A/N: This chapter contains mature content. I will indicate where it starts with ------------------------ and indicate where it ends with ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ so if you want to skip this section you can.

Arthur Sakho

I watched Trevon as he finished setting up the tent. He lifted his arms high in the air as he stretched out his back. The sun was beginning to slowly set behind him.

"Start the fire," he said to me and indicated the fire pit. He went to his car and began to pull out his telescope. I went to the fire pit and stared down at it as if it could give me instructions on how to build a fire. It wasn't like I had never gone camping. Everyone else in my family liked camping except me and Marie. I never had to make a fire before. I never had to set up a tent before. I realized I had never done anything to help when we had gone camping and instead had complained about mosquitoes, the dirt, the hard ground and anything else I could think of.

I crouched over the fire pit. I picked up a nearby stick and poked at the leftover ashes. Well, okay. That wasn't going to start the fire. I peeked at Trevon from my crouched position. He was carefully setting up his telescope, touching it gently, moving knobs, handling it like it was his lover. I was jealous. Of a telescope.

I looked back at the fire pit and then over to where Trevon had left our supplies - the cooler, the grocery bag with graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate. He told me today was going to have to be my cheat day because you had to have smores when you went camping. It was a law. I didn't believe him that it was a law, but I'd indulge him.

Well, to start a fire, I'd need sticks. I at least knew that much. I got up and wandered around the edges of camp picking up all the sticks I could find. I dumped them into the fire pit. I went and retrieved the matchbox from the supplies. I took one. I held it and the box as far away from me as possible as I struck it on the side of the box. Nothing happened. I tried again, but with no luck.

"How's it going?" Trevon asked from directly behind. It startled me.

"I don't know what I'm doing," I confessed.

He smiled and took the matchbox away from me. He bent over the firepit. "We should get rid of the previous ashes first. There is a little shovel over there. Get it and a plastic storage bag and put the ashes in there until we can dispose of them properly.

"Okay," I said instead of arguing with him that they weren't even our ashes. I did as he asked. I held the bag and shovel carefully away from me. I frowned when some of the ash still drifted over to me. Oh well. I had worn clothes that could get dirty. It didn't mean I liked it though.

While I did that, Trevon rearranged the stick so they formed a sort of pyramid with smaller twigs and dried. He struck the match with no problems on the side of the box. He held the match close to the smaller twigs. They easily caught on fire. He disposed of the used match.

"I'll take that," he said. I handed the bag of ashes to him. He set it off to the side and then got out two camp chairs. He placed them in front of the fire. When he went back to the car to get the blankets, I pushed the chairs closer together and sat in one of them.

He came back and spread one of the blankets over me. He sat in the other chair. "Isn't this nice?" he said in complete contentment.

"There are mosquitoes," I grumbled.

"No there isn't," he said. "It's too cold for mosquitoes."

"See," I said. "Even the mosquitoes know it's too cold to be out in this weather." And I was cold, but the fire and blanket helped. I pulled the beenie I wore further down over my ears. "Why can't we do this in the spring when the weather is nicer?"

"You said you would come look at the stars with me," he pointed out. "And it is a great night to do that. There aren't any clouds tonight so the sky is clear. The new moon just finished and is starting to wax so there won't be too much light from the moon. There is a meteor shower tonight you can see with the naked eye."

He was handsome as his head tilted up to the darkening sky. "Alright," I relented. "Should I get out the hot dogs?"

"Not yet," he said. "We need to wait awhile for the fire to be ready."

I wasn't sure what that meant. A fire was a fire, right? Whatever, he was obviously more experienced than I was in this area. I would just do whatever he said.

I talked to him while we waited. I told him all about the secret glances Danny and Samantha were giving each other since Halloween night. The dirty looks Alice continued to give me, although those were getting less and less discreet. I told him how it was a tradition that my mom and sisters took me to see the Nutcracker ballet every winter.

At one point he slipped his hand underneath my blanket to hold my hand. Our fingers entwined and I grew even warmer with his heat.

"Okay," he said and stood up. He put his blanket on the chair and went to the supplies. He held up two stainless steel forked roasting sticks. "Now we can roast the hot dogs."

"Good. I'm starving." I retrieved one of the roasting sticks from him while he opened the package of hot dogs. At least this was something I knew how to do. I put the hot dog on the stick and held it over the fire. I slowly turned it as he did the same. When it was ready, I put it on a bun and put mustard and ketchup on it. I devoured it quickly.

"You were hungry," Trevon said with a smile on his lips.

"Stop smirking at me and eat your hot dog," I said. He complied. After I ate two more hot dogs, we broke out the marshmallows. It had been so long since I had smores. The sticky gooeyness got all over my fingers and lips and I didn't even care. I probably had more than I should have, but they were divine and it would be a long time before I had another one.

"Why don't you go to the restrooms and brush your teeth and wash your face," Trevon said. "I'll clean up here."

"You're not going with me? I have to walk there by myself in the dark woods? Do you not watch horror movies?"

"No as a matter of fact, I don't. Take that flashlight and go."

"What if an ax man jumps out and kills me?"

"If someone with an ax jumps out, kick him in the balls and take his ax."

"What if a bear kills me?"

"There aren't any bears in these woods."

"Did you look that up before we came or are you just saying that to placate me?"

His silence was the only answer I needed.

"I don't want to go by myself," I whined.

"But what if we both go together and then when we come back, there is a bear in our camp or an ax man, or more likely, someone stole my telescope."

I saw what the real problem was now. His telescope. I narrowed my eyes at my rival. Trevon laughed and rubbed his thumb over my bottom lip. I hadn't realized I was pouting too until that moment. "It'll be fine, Arthur. If anything happens, screams and I'll be there. Nothing is going to happen though."

"Fine," I said. I grabbed my bag with my toiletries and the flashlight. I started to walk from camp, but turned back to him. "You're really not coming with me?"

"The restrooms aren't even a five minute walk from here. You're going to be fine, Arthur."

I sighed, but left the camp. I walked to the restrooms along the camp road hoping something would happen just to prove him wrong. Nothing happened though. I got there and back safely without incident.

"See?" Trevon said when I got back to camp. "Everything is fine. Now guard Nebula while I go." He grabbed his bag and took the flashlight from my hand.

"You named your telescope Nebula?"

"Yes, but after the giant clouds of gas and dust in space, not the Marvel character." He left the camp.

I didn't know why I found that so cute, but I did. I cuddled back underneath the blanket on the chair by the fire. It didn't take long until he returned. "Time to put out the fire," he said.

"What? Why?" I sat up and grabbed his arm before he could pour the water over the fire. The blanket fell from my shoulders.

"It's causing light pollution."

"But it's keeping us warm."

"The blankets can keep us warm." And he heartlessly poured the water over the fire. The orange and red flames extinguished and smoke billowed into the night air.

"Come on," he said and extended a hand to me. I took his hand and we walked over to his telescope, but not before I grabbed my blanket and his and wrapped both of them around my shoulders. He looked into the telescope and readjusted it a bit. "I thought you might want to look at the moon first."

"I thought you said we should come now when the moon wasn't very big."

"Yeah," he said. "It will be easier to see other things in the sky, but you can still see some of the moon. Look." He pointed at the telescope. I peeked in it.

"It looks so close," I exclaimed. "I can see the meteor marks in it." I didn't know if that was the correct term for it, but he didn't correct me.

I stood back. "What else do want to show me?"

"Do you want to see a nebula?" he asked.

I nodded. If I was getting my terms right, I had seen pictures of nebulas and they were ethereal and colorful and beautiful. He bent over the telescope and readjusted it again. After several minutes he stood up straight. "There," he said.

I looked. "Where?" I asked.

"It's there," he said.

"Are you sure? The pictures I saw were colorful and this just looks like a grayish, whitish mist."

"You need a special deep space camera to get those colors," he said. "Do you want to see the double stars?"

"Yeah." I waited until he readjusted the telescope again. When I looked, I could see the two tiny orbs next to each other. "That's really cool," I said. And I meant it. I had never wanted to see stars closer like this, but I was glad I got the opportunity to now. I put his blanket around his shoulders because even though he didn't seem cold, his body had to be.

We stayed like that together with him readjusting the telescope to show me different space things. After awhile, he pulled away and said, "Let's watch the meteor shower." He pointed to the sky and a streak arched by. He readjusted the chairs so they reclined back. I got in my chair carefully and spread the blanket all around me. He reclined in his chair and spread his blanket over him. Then he reached out and took my hand. I squeezed his.

"I love falling stars," I said as another light streaked across the sky.

"They aren't technically stars."

I gave him a look. He smiled in the night. "Okay," he said. He looked back at the sky. "I love falling stars too."

I looked back at the sky. After several moments, another light streaked by. I wished that Trevon and I would be happy together forever. I did genuinely like watching the meteor shower, but it could only hold my attention for so long. I found myself staring at Trevon. His expression was complete awe as he stared at the sky. Even though he must have seen similar phenomena many times, it still held his rapt attention. I fell asleep watching his face.

"Arthur," Trevon said next to my ear. I stirred awake. "Let's go to bed," he said.

I nodded. He pulled me to my feet and I followed him to the tent. I took off my shoes and crawled inside. He followed. I shivered as I climbed into the double sleeping bag. He climbed in next to me.

"It's cold," I said and cuddled up next to him.

He squirmed away from me and pulled off his shirt.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You said you were cold." He took off his pants and then his boxers leaving him in nothing but his socks. "Direct body heat will get you the warmest," he said and tugged at my shirt. I didn't need any more encouragement. I tore off my shirt followed quickly by my pants and boxer briefs. He wrapped his arms around me. He was correct. This was warmer. I was perfectly content to just fall asleep, but felt something hard. I pulled away to playfully scold him, but his lips met mine and I forgot what I was going to say. He rolled so he hovered over me, but that left too much space between us so I grabbed his waist and pulled him to me. He grunted and grew even harder.

"We should stop," I said.

"Why?" he asked and kissed down my neck.

I pulled him even closer to me as I said, "Because we can't have sex in a sleeping bag."

"Who says?" He lips trailed over my collarbone.

"I don't want to sleep in cum," I said.

He slid down further in the sleeping bag so he was kissing my chest.

"Then," he scooted back up so his face was hovering over mine, "why don't we both wear condoms and jerk each other off?"

He always knew the right thing to say. "Okay," I said.

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He slid away from me to grab his pack and I was left shivering. He returned quickly with two condoms. He went down into the sleeping bag, but instead of putting the condom on, he took me in his mouth without any kind of warning. I moaned and grabbed his shoulders. His tongue ran along me while he had me inside his mouth. Then he pulled away and slid the condom on. He sprawled out next to me and rolled the second condom on himself.

I turned to face him. I reached out for him as he did for me. In that small tent, in that sleeping bag, pressed against Trevon as we jerked each other off, I only felt heat. The cold of the night air couldn't reach me. He climaxed first and I quickly followed. He panted near my face and then leaned in to kiss me. He took both condoms off and cleaned us. He took me in his arms and I quickly fell asleep.

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I woke up some time later shivering. It was still dark outside, but my man wasn't next to me. I grabbed my clothes and got dressed awkwardly in the sleeping bag. I wrapped the discarded blanket around my shoulders before I went out. I slid my shoes on and went to Trevon. He had moved one of the chairs to the telescope and was looking through it.

"You're looking again? I thought you were going to sleep."

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me onto his lap. "I wanted to look at some of the planets," he said. "This is the best time of the year to see Mercury. It's usually too close to the sun."

"I want to see," I said.

"We can't yet. We have to wait until closer to dawn. There is a short window where we can get the best view of it before the sun rises. You can see Jupiter though. That is what I was looking at."

I looked in the telescope. "It's so cute," I said. "Like a piece of candy that I can just pick up and pluck in my mouth."

He laughed. "I haven't heard that one before."

I looked at it for several more moments before I pulled away. He looked at it again. I rested my head against his shoulder and snuggled in closer to him. After a long stretch of silence, he said something to me, but I could only murmur in response. I was already too close to sleep again.

"Arthur," he tried again sometime later. I opened my eyes to the sunlight. I stretched out my arms, but instantly regretted it because it was cold.

"Let's pack up and go," he said.

"I missed Mercury?"

"I tried to show it to you. I also tried to show you Venus and Mars, but you wouldn't wake."

"Oh. I guess we'll just have to come again sometime."

He smiled grandly at that. "Really? You want to do this again?"

"Yes," I said and meant it. "I had fun. Camping isn't so bad when it's with you."