Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Lukas
LUKAS CUPPED HIS BOWL of chili mac, too hungry to question the food. At least it smelled good.
He shoveled a forkful into his mouth before he could think too hard about it — and blinked in surprise. Way better than he would have hoped for from boxed and canned American food.
Mylo settled beside him on a log before the fire. The other two couples occupied the logs to their left, all talking quietly, if at all, as everyone refreshed their exhausted bodies.
“Man, this is good,” Mylo said. “Or maybe I’m just hungry enough for it to be good.”
“It’s good,” Lukas confirmed.
Even Mylo had little to say as they dug in, the truest testament to just how tired everyone was after being on the walls all day. Even slowly taking turns on that 5.13 route at the end hadn’t made it any less draining to climb that hard mere hours after getting off a long flight from Germany with a layover in the middle. Plus, Germany and California were in almost opposite timezones. Lukas’s body had been screaming at him all day that he was eating and sleeping at the wrong times, but this meal around the campfire might have been resetting his internal clock. His body was so tired it no longer seemed to care what time it was back home; it just wanted food.
Lukas did his best to oblige, digging into the cheesy concoction with abandon. He ate so quickly that his bowl contained nothing but the dregs of powdered cheese while Mylo was still working through noodles.
“Hungry, huh?” Mylo said with a smirk.
“We climbed a lot,” Lukas said.
“True,” Mylo said. His smile slid toward something more sinister, a look that Lukas knew well by now. “Guess our workout kind of started before we even got on the plane, huh?”
Lukas swallowed. “That was not a workout. And it nearly made us late.”
“Not for you, maybe. I was certainly huffing and puffing while you—”
“Okay, okay, fine,” Lukas jumped in. He wasn’t ashamed of his sexuality or anything, but he also didn’t need Mylo describing their pre-flight escapades in detail in front of everyone else.
“Don’t be embarrassed, baby. You were exceptional, as always.”
“Mylo, please,” Lukas grumbled, lowering his head.
Lukas accepted himself and thought little of being queer, but Mylo was outright shameless. Lukas doubted it would have mattered if the guy was straight, either. He’d probably be just as brash when bragging about his various heterosexual misadventures.
“Have you ever fucked in the forest?” Mylo said.
Lukas choked, even though he wasn’t eating anymore. “What?”
“Oh wait, you have. Duh. With me. There was that time back in Switzerland when we—”
Lukas slapped a hand over Mylo’s mouth. He definitely did not need that story getting around. He and Mylo hadn’t been together at the time. They were still feeling each other out that day when they journeyed out to a climbing crag in Switzerland to belay each other up some walls. A lunch break had swiftly turned into more, and in all honesty, it had mostly been Lukas’s fault. That didn’t mean he wanted it discussed here, however. They could have easily gotten caught out there in the woods. They escaped through sheer luck. They didn’t need to undo that good chance by shouting out the details now.
Mylo squirmed away from Lukas’s hand and rolled his eyes. “Relax, no one here cares. They’re all queer too.”
“That is true, but it does not mean they need to know every little detail.”
“Why not?” Mylo said. “It’s more fun that way. We can swap crazy stories, see who’s the most adventurous. I bet we’ll win, but if not, I spotted some nice trees back there at the crag.”
Mylo had the audacity to wink, and Lukas’s stomach fluttered with a mixture of nerves and arousal. Mylo had become an expert at riling him up this way, straddling the line between actual anger and playful banter.
It always worked.
Even now, Lukas could imagine dragging Mylo to their tent and settling this discussion in more “productive” ways. That desire must have shone in his eyes because Mylo’s smirk curled, victory written all over his face.
“We just got here,” Lukas said quietly.
“So?” Mylo countered. “No one would think it was weird if we said we were jet lagged.”
“It’s rude.”
“They’ll get over it. I promise.”
Mylo’s hand crept to Lukas’s thigh, warm and heavy, sitting there like a promise.
It took a real effort to look away and ignore it, but Lukas had spent enough time being distant and unfriendly. He had a reputation on the professional circuit as a surly and reclusive climber who mostly just scowled and grumbled. He was making strides to repair that. Sneaking away with Mylo right now to fuck in their tent would probably set those efforts back by a significant degree.
“We can wait until the end of the night,” he said.
Mylo stuck out his bottom lip and pouted. “But I don’t wanna.”
Lukas knew better than to reply. Mylo would just keep on whining if Lukas didn’t hold firm. Easier said than done.
He looked to the other two couples for help. Ty and Elijah were murmuring quietly about something, but Jude caught Lukas’s eyes.
“How was it?” Jude said. “Any good?”
It took Lukas a moment to realize he was probably talking about the food. “It was great. Thank you.”
“I’m sure ‘great’ is a bit generous, but it’s filling at least,” Jude said.
Jude and Finn’s bowls sat on the ground. Finn leaned against Jude’s shoulder, eyes closed, long hair falling over their shoulders, as content as a cat in a sunbeam. Maybe they really wouldn’t care if Lukas and Mylo wanted to sneak off…
No. They were here to hang out. There was plenty of time to satisfy Mylo’s rampant libido later.
“Excited for the climbing season?” Jude said.
Lukas nodded. Bouldering would be first. Mylo and Finn favored roped lead climbing, but Lukas, Ty and Jude all tended to do pretty well on the bouldering as well. Lukas enjoyed it for the raw power it demanded, the explosive moves required for the shorter boulder climbing.
“I heard the setters have some crazy new holds they want to use this year,” Jude said.
“The tuna?” Lukas said. He’d heard some murmurings of a hold shaped like a tuna, or was it a canoe? A shark fin? Something like that. Whatever it was, the people who set the competition climbs seemed excited to throw it at all of them this season, which probably meant it was diabolical.
“Yeah,” Jude said. “I heard it’s freaking terrible. Not looking forward to having four minutes to figure that out on the fly.”
They dove into climbing talk, mostly Jude and Lukas, but Mylo would throw in a word here or there. Finn seemed sound asleep against Jude’s shoulder, and the conversation didn’t wake them.
Lukas was grateful for the distraction. It diverted Mylo’s attention, and gave Lukas a moment to cool down. Besides, it really was nice talking about climbing with these people. They went through the same things Lukas did, not just because they were queer, but also because they knew what it was like to be a professional climber. It wasn’t a life many people could relate to. The competitions, the travel, the sport itself — they were all unusual to most people. Climbing was gaining traction, especially now that it was an Olympic sport, but they still broadcast their comps on YouTube livestreams.
Lukas didn’t mind. It made for a tight-knit community. Lukas could go to a gym and occasionally get recognized, but he’d never have to deal with the kinds of things football stars did. That also meant he wouldn’t be buying a mansion any time soon, but he could live with that. This life right here — friends around a campfire, climbing trips in other countries, sponsors allowing him to try climbs all over the world — this was still one hell of an amazing life.
They speculated about the upcoming climbing season, who was strong, who was phasing out of the scene, what the setters might have planned for all of them, who had just come up from the youth circuit. Eventually, even Mylo was pretty enthusiastic about the conversation. For all his antics and flamboyance, he cared just as deeply about this sport as any of them, a fact people often overlooked because of the tattoos and piercings. Those people were idiots, in Lukas’s opinion, but they could go on underestimating Mylo thanks to his appearance all they liked. It wouldn’t change that Mylo would be on the winner’s podium more often than not next season.
Lukas’s hands itched just thinking about it. Tired as he was, he wanted to get back on the rocks already.
“Do we have any climbing planned for tomorrow?” he said.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Jude said. “Ty was talking about an area just a little past where we were today. A slightly longer hike in, but he says it’s worth it.”
“Nice,” Mylo said. “More walls?”
Jude’s lips twisted. “Some,” he said, “but also some boulders. For Elijah.”
A chuckle rippled through the group. Lukas shot a look over at Elijah, but he was occupied with Ty. They had all given Elijah plenty of shit about having such a strong preference for boulders. It was outdated these days. The Olympics demanded climbers who could do both disciplines, and all the pros had changed their training routines to accommodate that. When Elijah was competing, however, it was completely normal to only compete in one discipline or the other. This sport changed fast, very fucking fast, but at the end of the day it was all just climbing.
“I wouldn’t mind some boulders,” Lukas said.
“Me neither,” Jude said. “I’m definitely down to do both while we’re out here, though carrying in that much gear is going to suck.”
It would, but they’d manage it. Between the six of them, they should have been able to get in both ropes for the walls and pads for the boulders.
“Weirdos,” Finn grumbled against Jude’s shoulder. It was the first they’d contributed to the conversation.
“You’re the one who’s behind the times,” Jude said. “You can’t just lead climb forever.”
“I can and I will,” Finn muttered.
They all knew it was a lie. Finn and Mylo competed on the bouldering circuit just like the rest of them. But it was funny imagining such a talented climber sitting out the bouldering season in some sort of protest of the new shape of the sport.
“Hey, no sleeping.”
They all looked up as Ty approached. He clutched beers between his fingers like ornaments hanging off a Christmas tree.
“Who wants a drink?” Ty said. “We’re going to play a game.”
Finn groaned.
“Right now?” Jude said. “Everyone’s beat.”
“Yes, right now,” Ty said. “Perk up. The booze will help. We’re only here for a week. We gotta make it count.”
Lukas accepted a beer, but with hesitation. “How late do you plan to play?”
Ty heaved an aggrieved sigh. “You are all worse than Elijah. Come on. You’re supposed the young ones. Why are you grumbling like old geezers about playing one game?”
“What kind of game can we even play out here?” Jude said, accepting beers for himself and Finn. Mylo took the last one. Carbonation hissed as everyone passed around the bottle opener and pried off their caps.
“A fun one,” Ty said. “A super fun one. It’s called ‘Never Have I Ever — Queer Edition.’”