Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2019 21:30:12 GMT -5
Something In The Water
Late summer is a wonderful time to go camping. The worst heat of the season has passed, as have the worst of the bugs. The trees are still green, the animals still active. And as for a place to do it, Mike could hardly have picked a better location. The Ouachita National Forest was a vast place, with little in the way of civilization. Just wilderness, wildlife, a sprinkling of dedicated campsites and hiking trails.
The one Mike chose to set camp at, Crystal, was ideal for someone looking to disappear for a few days. It was small, with only a few campsite spaces, a latrine, and a picnic shelter- hardly the fancy amenities of some of the larger offerings (though it did have an ideal location next to a sparkling creek that someone had once built a dam across to create a swimming hole). But that was alright. If nobody else came along to share the site, that was just fine by them, and besides. The place had a certain sentimental significance.
At the moment, Mike was setting the tent up, using a small mallet to pound the stakes into the ground. They were wearing a somewhat form fitting tank top, and they were perhaps making a bigger show of physical labor than they really needed to. John, however, clad in his usual jeans, plain t-shirt (olive-drab today), and Reeboks, was stowing the food in the nearby picnic shelter- a large cooler and a plastic footlocker (for stuff that needed to be kept cold and stuff that didn’t, respectively), both able to be locked to thwart any thieving wildlife.
“Hey Church! You’re missin’ the gun show!”
Grinning, Mike took a few more exaggerated swings, knocking the last of the stakes into the dirt with ease. The job done, they swung the mallet up onto their shoulder, standing in a jaunty, if somewhat puffed up, pose. Their skin gleamed a bit in the afternoon sun that shone through the shady trees, a mixture of light sweat and Deep Woods Off.
“All hammered in. This tent ain’t goin’ nowhere. I bet it’d stay put even if a bear took a fuckin’ swipe at it.”
John retrieved a bottle of water from the cooler and underhand tossed it to Mike, “Rather not test that.”
Catching the bottle out of the air one handed, Mike uncapped it and downed half of it in a few hard gulps. “I think that’s everything. Got the food there, pie irons, lantern, tent’s set up, stuff to get the fire going later, first aid kit stowed in Alundra just in case… I think all that’s left to do is put the sleeping bags in the tent and we’re all set.”
They took a deep breath. The smell of trees and other vegetation was strong and fresh, the only sounds around being the chirps of birds, the wind rustling the leaves, and the babbling of the nearby creek. There was nothing else, not even tires crunching on the road outside the campground. Looking at John slyly, they grinned.
“There’s nobody else out here. We can do anything we want.”
He had already sat down in a lawn chair just beside the tent. Now leafing through some fantasy paperback he picked up in an Arkansas gas station, “I know, right?”
“I was thinkin’ something a little more… adventurous.”
Sauntering past him, Mike took a couple steps into the woods along a well trod trail, their Lugz crackling over some sticks on the path. Pausing, they grinned over their shoulder.
“You can stay there and read if you wanna, though. I don’t want to tell you what to do. After all, we are on vacation.”
He closed the book. One, the book was forgettable at best and two, he didn’t particularly like being in the woods by himself. Finally, his curiosity peaked at Mike’s proposition.
“I’ll come with.”
“Awesome.”
The path wasn’t a long one, and it was well maintained. John’s longer legs easily let him catch up with Mike in a wink, and the two of them strode through the forest together. Mike couldn’t help but glance over at him as they walked from time to time. He was beautiful as ever, the troubled look that had been stubbornly lingering in his expression for the last couple weeks seemed diminished now. Whatever that last session he’d had with Dr. Moriarty had been about, they thought, it must’ve helped.
After a fairly short walk, the path opened up. The babbling sound audible from their campsite was plain now, the creek’s natural flow spilling over a man-made stone dam in a pretty waterfall, the waterway sparkling invitingly. Upstream on the other side of the dam, the hampered current created a large area of the creek that was deep enough to swim in.
Crouching down, Mike dipped their hand in the water. Cool, but not frigid. Perfect.
“Y’know, last time we were out here, we were on a pretty tight schedule cuz we were on our way someplace else. It was fun but we didn’t get to take our time, take full advantage of what we had at our disposal. We ain’t on nobody’s time now but ours.”
There was something coy about their tone, the look on their face. Sitting down on the bank, they started to untie their boot laces.
John stood there, watching, hands in his jeans pockets, “Not used to that.”
“May I?”
“Sure, thanks.”
They offered their foot without thinking about it. It was almost like a reverse Cinderella, only Mike couldn’t imagine themselves as any sort of fairytale princess without snorting. Not only were they absolutely nothing close to being a dainty damsel, they were a million miles away from being royal. Regality, they thought, suited their partner better, whether he knew it or not.
“You should, I think. I mean, you spend your entire life in your comfort zone, you live safe. You live comfortable. But you let all sorts of amazing shit pass you by. I mean, look around us. Look at the places we’ve been. There’s a reason I wanted to hike up the Andes to Machu Picchu with you. It’s because life is fucking too short to not be lived, especially when you had so much time where you didn’t have a say in it.”
Mike had already got the first boot but this knot on the second was a complicated thing. Brute force to break would just make it tighter. It was one of those where with one slight pull at the piece of the knot … caused it to unravel like so. He slipped the second boot off as Mike spoke to him. Their eyes widened as he undid the knot- which had been hopelessly stuck there for quite some time- with relative ease.
“Holy shit, you’re amazing. I’ve been having to jimmy that boot off and on for ages. Heh, you probably could’ve undone the… what the shit was it… Gordon Knot?”
They reached down and tugged their socks off, wiggling their toes, revealing some chipped bits of metallic orange and green polish on the nails.
“Gordian, but you remember,” John assumed that Mike just wanted to dip their feet into the water. He didn’t blame them, the water looked nice, “I get what you’re saying. I never held before that on a pedestal. Even right after. The bus trip to New Mexico was the first time I’d ever been out of Nevada. I thought that was an adventure in itself.”
“I think what I mean is, if there’s ever something you wanna do? You don’t need to ask me for permission. Just tell me so. Most likely I’ll be just as into it as you, and even if I ain’t… shit, when’s the last time I’ve said no to you on anything?”
Laughing, they leaned back against a tree.
“I spoil your ass, but that’s just fine, cuz you’re worth it. Plus, I know you wouldn’t take advantage of me.”
John’s mind flipped through a rolodex of what he considered to be invalid answers. Whatever you’d like to do was prominent in one form or another. John looked around, realizing.
“I’d like to join you in whatever you have planned.”
Mike’s grin only got wider as they got up and sauntered over to him, barefoot, their hands resting on his hips.
“Very cool. I was hoping you would. Life ain’t a spectator sport.”
John went barefoot as well and stood up as Mike approached him. They gently grabbed the hem of his shirt and tugged it off, taking a moment to give him a look over. The natural setting only seemed to make him even more beautiful, with the creek just behind them and the gold rays of sunshine gleaming through the canopy of trees. Momentarily stunned, Mike shook their head to snap themselves out of it, leaning forward. He mimicked the gesture, neatly folding their shed clothing and hanging it on a low branch so it wouldn’t get dirty, wet, or stolen by mischievous animals.
Mike had a brief sense of deja vu. The first time they did something like this was in a far different place- the bathroom of a fancy hotel suite- but the rest had been similar. Nervous at the prospect of seeing each other naked for the first time, they’d undressed each other before sharing a bath. A lot of the same elements were here- water, the mutual shedding of each others’ clothes- but they were both more self assured now. John was just a touch more bold when it came to intimacy, and Mike was far less self conscious about the terribly scarred up nature of their own skin. This wasn’t new territory, and still, the intimacy of it gave Mike a definite thrill. As Mike was looking out into the water, John made a last check of their clothes. Carefully, he treaded down the decline of the bank to join Mike. Something like ‘this is on you, too’ floated across his thoughts. He placed hands on their shoulders, kneading them softly. Both centering in on the back of their neck, thumbs relieving a knot. This is something he’d commonly do after a show but he knew this was something else.
Sighing softly, Mike leaned back a bit. The sun was warm, as were his hands, and the feeling of the summer breeze on their bare skin was unusual, but far from unpleasant. They made, almost unconsciously, a soft trilling sound, not at all unlike a purr. Their expression was absolutely dreamy. They let the moment linger for a bit longer before gently pulling away just a bit. Just enough to turn around, only to move forward again. Their bodies pressed flush against each other, their small breasts flattening out against his broad, strong chest, the black and blue he’d gotten as a mark of battle all but faded now, the gash he’d once received as his first major war wound faded to a near invisible pale line. Their arms reached up and he leaned down to meet them, hands lacing at the back of his neck and tugging him down the rest of the way before kissing him hard, almost hungrily.
John’s eyes closed. Part of him consciously trying to stay balanced as Mike was aggressive in their pursuit. Normally that would intimidate him. But he liked it. And more than just because Mike most likely did. Maybe it was an obvious conclusion to make after so long but it did resonate that this was … good.
That thrill on Mike’s part just ticked up a few meters- there was none of the resistance that they got when they hit one of John’s limits. No freezing up or going rigid as he usually did when they hit a threshold he wasn’t comfortable with. They kissed him again, one hand slipping from the back of his neck, moving down the length of his chest before giving him a firm yet playful squeeze, testing the newly widened boundaries a little. For John’s part, his right hand mindlessly drifted down to their side, on their hip. Just a bit over as his fingers pressed onto their backside.
“Hey buddy,” Mike mumbled, their voice a bit thick and hazy-sounding. “C’mere a minute.”
Nobody was around, but this was a public forest. If things kept progressing as they were Mike was pretty certain they were going to push John down onto the creek bank and pound him senseless. Which was fun in theory, but with their luck, some hiker would come jaunting down the trail and get an eyeful of the Chimera Tag Team Champions in a… rather compromising position. At least in the water there was some degree of modesty.
Giggling, their cheeks practically luminescing a vibrant rose color, Mike pulled away, one hand slipping into his and leading them both into the water, which was quite cool but, thanks to the constant stream of sunshine, not frigid. The depth went to about Mike’s shoulders.
“Water’s nice,” John was saying anything to stave off the idea that wasn’t what he’d normally do. What he’d normally do didn’t matter here. His mind checked against himself. Rapid firing off what ifs. There came a sudden realization. Sure, he had an aversion to touch. Cleanliness being a main deterrent but something abhorrent bubbling up from underneath. A clumsy touch met with recoil. Cold deference. Lesson learned. But why apply it here? When had Mike ever done that? All of this transpired as they embraced in the water, moving further into the middle.
The answer was … never. John’s right hand traced downwards, down their sternum, graving over the navel, finally between the legs. Mike gave a gasp, their body shuddering a bit but hardly from any sort of revulsion. In fact, they pressed closer, their hand finding him beneath the surface, gasping a little while trying to keep enough sense in their head to keep a rhythm going. Their ministrations matched his to the best of their ability, their breath panting, teeth biting at their lower lip not as a display of nerves as it usually was, but to keep from making too loud a noise. Or from swearing incoherently. They opted instead for breathless praise, urges to continue. That same urging was for John was to manipulate just a little faster, still keeping to that established rhythm of both their breathing.
One leg lifted up a bit, winding around his thigh to allow for more maneuverability. They panted, stroked faster, noting his cues, while organically he matched them. Mike could feel them both reaching a peak- his stamina had improved a fair bit since the first time they tried anything like this, and they… well, it’d been almost longer than Mike could remember since they’d been touched this way, and it was moving things along fairly quickly. Their fingers dug into his back, and it was probably for the best that they kept their nails trimmed so short. John’s breathing turned abrupt. Mike buried their face in his shoulder, his skin muffling a sharp cry, their body seizing up momentarily before going slack, both of them relaxing, sinking into the creek a bit, Mike melting somewhat against their partner.
They held each other like that for a while, the water flowing at its steady pace around them.
The rest of the afternoon passed in peace. They read together, listening to the radio. When it started to get dark, they got a fire going, roasting hot dogs (and tofu dogs) over it for dinner, with some s’mores for dessert. After that, they cleaned everything up, made sure their food was locked down for the night- there would not be another case of nut eating raccoons- and settled once more by the fireside. Mike sat close to John, leaning against his side, his arm almost instinctively curling around them.
“...hey, John. Thanks for agreeing to come here again.”
“I like it.”
“Me too.”
The fire crackled softly. In the woods around was the soft rustle of nocturnal animals going about their business.
“We coulda gone camping anyplace. But there was a reason I wanted to drive all the way out here specific-like.”
They looked up, sighing. The sky was clear and the stars spectacular- not quite as spectacular as it had been in Peru but they doubted anything could ever match that sky.
“Do you remember when we were here last, and there was something I wouldn’t tell you? And you got all mad at me about it?”
John nodded, “That was wrong.”
“No, I shoulda been more forward. Or at least said I wasn’t ready to say it yet. But I can say it now, cuz it’s why I wanted to come here again.”
They looked around, nodding. Everything was placed more or less the same. Mike could even almost see the ghosts of themselves, sitting across from each other at this very firecircle instead of beside, ashes of notecards burning in the fire and them from a year ago falling off the log backwards, laughing wildly at a wry comment John from a year ago had made.
“It was the middle of the night. We were in the tent and you’d probably just fallen asleep, and I… I realized then that I’d fallen in love with you.”
They blushed again, their smile sheepish, yet tender. The sort of look nobody else saw.
“Oh.”
It was months later that Mike confessed as such in his room at the time. John’s surprise is to how dangerous the realization was. Mike had been with Miss … Natalie Young at that time. They both had been strong together. Mike had been happy and so that had made John happy. He was content with their partnership. Content with the implied boundaries of friendship. But even then, the rigors of the business the two were in caused them to drift apart. And in a blaze, she disappeared. The letter Young left meeting the same fate.
He smiled nervously. It could be a repeat. A let down. Or John could push through. For something. For anything at this point.
“Makes sense.”
That wasn’t it. John flipped a branch into the fire.
“Not sure when,” and that’s because what he said wasn’t always obvious. Even to his best friend, “But I think so, too.”