Chapter Text
A hundred years should go to praise
Thine Eyes, and on thy Forehead Gaze.
Nick's station wagon rattled as he pulled it into the dirt parking lot by the trailhead. The others tumbled out, ready to escape the cramped car, laden with bags and folded tents. Tara and Darcy especially sighed with relief, having survived the bumpy Amtrak ride up from Penn Station and then the bumpier car ride from Montpelier (Nick definitely needed new shock absorbers before the winter set in). Imogen had caught a flight into Leahy, and Elle was already in Burlington, so they were his next pickups, before they all took the twisting, winding roads that got less and less well-maintained, until the final few miles of simple gravel and dirt.
As he stepped out of the driver's seat and stretched, he spotted the only other car in the parking area. Small, silver and looking very unsuited to their deeply forested environment, it disgorged two men, both dressed reasonably appropriately for their expedition. These must be their hiking companions.
Darcy, ever the extrovert, bounded over to introduce themself. The passenger, tall and a little gangly-looking for a hiker, seemed terrified of them, but the driver smiled warmly as he pulled his pack out of the backseat, a book, maybe a field guide, tumbling out with it.
Nick's crew had gone overnight camping, or done day hikes, on many a weekend during college, with others or as just themselves. They had done ones about this intense before, rated "intermediate" by the booking website, but they were out of practice, their last expedition together being six months ago. They hadn't even been all together in one place, the five of them, since graduation that spring, so when Tara suggested the trek as a late-October get-together, Nick said yes immediately.
Landing a teaching job fresh out of college was great, and Nick liked living on his own for the first time, but he missed his friends, now suddenly scattered to the four winds. And he found making new friends tougher than he expected - even their small New England liberal arts college had a vigorously vaster queer scene than the middle of nowhere town in New Hampshire he had now signed himself up for.
After a few minutes, they had all gathered by the trailhead sign, waiting for their guide's arrival. Nick knew this was a "small group" trip, so there'd be only one trail guide, and he hoped it'd be someone nice, and knowledgeable, and who didn't care about whomst of what gender was in whose tent like last time. (That trip had been a nightmare, and they left the guide service an appropriately scathing review.)
But a car didn't drive up. Instead, from the thin air beyond the trail marker, jumped a man.
"Tadaa! Did I surprise you?" he said, with a chipperness that Nick found instantly endearing. "I don't live in the woods, don't worry, I got dropped off earlier and thought I'd make a dramatic entrance."
"You definitely surprised me!" Darcy said, a little too loudly, while the others murmured their agreement.
"Welcome to the trail! I'm Charlie, and I'll be your guide this weekend. You picked a good weekend, late enough in the season not to be swamped with leaf-peepers, but early enough to not be freezing the whole time. And you picked especially well, because you got me as your guide," and he winked and took a small bow, to a soft chorus of chuckles. "Before we head off, can I ask who all is joining me today?"
As the others - starting with Isaac and Tao, as their other companions were named - started to introduce themselves, Nick took a long look at Charlie. The first word that came to Nick's mind was stunning, the first phrase was just my type, and the first full sentence was oh god, I'm in so much trouble. He was tall, just a little shorter than Nick (though his well-tractioned boots might have been adding an inch), with curly black hair squashed under a brown, brimmed hat that wouldn't be amiss on Smokey Bear. He had on a matching brown jumpsuit, with a bunch of buttoned pockets and pant legs cut off at mid-thigh, like an old-school cartoon park ranger might wear.
And out from the jumpsuit emerged a pair of legs like Nick had never seen. Charlie clearly hiked a lot, obviously, but his legs weren't thick and meaty, they were long, and lean, and made of pure mountain-forged muscle. Despite his time on the trails his legs looked soft and unblemished, with the perfect amount of dark hair, not coarse but just the right density, and-
"-and this is Nick." Elle's voice somewhere near his shoulder drew him from his reverie.
"Hi," Nick said, a little too breathy. He cleared his throat.
"Hi, Nick, Elle, Tara, Imogen, Darcy," Charlie said, making eye contact with each of them as he named them, "and Tao and Isaac. It may take me a couple tries to learn every name, definitely correct me if I mess up!"
Charlie proceeded to remind them of what they signed up for, and what they should have brought with them. "It's three full days of hiking, and there won't be any resources for us on the trail, so I hope you have sufficient supplies, and that you all fit in your tents! Though, barring unforeseen circumstance, we'll only need them tonight - there are cabins we'll be staying in on night two. But don't get too excited, they don't have running water," he said, to audible groans from Imogen and Darcy and maybe also Tao.
"Be warned," Charlie continued, "you may get to know your hiking companions very well on this trip. It might get cold in the tents tonight, so don't be afraid to snuggle up close." As he spoke, did Nick see him casting his eyes up and down, from Nick's face to chest to thighs and back in an instant? No, surely not.
"Before we set forth, I want to say this is your last chance to duck out. There's no judgment and no pressure, I would always rather that everyone hiking with us wants to be here and feels prepared." When nobody raised a hand or an objection, he smiled wide (Nick immediately spotted two deplorable dimples) and said, "Let's go!"
🌲🌲🌲
Over the first couple of hours, as they worked their way through the lower, relatively flat part of the trail, Charlie made a point to get to know about each of his charges.
Tara ended up next to Charlie first, so she talked about her dance company in New York, and about how she was here to re-familiarize herself with the great outdoors after the last few months of living in a micro-apartment with Darcy. Darcy then gave an overview of working at a collectivized co-op grocery-store-slash-tattoo-parlor in Brooklyn, and teased some convoluted drama between the often uncooperative co-op-ers that they promised to tell in detail later.
Imogen began to dive into the details of her sociology grad program in California, and seemed poised to ramble for an hour about pregnancy health statistics in the Central Valley before Elle swooped in and changed the subject to her own art gallery in Burlington, where she ran a rotating set of shows featuring diverse local artists.
When Nick's turn came around, he thought it'd be easy to introduce himself, until Charlie fell into step beside him. He kept glancing over at him, with eyes as blue as the autumn sky that peeked through the long pine limbs above, and Nick could barely get his words together. Only when he kept his eyes fixed on the ground at his feet (so as not to trip over hazardous roots, of course, no other reason), did he manage to talk about working as a French teacher in New Hampshire. He even managed to fumble his way through a joke about adjusting to the local kids knowing Quebecois French when he'd been raised on Metropolitan, and Charlie laughed like he found it genuinely funny.
Nick breathed a sigh of relief when Charlie moved on to Isaac and Tao, roommates who lived outside Burlington. Tao was a wedding photographer taking a break after peak season. And as it turned out, Elle had been into the indie bookshop where Isaac worked before. The two of them chatted about books while the rest fell into smaller conversations, catching up or getting to know each other.
Intermittently, Charlie would have them all pause, to look at a particular tree or listen quietly for a birdcall. The expedition was pitched primarily to hikers, not naturalists, but Charlie clearly fit neatly into the middle of that venn diagram.
It was hard to pay full attention to what he said, though, since the words were emerging from the full lips of the most stunning man this side of the Adirondacks.
Tao had brought his fancy camera, and snapped an occasional photo of a tree branch overhanging their path, or a red squirrel that darted across it. After lunch, they reached the stonier, more strenuous uphill part of the trail, and the chatter became more intermittent as they scrambled over rocks or breathed heavily after a steeper section.
As they reached their first summit, the woods opened up to bare, rounded rock, and sweeping views of the surrounding hills made the breath catch in Nick's throat. Tao's camera clicked away, focused on a singular wizened pine, bent by the wind.
"It seems so ancient," Elle said, as she stood behind Tao, watching him work.
"Surprisingly, the forest here is actually quite new, in geologic terms," Charlie said. "Twenty thousand years ago, this was all under solid ice."
"So the mountains are older than the trees," Imogen mused.
"These mountains are older than all trees," Charlie said. "They were formed just as the first plants started to grow on land." Nick took in the line of mountains in the distance, more ancient than he could comprehend. "They used to be taller than the Rockies, but they've been weathered down for more than four hundred million years."
As they descended down the far side, towards their planned campsite for the evening, Nick felt like he was walking outside of time. These mountains had seen so much, for so many years, that they wouldn’t be surprised at whatever might happen over one long weekend.
⛰️⛰️⛰️
When they got to the campsite, Charlie insisted they set up their tents straightaway, since it would be harder to do with the fading light of sunset. He handed out a couple of bear bags to store their food, hanging from branches - bears weren't a big threat in this area, but it was better to keep it that way. And then he had them gather near the fire, which he had expertly lit, to explain what he called the most crucial task, checking for ticks.
"We haven't been hiking through any tall grasses or dense understory, but it's still important to inspect all uncovered areas, and anywhere there's a gap in clothing, like the cuffs of your pants legs," he said, as he pointed to Darcy's hiking pants as an example. "Lift the hems of any clothing, and lower socks, in case they've shifted while you hiked. You can check here or behind the tents if you prefer a little more privacy. And if you have any questions or find any ticks, let me know."
Tara and Darcy moved off to the side of their two-person tent to do their check, Darcy waggling their eyebrows as Tara rolled her eyes. Nick turned to Imogen beside him, about to ask her if she wanted to be his tick-check partner, but Elle bolted over and grabbed her arm with an, "Immy and I will be a pair!" Without a word, Isaac and Tao walked over to their own tent, obviously most comfortable tick-checking each other.
Which left Nick with only one option.
Charlie had a slight smile as Nick walked over to him, standing by one of the logs positioned around the fire circle, like he was waiting for Nick. He seemed relaxed, as though Nick wasn't about to ask to gaze closely at his legs for several minutes.
Nick started to ask, "Um, would, um, would you, can I be, would." Then his mouth gave up on him, and he just stopped talking altogether.
"Yes, I'll do your tick check if you do mine," Charlie replied, as though reading his addled mind. "I'll inspect you first. Sit on the log here."
Nick sat, the way he would do literally anything Charlie instructed (because of course he would, he was the trail guide, and a competent and completely professional one, no other reason), and Charlie sat cross-legged in front of him.
"It's important, like I said, to go a bit under any gaps in your clothing that may have shifted while we hiked. So I'm going to lift your shorts legs a bit, and lower your socks. Is that okay, Nick?" Charlie kept eye contact with him, his curls backlit by the campfire and the setting sun.
Nick nodded quickly, his throat drier than the bare granite they'd hiked across earlier today.
With an "Okay then," Charlie grasped his ankle, lightly, with a couple of his fingers, and scrunched down Nick's short socks. He moved Nick's leg gracefully, looking carefully for any of the small bugs, brushing a piece of stray dirt off his calf, then moving upwards. Nick realized he was holding his breath, and tried to force himself to breathe easily, steadily, but it came out ragged, like he was terrified. He was terrified, terrified that his heart would crack one of his ribs and make a run for it out of his chest, as Charlie lifted the hem of his long hiking shorts, and inspected the lower third of his thigh from all angles, turning it from left to right.
As Charlie reached for his other leg, Nick began to feel dizzy, like he was looking down from a great height. He couldn't watch, just stared across at the bare trees beyond, glowing in the pre-sunset light. But he felt every gossamer movement of Charlie's touch, around his ankle, up his shin, behind his knee.
It felt like a dozen years before Charlie said a quick, "All set! Looks like you're scot-free," and stood, blocking his view. Nick blinked hard, and Charlie continued, "Shall we switch spots?"
A flash of lightheadedness returned as Nick stood, then plonked himself down in the dirt on his knees. Charlie sat in front of him, stretched his gracile legs out, one booted foot on either side of Nick's knees. Kneeling in front of Charlie brought Nick, for a moment, back to church the few times his father would drag him and David there as kids. They knelt on the pews, then, and gazed up at the altar, but this altar was a hiking guide who needed to be thoroughly inspected for Lyme disease vectors.
He thought he saw Charlie give just the tiniest smirk, and a fleeting nod. He looked down at the left leg beside him, and began.
He decided to switch back and forth between each leg, with the thought it might keep him conscious and save him from torturing himself twice. He rolled down Charlie's high, grey socks, revealing the rest of his calves, so shapely and toned they could have come off a Victorian-era chair. The soft, dark hair was thickest towards his ankle, and Nick brushed his fingers through it, to see if anything had gotten under the hairs - yes, this is a tick check, Nick, stay calm.
He took a moment to look around the knees - how had he never noticed before that knees could be sexy? - and grasped Charlie's lower leg to turn it and inspect the backside of each knee. The thighs were their own trial, and Nick thought he could see his hands shaking as he grasped around the tops of Charlie's knees, fighting not to press his lips to the flesh before him. Charlie's shorts hugged his legs tight, and Nick fumbled with the hem for a moment before Charlie reached down and pulled them up, revealing one last inch of skin on each leg, an inch that Nick stared at with a sacred reverence and a held breath.
The whole thing must have taken a couple of minutes, but it felt like an hour, the most thrilling hour of Nick's life.
"Anything?" Charlie said, somewhere above him.
Nick looked up, and Charlie was smiling, his eyes reflecting the last sunlight. "Nope," Nick said, and then thought about what he wanted to say, I could look at your legs all night, run my tongue over every inch, treat them like the miracles they are, and then I could-
A sudden shriek pulled him from his fantasizing. Tao crawled his way backwards across the ground towards them, twisting his torso and pointing, shouting, "He has one! He's got a- a-"
Isaac stood nonchalantly by their tent, arms crossed, and then walked calmly over to them, as Tao scurried to the far side of the fire. "He found a tick, I guess. I can't believe I chose to go on a forest hiking trip with someone who's afraid of bugs."
Charlie giggled, just for a moment, and Nick leaned back, away from him and his legs, but not far enough to singe himself in the fire. He already felt hot enough as is.
"It's okay, I'll remove it. If you don't mind, Isaac, I want to use this as a teaching opportunity, to demonstrate how to remove a tick if you find one."
Once the others had gathered around, Tao seated noticeably further away than anyone else, Charlie explained how to remove the tick from Isaac's shin. He magicked tweezers from one of his many pockets, and grasped the tick firmly, pulling gently outwards until the bug slipped free. He had Tara hold open a small zip-lock bag, into which he dropped the tick, and she zipped it shut.
"We keep the tick just in case," he explained. "If you notice any complications in the next couple weeks, like a rash, sudden fever or fatigue, it can, in theory, be sent for testing, though catching and removing the tick quickly means the chances of that are small. Now we take a look to see if the tick is entirely out. Sometimes their mouthparts detach," (Nick saw Tao shudder at the word mouthparts) "but if they do it's best not to try to fish around for them, as it may drive them further in. The body will push any remnants out on its own." He leaned in close to Isaac's leg. "But it looks like you're all set! If you spot any rash, swelling, or anything else, let me know, but most likely there won't be any further issues."
Apparently everyone else had passed their tick exams, so they settled in to dinner around the campfire. Tao had shifted from terrified to embarrassed at being the only one petrified of an insect - wait, no, Charlie had said ticks are technically arachnids, more like spiders than insects. Nick saw Elle, seated next to him, reach over and squeeze Tao's shoulder, whisper something to him that made him sigh and then perk up a little, assuaged enough to rejoin the conversation.
After an adequately campfire-warmed dinner, Charlie pulled another surprise from his copious pack, a tiny hand drum. He said some groups wanted to head straight to bed, but if anybody wished to stick around for campfire karaoke, he would accompany them. They all said absolutely, and so he did. Charlie's sense of rhythm was impeccable, and he kept up just as well with the group's surprisingly good rendition of "Take Me Home, Country Roads" as he did with Imogen's impromptu off-key "Single Ladies."
Of course, Nick didn't just notice his rhythm, but the way Charlie's knees held the drum between them, thighs flexing subtly in tempo with his hands.
When things had quieted down, and most of the others had begun to clamber into tents, Nick braved his fears and scooted over next to Charlie.
"That's so cool, that you can play the drum like that."
"Really?" Charlie's face lit up. "Most groups seem disappointed it's not a ukulele."
"Well, they shouldn't be. You're really good."
"You should see me play the whole drum kit then. My band plays every Wednesday in White River Junction."
"Oh! That's not far from me," Nick said, "maybe I should!"
"I'd like that, Nick." He reached out his hand and gripped Nick’s shoulder. Nick could feel, or imagine, an energy passing between them, and he stared into Charlie’s eyes, reflecting the fading firelight, just a moment too long for it to be natural. It almost felt like Nick could kiss him, that it’d be perfectly normal to make out by the fire with this man, this perfect man, whom he had just met this morning, here where the trees and mountains and lurking bears and Elle chatting quietly with Tao by the tents could see them.
But Charlie said, "We should turn in, it's gonna be a long day tomorrow and I prefer to get to the cabins on the early side if we can."
🏕️🏕️🏕️
A few minutes later, Nick scooched himself into their big, dim tent. Imogen was already snoring on the far side, so he assumed Elle, in the middle, would be asleep too. But as he zipped up his sleeping bag around himself, she whispered, "So?"
"So what?"
"You know I can see you, Nicholas. You've been checking out our tour guide all day."
Nick stared at the fabric of the tent above him in the darkness. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Mm-hmm. Sure."
"Good night, Elle," Nick said. He didn't know if he could handle her making him face the truth at this hour.
"Sweet dreams, Nick."