klancepride with cal

day 12- wilderness

The woods were alive. As Keith trudged through the thick carpet of leaves and moss, he felt any and all worries lift from his mind. This was where he was truly free. He laid a hand on the smooth wood of his bow, plucking an arrow from his quiver and notching it, his eyes searching the trees and ground of movement. 

The forest was buzzing with excitement, nearly bursting with a hidden energy Keith could feel but couldn't see. He followed the river that trickled down from the mountains beyond his home to snake through the forest, using it as his sole means of navigation. The river was more of a glorified brook, but it was waist-deep and a few meters across, so the townspeople decided that it was big enough to have a title.

Golden sunlight fell through the gaps between the leaves of the trees above, dappling the undergrowth in moving patches of shadows and light. It was a gorgeous day, the air fresh, the sky clear blue, the signs of spring bursting from patches of wildflowers and mushroom rings and songbirds whistling to each other from branch to branch. 

Keith walked slowly and deliberately, the soft leather soles of his shoes barely making a sound on the foliage of the forest floor. A twig snapped behind him and Keith whirled, drawing back the arrow, holding it with his fingertips, ready to release. 

But the being who stood behind him was not a deer (what he'd originally been hunting for), but a naiad, a water nymph from the bubbling river that ran beside him. The naiad let out a gasp of surprise, stepping backward with his hands up in surrender. Keith exhaled, lowering his bow and shaking his head. 

"Damned nymph, I told you not to sneak up on me like that."

The nymph giggled, running his hands through his hair, flicking away droplets of water even though his hair was always slightly damp. "I know, but I couldn't help it. You look so cute when you're surprised, Kogane."

"I also told you to call me Keith. Kogane's a family name."

"And I told you to call me Lance, but you seem to like 'damned nymph' just fine, dontcha?" the nymph asked with a wink. Nymphs were naturally gorgeous beings. Naiads, water nymphs, lived in rivers and tributaries and brooks, playing and laughing in eternal youth, their bubbly laughter floating out over the cities and towns that dotted the countryside. 

They were free spirits with no regrets. The laws of the country didn't touch them. They were as old and wise as the rivers themselves, but their faces were always of sunny teens, an ancient and untouchable beauty about them. 

Lance was one of the many nymphs who lived in the woods where Keith hunted, but he was the only one who talked to Keith beside small 'hi's offered from the tittering dryads who danced among the trees and blushed behind the limbs of the oaks not-so-surreptitiously before whirlings into elegant trees themselves. 

Lance, however, was the only nymph Keith actually paid any mind to, though. The real reason why he never called the nymph by his real name was that he felt unworthy of even gracing Lance's presence, as preachy as that sounded. Lance was a being of untouched beauty and grace- he had a wistful spirit that entranced Keith's thoughts. 

His skin was tanned to a deep caramel color, but freckles still managed to sprinkle over his skin like confetti, dotting his cheeks and shoulders. Lance barely managed to wear shirts most days, and when he didn't, his muscles gleamed with sweat and Keith would trace the lines of his abs down and across his stomach out of the corner of his eye. Lance's physique was incredible, a level of reckless and youthful fitness crafted only by days spent romping around in the shallows and swimming upstream. 

Lance wore swim trunks that were much too short for Keith's comfort, riding halfway up his thighs and higher when he crouched in the stream or laid down in the meadows with Keith. Keith was always so nervous when he looked at Lance. He didn't want to look too long, less his cheeks grow so pink and flushed that the nymph notice, but Lance's smile, his white teeth flashing behind his lips, was like a magnet, drawing Keith's eyes even when they were closed. 

Keith wanted to reel the nymph closer and closer, but every time he tried to hold onto even a thread of Lance's being, he was terrified the nymph would slip away like a droplet of water dripping into a stream, never to be separated again. 

As for the 'damned' part, he just thought it matched how infuriatingly flirtatious Lance continued to be around him.

 "What shall we do today, hm?" Lance asked, strolling alongside Keith before deciding to wander back into the river, sinking deeper and deeper until he was swimming at Keith's walking pace, his strong arms arcing through the air before plunging back down into the water, pulling him through the current effortlessly. 

"You know, sometimes I actually need to hunt..." Keith muttered, but it was no use, Lance's hearing was better than any humans and he popped up out of the water, a lilypad stationed comically atop his head. 

"You can still do that. I won't stop you."

Keith sighed. He'd tried hunting with Lance once and only once. The damned nymph was so loud, crashing through the foliage in a fit of giggles and other such activities, Keith went home empty-handed. 

He rolled his eyes. 

"Oh, you damned nymph," he whispered and Lance laughed, flipping onto his back and laughing lightly, his torso stretching as he began a backstroke, his voice as beautiful and shimmering as moonlight reflecting off the gentle waves of the ocean. 

"Oh, you beautiful human," Lance countered, promptly dissolving in bubbles of giggling as he noticed Keith's pink cheeks. The nymph stopped swimming and stood, stretching in the water, droplets flying in all directions as he shook out his hair. 

Lance leaped from the river and stood in front of Keith, walking backward in time with Keith's steps. 

"Then what would you like to do today, Kogane?"

Keith ignored him but a small smile slid over his lips. 

"Hmm?" Lance prodded. "Keith?" 

The hunter stopped short and looked up. "What'd you just call me?" he murmured with a grin. 

Lance stepped forward, a matching smile spreading over his face. "Dumbass?"

"Damned nymph," Keith muttered, shaking his head in disbelief at Lance's boldness. 

"Ah, ah, ah," Lance tutted disapprovingly, stepping forward again, pushing Keith back and back until he felt tree bark at his shoulders. "Try again."

"Nymph?"

"One more try."

A pause. "Lance." It was a soft and pretty word on his lips. 

"There you go." Lance leaned forward and met Keith's lips with a reward as sweet as the smell of roses and as soft as the moss beneath their feet. The wilderness was alive and so were they. It was beautiful. Lance was beautiful. Life was beautiful.