Part 17


The Camp Out

“Where’s Pole A?”

“Here.”

“No, that’s Arch B.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“They look the same.”

“No, they don’t. Check the schematic.”

“Fuck…the what?”

“The drawing!” A piece of paper flew through the air. “The instructions!”

“Don’t snap at me.”

“I’m not snapping.”

“Yes, you are.”

In the silence that followed, Justin picked up the instructions, finding Pole A on the drawing, then surveying the equipment on the ground. He kicked aside ropes and poles and canvas, grasping a likely match and handing it to JC. “Here,” he said, slapping the aluminum into JC’s hand with some force.

JC held back a flinch as the metal struck his palm. “Thanks,” he said between gritted teeth, kneeling again to the ground to assemble the tent.

JC walked away a bit, sitting on a tree stump and slapping at a bug hovering around his neck. “Why are we here again?” he asked, surveying JC as he sat on the ground. On the fucking ground in the fucking woods.

JC didn’t look at him when answering, his focus on the tent pieces. “Because I wanted to go camping and you said you’d come with me.” He paused and glanced at Justin. “Do you want to leave?”

Justin sighed. There JC sat, on the fucking ground in the fucking woods, surrounded by pieces of tent. The reason they were there was exactly as JC had said. JC had never been camping, a friend from work would lend JC the equipment, and would Justin please come with him? Justin knew all he had to do was say yes, he wanted to leave, and JC would. He left his perch on the stump and walked over to JC, pulling the older man from the ground. “No, we’ll stay,” he told JC, kissing him lightly. “Why don’t you go take a walk, and let me put this together?”

JC glanced at Justin, then at the tent pieces, then back at Justin. “I don’t know…”

“You don’t think I can?” Justin held a hand over his heart in mock hurt. “I’m crushed.”

“It’s not easy, Just,” JC said.

“Who put Tyler’s furniture together?”

“Uh, Tyler did.”

“I helped.”

“You handed him a beer when he was done!” JC laughed.

Justin shrugged. “Help is help,” he theorized. Grabbing JC by the shoulders, Justin pushed him toward the hike path, smacking him sharply on the ass. “Go. Commune with nature. And don’t come back for at least an hour.”

With one last look at the tent pieces, JC walked away.

Justin watched at JC disappeared, waiting until the other man was completely out of sight before digging the cigarette pack out of his pocket, lighting one and inhaling deeply, finally realizing that camping was at least good for one thing. He’d recently lost the “smoking at home” battle—JC and Tyler had voted him down, so now he only smoked outside. He picked up the instructions, squinting through the smoke at the diagram before balling up the paper and tossing them away.

***

JC could smell the wood smoke as he approached their campsite. He stopped at the edge of the clearing, awed at the sight of the fully erected tent; there was a roaring fire in a ring of rocks, and the camp stove set up with actual food being cooked on it. “Justin?” JC called out.

“In here,” came a muffled reply and a movement of the tent.

JC bent down, peering into the tent opening. “I’m…speechless,” he said. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”

Justin shrugged. “No big deal,” he said, pulling JC inside and tumbling him down on the air mattress. “This is the best part though,” he said, nibbling on JC’s lips.

JC wrapped a hand around Justin’s neck. “The air mattress?” he asked, slipping his tongue over Justin’s lips.

Justin shook his head. “You,” he breathed before claiming JC’s mouth in a kiss.

They kissed languidly, softly. Tongues touched and dueled in a playful skirmish. Justin thrust against JC, making the other man moan at the feel of Justin’s heat. “Hmmm…you feel good,” JC said, pulling Justin’s hips closer to him.

“You, too,” Justin returned, slipping his mouth down JC’s throat and kissing the pounding pulse in his neck. “How was your walk?” he asked.

JC shifted as Justin’s teeth skimmed down JC’s throat. “Oh…fine. Saw…a…fuck. Yes.”

“Saw what?” Justin asked, shifting down to JC’s chest and unbuttoning his shirt. His mouth moved hotly over JC’s skin, nibbling at the light dusting of hair. “What did you see?” Justin repeated, his words rumbling against JC’s skin. He was moving slowly across JC’s chest to his goal, the gold metal glinting in the soft light coming in from the tent flap.

“A…god…a deer…and uh…yes…fuck…a…squirrel…no…two squirrels…” JC grasped Justin’s shoulders, ready to hold on as Justin finally…

…started laughing. It began as a rumble in his chest, then exploded as Justin laughed uncontrollably. He moved off of JC, sitting up, laughing so hard he had to hold his stomach. “Ssssquirrels?” he sputtered, wiping the tears from his eyes. “We came all the way out here so you could see ssssquirels?”

JC sat up, not finding his sighting of squirrels quite as funny as Justin. “Yes, squirrels,” he said, buttoning his shirt. “I’m going to check on dinner.” He pulled out of Justin’s grasp and climbed out of the tent, leaving Justin to fall back to the air mattress, over come by another fit of laughter.

***

“Damn, it’s quiet here,” Justin observed later that night. They were snuggled deeply into the oversized sleeping bag, the tent flap left open at Justin’s request. But Justin was right; it was very quiet. No car sounds, no airplanes over head, no sirens sounding though the night. Even the birds and the crickets were silenced once the sun had gone down. “Kind of eerie.”

JC wrapped Justin more securely in his arms. “It’s nice, though,” JC declared. “It’s as if there’s only you and me in the entire world.”

Justin smiled against JC’s chest. That’s what I always think anyway, he mused to himself, shifting even closer. “So, how come your family never camped?” Justin asked. “Sounds like something the Family Chasez would be into.”

“My dad never took a Sunday off, the whole time I was growing up,” JC told him. “Now and then we’d go fishing with my Paw Paw, my grandpa on my mother’s side, but that’s as close as Tyler or I ever got to camping.” He smoothed a hand across Justin’s back. “What about you? Did you ever camp?” he asked, then immediately regretted his words. “I’m sorry, Justin, I…”

Justin looked up, barely able to make out JC’s horrified face in the moonlight shining from outside the tent. He gave an easy laugh. “It’s okay, Jayce,” Justin told him. “You don’t have to check everything you say to me.”

JC sighed. “Yeah, but that was…I didn’t even think before asking.”

“It’s okay,” Justin said again. “And, as it happens, I’ve camped out a lot.”

“You have?”

Justin nodded. “It was never as nice as this, and usually in parking lots or abandoned buildings, but it was sleeping outdoors.” Justin saw JC’s eyes widen at his words. “Oh, god, don’t get all upset about it!” Justin scolded. “I was fine. I am fine.” He lowered his head and snuggled back against JC’s chest. “But it’s still too fucking quiet here.”

***

Justin shifted, pulling the sleeping bag closer over him and moving closer to JC…only to find an empty space. Justin scooted to the tent opening. It was still mostly dark; just a tinge of pink could be seen on the horizon. He spied JC sitting a bit away from the campsite, facing the sunrise. Pulling the sleeping bag along with him, Justin crawled out of the tent and headed toward him. JC must have known Justin was behind him because he didn’t startle or jump when Justin sat behind him. Justin wrapped his arms about JC’s thin frame, pulling JC into his body and securing the sleeping bag around them.

This was the kind of silence Justin could enjoy. He gazed at JC as the older man watched the sunrise, the pink of the sky turning to orange, then yellow, then white. He didn’t need to see the actual sunrise; he saw it all on JC’s face, the pink of his lips, the blue of his eyes. He pulled JC’s head back until it rested on Justin’s shoulder, maneuvering JC until he was practically lying in Justin’s lap.

Justin smiled as JC closed his eyes, as his hands moved over JC’s warm body. They slipped under JC shirt, tugging on his piercing attached to his nipple, eliciting a moan from the other man. One hand remained on the piercing, rubbing the sensitive nub between his fingers while the other hand snaked down and slipped into JC’s pajama’s, closing over JC’s already hard erection. His mouth fastened onto JC’s neck, biting and sucking the skin while his hands worked in tandem, moving across JC’s body, playing JC as a concertmaster would play a violin. He moved his mouth to JC’s ear, licking the delicate skin before whispering hot, nasty words. Under his hands, he felt JC tense, and with a last tug on cock and nipple and a last bite on JC’s ear…JC came.

***

“I put the damn thing together…I think I can take it apart.”

“If you’ll just let me…Justin, that’s wrong.”

“How can it be wrong?” Justin asked. “I remember it was the last piece I put in, so it makes sense it’s the first that should come out.”

“I don’t think so,” JC said, looking at the wrinkled instructions.

“Trust me on this,” Justin said, crawling into the tent.

“Justin…”

“Oh, FUCK!”

JC gaped as the tent collapsed, trapping Justin inside. The material of the tent shifted around, appearing to JC like some kind of canvas animal until finally, with a rip of canvas and a crack of metal, Justin’s head popped out of an opening.

Justin slithered from the tent, standing next to JC and wiping the dust from his hands. “See? No problem,” he said, indicating the mess of tent at their feet.

JC had to admit, Justin was right. The tent was down. Broken in five places and ripped at the seams, but it was definitely down.



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