Flamer

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of anti-gay language.



After returning to main camp, Aiden’s patrol joins the rest of the troop to build a gate by the main road. They collect fallen branches, cut them to size, and use a variety of different knots to hold it all together. They even construct a drawbridge, and Aiden imagines it being a real castle. In his fantasy, he is dressed like a princess and professes to an armor-clad Elias that he finds women’s fashion more interesting.

After constructing the gate, the troop heads to the communal shower. Aiden hates showering in front of everyone else and doesn’t want to be seen naked. He worries about his pudgy belly and that someone might think his penis is small, but most of all he worries that if he’s caught looking at someone else naked, they’ll think he wanted to look. He showers in his swim trunks and tries to keep his eyes down as he walks through the showers. He’s teased for wearing his trunks, and many of the boys make more anti-gay jokes. Aiden accidentally drops the soap and goes chasing after it. He catches the soap at Elias’s feet, and panics when he starts to get an erection.