Summer Camp - 6. Campfire Roars

Paddy was half woken by a pillow to the face in the near dark before dawn, a light that the human eye wouldn’t detect creeping in through the window and the crack in the curtains.

“Nae now…” Paddy grumbled, and tried to roll over. And there was the other problem with the beds, because they weren’t designed for two men, neither of whom were actually short, to be sleeping in together. They especially weren’t designed for one of those men to be trying to wrestle a blanket from the other.

“Fuck’s sake Paddy, it ain’t that warm.”

“I aten’t cold.”

“Then stop hogging all the blankets!” Troy hit him with the pillow again, “Do not make me bite you.”

Paddy still wasn’t awake, so Troy bit his shoulder, hard, and he sat up swearing.

“Fuckin’ hell lad, what ye doin’?”

“You keep stealing the quilt!” Troy hissed between gritted teeth, “And we need a bigger fucking bed.”

Paddy responded to this in the way most bears were want to do in the early morning, he gathered Troy and the pillow into his arms and lay back down. The lynx bit him again.

“Ow! Fuck.” Paddy snarled, “It’s ta damn early fer this.”

“It’s only five o’clock.”

“Only?” Paddy started to rearrange himself and the blankets, leaving no logical space for Troy to lie but with his head back on Paddy’s shoulder, “Ye are a morning person aten’t ye?”

“Up with the sun.”

“Bollocks,” Paddy muttered, muffled, into Troy’s hair. He pulled the blankets back over them both, “Go back tae sleep wi ye?”

“You promise to fix the bed?”

“Aye pretty lad. I promise.”

Troy pulled the quilt across and held it firmly.

“Sorry aboot t’ quitly.”

“Huh?”

“Me Mam calls it ‘quilty’. Quilt-guilty, I always hog the covers.”

“Your weird.” Troy muttered, but there was no heat in it.

For someone who used to sleep in a hammock, he’s an awfully fussy guy. Paddy thought, but he didn’t say anything, because Troy snuggled against his body and began to purr peacefully as Paddy stroked his hair.

*

What to do about the bed became the focus of Paddy’s mind from pretty much the moment he woke up properly to find he had, yet again, stolen all the quilt, and Noah had been right in guessing the beds were made of rocks or something, because his back hurt like hell. All morning he wondered what to do about the bed as they worked. The children were as excitable as spring rabbits on their first morning. Paddy was pleased to be taking a different group to the wobbly log before switching back with the girls to run the tree top course. After lunch, they had a bit of time to themselves, and Paddy went about fixing the bed.

The tether that tied him to Troy seemed longer, and he was able to get down to the hub and back again without feeling too painful a squeeze. But he knew where the other man was, all the time, and it felt to Paddy that if he put a little pressure on the cord, maybe there might just be something more than knowledge. He would kill to know what Troy was thinking when he caught the young man looking at him from across the field.

The young bear was nothing but pragmatic in his approach to fixing the bed. He took both mattresses off the beds, shook them until they seemed even, then pushed the two beds together into one corner of the room to create double, put the mattresses back and then spread over the top the large sports mat he had found in storage. A couple of the big blue foam pads had been a bit mouldy and Paddy had chosen the cleanest of them and wiped it down before assembling the bed. He wrapped the whole thing in the sheets from their beds, arranged the pillows and spread both the blankets and his quilt over the whole thing. Stepping back to admire his handiwork, he collided with person who stepped back with a grunt.

“Damn you have about as little sense of special awareness as my cousin.” Noah clapped him on the shoulder with a grin, “Well that’ll certainly fit the both of you alright.”

Paddy stared wide eyed at the Canadian.

“Oh don’t worry, I don’t think anyone else has noticed.” Noah carried on like all the colour hadn’t drained from Paddy’s features, “But I know those looks. That’s exactly the expression my cousin Daryll has when he looks at his mate. You got it bad dude.”

“I ken.” Paddy rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. It was almost a relief to tell someone, and he didn’t realise how tense he’d been until the ache across his shoulders eased. “Ye really think nae one knows?”

“Nah, I gather you aren’t telling them?”

“Troy doesnae want ta,” Paddy hung his head, “I get why, but…”

“It’s not every day you find your mate hey?” Noah grinned like it was nothing, and Paddy felt himself go very still suddenly, “I’ll leave you to it. You back on the tree top course after lunch?”

“Aye…”

Noah waved himself off out of the door, and Paddy stared. It was one hint too many. Either Noah was a psychic, or he knew something. Paddy knew he’d been slightly careless, but not enough for a human to make this kind of leap. One way or another, he was going to have to keep a closer eye on the otherwise harmless seeming Canadian.

The tug at his heart let him know Troy was near, heading in his direction. It was very much as though the sun came up as he appeared in the doorway.

“Wha-? Where is my bed?”

Paddy stepped aside to show off his handiwork.

“Oh great,” Troy rolled his eyes, “Now we just have to keep anyone from ever coming in the cabin.” He shook his head, “Why is this so difficult Paddy?”

“It doesnae have ta be.” Paddy sighed. He stepped towards Troy and was supremely grateful when the other man simply leant into him. Oh Great Spirits let us never be apart, He thought as the bond around his heart loosened almost enough that it was hardly even there, I don’t think I can cope without him.

“Are you praying again?” Troy queried.

“Nae.”

“Liar. I can feel you thinking. Plus your lips move when you talk to them.”

“Oh…”

“C’mon, the teachers are working with their kids on campfire songs. It’s gonna be a long afternoon.”

*

The next few days passed in a whirl of very slightly chaotic organisation. Every night they served dinner to the kids, the teachers chatted about their various days and tried to stop the students from inhaling too much sugar. He and Troy slept much better on the bed, the young man wrapped around him like the cat he was, but neither of them changed again. It would be the weekend soon, and they would be, by and large, alone in comparison to how busy the site felt full of children. Not that the constant companionship of humans made it any harder not to touch Troy at every given opportunity or distract him from the image of the young man’s arse as he walked in his climbing harness.

Paddy spent a lot of time up in the trees, guiding groups along the seemingly dangerous tree top scramble course, over and around branches across logs which swayed, rope bridges hung twenty feet in the air, a set of stepping posts suspended from heavy chains. It was of course, completely safe, with the kids in hard hats and harnesses, clipped onto the thick and very stable safety cables which ran alongside the course. Unless a tree actually fell, there was no risk to the students, not that it stopped them from panicking like worried sheep. But the young bear was patient, and with coaxing from the more confident members of the group, by the end of Thursday he’d not had a single kid who’d backed down and hadn’t completed the course.

“God I’m glad they hired you,” Nic clapped him on the shoulder as they finished sorting out the harnesses for the day. Each set of webbing straps and buckles had to be visually checked for damage before being untwisted and hung up in clips of ten from the main front loop, “Heard from one of other teams down Bluebird Way their transfer is totally useless. He’s still throwing a fit about not being at his original site or something.”

“I could nae let ye’s doon like that mate.” Paddy grinned with a shrug, “I kinda like bein’ further from home ye ken? It’s exciting.”

“You never been away before?” Nic strung up the last of the harnesses, and together they left the equipment shed. Nic locked up behind them. Over the week he’d gotten easier and more relaxed around Paddy, and the big Scot was glad.

“When I was a wee bairn we flew tae China tae meet some o’ me Da’s family, but nae. I nae really been away from home.”

“You and your parents are close?”

“Aye.” Paddy thought of the text he’d sent the first day and realised he hadn’t actually turned his phone on since. His parents were obviously going to want to speak to him after a message as short and completely un-cryptic as he sent. “Tha whole family is real close liek. Gran’da and grand’mama live just aroond the corner.”

“That’s nice. My parents live in Middlesex. I don’t go home much.” Nic cracked his knuckles and hopped on the balls of his feet as they approached the main marquee where the others were beginning to feed the students, “You got something ready for the fire tonight?”

“Aye, I was goin’ tae ask ye, can I wear me kilt?”

“Will you be wearing anything underneath it?” Nic arched an eyebrow.

“Either way, naeone’ll ken. Scot’s honour.”

Nic seemed to consider this.

“I don’t see why not, the kids’ll love it. They’ll think you’re mad.”

“We’re all mad laddie,” Paddy grinned back as he wandered into the marquee. Several dozen children shouted his name, “Aye then me wee bairns! Let’s git some grub in yer!”

Noah, Troy and Ava were sent to build the fire while Paddy and Sean got the kids on duty to wash up. They all wanted to go to the fire site, so they were pretty quick at it, and well-practised after a whole week of no parents and being responsible for their messes. They sent the kids to change into long trousers and jumpers as it was not overly warm once the sun was down, fitted them out with hot chocolate and snacks and Paddy dashed back to the cabin to change before they headed to the site.

He and Troy had grown used to each other in the bed, while they were asleep at least, and Paddy doubted he would ever become accustomed to the way his chest felt tight and his head foggy when Troy looked at him and smiled. Troy had taken to kicking him in the shin’s whenever he stole the covers too much, a habit which he was making a conscious effort to break. And Paddy had gotten a bit more organised and stolen a box of tissues from central so neither of them had to leave the bed once they’d decided to settle in for the night. Sexually, things hadn’t gone any further, and in truth they were both so exhausted after their long days that frottage seemed like a pretty perfect way to drift off. Troy was getting more involved every time, and Paddy made sure not to push him, letting a combination of comfortable companionship and the instinctual urge to mate do all his persuading for him.

He changed into his family tartan short kilt, a six metre pre pleated and stitched length of wool in blue and grey with a double purple stripe and a contrasting white stitch, a thick black leather belt and his dark grey jacobite shirt with the open V-neck collar and the thin lacing up the front. He walked out of the cabin as Levi came past.

“Evening.” Paddy said, to be polite. He had been quiet in his general avoidance of the boy, but his natural friendliness took over now that he was close.

“Hi Paddy. You look rather dashing.”

“Ye think?” Paddy brushed down the flat front of his kilt and settled his plain leather sporran more firmly across his hips, “Ta.”

“So you wear anything under the kilt?” Levi bit his lower lip as he spoke, and Paddy recognised the hooded eyes and angled hips as the sort of flirting which had once worked well on him.

“That’s fer me tae know bud. Sorry.” Paddy smiled in a self-depreciating manner.

“Really?” Levi glanced up through thick lashes at him, his eyes full of bare faced lust and wanting. Ordinarily, Paddy would have been flattered, maybe even interested, but now the glance made him feel like he was about to upchuck all over the grass, “Shame. We should maybe go out sometime.”

“Wi is out.” Paddy stated, deliberately obtuse.

“I meant just the two of us,” Levi took another step, invading his personal space in a very deliberate way, “It’d be fun.”

Paddy couldn’t back away from the skinny boy fast enough.

“Nae, sorry mate.”

“Why not?” Levi bit his lips, crossing in his arms in petulance.

“Yer nae really mae type bud.” The bear managed, and then took off across the field towards where a gaggle of teachers and excited students waited to head to the fire site. He found the string around his heart and tugged sharply, feeling Troy's answering pull almost as if the shifter was squeezing his heart with his hand. Worry and anxiety leaked through their connection, but Paddy couldn’t tell his mate what was wrong over so vast a distance. He just sent love back, and started leading the kids along to the site of the fire.

Between the lead teacher and Nic’s mad dramatics they got the kids going and joining in with dramatic exercises and little round robin scraps of songs. The students managed to organise a bizarre version of ‘row your boat’ in canon which quickly broke down into giggles. It was great fun. They sat on the logs around the fire in a square as the kids sung their songs, things the teachers had put in their camp books which they’d mangled often beyond all recognition. The fire Troy had built crackled and sung, burning with no more smoke than a single cigar, and Paddy watched his lover over the flames, wishing they could be here alone, watching each other in the orange glow.

Nic and Sean lead a fairly long song-game of ‘Bongalooloo’ which got everyone all excited, and then it was Paddy’s turn to calm them down before bed. The big Scot took a seat on one of the tree stumps and arranged the folds of his kilt as he smiled as the shining faces around the glowing fire.

“What’cha gonna sing for us Paddy?” One of the girls asked in an unnaturally quiet voice.

“I’m goin’ tae sing ye’s a little lullaby pet,” Paddy twisted the laced of his jacobite shirt and smiled warmly, “It’s gaelic lass. In tha song, thar are calves and pretty boys a’coming tae yer weddin’. And all thae Kin’s children tae.”

“Sing it then.” Troy was standing behind him, the briefest touch on his shoulder as he passed, settling to stand against the big dead hollow tree. The lynx watched him over the flames as he sung.

“Bidh Clann Ulaidh, laoigh ‘s a lurain,
Bidh Clann Ulaidh, air do bhanais,
Bidh Clann Ulaidh, laoigh ‘s a lurain,
Deanamh an danns’ air do bhanais.

“Bidh Clann a Righ, bidh Clann a Righ,
Bidh Clann a Righ, air do bhanais,
Bidh Clann a Righ, seinnear a phiob,
Olar am fion air do bhanais…”

Troy was pulling at his heart strings, the reflected light from the fire glowing in his eyes. Paddy tapped his knee as he sung, keeping time, and watched his mate back through shuttered eyelids. Troy’s gaze was full of heat, burning stronger than the fire, brighter than the moon above the clouds. Paddy held the last note and somehow the tug at his heart resounded into the promise of later. He made the mental note to buy candles at the weekend. Troy looked good in firelight.

“That was beautiful Paddy.” Nic clapped him on the shoulder, “Really special.”

“Aye!” Sean did his best Scottish accent, which was awful, “And noo we git ta hear it every week!”

Paddy threw a stick at him, and Troy lifted himself from the small of his back with his fingers and started moving around the circle. Mutterings and whisperings, and then a noise, a rhythmic tapping and patting of feet and fingers from one segment of the circle. The noise built as he moved around; six kids humming; a dozen others starting on a whum-whump- wumm sound which built and repeated as Troy got to the last set. One of the slightly older kids in the group, who throughout the week had proved himself to be a good little performer, counted him in with a:

“Five, six, seven, eight!”

And Troy sang.

“‘Cause your kisses lift me higher,
Like a sweet song of a choir
And you light my morning sky,
With burning love…

“Closer and closer
The flames are reaching my body.
Please won't you help me,
I feel like I'm slipping away.
It's hard to breath,
And my chest is a-heaving
Lord Almighty,
I'm burning a hole where I lay…

“‘Cause your kisses lift me higher
Like the sweet song of a choir
You light my morning sky
With burning love…”

Paddy stared, wide eyed at the man he wanted to say those words to, who was now saying them, singing them in such a way as to make it look somehow like he was singing to everyone and yet whenever he passed in his little dance around the fire close enough to the bear, Paddy felt the tug on his heart, and flash of burning heat in Troy’s glacier eyes.

The main lyrics died out as Troy cannoned the kids into the repeating line ‘just a hunk, a hunk of burning love’ over and over again until sleepy, excited giggles resounded more than actual words. The teachers began to gently hassle the children off towards bed, and even Sean yawned hugely, hand over his mouth.

“We’re gonna join the teachers in their hut for a little drinky,” Nic said, “Can you and Troy put the fire out and come and join us after?”

“Aye, nae worries man.” Paddy stood and shuffled the kids off, hands on hips, secretly and totally pleased to have an excuse to be alone in the fire light with the man he thought he loved. When the last staff and children were out of sight and hearing, Paddy sat back on the stump and smiled at the young man who walked around the fire, prodding the embers with a long stick, tidying up generally.

Troy seemed more at home in the woods, stalking around the fire like a two legged cat, his eyes watching Paddy constantly as he moved. Paddy leant back on one elbow and regarded the man carefully. He tried to concentrate on the lynx which moved under Troy’s skin, tried to see the glowing strand that connected them, but he couldn’t quite pull the image into focus. He wrapped both ‘hands’ around the string and pulled. Troy stumbled, his easy natural grace broken by the faltering half step and glared.

“That hurts.”

Paddy rumbled low.

“I know that look. Oh no, not here.”

Paddy smiled smugly and pulled again. Again Troy shuffled and came closer. There was a shine in his eyes as he came past the fire, and without putting any pressure on the string Paddy knew this time he’d won. They had power over each other, and Paddy wasn’t afraid to use it. It was patently obviously to both of them, there was no way they could ever be apart, ever not be together. The chemical animal pull of being together was too strong to resist now that they were alone in the dark under the trees and the open cloud covered sky in the light of the fire. It was natural and right and perfect as Troy stepped into the space between his knees and Paddy reached up and ran his hands under Troy’s jumper, making his stomach muscles twist and jump.

“Patrick…” Troy practically mewled his name, his body tense and shivering at his mate’s touch. Paddy pulled him half a step closer, took his chin and then Troy was straddling his lap, kissing him, arms around his neck, hands in his thick short hair, fingernails raking against his scalp.

There wasn’t going to be time to do anything really excellent, but Paddy had the power and he wasn’t about to let it slip away. With one hand he kneaded Troy’s firm arse through his long combats, dragged his fingers through the fine and now well brushed and silky hair, tilting Troy’s head back, exposing the lovely pulsing column of his throat. Paddy inhaled his scent, a flavour like the most delicious drug ever created, a personal fantastic high that left him dizzy and totally focused on his target. Troy’s hair was long enough to hide the spot, so Paddy fixed his lips to the hollow behind his hair and bit his mate.

“Ah!” Troy gasped, finger nails digging into Paddy’s skin through the thick cotton of his shirt. The big Scot pushed his advantage, biting, chewing, sucking as hard as he could until Troy was equal parts writhing and gasping and thumping his chest to get him to let go. Paddy snarled into his skin, nipping at the new bruise and the damaged skin as he realised the young man in his lap. He blew on the hot skin.

“You complete bastard.”

“Yer welcome.”

“Have we got time?” Troy’s fingers were still in his hair, rocking in his lap, heat and hardness against his crotch. His skin was inches away and hot as the inside of the fire.

“Yer tha one sayin’ wi shid be careful laddie,” Paddy rumbled, “We’ll be missed.”

Troy’s eyes let off hot blue sparks.

“But I really want to fuck you.”

“Well tha maeks tae of us…” Paddy growled low, leaning in for another kiss, but Troy pulled away.

“Paddy, I…”

“Still nae sure? Awww babe…” Paddy would have been lying if he’d said the lack of reciprocation hadn’t been playing on his mind, “It’s so gud, and I can make it amazing fer ye babe.” Troy snuggled against his chest with a soft mewl, and Paddy felt all of the fire go out of him. “Troy, I aten’t goin’ tae force ye. Calm doon pet.”

The two young men sat under the lack of stars for a long time while the fire, unfed and uncared for, died down to glowing red embers, smouldering softly away. Paddy felt that his lust was like the fire, hot but on hold somehow, waiting until some better time to flare up and blossom into something all consuming. He touched the cord between them in his mind, and felt the gesture twang along its length as though it was the tight rope high wire in the trees. Even though they were together, the tension had be invisibly hiked higher and higher, and Paddy wasn’t sure how much more stress the bond could take before one of them ended up in pieces.