Work Text:
Tick… tock… tick… tock…
Every minute that goes by feels like a hundred years.
20 year old Jean Kirstein cannot focus on his last assignment for even one of these passing minutes, his eyes always glue back onto the time on his phone. The more the numbers reach closer and closer to the scheduled o’ clock, his fingers tap a little faster and the smile upon his face gets slightly bigger. The growing anticipation is almost enough to make his head ache. At that moment, he blinked…
DING! DING!
His alarm finally goes off. Not sure why he set it in the first place as Jean couldn’t stop staring anyway. Leaving that aside, the man stood right out of his chair and began packing up immediately, shoving every smallest thing into his carrier back with such joy and exhilaration. He hasn’t smiled this brightly all day until now and for good reason to - for the long waiter summer vacation finally begins!
-
Kirstein ran all the way from his dorm and across the college campus as fast as a racing bullet, ever so lively to start his awaited adventure in the summer sun, and to see a certain face which feels he hasn’t seen in years. Don’t worry, he’s not that stupid to bump into other students without apologising or to slow right down when teachers tell him to do so, he still ends up arriving to his main destination anyway.
There, right on the very last table of the canteen, already packed up except for one book in his hands, is the love of his life, Marco Bodt - whom expresses more happiness as soon as his eyes turned away from the pages and onto the mullet man just inches away.
“Jean, there you are.” His welcoming smile can practically make Jean wanna press his own lips against it - but he much rather save it for later.
Despite all the sprinting from his dorm to here, he has little enough to rush ahead and hug his adorable freckled boyfriend, which the latter excepted in a heartbeat.
“Thank god the wait is finally over.” Jean whispers to himself.
Marco chuckles right after. “Were you really that desperate to get out of here?”
“Well…” The taller man clears his throat and moves away from the embrace. No blaming Marco for clearly hearing him for his lips were right next to his ear. “Duh. Classes become much more frustrating to sit through on the very last day; you just wanna leap out those doors and take in the sense of freedom for a few months, ya know?”
“Heh. I suppose that’s true for a lot of people.”
“Right?!”
The two young adults share laughter together once more, with Jean practically pulling in Marco with his right arm: just one of the many ways he shows his affection towards him. They could normally go on like this for a while, but the summer sun is waiting outside and some college staff are entering the place for some packing away, so even though Jean wouldn’t give two shits about others watching them being mushy-gushy, it’s time to get out of here and immediately start planning.
Jean is the first one to stand, taking Marco’s hand and escort them both out of the canteen with the freckled boy struggling to carry his book bag. It’s very weird for him to notice these things but Jean can’t help but ponder over why Marco’s bag appears both bigger and heavier than usual. Is he borrowing some books from the library? If so, it’s a pretty dumb decision to do so now with being gone for a few months. Or maybe he brought in extras from his own dorm; he remembers how much of a bookworm his boyfriend actually is.
Once they step outside there’s a cool, fresh breeze beginning to flow within the air. It’s not too strong but enough to blow Marco’s bangs about, and boy does he feel very happy to have the heat from the summer sun beaming down upon his face. Jean cannot take his eyes off of this ray of sunshine - and it’s not the sun itself.
“See what I mean?” Jean teases. “It feels much more better, now does it?”
The freckled boy chuckles once more, only slightly louder.
“Okay, you win. And since you’re so confident today, why don’t you tell me what you have planned for your summer.”
He thought he’d never ask. Jean was going to save his for later on as a surprise during their weekly trip to the shopping mall, but in pure current excitement he just can’t help but spill the beans.
“Ooh, just a little trip heading upwards upon an old place of my childhood which would be wrong not to share with you.” He teases once again.
This doesn’t fully connect well with the confused Marco, however. Replying with only a single ‘huh?’
“When I was a kid, my dad would drive me and mom up to the big mountain area just outside of town. He’d have us climb ourselves up the pathway leading up to a small cabin right at the top and camp there for the day. I found it a pain in the ass at first, but overtime I began to like the little struggle and was worth it when we reached the top.”
Marco listens in with every single word Jean narrates, as if it were like an old folktale, growing more intrigued and content whilst seeing the glimmer of nostalgia in his boyfriend’s eyes.
“We… stopped doing that once I got into high school, as my dad found a new job around that time, but I figured now that I’m older it be a good time to retrace those steps, but with you this time. Trust me when I say that you’re gonna have a fun time, Marco.”
He turns to face him with a smile; it quietly dies down as he notices Marco’s surprised expression. It’s hard for him to ignore his eyes shifting back towards his fulled-up book bag as well, Jean quickly gains a bad feeling on what Marco’s response is gonna be. He mentally prepares himself.
Suddenly, that sunshine smile appears. “That’s okay.”
“Huh? I mean- really?”
“Of course. The way you rambled on about it makes it sound like a really good time. I personally never walked to somewhere that high up before but hey, that must be part of the fun. Right?”
Jean doesn’t know how to probably respond aside from a natural agreement. “Y-Yeah.”
“Maybe we can start off in the afternoon tomorrow. We’re heading to the mall today anyway; you can help me find the right camping equipment.”
“Great idea there.” Jean nervously agrees.
Well that was totally unexpected. He’s certainly joyful to now have the chance to visit his childhood cabin now with his freckled boyfriend, but according to his action before responding, Jean cannot help but feel off about Marco’s choice here. Could it be out of not wanting to hurt his feelings? No! Marco would never do such a thing… right?
They have only been dating since their first half-year at college but by now it feels like they know each other very well at this point. Despite saying that, whatever’s going on inside Marco’s head remains a mystery to Jean for now. The taller man immediately decides to push those worries aside and focus on the adventure tomorrow. This is something he’s been looking forward to all June; he shall not let pity assumptions ruin their summer.
-
It’s just passed 12:00pm the following day. The last half of yesterday seemed very promising: they bought enough supplies for lunch and afterwards snacks, picked out refreshing shorts and shirts, not to mention new sneakers for Jean as his current ones were freaking ruined all over.
They head back to a rented apartment room for them to share temporarily for the summer, sort out all the clothes they’re gonna wear and packed up backpacks with food, water bottles and in-case-of-emergency toilet paper (since Jean admitted the cabin was the only man-made lavatory in that area).
Now the day is finally here. Jean should be very excited whilst driving him and Marco down the memory lane up to the mountain, but the mullet man is still feeling unsure about the brief hesitation from Marco yesterday. He tries his best to stay positive throughout the morning, but kept an eye for any signs of regret from his boyfriend and even now, but there have been no signs thus far, only smiling and words such as ‘I can’t wait.’
Jean comes to the realisation that maybe he was just overthinking things this whole time.
A couple of more kilometres later - and a changing of a tire - they manage to reach to the bottom of the mountain where Jean’s childhood camping area awaits. Marco remains seated as he double checks everything inside of his backpack; Jean steps out of the car with his own in hand, reaching in for a quick drink of water. “Alright. You ready, Marco? Jean asks. “I’ll be leading the way if that’s alright.”
“Sounds good.” He responses back. “I mean, you must be familiar with this path so much that you know it like your hair styling routine. Right?” The teasing tone returns.
“Wha- okay. First of all, my time working on my hair isn’t THAT bad. Second, it has been years since then but I can still manage.”
“Hehe, you know I’m only kidding with that one. Just do what you can and it’s okay if we get a little lost; I know we’ll eventually get there.”
Jean sighs. “Okay then.”
“I-Is something wrong?” Marco leans his head to the side to form eye contact with Jean, but the latter looks away to the side instead.
“Y-Yes, I’m fine. Let’s get a move on now.”
Rushing ahead without even thinking, Jean takes his first steps up the steep pathway, with a surprised Marco following behind at a steady pace.
The scenery along the climb is one of the most calming, inspiring and beautiful experiences Marco has seen at this point. He has been to a few forests before, but this one sticks out to him as there’s lesser trees so he can gaze upon other natural things: a stream at his left and many kinds of flowers blooming to their right. The breeze is much more soothing than yesterday too - flurries right by their faces like fluttering butterflies.
While there is enjoyment at first, as the climb goes on, the freckled boy begins to weaken in the knees. For the next few steps he requests to stop for a moment, Jean does so, giving him the free time to take yet another drink. The more they get closer to the top, a lot memories flood right back into his mind. He recalls a time where his dad allowed him to ride on his shoulders when he scraped his knee, and his mom insisted on them to take family pictures by the horizon. All those small moments feel like they were yesterday again.
If only he can feel such happiness right now. Marco keeps on panting away and slowly starts to lose motivation to walk any further, Jean has insisted on carrying him for the rest of the way but Marco states he doesn’t have to, despite clear sweat on his face and heavy amounts of fanning himself. This forces Jean to think back to yesterday once more - why didn’t he just tell him the truth? He would’ve been fine with it.
He plans on questioning Marco right there but suddenly remembers a tree right in front of him which also rings a bell. It has grown a little since the last time but with the tire swing attached to its branch, he immediately knows they’ve finally reached the top of the mountain (hallelujah).
The mullet man loudly exhales in relief. “We’ve fucking made it. At last. Marco, we’re here.”
“*pant* Okay… hang on…”
The exhausted tone in his voice grabs Jean’s attention. It raises his worries even further.
Marco carefully stands up from the rock he rested on, took a quick sip of water and manages to catch up to his boyfriend till he’s at his side. Only a few steps remain until they reach the very top, and once they do they’re going to fill up those half-empty stomachs of theirs and chatter.
The first thing they see over the bit of hill left was an dark wooden, dusty cabin; the very same one Jean stayed in many years ago. A smile slowly forms upon his lips in full nostalgia mode, eyes widening at the fact that it barely changed overtime, it’s like it was a private area nobody else knew about expect his family. Marco expresses joy on his face as well but more at Jean’s personal happiness.
“This is… incredible.” The taller man speaks softly. “I always thought this would’ve taken down or sold but… here it is. Still standing. It’s just damn amazing.”
“I’m happy for you, Jean.”
Facing towards that smiling face once again, he feels that blissful smile fading, those assumptions inside his head demanding to be let out of that mouth if his. No, he shouldn’t. Lips are now quivering a little… there’s no turning back after this.
“M-Marco… are you sure you’re happy for yourself?”
There it is - the cat’s now out of the bag.
The boy looses his grip on his unsettled boyfriend’s arm, striking confusion in his own eyes, needing answers for that odd question. “What do you mean?”
Jean takes a deep breath and elaborates. “Yesterday when I told you about bringing you on this journey here, you hesitated. You kept looking at your bag with such urgency, and it wasn’t until this morning I noticed you were actually carrying workbooks in there. If you had your own things to do for the summer, why didn’t you tell me in the first place?”
“Oh…” Marco frowns. Maybe Jean said too much as he expresses guilt in his eyes. “Yes. I did plan on studying a lot more for the next few weeks, and to finish up on book series I’ve been very interested in lately too. I’ll admit, I’m not much of an outdoor person that much. But after seeing how excited you were for this trip - the fact that it’s our first one together - I couldn’t just turn it down.”
Jean can literally feel himself growing slightly irritated; just a little. “So… you did this just to spare my feelings? Marco, you really should’ve just said so that you weren’t up for it or at least suggested something different. I would’ve been okay with it, ‘cause I know how hard you study for when we graduate. You can’t just lie and push yourself into doing what you hate just for me!”
“I never said I hate doing this!”
A pause occurs. Marco’s eyebrows are furrowed, tightly gripping onto Jean’s shoulders and staring straight into his shocked face. Hopefully this doesn’t mean he’s super angry at him, for Jean would never get over them falling out over something so idiotic.
“When I agreed to come here with you I meant it! Sure I was hesitant to when you suggested, and I’m not as familiar with climbing mountains or exhausting walks like you are, but the more I thought about it - when I hesitated yesterday - I realised that I should be doing more out there. You’re right about one thing; I do spend a lot of time on my studying. Which is why it is a good you brought me out here, to gives us some time together outdoors, for me to experience lovely nature such as this. And I love it.”
Silence… nothing but the soft breathes between the couple can be heard. Jean can sense a bit of water forming in his eye and he desperately wants to wipe it away. A lump in his throat he swallows as he gives out his apology.
“I-I’m sorry, Marco. You’re right. I shouldn’t have jumped to that conclusion. I very sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Marco calmly reassures his ashamed lover. “I can kinda see why you’d think that but we don’t have to think about it for too long. Just promise that you’ll trust me more, okay?”
Jean clears away his tears and leans in for a hug. The freckled boy smiles and accepts. “Yes, of course I will.”
-
The sun beams high from the sky, shining down through some clouds floating by, and boy is it a much prettier sight from up here. The couple take their seats on the bench right by the cabin, they just finished eating lunch and gaze upon the horizon.
They lost track of time on how long they’ve been sitting their for; Marco leaning his head on Jean’s shoulder and everything, but neither care. All that matters is the big misunderstanding heavily weighing on Jean’s shoulders all morning have now disappeared for good, and they’re still together to enjoy the rest of their summer.
A little voice echoes faintly just by Jean’s left ear right now, the latter hums in a confused tone as a way of asking what it was.
The peaceful Marco repeats in a slightly louder whisper. “I actually love it out here. It’s beautiful. I’d literally would climb this mountain again just for this view… and to spend another adventure with you, Jean.”
This is his chance. Jean lifts up Marco’s chin with two fingers, closes his eyes and gives him a gentle yet firm smooch. This is what he wanted to share between them since their vacation started yesterday, and it’s much more worth it after the long wait and trial. Both men give in heavily to the kiss, until breaking apart for air after a few. Jean is the first one to speak right after.
“You’re beautiful… and I love you.”
Yes it does sound very cheesy, but who gives a damn. It made Marco giggle the most he has all day and has Jean doing the same. After some more hugging and laughing, they finally decide to head into the old cabin to rearrange plans for the rest of their time here.
This first adventure together is only just beginning.