Aiden Navarro arrives at Boy Scout summer camp with his patrol, the Flaming Arrows, feeling anxious about the upcoming school year.

Aiden and Elias partner in a canoe and race ahead of the other pairs to Frying Pan Island on the Saturday overnight.

Aiden drops soap in the communal shower, scrambles to Elias's feet to retrieve it, and flees in panic after getting an erection.

Aiden dreams that the Holy Grail is Elias in the shower and wakes up confused and frightened by what the dream implies.

Boys from another patrol throw racial and anti-gay slurs at Aiden; David defends him but Aiden runs off crying.

Aiden writes Violet a letter confessing his recurring dreams about Elias, hesitates at the camp mailbox, and finally drops it in.

At the campfire, Aiden's valley girl impression draws mockery, and Mark warns him that acting different makes everyone think he is gay.

After getting lost during orienteering class, Aiden is found crying alone in a clearing by Ted, who offers support and encouragement.

After Mark grabs his ponytail and calls him a slur, Aiden punches Mark in the mouth and knocks out one of his teeth.

Aiden and Elias sneak out at night to canoe under the stars, bonding over shared music and their fears about high school.

Overcome by his feelings, Aiden kisses Elias on the cheek; a startled Elias pushes him away and both go to bed in silence.

Aiden wakes to find Elias gone with the friendship bracelet left on the ground, then learns Ted has been fired for being gay.

Aiden calls home but his parents are fighting; alone that night, he spirals into suicidal thoughts and envisions a Viking-style funeral.

Aiden carries a pocketknife to the camp chapel and holds it to his wrist before blacking out and encountering a flaming archer.

Aiden merges with his soul, wakes on the chapel floor, and is found by Elias; a delayed letter from Violet arrives affirming her support.

Aiden Navarro arrives at Boy Scout summer camp hoping for an escape from bullying and his chaotic home life, but confusing feelings for his tentmate Elias begin to surface. After a humiliating shower incident and a disturbing dream, Aiden is forced to confront what his attraction to Elias might mean. A brutal bullying encounter pushes him to write a vulnerable letter to his best friend Violet, and a series of escalating conflicts — including a fistfight with Mark and a disastrous kiss with Elias — leave him emotionally devastated. The firing of his favorite scout leader Ted, combined with silence from Violet and a failed call home, sends Aiden into a suicidal crisis. He carries a knife to the camp chapel but is confronted by a vision of his own soul, which convinces him his life is worth fighting for, and he emerges renewed and reconnected with his friends.

The headline story of Aiden's battle for self-acceptance at camp.

While lighting the campfire at camp, Aiden daydreams about Elias until a real fire burns out of control and he douses it.

Elias confides in Aiden about his ex-girlfriend and tells Aiden he is the only guy friend he can talk to about girls.

Aiden attends the nondenominational camp church service and reflects on years as an altar server while feeling he is not holy enough.

While thinking about the funerals he has served at, Aiden wonders how many people would attend his own and whether they'd feel regret.

Aiden and Elias struggle to suppress laughter in archery class as the instructor describes the shaft and head of the arrow.

Aiden and David bond at lunch over which X-Men character is best, debating Jean Grey against Wolverine.

Several boys invite Aiden into their tent where they attempt a group masturbation contest; Aiden quietly leaves feeling unsettled.

Aiden dreams he is Jean Grey and kisses Elias, who appears as Cyclops, then wakes up disturbed by what the dream means.

During basket-weaving class, Aiden and David discuss their fears about starting high school and agree to hang out after camp ends.

During a D&D game, Aiden wants to play a sorceress elf but the other boys force him to be a short hobbit instead.

Elias gives Aiden archery pointers, adjusts his stance and form, and Aiden finally hits the target for the first time.

After the fight between Aiden and Mark, the whole patrol wins a camp-wide cooperative game together, lifting the mood.

Ryan confronts Aiden during basket-weaving class and tells him he is tired of Aiden feeling sorry for himself.

Aiden returns to the tent and discovers that Elias has completely removed all of his belongings from their shared space.

At the final campfire, the other boys encourage Aiden to do his valley girl impression and give him a round of applause.

Beneath the main arc of Aiden's crisis, a series of smaller but meaningful events reveal his inner world and the friendships forming around him. His early daydream about Elias and a confessional late-night talk with Elias about his ex-girlfriend establish the emotional intimacy pulling Aiden toward something he cannot yet name. At church, in the tent with masturbating boys, and in his vivid pop-culture dreams, Aiden processes desire, guilt, and confusion without any adult to guide him. His friendship with David deepens over X-Men debates and basket-weaving classes, offering him a rare sense of genuine belonging. By the end of camp, even small victories — Elias cheering Aiden's archery improvement and the patrol winning a camp-wide game — feel hard-won, and the final campfire scene, where the boys applaud Aiden's valley girl impression, signals how much the dynamic has shifted.

The quieter moments and secondary scenes that shaped Aiden's summer.

After reading Violet's letter about camp ending, Aiden imagines reinventing himself as a cool, sporty kid for high school but knows it's impossible.

While the patrol builds a camp gate, Aiden daydreams he is a princess in a castle with armor-clad Elias as his knight.

Aiden wears swim trunks in the communal shower because he cannot bear the idea of being seen or perceived as gay.

Ryan interrupts Aiden writing to Violet and argues that boys and girls cannot truly be friends with each other.

After Aiden runs off crying from the slur attack, Mark tells him he should just use the slurs back so people will leave him alone.

While chopping wood to calm down, Aiden reflects on the history behind the word 'faggot' and its connection to burning gay people alive.

When the camp bully targets him again at orienteering, Aiden has a comeback ready and stands up for himself for the first time.

Inspired by Ted's cool confidence, Aiden copies Ted's ponytail hairstyle in an attempt to emulate him and reinvent himself.

During the fight with Mark, Aiden shouts a string of anti-gay slurs for the very first time, shocking himself.

During the night canoe, Elias admits he has nothing in common with his fellow football players and that he feels like an outsider.

Aiden's flashlight dies on the walk back from the lake and he holds onto Elias to find his way through the dark.

Aiden overhears two scout leaders arguing over whether Ted deserved to be fired, with one defending Ted and the other calling him a pervert.

On his way to class, Aiden passes Elias talking on the phone with his ex-girlfriend and silently drops the friendship bracelet nearby.

The flaming archer shoots Aiden with an arrow and tells him that while it burns now, it will heal, and he is enough.

After the final campfire songs, Aiden gets out of bed and throws the suicide note he wrote that morning into the fire.

Aiden's story is built on a series of charged moments where he is forced to confront who he is and what the world expects of him. From his hopeless fantasy of reinventing himself for high school to his failed attempt to borrow Ted's confidence by copying his ponytail, Aiden keeps searching for a version of himself that will be accepted. The bullying encounters and arguments with Mark and Ryan reveal how deeply the culture around him has shaped his self-hatred, while the intimacy of the night canoe trip — and the moment his flashlight dies — shows how powerfully drawn to Elias he truly is. Ted's firing and the overheard argument between scout leaders make concrete what Aiden has always feared: there is no sanctioned place for someone like him. The story closes on two quiet, decisive acts — the soul archer's painful but healing arrow, and Aiden feeding his suicide note to the fire — marking his turn from self-destruction toward survival.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional turning points of Aiden's journey.

Mike Curato

Graphic Novel/Book

Fiction

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