Daniel sat silently on one of the benches near the Camp stage, staring off into space and frowning. A few days had gone by since David had made him get some rest, by very embarrassing means and Daniel was now trying to change his sleeping patterns. He didn't want to make David worry. He still had a few nightmares here and there, but David's concern made him want to get better. Today was Saturday, aka free day. All the campers were doing their own things, hanging out with their groups or by themselves while Daniel zoned out on a bench. Normally Daniel would stay in his room on free days, but David suggested for him to go outside and try to get to know the campers in hopes of making friends with them. The blonde would've attempted to reject the idea, but David looked so overjoyed about the suggestion and he really didn't want to make him upset. So the man went along with it and tried to get to know the campers...It went about as well as you'd think it did.
As he expected, the campers wanted nothing to do with him. When Daniel tried engaging with them, he would either get angry remarks or just straight up ignored. Now he just sitting by himself and staring into space. Maybe he could just tell David that this wasn't working? No! He didn't want to annoy him. Maybe...he could lie? No! He didn't want to take advantage of David's trust. David was the only friend he had, he didn't want to ruin that. He sighed in frustration as he thought over his options. What should he do? He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. As he continued to think, the sound of shouting caught his attention. Daniel's head shot up to see what the source was. Harrison and Nerris stood in front of Nerris' tower, yelling and making angry gestures at each other, obviously arguing again. "You're nothing but a street performer Harrison! An annoying street performer!" Nerris shouted, her words slightly slurred due to her braces. Harrison looked very offended by that and quickly retorted; "At least a street performer can make money! Have fun making any money with your dragons and elves!"
Nerris gasped over dramatically and glared harshly at the annoyed looking Harrison. "You know what Harrison!? You can kindly fuck off!" She shouted. "With pleasure!" Harrison yelled back at her, before stomping off in the direction of the stage. He let out a huff and sat down in the grass. Daniel watched as the young man grabbed the top hat from off his head and glared at it. He looked the hat over with a critical eye, as though there was something wrong with it, then he let out an aggravated shout and tossed the hat away from him. It landed in the grass in front of Daniel. The blonde man frowned at the hat, then looked from it to Harrison, who had pulled his legs to his chest and buried his head in his knees. He felt a pang of sympathy for the young man. He was clearly upset and, from the look he gave his hat, had some pent up feelings that he didn't quite know how to get out. Grabbing the hat from off the ground, Daniel stood from the bench he was seated on and made his way over to the boy sitting on the ground.
"Hey," Daniel kept his voice leveled and calm as to not startle or upset the boy more. "I think this belongs to you." Harrison lifted his head from his knees and stared up at Daniel, who had taken a seat next to him on the ground. Slowly, the young brunette accepted the hat, still staring at it as though it had wronged him in some way. "Thanks…" The blonde looked to the hat, then back to Harrison. "Nerris really got to you, didn't she?" The younger male's grip tightened on the top hat and he nodded his head angrily. "Yes! No matter what tricks I do, she always disses them, makes fun of me and claims that she is the more magical camper!" He exclaimed, only to then let his voice die down to a whisper. "I already know that I suck at this, she doesn't need to make it worse." That really caught Daniel's attention. Harrison thinks he sucks at magic? But that makes not sense. From what Daniel had observed, the young man was very talented when it came to magic.
He'd seen the boy do things that he didn't even think was possible. Why would he possibly think that he was bad at magic? "What do you mean?" He asked. Harrison didn't look up from the hat, but Daniel could see his face fall. "I was sent to this camp because...I made my brother disappear and I couldn't bring him back." Daniel blinked in surprise. He was not expecting that answer. "How did you do that?" Harrison finally lifted his head, showing his broken look. "That's just it, though! I don't know how I did it! I just read about the trick in a book and I wanted to practice it on my brother," He paused. "But when I made him disappear, I couldn't figure out how to bring him back. My parents haven't really spoken well of me since then and sent me here because of that." Harrison let his eyes fall back on the hat. "Now whenever I mess up, Nerris or the others are right behind me, pointing it out and making fun of me." He mumbled dejectedly.
Daniel didn't know how to respond for a few moments, he was honestly not expecting any of that. He couldn't really imagine a child going through anything like that at all, especially his parents not speaking well of him. For a minute he was reminded of his own childhood. He was reminded of his parents, how he was forced into the cult at a young age, how when they got upset with him they would-! Daniel quickly blocked out the memories before he became too far gone, he was here to help Harrison, not feel bad about himself. "I wouldn't take what Nerris or the other children say to heart, children...can be cruel and they often say things that they don't mean. Nerris will come around, I'm sure of it." Daniel reached out and patted Harrison on the shoulder. "When you put two people with similar interests in one place together, there will be competition. I doubt she'll kept this up forever." Harrison stared up at Daniel with wide eyes, not knowing how to respond. Daniel caught on and gently pushed the boy's top hat towards him.
"Now, why don't you try some magic with that hat of yours. I've heard you're good at it." For a minute Harrison did nothing, then a smile made its way onto his face. "Sure! Do you like cats?" The young man shifted so that he was sitting on his knees, reached into his hat, but he pulled out a rabbit, not a cat. "Or, uh, rabbits?" Daniel laughed a bit and smirked down at Harrison. "Seeing as I'm allergic to cats, I'm fine with the rabbit. Rabbits are sweet animals." Harrison gently handed the rabbit to Daniel, who let the little creature rest in his lap. Silence filled the area for a little bit while Daniel rubbed the little rabbit's back. Then Harrison broke the silence. "You know...Max says that we shouldn't trust you, he keeps telling us that you're just putting up an act and that you're going to turn on us…" Daniel winced but he managed to keep his face even. He prayed that Harrison hadn't seen it.
"But...I don't think that's true. You've been trying to get to know us and you haven't tried anything since you got here. You're actually trying to be nice." He smiled up at the older blonde. "And you did just make me feel better." Daniel stared at the boy in shock for a minute, then a smile slowly crept its way onto his face. "I'm glad to see that someone trusts me. You're not a pretty bad kid yourself." Harrison smirked. "Also, it was pretty funny to watch David pick you up and carry you out of the mess-hall a few days ago." Daniel's face flushed bright red in embarrassment as he tried to reply, only succeeding in making Harrison laugh more. And that's where Daniel spent his day, talking with Harrison and watching him do magic tricks. Little did either of them know, a certain boy in a blue hoodie was watching them from afar.
Later, when lunch came around, Daniel sat with Gwen and David. He and David talked about their day while Gwen silently read a book next to them. Daniel brought up the fact that he had befriended Harrison much to David's excitement. The brunette began asking the blonde many questions, making Daniel laugh and roll his eyes. David was such an easily overjoyed man, but Daniel was glad he made him happy. And for once, Daniel himself was happy. Amazing how a day could start out so dull and become so good over time. Then suddenly, the sound of shouting caught the attention of the three counselors and they each looked over in the direction of the commotion. "Why would you become friends with him!?" Max's voice cut through the air like a knife, making everyone in the vicinity turn to stare at him. "Because he's nice, Max!" Harrison yelled, glaring daggers at the younger male and leaning forward on the table he was previously sitting at. "Nice!? That crazy cultist tried to fucking kill us, Harrison!" Max swore angrily, he couldn't believe that Harrison would be dumb enough to befriend Crazy Cult Daniel!
"He helped me today, Max! I was feeling like shit, he was nice and cheered me up! No one's ever done that for me! He's trying to change!" He argued, gesturing to the blonde sitting in shock at a nearby table. "This is all a fucking act! I told you before that he's just going to turn around and kill you like he was going to in the first place, what are you going to do then, dumbass?!" Max shouted. "He's not going to! I know he won't!" Max growled at the other boy and opened his mouth to continue the argument, but he was cut off by David, who had finally snapped from his stunned silence. "That's enough!" David quickly crossed the room to the hooded boy. "Max, if Harrison wants to be friends with Daniel, that's his decision, not yours." He scolded, albeit in his soft, David-y way. The rolled his eyes and threw out a; "Don't come bitching to me when I turn out to be right, Harrison." before being ushered back to his table that Nikki and Neil were seated at. Harrison stuck his tongue out at the cynical ten year old, then sat down with a huff and continued to eat his lunch.
David came back to the table and sat back down. "Now that's over, let's get back to our conversation Daniel!" The brunette beamed, his happy attitude returning quite quickly. "...Daniel?" The blonde wasn't paying attention, he was too shocked about what just occurred. He glanced at Max for a brief moment and earned a glare from the young man. His bright blue eyes, then landed on Harrison, who was still fuming over the situation. He seemed genuinely upset about what Max had said. Daniel thought over the whole situation and the shock inside him slowly turned into amazement. Harrison just stood up for him. It was in that moment that the full realization that Daniel had actually befriended someone that wasn't David hit him and it left him in a complete state of surprise. Wow. "Daniel, are you okay?" David's question snapped him out of his silence and he turned back to him. "Yeah…" Daniel began, a small smile making its way onto his pale face as his eyes made their way back to Harrison, who was now talking with Preston. "I'm...I'm just fine, David. Just fine."