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You had loved camping since you were little. The first time your dad took you and your brother to a forest to “get you off the damn tv” and spend some time together, you’d fallen in love.
The calmness of the forest around you with the exception of the occasional rustling of leaves or some wild animal running around looking for food was one of your favorite things in the world.
The isolation from the rest of the world was something you craved, needed even when the weight of your job, people who constantly expected something from you and all the responsibilities which came with being an adult piled up and dimmed the joy you usually found in being alive.
So, to take care of yourself and make sure you didn’t hurt people you loved because of the attitude you caught when you got too irritated, you took a couple of days off and decided to go camping in the area you’ve been going to since you were little.
Making sure that you had taken care of everything needed, you got into your car and made your way to your usual camping site. After arriving and taking all your supplies with you, you decided to make camp next to the river which cut through the forest.
While you set up your tent you listened to the birds sing and took a deep breath. The smell of fresh air accompanied by pinecones and damp moss equalled a rich, earthy aroma that fought off the stress and calmed your nerves quickly.
Stepping back to admire the tent you had now successfully set up, you decided to reward yourself with a nap. Sleeping now meant that you could stargaze longer later and that’s something you adored doing.
Laying down feeling content, you quickly fell into a restful slumber.
Suddenly you heard rustling right outside of your tent. Looking around you, you saw that your bag full of camping supplies wasn’t there. You must have forgotten to take it with you when you went inside.
Suddenly you heard rustling right outside of your tent. Looking around you, you saw that your bag full of camping supplies wasn’t there. You must have forgotten to take it with you when you went inside.
Rubbing your eyes to get rid of the remnants of sleep which were still clinging to you, you left the safety of your tent, only to be greeted by a tree branch being swung at your face. Quickly ducking and scrambling to get out of the way of the reappearing branch coming at you like a baseball bat, you notice the man attacking you standing next to your open bag.
“What the fuck- stop! C’mon man I’m not even doing anything! Goddamn it, stop swinging that thing around!” You yelled while throwing up your hands in a placaring gesture, trying to convince the young man in front of you to stop trying to kill you.
The man had a calculating look in his eyes when he looked you up and down as if to decide whether or not you were a threat. Ultimately deciding you weren’t one, he lowered the dead tree and took a few steps back.
“I’m definitely awake now,” you mumbled as you slowly stood up and finally got a good look at him.
The guy was fucking gorgeous. Everything about him was perfect. He had tanned skin, the most beautiful brown eyes you had ever seen, freshly cut curls and a trimmed beard. If not for the cut on the upper half of his cheek, you would’ve thought you had hallucinated the most majestic man your mind could come up with.
The cut was bleeding sloppily and now that you were looking for it, you noticed the strange guy was also holding onto his left side. On top of that he had blood smeared all over him, though you weren’t sure whether it was his or somebody else’s.
That thought worried you somewhat, but there was something about him that pulled you in. You weren’t sure what it was, but you weren’t going to put your life in a possible serial killer’s hands because of a hunch, so you kept your distance for now.
“There’s a first aid kit in there,” you broke the silence when it became clear he wouldn’t say anything. “If you want some help you’re gonna have to drop the tree branch and at least tell me your name or something.”
His brown eyes focused on yours for a long while, before muttering out “Armando” in a heavy accent. Armando slowly put down his makeshift baseball bat while maintaining eye contact.
You couldn’t lie, it was attractive as hell. Staying true to your words, you crossed the distance between the two of you and kneeled next to your bag to find the bandages you had packed just this morning. Feeling his eyes on you, you quickly found the kit and turned to the guy- Armando.
“Are you gonna sit down?” you asked timidly, not wanting to scare him off. He stared some more before settling down on the ground.
You turned to him with a piece of cotton dripping with antiseptic in your hand. “This’ll hurt,” you warn before cleaning the cut on his face. Armando doesn’t flinch, but you see his jaw clenching. Being this close to him made you hyper aware of his warm breath hitting the side of your face softly.
“What happened to you?” you asked, trying to strike up a conversation although your previous efforts were fruitless. Armando doesn’t answer right away, but as you start to put a bandage on his face he murmurs “Had to fight off some guys.”
You hum and look his face over one more time.
“How are your ribs?” This time the man responds right away. “No te preocupes, I’m fine.”
“Sorry, what’d you say? I took French in school, not Spanish,” you told him, ignoring how enticing the words in the foreign language sounded rolling off his tongue.
Armando smirks at you and shakes his head. “Just that you shouldn’t worry about me, dulce niña. You don’t know me,” he claims with an easy smile.
“Yeah, but you obviously need help. Otherwise you wouldn’t have been rummaging in my things a couple of minutes ago. I won’t tell anyone you were here if you don’t want me to, but at least let me help you,” you said while looking at him. He could be dangerous, you knew that. But you also didn’t want him to die here if he had more injuries than you initially thought.
“If you don’t want me to do it, I can drive you to a hospital-“ Before you got to finish the sentence, Armando grabbed your wrist firmly, but not painfully.
“No hospital,” he declared in a pleading voice. His brown eyes were staring into yours, begging to listen. “Por favor, dulce niña. No hospital.”
“
Alright, alright,” you sighed. “But tell me if you change your mind. For now, let’s take a look at those ribs.” Armando lifted up his shirt, allowing you to see his toned chest and a couple of cuts along his torso. As you inspected them, they didn’t seem to be too deep, so you repeated the same process as with the cut on his cheek.
While you were busy taking care of Armando’s wounds, he was busy looking at you. He couldn’t stop staring at your concentrated face, the way you had your eyebrows scrunched together and you bit the inside of your lower lip every time he made a sound that counted as a sign of pain.
He even tested it out to confirm his theory. At one point he grunted while you were putting antiseptic on a particularly large gash and you uttered apologies, after slightly biting into your cheek.
Armando smiled to himself as you continued to work. He hadn’t expected to come across someone like you. Hell, he didn’t even think there was someone like you. A person so genuinely good it made him feel unworthy to be in your presence. Making him feel as if he’ll stain you by merely talking to you.
But at the same time Armando didn’t want to leave your side. The fact that you would show him such kindness and trust, although you had no idea who he was, was incomprehensible to him. Your soft and considerate touches were a strong contrast to the last years during which he was in prison. There was nothing soft in prison.
Although after he got out, kindness and trust still weren’t freely given. His father hadn’t been unkind to him, but he still treated him like a criminal. Not to speak of Kelly, who trusted him as far as she could throw him. No, trust is precious. It’s hard to earn and easy to lose. And yet, you were in front of him, unarmed. Helping him while compromising yourself.
He couldn’t let the first person who treated him like a person again, get taken advantage of. Because people like you - genuinely kind people - always got taken advantage of.
Once all of Armando’s wounds were dressed, your stomach rumbled loud enough to crack a smile out of him. Your cheeks flushed in embarrassment, but your sole focus was on the way Armando’s eyes crinkled when he smiled and the way he turned his head as to not laugh in his face.
“Are you hungry too? I packed too much food, so we can share if you’d like,” you make known while searching through your bag for the mentioned food.
Armando looks at you in disbelief. “I can’t just take your food, nena.”
“Yeah, you can. I offered, didn’t I?” you said while pulling out two sandwiches. You don’t give Armando a chance to protest, before dropping it on his lap. He glares at you, but still grabs the sandwich and peels off the napkin you had wrapped it in.
“Muchas gracias. It’s very good,” Armando complimented between bites.
“That much I can understand. Thanks, but it’s not the best cuisine. If we weren’t in the middle of the forest, I’d have made something better, but this should be enough to not starve for now,” you chuckled.
While the two of you were eating, the sun had started to set. Turning your head, you let the sun shine on your face and revelled in its warmth. After the excitement due to the first meeting of you and Armando, the peaceful feeling had returned and you were enjoying every minute of your trip here.
Meanwhile, Armando was captivated at the sight before him. The sun illuminated your face, making your features pop and your skin glisten. He was sure he had never seen anything as beautiful before.
The moment stretched on, as neither of you wanted it to stop. Yet, the nighttime fell and something even better appeared. Hundreds of thousands of stars brightened the dark sky. Each one shining brighter than a thousand diamonds and at least ten times as beautiful.
Armando moved next to you as the both of you admired the sight in front of you with shining eyes. You hadn’t been able to see that many stars due to living in a big city, where the pollution has covered up too much of the sky to be able to see more than a handful of them. Armando couldn’t see any stars at all in jail. Their beauty was a privilege not offered to criminals such as him.
After a while you felt a sudden weight on your shoulder. Armando - the big strong guy you had mistaken for someone who would hurt you - was snoring softly on your shoulder after stargazing with you. Shaking your head while silently laughing, you tried to calm yourself. This sounded like the best date ever, if not for the fact that you had to stitch him up beforehand.
And maybe because you didn’t know much besides his name, but that’s not important right now.
After a long while in which you enjoyed the cool night due to Armando’s body heat warming you enough to be comfortable, you tried to get him inside the tent without waking him up, but to no avail. Armando woke up as soon as you disappeared under his shoulder, looking around drowsily.
“Where’re you goin’?” he asked while getting up from his place on the ground. You grabbed Armando’s shoulder to steady him and directed him to the entrance of the tent you had set up hours ago.
“Shh, go to sleep baby. I’m not going anywhere,” you said, emboldened by the night and the big eyes he was looking at you with. If anything, he looked even more handsome in the moonlight coming through the opened door.
You quickly brought in your bag from outside, not willing to make the same mistake as before. After zipping up the entrance to the tent, you grabbed your blanket from your bag and set it over Armando.
Laying down on the other side of the tent, you suddenly realized how small it really was. The one person tent allowed a distance of mere centimetres between the two of you, but you kept your distance.
Seeing you shiver right next to him, Armando grabbed you by the waist and dragged you next to him. “Eres tan terco, dios mio,” he whispered while adjusting the blanket over you.
Feeling comfortable and safe in his arms, you quickly fell asleep. Maybe forgetting your bag outside wasn’t so stupid after all.