"Welcome to Picky Steve's Lock Picking Camp!" A man who looked like he was in his late twenties announced to a group of six teens sitting at the table. "We'll start off with some safe breakers to get to know each other!" Steve smiled at the teens. He called icebreakers "safe breakers" in the spirit of lock picking, which Harold found funny, but judging by the lack of response from his fellow students, it seemed like he was the only one who did, so he only allowed himself to blow air out of his nose.

"You mean ice breakers?" A girl with black and teal hair drawled.

"Safe breakers," Steve repeated in a serious tone. "Now, let's go around and say your name, birthday, and why you decided to come to camp," his voice was back to its cheerful enthusiasm. "You first," he pointed at Harold, "then you," he pointed to the girl on Harold's left, "and we'll continue around the circle."

Harold introduced himself - first and last name only, not mentioning his embarrassing middle names - and expressed his love for Steve's camps. They provided interesting and unique skills and knowledge that could come in handy at any time: what if he was stuck in a room slowly filling up with water and the only way out was through a combination lock? Birthday: February 9, 1991

Steve seemed impressed with his response, and Harold inwardly cheered. He hoped to attend more of Steve's camps in the future, so he was glad he made a good first impression.

Leshawna was next. She signed up for the camp because her cousins would often get into her snack cabinet and steal her pudding pockets, and she wanted to up her security and get back at them by stealing their snacks. Birthday: May 11, 1991

DJ was here because his momma wanted him out of the house. She wanted him to get some practical knowledge, do some hands-on work to prepare for the real world. Birthday: May 18, 1991

Duncan, the delinquent son of a police officer, signed up to, well, use the lock picking skill gained to pull pranks and commit crimes. He discussed discovering his passion for lock picking after the first time he broke the lock of some kid's bike and stole it. Duncan said he tricked his dad into agreeing by telling him it was a camp that taught people how to keep their items safe. Birthday: April 11, 1991

Gwen wanted to break into somebody from her school's locker for revenge, though she didn't say revenge for what. However, the way she talked made it seem very deserved, and that she would savor the revenge very much. Birthday: October 27, 1990

Heather, sitting on Harold's right, proudly told everyone that she wanted to pick the lock on her sister's diary and on a drawer in her mother's closet. Her sister used to have a weak lock that Heather could easily pry open with a bobby pin, but recently the lock had been changed to something more heavy duty. Birthday: November 9, 1990

"What a fine bunch of young adults!" Steve beamed. "Now that you've all introduced yourselves, you'll now have the chance to get to know each other even better. For this first exercise each of you will be setting a four digit combination." Steve held up a typical combination lock with four rotating dials etched with numbers 0 to 9. "I want everyone to think of your combination, and once you have it, lock it in - pun intended."

Harold exhaled through his nose again.

He handed each person a lock, and they set their combinations. Harold decided on 1337. "Everyone got theirs?" They nodded. Steve continued, "People often choose numbers important to them in some way, be it a birthday, a lucky number, or something else. I want all of you to pair up and ask each other some questions to try to tease out these important numbers. After a while, you'll switch partners. Every combination of two people will interact." Steve paused. In Harold's opinion, this pun wasn't as good as the others, not worthy of any response. "This exercise will help you get to know everyone and to understand the psychology of passwords."

Harold turned to Leshawna, "Mind pairing up with me."

"Not at all. Do you want to ask first or should I?"

"Ladies first."

She asked about his friends, if he had a best friend and their birthdays. Harold wished his best friend could've come to Picky Steve's Lock Picking Camp, but he and his family were on vacation. However, his friend would be back in town in time to attend Magic Steve's Magic Camp with him, though Harold was also quite content on his own. He and Leshawna continued talking about their friends and social lives.

She was headstrong yet chill with a no nonsense attitude and was the unofficial "leader" of her friend group, the type of person to walk in the middle of the hallway with friends flanking both sides. Harold really only had his one best friend and it was a pretty balanced dynamic. Perhaps they were like Pluto and Charon, a double planet system of sorts, with Harold being Pluto; he was more well known around his school and much taller than his friend. Or maybe not, Harold was also sort of a lone wolf. Their conversation slowly died out, but it looked like other pairs were still deep in conversation.

What other important numbers were there, Harold thought. A phone number! "What's your phone number?"

"Harold, I'm flattered, but I'm not interested in a relationship," Leshawna gave a small chuckle.

"Oh-oh sorry, I meant…because the numbers - the phone numbers-" Harold cheeks quickly reddened when he realized what he had implied.

Just then, Steve asked them to switch partners, and Leshawna shot him a sympathetic smile before sitting down with Heather.

Harold watched as Heather and Leshawna bonded over their annoyance for their family members. "How can a ten year old get into my stuff, but I can't get into theirs?" "I know right! Those kids have no business being in my business!"

DJ made his way towards him with a smile. Hopefully this conversation wouldn't be as awkward. Harold asked DJ if he played any sports, and what his uniform number was if he did. Surprisingly, DJ wasn't really into sports and preferred just working out and lifting weights and ribbon dancing. Harold himself had an interest in figure skating, and the two talked about their unconventional and stereotypically feminine choice in sports and how they weren't as respected as other types of sports.

Harold also learned about DJ's bunny and his love for his momma. Before long, they switched again, and he was sad to see DJ leave, especially when Duncan approached him. Harold didn't want to judge him too harshly before getting to know him, but he was getting some rancid vibes.

Duncan wasted no time at all getting into the important questions. "What's your social insurance number?" Duncan snickered. "And any credit or debit card numbers. Oh, and the expiration dates and those three wacky digits on the back of the card." Duncan's grin widened.

Harold of course had these numbers memorized, but no way he'd tell them to Duncan. He ignored the questions and racked his brain for questions to ask him back. Duncan mentioned his father in his introduction, but it wasn't clear whether or not they had a positive enough relationship for Duncan to use his dad's birthday as a password. Ehh he'd ask for both parents' birthdays.

Duncan deflected, "Speaking of parents, how about your mom's maiden name? Or your dad's middle name?"

Harold was not amused, "You didn't answer my question."

"Well you didn't answer mine either," Duncan raised an eyebrow. Harold frowned in response. "Jeez, okay okay," Duncan relented and listed his parents' birthdays. After that, the two eased into awkward but not unpleasant conversation about their childhoods. Though Duncan took every chance to slip in certain questions: "The street where you grew up? Your first grade teacher's name?"

Next he was paired with Gwen, and when Harold asked if she had a lucky number, she rambled on about her ex boyfriend's obsession with the number 9 and how that was part of the reason why they broke up. However, Gwen herself didn't have any lucky numbers. Gwen ended up doing most of the talking, but Harold was okay with that. He needed some time to recharge his social interaction battery. Once Gwen had finished ranting about her ex, Harold asked about her hair and makeup. He was interested in makeup, particularly special effects and the transformative nature of makeup, and he thought that was a mad skill he would try to learn.

Gwen wasn't particularly experienced in that type of makeup, but she was a big fan of gore and horror, so it was something she too was interested in learning. They continued talking about special effects and Gwen mentioned that one of her favorite movies was Bloodbath 2: Summer Camp Reign of Terror. Harold preferred a psychological horror as opposed to the gory types Gwen liked, but horror was a diverse genre where the two could appreciate a bunch of different movies.

Finally, he was paired with Heather. Heather seemed tired of talking and reintroducing herself to every person, and she immediately listed her parents', brothers', and sisters' birthdays before Harold could even greet her. "Don't bother remembering them, I don't like my family enough to use their birthdays as passwords."

"Noted."

Harold had a brother and sister, and though they didn't have the best relationship, it was definitely better than whatever was going on with Heather's family. However, Harold was usually on the receiving end of sibling hostility; he was more likely to have his diary stolen than to steal someone else's diary. Harold didn't even have a diary, just journals about some of his interests, like his rodent journal where he drew and took notes on rodents.

As Heather complained about how much she disliked her siblings and how they disliked her, Harold couldn't help but think that they should all get some therapy.

"Have you ever thought of getting therapy to sort out all these family problems instead of making them worse?"

"Been there, done that, didn't work," Heather waved him off. Apparently, her parents had her get electroshock therapy when she was younger.

Harold was appalled. Any real professional would know that electroshock therapy was unethical, especially if it was done on kids. He was somewhat versed in psychology from reading his sister's textbooks, and he offered to lend Heather this information. She didn't have a chance to accept or decline before Steve called for everyone to come back to the table.

"Alright, now that you've all gotten to know each other, I want you all to try and open each other's locks." Steve picked up Duncan's lock and hung it on a sturdy hook on the wall. "I want you all to line up and try some combinations, and if no one can open it, I'll show you how to pick it."

The teens lined up, Harold finding himself as the first person in line. First he tried the birthdays, none of which worked. Someone immature like Duncan might have a combination like 6969, 4200, or 8008, Harold thought. He spun the dials and pulled, but neither worked. He then tried reversing them: 9696 and 0024, still no. He was all out of ideas, so he stepped aside and let the next person try.

After everyone had unsuccessfully tried to open Duncan's lock, Steve stepped in.

"Now, to pick this type of lock, you need to first pull down on it." Steve pulled the lock down and held it there. So that's why he hung it on the hook. "Then you're going to start with the dial on the bottom, and you're going to slowly turn it." Click. Click. Click. Everyone huddled in for a closer look. "Everyone, listen closely to these clicks until you hear a click that sounds a bit louder, a bit different from the others." Click. Click. Click. "Did everyone hear that?" Steve looked up. They nodded, no one daring to make a noise. He turned it back to the number that produced a click: an 8. "After you have your first number, you move up to the next dial." Steve's thumb landed on the dial right above the previous one. "Again, you're going to turn it until you hear the sound. If you spin through all the numbers and still don't hear it, just keep turning it and make sure you keep pulling down." Click. Click. Click. Click. It was a 3. "There it is. Does anyone want to try the next number?"

Harold raised his hand, and Steve motioned for him to step forward. Harold mimicked the way Steve held the lock, left hand pulling down and right hand on the dial. He held his breath as he slowly turned the dial. Click. Click. Click. Was that it? He looked at Steve to confirm whether or not he should stop, but Steve only gave a slight nod that Harold couldn't decipher the meaning of. Maybe he would go around the numbers one more time just to make sure. He turned his attention back to the lock and continued to spin the dial. Click. Click. He landed on the same number as before: 7. Now he was confident that he had it right. Harold let go of the lock and looked expectantly at Steve, who smiled in approval. Nice!

"The last number is easy. As long as you got the other three correct, then you just spin the dial until the lock opens. Who wants to try this step?"

Gwen raised her hand and stepped forward, and Harold backed off to give her space. She turned the dial, and it opened when she landed on 1.

Steve beamed, "Great job! We'll continue with everyone else's locks. Who's next?"


Hello! The birthdays are astrological headcannons I have for the characters!