Of the Earth

8

Harry opened his eyes early the next morning to the sight of messy auburn hair poking out of a sleeping back.

Louis was incredibly close to Harry. His face buried into Harry's side through the bag. His face had probably gotten cold during the night, and he sought out the warmth of the human body beside him. The thought made Harry smile as he got up to find a rock to piss on.

Another liberating aspect to backpacking in the wilderness was that no one yelled at him for his partial nudity. In fact, it was encouraged. Like the night when he bathed in the river. What else was he supposed to do?

After going pee, Harry realized he should probably take a shit since the opportunity had arisen. It hadn't been a problem thus far on the trip, but now that he had a companion it seemed a bit more awkward. But now that Louis was asleep...

He had to hike quite far away to get to a stand of pine trees for a bit of privacy. Shitting in the woods was as art that he had already mastered, as he crouched down to dig a hole in the soft earth.

Leave No Trace had strict rules on bathroom activities in the parks and Harry was glad, with the amount of traffic that came through here. He was always impressed by how it felt like they were in the depths of untouched wilderness, while it was likely that someone had probably slept at their campsite the night before they arrived.

By the time Harry made it back to the campsite, searching for the hand sanitizer in the pack, Louis was sitting up and rubbing at his bleary eyes. He looked adorable.

"Sleep well?"

"Very. Nice shit?"

"Very," Harry grinned.

They had oatmeal for breakfast again, two packets each, and it was much more enjoyable than the previous day when they had been standing in the cold rain.

"Don't wanna leave this place," Louis admitted, and Harry nodded in resigned agreement, staring around at the plateau and trying to memorize as much as he could, for when he was back in civilization and missing this moment.

The air was brittle and cold in the morning, condensation leaving their mouths in puffs, as the grass was coated in frost. They filled their bottles with the boiling water after it cooled down enough to not melt the plastic of their Nalgenes. Louis held one of the bottles between his hands to warm them and handed Harry his jacket, saying he felt bad for hogging it all night.

"It's fine, seriously. You were colder than me. You should keep it, at least for the morning."

Louis grumbled about it but ended up obliging because he was cold. Harry's jacket was a size too big on him and it was quite obvious it didn't belong to him. Harry tried not to laugh when he put it on and zipped it up but he couldn't help it, earning him a sock in the arm.

"How many miles to go today, Captain?"

"Five, depending," Harry answered, peering down at his laminated map. They had about ten miles to go to get to the trailhead, where Harry's car awaited their arrival. "More, if we can manage. It's mostly downhill, off the plateau, so it shouldn't be too strenuous. There's a really nice campsite in six and a half if you think we can make it there? It's right on the river."

"Sounds good. Let's go for it."

They deconstructed the tent together and meticulously repacked their bag, experts at it by now. Then, they laced up their boots and hit the trail.