NOTE: I did have another version of this fic, but for some reason the site kept losing it/deleting it/hating it/having trouble with it. Hopefully this version will work better, and people will actually be able to access it...ifI'm lucky.And I'm sorry to all you reviewers who took time to comment on the other one and got deleted….I love you all )

Whee! First fanfic!

Summary: When a disgruntled Sora lets his parents sign him up for a summer climbing camp, he's less than enthusiastic. But with some interesting new friends, crazy counselors, and a handsome, infuritating boy to deal with, this week might be more interesting than he thought...SoraxRiku, AxelxRoxas, AU.

spoiler alert in disclaimer if you haven't finished KHII. .

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or any of these characters. Disney and Square own Kingdom Hearts. If I owned Kingdom Hearts, however, the ending of KHII would not have been that cutsey hand-holding scene with Sora and Kairi. Instead, Sora would have grabbed his hand back immediately, shouting, "EWW! GIRL COOTIES!" Then Riku would stop frolicking in the waves with Mickey and sneak up behind him and...you get the picture.

Author's Note: This fic will contain slash (if you couldn't tell by the summary). If you don't like this, you can stop reading and go sulk in a corner with Kairi,

Reviews: This is my first fic, so reviews are greatly, greatly appreciated. Prettyplease?

And...on with the ridiculous campy fun!

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"I knew this was a good idea," Sora's mom bubbled as they drove through the placid woods of northern Maine. "I mean, just look at the scenery! All these lovely trees and flowers and things…ooh, a deer!"

"That's a bush, dear," her husband corrected, without looking up from his paper.

"Oh, well, close enough. The point is, dear, that you are going to have all sorts of fun this week. Aren't you glad we made you sign up for this little camping adventure? One last summer before you're all grown up and off to college?"

"Sure, mom," Sora sighed, staring out the window.

Dappled sunlight fell through the canopy of trees above his head as the sedan bumped along the rustic road. Eyeing the lush greenery outside the window, he wished he was back home, spending his last precious weeks of freedom with his high school friends. Instead he was being shipped off to camp like some starry-eyed fourteen year old.

But no, he simply had to spend a week in the 'fresh country air'. All because of a passing mention that he was bored back in June and a careless remark about rock-climbing. And his meddling parents. See if I buy you college sweatshirts.

As they turned onto a tiny dirt road, he reminded himself that he technically could have refused. He was eighteen, after all. But at the time, a climbing trip with a bunch of other teenagers had seemed like it could be passably fun.

But as they passed under a cheery wooden sign that said in bright yellow letters, "Camp Ares", he was beginning to deeply regret his thinking.

---

The parking lot was worse than he could have imagined. Flocks of teenagers stood in protective huddles while their parents ever-so-casually leaned against expensive cars, chatting and occasionally letting out a false, airy laughs. People who could only be camp counselors (wearing fluorescent orange shirts, no less) were beaming in a way which Sora not only thought was deeply, deeply frightening, but unlawful as well. One gave a cheery wave as the hood of the car slid past the gate; his mother gave them a sunny smile and said, "Such nice people, don't you think?"
But Sora had just caught sight of a large white banner that said "Welcome, Campers!" decorated with hearts, stars…and were those…people holding hands?

He let out an involuntary moan and buried his tousled head in his hands.

"Now don't be nervous, dearie. I'm sure you'll make friends," His mother said, reaching back to pat his spiky hair reassuringly.

His father made a noise that could have been a snort, but quickly managed to disguise it as a cough, rustling his newspaper busily as they pulled into the parking lot.

----

"I love it here already!" Sora's mom proclaimed as they walked up the grassy path to the main part of the camp, dragging Sora's extensive amount of luggage behind them. "Those counselors seemed like so much…so much fun, didn't they, Barry?"

Sora, on the other hand, was trying to repress his recent memory of being assaulted by tangerine maniacs, one of whom he could have sworn had referred to him as 'kiddo.'

"Sure, mom," he said, trying not to grit his teeth. Oh, just wait. I will go out and party every night at college for this, and make you send me money for food and drugs and…and cookies….

Still ranting inwardly, Sora was barely paying attention as they approached the large, straight-out-of-the-box Lincoln log cabin that dominated the center of the camp. All around him, green fields stretched in all directions, ending in shady forests. Everywhere they walked they passed more teenagers- most looking as grumpy as he was, Sora noted- and distraught parents. One mother was wailing loudly nearby; Sora forced his face to remain carefully blank as they passed her. What had he gotten himself into?

Inside, the main cabin was dark and shadowy, a harsh adjustment from the bright sunlight. Sora quickly joined the nearest queue, wishing this whole experience to be over already. More orange-clad counselors were prowling around the inside, smiling and extending tanned hands for parents to shake. He looked up and saw another sign; this one, to his absolute horror, had daisies as its prominent theme.

He was absurdly thankful when they reached the front of the line; at least it spared him the pain of trying to make small talk with his parents ("What a lovely sign! What a lovely tree! What a lovely block of wood!").

The woman with the ponytail looked up at him from behind her desk and asked, "Name?"

He gave it to her and watched as he cross-checked the long list in front of here. "Right, here you are. Signed up for the rock-climbing trip? You'll be heading out to in a couple of days with your group, but while you're here you'll be in Cabin 13, right across the park." She handed him a glossy map, indicating a brown square marked with the number thirteen. "You can head over there now, after you say goodbye to your parents," she said, flashing a sympathetic smile to his mother behind him.

"First time at camp?" She said, turning back to Sora.

"I'm 18," he muttered under his breath.

"Really? But you don't look…."

Not this again…." Bye mom! Bye dad!" Sora deliberately interrupted, turning and awkwardly wrapping his arms around his parents. "See you in a week!"

"Call us! Write!" His mother said dramatically, cutting of his oxygen as she threw herself around the small boy's neck. Sora gestured frantically to his father behind her back, who pulled her off quickly.

"Behave," was his dad's only comment, as dragged his wife away by the sleeve.

And then Sora was alone.

Sighing and resigning himself to a week of hell, he turned and began to walk out the door into the breezy sunlight.

"Wait! You forgot your shirt!" came a voice from behind him.

He turned, only to be blinded by something orange and cotton that came flying like a projectile into his face. Grimacing, he pulled it off and saw the words; "Camp Ares: Fun, Friendship, and Adventure!"

It was the beginning of a long day.

----

Cabin 13 turned out to be a miniature replica of the main cabin; tucked securely into a woody clearing, it was composed primarily of whole logs, a wrap-around porch, and a few warped windows dotting the outside.

Hoisting his bag onto his shoulder, Sora sighed and ducked through the shadowy entrance, inwardly bracing himself for the worst. You will get through this. If you can handle chemistry and your mother, you can handle anything…right?
But, surprisingly, the cabin was quieter than he had expected; there were a few kids wandering around looking bored, and low murmurs of conversation from behind the dozen doors that branched out from the main area. He heard a fwoosh from the rear; the bathrooms, he assumed.

Indoor plumbing. This place may not be so bad after all.

Running a hand through his messy brown locks, he approached the only adult in sight, another ginger-clad man in his twenties.

"Hi...uh…I'm Sora. They sent me here?"

"Sora…." the man muttered, running a finger down the list. "Here you are, little man! Down in the Banana room, three doors on your left."

"Banana room?"

"What, you didn't hear about the theme? Ours is fruit! It's to promote inter-cabin unity, you know. So just head on down past Pomegranate and the Mango, it's impossible to miss. And I'm Billy, by the way. Just park yourself back here when you're done unpacking!"

Where did they get these people? Woodstock?

Weakly returning Billy's sunny smile, Sora turned and scanned the rows of doors until he found the one marked, "Bananas." He pushed open the door gingerly, only to find a single-bunk room, close and plain. Sitting in a patch of sunlight was another boy, around Sora's age, with short blond hair and blue eyes. As Sora stepped into the room, his mouth curled into a sarcastic smile.

"Are you my fellow banana?"

"Deeply against my will…" Sora said under his breath, throwing his pack up onto the unoccupied bunk.

"Awe, cheer up. You know we got the best name. Think of the possibilities for sexual jokes."

Sora laughed in spite of himself. "I'm Sora."

"Roxas," said the other boy from his perch on the bed. "First time here?"

"Yeah, you?"

"No, I'm a Camp Ares veteran. I've moved up all the way from Strawberries." Roxas said dryly.

"Ouch," Sora laughed. "Tell me, does it always feel like begin warped back to fourth grade?"

"The feeling wears off eventually. If you're lucky," Roxas said, eyes twinkling.

"Thanks…I think."
Sora was just reaching for his bag to unpack when Billy stuck his head in the door. "Hey, boys! All introduced? Good, then let's skedaddle up to the main yard for some getting-to-know-you games!" He withdrew his head with a final beam, and they could hear faint strains of whistling.

Sora and Roxas looked at one another. "Like I told you…eventually." Roxas said, with a look of barely contained laughter on his face. "Well…come on. We'd better skedaddle!"

Sora couldn't resist throwing a pillow at him.

----

Tracing his path back up the main cabin actually turned out to be fun; Sora hung back with Roxas and talked, getting to know the other boy. It turned out they were very similar; they were both the only child in their family, stubborn, and incredibly sarcastic. At least one person here is sane, Sora thought ruefully, just as his group rounded the bend to take in the sight of the large, grassy field. His jaw dropped in spite of itself.

There were what seemed like hundreds of kids dotting the verdant expanse in front of him; girls, boys, and adults were milling about, laughing, talking, playing. Some had broken off into little groups; one group of boys had scrounged up a soccer ball from somewhere and had started a vicious game as some squealing pre-teens ran out of the way. The counselors were eagerly trying to set up a name game with some unenthusiastic-looking victims, and a large group of girls were in a circle giggling, playing clapping games.

Roxas followed his gaze to the squealing girls. "You want to go over there, Sora?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "It may be just me, but I didn't take you for a patty-cake enthusiast."

Sora wrinkled his nose in horror. "I'm not! Well…I mean…I know how to play and everything, but…."

At the look at Roxas' face, he shut up immediately.

"No way," he finished, firmly.

Roxas laughed, much Sora's relief. "I'm just joking with you. Paranoid much? C'mon, let's go find some of my friends."

Grabbing Sora's sleeve, he ran into the crowd, pulling the smaller boy along with him. Many people stopped to stare as they passed by, more than a few shouted, "Hey, Roxas!"

Sora was beginning to feel abjectly uncomfortable.

It seemed like forever before they made it over to the group of boys playing soccer, who paused in their game to run over and clap Roxas enthusiastically on the back. The blond boy just half-smiled and returned the welcomes, leaving Sora to hover uncomfortably on the outskirts of the crowd.

After a minute of light punching and shouts of, "It's been too long, man!" Roxas' blue eyes flashed over the scene in front of him, taking in Sora's position on the outside. The other boy was clearly too shy to introduce himself. Well, he might as well amend that. "Hey! Guys, this is Sora!" Roxas shouted over the din.

One, a blond with wild hair, turned and looked the Sora up and down, not bothering to conceal his smirk. "And how old is he? Fifteen?"

"Eighteen, actually." Sora muttered under his breath, not meeting the older boy's piercing gaze.

"Hey, lay off, Hayner. He's a friend. My fellow Banana, actually." Roxas said, playfully butting the boy in the shoulder.

Hayner snorted, rolling his eyes. "Hey, it's better than being in Tiger-Lily. I swear, a fourth grade girl named these cabins."

"And I always thought you were a Daffodil man, myself," came a female voice from behind him. He stepped aside, and Sora could plainly see the speaker; a girl, around his age, with red hair and a pretty face. Her blue eyes flashed as she took in Sora, but then her gaze traveled back to Hayner. "Are we going to play soccer, or are we going to have a deep discussion about our favorite flowers? Let's go!" She said, tossing the soccer ball she had been holding back on the ground. Hayner and the others let out a mock-battle cry and chased after her, leaving Sora standing on his own with Roxas.

"Another friend of yours?" He said, watching the girl as she expertly passed the ball down the field.

"Oh, that's Kairi. She's been around here for ages, always playing with the boys. Don't get on her bad side," Roxas said with a small grin. "She may look little, but get her mad…."
As Sora watched, she whipped the checkered ball around Hayner, 'accidentally' tripped him in the process. He landed face-down in the dirt.

"I can see that."

"Don't be scared of them. Kairi's a teddy bear. And Hayner will be challenging you to wrestling matches before nightfall." Sora looked at him, confused. "That's how you know he likes you." Roxas clarified.

Just then, a shrieking noise stopped the game. The teenagers turned to face a taller, older counselor who held a megaphone in her arms. "Ok, kiddos! Now that we're all properly introduced, let's head off to dinner and our super-special-beginning-of-summer-campfire!" She said, stopping to draw breath. "Don't be late!"

The word 'campfire' had never held a particularly happy place in Sora's mind.

"Should I be scared?" He asked Roxas as they joined the mob moving toward the main building.

"Only if you're allergic to corny songs."

Sora groaned.

----

And that's the end of chapter one! Also, just to be completely clear...this is NOT, i repeat, NOT a SoraxRoxas fic. It is also not a SoraxKairi fic, SoraxHayner fic, RoxasxKairi fic, or RoxasxHayner fic. Or any combination of the above.

Next Chapter: Who is that boy with the green eyes at the campfire? Why does Roxas hate him and his redhead friend so much? And why, for the love of god, are these counselors so insane?

Thanks for reading! Review? For hugs?