A/N: This is my shiny new idea… I hope you like it! Review!!! The more reviews I get the faster I update! This chapter may drag a bit, because it’s really long and just introducing the characters. Also, this is SLASH. You have been warned.

Chapter One: School’s Out for the Summer!

In cottage country, way out in the woods and along a dirt road, there is a summer camp. A large sign reads ‘Sunshine Summer Camp: A place where kids can grow.’ Up at the top a hill is the lodge. At the beginning of one summer, twenty-two people sat in a circle up at the lodge on dirty, yellow plastic chairs. A dozen of them wore yellow shirts with the camp logo and their counselor names, but the other ten wore everyday clothes.

One of them, who had ‘admin’ written on her shirt, along with the name ‘Quoise’, was clutching a clipboard and pen. She was cheerful-looking, about mid-thirties, with a big smile and brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.

“Welcome!” She chirped, “To our new counselors. And of course, welcome back to those of you who we met last year.” She looked happily around at the other eleven people wearing the counselor shirts. “This,” She pointed to the person on her right, a woman with short red hair who was also wearing an admin shirt, except hers bore the name ‘Pups’. “Is my assistant, Pups. I am of course the camp administrator, Quoise. Now we are going to meet all you wonderful new boys who are trying to turn your lives around. It’s strange we got an all-boy batch this year, but it’s wonderful that you are all on the road to recovery from your various hardships. You are also going to be given your camp names! Isn’t that exciting?”

She grinned around at the people in casual dress, from whom she received halfhearted agreement. “Now, you all know the special thing about this camp is that every one of our counselors had a tough life and managed to turn it around by helping out here. All of you has done something wrong, lost someone close to you, been violated in some way, suffered some sort of physical ailment, had family problems, etcetera. You are here to recover from that.”

Pups started talking. “Alright. We’re going to go around the circle, and you will state your first name and why you are here. Then we’ll work on a new name for you, your camp name. First I’ll say how I got my name, so that you can all help out. Ok, I hate cats, so from hating cats we got dog. From dog we got puppy, and from puppy we got Pups. It was pretty easy for me, but for some people it’s really difficult.” She pointed at the nearest new counselor. “Let’s start with you.”

“Uh, hi. My name is Gabriel and I just turned sixteen in April. I’m a recovering anorexic and bulimic.” Gabriel was fairly tall, with chin-length straggly blond hair that nearly obscured his light brown eyes puppy-dog eyes. He was very gaunt and pale, and was wearing baggy clothes.

“Hi, Gabriel!” Quoise said sweetly. “What do you like to do?”

He pondered a moment. “Other than be skinny?”

Quoise nodded. “You are terribly thin dear. And your clothes are too big. Do you have any hobbies?”

“I like to paint. And I’m not thin! I’m overweight and fat! My clothes are baggy because I don’t want people to see how fat I am!” He crossed his arms over his chest moodily.

“So you like to paint. What does painting remind everybody of?”

“Michelangelo?” Said one of the counselors.

“Michelangelo has angel in it. What can we get from angel?”

“Wings?” Another counselor piped up.

“Very good. Now let’s speed this up. After someone says what the last thing reminded them of, you just say what the thing they said reminded you of. Wings-pilot.”

“Pilot-airplane.”

“Airplane-the movie Airplane.”

“Movie Airplane-William Shatner.”

“William Shatner-Spock.”

“Spock-Vulcan.”

“Vulcan-motorcycle.”

“Motorcycle-bike.”

“Bike-wheel.”

“Wheel-spokes.”

“Spokes-spook.”

“Spook-Casper the ghost.”

“Casper-cartoon.”

“Cartoon-toon, which I think is a good name.” Said Pups. “Gabriel, would you like to be Toon?”

Gabriel shrugged. “Sounds good to me.” Quoise scribbled it down on her clipboard.

“Now, who’s next?” Quoise directed her gaze onto the next new counselor.

“Hi. I’m Dan. I’m sixteen and I just got out of juvie. I was there because I beat the shit out of this kid who pissed me off and he was in the hospital in crit for two weeks.” Dan flicked his straight, shaggy black hair out of his hard navy eyes. He was very muscular, and many tattoos showed on his well-developed arms. He had most of his hair in a short ponytail, but the shorter pieces in the front had escaped and hung messily in his face.

“Well, it’s wonderful that you’re trying to turn yourself around Dan. What do you like to do?”

He grunted. “I play guitar. Sometimes I sing. I like fire also.”

“Fire-smoke.”

“Smoke-haze.”

“That wasn’t to difficult. Haze sounds like an excellent name.”

“Sure. Why not.” Dan flipped the hair from his eyes again as Quoise put down the information.

“Alright. Next?”

The next boy was slightly more cheerful-looking than the rest. He had chest-length ginger hair that was in soft, loose ringlets, and light blue eyes that sparkled with happiness. “My name is Desmond, but most people call me Des or Dizzy. Dizzy is kind of my nickname. I have a rare blood disease, hemophilia, that makes it difficult for my blood to clot. I have meds I can take that help though.”

“Well, I think Dizzy is a good enough name as it is. Do you agree?”

Des smiled. “I definitely like it better than my real name.” Quoise jotted it quickly down before turning to the next boy.

“And what is your name?”

“Theo. I have multiple personality disorder, and am fragmented into about a dozen different personalities. I don’t remember things that happened when my other personalities are in my body, so I don’t know why I am the way I am. My doctor told me it was a release for when something bad was happening to me. One personality takes over, so the others don’t have to go through it. This is my dominant personality right now, but I can act radically different.” The young man who spoke had layered crimson hair that was about chin length, and dark green eyes. He was thin, lanky and had frameless oval glasses perched on his nose.

“Since your personalities are all different, why don’t we just call you Myx, spelt with a ‘Y’ instead of an ‘I’?” Quoise asked, tapping her pen against her clipboard.

Theo shrugged. “That’s appropriate.”

The administrator wrote it down. “Next?”

The next young man was in a wheelchair. He had straight, light brown hair that was down to his shoulders and all in his face, as well as gray eyes concealed by dark sunglasses. “I’m Chester. I was in a major car crash, with my girlfriend and two of my other friends. We were hit by a drunk driver, and I was the only one who survived.”

“That’s terrible!” Quoise gasped. “What sorts of things do you enjoy?”

He pondered a moment. “Well, going fast in my chair I suppose is fun.”

“Fast-Zip.”

“Zip-Zipper.”

“Zipper sounds good, no?” Quoise interjected.

“Cool.” Chester said casually.

“Hi!” A lyrical male voice intoned before Quoise could even say ‘next’. “My name is Hector.” As soon as he spoke, all eyes were on him, and once eyes were on him, they could not be torn away. He pouted. “I’ve always seemed to have an odd effect on people. They always ask me out on dates, and scramble to do things for me, and stare at me, and follow me around. It’s really weird.” Of course everyone in the room could see why this was. He was breathtaking. Bouncy golden hair framed his big, sparkling light blue eyes, perfect heart-shaped face, stunning smile, and lovely high cheekbones. A flawless, thin body that a model would envy was accented by flattering clothes. Everything about him was perfect. Everyone in the room wanted to date him, even if a change in sexuality was necessary to do so. “Well, one day this guy came on really strong, and he wouldn’t go away, so I started getting scared. I told him to leave me alone, but he wouldn’t go away, and then he… he…” The young man sniffed. His lip shook. “Raped me!!” He dropped his beautiful face into his hands and started to cry.

Zipper patted his back comfortingly. “That’s why you’re here for the summer, dear. To move on from your hardships.” Quoise added sympathetically. “Is there something you like to do?”

Hector looked up. “I… like to listen to music.

“That’s lovely dear. Hmm, I once did M-U-S-I-X instead of M-U-S-I-C as a typo, I think that sounds kind of neat.”

Hector nodded. “Alright.” Quoise said, scribbling it down. “Let’s get this done. Who’s next?”

“Hi!” Said a young man with wavy chin-length chestnut hair, a heavy build and almost lime green eyes.

“We’re Dashiel and Donavan!” Another young man who looked exactly like the first added.

“We’re also twins!!” They both said together.

“We normally don’t finish each other’s sentences.” Dashiel laughed.

“Not that badly, anyways.” Donavan supplemented.

“We got into this huge fight, over something that I can’t remember, a little while ago.”

“Now we’ve made up and are closer than we ever were before!”

“What would be good twin names? Tic and Tac, maybe?” Pups suggested.

They both nodded. “Mmhmm.”

“Ok. Two more to go.”

“I’m Samuel, a recovering heroin addict.” He had choppy chin-length hair that had originally been black, but was dyed blue a while ago. About an inch of the roots showed. He was thin and slightly gaunt looking, with slightly sunken oceanic blue eyes. He might have been attractive once, but years of drug and alcohol abuse had stolen most of his good looks away.

“It’s great you kicked the habit dear.” Quoise smiled. “What would be a good name for you?”

“I don’t know. There’s nothing I really like to do. I just got out of rehab, and I didn’t really do much there. When I was little I had a teddy bear I liked, but that’s about it. I’ve never been a particularly passionate person.”

“When I think about teddy bears, I think about President Roosevelt.”

“If you cut out the middle of that it’s ‘Oose’.”

“Works for me.”

Quoise wrote it down. “One more!”

The last young man had sun-in tipped hair that was a lot shorter than the rest of the boys’. He was tall and muscular, with playful green eyes. “I’m Kyle. I’m here because I’m a recovering sex junkie. My family found out because I had whole bunch of STD’s.”

“Well I hope you’re better now. What do you like?” Quoise asked kindly.

“Sex.”

Quoise looked slightly embarrassed. “Something else?”

“Other than sex? Hmm… I like horses.”

“Horse-stallion.”

“How about ‘Ion’? That sounds neat.”

“Why not.”

“Alright!” Pups said triumphantly. “Toon. Haze. Dizzy. Myx. Zipper. Musix. Tic and Tac. Oose. Ion. You will answer to only these names until summer ends.” She pulled out a list. “This is the co list. On the boy’s side, it’ll be Haze and Mud in Owl’s Hollow, Zipper and Whisp in Bear’s Cave, Tic and Tac together in Wolves’ Den, Ion and Dutch in Beaver Dam, and Timber and Exp in Hare’s Thicket.” The new counselors whose names had been called went to meet their co’s.

“On the girl’s side is Toon and Glam in Dove’s nest, Dizzy and Mink in Lynx’s Peak, Myx and Amyth in Chipmunk Hole, Musix and Wave in Otter Burrow, and Oose and Buzz in Deer Glade.” As the other new counselors met with their co’s, she gave them a final reminder. “Remember, have fun and be enthusiastic!! The more enthusiasm you have, the more fun your campers have! And last year’s counselors; look after your new co’s. They are all here to heal, just like you were once! Now go off to your cabins and unpack, because the campers arrive tomorrow!”