They reached the circle of cabins, and Kurt and Blaine parted ways. Kurt walked up the little porch of the pale green cabin labeled as "Cougar", and pushed open the door.

It was relatively nice inside, with several sets of bunk beds and windows lining the walls. There were even curtains, which came as a surprise, although they didn't look like anything Kurt would have ever picked out. He was just looking around the room, wondering which bunk to pick when the door pushed open behind him.

"Hello!" Kurt said as a way of greeting, watching one of the brown-haired boys from earlier make his way into the cabin and toss his bags on the floor. Kurt noted that the expression on his face wasn't completely friendly as he laid eyes on who he'd be rooming with. He must be mad he didn't get to room with his friend... "I'm Kurt. Or, I guess, Sparrow for the time that we're here." He held out his hand, "It's nice to meet you...um..."

"Jackal." The boy grunted, taking Kurt's hand briefly and shaking it once.

They spent the next few minutes in silence, laying out their sleeping bags on the two beds flanking either side of the door and pushing their duffel bags underneath for storage. Jackal left without a word to Kurt, who was a bit stung but brushed it off as he followed a minute later to meet everyone up at the dining hall.

He spotted Blaine quickly and sat across from him, eager to find a friendly face after his encounter with Jackal.

"So what am I going to be calling you this week?" Kurt asked as they waited for the remainder of student leaders to file in.

Blaine grinned, "Warbler."

Kurt's eyebrows raised a bit, imploring him to explain. "I was part of a glee club in school, and that's what we were. The Warblers." He shrugged, "It's kind of predictable on my part, but I honestly couldn't think of anything that fit as well. What about you?"

"Sparrow. My mother loved the sparrows that would always hang around our backyard." He smiled fondly, remembering how his dad would always complain about the noise the birds made, but his mom would just laugh and hold him close and tell him how ridiculous he was being. This was followed by a brief feeling of sadness that she was no longer with them, but he quickly wiped it away and turned back to smile at Blaine.

Blaine watched the emotions flicker across Kurt's face, but didn't probe. "That's a really nice name, and a good story behind it. My cabin mate's name is Badger, but from what little he said to me during our unpacking time I don't know if there's anything behind it. Maybe he just likes badgers."

Kurt frowned, "My roommate wasn't exactly welcoming either. Let me guess, yours is the other brown-haired guy that looks like a bit like a jock?" Blaine nodded. "I'll bet they were hoping to get paired up. I hope this doesn't mean I have to live with sour looks and one word answers for the next few weeks."

Kurt was intrigued that Blaine had been in a glee club as well, and asked about it. But Blaine had barely gotten two words out before Hurricane Rachel bounded seemingly from nowhere up to their table and plopped herself next to Kurt. "Oh my god you guys! My cabin mate is just absolutely perfect!"

The two boys exchanged a look. At least one of them could have someone nice to live with for the next few weeks, but it was a pity that it wouldn't be either of them. Rachel gushed on for several minutes about Snapdragon, the short dark-haired girl with glasses from the bus. According to Rachel, they hit it off right away, and Snapdragon was in awe of her talent. Kurt briefly wondered just how many times Rachel would be serenading their cabin, and wondered if he could get Blaine to make a bet with him.

Dinner passed (macaroni and cheese with salad as a side), and each student leader was presented with a selection of Sharpies to decorate their wood cookies with. Kurt went to work immediately on his, embellishing his name with a flourish of swirls and decorative dots. Blaine went with a more standard approach, merely writing "Warbler" in block letters and adding a silhouette of a bird perched on the last 'r'. He looked over at Rachel's tag and had to suppress a chuckle.

"Star, huh?"

Rachel smiled, holding up her tag which now read "Star" in big bold swirling letters and had a flurry of stars covering the remainder of open space. "It's only fitting that my name be the most accurate representation of who I am as possible."

Kurt's shoulders shook as he tried and failed to hold in his laughter. Rachel looked a bit indignant, but simply jabbed her friend in the side with the marker she was holding as a means of quieting him.

"Ow! Fine. If that's the game you're going to play," He got up and moved across the table, sliding into the seat next to Blaine, "I'll just sit by Blaine until you can learn to behave yourself and stop trying to break my ribs."

Rachel spent the rest of the evening looking quite pleased with herself.

They retired for the night, a staff member who introduced himself as Jerico explaining to them that they should get some sleep and be prepared to learn tomorrow.

After saying goodnight to Blaine and parting ways, Kurt quickly grabbed his toiletry bag and pajamas from the cabin and got ready for bed in the communal bathroom building. After he was finished, he walked back to the cabin and opened the cabin door to find Jackal pulling on his pajama bottoms, chest still bare.

He averted his gaze quickly, but felt Jackal's eyes on his back as he put his things away and hurriedly climbed into the bunk. He wasn't sure what this guy's problem was, but he hoped it would improve as they got to know each other better. After all, they'd be spending close to three weeks in each other's company.

He slept fitfully that night, waking up entirely too early for his liking but eager to get dressed and out of the cabin before Jackal could give him any more stink eye looks.

The next three days passed in a blur. The group of student leaders learned every rule of the camp, from the "side hug rule" (and how to deflect any over-eager students that tried to hug them full-on) and the "don't let any kid go anywhere by themselves not even to the bathroom in the middle of the night" rule, to the lessons they'd be teaching during the day about certain aspects of nature (Soil, Water, Plants and Animals), what the giant fire alarm bell was outside the dining hall and what to do if they heard it going off, and how to handle a kid who became homesick or real sick.

Kurt and Blaine stayed together most of the time, both of them being less than enthusiastic about spending time with their assigned cabin mates and enjoying each other's company more instead. Jackal was still barely speaking to him, and Blaine wasn't fairing much better with Badger. He seemed like he was trying to be nice, but there seemed to be an air of annoyance to everything he said to Blaine.

Before they knew it, the training and setup time was over. After one last sweep of the camp to ensure that everything had been set up, followed by lunch, they had been told to listen for the fire bell to indicate that the busses of kids were arriving and that they needed to meet back at the dining hall. They had been given free roam up until that point to hang out and get to know each other better. Rachel was off with Snapdragon somewhere, so Kurt and Blaine had opted to lounge outside of Blaine's cabin on the steps for the duration, speculating on what their respective groups of kids would be like and how the next two weeks would go. Just after 4pm, the bell sounded, and they made their way up the path to the field outside the dining hall.

The sorting of the 6th graders into cabins reminded Blaine a bit of the Sorting Ceremony in the Harry Potter books. It wasn't as theatrical and didn't involve a hat, but a cabin name would be called and the kids would wait with baited breath to hear which of the cabins they'd be put in and who their student leaders would be.

Once all the groups had been sorted out, each pair of student leaders took their kids to find their bags and led the way back to the cabin that would serve as their home for the next two weeks. Kurt thought his kids looked like they were enthusiastic to be there, although he noticed that one of the boys in Blaine's group seemed to be crying already.

He caught up to Blaine as their groups walked down the trail. "You think he's going to be okay?" Kurt asked, gesturing back to the boy in the rear of the group by Badger.

"Yeah, Moose told me he's just never been away from home for this long before. I think he's just scared. But he'll be having fun by the end, I guarantee it." Blaine grinned, and Kurt's pulse seemed to speed up by a few beats. He looked back to his group and noticed Jackal eyeing him warily, then turn to exchange a look with Badger. I wonder what that's about...

They passed Blaine's cabin and said their goodbyes before going across the way to Cougar cabin. They got the boys settled in and ready for dinner with little trouble. There were a few arguments over who would get top bunks, but Kurt put a stop to them by suggesting they take turns and switch after one week, which the boys agreed to. Kurt only saw Blaine briefly from across the room at dinner, leaning over and talking animatedly to the boy who had been in tears earlier. From the looks of it, Blaine was doing a good job at helping the boy feel better, and Kurt couldn't help but feel some admiration for him.

By lights out at 9pm, everyone was exhausted. Kurt slept well that night, dreaming of hazel eyes and a head of dark curls.