"So Jack, let me get this straight," Michael said, swatting at a mosquito that landed on his arm. "You've dragged me out into the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a bunch of hemp-wearing nature enthusiasts because you've been chatting to some guy on Grindr who likes hiking?"
Jack grinned at him and dabbed at his sweat beaded forehead with a (Marc Jacobs) handkerchief.
"Guilty," he said, "But if you'd seen him you'd have done the same thing. His cock should be in a museum"
They were at the very rear of the group, two hours into a six hour hike and on day one of a three day trip. The tour guides were keeping up a grueling pace and the uneven shale track made walking awkward and treacherous. They reached the base of yet another steep incline and watched in dismay as the rest of the group took to it with enthusiasm and vigor.
Michael took a long draw on his water bottle and sighed. "You know what might have been easier?" he said. Jack looked at him with interest. "Lying!"
"Oh well of course." Jack replied. "I told him I loved the great outdoors. Enjoyed nothing more than communing with nature, crapping in the bushes and wiping my ass with leaves." His voice came in short gasps as he stomped up the trail. "In fact," he wheezed "I told him I'd just got back from a grueling kayaking weekend."
"Good man." Michael said, rolling his eyes. "And then?" Jack flung out his hands dramatically. "Pictures!" he shrieked. "He asked for fucking pictures!"
"Ah. A flaw in your almost perfect deception." "Damn right. I had to tell him that my camera had been stolen by a mischievous raccoon."
"Thats what you come up with?"
Jack snorted. "Yeah, not my best work."
When they reached the top of the ridge Jack gestured for Michael to stop. He reached into the side-pocket of his backpack and withdrew a tiny digital camera. He waggled it and grinned. "Will you do the honors." He said. "You are a photographer after all."
Michael groaned. "Have you not heard of photoshop?" he said. "It would have saved us a lot of effort."
"I thought of that." Jack replied, thrusting the camera in Michael's hand. "But doing it this way means I'll have some sexy blisters for him to look at when my feet are up around his ears."
"Classy." Michael said.
"And I know it." Jack replied, moving into position at the top of the ridge and striking a pose more suited to the cover of GQ. "Anyway," he said, smoothing down his hair. "There are some perks."
Michael switched on the camera and squinted at the screen. "Oh," he said, "and what would they be?"
"Hotty One and Hotty Two." Jack replied, gesturing further along the trail.
Michael glanced down at the two broad-shouldered men picking their way down the slope.
"I hadn't noticed." Michael lied. One of them in particular was devastatingly good looking. Tall with a rugby players build and a beautifully trimmed beard. "And anyway, they're totally straight."
"No doubt." Jack replied. "But nice to look at nonetheless. Speaking of which, get on with it and take the damn picture" "Okay, okay." Michael said, fixing him in the viewfinder. "Just take a tiny step back."
Jack did as instructed and with a yelp and a shower of loose rocks, disappeared over the ridge.
Michael watched with horror as, with many expletives and much girlish screaming, Jack tumbled down the narrow slope. Hotty One and Hotty Two paused and turned towards the commotion. With a sickening thud Jack collided with Hotty One and the pair of them disappeared into the undergrowth.
In the disconcerting silence that followed, Michael picked his way down the slope as quickly as he dared and discovered Jack and Hotty One in a tangled heap at the foot of a huge tree. Hotty Two was crouched beside them and appeared to have taken charge of the situation. He helped to untangle them and began assessing both Jack and his own friend for injuries. He ran his hands over Jack's torso and then his arms and his legs.
"Any pain here?" Hotty Two said repeatedly, and despite the fact that his face was scratched and bleeding Jack seemed to be enjoying himself at least a little.
"No." He said. "Nope. No. Nah........ Ow!"
Hotty Two hissed through his teeth as he examined Jack's already swollen and purpling ankle. "Bad news buddy," he said, "I think it might be broken."
He looked up at Michael. "You," he said sternly, "run along the trail and get the guides. There's no way your ... er ... friend is walking out of here."
Michael mumbled something incoherent and did as instructed. He jogged along the track, overtaking several of the other group members until he collared one of the guides, a wiry women in her mid-fifties with the aura of a stern school teacher. By the time the two of them returned to the scene of the accident it had become apparent that Hotty One had also suffered a fracture - his collarbone. With calm efficiency and authority the tour guide radioed the nearest ranger station and arranged for an all-terain vehicle to collect the two injured party members. They would be taken to a nearby clearing where they would be speeded by helicopter to the nearest hospital.
Michael crouched with Jack in the undergrowth, clutching his friends hand as they waited for the rangers. Jack's face was flushed and he was breathing in-and-out in little gasps.
"You look like you're giving birth." Michael said.
"Fuck. You. Asshole." Jack replied.
"Do you still want me to take a picture?"
Jack looked set to repeat his previous statement, but after a brief pause his face lit up. "Thats. A. Great. Idea."
With a pained grimace on his face he maneuvered his injured foot into view. "Make sure you capture the swelling." He said. "I may get a pity fuck out of this."
Hotty Two was sat on a felled log nearby helping to strap up his companions arm. He cleared his throat and glared at them with disapproval as Michael took several pictures.
"Right you two." The guide said in a clipped British accent, looking at Michael and Hotty Two. "No use dawdling here. Go and catch up with the rest of the group and I'll stay until the Rangers arrive."
"Oh," Michael said. "I should really go with my friend." "Nonsense! There's no point in both of you missing out on the trip. And besides, there won't be room for all of you in the chopper."
"She's right." Jack whispered, peering up from the muddy ground like something out of Saving Private Ryan. "You. Must. Go. On". His voice was heavy with feigned disappointment, but his eyes glittered with amusement.
"Uh.. Oh ... um." Michael muttered, but like a chastised schoolboy he marched back to the trail under the withering glare of the guide.
Jack called out from behind him. "Take lots of pictures." +++
After locating the rest of the group, Michael and Hotty Two continued along the trail in stony silence. As Michael stared at the man's broad, sweat-stained back he could practically see the waves of disapproval and annoyance radiating from him.
The remaining guide called them to a stop at a small clearing an hour or two before sundown. Michael felt bone tired and had developed painful blisters on both feet. The rest of the group however, simply glowed with health and groaned with disappointment when the guide reported that they were done hiking for the day. Stoic Hotty Two just looked generally pissed off. Smolderingly sexy and pissed off.
Michael settled down on a nearby rock and downed the last, lukewarm dregs of his water bottle. Without a word Hotty Two went over to speak to a pair of young women and made a great show of helping them to erect their tent. One of the girls, a statuesque brunette who appeared to have come dressed as Lara Croft, flirted outrageously with him and thrust her bosom so far forward that she seemed at risk of straining her back.
The unseemly display was interrupted when the tour guide called both Michael and Hotty Two together in the centre of the clearing. The guide had clearly spent too much time in the wild, for he was more beard than man. As he spoke to them it was impossible to see his mouth moving.
"You two can bunk up together for the rest of the trip." He said, to which both Michael and Hotty Two immediately began to protest.
The guide silenced them with a raised hand. "No discussion." He said. "There's no reason to be setting up more tents than necessary and we have a strict buddy system for most actives. Y'all better get used to each others company."
With that the guide turned and walked away, leaving Michael and Hotty Two in a most uncomfortable silence.
Michael took a deep breath and thrust out his hand. "I'm Mike." He said.
Hotty Two stared at Michael's offered hand as if it were an angry rattlesnake before reluctantly taking it in a warm, firm grip.
"Aaron." He said, curtly. "Can you take care of the tent?" . He nodded towards the two girls that he had been helping earlier. "I'm trying to lay some groundwork with that brunette over there."
"Oh ... um ... sure." Michael said.
Putting up the tent was easier than Michael had expected and he was tucked up inside just as the sun dipped below the horizon. He had stripped down to his underwear and was examining his blistered feet in the white glow of a camping lantern when the tent flap opened and Aaron crawled inside. Aaron nodded a silent greeting before unfurling his sleeping bag and climbing inside fully clothed.
"Do you mind turning the light out?" He muttered. "I want to get some shut-eye for tomorrow."
"Oh, yeah. Of course." - You gorgeous, miserable bastard - Michael replied and flicked the switch on the lantern.
He settled into his own sleeping bag and turned so that his back was towards Aaron.
"Your friend?" Aaron whispered suddenly, startling Michael.
"Uh-huh?"
"He's gay, right?" "Right." Michael said, concerned about where this conversation was going and considering the likelihood of being dismembered and buried in the woods before the end of the night.
"And you?" For a shameful second Michael considered lying. "Yeah" he said, "I'm gay too."
There was a deathly silence and Michael cringed into the darkness.
"Okay." Aaron said finally. "But I want to make it clear, I'm not. Okay?"
"Okay." Michael said, relieved that it was out of the way and annoyed at Aaron for being so presumptuous. Why did all straight guys assume that they were irresistible to any gay guy? Michael fumed over it for a few seconds before he realised, with a flush of shame, that he was incredibly attracted to Aaron and were circumstances different he would've hit on him in a heartbeat.
"There's some cream in the side-pocket of my bag." Aaron said, startling Michael again.
"What?"
"Anaesthetic cream. It'll help with your feet."
Maybe he wasn't such a bastard after all. "Thanks." Michael said. "Can I put the light back on?"
"If you're quick."
They were woken early the next day by the surly British tour guide who had obviously rejoined them during the night. They were given an hour to decamp and would hike half a day to the 'Watering Hole'. This raised a ripple of excitement from the group and even raised a smile from the usually the stony-faced Aaron. Michael hadn't bothered to read the brochure before agreeing to join Jack on the trip and had not idea what the fuss was about.
After quickly consuming a bowl of tasteless porridge the group set off at a brisk clip. The anaesthetic cream was a Godsend, and Michael's blisters barely bothered him. His leg muscles protested for the first couple of hours, but he soon settled into the pace and began to enjoy the scenery and fresh air, stopping here and there to take a picture. Aaron walked just ahead of him as he had the day before but barely spoke. Michael consoled himself by enjoying the view of his firm round ass in the fabric of his snug shorts. Gay or straight it didn't mean that Michael couldn't look.
At all of the regular, short rest-stops Aaron spent his time chatting to the brunette and her friend. Michael exchanged small-talk with the rest of the group, a pleasant if slightly oddball bunch of middle-age couples and lesbians.
At just after mid-day an excited hush overcame the group and it became apparent that they were approaching 'The Watering Hole.". Michael could hear the sound of running water in the distance and had expected to find a pool of greenish water fed by a small stream, perhaps with a half-rotted raccoon carcass bobbing on the surface. However, when the trail dipped down into a small opening Michael gasped with surprise at what lay within. 'The Watering Hole" was not a name that did justice to the beautiful work of nature that greeted the hot and sweaty hikers. A glorious waterfall tumbled down from a cliff about twenty meters high and into a deep pool of clear sparkling water. The pool was surrounded by a tall jumble of smooth dark rocks and patches of rich green foliage. Rainbow patterns danced in water droplets that hung in the air.
With whoops of delight several of the group threw off their backpacks and jumped fully clothed into the pool while others stripped down to shorts or swimsuits. The water looked so cool and refreshing that Michael immediately kicked off his shoes and peeled off his sweaty clothes until he was stood in just his underwear. He stepped down onto the cool wet rocks just as one of the older women he had been chatting to earlier did the same. Just a few steps down the woman trod on a patch of slimy fungus, slipped and nearly tumbled head first upon the rocks. With a speed that surprised even himself, Michael reached out and grabbed the woman's arm, preventing her fall.
"Thank God you were there." She said, her eyes wide and face pale with shock. "I could have broken my neck."
"If only I'd been so quick when my friend fell." Michael laughed and guided the woman the rest of the way down.
After he'd helped her into the water he looked up to find Aaron watching him from the centre of the pool. His expression was reliably dour, but Michael though he detected a glint of approval in his pale blue eyes. Perhaps he was impressed by his good deed and ninja quick reflexes. Aaron's interest was fleeting however, and he soon turned his gaze upon the brunette as she swam circles around him in nothing but her bra and panties.
Michael shrugged and lowered himself into the deliciously cool water, sinking right down until it covered him completely. The floor of the pool dropped away so dramatically that he was immediately forced to tread water.
After a few minutes of aimless splashing about Michael turned to find Aaron climbing out onto the rocks on the far side of the pool. Much as Michael had, Aaron had stripped down to his underwear. The snug white material of his shorts had become almost see through in the water and clung to the firm, pink mounds of his buttocks. The waistband had slipped down to reveal the very top of his ass crack and above that his broad muscular back glistened with droplets of water. Michael sighed with delight as Aaron turned to give the front view, a beautifully sculpted chest and flat stomach covered in a thick, wet thatch of dark hair, his nipples small and hard from the cold water. He stood shameless - or perhaps oblivious - of the fact that his thick cock and plum-sized balls were plainly visible through his sodden shorts.
Michael felt his own cock growing rigid at the sight, and was more than a little relieved that his reaction was hidden beneath the water. When Aaron smiled, his face lit up, attaining an almost boyish aspect and for a moment Michael half-convinced himself that the smile was aimed at him. However, when he followed the line of Aaron's gaze his heart sank as he saw for whom this little show had been performed. That damn brunette.
When Aaron turned to climb over the rocks and into the tree's, his half-naked image was burned like a bright-light onto Michael's retina's. One for the spank-bank, he thought with a sigh.
The brunette followed Aaron into the tree's a few calculated minutes later and Michael's erection abruptly disappeared along with his previously good mood. Suddenly bored with swimming, he climbed out of the pool and pulled on his clothes without bothering to dry off. He retrieved Jack's camera from his backpack and decided to see if he could find the way to the top of the waterfall, thinking that a shot down into the clearing below would make a dramatic shot.
He soon discovered that this was a well-trodden route and stumbled across a narrow trail that wound steeply towards the cliff-top. There was a small lookout at the top, just to the left-hand side of the waterfall with a metal railing to prevent spectators from plunging to their deaths. As Michael had expected, it was a fantastic vantage point and he managed to take some beautiful shots even with the limited capabilities of the basic digital camera.
Mission accomplished he started making his way back down to the pool only to be distracted by the sound of girlish laughter coming from somewhere below. He stepped off of the trail and into the tree's following the sound to its source - Aaron and the brunette.
The pair were standing in a shallow basin, what perhaps might have once been another pool fed by the waterfall, but was now a dry cracked depression. The brunette had rid herself of her bra and panties and she and Aaron were kissing passionately. Her hands roamed his body, lingering over his chest and teasing at the waistband of his shorts. Aaron's own hands were tangled on the brunette's hair and with greedy, authoritative force he guided her downwards until she was on her knees. Once there she obligingly slipped his shorts down to reveal an abundant bush of dark, wet pubic hair and his thick, hard cock. Modest in length but deliciously generous in girth, his member had the proportions of a beer can. The brunette struggled to get her mouth around the generous portion in front of her and Michael tutted at her amateurish technique, imagining the things he could do in her position. Aaron too seemed frustrated and after only a minute or two of futile tonguing pulled the girl onto her feet and bent her forwards over a nearby rock. Her kicked her legs apart and with one aggressive thrust entered her from behind. Face contorted with lust, the brunette's groans were half pleasure and half pain.
Michael's asshole tingled at the mere thought of taking that wide cock deep into his ass. With a sigh full of wanting, he reached into his shorts and tugged at the erection that had sprung up within, imagining in his minds eye that it was he who was bent over that rock.
Aaron pounded away furiously at the brunette, cupping her breast with one hand while pulling her hair back roughly with the other. His face was bullish and flushed, and it was clear that the girls enjoyment was not his priority. With one final shuddering thrust he arched his back and let out an animal-like grunt.
The sight of Aaron's face twisted in ecstasy was enough to bring Michael to orgasm at that same moment, spilling a thick pool of cum into his already damp shorts. He gasped for breath and collapsed against a nearby tree, his whole body trembling with pleasure.
Michael took a minute or two to regain composure, and when he looked back into the depression he found that Aaron and the brunette were gone. On unsteady feet he made his way back to the pool just as the group were preparing to make the short trip to the next campsite.
+++
Following a dinner of barely edible tinned stew, several members of the group had remained gathered around the campfire. The mood was genial and the conversation easy. Even Aaron, a man of few words, chatted amiably when questions were directed his way. Michael noticed to his surprise that he barely even looked at the brunette and did not speak to her for the entire evening. She too seemed to notice his inattention and retired early to her tent, pouting like a little girl.
