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It was already the 71st day of their hunt. And the target was always the same: different animals, their skin and teeth.
Max sits on the grass, leaning his back against the wheel of their cargo jeep. It was already starting to get dark after the sun had set. He looks at the ground, lost in thought.
Sergio was lying on the car's bonnet, watching the sky. Suddenly, he looked back and said to his companion, "Hey, Maxy?"
"Yeah?" Max answers without changing his pose.
Sergio was quiet for a few seconds before saying, "Do you think we are getting too old for this?"
"For what?" Max frowns, not understanding what the Mexican means.
"For this...hunting stuff. And being out here. What are we going to do when we are 50? Or older?"
Max sighs, straightening his legs and leaning back against the car, "I don't know..."
Sergio sits on the bonnet of the car, still looking at the sky, "It's not that I don't want to do this anymore. I do, and the job's not so bad...but I can't shake the feeling that something's missing . Am I just being weird?"
"No..." The Dutchman getting sad again, realizing that their feelings are the same, "We're missing something..."
He looks at Max. It's dark enough the sun is down, their campfire is the only thing illuminating their camp. In the distance, in the savannah around them, they can see little lights. Animals' eyes. "What do you think it is, Maxy?"
"When we... When I chose this position I thought... How cool. I can easily do this because I did it as a child with my father, and they pay a lot. And I'm alone anyway, I can disappear for months. But now…" Max is immersed in his thoughts, which have been constantly in his head for the last few days.
Sergio nods in agreement, "I thought exactly the same thing. I thought...this is just like me and my friends going out hunting to the wilderness for a few months. This is no different. But...now..." He looks at the little lights from the savannah's animals, "Now something feels empty."
"I ask myself a question…" Max sits motionless, mesmerized by the weak flame of the campfire, "I have money, and soon I will even be able to buy myself a yacht... But will this make me happy?"
"Yeah... Do I really need a yacht? A bigger house? A Lamborghini?" He laughs. "I thought a new BMW was going to change me. But...it's just a new car."
"Have you ever asked yourself what will make you happy?"
Sergio ponders this for a few seconds, thinking hard. He then says, "I don't *really* know. Maybe...marriage. A family. A modest house in the mountains, I don't know. Just...something more than being alone. Something real." He looks at Max.
"Let's build a house in the mountains?" Max raises his head and looks back at the Mexican for the first time, "Somewhere in the Mexican outback..."
Sergio laughs. This suggestion made him happy. "Just the both of us? Two hunters in a house on the mountains?"
"Why not?" Max smiles.
"It has to have a fireplace. Otherwise it's not a real house." The thought of actually spending many years with Max...it made him feel warm inside.
"Anything. We have money." Max looks into brown eyes, relaxing from the tenderness in them.
"A fireplace, a living room filled with animal skins on the floor, a cozy kitchen...and a big bed." He says the last thing casually, even if it was the first thing to pop into his mind.
"Large window overlooking the ocean..."
The imagination of this, in the mountains, overlooking the ocean... It made Sergio think of a vacation on a tropical island. "What about a pool?"
"And the pool..." Max nods, more and more lost in Sergio's eyes.
"And we could go into the pool at night, after hunting. Without clothes." He says it without thinking and only realises when he said it. He blushed, looking at Max.
"Me and you..."
He hums, blushing as he lays back down on the car's bonnet. He stares at the sky full of stars and then says, "Yeah...just you and me..."
They stay silent for a few moments, watching the night sky and the few animals that dare to come closer to the campfire. Max leans against the wheel again, a silly smile on his face from love.
Sergio says in a low voice, "Do you ever think...that maybe this is the life we are destined to have? We were born for this. Maybe for hunting and being alone until our deaths. Because...we might not know what we want, but the Universe does."
Max raises his hand and finds Sergio's, intertwining their fingers. "Marry me, Sergio."
As soon as he says that, Sergio feels his blood run cold. His chest suddenly feels heavy and he blushes. But when he feels max intertwine their fingers, he immediately starts to think. Was this a joke? A trick? Or...? He hesitantly says, "...you're not joking, are you?"
"No." Max turns around on the ground, now facing the car, looking into the Mexicans eyes with hope and sincerity. "Seriously, who do you have besides me?"
Sergio can feel his heart beating faster "No one. You're all I have. For years, you're the only person I can trust. The only person I can consider family..."
"Then, marry me?"