

"Space Kid," Nerris repeated.

Steven turned back to her and put his hands together in front of his face. "Really."

"Got any other advice for these?" Harrison asked with a kind of hopeful look on his face.

Feeling kind of put on the spot, Steven asked for them to give him a moment.

They seemed worried that they might hit a low point in their lives and end up disappointed in themselves. Steven remembered that when he was younger, he did feel like that on occasion, usually about becoming a Crystal Gem. What got him out of a funk back then were distractions, but he had also avoided thinking about these kinds of things for too long. Questions like 'What if I never get to control my powers', 'Who am I' or 'I messed up again' had used to disappear as quickly as they appeared and he rarely dwelled on them. He knew he used to be happy as a child - if a little lonely. So what if he had made a time capsule? What would have gone into it? Probably toys and games, perhaps a favorite shirt or some memento. The important part was surely the letter. Because no matter what items were put into a time capsule-

"-if it's something that makes you happy now, it's sure to be a good thing even in the future."

"So should I put ein art piece of mine inside?" Dolph asked, making him realize he had spoken out loud.

"Well, I say go for it." Steven nodded. "The letter is likely what you are going to have difficulties with. Because whatever it is that makes you happy now, if you put something symbolic of that in the box, it's bound to get you to smile when you find it later."

"Even if the letter just reminds us that we are failures?" Harrison shot back.

"Well, you see the things before you read the letter," Steven argued back. "So you get to remember what you were like now. And I'm sure you are happy being… artists and magicians and entertainers?"

"Sorceress." "Illusionist." Nerris and Harrison corrected.

"Yeah. See? You're proud of that now. So even if your opinion changes, you'll remember that it was fun."

"You say that as though our dreams and PASSIONS are so easily discarded. I will not REST until I have made a name for myself!"

"That wasn't quite what I meant." Still, now he wondered. When he was at his lowest point, he had all sorts of bad opinions of himself, so if he had made something like a time capsule and found it then, it would really not have mattered what he wrote or how he meant it as a kid, would it? He would just have seen it as a reminder of what had been lost.

Then again, if he had a time capsule now, he would take it a lot better. It all depended on who he was and what he did to become himself, not what he put in this imaginary box.

"Hello, campers, guess who's back!" David's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Seems like everything is in order here."

Steven stood and nodded nervously. "Y-yeah, I tried?"

"I am really sorry for leaving you alone for so long, I had no idea Gwen just left her post. Again."

"Um, yeah, she went after that boy from earlier, uh-"

"Max?" David sighed. "I know, they are at the counselor's cabin. Gwen wanted to talk to you, by the way."

"Alright then, what about?"

"I believe it was about the-"

"-ing career paths at THIS AGE?!" was suddenly shrieked across the clearing. David was off to investigate immediately.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry!" he hastily apologized before sprinting over to where …Space Kid (?) was standing with two other kids.

"Okay," Steven mumbled. "Guess I'll see you later." He waved to the four other kids.

As he munched on his last slice of pizza, Steven reached for some napkins to get his hands clean so he would be good to read through the files Gwen had given him.

When he had returned to the cabin, Gwen had been sitting at her desk sorting some papers, while Max sat on the floor reading a manuscript of some sort. Gwen had quickly and quietly told him to read through her – and, reluctantly, David's – notes on the campers, as well as the manuscript. Also, she advised him not to do so in the cabin, with a meaningful look at Max, who had stopped reading and was fixing him with a glare.

She also mentioned that he should get a pizza as long as he was still not required to stay on the campgrounds 24/7.

Otherwise, he was free to spend the rest of the day however he liked, though she had asked him to be back by 9 pm so she could get both David and Quartermaster together and introduce everyone. Tomorrow would be his first actual working day.

So for now, he had driven the 30-minute drive to the nearest pizza place, had eaten his pizza, and was ready to tackle the papers he'd been given once he got back to his car. Steven paid for his food and left the little diner. It was now nearly 1 pm.

Getting settled in on the backseat of the Dondai and reached for the notes he left there. On the top of the stack were copies of enrollment forms, which had the child's name, age and the activity they were signed up for. There was also room for an emergency contact and notes, which or the paper on the top was a list of allergies. Seemed like a kid named Neil was allergic to sauerkraut.

He went through the papers and tried to commit them to memory. Neil was signed up for Science Camp, Ered for Extreme Sports Camp. He found that with fifteen, she was the oldest of the kids at the camp. The kids he met earlier were signed up for Art Camp, Theatre Camp and Magic Camp respectively. Someone named Nikki was there for Adventure Camp and another Neil for Space Camp. Was that the kid the other four had called Space Kid earlier? Steven paused when he flipped the page over. The last page was barely filled out, only a hastily scribbled first name 'Max' and age on the paper and a phone number that was written in different handwriting the only thing in the contact information.

As Steven began to read the notes of the counselors, he recognized it as David's handwriting. His notes on the kids were pretty straightforward, though Steven did wonder at some point what may have escaped the counselor's notice. Maybe he just got to know them at a bad time, but Harrison had not really seemed like 'an upbeat camper' to him. At least, he thought that the notes might be on Harrison, seeing as both he and Nerris were nicknamed as Magic Kid in most of the notes. At least now Steven knew where Space Kid's nickname must have come from.

What he found in Gwen's notes highly differed from what David had written down. According to her, the kids were a pain. Her notes warned a great deal of Neil – the Science one, apparently – Nikki and Max, who had a tendency to cause trouble just for the sake of chaos, run away from camp or try and burn the camp down. Those were the harshest of her notes, but she wasn't that happy with Space Neil either and her notes on Nurf made him look like a criminal that just got out of jail. In David's notes, the boy had been described as having a great self-awareness and a behavior that was a great improvement from how it was when he first got to camp.

All in all, the counselor's notes were contradicting at best and concerning at worst. Taking a break before reading the manual, Steven decided to call Connie and let her know how it went. He might as well take some time to call Lars as well to take a raincheck on the next space hangout. Possible the next few of them, actually. And he felt like he should at least let his therapist know he found something, too.

After leaving a quick message for Mrs. Jambel, he video-called Connie. The reception here was a lot better than at the camp, after all.

"Hey Connie!"

"Hi, how did it go?" she greeted with a smile.

"Pretty good, I think. I got the job!" he returned Connie's smile.

"That's great! How is it?"

"Well, I start properly tomorrow. I did end up watching the kids there for a short while. They were kind of struggling with this activity they were doing. Have you ever made a time capsule?"

Connie hummed thoughtfully. "I think I might have at some point? Maybe in school? I don't really remember."

"Those kids were pretty worried about the whole thing. They kept saying they would end up disappointing themselves."

Connie made a slight face. "That sounds a little rough. What kind of camp is it?"

"Huh?"

"I mean what do they do? Is it more of a sports camp or a creative camp? Or just a backpacking camp?"

"Um, I actually don't know? I got the kids enrolment forms to look over, and they are all signed up for different activities."

"Really?" Connie raised a brow. "That sounds interesting. What activities do they do?"

Seven relayed the list he had put together from the enrolment forms.

"That's a lot of different things. But I wonder why they would have someone from a boot camp in the same place as science and theatre. That's usually the kind of thing bullies go for."

"What is boot camp?"

"Oh, the uh, the behavioural correction camp. It's usually called boot camp. And…" Connie bit her lip and hesitated.

"What?" he urged her on.

"Boot camps are militant and downright physically abusive." She mumbled. "They operate under the assumption that delinquency has to be beaten out of the kids that go there."

Steven frowned. "That… I don't know, that doesn't sound right. Should I keep an eye out for him?"

Connie had a far-off look of thinking hard about something. After a while, she groaned. "Ugh, I guess? This could go either way. Maybe they aren't actually running a boot camp parallel to magic and art and theatre and what-not," she sighed. "I don't know. Just watch out for yourself first, okay? If you get anything new on that situation, just call me and I'll do my best to help out."

Steven nodded slowly. After a long pause he asked her about her day, which started a more pleasant course of conversation. Seeing as it was nearing the end of the semester, she was actually swamped with work for her classes. Admittedly, he could not hope to keep up with her in academicals matters anymore. He still appreciated that Connie took her time and explained things to him. She once said it helped her too, to say the things she learned out loud. Explaining it to someone else in her own words made it easier to remember for later.

"So, do you think I could pop by on Sunday?"

Steven shrugged. "Don't know yet, I think I work there all day? I can ask for a break I guess."

Connie smiled. "I'm sure you'll get one. Just text me if I can't come over. …Actually, text me whether I can come over too."

Steven laughed. "Don't worry, I was planning to."

Connie was looking at something off to the side and sighed. "I'd love to talk longer, but it's almost been an hour now-"

"It has?!" Steven sat upright in shock and checked the clock. "Oh wow. I still need to finish some reading and drive back." And he needed to call Lars about their space-hangout.

"Seems like we're both busy for now." Connie smiled and then blew him a kiss.

With a soft smile and butterflies in his stomach, Steven pressed a closed fist to his chest. "I love you."

"Love you too. See you soon!"

"Bye!"

A short moment later, Steven had dialled Lars' phone number and was waiting for the 'beep' to sound so he could leave a message. From home, he could have called Lars' shop directly, but since he had made sure to leave everything 'gem' at home, they had to make due with voicemails and text messages that only arrived days later. Likely, Lars would only hear this message once he arrived on earth for their meet-up.

"Hey Lars! I'm really sorry about this, but I need to take a raincheck on our hangout. I am kind of… taking a break from the road trip, and I got a part-time job. And it's kind of an all-day kind of thing, so I don't know yet if or when I'm allowed to get away for a while. I'll call you when I get more information, okay? I hope to see you soon!"

The drive back was uneventful, but it was now approaching evening. The sun might not have been setting yet, but most of the day was over. Steven ended up sitting down in the mess hall to read the big folder. He was a little perturbed by the old man grumbling to himself in the back room, but managed to mostly tune it out after a while.

As Gwen had said, the first ten pages were actually really helpful. And, at times, frighteningly familiar. There was a lot of problem solving involved in being a camp counsellor. He read through some examples of issues a counsellor might have with the kids, from homesickness to acting out. When he turned the last page of that section of the folder, there was still a lot more left. Seeing as the next page was sheet music, he started flipping through the pages to find more to read.

The entire rest of the folder was songs.

Steven flipped the pages back to the first one. After a moment of reading over the notes, he hummed a couple of the tunes. He checked the time once more. It was a little after 3 pm. He left the folder on the table and quickly walked over to where he had parked his car. After some rummaging around, he got out his guitar. While he had wanted to travel lightly, making music again had been too much fun to not take along an instrument. Within no time, he had returned to the mess hall and started playing a couple of the songs in the folder.

He must have lost track of time, because at some point he flipped the last page of the folder. Baffled, Steven blinked down at the back cover of the folder. Had he really just spent – he checked his phone – nearly three hours making music? Stars, he had to look for Gwen. Probably.

He closed the folder and went back to the counselor's cabin. However, it seemed like noone was inside. He left his guitar and he folder on the bed that was going to be his, then left the cabin again to look for the others. It was a lot more quiet now, and for a moment he felt like everyone else had just vanished. Then he heard some noise from somewhere and went to find the source of it.

A path led away from the cabin and mess hall towards the lake. It seemed like raised voices were coming from there and Steven quickened his steps. After only a short walk, he could clearly identify Gwen's voice and he was able to see flames peeking flickering. Thinking of a forest fire, he started running off the path, only to come up behind a bush to find a couple of torches positioned around a large hole in the ground. Pretty much everyone he had met or seen today was gathered around it.

And also, the kids were screaming too now.

"The hell it isn't! All I had to do was make one person feel better, and I couldn't even manage that!"

"How are we supposed to make sure that the future we want, is the future we want?!"

"What if I'm too extreme in the future?"

"What's got two thumbs and a box full of treasury bonds?"

The man that had just jumped out of the bushes was someone new. Steven was glad something stopped these kids from spiraling any further but damn… These kids did not seem to be doing all that well.

"Come on! I'm set for life!" the new guy broke the silence his appearance had caused. "Again!"

"Oh, Mr. Campbell, you have to help," David near begged. "Tell them they're all worrying over nothing! No one's going to end up a failure in life."

Steven suppressed a laugh, but the new guy – Campbell? Wasn't that the name of the camp? – did laugh outright at that statement.

"Kids, of course, you're all going to fail!"

Panicked screaming was the answer. Alright, he could have phrased that better.

"For Christ's sake, will you stop screeching?!" Mr. Campbell sighed. "Failure is unavoidable, like going to a baseball game and then remembering baseball is terrible. The fact of the matter is, most of you likely won't end up where you want to be in the future."

"I fucking knew it!" yelled one of the kids.

"Will you stop?" Mr. Campbell shouted back. "Here's the thing. You've got to take your failures and make something out of them! Take Camp Campbell for instance. A lot of poor decisions went into making this place what it is today. Sure, somewhere along the line it maybe strayed from its path. Not living up to the camp it wanted to be. At some point, the camp realized that the camp would never reach the end of its path until it was ready or until it gave up! So, if the camp wanted to keep embezzling money and dealing with foreign powers, so be it!"

What the stars was this camp? Steven started to severely regret not backing out earlier. Was this why Gwen had been like that?

"But, at some point, it didn't anymore. I never saw this coming, but I'm starting to think this camp is the best it's ever been."

Okay then, he was pretty sure now that the whole 'the camp' thing was a metaphor. So if he was hearing this right, there used to be shady dealings, but there weren't anymore?

"Woah, I had no idea this camp had so many complex emotions." A deep voice among the children commented.

"So maybe there's no need to rush anything. Sorry Gwen." Steven heard Max say.

"Yeah, well, I guess dusting off some of those writing samples could make for some good practice," Gwen replied.

Then a girl amongst the group spoke up. "Maybe the time capsules aren't scary commitments to the future, but are actually just proof of how we've grown since childhood."

"Or maybe they're a fucking waste of energy." The boy next to her cut in. "All in favor of striking this camp activity from the roster forever?"

Within a few seconds, every camper had raised their hand, and the kid who had made the suggestion had grabbed a torch and thrown it into the hole along with his box, which the other kids followed up by tossing their boxes into the growing fire as well.

Steven hadn't been this confused so many times in one day for a long time. Not only was it such an offhand way to treat a realization like that, no kid that age should be using that sort of language! Did kids really start swearing this early?

"-my god! What have I done!!?" Mr. Campbell's panicked scream pulled his attention back to him just in time to see him trying to lunge into the fire. David had reacted first and was holding him mostly in place. Steven came out of the bushes, but Gwen and even the two oldest campers had also come to hold him off. Then, next to Steven, Preston fainted.

It was hectic. Steven took a deep breath and decided to sit down next to Preston. It seemed like Mr. Campbell was – sort of – calming down at least. As Gwen and the two oldest Campers backed away, David led the man back towards the mess hall.

"Alright everyone, show's over." Gwen sighed. "Everyone go get dinner." While the campers began to move away, she took a shovel and looked down at the dying fire. Then Steven moved to stand up and the startled. "Jesus! How long have you been here?"

Steven shrugged. "I heard yelling, so I came to check if something was wrong." He picked up Preston. "Uh, he fainted."

Gwen pinched her nose. "Yeah, he does that sometimes. Just…" she threw a shovel of dirt on the last of the flames. "Let's get him to his tent."

She led the way back to the mess hall and then down another path Steven had not yet seen. A couple of tents were set up around a clearing and there was a spot for a campfire roughly in the middle.

"Over here." Gwen gestured him over to one of the tents and pulled back the flap. "He's the bed in the back."

"When does he usually wake up?" Steven asked as he put down the boy on the cot.

"Eh, give him ten minutes and he'll be having dinner with us."

"Um, alright then?" Steven hesitated, but then followed Gwen back to the mess hall.

Maybe he should have bailed after all. He grimaced at the thought, but also begrudgingly accepted that he might have to bite into the figurative lemon and tell Gwen he might not be a good fit for the job after all. Steven was not going to let himself get pulled into something bad for his mental health, especially not around children.

They entered the mess hall, where everyone was chattering and eating their dinner. Steven followed Gwen's lead and got a bowl of what looked like some kind of potato and veggie stew.

"Now, excuse me." Mr. Campbell suddenly stood in front of him. "This is not a soup kitchen. Who are you?"

"I hired him, he's a counselor." Gwen waved the other man off.

"Hah! With what money?" he leaned in to whisper. "Seriously, what money are you using for this."

"The camps money." Gwen shot him a look and something in her tone told Steven there was an unspoken reminder somewhere in there.

"Ah. Well, I suppose you are right, Gretchen." Mr. Campbell's voice was louder now and Steven noticed that some of the kids were now looking over to them. "So what's your name, young man?"

"It's Steven."

"Welcome to Camp Campbell!"

"Is he seriously staying?" a boy asked. He was sitting next to Max and Steven recognized him as the one who had suggested burning the time capsules.

"Yes he is!" David replied from where he was sitting. "Everyone say hi to our new co-co-counselor!"

"As if," Max commented. "I'm sure he'll be running off in the middle of the night."

"I'll bet he'll last at least a day." Harrison countered. All of the sudden, every camper was betting on how long Steven would stay.

"Come on." Gwen pulled him over to where David was eating his dinner. Steven saw from the corner of his eye that Max was pocketing money from the other campers betting. It was surreal, in a way. And concerning, seeing as from what he could make out, not one camper had bet on longer than a week.

"Should I be worried?" Steven asked Gwen.

"Of course not!" David replied for her.

"Maybe," She shrugged. "Max might try something tonight, soo…" she looked at David in question.

"I can do some rounds tonight, don't worry. I'm sure he wouldn't try messing with the counselors' cabin."

Gwen's look said 'fat chance', but she kept quiet and ate her stew.

It wasn't the best, to be honest, but Steven was glad it was vegetarian at least. David finished first and started herding the kids off to bed, while Gwen and Steven finished up their dinner.

"Okay," Gwen said seriously when she put her spoon into the empty bowl. "I feel bad not being honest, but I gotta lay it down hard, kid."

Steven furrowed his brow, suddenly worried.

"This camp was designed to be a scam. The kids are horrible and rob us of our nerves daily. I had about as much experience as you have when I started here and I don't want you to get steamrolled on your first day. Did you read the manual and our notes?"

Steven nodded. "I have a question. What is with Nurf's activity? Why is he here?"

Gwen grimaced. "Yeah, he was sent here for boot camp. But-" she quickly said. "like I said, this camp is a scam. No one gets what they actually want, we just do our best to make it seem like it was what they signed up for. In Nurf's case…" she grimaced. "We tried a bunch of psychology stuff and I guess some of it stuck?" she shrugged and averted his eyes. "I mean," she laughed. "Look at David, do you seriously think he'd be okay with a camper getting hurt even on accident?"

Steven shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't really talked to him much today."

"Sorry about that."

"I can just talk to him tomorrow. I just needed to ask about the whole 'behavioral correction camp' thing. My girlfriend pointed it out to me and I was a little worried. And… thank you for at least being honest?" he smiled weakly. "I was starting to wonder what I got myself into."

"I just want to say a couple of things. Max is Satan. Seriously, that kid is way too manipulative for his age, so just be aware of that. Nikki and Neil follow him almost everywhere and it's very likely you'll soon see the three of them trying to cause mayhem. David usually manages to keep them from getting seriously hurt, but someone needs to watch the rest of the campers."

"So they basically need one counselor all by themselves?"

"Pretty much. Then of the kids that are left, Nerris or Space Kid often happen to wander off out of sheer stupidity or try to eat rocks or something."

Steven laughed.

"I'm serious, Space Kid did try to eat rocks. Several times," she stressed.

"Oh."

"The rest of them usually stay in place, but if Ered is trying to do something cool, she might wander off as well. However, she is actually old enough to handle herself most of the time. Nurf is doing admittedly not bullying as much as he used to anymore, so that is one thing less to worry about with the rest of them. Which only leaves Harrison to look out for."

"What about him? He seemed pretty normal when I talked to him."

"I don't know how he does it, but the boy is obsessed with illusions and magic tricks. On occasion, something just happens that he caused. And that could be anything."

Steven hummed thoughtfully. "Soo, essentially every camper theoretically needs their own counselor."

Gwen forced a weak laugh. "Heh, yeah. I think we'd need around five for this group of kids."

"Aren't there two other adults here? Mr. Campbell and that old guy?"

"You don't want either of them around the kids." Gwen sighed. "Quartermaster keeps the grounds in order and makes sure we have food but try to keep interaction with him to a minimum," she shuddered. "And Campbell is here for his community service. And he still frequently manages to turn activities into some sort of child labor."

Steven frowned. He remembered going over the topic of child labor and child soldiers in therapy. His opinion of Campbell had just taken a big dive.

"So it's really just you two." He mumbled.

"I really hope having a third person here is going to make things a little easier."

"What if I don't do a good job?" Steven asked.

Gwen shrugged. "You'll be fired. But I'm sure you'll do fine and I promise you won't get fired over a little chaos happening," She joked. "That reminds me, there are a couple formalities still. We get five vacation days, one for each week. Just talk with us if before taking it, so we can arrange who gets to leave this dump when, okay?"

Something here didn't quite fit, but it left his mind as quickly as he noticed it.

"That's great! My girlfriend and I had a meeting planned, so I wanted to ask about that anyway. It's good to know we can still meet up."

"Sure, just make sure you go somewhere else for your date," Gwen smirked.

"Of course." Steven smiled back.

The two of them shut off the lights in the mess hall and Gwen locked it up before heading back to the cabin. Steven remembered he still had to get his suitcase from the car and was just pushing it under the bed when David mentioned his guitar.

"Yeah, my dad used to be a musician. He taught me how to play."

"Really?" Gwen asked. "What's his stage name?"

Steven sighed. "Mr. Universe."

"Hm, sorry, never heard of him." She paused. "Wait, isn't your last name-"

"He had it changed." Steven rolled his eyes, another sigh accompanying his answer.

"Oh, sorry." Gwen grimaced. He shrugged.

"He works as a manager now. A few people knew him back in Delmarva, but it's really not a bad thing that you never heard of him."

Gwen laughed. "I get that. Really. It's kind of the same with my dad." She glanced at David. "Just please don't break out into song all the time?"

Steven laughed. "Don't worry. I'll give you a warning."

A quiet jingle distracted them and David shut off an alarm on his phone.

"I'll be off now!" David said. "Gotta make sure everyone is staying in their tents, after all."

"See ya." She pulled out a drawer of her bedside table and pulled out some clothes. "Uhh," she paused. "Right. Listen, normally after David goes out to do his rounds, I get ready for bed, so I gotta kick you out for a bit."

Steven had wondered how to live in a small cabin like this with two other people. On that note, he didn't even know where the bathroom was, wither. "Alright. Just one question? Where is the bathroom?"

"There are two outhouses, one by the activities field and one at the amphitheatre. Bathrooms are past the campers' tents, one for the boys and one for the girls and there's another toilet in the mess hall. Which clogs up all the time, so use that one sparingly. I'd suggest the campers' one, it's by far the cleanest."

"What about showers?"

"There's one in each of the bathrooms."

"Okay then." Steven paused as he was collecting his bathroom things. "Wait, where do I get changed?"

Gwen paused, like she hadn't thought of that. "I'll just not look. Don't worry, I'm not interested in kids."

Steven left after that and walked down the path to the campers' tents in silence. It was getting darker now, but he could still make out David down one of the other paths when he was passing the mess hall. The camper's tents were all silent and he hurried past as quietly as possible.

The bathroom was not the worst he'd ever been in, but also far from a good one. He locked the door behind him with a little hook that was put into a ring on the doorframe. As Gwen had said, it was a toilet and a shower along with a sink, all crammed into a small hut.

He had to flush the toilet several times and ended up washing himself with the help of the sink rather than the shower. At least he had figured out an efficient way to do so when Peridot was occupying his bathroom.

When he returned, Gwen was actually already asleep, so he changed as quickly and silently as he could before putting his things back into his trunk and getting into bed. He checked to make sure his alarm was still on for the next day, then got settled in properly to sleep.