A/N: the camp counselor AU that nobody asked for but which I wrote anyways because SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THE TEAM AS CAMP COUNSELORS MY GOODNESS. also, in case you couldn't tell, I'm not ready to say goodbye to summer D:

sidenote: the age gap between Hiro and Tadashi is wider in this; I imagined Hiro as thirteen and Tadashi as 19-20, so.

additional sidenote: I don't say this nearly enough but I want all of you to know that I appreciate everyone who has been reading, following, favoriting and reviewing so, so much. Your comments make my day, and I promise that I read all of your suggestions, so don't be afraid to keep leaving prompts; I know it might seem like I'm not responding to them but that's mostly because I tend to get sidetracked/distracted by my own ideas, but you all are still a huge source of inspiration for me, and you never know what might send me off on a 4000+ word rampage. :P anyhowww this is getting long but the gist of it is that I LOVE YOU GUYS SO YEAH.

Scenario: camp counselor AU

Everything is on fire.

His ankle burns from the ant pile he stepped in earlier today and he has a mosquito bite on his left arm, but Tadashi is mainly focused on the giant blaze in front of him. The heat radiating from it makes his eyes water; similar flames dance in his friends' eyes, their faces alight with anticipation.

Overlooking the giant bonfire, stone ledges spread out in rings. Kids cover every inch of every one of them, elbows digging into sides, knees knocking against each other, all staring down at the stage, where he and his fellow counselors are lined up. A hundred pairs of eyes trained on them. A hundred heads to keep track of.

Beside him, Fred tosses a log into the fire, sending the blaze roaring higher as he steps forward.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves, for you have entered the point of no return…welcome to Camp Big Hero!" He makes a sweeping gesture toward the audience, throwing his arms out wide. "Let me hear you say A-HOO-HA."

"A-hoo-ha!"

"A-HOO-HA."

"A-HOO-HA!"

"That's what I'm talking about," says Fred, grinning, before he motions for Honey Lemon to join him up front. "Now, everyone must take a side. Marvel versus Capcom. Batman versus Superman. Iron Man versus—"

"Fred," hisses Wasabi. "Stick to the schedule."

"Right, man, right. Anyways, camp here will be the same. There will be bonding, but there will be bloodshed. Your tribe is your team, your family, and only one tribe wins the—" he pauses for effect, "—Golden Baymax."

At this, Honey Lemon holds the statue up, its round body and bulbous head gleaming in the firelight.

"Only one tribe gets to put their flag on the hill!" continues Fred, raising his voice to speak over the whooping and hollering. "So which tribe are you going to be in?" He beckons to GoGo. "List?"

GoGo holds up a sheet of paper while Fred leads the campers in a drumroll. The sound seems to come out of the forest itself, a rhythm as old as thunder.

"Tribe Eureka," starts GoGo, a faint smile on her lips. "Anna Bowen, Maria Connelly, Darren Crest, Hiro Hamada…"

And as the noise swells and the fire crackles and pops, Tadashi's voice joins the fray, welcoming the new campers into the fold.

o.O.o

"How was your first night?" Tadashi asks the next morning, slipping into line behind Hiro and pointedly dropping some honeydew onto his younger brother's plate.

Hiro shoots him a reproachful look but accepts it. "Fun. Except Wasabi is really strict about the everybody-in-bed-lights-out rule."

Tadashi chuckles. "That sounds like him."

"Yeah, so Frank and I had to put our game of Speed on hold, but we're having a rematch tonight—"

"Hey, Hiro," says GoGo, appearing at Tadashi's right side. "Ready to kick some butt today?"

"You bet," says Hiro, reaching across Tadashi to fist bump GoGo. "It's going to be awesome. Tribe Geronimo's going down." He shoots Tadashi a sly grin and sticks his tongue out at him before hurrying over to the hash browns.

Tadashi watches his brother's departure, mouth open slightly in disbelief, before turning to GoGo. "Really?"

"What?" she asks innocently, stealing a piece of bacon from his plate.

"It's 8:30 and you're already plotting!"

"That's why my tribe always wins," says GoGo, nudging him forward. "Keep moving. Those muffins are going to get cold."

"Wait, that's not even true," protests Tadashi, blocking GoGo from taking another one of his bacon strips. "We won last session, or are you just conveniently forgetting the Geronimo flag flying up on the hill right now?"

GoGo's expression darkens. "That was a fluke," she says. "It won't happen again."

"GoGo!" Honey Lemon materializes from out of nowhere, hooking an arm around both Tadashi and GoGo to draw them closer to her side. "And Tadashi! Goooood morning."

"You're squishing me, Honey," mumbles GoGo, but she squeezes her friend back affectionately in greeting.

Honey Lemon releases them and steps back, ponytail bouncing. "Ready for canoe-racing? I gave my girls a pep talk last night; they're super excited."

"So are mine," says GoGo, adjusting the bandana tied around her wrist.

"Okay, why doesn't Honey get trash-talked? She's a Geronimo, too," complains Tadashi.

GoGo and Honey Lemon exchange a look.

"Oh, Tadashi," Honey says finally, reaching out and pinching his cheek lightly, "Keep trying."

With that said, she and GoGo turn on their heels and sail away, leaving Tadashi to roll his eyes as he reaches for a blueberry muffin.

Unbelievable.

o.O.o

The brim of his baseball cap shades his eyes as Tadashi watches the fleet of yellow canoes approach. He's starting to regret lending Hiro his water bottle earlier, since his throat is parched from shouting encouragement right now. Honey Lemon and Fred sit in their boats at the other end of the river, cheering on the campers paddling furiously toward GoGo and Tadashi.

After the earlier excursion down the river, many of the campers opted to head over to the rope swing manned by Wasabi in order to give their rowing arms a break. Those that remain, however, are determined to secure a victory for their tribe. Competition is stiff; hulls jostle and scrape against each other as they fight for position, and friends fling water in each other's faces in desperate attempts to get ahead. Eric and Matthew, two of Fred's kids, sacrifice their boat to herd Martha and Jeanie toward the riverbank, opening up a lane for Chad and Adheer (two of Tadashi's) to slip through.

Not everyone is so invested in the contest, though. Sarah and Tsukiko are more caught up by the breeze sweeping over the water, and as the wind picks up, Sarah sets down her paddle and clambers to her feet unsteadily, holding her arms out and closing her eyes.

Tadashi sees the next moment before it really happens.

"Watch out!" he warns, at the same time Honey yells, "Sarah, sit down!" Sarah's eyes fly open as someone rams into the back of her boat, sending her wobbling sideways—

Splash!

Tadashi dives into the water on instinct; his strokes bring him to Sarah, who has just popped back to the surface, bobbing in her bright orange lifejacket. She spits water out of her mouth, shaking the hair out of her face.

"You okay?" asks Tadashi, treading water in front of her.

"F-fine," nods Sarah. "The water—it's warmer than I thought it'd be."

"Nice, huh?" says Tadashi, reaching up to grip the edge of the canoe where Tsukiko sits, looking worried but also as if she'd like to jump in as well. "Unfortunately, swimming is scheduled for later, so—up you go."

Sarah nods in understanding, swimming forward in preparation to haul herself back onto the boat. She gets her elbows over it before grimacing, turning back to Tadashi red-faced, unable to meet his gaze.

"I need help."

"I got you," says Tadashi, sneaking a glance over his shoulder at GoGo, who watches the whole exchange with amusement. He turns his attention back to Sarah, letting her use his shoulder for support and keeping the boat steady as Tsukiko reaches forward to grab Sarah's arms. After making sure the two of them are settled, he slips back under the water and pulls himself back into his own boat, his wet shorts making a squelching sound as he sits down.

"Nice save there, Aquaman," GoGo says, passing him her canteen. Tadashi takes a swig of water from it gratefully; he can already feel the sun warming his back, drying out his shirt.

"All in a day's work, right?" he grins, handing the bottle back.

GoGo unscrews the cap and brings it to her mouth next, lips coming away from it with an ah! before she finally echoes, "All in a day's work," and reaches for her paddle, dragging it through the water with a swooping arc that splashes him from head to shoulders.

Tadashi blinks at her in shock, water dripping from his hair into his eyes, before reaching for his own weapon.

"Oh, you're so on."

o.O.o

"SNEAK ATTACK!"

Fred barrels out of nowhere, grabbing the camper nearest him—Matthew—and tossing him in the pool.

"It's not a sneak attack if you announce it," says Wasabi, hitting pause on the boombox, which has been blaring "U Can't Touch This." The campers around him shift away warily, uncertain if they will be the next ones to be unceremoniously dumped in the pool.

Off to the side, Lizzie shrieks as she hits the water with an undignified splash; GoGo stands over her, arms crossed as she smirks. Tadashi grins—no one ever suspects GoGo because of how small she is, a fact that she uses fully to her advantage.

Fred ducks out of the grip of two eleven-year-old boys who have tried unsuccessfully to push him closer to the edge.

"Uh uh uh," he says, waving a finger. "It's going to take more than that to take me down!"

Meanwhile, Lizzie's friends have joined her in the pool of their own volition, and they turn their full charm on GoGo now, begging, "Please come in with us?"

GoGo shakes her head.

Quietly, Tadashi slips away from Wasabi's side. GoGo can protest all she wants, but he knows that she has her bathing suit on underneath her clothes. They all do; the water is too inviting to resist. As he sneaks up behind her, Lizzie catches sight of him—Tadashi winks, bringing a finger up to his lips.

Lizzie nods, a grin threatening to overtake her face.

"What are you looking at—"

GoGo turns around just in time for Tadashi to hook his arms around her legs and hoist her over his shoulder. The good thing about GoGo is that she's light; the bad thing is that she'll do whatever it takes to get free.

"Don't you dare," she gasps, hammering his back with her fists.

Tadashi takes the beating stalwartly, making a show of surveying the pool. "Now, should I put you down at this end or—ow!" he yelps as GoGo graduates to tugging his hair and trying to wrap her elbow around his throat.

"You're so dead to me, Hamada," she hisses. "So. Dead."

"Well, in that case…" He takes a step forward, plunging both of them into the pool. GoGo finally manages to get away from him; she breaks the surface with a murderous glare, her purple streak of hair darkened by the water. Around her, the girls cheer, and GoGo manages to hold her peeved expression for only a few seconds longer before she rolls her eyes and gives in.

"Cannonball!" shrieks Honey Lemon, the bandana she has tied around her neck like an ascot bouncing as she takes a running leap, drawing her knees to her chest. Wasabi hits the play button on the boombox again and helps two boys shove Fred into the pool before he jumps in himself, and Tadashi seeks out Hiro in the melee, who makes a thumbs-up sign at him, grinning widely.

o.O.o

"Oh the moose put his foot put his foot on the ground—"

"Okay, kids, I love you, but I really hate that song," Wasabi yells from the back. It's Sunday, time for the traditional afternoon hike, and the pain in Wasabi's voice indicates that he'd rather be back at the main campsite running the arts and crafts station like he usually does. Tadashi watches him adjust the burnt orange bandana over his head and pull a hand towel from his bag, which he uses to wipe the sweat from his brow. Tadashi's own bandana is wrapped around his upper left arm, a detail that has been noted and copied by many of the boys in his cabin.

Meanwhile, Fred jumps from rock to rock, pointing out different bugs with his stick. It's a struggle to get the kids to just follow him in a straight line instead of trying to imitate his movements; Wasabi repeatedly shouts at anyone who does so, reminding them that they'll "probably end up with a twisted ankle and then who has to carry you down the trail and by the way did I mention that I really don't like spiders?"

Honey stops them periodically, insisting firmly that everyone hydrates and eats a snack. The crunching of granola bars and trail mix fills the air, mingling with the sound of cicadas, and Tadashi tilts his head back, admiring the way the sunlight filters through the leaves.

After the short break, they're off again. Anticipation builds in Tadashi's stomach when they finally pass the Reindeer Tree. Fred clears his throat and tosses his stick aside, rounding on the group and gesturing to the clearing behind him.

"At last, ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived!"

Silence. The kids shift from side to side, craning their necks and whispering, "What is it…?"

"Ah, I see a demonstration is in order. Honey Lemon?"

Honey Lemon shrugs off her backpack and steps past Fred, bending down. She comes back up with her hands full of brown goo, waving them in the air. Scanning the crowd, her eyes fall on Tadashi, and he barely has time to think, oh, no, before the clump sails over his head and hits Wasabi's chest.

"Mud fight!"

"Yuck!" someone grimaces, but most of the other kids quickly follow Honey's example, stepping out of their shoes and socks and leaving the bags behind. A few guys take off their shirts, setting them gently on top of their packs, but the majority of campers rush straight into the fray, desperate for some relief from the heat, no matter how dirty it might appear.

Tadashi slides down the bank, the mud slimy between his toes. A ring is already forming; as he gets closer, he sees that Mika and Alexander have rolled around in the mud so that they're covered completely and are now locked in a mud-wrestling fight, slipping and sliding as each tries to gain the advantage.

His peaceful spectating ends, however, when a clump of mud hits the side of his face, some of it splattering into his ear. Tadashi turns to find GoGo already armed with another handful, her other hand resting on her hip. Her eyes are bright with a challenge, and Tadashi keeps his eyes trained on her as he bends slowly to scoop up some mud of his own, something coiling in his gut.

He starts forward. GoGo lifts her chin slightly, daring him to get closer. No one's paying much attention to them—everyone is too transfixed by the showdown between Mika and Alexander—and Tadashi thinks that if he could just get her backed up against the tree over there…

A figure tackles him from out of nowhere, legs locked around his waist. Tadashi staggers, tries to fight his attacker's momentum, and fails, mud flying everywhere as he falls backward. Winded, he looks up—

"Hiro."

"Gotcha, big bro," gloats Hiro, the small gap between his two front teeth seeming to widen as he looms closer. He drops a clod of mud on Tadashi's face with an undignified splat.

Footsteps. Hiro sits on Tadashi's stomach, pinning him down, but Tadashi can still see GoGo approach. He watches her high-five his brother before bending over him, her head framed by the blue sky as she smirks.

"Payback."

o.O.o

"Tadashi?" A girl's voice, breath warm in his ear. Someone nudges his shoulder.

Groggily, Tadashi opens his eyes, staring at the wall in front of him before he slowly shifts around, his blanket tangling around his waist. He blinks a few times to clear the sleep from his eyes, running a hand through his hair as he sits up.

"GoGo? What are you doing here?"

"Cravings," she explains, crossing her arms, her figure a shadowy silhouette in the dim lighting. "Fred told me you had a stash."

"Of…?"

"Chocolate, idiot." She rolls her eyes. "Hand it over."

Tadashi sighs, throwing the covers to the side as he swings his legs around, feet meeting the cool wooden floorboards. "Fine, fine." Dammit, Fred, he internally curses. At this rate, he'll run out before the session is over.

GoGo watches him as he surreptitiously unzips his luggage and digs around under his clothes. All around them, the boys sleep peacefully, chests rising and falling, Aston's reedy inhalations punctuating the air.

"Here," he says, holding a bar of dark chocolate up in the air.

GoGo takes it, already tearing into the wrapper as she sits on his bed. Tadashi gets up to join her, his mattress sinking slightly under their combined weight.

"You got another bracelet," he observes, touching her wrist lightly. The plastic beads are warm from their proximity to her skin.

"From Clara," explains GoGo, turning it back and forth to admire it. "Honey Lemon still has the most, though. Did you know Hiro gave his to her?" Her voice holds a hint of laughter.

"Kid has a crush," says Tadashi, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb the rest of the cabin. "He still thinks you're the coolest, though."

"Because I am," teases GoGo, voice soft to match his. She lifts her chin to indicate Martin, who is lying face down in his pillow across the room. "Does he always sleep like that?"

"Yes," whispers Tadashi. "I'm terrified he's going to suffocate, but when I tried to turn him over he nearly clawed my eyes out."

GoGo snorts.

"Do any of your girls have weird habits?" asks Tadashi.

"Lizzie talks in her sleep, which is how I know she likes Caleb."

"No way."

"Yep. Also, did Honey tell you that she wants us to do the Pie in the Face skit for tomorrow night?"

"Let me guess," sighs Tadashi. "I get to be the middle person."

GoGo grins.

"I'm always the middle person."

"It's because of how you look right before the pie hits you in the face," explains GoGo.

"And how is that?"

"Like you're profoundly disappointed with the world. Or like you're a kicked puppy."

Tadashi can't really argue with that, so he just watches GoGo break off another piece of her chocolate, mesmerized by the way she licks the leftover smears off her fingers. GoGo catches his eye while in the middle of cleaning off her pointer finger, and suddenly Tadashi is extremely aware of where his thigh presses against hers, the brush of her sleeve as he leans over, breath stirring her hair slightly in the stillness.

"GoGo—"

GoGo slips a square of chocolate in between his parted lips, her eyes dark, almost black. The piece is rich and velvety on his tongue as it starts to melt, and Tadashi chews it slowly, still staring at her; GoGo's gaze drops to his throat when he swallows, her eyes sparking.

"Not tonight," she whispers, pulling back.

"GoGo…" groans Tadashi, clutching the blanket beneath him in his fists to keep from reaching for her. The ghost of a smile crosses GoGo's face; the mattress rustles as she gets up, lingering in front of him for a moment before she takes her leave and slips out the cabin's doorway.

Tadashi has a hard time falling back asleep.

o.O.o

"Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?"

The flashlight beam hits him square in the face, making Tadashi flinch in his half-awake state. He hurries to throw the sleeping bag cover over his head but finds it ripped away from him instead, leaving him exposed in his boxers.

"What…" He squints in the glare as he tries to make sense of his surroundings. Just over the fuzzy edge of light, two faces sharpen out of the gloom: Honey Lemon, biting her lip to refrain from laughter even though her cheeks are pulled into a grin, and GoGo, smirking.

Dread hits him like a bucket of cold water. "This isn't…"

"Oh no, it is," GoGo finishes smugly, flicking the flashlight beam away from him and directing it to the corner, where Honey Lemon's pink sleeping bag acts as a neon sign screaming, you're in the wrong tent. GoGo rolls forward on the balls of her feet and pokes his shoulder. "You drunk or something?"

"No, just exhausted," mutters Tadashi, pushing himself into a sitting position even though every part of his body is screaming for him to close his eyes and go back to sleep, consequences be damned. He pats the ground beside him, frowning when his hands don't encounter wet cloth.

"Looking for these?" GoGo reaches behind her, holding up something that looks suspiciously like…his shorts.

Crap.

"Please don't do this," he says, swallowing. He really isn't equipped to deal with this right now. Campout Day (and Night) is something that the kids chatter about endlessly in the days leading up to it, and it takes constant vigilance to maintain order out here away from the buildings with their electricity and other comforts. He's been up since four in the morning because Chad thought it'd be a good idea to tell scary stories last night, which made Teddy wake up screaming when his blanket brushed the underside of his foot, and just an hour ago he had to fight through the blinding rain to help one of the kids put their tent back up.

Which is why he took his sopping wet clothes off. He doesn't normally sleep only in his boxers. Honest.

"Now, Honey, whatever will we do?" GoGo asks. "You know there's a rule about members of the opposite gender sneaking into each other's tents…"

"GoGo."

"Tadashi," she parrots back, walking to the flap of the tent. She sticks her head out. "It's pretty dark out. Good thing we have a flashlight."

Tadashi turns his head toward Honey Lemon instead. "Honey, please…"

In response, Honey Lemon holds up her cellphone, showing the camera screen to him and winking.

Groaning, Tadashi resigns himself to his fate. He wills his body to turn to stone, hoping that will prevent the inevitable, but he knows better. Honey Lemon and GoGo are scarily strong when they need to be, and they haul him to his feet before pushing him outside, where GoGo points her flashlight at him like a spotlight.

"3…2…1…run, Tadashi!" cheers Honey Lemon as GoGo wakes up the whole camp with a loud, "Hey, is that a deer in the middle of the campsite?" and Tadashi takes off sprinting, GoGo's flashlight beam chasing him all the way to his tent.

o.O.o

The air is tense. Two people stare each other down from opposite sides of a log, their eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Slowly, GoGo reaches for the bag of jumbo marshmallows by her feet.

Hushed whispers sweep through the crowd.

"She's not gonna do it…"

"There's no way…"

The marshmallow goes past her lips, straining against her already bulging cheeks.

"'hubbeh bunneh."

The audience goes wild. Hiro spits out the marshmallows in his mouth, looking slightly queasy as Fred proclaims, "Winner!" while pointing to GoGo, who manages to look triumphant even with her cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk's. With the competition over, Honey Lemon begins ripping open the other bags of marshmallows, handing out skewers and chocolate and graham crackers. The kids swarm around Wasabi, whose attention to detail has made him the go-to guy for a perfect S'more.

Meanwhile, Tadashi spears a marshmallow and heads over to GoGo, plopping down on the space beside her.

"Congratulations, defending champ," he says, bumping her with his shoulder.

"Thanks," she says, mouth no longer full.

Fred takes out his banjo and starts strumming. It takes a moment for them to recognize the melody, but soon everyone is singing, "Oh, Susanna, now don't you cry for me." Tadashi watches Lizzie scoot closer to Caleb; he nudges GoGo, who smiles knowingly.

As they transition into "Home on the Range," Tadashi rotates his skewer over the fire, careful to let the marshmallow cook evenly. Once it's finished, he sandwiches it between two graham crackers and slips it off, handing it to GoGo, who bites into it before resting her head against his shoulder with a small sound of appreciation.

Tadashi ducks his head to hide his smile. As he reaches for another marshmallow, however, he realizes that the people around him have gone strangely quiet. When he looks up, he finds Fred squinting at him and GoGo.

"Wait…is it just me or…"

"GoGo's fraternizing with the enemy!" shouts one of her campers.

GoGo jerks away from Tadashi, the momentary peace broken. "It's not like—we're still friends," she justifies, cheeks reddening slightly as she glances at him in an appeal for backup.

"Yeah," flounders Tadashi, "we're—"

"Best friends," interjects Honey Lemon, swooping in between them (seriously, how does she do that?). She waves Wasabi and Fred over, handing her phone to Chloe and asking, "Take a picture of us, please!"

Wasabi and Fred get into place on either side of Honey Lemon, humoring her. They bunch together in order to fit into the frame as Chloe holds up Honey's phone, tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she focuses the lens.

And if Tadashi puts his arm around GoGo's waist—if, imperceptibly, she leans closer to him than strictly necessarily—well, nobody's the wiser.

o.O.o

"Do you think anybody knows—"

"Nope," says GoGo, her hands warm as they skate across his stomach and around to his back.

"Okay, but maybe…we shouldn't…" It's hard to form a coherent sentence when GoGo's mouth is latched to his neck, and Tadashi thinks it's a good idea that their counselor uniforms are dark green polo shirts. Otherwise he'd have some explaining to do.

GoGo makes a frustrated noise, straining upward on her tiptoes. One of her hands slips out from under his shirt to curl around his collar in an attempt to drag him closer. "Is there something better you can be doing with your mouth or—"

Tadashi flips them around so that GoGo's the one pressed against the side of the cabin, swallowing the rest of her statement as he bends his head to meet hers. She smells like sunblock and tastes like grape bubblegum. The night air is sticky and humid but Tadashi doesn't care because he can feel every line of GoGo's body against him, the small tremor as he blows a puff of cool air against the little sweat beads gathered across her nose, and it sucks that he has to share a cabin with fifteen pubescent boys because otherwise—

"This doesn't change anything, you know," GoGo says breathlessly as she pulls away, hair wild in the moonlight, some of it sticking to her face. Tadashi brushes a strand off her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. "We're still kicking your ass tomorrow."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," he says, and leans in.

o.O.o

The next morning, GoGo's bandana has migrated from her wrist to her neck for reasons unknown, and Tadashi can't help tossing a victorious grin her way as he passes her during breakfast.

She very subtly gives him the finger.