"I can't believe these guys still wanted to go camping after all this," Tori said with a sigh. As exasperated as she sounded, there was a note of affection in her voice that couldn't be disguised. "I just want to go to sleep."

"Me too," Cam confessed, sticking his hands in his pockets as they wandered toward the campsite. "I just didn't want them thinking I was... well, lame."

She was probably the only person on the planet he would admit it to, but she just laughed and agreed. "Me too!"

He stopped at the same time that she lifted her head to look around, and they exchanged glances. Their teammates were sprawled across chaise and folding chairs, every eye closed as they were apparently dead to the world. Had they even had time to eat anything, or had they crashed as soon as they got here?

Cam just shook his head. "I bet Zurgane's in worse shape than them," he remarked, wondering how much noise they could make before those supposedly keen ninja senses kicked in. He was guessing quite a lot.

"No doubt," Tori agreed, her gaze following his. "Think we should make them dinner?"

He gave her an incredulous look. "You've got to be kidding."

"No," she protested, laughing. "I'm hungry! And you know they'll wake up the second they smell food. Come on--you get some water, and I'll see what else they brought with them."

"At least we know it won't be anything that requires more than two steps," Cam observed, trailing her reluctantly across the clearing. "'Open,' and 'serve.'"

"Water," Tori said sternly, handing him a pot. "Filter," she added, digging something out of the pile by the grill. "Wow, I thought they were disorganized before. It looks like they were visited by bears or something."

"Well, you've seen Hunter when he's angry," Cam tossed over his shoulder. "His rider probably lost the super deluxe hundredth anniversary motocross event or something."

"Supercross," Tori corrected absently. She was already sorting through the stuff in the cooler--a backup for the fridge, no doubt--but there was a ring of amusement in her voice.

"Whatever," he called back as he headed for the river. He actually did know what it was called, and at least two of the riders that were supposed to be in it. But he wasn't about to let on that he'd been listening while the others were discussing it.

While Hunter was discussing it. With Blake and Shane, which had made for a loud and lively conversation that he hadn't been able to avoid overhearing. Especially when he was standing right outside Storm Chargers' lounge area while they were talking about it. It wasn't so much eavesdropping, he thought, as it was... well, it was eavesdropping. But it hadn't been intentional. At first.

He wedged the pan between a couple of rocks near the side of the river and arranged himself and the filtration system comfortably. He had barely managed to sit down when sudden awareness of someone behind him made him stiffen. He looked back sharply, relaxing a little when he realized who it was.

Hunter leaned against a nearby tree, regarding him speculatively and with a glint of amusement that made Cam nervous. They were out of sight of the others, but just barely, and Hunter was nothing if not... daring. He definitely had a tendency to push the boundaries of whatever he did. And if he was looking at Cam like that? He'd better hope no one came looking for either of them.

"I thought you were asleep," Cam said, as casually as he could. He turned back to the water filter half-heartedly, wondering if it would do him any good to try and anticipate Hunter's actions.

"Nah." Hunter paused, then added, "We were going to try and scare you, but then Tori mentioned dinner and we chickened out. Don't mess with people who say they're going to make you food, right?"

"Some people you shouldn't mess with at all," Cam retorted, adjusting the filter as it slipped.

"Yeah," Hunter agreed seriously. "Tori's pretty tough."

Cam rolled his eyes, but Hunter knew him well enough by now that he didn't bother answering. Very funny, ha ha. He actually was more amused than offended, but there was no reason to feed Hunter's ego by saying so.

Instead he found himself telling the river, "Nice shirt."

Hunter's tone was perfectly innocent when he replied, "You like it? No one else has said anything about it."

"No one else is looking for it," Cam muttered.

There was a quiet moment. Finally Hunter offered, "You know, you could just boil that."

Cam just shook his head. "You know how long it would take to boil this much water?"

"No," Hunter replied immediately, "but I'm guessing I'm going to find out how long it takes to filter it."

"Good guess." He frowned as the filter stopped cooperating, and that was all it took. The idle banter had lulled him into a false sense of security. He was caught completely by surprise when Hunter's hands settled on his shoulders.

"Did you compare me to a bear?" Hunter wanted to know. "Should I be upset about that?"

He had frozen at the touch, deliberately made himself relax. When would he learn that Hunter took every opportunity? He tried not to let it bother him, tried to remind himself that they'd been seeing each other for months. Of course he was allowed... expected, to be physical. He just--it was still a surprise, sometimes.

"No," he managed at last. With a smirk he made sure Hunter could hear, he added, "There's nothing wrong with bears."

He heard Hunter chuckle, but the feel of arms wrapping around him erased the sound from his mind. He held his breath, trying not to shift uncomfortably. He wasn't good at hugging, and it made him nervous when other people tried to involve him in it. Especially from behind. When his hands were full.

"All right," Hunter murmured in his ear. "Inquiring minds want to know. What have you got against hugging?"

"Whose inquiring minds?" Cam returned, holding as still as he could.

"Just mine." Hunter sounded amused at his wariness. "What, that isn't enough?"

"No. I mean--" He realized how that had sounded, failed to correct it in any plausible way. Cam sighed and decided to just answer the question. "Nothing." He really didn't think well when other people were touching him. "Other people" consisting exclusively of Hunter. "I don't have a problem with hugging."

"You're crawling out of your skin," Hunter observed. Unfairly, Cam thought. He was really quite calm for someone who had been ambushed on the edge of a large body of water by an unpredictable boyfriend, whom the people fifty feet away weren't supposed to know anything about. There were multiple reasons to be nervous.

"Come on," Hunter coaxed. "You don't mind kissing, so I don't think it's me. Is it 'cause of the others? Or are you just not a hugger?"

"No," Cam agreed, knowing it wouldn't be that easy. "I'm just not a hugger." He had to say something, and he was distracted every time Hunter moved.

That was it--it was just distracting. Amazingly so. He felt like he should be able to function while someone was hugging him, and he couldn't. Kissing was different: when they kissed, he knew that all he was expected to do was kiss. That was fine. Focused. He could handle that. He just couldn't multitask, not when it involved being close to someone else.

"So?" Hunter prompted, annoyingly determined. "Why not?"

"I don't know, okay?" Cam shifted, knowing it would clear his mind to put some distance between them but unable to make himself pull away. "I'm just... not used to it, I guess."

"Not used to it," Hunter repeated. Only afterward did Cam realize it was the wrong thing to say if he wanted Hunter to stop doing it every time he turned around. But he wasn't sure he did. He might not be comfortable with it, but he didn't... dislike it.

"Well, I can fix that," Hunter was saying. "Stand up."

He really should have seen that coming. A mile away. Too distracted... that was his only excuse. That he was totally distracted. And about to be moreso, if Hunter had his way. What were the others doing, that they didn't wonder why Cam needed help getting a single pan of water?

He didn't even realized he'd stood up until after he did it. What had he done with the filter? A glance over his shoulder revealed that it was doing about as much good as it had been doing ever since Hunter snuck up behind him and took him by surprise. Which was to say, not a whole lot. On the other hand, he hadn't dropped or broken it either, so--as Hunter would say--points for technique.

"Your basic 'hello' and 'goodbye' hug," Hunter was telling him. "Only to be used on family, or, if you're really into that kind of thing, cute guys who you're one hundred percent sure are gay. Getting that part wrong is dangerous."

Hunter hugged him before Cam could completely process that. Not his Blake hug, an all-encompassing, bone-crushing maneuver that made Cam glad to be an only child. And not his Cam hug, typically delivered gently and carefully while kissing so as not to startle him. No, this was a different hug, a fast, easy, friendly invasion of personal space that Cam nonetheless would not have tolerated from anyone he didn't trust with his car keys.

He was classifying hugs. Since when could he classify hugs? He definitely hadn't noticed when that started. Maybe he had gotten more used to this than he realized.

"Got that?" Hunter was asking. When Cam rolled his eyes, Hunter gave him a smirk. "Here's the 'I'm so glad you're alive' hug. Don't use this on anyone who wasn't recently in a life-threatening situation."

Cam barely had time to breathe before he found himself on the receiving end of a standard Blake hug. Yeah, Blake got "I'm so glad you're alive" hugs all the time. Cam made a mental note not to put himself in any life-threatening situations in the near future.

Hunter's grip had eased, but he hadn't backed off, and Cam found himself asking, "Is this still the 'Glad you're alive' hug? Because it usually doesn't seem to take this long."

He could feel Hunter's soft puff of amusement against his ear. "Oh, what are you, the hug expert now?" Had he really thought that being hugged from behind was distracting? Because this was ridiculous. At least the benefit of kissing was that no one could ask you to talk while you were doing it.

"I learn quickly," Cam muttered. He'd even managed to come up with a remotely appropriate reply.

"Yeah, you do." Hunter rested his head against Cam's with an almost inaudible sigh. "Because this is the 'you feel really good' hug. And I don't want to let go."

"Is that part of the name?" Cam wanted to know. Nervous babbling. Yeah, this lesson was going well. "Or just personal commentary?"

"Shh," Hunter told him, his embrace tightening despite his words. "You're cuter when you don't talk."

"I find that offensive," Cam remarked. It was hard to work up the appropriate indignation when he was wrapped up in someone's arms. "Plus I feel stupid, standing here like this."

"Then you're not doing it right," Hunter informed him. "Try harder."

"What if someone--"

"Hey," Hunter interrupted. "This isn't Ninja Ops, okay? I get to make the rules."

"You get to make the rules everywhere except Ninja Ops?" Cam repeated. He wasn't sure if automatically responding to everything someone said counted as carrying on a conversation, but he was trying. "Since when?"

"Since right now. And since we're together in Ninja Ops more than anywhere else, it's not exactly unfair."

He couldn't come up with anything to say to that. He wasn't completely sure that was a bad thing. For a moment he just let himself enjoy the hugging. Unlike him, and contrary to what one would assume about Hunter on first meeting him, Hunter was actually a very good and experienced hugger. He could make the rest of the world go away--which, Cam suspected, might be the whole point of a proper hug.

Hunter heard it first, and he had kissed Cam's temple and started to pull away before Cam realized there was someone coming. He stepped back quickly, but Hunter was already crouching by the stream and waving impatiently up at him. "I thought you said this thing was easy to use," he complained, managing to look innocent and genuinely befuddled at the same time.

"It is," Cam insisted. Dropping down at Hunter's side, he couldn't resist adding, "Maybe you just need more practice."

"Cute," Hunter muttered. The word was quiet enough that whoever was coming wouldn't hear it, and his grin as he shot Cam a sideways look was just between them.

It was surprising how much it meant, that Hunter would go to so much trouble just for him.