Sparrow (All GMC)

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Camping.

It had never been one of Sean’s favorite activities. It wasn’t that he avoided the outdoors – in fact, sailing was one of his favorite activities. It was simply that camping had never held great appeal, and as he’d aged, sleeping on the ground with no temperature controls grew less appealing with each passing year.

Still, it had been Greg’s idea, and with a bit of coordination, everyone in their group of friends had signed on. After buying and packing gear, the men had piled into their cars, formed a caravan, and driven up into the woodlands of Northern Vermont, into a public park with camping grounds open for the spring, summer, and early autumn.

A bit of unpacking, and a bunch more hiking, had brought them up to their camping area for the weekend. The clearing was safe, although a bit high (not so high that their oxygen intake would suffer), and with a water source about a third of a mile back.

It wasn’t bad.

Yet.

Nightfall would be...well, the telepath didn’t have high expectations of sleeping this weekend. If nothing else, James Campbell would keep him awake, just as surely as he, and the insects, would keep James awake.

“Do we have the food set up?” He called over his shoulder, as he worked on pitching his and Josh’s tent. Central food was important.

[Gregory Strickland]

Camping!

This was mostly Greg’s idea, but he wasn’t going to go around telling everyone that – it would just spoil the fun to start acting like a child before anyone had anything to drink. Recreational drinking was something Greg hadn’t done in a while, and he thought a large camping trip with friends was the right occasion to open a brew or two. Or more, it didn’t matter.

With Sean’s help, plenty of friends were notified of the fun times to be had if they chose to be in attendance, and Greg was very much so looking forward to the trip. There were plenty of new memories to be made, and bonds to strengthen.

“Oh would you look at that!” Greg had called, pointing at some kind of bird as it flew above them during their hike to the camping spot. He smiled softly to himself – it was about time he explored the outdoors in the new state he lived in. This wasn’t anything like New York; this was both a good and bad thing. But it would be good for today.

Greg was still working on pitching his small two person tent when Sean piped up. “I have most of the chocolate in my backpack!” He informed everyone, because s’mores were the most important part, although he wouldn’t have more than one or two. He also had some hot dogs, and eggs in a cooler for tomorrow’s breakfast. Though hopefully there was more than that for everyone.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Camping.

Josh was a city boy at heart, despite lip service paid to environmental causes. He wasn't fond of roughing it or living without running water. However, he was easily persuaded particularly where friends were involved, and the idea of spending nighttime in a tent with Sean sounded awfully romantic.

What he had forgotten was that he didn't like the woods.

He really really didn't like the woods.

He had nearly finished with his bag of trail mix by the time they reached the camping trip, having attempted to distract himself from unpleasant thoughts through food. Fortunately their arrival at their camp site meant plenty of responsibilities needed immediate tending, and so as Sean started on their tent he rummaged through his pockets for his lighter.

"Food?" He echoed Sean in bewilderment. They had packed plenty, but he didn't know why it would need to be anywhere but their luggage. "Should I start the fire? Anyone see the fire....ring or tender?"

[Chase Campbell]

Chase had been excited about the trip since it had first been proposed by their group of friends. He hadn't camped for ages, beyond late nights with Nikki in the yard watching stars. His last camping trip had probably been when he was in his twenties, but much of it remained the same as he expected from this one. Friends, drinking, campfires. It was all pretty appealing to him. He loved the outdoors.

Sadly, the same could not be said for his husband.

At least James had agreed to join them. Chase knew it was for his sake only, and he dearly loved James for it. He was already trying to figure out what to do to make up for it later. When they were back home, in a domestic setting, with no bugs or dirt in sight.

In the meantime, he was happy to carry most of the gear to the site, leaving James with very little to do except keep up with them. Once they'd reached the site, he'd wasted no time in finding a relatively rock-free, flat spot for their tent and went to work. He'd stay away from the food unless it involved sticks and hot dogs. That, he could handle. ... Relatively safely, anyway.

"I'm staying out of it," he called back to Sean with a little grin as he jammed another peg into the ground to anchor the tent. "No one wants me involved. Ask James."

[Thomas Hayes]

Thomas loved camping. He was that guy; the one in the car chuckling to himself at the way some of his friends were dressed. Jeans and jackets? They were going to freeze their asses off come nightfall.

He settled his stuff and worked on his own tent, finding clear amusement in the discussions already circulating the grounds. Being an experienced camper let him set his tent up with record time, turned around, and watched his friends work.

"Guess it's time to hunt down firewood, then." He said with a large grin. He sounded almost too cheerful about the fact, but he set off with purpose to collect whatever he could.

[Stefan Spencer]

Stefan had been excited when Greg had first told him about the camping trip. Of course, he’d been a little drunk at the time so he hadn’t really thought things through. It wasn’t until they had all piled out of the cars that he had started second guessing his initial feelings. Dirt and bugs he could handle, especially when grouped with friends and drinking. It was the hike through the woods that he wasn’t all that thrilled about.

Still he and his cane had made it. But while the others were busy unpacking and setting up tents, Stefan found a nice stump to give his leg a well needed rest. “Who needs food?” he called out after reaching into his pack for his flask and taking a drink. “I’ve got everything I need right here.” He flashed a grin at his friends. Of course he had a few other things in his pack besides liquor…but not much beyond the bare essentials. He’d done his fair share of camping (passing out under the stars counted, right?) to know to bring enough to keep warm. Of course the scotch would help with that too. So would an extra warm body in his tent.

“Need a light?” he called to Josh holding up a lighter he found in his pack. “Unless you’d prefer matches?”

He took another drink, rubbing at his sore leg. “Give me a minute and I’ll give ya a hand,” he said as Thomas started looking for some firewood.

[Dr. James Campbell]

It was ten minutes into being at the campsite, and already James missed his home desperately. No matter what Chase had said, the idea of sleeping on the ground still wasn't appealing.

Not that he actually planned on sleeping. His husband had spent most of the week making oblique hints as to how he would "make it up to him" for agreeing to go on the camping trip in the first place. Considering the group, either that wasn't going to happen, or they would be far from the only ones spending lights out on activities other than sleeping.

He was already pretty miserable when Chase started to pitch the tent. James tried to help, but every few minutes had to stop and rub more purell onto his hands. In the end, he decided to set up their camp stove instead. Other people could eat food cooked over a campfire, but he would prefer something he had a little more control over. "I'm okay with cooking for whoever wants me to. But how are we supposed to clean the dishes, after?"

The question was addressed to the group as a whole, as James couldn't believe it hadn't occurred to him before. There was dish soap in the bag, but the clean water he and Chase had carried in was for drinking only.

[Gregory Strickland]

Greg raised an eyebrow at Josh. Fire ring? That sounded like something rather unpleasant. A quick glance at Sean communicated that perhaps someone else should be starting the fire – it was just a thought. Luckily, Thomas seemed eager to help, along with Stefan, despite the fact that he seemed a little winded. Knowing the man though, Greg suspected a couple of drinks would set his spirits right. And then right on cue...

Greg laughed. “Hope you brought enough to share,” he said to Stefan.

There seemed to be an almost even split in the group – those that liked camping, and those who didn’t. It could make for interesting teams later on, should they decide to play any games. He had forgotten to pack Twister again – damn.

“Dishes? What are you planning on making exactly?” Greg had brought biodegradable paper plates just in case, but he didn’t mind finger food. The way James was obsessively cleaning his hands though was Greg’s cue to find something else to do – he was terrible at cooking anyways.

Walking over to where Stefan was, Greg put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Need help helping Thomas get firewood?” He asked. Camping was definitely harder as the years went by. “Or at least we could find some kindling.”

[Danny Silverman]

Danny couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone camping. It was probably with his adopted father right before he’d gone to college. But when Sean had invited him on the trip with many of the other men of their friend group, he’d been eager to agree to come with. He really didn’t know much about camping, but a brief conference with Riley had confirmed that he would indeed enjoy doing it. So he’d packed up a tent, a sleeping bag, a lantern, spare clothes and his art supplies and had worked with Riley to get going. He’d enjoyed the hike up—he was out of shape, but there was Josh, Sean, Greg, Riley and others whom he’d never met before to talk to. It worked out perfectly. Danny, always willing to be social and meet new people, was having a marvelous time. And once they’d set up the fire and the food, he fully intended to begin sketching.

Then again, it might be too dark, so he’d have to think of something else. Scary stories, maybe. Danny loved ghost stories. But he wasn’t sure if others would appreciate that, so he decided against it until he could ask around for more information.

He’d gotten everything set down and was just studying the instructions for the tent when Sean spoke.

“Um, I think Riley brought some,” he said. “And some kosher things for Josh and I. Uh, I think he forgot something at the car…” He glanced around, then leaned over. “Do you need any other help with the firewood? Or I can help with the tents.” Couldn’t be any worse than making models, right? 

[Josef Muller]

Camping, right. Josef didn’t mind the hiking. He didn’t mind being outdoors and he didn’t mind the work involved. Admittedly, he wasn’t a huge fan of what came with it—dirt, bugs, sleeping on rocks—but today he was inclined to forget about that. He was with people whom he liked and hadn’t seen in a while. The company was good, the weather was beautiful, and best yet, he’d finally worked up the nerve to ask Damien to come along with him.

He knew that was stupid. But most of the others were in established—long established—relationships, and he’d been shy to ask Damien. But eventually he had, even though it meant revealing his relationship to Josh. Or had Josh already known? He hadn’t worked at keeping it a secret, except when Damien had revealed that he hadn’t wanted it known. He and Damien weren’t exactly—new to dating, but they were doing better and Josef felt a connection. He felt comfortable with the other man, comfortable enough to invite him to camping. And so despite the dirt and the bugs and the rocks, Josef couldn’t help smiling. Like a loon.

“I have some disposable dishes and some bleach that we can use for washing,” he said. He remembered that from his camping trips with his father when he was a boy and a couple of trips in college. He wondered if he should mention that he’d pick up the water from the hose nearby and decided not to. They could boil it first. “I’ll help with the fire.” He wasn’t great at it, but he could build one fairly well. And he’d brought some newspaper and gathered some pinecones and pine needles to work with.

[Damien Tremblay]

It had been a long time since Damien had been camping in any way, shape, or form. Probably University, if he remembered right. In recent years he'd had no real reason to go. But when Josef had invited him, he had agreed quickly. While he had been a little excited about it, he was also well aware that his weekend was going to involve a number of new people. At least he knew Josh, and by extension, Sean. Between them and Josef, he'd probably be fine.

He'd come clean to Josh about seeing Josef a few weeks ago. He hadn't been shy or ashamed about it, he'd simply wanted to keep Janice out of his romantic life a while longer. Of course, that was moot now anyway. She'd weaseled it out of him. Oh well. He was spending the weekend with his boyfriend, and was possibly making new friends. Josef had promised everyone was nice, and camping was casual enough. He was actually excited as he walked side by side with Josef on the hike to the site.

While Josef volunteered to assist with making the fire, Damien started going through their things and pulling out the tent. He was a little rusty, but he was sure he could get it figured out before dark. "I can handle things here," he assured Josef. He was actually looking forward to all this. Campfires, being guys in the woods. University all over again.

Thankfully, the tent went up smoothly. Once it was done and their things were inside, Damien glanced around the campsite. Josh looked like he was occupied with the fire... maybe they needed help with the firewood. With that in mind, he jammed his hands in his hoodie pockets and wandered over to where a few of the others were gathered. "Hey," he greeted shyly. "Need help with the firewood?"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean turned his head at the mention of chocolate, offering his blond friend a grin of appreciation. While chocolate didn’t make for hearty, real food, the telepath had a sweet tooth, and he would appreciate having a bit of that once they had set up camp.

He had been about to direct Josh to the lighter in his backpack, but Stefan beat him to the punch. Trusting his partner and their remarkably sober (for this hour of the day) friend, Sean returned his attention to the tent. It was giving his arms a bit of a workout, but the effort was worthwhile. He would enjoy having somewhere to sleep tonight that wasn’t the open ground.

Even the presence of Josh wouldn’t make sleeping without walls pleasant.

The telepath also heard that Thomas had the firewood situation under control, particularly with the offers of assistance from Danny and Greg. That was one less chore with which to concern himself, and inwardly Sean was glad that this was coming together painlessly.

As painless as could be achieved given James Campbell’s innate discomfort with the inherent uncleanliness of The Great Outdoors.

“Josh and I brought a water filter to help with washing too,” Sean said over his shoulder. It had been a while since his last camping trip, but he hadn’t thought that introducing soap back into the environment was the best idea. So he’d picked one up before the trip, to help filter out the impurities from whatever cleaning they had to do.

A few minutes later and his and Josh’s tent looked stable, although time would be the true judge of his competence.

“Who else needs help?” He asked, looking around at his friends.

[Riley Adams]

Riley found the compass that had dropped out of his camping bag somehow and hurried over to where he had ditched his stuff and his boyfriend, apologising profusely to the latter by giving him a tender kiss on the forehead. He was definitely not abandoning his affection for the bespectacled model builder simply because they were in the company of other men in the middle of the woods.

"Sorry, sorry. This little thing kept coming out of the bag pocket, I was lucky enough to find it." He grinned sheepishly before going down on his knees to start setting up his tent. He turned around to Danny, looking up at him with a smile. "Help me with this?" He asked sweetly. Everyone around was talking about food and cleanliness, something he was always prepared with.

"If anyone needs any sanitiser, I've got some in my backpack and I packed extra in the car. I don't mind walking back to the car if it's urgent." He offered his two cents before going back to setting up the tent. He took every opportunity he could find to tease Danny every now and then.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"No, the lighter should be fine," Josh assured Stefan, fumbling in his pockets for the device. It seemed as if roughly half the group was searching for firewood; he was just grateful nobody asked him to join them. Instead he helped Josef make the beginnings of a fire with the newspapers and pinecones the other man had brought along.

Between the group of them they'd probably need more tinder later, so the wood would be needed.

"Can't believe we managed that without burning anything down," he commented, slipping his lighter back into his pocket. "So will anyone object if I break out the hotdogs? There are some kosher ones,don't worry," he assured Danny.

((If I skip to everything thing being set up/dinner over on my next turn will anyone object?))

[Josef Muller]

Josef couldn’t help laughing at the clear surprise on Josh’s expression. “You act like that’s a bad thing,” he teased. “But for the record, I’m glad that we didn’t burn everything down.” He ran a hand through his hair and sat back on his heels. Although he’d never admit it aloud, he was as grateful as Josh that it had worked out. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually set a fire. The last time he’d done it there had been someone he’d considered as an adult to supervise him.

It was weird to think that he was now the adult. He glanced over, and Damien had gone to fetch wood. His lips twitched up. Also a good sign—he wanted Damien to be out and about. So he nodded to himself, then went to help with the tents. "Hot dogs sound good," he called over his shoulder. "Let me know if you need a hand."