Mountain's Calm

by solarlunarxiii

"The early morning clouds were starting to float away. They forgot about how cold it was and just stood there, locked together in each other's arms, at the top of the hill." (Cover art by: blackpaopu)

The lush green trees were flying past the window like shooting stars. The further the car drove up the mountain, the nicer it felt to take a break from the day to day chaos. Driving through the city was so busy and involved, but here, everything stood still. The trees were standing still and the only sounds to concentrate on were the humming of the car's engine and the soft piano tracks coming out of the car's radio. It was like a sanctuary.

Ven could see his reflection in the window he was staring out of. They had to get up early in the morning to get a head start on the drive, which was rough, but he was going to be tough. He enjoyed taking in moments like this as they came. So much had been happening in his life lately, and he didn't want to miss any of them. This was another one he wanted to remember—going on this little camping trip with Terra. It was their first one together. Ven had stayed over at Terra's house for many days at a time, but this was different, this was going to be like an adventure. An adventure they get to take together.

Terra, over on the driver's side, was on cloud nine. He had taken the drive up the mountain to camp quite a few times—alone, with family, but never with someone he cared for as much as Ven. In fact, he often daydreamed of what it would be like to come up here with someone. This whole trip was his idea, and he was glad Ven agreed to it.

"Hey." Terra said softly. "How you doing over there, babe?"

Ven smiled back, "Pretty good, just looking at the trees. How about you?"

Terra chuckled, "Pretty good, too."

The song playing through Terra's iPod ended. The playlist Terra made was over and now there was silence. Both the boys in the car looked at each other again and smiled.

"Do you wanna put your iPod on now, babe?"

Ven grinned, "Sure. I actually made a playlist too."

Ven unplugged Terra's phone and put the auxiliary cord in his own. His song selections weren't as good as Terra's, but he put a good amount of thought into them. Even though most of it was just some of their mutual favorite songs, some of it was stuff Terra hadn't heard before.

Ven played the first track, and waited for Terra's reaction.

As the song started to play, Terra looked and Ven and smiled. "I know this song."

"Do you?" Ven asked.

"Of course I do. I'll never forget our first date. On our ride home from the restaurant, this song played right before you got out the car. And for the next three dates, this exact same song played every time."

Ven was astonished, "You noticed that too? I thought I was the only one…"

Terra smiled and turned up the volume slightly, "I think it's my favorite song."

The drive continued with smiles on both of their faces. As they continued their ascent, the windows began to get foggier and a chill ran down Ven's spine. It was near the point where they could begin to see their own breath. Terra was bundled up in a snazzy green jacket, but Ven—the forgetful thing he was—didn't know that mountains could get this cold, so he was only wearing a long sleeved shirt and shorts. He had already slurped the last of the hot chocolate Terra made for him before they even reached the mountain base.

Terra could see that his boyfriend was beginning to shiver in the passenger seat, which he would not be having. "Hey babe, grab that blanket I put in the backseat. That should warm you up."

Ven gave a slow nod and reached into the backseat grabbing the Pokémon imprinted fleece blanket and wrapped it tightly around himself, burrowing it under his feet and holding it close like a caterpillar in a cocoon. Terra found it hard to keep his eyes on the road with the intense cuteness happening right next to him.

Terra could hear Ven's teeth clicking and saw small puffs of mist coming from his breath every few seconds. He wished he could stop the car and hold Ven tight to share body heat, but all he could do was smile and put one hand on his boyfriend's knee.

"S-S-So…." Ven shivered, "H-How are you n-not, c-cold?"

"I guess I've come up this way a lot." Terra replied. "I wish I could help keep you warm right now."

Ven cracked a smile from his freezing facial muscles, "I-It's ok baby! R-Really…I-I'm really not c-c-cold at all. Just a l-l-little chilly."

That was Terra's boyfriend, always sure everything was ok. That was one of Terra's favorite qualities in him. "I brought plenty of extra clothes, I'll pull over at the next stop and get them out of the trunk, does that sound good?"

"P-Perfect!" Ven beamed with delight. Even under this blanket, he could had to keep his hands locked together to try and keep his fingers warm. Thank god he had a resourceful boyfriend, he'd never make it out the front door.

"Good." Terra said, "That should also let you walk around and warm yourself up. Maybe do a jumping jack or two?"

Terra suggested it, but mostly because he really wanted to see Ven do a jumping jack.

"H-How close are we?" Ven whimpered.

"Don't worry, just a little bit more. Think about something really hot to keep yourself warm."

"L-Like a volcano? Or a fireplace?"

Terra gave a little wink, "I was thinking more like that night after the football game…"

Ven's eyes widened and his cheeks went all red. That night and a couple others went through his head, and admittedly, he did find himself getting warmer.

Terra couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Hahaha! Looks like that worked."

Ven wasn't really embarrassed, but he liked putting on the cute charm for Terra when he could. He smiled and wined, "Terraaaa!"

The car soon slowed down as Terra parked into an enclosed viewing area off the side of the road. Nobody else was there, and there was a great view of the mountain side just from sitting in the car. Ven was gazing off into the mountain view, while Terra's only concern was getting Ven into something warmer.

Once Terra shifted into park and shut off the gas, he quickly opened the door and said, "Be right back, baby!"

"Okay!" Ven smiled back.

Terra met the frostbitten air with a shrill as soon as he walked out. He forgot that he had the heater going inside his car so the outside of it was even colder. He wasted no time hustling to the trunk of his car and grabbing what he could, jogging in place the whole time like he was back in football practice. He only made sure to grab the essentials like a jacket and some pants from Ven's bag. He size didn't matter, Ven had worn several of his oversized clothes before as PJ's, and it didn't hurt to have a little extra to protect against the cold. As a bonus, he also took an extra blanket. Once he had what he could carry, Terra shut the trunk and raced back around to the Driver's side.

"Hoo!" Terra exhaled once inside, "It is freezing out there. I can't believe it isn't snowing yet."

Ven got a gush of freezing wind as Terra shut the door that almost felt like a burn to the touch. But what made it better was seeing the pile of warm things Terra had in his hand. Terra was so good to him, sometimes it didn't even feel real.

After warming up from the car's inner-heat, Terra handed the stuff over to Ven. "Alright, you put that stuff on and then we can get out and take a little walk, maybe?"

Ven nodded and slipped on everything over what he already had on. The oversized boyfriend jacket was perfect, when it wrapped around Ven it felt like an extra blanket. And the best part was that it smelt just like Terra. Ven's skin started to feel nice and cozy again.

"All set?" Terra asked.

Both boys were partially scared to go step outside since it was even colder than inside the heat ventilated car. One touch on the glass window felt like a burn to the skin. But Ven was tough, what was a little cold to him? He just had to think about warm things, which thanks to being around Terra, shouldn't be too difficult. In fact, Ven was the first one to open the car door and step outside.

"Holy—" Ven stuttered when his face hit the cool winter breeze, "You weren't joking—"

"Be right there—" Terra got out shortly after and jogged around the hood of the car to take Ven's hand. Two people's sharing body heat was better than one. "There we go. See, this isn't so bad."

Ven had the warmth of Terra's palm wrapped around his hand. With his other arm, Ven did the "cute boyfriend thing", as he called it, and hugged to Terra's left arm like glue so he could lean on his shoulder. Terra smiled and gave Ven's hair a loving little rustle, and they both walked in unison.

There was a short trail leading off of the sidewalk where they had parked next to. It was spacious and secure with a beautiful view, which is why Terra brought a trusty binocular with him. He wasn't going to tell Ven until they came to the top of the trail so they could get the best view.

The trail was simple, but there were a few steps that Terra had to help Ven get across, since he wasn't very used to rough terrains like this. If he hadn't been feeling stiff from the cold, Terra thought about picking Ven up and carrying him up the way. The top of the hill wasn't very far from the car, but the view blew everything away.

Terra and Ven could see every part of the mountain they had driven up thus far. The road spiraled around, and lush green trees covered the terrain as far as the eye could see. The city they came from was already miles away. Birds were soaring even higher than the hill tops, and there wasn't even a single car on the road. Like a romantic miracle from Aphrodite, they had the whole mountain to themselves.

It was now that Terra decided to reach into his Jacket pocket and take out the binocular he had been keeping. He handed it to Ven and whispered, "Here, see if you can spot any hawks."

Ven was dazzled by the binocular and gave Terra and open smile. It was silly, but Ven had never looked out one of them before, so it was somewhere on his bucket list. He put the binocular to his eyes and gazed out to the distance. Though most of it was just green leaves, he still had a good close-up of the way the hills spiraled and twisted into each other.

And then, he spotted something particularly amazing. "Holy—whoooa! Terra!"

"What is it?" Terra replied excitedly.

"I can see a mountain lion!"

Of course Ven would be the one to spot a mountain lion. Terra had come up the mountain bird watching for years but had barely seen any wildlife—then Ven looks into a binocular for the first time and spots a mountain lion. Terra pushed his head closer to Ven's, "Let me see!"

Ven held the scope locked in the same spot and pointed out as Terra took a look, "It's right there, walking on top of that rock shaped like a bowl of ice cream."

Terra looked ahead and saw just what Ven saw—a coffee colored lioness walking along the cliff side. Terra was amazed Ven caught something so pure and real. But then again, he was pretty special boyfriend. "Ven…this is amazing."

"Let me see again!"

Terra looked for a few more seconds, but before he could hand the binocular to Ven, the lion jumped away past the trees in a flash.

Ven continued, "Terra I wanna see!"

"It's gone…"

Ven leaned against Terra's shoulder and frowned, "Aww come on, I'm the one who saw it first."

Terra put the binocular back in his pocket and smiled. "I'm sorry. But really, that was amazing. If you ask me, I think that's a good sign that this is going to be a pretty great trip."

Ven got over the disappointment of their lion running away as soon as Terra put his arm around his shoulder and kissed the top of his forehead. "I agree."

There was an extended pause as the couple looked out into the scenery and soaked in the view. The early morning clouds were starting to float away, and the sun was hitting them at just the right angle. They forgot about how cold it was and just stood there, locked together in each other's arms, at the top of the hill.

Ven snuggled Terra's waist, "I'm so glad we did this. This is an amazing view"

"Not as amazing as you." Terra said softly.

Ven remained silent as his cheeks went pink and his insides began to flitter with butterflies. Terra took the initiative and led Ven into a short and sweet lip locked kiss that warmed both of them up from the inside.

"Right then." Terra grinned, "We still have a long drive to go. And I don't think I heard the rest of that playlist."

Ven nodded, and locked by the arm, they walked back to the car.

---

The lovebird's drive continued. The sun was out from behind the clouds and was warming up the air, decreasing their need for the car's heater. Terra even rolled up his sleeves. Now that they had woken up a bit, Terra and Ven were talking and laughing just like they were back in Terra's living room. Ven was laughing to the point of tears, and Terra had to struggle to keep his eyes focused on the road since his cheek muscles were starting to ache.

They had been driving for about an hour since they last stopped off at the trail. It was around noon now, and both Terra and Ven's stomachs were starting to growl for some lunch. They had brought more than enough for a night or two, but most of it was tucked away in the trunk. Ven asked a few times how much longer it would be, and every time Terra would politely reply with "It should be just around the corner" and then change the subject like a slick. Terra didn't think it was annoying at all, in fact, he thought it was cute.

Still, the time seemed to fly by like it was nothing. They were so comfortable talking on and on without any end or meaning. They learned new things about each other every day, and the conversation never got boring. In an hour they had switched between talking about Pokémon to what they usually do for Christmas.

This trip was planned sort of out of the blue. About a week prior, after their LGBTQ+ meeting on Thursday, Terra told Ven he wanted to head up the mountain for a little trip before it got really cold (which Terra obliviously underestimated). Ven was hesitant at first, since he was more of a stay-at-home-and-play-Wii kind of person, but Terra meant a lot to him and Ven thought anything would be fun as long as they were together. And so far, he was right.

Miraculously, the two eventually arrive at a camp ground. It was a casual one with a few benches and fire pits. Once again, they were the only people there. Sure it was the middle of November, but Terra was still not used to the mountain being so vacant. Usually there were at least two or three other cars here, so this was a first. But he had to admit, it did make the date all the more special.

"Oh good, we're here!" Ven exclaimed, "My feet are falling asleep."

"Well you better wake them up because I need your help setting up the sent" Terra replied with a cute wink.

Terra chose a small place in the back to park. They only needed one tent which didn't require much space. It was a cozy little campground encased in the comfort of surrounding trees like a bird's nest for humans. There wasn't any litter on the ground or an abandoned trash can in sight. Even Ven, who had never been camping before, could tell this was special.

Once parked, Terra rubbed his hands together and opened the car door, "I'll go get lunch, I for one am starving."

"Ok!" Ven responded, "I'll make sure that our table is cleared."

So while Terra grabbed the picnic basket and cooler from the trunk, Ven used his jacket sleeve to brush off the fallen leaves and twigs from the table. The lunch was mostly Ven's contribution, who was up until midnight making a dozen sandwiches and two fresh batches of cookies for dessert. Before leaving town they also stopped by and got two bags of chips and a case of water, so they were more than prepared.

Terra shut the trunk and came towards the table moaning, "Geez, Ven…how much did you put in here?"

Ven was seated patiently at the table with his hand crossed, "Just enough for the weekend—what's wrong, is it really heavy?"

The cooler slammed hard onto the wooden table which made it shake. Terra exhaled, "No, not at all."

"Hehe…sorry, babe."

Now that all was set and done, the two finally started to eat. Ven had made himself a plethora of peanut butter and banana sandwiches- and for Terra, a hardy BLT made with love. Terra was very pleased by his lunch, and Ven could tell by the satisfied expression on his face. The sandwich was gone before Ven had even taken two bites.

Ven set his sandwich on the napkin in front of him and leaned back in his seat, taking in the mountain air. "You know, I'm serious when I say I've really never gone camping before."

Terra mumbled through his second sandwich, "Mm…why is that, babe?"

"Well, I guess my foster parents growing up never had enough money, for one. But also because I have a pretty bad fear of thunder."

Terra put his sandwich down, "Oh yeah…"

Terra remembered Ven telling him about that back when they were first getting to know each other. Thankfully the weather had been nice this past summer and fall, but there were a few times when the clouds started to get grey and Ven would always conveniently ask if he could come over to Terra's place. In fact, even right then looking up at the sky, there was an alarming number of grey clouds beginning to group.

"You know Ven…" Terra said with concern, "This Mountain does have a pretty regular rainy season. It could…you know…"

Ven smiled and shook his head, "Don't worry. I'm brave, you'll see."

Terra felt like such an idiot. How could he have forgotten about something like that when he asked Ven on a camping trip? He didn't check the weather before coming up, which was his first mistake. He wanted to protect Ven and keep him away from situations that would stress him out.

"I know that look." Ven said, leaning up across the table. "That's your worried look. But don't worry, I think I'm over that fear now. I used to run crying to my foster mom when I was a kid, but not anymore. I'm a college student now, I'm grown up."

Terra smiled, but not completely. Odds were that it probably wasn't going to rain anyway, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about, right?

"Hey!" Ven cried out, "Are you in there?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm here. Sorry."

Ven got up from the table, "Good, then I'm going to get the DS's."

Terra had forgotten about their plans to play Pokémon together while they were up here, but Ven sure didn't. He was ecstatic about it. To the outsider, it may seem silly to play video games while you're in the mountains surrounded by nature, but it was a form of bonding for both of them. Ven justified it in his head by the fact the fact they just saw a wild mountain lion earlier.

Terra got back into the camping groove. He didn't want to worry too much while he was on vacation. "Alright, but you know I'm going to win, right?"

"Oh we'll see about that. I made a team from a strategy I found online, and you're never gonna see it coming."

So, while sitting outside still to enjoy the breeze, they busted out their handheld systems and started to play. They did some trading first, of Pokémon they had bred and caught for each other, and then sat across from each other so they could battle against each other. The score was pretty evenly tied after a few matches.

---

The hours were flying like they were minutes. Time seemed to speed up by sitting on the bench playing games and laughing the day away. Before Terra and Ven realized it, it was almost five o'clock and they still hadn't set up their tent or anything. They were severely procrastinating.

After Terra beat Ven in their eleventh match, settling the score, he stretched his arms and crawled out of the table. "Well…I guess we need to put a dent into that tent. Not gonna build itself."

Ven was still clutching his DS, refusing to give up. "No way, that last match was pure hax! I was paralyzed the entire battle!"

Terra smirked and shook his head, "Too bad so bad, baby-cakes. And the rules clearly state—winner has the build the tent all by himself."

"What?! No fair! I've never even built one before!"

Terra burst out laughing and put his hand on Ven's shoulder. "I'm just kidding. C'mon, I'll do most of the world, you just have to hold stuff."

"Oh, I can do that."

Terra grabbed the tent out of the trunk, which was the last thing he had in there besides their changes of clothes. It was a camouflage colored case that wasn't very heavy, but there was also the large inflatable mattress, plus the pillows and blankets kept in a bag of their own.

Like Terra said, he did most of the work setting it up. Ven wanted to help, but Terra pretty much took full rein with no questions asked. He set the place where the tent would be, attached the poles, and all Ven had to do was—per Terra's request—stand there and look cute.

"Hey Terra, do you want me to…"

Terra was bending over to the ground messing with some attachments, "No no, everything's fine. This tent will be up in 10 minutes flat."

Ven just shrugged and enjoyed the view.

Every few minutes Terra would walk over to grab something from Ven's hand, every time saying "Thank you" and bowing in comedic fashion. At this point it was just fun to watch Terra struggle over this tent. He'd never admit it, but he wasn't doing a very good job.

"You know Terra, I could always google the instructions on my phone—"

"No no! Everything's under control. Just gotta figure out this…um…wait that goes there? Who designed this thing?"

Ven stood there giggling, "I thought you said you were a regular camper?"

Terra had already broken a sweat and was breathing like he'd just run across a football field. "It's a new tent, okay? The guys—" he took a deep breath, "The guys at the camping store said it was top of the line!"

Ven continued to giggle at his confused boyfriend.

"Hey, are you laughing at me?!" Terra said, standing up and putting his hands to his waist.

Ven shook his head tauntingly, "Hehe…oh, not at all. I think you're doing a real nice job."

Terra stuck his tongue out and went back to work.

Eventually Terra managed to get the frame of the tent up, but even then it didn't quite look right. He was about to be completely done with the stupid thing before he ripped it to shreds with his bare hands. He should have expected as much before he bought a brand new tent and didn't even test to see how it was set up. It was like something about of a bad horror movie.

Terra took a seat at the table to take a break, and Ven joined him. Terra was able to sit back and look at the tent from a different angle—and it looked even worse.

"This tent is piece of work." Terra exhaled.

Ven smirked and looked at Terra with devious eyes, "Yeah, you worked on it for a brutally long ten minutes."

"Oh, hush it, you." Terra laughed, gently pushing on Ven's shoulder.

There was a pause after the laughter and both of them looked at the tent in silence.

And then, they felt it.

Terra didn't say anything, because as soon as it came, he got a huge knot in his stomach. It was the first sign. He knew it the second it happened—he'd been in the mountains several times before. But he wasn't going to say anything—maybe Ven didn't notice.

But he did, and he kept smiling. "It's getting pretty windy out here."

Terra kept his cool on the outside, but underneath he began to doubt the entire trip. He wanted to punch himself in the face for being such an idiot. He looked to the skies, and could already see the clouds beginning to grey. But he had to keep his cool, in case Ven got too scared. So he halved a smile and said, "Yeah… it is."

Ven was trying is own hardest to keep calm. His entire life he'd been afraid of storms, and it was starting to become silly. He just wanted to have a nice time with his boyfriend without having to be a little baby. He was keeping calm on the outside, but he couldn't lie, his insides were starting to panic. But this time was going to be different, because Terra was here. And sure, they don't have a nice protective house to go to, but at least they had each other. He really wanted to believe that.

But with one look into the sky, Ven started to have flashbacks. His eyes widened—there was a giant, dark grey cloud looming over the mountain. He didn't want to let on that it scared him, but somehow he could tell that Terra knew. They knew each other too well to not catch on to these things.

Terra noticed the cloud shortly after. It was fairly close, Terra knew it was inevitable it was going to storm on them. He turned to Ven, who he was pretty sure noticed, and said, "Hey—we don't have to spend the night. We can always head back, or…"

"Head back? No way. A little rain isn't going to get us down. Why don't we double down and try to get that tent up?"

"If you're sure…" Terra whispered with disarray.

Ven didn't say anything else to reassure the situation and just got up to work on the tent. He picked up all the spare rods and poles lying on the ground and held them in his hand, looking to Terra for advice. "Alright, what do you need me to do?"

Terra knew his boyfriend well—he could tell when he was being brave. But he didn't want to stress him out too much, so he did as he asked and let him help with what he could. Terra was already stumped with this stupid tent but he was willing to give it one last shot. Two heads were better than one.

They made better progress working together, but Ven couldn't stop looking up at the sky, and Terra was noticing. Every time he noticed Ven's eyes lingering off, he would say something like "Ok, can you attach this pole?" or "Hold this for a second".

Ven was stressing out over that damn cloud, but he wasn't going to let it break him. It was beginning to get dark—this needed to get done. But with winds picking up and the sun setting, Ven was finding it harder and harder to stay focused and not panic. He really didn't want to do that.

Things were going fairly steady until something happened by the rage of Mother Nature—an unexpected, powerful gust of wind came swooping right through them. Their hair was flying out of control, and Ven had to hold his jacket together to keep it from flying off his body. It was such a fierce wind that it was difficult for Ven to even move.

Terra dropped everything and had his focus shot onto Ven. He used his football-primed muscles to fight against the wind and come towards him, reaching his hands out to try and pull him closer. He yelled out from the whistling in their ears, "Ven! I'm coming!"

Ven was keeping himself from crying as best he could. He was petrified stiff with absolute fear, and he couldn't explain it. He began to feel vulnerable and helpless. His eyes buried in his coat, he couldn't even see how close Terra was. Thankfully, it wasn't as far as he thought, and he was soon embraced by Terra tight until the whirlwind subsided.

The gust had past, but there was sure to be more. Ven stayed glued to Terra's chest and was shaking uncontrollably. He felt so helpless and stupid—he needed to be over this fear. He was an adult, only kids were afraid of thunder.

Terra rubbed his boyfriends back, "Are you ok? It's ok, I'm right here."

Ven broke from Terra's hug slowly and nodded hesitantly, "We need to get this tent up, come on, we're almost done—"

CRASH!

Ven let out a panicked gasp and retreated into Terra. It was thunder, and it wasn't going to be the last. Ven had used the last of his bravery, and now he couldn't help himself from leaking tears.

Terra could feel Ven's panicked breath through his jacket. He felt so helpless, so guilty, and so protective at the same time. He couldn't make the thunder go away, and it was him that brought him into this situation in the first place. What was he going to do?

"Terra I'm sorry…" Ven sobbed, "I'm ruining our trip. I'm a stupid baby who's afraid of—"

CRASH!—This time even louder than before. And now, the rain and began to drop.

Ven unleashed a full-fledged scream. "Terra—"

"It's ok baby, I'm right here, I'm right here." Terra reassured, kneeling down and holding Ven as tight as he could. He starting to think of what he could do, what he could say. He didn't know how to make him feel better, he just wanted to make all his pain go away.

"I'm sorry Terra, I don't know what to do. I'm so sorry." Ven chocked. He didn't know how to say anything but apologies. He felt like such and idiot—so scared, so dependent, so pathetic. The rain was pouring down on them at a faster pace—and all Ven could think about was when the next thunder shock would be. The worst part for him was not knowing when it was coming.

The tent wasn't near completion at this point, it didn't even have a cover. The only place he thought Ven would feel secure was inside the car, so that's exactly where he set his mind to. "Come on baby, let's go into the car. Let's get out of the rain."

"O-Okay" Ven stuttered.

Walking in unison like they did earlier that day on the mountain ridge, Terra slowly walked Ven to the car through the pouring rain. He led them to the backseat, where there would be more room for the both of them and Terra could try and hold Ven through this storm.

Ven went in first, and Terra followed shortly after, shutting the door behind him and locking it tight. They were both still locked at the hand, and Terra could still feel Ven shaking as he crawled onto his seat. Now they had some peace. Terra took his jacket off and put it over Ven like a blanket, hoping it would do something at all to calm him down.

"I-It all came so fast…" whimpered Ven.

"I know, but you're safe now." Terra replied as warmly as he could manage.

CRASH!

Ven yelled again, this time putting both hands over his ears and continuing to cry. Terra felt so broken seeing the love of his life feel this way. He reacted immediately, moving closer to Ven to reattach his old.

Terra whispered, "Hey hey hey…I'm right here. The thunder can't get you from in here."

"I-I need to get on the floor…can you move the seat up?"

"Yeah—Yeah of course, just a second."

Terra stretched over the driver's seat of his car and pushed it all the way forward, same for the passenger side. They had full room now, which wasn't much, but both Terra and Ven could fit on the floor.

"Alright, come here." Terra motioned, leaning up against the side of the car and putting Ven between his legs, locking his arms around Ven's chest to keep him safe.

Ven was so grateful he had someone to do this for him. He remembered all too painfully what it was like at the foster homes, all alone under his bed without anyone to help him through it. He would often scream for hours and the only responses he'd get were to 'shut up'. And this storm felt more real than anything else he'd faced in his childhood. If Terra wasn't here, it would be so much worse.

But that didn't make the thunder go away. Ven was still crying like a little child hiding under the bed. He was sobbing, breathing so rapidly that it almost began to hurt deep in his lungs and in the back of his throat.

Terra was stroking Ven's arms whispering, "Shh…Shh…it's going to be ok. Just close your eyes."

"I-I can't…" Ven cried. "Every time I do, all I hear is—"

CRASH!

"AAH!"

"Shh...Shh…"

Terra was rocking Ven back and forth out of instinct. He didn't know what else to do. Every tear Ven shed felt like a burn into Terra's heart. He was the cause of all this. He could have looked up the weather, or planned on a different day, but he didn't. He completely spaced it. It was because of him that this was happening.

But all that second guessing wasn't going to help Ven feel any better. Right now, his primary focus was Ven— and Ven only.

"I'm sorry Terra, I don't want to be scared of this anymore."

"You don't need to apologize. I told you I'm going to stay right here, ok?"

Ven's breathing was slowing, but his panic level had yet to subside. After another clap of thunder, he turned himself around to lean himself up against Terra and use his chest as a pillow. Being close to him was really helping—steadily, but it was helping.

Terra started stroking his fingers through Ven's blonde hair, "Ok, now I want you to take your mind off of this storm. I want you to think about that mountain lion."

"T-The mountain lion?"

"That's right. You remember that mountain lion we saw earlier? I want you to think about that, and I want you to pretend that we're back there, standing on the ridge. Can you do that for me?"

Ven nodded his head up and down and Terra could feel his nose ticking his chest.

There was another thunder crash and Ven gripped his hold on Terra tighter, but didn't yell or scream this time.

Terra continued his rhythmic strokes and spoke in a quiet, calming voice, "It's okay, it's okay. Keep thinking about the ridge. Think about the clouds, imagine the birds."

Ven had closed his eyes and was doing as Terra asked. He thought as hard he could, trying to imagine that moment from early in the morning without concentrating on the roaring storm outside. He tuned out the rain drops hammering the car like tiny nails.

"What do you see?" Terra asked.

"I...I see… the view. The sun is coming out."

Terra closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the car door. "I can see it too. Do you see that rock shaped like an ice cream cone?"

Ven saw the image in his imagination as Terra described it. "I see it, and I can see the mountain lion too. "

"It sure is majestic. It's very quiet, and it's warm. Doesn't the weather feel nice?"

In any other situation Ven would be laughing at Terra right now, but what he was doing for him was working. He was calming down. "It feels like we're standing at the beach, but with twice the view."

Terra hugged his arms around Ven to make him feel secure. It felt like the right thing to do. His eyes remained closed and he could hear and feel Ven's slow and steady breaths. "The view is beautiful. The two of us, all alone on that cliff, watching the day begin and overlooking the trees and the distant city. But do you know what my favorite thing is, out of everything I can see?"

"What is it?" Ven asked.

"It's you."

Ven's imagination traveled back to that moment on the cliff, and he could still feel his arms still locked around Terra and gazing mutually out into nature. He remembered what it was like looking up on Terra and seeing his eyes so fascinated, so entranced. The sun seemed to reflect off his ocean blue eyes at just the right spot to make him look more handsome than he'd ever seen him.

Ven snuggled comfortably against Terra. He whispered, "I think…you're my favorite part of it, too."

The storm continued to rage on, but it didn't shake Ven anymore. The couple's breathing was locked in sync. And there, on floor of Terra's little green car, up against the door during a fierce monsoon, they seemed to fall asleep.

"Terra…" Ven murmured.

They both kept their eyes closed. Terra was still stroking Ven without even realizing it. "Hm?"

"I love you."

Terra leaned his head down and grazed a kiss on the top of Ven's forehead and continued to rest it there for the remainder of the night.

---

The night went on. The storm eventually turned to the mountain's chilling silence, and the couple stayed peacefully asleep in their car. The windows of the car became frosted and fogged from the sharp mountain air and the linked breathing of Ven and Terra. They didn't toss nor turn the entire night, but remained embraced in the same position they fell asleep in. And even though there were no blankets or pillows, it was the most relaxing night's sleep either of them had ever had.

When the sun did rise, the quiet sound of birds chirping to greet the day also didn't make Terra or Ven budge. They slept in for as long as they needed to. Maybe it was the early morning start they had the previous day or intense situation that put them to sleep. Or perhaps they secretly just didn't want their embrace to end.

Ven was the first one to open his eyes. When he did, he began to feel Terra's breath from underneath him, his chest moving up and down very melodically. He leaned head up and could see Terra fast asleep, and decided to wake him with a gentle kiss on the lips.

The kiss made Terra open his eyes and smile. The sight of Ven for the first sight of the day was something priceless he couldn't take for granted. Terra grazed the back of Ven's head and gave him a kiss of his own, and then merging into a hug.

"Good morning." Ven mumbled, his mouth pressed against Terra's shoulder.

"Good morning." Terra said with a laugh, "Looks like we fell asleep."

Ven leaned up and stretched his arms wide and yawned, "We sure did."

Terra remained seated and took Ven's hand. "I'm so sorry that I didn't check the weather before we came up, I didn't want to have to be that scared. If I hadn't—"

Ven silenced Terra's apology with another kiss that raised Terra's eyebrows. Ven had his hands on Terra's thighs and was grinning, "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have even been able to fall asleep last night. Don't apologize. I'm grateful for you."

Terra was happy to see Ven feeling better. He was so worried that he wouldn't be able to help him calm down, and was so thankful that he could. His reassuring words were all he needed.

Ven looked up out the window and let out an excited gasp, "Terra!"

Terra was startled and almost thought Ven was panicking again, "What?!"

"It's snowing!"

Terra sat up on his knees to glance out the window. He was amazed—Ven was right. It wasn't a lot, but there was a good inch of snow covering the ground and hanging off of the trees.

"I don't believe it!" Ven said ecstatically, "I've never been in the snow before."

"You're kidding." Terra joked, "Never been camping, and never been in the snow?

Ven climbed onto the car seat and took a hold of the door handle, "Let's go see!"

The car door opened wide immediately, and the frigid air wavered into the incubated car like the rush of a high powered fan. At first it cooled them both off a bit, but it very quickly proved more than that, and they were freezing.

"Ahh—" Ven scoffed when the air hit him, "Snow isn't supposed to be cold, what gives?"

Terra laughed and finally stood to get out of the car. He felt his bones and muscles creaking when he stretched them out—a consequence he had to pay for spending the night on the ground. They both had their jackets on which made it tolerable over time, but it was still just as colder—if not colder—than the previous morning.

"Oh, look at that, our tent is covered." Terra pointed to their failed tent that was covered in snow and would likely be very annoying to put back in the bag.

Terra took a glance around and couldn't see Ven anywhere. "Hey Ven, where are you? I think we should probably-"

"Gotcha!"

Terra turned around to face the hood of the car and was pelted with a tiny snowball on his shoulder. Ven had a very proud playful grin on his face and was giggling just like he always did. It made Terra happy to see him laugh.

"Hey!" Terra laughed.

Ven walked around the car and was still giggling, "Sorry, sorry, I've just always wanted to do that since I was a kid."

"Careful walking too fast in the snow, you might slip."

Ven hustled over to Terra, taking no heed. "Oh I'm fine, what's a little snow to—gah!"

Incredibly ironically, Ven slipped on the grassy snow and right into Ven's arms.

Ven got back onto his feet and started laugh, "Shut up, don't you even say I told you so."

Terra was holding in a laugh in respect, but even he had to admit that was probably the funniest thing that's happened on the entire trip.

It was now right back to where they were before—laughing, playing, and unable to keep their arms off of each other. For both of them, this was their definition of happiness.

They stood there, locked arms and looking into each other's eyes and smiling. It was a moment that slowed down time. All the fear and panic from last night was just a memory now. It was a testament to their love, able to support each other through anything.

As if the moment could get any sweeter, by winter miracle, the snow began to fall from the sky all around them. As the first snowflake graced Terra's hair, Ven smiled and picked it off of him and giggled before another one fell right on Ven's nose.

Terra used his finger to wiggle it off. "Still glad you came?" he asked.

"Never changed my mind for a second." Ven replied.

Terra leaned down romantically and put his lips to Ven's. They closed their eyes, and for those few seconds, the mountain seemed to stand even stiller.