It's probably midnight, but Gary Oak can't sleep. Won't sleep. He's been pointedly sitting outside, watching the fire die, trying to work his courage up to go inside the tent.
Ritchie crawled in there hours ago, ignoring Gary's initial ire over only having the one tent – "I told you to pack more!" – and if Gary was completely honest with himself, it wasn't even a thing he should have been upset over. The school rules had specified one tent per every two people, and the tent was big enough to fit both of them easily, and it wasn't like they were going to share a sleeping bag or anything –
Gary realizes his head is buried in his knees, which were drawn up to his chest, and his face was warm. He actually hit his head with the side of his hand, trying to get a hold of himself. It was just sharing a tent. Gary tries to convince himself that he would have been this way if he was sharing a tent with anyone else, but he thinks on it. He and Ash probably would have fought to be the first ones in the tent and then shoved each other around over the best spot. It's what happened last time they went camping for a school function, and it's probably why the teacher had made sure they weren't tent-mates this time around.
It's very still outside. Everyone else has gone to sleep. The fire has finally died, and it's getting chilly, and Gary finally admits he needs to get inside his sleeping bag. He pours water over the campfire – just to be on the safe side – and carefully picks his way over to the tent, crawling in carefully.
Ritchie is about five inches shorter than Gary, so he takes up less space in the tent. Nobody brought pajamas because it's a group of guys and they all forgot, so everyone is sleeping in plainclothes. Ritchie's in his t-shirt and shorts, socks and shoes piled in the corner and his hoodie under his head as a makeshift pillow. He's sleeping all curled up, on top of the sleeping bag, and it takes .9 seconds for Gary to see why. Ritchie is basically a human space heater – just by being in the tent for the couple hours, he's managed to make it almost stuffy. Gary isn't exactly upset by this, because he was chilly anyways, but nevertheless it manages to impress him and weird him out. He wonders what it would be like to sleep next to him and if his skin is warm, and instantly feels incredibly embarrassed and pushes the thought as far away as he can. As he zips up the tent, he accidentally brushes Ritchie's leg, and the other boy starts awake, sitting up drowsily.
"Sorry, sorry," Gary says, making his way over to his side. "Didn't mean to wake you."
Ritchie flops back down on his back, waving the apology away. He's not fully awake, and he's already falling back asleep.
The thought of getting inside the sleeping bag is already making Gary feel overheated, so he just lays on top of it and whispers, "good night," because he feels bad for waking Ritchie.
Ritchie rolls over and mumbles, "goodnight, I love you," and Gary feels like his heart has stopped. He waits for a moment, hardly breathing, but Ritchie's own breathing has evened out and it's obvious he's asleep. Gary's mouth feels dry and he can feel his heart pounding in his chest so hard it hurts.
He's just saying that because he's half asleep. He didn't realize it.
He doesn't fall asleep for another three hours. When he finally does, he's dreaming about sitting on a hill and Ritchie is there and they're holding hands and when he wakes up, he doesn't remember the dream but he's embarrassed for the rest of the day.