Jackdaw

As night fell, Kurt and Blaine wrapped themselves in their joint sleeping bag, still smelling of the mineral-rich pond water while the sounds of the forest at night surrounded the tent. The waterfall seemed quieter now that the moon was up, and an owl hooted somewhere off in the trees. The crickets' shrill chirps sounded louder than anything else, even the warbled croaking of the frogs.

Kurt breathed deeply, his body curled against Blaine's back, his arm draped over Blaine's middle and their legs entwined. Blaine was already asleep, but Kurt was still wide awake. He couldn't figure out if that was because of the lack of New York City nightlife or because of the tiny box he'd hidden in his backpack, away from Blaine's sight. The ring inside it was a simple band of gold – nothing fancy – but Kurt couldn't keep his mind off it.

He had to do it tomorrow, before his nerves were shot.

He could do this.

As he finally drifted off to sleep with his face pressed against the back of Blaine's neck, the dog barked again in the distance.

In the early morning, Kurt was woken by the rush of the waterfall and he lay still in the sleeping bag, his limbs tangled with Blaine's. At some point during the night Blaine had shifted to turn around and rest his head on Kurt's chest, snoring lightly. Kurt stayed where he was until the weight of Blaine's head started to hurt a little, and he nudged Blaine aside, trying to pull away without waking him. Blaine only mumbled and rolled over as Kurt nimbly slid out of the sleeping bag and stepped out of the tent into the brisk morning air.

A thin layer of moisture sparkled on the ground, having collected during the cool night, and it soaked Kurt's feet as he went to the pond's edge to splash water on his face. There was a loud screech, and he looked up in time to see a red-tailed hawk drop out of one of the trees on the far side of the pond, snatching a frog out of the shallows and shooting back up into the air, vanishing over the treetops.

The cool air blew gently against the water on his cheeks and refreshed him as he set about getting the fire going. He wasn't that great at it, but that's what matches and newspapers were for. Before long, he had a small blaze going inside the stone circle Blaine had built the previous evening, and he set the small cooking grate over the flames. He opened up the cooler with the intent of toasting a couple of bagels with cheese for breakfast, but he recoiled when he saw that somehow the bugs had found their way past the cooler lid.

Perfectly sealed, my ass, he thought, grimacing at the ants and roly-poly beetles feasting on the bread, sausages, and cheese. They'd have to go back into town for breakfast, then, and for a new cooler. For now, Kurt took the crappy cooler a little ways into the woods and dumped it onto the ground, making sure to collect all the plastic bags and containers and leaving only the perishables behind.

He heard the dog bark yet again, still ricocheting through the trees but seeming closer now than it had yesterday.

Kurt brushed off his hands and stuck his head into the tent. "Blaine, time to wake up," he called, grabbing his backpack and pulling out a fresh change of clothes. Blaine groaned into the pillow, saying something that sounded akin to "five more minutes…" but was too muffled to be intelligible.

"Come on," Kurt said, patting Blaine on the back of his thigh. "You want breakfast?"

Blaine finally raised his head, perking up at the mention of food. "Only if there's sausages involved," he said groggily.

"Absolutely. But you have to get up first." Kurt went back outside and changed his clothes in the open air, Blaine finally emerging from his little cave as Kurt was pulling on a pair of cargo shorts. He frowned at the sight of the empty cooking grate.

"I thought you said there were sausages," he pouted, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Kurt chuckled. Blaine was the deepest sleeper he knew, and it took a long time for him to be fully awake. "As it turns out, that five-star cooler we bought was really only worth about one and a half stars, so our food stash now belongs to the forest."

"Oh," Blaine yawned, and Kurt was fairly sure that Blaine hadn't heard a word he'd said.

"Come on," he said, planting a quick wake-up kiss on Blaine's mouth. "I'm starving."

They drove back into town and ate again at the diner (Carole made sure to ask if their night in the woods was okay), stopping by the general store afterwards to pick up a replacement cooler and fill it with food.

"This would be a great place to live," Blaine said, sipping the last of his coffee-to-go and leaning against the counter as the general store cashier added up their total.

Kurt raised his eyebrows, rifling through his wallet. "What, permanently?"

"Sure. I like the people here."

"What would we do, though?"

Blaine shrugged. "Open up a store. Buy a farm. I don't know."

Kurt gave him a look. "A farm, Blaine? Really?"

Blaine smiled, ducking his head. "Okay, fair point. But still."

"Let's keep it in mind for when we're sixty-five," Kurt said as he paid the cashier.

"How about thirty-five?"

"Blaine," Kurt said patiently, hefting the full cooler off the counter. Blaine tossed his empty coffee cup into the trashcan by the door and took the cooler off Kurt's hands. Kurt squeezed his shoulder. "How about we just have a great weekend together, and once we're back in New York we can talk about it?"

Blaine smiled. "Sure. On one condition."

"What's that?"

"I'm a little upset that we haven't gone all Brokeback Mountain up by the Falls yet." He gave Kurt the wolfish grin that always made Kurt's heart lurch in anticipation of what it indicated.

Kurt smiled wryly back. "The second we get back to the tent," he promised.

(He might have driven a little faster on the return trip.)

Later, the two of them lay in the tent, still sweaty and unclothed and wrapped around each other in the warm summer air seeping through the tent walls. Blaine nuzzled Kurt's nose and gave him a chaste kiss before sitting up. "I'm going for a swim," he said. "Care to join me?"

Kurt let out a contented sigh, his muscles still feeling a little wobbly as they slowly came down from their ecstatic high. "Maybe in a little bit," he said. "I think I'll just take a quick nap before lunch."

Blaine kissed him one more time before standing up and exiting the tent stark naked. There was a splash a moment later, quickly followed by a whoop as Blaine adjusted to the temperature of the water. Kurt stuck a hand underneath his head and shut his eyes, allowing himself to doze as he was lulled by the rushing of the waterfall outside and the lingering feel of Blaine's hands and legs and body. His thoughts flashed back to the ring sitting in its tiny box.

Tonight. After dinner. I'll do it then.

What jolted Kurt awake a few minutes later wasn't something he expected. A dog was barking – now it was loud and close. He could hear voices, too.

"Can I help you guys?" he heard Blaine call from outside.

Sitting up, he quickly pulled on his cargo shorts and grabbed his t-shirt, yanking it over his head as he walked out of the tent. Blaine was still in the pond and he had waded close enough to the edge so that he was only covered up to his waist. He wasn't climbing out. They were no longer alone.

Standing only about thirty feet down the shoreline from the tent was a group of teenagers, all of them standing with BMX bikes. One of them was holding the leash of the barking dog, which was at least half Doberman and had its teeth bared. Kurt counted five boys and two girls, and he vaguely remembered seeing them pedal past the diner the day before.

"Can we help you?" Kurt asked, echoing Blaine's already stated question. He took a few steps towards them, but the dog snarled and pulled at its leash.

"Just exploring," said one of the boys airily. He was a big guy – tall, small-eyed and chubby but also looking like he knew how to handle himself. Most of the boys were big – the one sporting a thick Mohawk appeared to be older than twenty, with bulging biceps, and another was six-foot-four at least. Only one of them, hanging towards the back and seeming a little nervous, like he wasn't supposed to be there, was smaller and still bearing some baby fat.

The tall, sleek boy who held the dog's leash and wore a smug expression that looked like it was permanently etched into his face glanced over the pond to Blaine. "What are you staying in there for?" he called. "We don't bite."

Blaine shrugged. "I don't like dogs very much," he answered diplomatically.

The boy cocked his head. "Are you insulting my dog?"

"No," Blaine replied smoothly. "Just a preference is all."

Kurt frowned. He could easily see that these kids were looking for trouble, and he knew Blaine could see it too. "Where are your parents?" he inquired, keeping his tone as light as he could.

One of the girls – a slender Latina with her black hair pulled back into a harsh ponytail – rolled her eyes. "What are you, a teacher?" she sneered.

"No, but we're a long ways from town," Kurt said carefully. "Are you sure you should be this far out?"

The other girl pursed her lips and spoke in a high, nasally register. "We know these woods a lot better than you," she insisted. "And guys as gay as you probably don't know what to do if a bear shows up or something like that. We don't have wild Care Bears here." She paused for a second. "Sorry," she laughed, not sounding apologetic at all. "Asperger's."

"Shut up, Sugar," the boy holding the dog leash snapped.

Sugar stuck her tongue out at the back of his head, a gesture that he either didn't see or ignored.

"Well," Kurt started, crossing his arms. "We were actually hoping for a bit of privacy for the weekend—"

"You don't own these woods, you know," said the boy with the leash, quickly establishing himself as the leader of the pack. "It's a state park."

"I'm aware of that. But you could already be written up for harassment," Kurt replied evenly. Having a law degree certainly had its perks. And it didn't matter that technically the kids hadn't done anything yet to warrant a report – Kurt could see they were headed in that direction. Better to nip it in the bud so that he and Blaine could get back to their perfect, private weekend.

The boy narrowed his eyes, still wearing a smug grin that made Kurt's fingers twitch. "You know what?" he said. "Sure. We'll let you guys have your little pink triangle of peace." He turned to the rest of his group, nodding pointedly in the other direction. They all began to steer their BMXs back where they'd come from.

The boy with the dog gave Kurt and Blaine one last once-over, as if he were sizing them up, before tugging on the leash and following his friends.

Minions, more like, Kurt thought snidely. He shook his head as the kids disappeared back into the vegetation. Blaine was finally climbing out of the water and reaching for a towel to cover himself up just in case they came back.

"Still loving the people?" Kurt asked him.

"Oh, come on," Blaine laughed. "They're kids. Harmless."