"This is the worst trip I have ever been in," Rei mumbled to himself.

"Ironically, this was your idea!" Nagisa snorted in annoyance.

"Is that supposed to make me laugh?"

"No, it's supposed to make you feel shitty when I suggest a cruise instead of a fucking camp trip in a no Wi-Fi, no sheltered space or campsite and absolutely-" Nagisa took his arms up, spread them in indication of their space, "NO...LIVING...PERSON...HERE!"

Rei sighed, brought his hands up and examined them. There were cuts, band aids wrapped around his fingers and new-grown calluses from the wood gathering for their fire...or what they could call a fire, anyway. The fire was little and dying because of the damp area they chosen to lit it. Worse of all, the night sky indicated there will be a storm coming because of the somewhat visible, grey clouds and lack of stars.

"What should we do?"

"I think..."

"I was talking to myself."

Rei looked up helplessly at Nagisa, hurt by his statement and saw the stern look his boyfriend had on. He wanted to say something, apologize or ask what he meant by that, but Rei simply took his sadden gaze to the fire and watched it slowly dying out. Rei got off of the log where they were seated, Nagisa nearly at the edge out of sheer annoyance with his boyfriend, and began putting smaller branches of wood into the fire so it could burn a little more.

When Rei took his place back on the log he risked a glance at Nagisa who was pouting and had his arms crossed. Rei hated it when Nagisa acted like this, but he convincing him that they were doing fine was out of the option. Maybe he should have had thought better of the trip when he saw the forecast this morning and thought it was just speculation. For once, he should have listened the weather news so they wouldn't have been drenched in rain, lost their items while hiking the camp sight, get lost and land here like today.

Rei sighed and thought of his words carefully.

"Nagisa?"

He heard nothing from him.

"Nagisa, I'm really sorry about this..."

"You mean for not listening to me, or that I'm probably going to get sick after all this?"

"For both. I mean I'll get sick, so that could be karma on my part right?"

"Yeah, since you deserve it." Nagisa snapped.

"But I'm still so sorry about all of this! If I had just listened to you, we could have done something better..."

"Next time, we'll just go with my ideas then!"

Rei mumbled quietly to himself, miffed by Nagisa's attitude.

"What was that?"

"Huh?"

"What did you just say, just now?"

"I didn't say anything-!"

"That's it!" Nagisa abruptly turned his body around and faced him with a disgruntled look. This look was frightening to Rei but he was more shocked with what Nagisa had to say. "You are so stupid, Rei! Sometimes I wish I knew what was going in your damn mind thinking we'd be okay in this raining forest of wherever we are!"

Rei gaped at Nagisa, horrified of his words.

"I'm sorry about this, but do we need to argue about it like this?"

"Why not! It's your fault for this damn trip, it's your fault for not listening to me and it's your fault I'm going to get sick!"

"Well, you know what, since we're blaming somebody for something!" Rei got up and looked down at Nagisa, relishing the dominance he felt and the smaller size Nagisa looked when Rei got on his feet. "I'm sick of you thinking everything is my fault and never for once blame yourself for anything! Never, since the months we've been dating, had you said 'I'm sorry, it's my fault' for something!"

It was Nagisa's turn for his shock to overcome him. He stared at his boyfriend whose face was forming sweat and tears that fell slowly down his chin; Nagisa was horrified seeing Rei like this, angry and defeated and upset. Nagisa swallowed a ball of nervous spit down, feeling the incredibly pain of taking it in like he would for his selfish pride. Once Rei retook his place on the log and faced the small fire with a pitiful, tear-filled gaze avoiding Nagisa, Nagisa took his worried gaze to the fire as well and wondered what he should say now.

The silence in the air was eerily, making them uncomfortable in this quiet, dark night. The fire was starting to lose spark and even when Rei and Nagisa set more small twigs in the fire, it was dying regardless of the care and attention they were giving it. The shower of tiny raindrops that dripped silently on their little camp grew reasonably harder and louder but neither acknowledged nor cared of its existence. Nagisa felt his thoughts popped with a joke about how this rain was damping on their parade and he turned to say it, but he remembered what had just happened and he returned to his confined side in gloomy dismay. He shut his eyes tight and asked himself what else could go wrong now...

But after a few minutes of silence and misery, Nagisa heard a song played through the air and he immediately recognized it. Opening his eyes, he surveyed the forest and his eyes saw Rei with a guitar on his lap, and he was playing that guitar like he knew what he was doing...

"You...play guitar?" Nagisa asked, amazed of this newfound fact.

"Only a little," Rei answered cooly, distracted of the guitar' pins as he adjusted them to the right tune. When he brushed the guitar strings again with his guitar pick, he smiled when the sound resonated in his ears perfectly in tune.

"Have you practiced any songs as of late?" Nagisa questioned with nervous intent. If he was fine speaking through questions, maybe they will forget the whole dilemma that had happened previously.

"Yeah, but it's the only song I can do and it just so happens to be your favorite." Before Nagisa could ask what he meant, Rei began playing the guitar with hesitant yet precise movement.

Soon enough, when the air was filled with music and the calmness returned though slowly in its reach between them. Nagisa paid close attention to the music Rei played with delicate fingers and realized the song he played was...

"The Camp Fire Song Song?"

"Yep."

Nagisa blinked, bewildered that Rei could only play that one particular song despite hating it so much. He recalled always annoying Rei to death with that song, singing it for hours until Rei gave up and sang with him. But he thought Rei hated that song...

Was he playing it...to fix this?

Testing it out, Nagisa hummed the lyrics a little in a quiet tone. Rei's expression changed when he looked over at Nagisa and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Did you forget the lyrics?"

"Um...you don't mind if I sing it out loud?"

"It'd help a bit," he said. "Maybe you can do your 'SpongeBob' impression?"

A smile curled on Nagisa's face. Rei still didn't express anything else, but hopefully he will say something if they sang together. Soon, Nagisa started singing with his impression of 'SpongeBob' at a high, energetic speed while Rei played slowly along. Eventually, the duo were singing the song and through it, they stared into each other's eyes with warmth, but it wasn't a wilted flame like their fire, it was a powerful kind of warmth for each other.

When the song finished, Nagisa and Rei laughed whole-heartedly at their secret performance and the moment Nagisa saw his boyfriend's grin, he knew right now was possibly the right moment to speak.

"Rei? I'm sorry..."

"For what?"

"For starting the argument and being such an ungrateful boyfriend..."

Rei looked away from the fire and stared at him, but it wasn't an expression Nagisa had hoped for because his face contorted into an unreadable look. Nagisa panicked, finding it difficult reading Rei's face to see if he had said something wrong. Was his apology not enough for him? Nagisa took a deep breath and risked speaking through another ball of nerves in his throat.

"Rei, I mean it when I said that," he started, his tone deep and hesitant, "I really am an ungrateful boyfriend for you. You never got angry at me whenever I got mad at you and that is wrong, I should be getting mad at myself for making you upset and...I'm sorry." Nagisa hugged his knees and drew his face into the darkness, hiding from Rei's concerned gaze like a coward.

"Hey now...I forgive you," Nagisa pulled his face away and the shocked expression he had must have effected him because Rei moved closer to his side and gave him a tight hug. "I shouldn't forgive you so soon, but it's bad keeping negative feelings in your system. It's not good for your health."

A gasp of a laugh escaped Nagisa's mouth, but his lips drew in a delighted smile. He was in full agreement with Rei. Nothing could possibly ruin this-

ROAR!

They pulled away and jumped on their feet, their eyes searched the area and tried not to panic.

"What the fuck was that?"

Rei turned his head behind them and felt his blood run cold, his skin tingling with cold sweat and he gaped in horror of what he saw before him...

"Don't look behind you..."

...

"Oh my god, are we okay? Is this our car? Is that beast gone?"

"DRIVE!"

Nagisa started the car and they drove off, the headlights clearing their way in the darkness of the road. Although they had run through the forest without an inkling of direction, and without their compass or their equipment they had abandoned, they managed their way and miraculously found their car and were now on the road, racing away from the forest and headed, hopefully, back home.

Even though there wasn't anything funny about the crazy situation, Nagisa giggled a little to himself. Rei looked over and saw the small but silly smile his boyfriend wore whenever something funny happened. Maybe a monster chasing them, running hand-in-hand on the rocky paths, changed the entire plans for the best. Rei smiled and his throat released a long, overdue laugh as they drove away from their worries.