Chapter Text
The sun was already beaming bright onto Reid’s face. With him being used to Houston weather, his body anticipated the stinging heat and sweat build up from the radiated atmosphere. But he wasn’t in Houston, he was in Ontario, with one of his best friends Jeremy.
Him and Jeremy were usually always seen with the other two, Victor and Christina. Apparently they both had schedule conflicts right before the start of the trip they had planned for months. So now here he was, with only Jeremy.
Jeremy was his friend, so he shouldn’t have been too nervous. But he was. There wasn’t really an exact reason to why this was—at least that Reid could place. Like every other time he has faced fears, he pressed it to the very back of his mind so not to ruin this camping trip.
They have it all planned out.
First, they would start with a few mile hike to their camp site. Then they would set up camp, hang out for two nights, and then head back. Quick and simple.
Jeremy pulled the map of the trails out of his back pocket. His NASA hat, that Reid bought for him a while back, shaded his eyes. Reid could just smell the sunscreen that Jeremy had just excessively slathered all over his body just five minutes ago. He always came a little over prepared.
“The trail starts here,” Jeremy placed his finger on a dot printed on the map while looking up at the trail sign, then he slid his finger halfway across the paper, “And we will end here, at the campsite.”
Without any other words, Jeremy started towards the start of the trail with a sense of familiarity guiding him.
Jeremy just had this absolute spark in his eyes while looking up at the forest ahead of them. It seemed like his second nature. Reid was running through all the things Jeremy had told him about Canada while his footsteps swung beside Jeremy’s. He wasn’t quite sure why out of everything they have ever done in Canada together as a crew, this was the thing that made his face light up the most.
That mystery was only unsolved for a few moments, instantly unraveling as soon as Jeremy started to speak.
“Me, my dad, and grandpa used to follow this trail all the time,” Reid looked towards him, pulling all of his attention towards his words, “Every other weekend during the summer we would come out here and camp, hike, and fish.”
Now Reid remembers one of their late night talks onboard integrity. Christina and Victor were already passed out. The work day they just had was exhausting. It was the first time they were really able to see Earth for the life that it really had. Jeremy was recalling to Reid about the moment he realized how small their world was, and how small it made Canada look. The place he had grew up and built all of his first memories within. He talked about almost being able to see the exact woods that he spent most of his summers in. The memories—that clearly meant so much to him—just right out of reach.
“So was this the place you were talking about that one night we were up late talking?” Reid asked
Jeremy’s face lit up with recognition. That little boyish smile is all that Reid needed to know his answer. Reid beamed a smile back.
Jeremy started talking and digging up all of the memories he had of the summers he spent as a child in Canada. As a crew, we didn’t really share much information about our childhoods. We have always been so focused on the tasks on hand, and the upcoming ones.
It was highly soothing hearing about Jeremy’s life. He was revealing a part of him to Reid that he hadn’t shown to any of the other crew members.
Reid replied back with commentary, and the conversation quickly became them bouncing off of eachother’s memories from childhood. He could tell that Jeremy was appreciating the moment just as much as him.
—
Eventually, they made it to the campgrounds. Surprisingly, there was nobody else around. Big lots of grass with wooden picnic benches and fire pits were sprinkled all throughout the grounds. There was a lake with a dock and a vacant boat sitting behind the trees.
Jeremy looked over with a smile to catch Reid’s reaction.
Reid smiled and looked at Jeremy, “Well, I guess we have this all to ourselves.”
Jeremy just smiled back and headed to an empty patch of grass. He slung off the bag holding their tent off his shoulders and set it on the ground. Reid walked over, in no rush, to help him out. Jeremy unzipped the bag and together they set up the tent.
It was your average sized tent, being able to hold two people and some extra room for luggage. They slunked inside the tent, setting up their individual sleep areas. Jeremy and Christina had insisted on everyone bringing a sleeping bag to get the “full camping experience” but Reid simply could not imagine sleeping on hard dirt for two straight nights.
As he inflated his air mattress,—using his lips instead of a pump because of course he just had to forget one—Jeremy shot him a half joking and half not look of disgust. Reid just smiled and chuckled back at him. Jeremy’s disgust melted into a smile.
“Well,” Jeremy started, “I guess while you take twenty minutes to blow that up, I will go ahead and start on getting the fire going.”
Reid lurched his neck a tad out of the tent to look out at the sky. The sky was starting to glow a whole mixture of pinks and oranges. He hadn’t even realized how much the sun had already started setting.
“Sounds good,” he replied.
—
They had been sitting around the fire for a little while now. Shockingly, Jeremy ended up somehow cooking hot dogs over the fire. And even more shocking, they were really good. Reid still found himself hungry—probably from all the air blowing he did—so he was munching on some pretzels Jeremy had brought with full intention of Reid eating all of his snacks.
Reid was so invested in the splashes of seasoning on the pretzels he somewhat forgot about Jeremy’s existence for about a total of three seconds.
He looked over, finding him looking up with full focus. Reid followed his eyes, and of course, he was looking up at the moon.
Tonight it was a waning gibbous. With less light pollution out in the wilderness, the spots and craters of the moon were almost as clear now as they were up in space. Reid could make out the small Lyra constellation with it’s brightest spot, Vega, radiating.
“I still find it hard to believe,” Jeremy started, “that you and I were all the way out there.”
“Don’t forget we were also up there with two other people.” Reid pointed out while stuffing even more pretzels into his mouth.
Jeremy’s eyes blinked back to reality and he glanced at Reid.
“Oh, right. My bad.”
Reid pushed Jeremy’s hand open to fill it with a whole bunch of pretzels, “Have you tried these yet?” Reid asked.
“Well yeah, I kind of brought them.”
“Oh, right. My bad.” Reid said in a mocking tone.
Jeremy shot him a playful angry look. Reid just smiled back, forcing Jeremy to smile along with him.
His eyes heaved, weighing heavy over his blue eyes.
Jeremy yawned then spoke, “All right, I think I am going to hit the hay.”
Reid always snickered a bit at Jeremy’s use of idioms. And he did a bit here, like usual, but something was a bit different this time. He couldn’t quite place it. He once again, pushed it to the back of his mind and smiled it off. It wasn’t a big deal.
“I’ll be there in a little,” Reid responded.
He watched Jeremy slip into the tent and get all cuddly under his sleeping bag. Reid caught himself smiling, with the unfamiliar feeling rising back into his chest. He pushed his neck away from Jeremy and up to the sky. But, he let the feeling linger for a bit with hopes of decoding it. Ten seconds passed and he decided that was enough loitering. He shoved the feeling from his chest to the back of his skull. Again.