Work Text:
"Why are we doing this again?" asked Joel as he dumped his load of firewood by the fire.
Dana rolled her eyes as she unpacked the cooler. "Because we need practice in surviving in the wild."
Joel stared at her skeptically. "By toasting marshmallows?"
"No, that's just fun," said Dana, tossing a bag of marshmallows at him.
Carter shook his head in amusement and placed the bucket of water beside the fire. "It's also a way to get to know each other better," he said, sitting down.
Kelsey came jogging into the campsite, Chad at her heels. "We could only find three sticks that would work." She brandished them high in her left hand, grinning. Chad reached out to take them, but she kept waving them around as she talked, oblivious. "Chad's going to whittle the ends so we can stick stuff on 'em. And we really tried to find more, but it was getting dark and..."
Chad sighed and tapped Kelsey's right shoulder. She stopped talking and turned to look. Chad stepped around her left, snatching the sticks out of her hand and grinning. Dana giggled.
Kelsey blinked then rolled her eyes. "You could have just asked!"
Chad shook his head, still smiling. He pulled out a pocket knife and sat down in front of the fire, across from Carter. Joel snorted and sat down beside Carter. He leaned forward a bit and and said, "Hey, Dana. Pass me a Coke?"
"Here," said Dana, tossing him a can. Then she tossed a bag of marshmallows to Kelsey.
Kelsey opened the bag and popped one of the marshmallows into her mouth. "We have the stuff for s'mores, right?" She sat down between Joel and Chad.
Dana handed Carter a couple of packages of graham crackers and chocolate bars. Carter passed most of them to Joel, keeping one of each for himself. "Of course we do," said Dana, grinning. She sat down on Carter's other side and waggled another bag of marshmallows at him. "I'll toast the marshmallows if you stick them into the s'mores."
That could work. Carter nodded, "Sounds good to me."
"Dana," said Chad, holding out a stick to her. She took it with a grin. "Joel?" said Chad, holding out another stick.
"Thanks, man," said Joel, taking it. He stuck a marshmallow on the tip and thrust it into the fire.
Kelsey grinned, popping another marshmallow in her mouth. Chad reached for the bag and Kelsey quickly held it out of reach. Chad gave her a mock glare. She giggled. Chad sighed and handed her the last stick. "I'll let you have the first one," she said, as she took it.
"So, what should we talk about?" asked Dana, sticking a marshmallow onto her stick.
"How about the craziest thing you ever did?" said Kelsey, putting a marshmallow onto her stick and holding over the fire.
Joel snorted. "Isn't that you all the time?" Kelsey stuck her tongue out at him. He sighed. "Fine. When I was five, I ate a worm."
"...Why?" asked Chad, blinking.
"I was curious," said Joel defensively. He looked at the fire. "Woah!" He pulled the stick back, blowing at the flaming marshmallow.
"Wait, eating a worm is the craziest thing you ever did?" Dana tilted her head as she held her marshmallow to the fire. "What happened to when you jumped out the window when you were eight?"
"That was planned," said Joel, peeling off the burnt layer of his marshmallow and sticking it in his mouth. "It's crazy, but not really crazy."
Kelsey snorted and offered Chad her toasted marshmallow. "If you say so," she said. "What about you, Chad?"
"Aw!" Dana's shoulders slumped as her marshmallow fell into the fire. Carter handed her another one. "Thanks."
Chad squished his s'more together as Kelsey stuck another marshmallow onto her stick. "Uh, the craziest thing I've ever done?" He looked at Kelsey, raising his eyebrows. She nodded. "I guess it was helping wrangle one of the sharks when he needed to see the vet."
Joel blinked and sat forward. "Really?"
"That's so cool," said Kelsey. Carter grinned, nodding because it was. "How about you, Carter?"
Carter blinked, and couldn't think of anything. He shrugged. "Uh, I guess... When I agreed to be a Ranger?"
"Aw.." said Dana with a grin. She held her marshmallow to the fire. "I had this rock and roll phase when I was fifteen. I dyed my hair three different colours at once. My dad almost had a heart attack!"
Kelsey giggled. "I never really had a phase like that. But I did want to join the circus for a while."
"I bet Carter had a phase like that," said Joel, grinning at him.
"Nope," Carter said. The others gave him disbelieving looks. "Really! My first boyfriend did-" And wow, that wasn't supposed to slip out. Carter could feel his face heating up. "Um-"
"That's nothing," said Joel, blowing on his flaming marshmallow. "I used to date this girl? She took New Age to a new level. She wanted me to call her Moonstone at one point."
Kelsey raised her eyebrows. "Did you?"
"Hell, no," said Joel with a snort. "I went and hid behind Lisa until she went away."
"Who's Lisa?" asked Chad, smushing another s'more together.
"My best friend. I've known her since-"
"Ah!" Dana pulled out her marshmallow, blowing on it to try and put the fire out. She started shaking the stick up and down. "Go out!" The flame flickered out on the down swing. The stick whipped upwards and the marshmallow flew off into the woods behind Dana. They all stared after it as there was a wet smack, an indignant hooting and the flapping of wings.
Kelsey started giggling. Dana turned and glared at her. Joel snickered and Carter couldn't make himself stop grinning. Chad gave her a sympathetic smile.
"It's not funny," said Dana, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards. Kelsey snorted and leaned into Chad's shoulder, her shoulders shaking. Dana snorted. "Okay, it is. Here." She handed the stick to Carter. "You toast them, and I'll put them into s'mores."
Carter chuckled. "Okay." He stuck a fresh marshmallow on the stick and held it out to the fire.
"My best friend is in Blue Bay Harbor right now," said Kelsey, wiping at her eyes.
"What's she doing out there?" asked Dana. She started unwrapping a chocolate bar.
Kelsey stuck another marshmallow onto her stick. "She's taking over this motocross shop. Mikey, the guy who used to run it, got this chance to go to Italy for something." She rolled her eyes. "He was being really secretive about it. Kelly thinks it's a girlfriend thing."
"Lisa's still in Mariner Bay," said Joel. Carter pulled his marshmallow back from the fire and held it out to Dana. She squished it into a s'more as Joel kept talking. "Her and her son live over by Riverview. I baby sit Simon when I can."
"That's nice of you," said Dana, breaking the s'more in half and handing Carter half. "My best friends are off at college right now. Sally's in New York and I think Anne's in Germany."
"Theo's still in the city," said Chad, just as Carter took a bite of his s'more. "He runs the martial arts school on Rogers."
"Oh, I know that one," said Kelsey. "It's by the skateboarding ramps, right?"
Chad nodded.
Carter noticed that everyone was looking at him. He swallowed his mouthful. "What?"
"It's your turn, buddy," said Joel.
Oh, right. "I think Joy's in North Valley. She's been following this band called..." He had to think about it for a second. Cyberpunk nod... "Molly's Honor."
Kelsey gave him a blank look. "What?"
"They've got this cyberpunk and samurai thing," Carter shrugged. "Their name is a based on a William Gibson character." Now everyone was giving him blank looks. He concentrated on putting another marshmallow on his stick.
Joel patted him on the shoulder. "See, country? Doesn't have that problem. Lonestar, Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire. All easy to understand names." Joel grinned.
"I like Reba," said Dana, smiling.
"Fancy?" said Joel, giving her a knowing look. Carter wrinkled his nose, confused.
Dana stuck her tongue out at him. "It's a good song."
"Yes, it is," said Joel. "But it's not her ONLY song."
"Country's always so slow though," said Kelsey, biting into a s'more.
"Slow?" said Joel incredulously. "Okay, when we get back to base? I'm exposing you all to some real music."
Carter held out the toasted marshmallow to Dana and shared a grin with her. "Only if we can share our stuff too," said Dana, squishing the s'more together.
Joel let out a put upon sigh. "Alright fine."
Carter chuckled as he took the half s'more Dana handed him. He had a good team.
End.