Young Royals Season 3 (Version 3)

Chapter 40

They came through the trees into a small clearing with a grouping of tents where their first year classmates were milling around with flashlights and organising their sleeping bags and pillows.

Some had decided to sleep out under the stars that were visible through the trees in the center of the clearing where the campfire had been lit. They were setting up closer to the fire to avoid the mosquitoes as much as possible since the smoke helped keep them away.

There were folding chairs set up around the fire and several of the other first years were already sitting  there bundled in blankets although it wasn't cold. 

Stella and Fredrika were cuddled up next to each other at the campfire.  Stella discreetly pulled her flask out from under her blanket as soon as she saw the group of four arrive.

"Hey! You finally made it! Have some!" She offered it to them and Felice smirked at her.

"Hey! Yeah, we'll be back in a few minutes once we've got our tents."  Felice replied as she and Sara went to find an empty one nearby.

Simon and Wilhelm followed Sara and Felice. They searched around for a few minutes, coming across a tent that was already occupied and moving on to the next.

"We're taking this one closer to the fire."  Sara told Simon quietly. 

Simon glanced at Wilhelm who was busy talking to Felice. Simon still didn't quite understand how this was all supposed to work considering the dorms were segregated by gender but he had yet to see any staff down at the campsite to enforce any rules, much less that one.

He assumed that it was one of those situations where staff just looked the other way when it came to rules that the boarders didn't care to respect. It would explain the existence of initiations and hazing, and any party that took place at the palace.

So he assumed that couples sharing tents was acceptable or at least ignored, and he shouldn't be concerned about getting caught sleeping with Wilhelm, especially considering the uncertainty of what would happen to them in the next twenty-four hours. The issue of what tent to sleep in didn't seem particularly important after all.

Wilhelm hesitated. "Uh, so we can find one away from the others or we can sleep out under the stars near the fire if you want."

"I think a tent, no?"  Simon checked.

Wilhelm nodded happily and led the way with his flashlight to a lone tent completely off to one darkened edge of the clearing. He opened the zipper and checked that it was empty before he climbed in.  He waited for Simon to come in after, then unrolled the sleeping bag away from the zippered flap and Simon unrolled the other. 

"You know we can zip them together to make one big bag." Wilhelm suggested.

"Really? Ok, sure. Can you show me?" Simon watched him, intrigued as he fully unzipped both then lay one open on top of the other and began to zip them together into one sleeping bag.

"Where did you learn that?" Simon asked, furrowing his brow curiously.

"We used to go camping and fishing when I was little. Erik showed me.  It's really good if you want one extra large bag just for yourself too." Wilhelm laughed.

They pushed their bags off to one side and sat cross-legged for a moment, watching each other. 

"I haven't camped much." Simon admitted, giving Wilhelm a bashful grin. Wilhelm grinned back then leaned forward and reached out to touch Simon's curls, pushing them back from this forehead before kissing Simon softly. 

Simon smiled under Wilhelm's lips then spoke once Wilhelm pulled back again. "Let's go see what they're up to."  

Wilhelm nodded, still smiling, then leaned forward to hold the tent flap open for Simon.  They climbed out and went back toward the campfire to sit with the girls.