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It was still dark out when Rowan first woke up. A chronic light sleeper, the smallest sound stood to potentially wake him up. Sometimes it was the hooting of an owl up in the trees, sometimes it was the garish blaring of a car alarm, sometimes it was just footsteps that were a little too close. Today, it was a crack of moonlight slipping under the blinds and landing atop his bed. Deep in denial, he laid on his back for upwards of fifteen minutes trying to convince himself he was still asleep - but no dice. He was as wide awake as ever before. He groaned under his breath, a silent resignation.
Sometimes a walk would help him get sleepy again. On calm nights when the weather was just right he’d often slip out, going up and down empty streets until his absent-minded footfalls naturally guided him home. It was the same story at the camp, but instead of walking on concrete he’d march around the outskirts of the forest. The scenery was quite beautiful at night, never tarnished by the degrading eye of the sun always watching. The moon was much kinder than her counterpart, Rowan had known his whole life. So, with the motivation to get outside fresh in his mind, he swung his legs over the side of the bed. His boots were always close by, in case there was an emergency at night and he had to rush out of the cabin. He planned ahead for everything, and he felt that in his line of work you couldn’t afford not to. Who knows what a bad day of summer camp could bring?
The door creaked open as Rowan slipped out. If any of the campers awoke, they made no noise to protest. Rowan shut the door quietly, and halted outside for a minute in case he saw or heard a reason to go back inside. When he saw the coast was clear, he moved on.
Dead grass crunched under his boots as he made his way past the cabins, past the campfire, past the nurses office and the mess hall. He headed for the woods, as he found that scenery the most relaxing. Leaves falling, night birds cooing, cicadas singing their songs in harmony - it would induce calm on even the most uptight soul. Just past the woods would be the lake, but Rowan hoped he’d be more in the mood to fall back asleep before he reached that point. He had nothing against the lake, aside from the chilly winds that seemed to unionize on the shores.
“Birch…Cottonwood…Black-Eyed Susan…” Rowan mumbled to himself as his eyes scanned the forest. He found that keeping his mind occupied on these walks made it easier for his brain to tire out, and he’d be likelier to fall back asleep. He wasn’t a plant expert by far, but he knew enough common trees and flowers to get by. Maybe even a few species of fern, on a good day. “Cardinal flower…Coneflower…”
As the walk went on, and the flora kept coming, Rowan realized in the back of his head that he was getting closer and closer to the end of the line. His brain showed no signs of tiring out, and his feet just kept stepping forward. He sighed through his nose, continuing on and on and on for tens of minutes and minutes until the grainy feeling of sand crunched under his boots. He hadn’t even realized he’d run out of grass until it was behind him, and he cursed silently under his breath. He thought about giving up, turning around and going back to bed to stare up at the hollow darkness of his cabin, but something caught his eye. Something moving in the lake, not too far but just far enough. He took a few more steps towards the water, and almost tripped over something underfoot. He thought it was a log at first, just some not-uncommon driftwood, but he took a moment to ponder when he realized it was a boot.
It was tan, and sturdy, sort of like a hiking boot but more industrial. And there was a second one not too far away. Along with a pile of clothes. It was too dark to make any distinct shapes out, like emblems or name tags, but Rowan couldn’t help but notice a slight hint of cologne coming off the shirt atop the pile - subtle, sweet, with just a hint of generic outdoorsy-ness. Just like Juniper’s. Rowan couldn’t help but grin, walking up to the shoreline to inspect the moving silhouette closer. When he did lay eyes on the figure again, he was taken aback - but not in a bad way at all.
Juniper hadn’t noticed him. He had his back to the shoreline, standing fully upright and slicking his wet hair back to get it out of his eyes. The moonlight cast a supple glow upon his pale skin, sporting shadows in all the right places. Rowan could see the trails of water slipping down his skin, following the contours of his lithe body and disappearing under the surface of the lake where the water met his hips. The curvature of his back was almost fully white under the moonlight, with just the slightest shadows suggesting muscles poking through at the shoulders. All the years of fish-wrangling were paying off, Rowan guessed. Eventually Juniper turned around, and his eyes went as wide as saucers as he yelped in genuine terror.
“Jesus fucking Christ, what in heaven’s name is wrong with you?!” Juniper cursed, swearing at Rowan with something adjacent to anger. He had his hand over his heart, and Rowan could guess that the scare had set his heart rate off something fierce. “Damn you, I nearly jumped out of my skin!”
“I can tell!” Rowan couldn’t help but laugh, replaying the scream Juniper let out in his head a few times. It was uncharacteristically high, though he guessed he should’ve expected that - Juniper always did have a flowery tone. “I was gonna call out to you!”
“What, and that would’ve helped? God, my heart’s beating out of my bloody chest.”
Laughing hard enough to need to wipe a tear from his eye, Rowan looked down at the pile of clothes next to him. “You know, I could’ve not said anything at all. Could’ve stolen those and ran away.” He teased, laughing even harder at the expression of betrayal on Juniper’s face.
“You wouldn’t!”
“Wanna find out?” Rowan wanted to drag this out as much as possible. It wasn’t often he had the upper hand around the camp, but now that he did he didn’t want to let it go. He reached down and picked up the pile of Juniper’s clothes, taking a moment to examine the ruffle-y collar and sleeves of his shirt. “I’m leaving!” He turned around, took a few mock steps, and looked over his shoulder. when he saw Juniper standing still, arms crossed over his chest, he raised an eyebrow. “What, you don't believe me?”
“No, I do not believe you!” Juniper called back, a wave knocking him a step or two forward. He tried to act like he wasn’t off balance at all, and that he meant to do it.
“Alright, your loss…” Rowan turned his back to the lake fully, taking a few more mock steps towards the woods. He waited until he was just past the trees to start laughing again, knowing full well he wouldn’t do anything to really humiliate his partner. Just a healthy amount.
“Are you seriously gone?” Juniper called out after a minute, and Rowan tried his hardest to stifle his laughter. He didn’t say anything, but he did hear some water sloshing and then some muted footsteps on the beach. “This isn’t funny, Rowan!”
“Maybe not to you…” Rowan whispered to himself, taking a few steps back into the trees. He was almost fully hidden, with the exception of the golden beads in his hair twinkling in the starlight. He thought about the best plan of action, whether or not he should jump out of the trees and scare Juniper if he happened to walk by. He figured that would be the easiest, just lying in wait for his victim to approach - if it worked in the animal kingdom, it would work in a summer camp.
A few minutes passed, and Juniper didn’t walk by. In fact, Juniper made no sound - no calling out for Rowan, no frantic footsteps or anything. It was eerily silent. Rowan grew cautious, and poked his head out of the trees. He couldn’t see anything either. Slightly uneasy, he stepped out of the trees.
“June? June I’m still here, it was just a joke!” Rowan looked around harder, but still nothing. He walked down to the beach, holding Juniper’s clothes tight to his chest. He thought about putting them down, but as his mind started to race the smell of his partner became quite comforting. “Juniper?”
Rowan walked past a bushel of greenery to get down to the waterfront, ignoring his surroundings entirely. He opened his mouth to call out again, but any words on his tongue were replaced by a startled scream as he felt two strong arms suddenly engulf him from behind.
“Fuck!” Rowan called out, heart beating out his chest, mind turning to panic until he realized what had happened. He felt almost as dumb as he looked when he realized he’d been captured by his victim in the very same strategy he’d tried to employ.
“Aw, I’m so sorry dear boy, did I scare you? I swear, I didn’t mean to.” Juniper’s voice was elevated by a few laughs between words. Rowan could’ve turned around and punched him if his grip wasn’t so tight, the bastard using his own lines against him.
“You’re such an ass!” Rowan accused, though he was starting to laugh at himself a bit as well.
“You started it!” Juniper helpfully reminded, keeping his grip firm as ever. Rowan tried to struggle out of his grasp, but gave up early when Juniper held on for dear life.
“Well, you…you shouldn’t be skinny-dipping around here anyway! The kids play in that lake!” Rowan thought up on the spot. He supposed it was true, though.
“Sure, last year and probably next year, but not this year! You know damn well the lake’s been off limits ever since Joshua “saw something” - Juniper spoke with a tone of mockery, even going so far as to use air quotations around his fellow counsellors words - “Bullshit that it is, there’s nothing out there. Sydney ought to check his eyes instead of the lake.”
“And if they call lake activities back on?” Rowan turned his head to face Juniper, calmest he’d been all night. Juniper grinned at him, water still dripping from his shoulder length hair.
“Then I will apologize.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you could do that!” Rowan teased with faux amazement, and Juniper scowled at him.
“Very funny. Incidentally, how’d you like it if I picked you up and tossed you in the lake?” Juniper squeezed him somehow tighter, wordlessly reminding Rowan that he definitely could carry him to the waters edge. And then some.
“You wouldn’t dare.” Rowan glared at Juniper with wide eyes, ceasing all movement.
“I don’t know, seems kind of tempting…” Juniper looked up as if he was truly considering it.
“My clothes would get wet and heavy and I’d be pulled to the bottom of the lake, where I’d definitely drown in my panic. And it’d be your fault. And then all the kids would cry, and you’d get arrested, and you’d never fish again.”
“My, quite the little storyteller aren’t you?” Juniper kept grinning, though he had a new mischievous twinkle in his eye. “What if, say, the soaked clothes weighing you down suddenly weren’t a factor?”
“Juniper.”
“Mhm?”
“I am not taking my clothes off.”
“There’s nobody around! What does it matter?” Juniper looked down at himself, his bare chest losing its shimmer as the water on his skin dried up. The hair adorning his pecs was still wet, however, clinging onto the moisture and dripping a path down his stomach.
“Did you even think about what might happen before you got in? Someone might see us, a kid or a counsellor, and I don't know which is worse!”
Juniper rolled his eyes. “Yes, and we might get put in the camp pokey and we might get in serious trouble. Or, we might live a little and have a wonderful time.” Juniper let go of Rowan entirely, and the younger man stepped back. When he faced Juniper, he realized he had a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. He had no idea where he got that, because it certainly wasn’t in the pile of clothes he was still holding. He gingerly dropped them back onto the sand, resisting the urge to smooth out a wrinkle on the white shirt.
“Juniper, we could get fired.”
“Or we could make a memory to last us the rest of our lives!”
“The memory could be of us getting fired!” Rowan crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn’t backing down, but he felt a twinge of excitement in his gut. Like he was about to do something he shouldn’t, but he didn’t care anyway. After a moment of looking into Rowan’s brown eyes, Juniper just shrugged. To the younger man’s surprise, he started to walk away, back towards the shoreline.
“Well then, suit yourself! Lord can’t say I didn’t try.” He waved over his shoulder, and waited until he was a few steps into the water before pulling the towel off and throwing it back on shore. Rowan tried to look away, but quickly discovered that a part of him didn’t want to. He’d always liked Juniper’s legs, long as they were, and the moonlight made them look even more toned and accentuated. If that were somehow possible.
“Wait - Hey, you can’t just leave me here!” Rowan got as far as the shoreline before stopping. Juniper was already knee deep and swimming away, floating nonchalantly around the waves.
“Make a choice, dear boy!”
Rowan almost couldn’t believe what was happening in front of him. He thought maybe this was a dream, that he did go back to his cabin and he did fall back asleep - but the biting wisps of wind against his cheeks told him no, this is real. He knew that he should go back, that he should leave Juniper to his antics, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to join, he wanted to do something unabashedly fun for once in his life. After a minute or two of a fierce internal argument, Rowan pointed a finger and cursed at Juniper. “If I get fired over this, I’m blaming you!”
Juniper couldn’t help but grin. “By all means, love.”
Rowan felt that he should go behind the bushes for this, but they weren’t tall enough to hide anything but his calves anyway. He sighed, mentally resigning, as he felt his face flush and his hands fly up to peel the shirt off his back. He tossed it to the ground with Juniper’s clothes, trying not to worry about itchy sand getting into the crevices. He then moved his hands to the hem of his shorts, fiddling idly with the elastic band. He bit his lip in hesitation, but convinced himself to go. He’d made it this far, why not go a little further? He pushed the dark fabric down and stepped out of it, leaving him in just his boxers. He heard a wolf whistle from the lake as he bent down to shove his shorts aside, and he seriously considered murdering Juniper.
“Shut up!” He called out with a laugh. If he wasn’t blushing before, he sure as hell was now.
“You’ve no proof that was me!”
“Youre the only one out here, asshole.”
“Mm, I can see how that would be damning in court.” Juniper made no effort to get closer to Rowan, content with the waves floating him all the way to the camp on the other side of the lake if fate would have it.
“I’m so gonna kill you.”
“Hard to do that from so far away, eh?”
Before Juniper could even finish his sentence, Rowan kicked off the last of his clothes and got into the water. he was about knee deep before the temperature hit him, and he fought the urge to jump back out. “Fuck, you didn’t say it was cold!”
“I didn’t say it was warm, either,” Juniper rolled off a wave and got back on his feet, looking at Rowan from the same midsection-high water he was in before. It barely covered him, and Rowan didn’t try to hide the looks he gave to the curved indents of Juniper’s hips. “Gets warmer once you're fully in, you know. You do know how to swim, don't you?”
“You think I took this job not knowing how to swim?” Rowan glared at him.
“Just checking. Come onnnn, it’s nicer out here.” Juniper flopped back down, sending the water around him in a great splash. Rowan rolled his eyes, and got the sudden urge to just dive in. He wasn’t a very impulsive person, but this one tugged on his brain like it was life or death. So he did - and as the water hit his face he could faintly hear Juniper cheering. When he resurfaced he had water in his eyes and stumbled around as he tried to rub it away, laughing all the while. He didn’t jump when he felt two warm hands caressing his sides gently, and instead leaned into it.
“Attaboy, Row.” Juniper spoke lovingly, his tone quieter and softer than ever before. If Rowan could open his eyes, he’d see the man beaming at him with a proud smile.
“I don't know how you talked me into this. You're starting to be a bad influence, you know that?” Rowan joked, finally opening his eyes. He put his hands on Juniper’s shoulders, the position they were in more akin to a slow dance than two people out for a dip.
“I’m just the ruddy worst, aren't I?”
“Absolutely horrible.” Rowan chuckled, looking into Juniper’s green eyes.
“Youre listening to me, so that doesn’t make you much better. Does it?” Juniper took a small step forward, gauging Rowan’s reaction to the space between them closing. When he saw no offence being taken he took another step - keeping his hands firmly on his waist.
“Makes me a little better, I think.” Rowan kept his eyes locked on Juniper’s, fully aware of what was happening but not in a mood to stop it. The water was cold, and Juniper was warm - he wouldn’t mind an embrace.
“Not by a lot…” Juniper spoke idly, just buying time until he was close enough to Rowan’s face. When they got to be just inches apart, they both stopped talking. They just stared into each other’s eyes, enjoying the warmth the other’s body offered - until Juniper brought himself down to Rowan’s height and kissed him gently on the lips. Rowan didn’t argue, closing his eyes and allowing himself to be kissed. It was still early in their relationship, though they’d danced around the subject for years. They’d meet at the camp every summer and always ask about any romantic partners, but they’d always have the same answer - “nothing yet”. They’d flirt for the next few weeks, and wait all year for next summer to do it all over again. Now that they were almost official, it seemed like those summers had amounted to an eternity. When they broke away, Rowan couldn’t help but chuckle.
“That bad, am I?” Juniper laughed it off, knocking their foreheads together.
“No, ‘course not. I’m just…just thinking.”
“Penny for your thoughts?” Juniper just grinned, always happy to listen to his friend.
“I just can’t believe it’s taken us so long to do this.”
“...Do what, get naked and jump in a lake? Not really the preferred first date material, if you ask me.”
“No!” Rowan laughed again, shoving his annoying partner away. “I mean us. You’ve liked me for years, but we’re just starting to get serious now? When camp is over in a week and a half?”
“And you didn’t like me back?” Juniper crossed his arms over his chest, feigning hurt. Rowan rolled his eyes, splashing Juniper.
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.”
“Not gonna tell me?” Juniper cocked his head to the side. “You know, I bet Sydney would know what you’ve really felt. You talk to him an awful lot…”
“Hey, you can’t go behind my back and get my personal confessions from somebody else!”
“Well, if you aren’t gonna tell me, I've got to find somebody who will!”
“Not if I get to him first!” Rowan took a step back, but Juniper reached forward and grabbed his wrist.
“Oh, like hell you will!” Juniper pulled him forward, falling back into the water and pinning Rowan against his chest. Water splashed around them, and their laughter could no doubt be heard all across the lake.
For the next few hours they splashed, swam, kicked, and tormented each other until the sun started to come up, and then they knew it was time to dash. Almost like a gentleman, Juniper gave the single towel he brought to Rowan, opting to lay on his stomach on the beach and dry off naturally instead. Rowan threw the towel at him once he thoroughly dried himself off, and Juniper accepted it. He’d throw it in with the rest of his laundry back at camp, to be worried about later. They both dressed, shared one final kiss as the sky turned a deep mosaic of oranges, pinks, and reds, and walked off together. Not that Rowan needed an escort to his cabin, but Juniper walked him home anyway. He didn't care if anyone else awoke and saw it, it never mattered to him who knew what they were up to.
They'd see each other again in a matter of hours over breakfast, yet that time they'd be separated by maybe a hundred rowdy kids. They'd share glances and chaste touches throughout the course of the day, brushing against each other as they walk by during the daily activities, spending break together, and they'd be far too exhausted to do it all over again the next night. He didn't plan to make it a habit, but nightly meetings didn't sound like such a bad idea to Rowan. As he watched Juniper head back to his cabin, hips swaying just a little more than necessary, he made a mental note to talk to his lover about it later.