fandomweekly | [#116] Ready For Anything (FAKE)

Theme Prompt: #116 – First Aid
Title: Ready For Anything
Fandom: FAKE
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: Dee and Ryo’s hiking trip to enjoy the trees in their fall splendour goes slightly awry when Dee gets distracted by the view.

The previous year, Ryo had dragged Dee to New England to enjoy the fall colors. Dee had been less than enthusiastic about the prospect of spending several days hiking and looking at a bunch of trees, until they’d arrived and he’d seen for himself just how beautiful it really was.

What a difference a year made. This year, as fall approached, he’d badgered Ryo over when they should book their long weekend off.

“When d’you think the colors will be at their best? We don’t wanna wait too long to put in for time off; the old badger might tell us we can’t go!”

Ryo had found that amusing.

“Relax, we’ve still got over a month; there’s no point booking too soon. Everything depends on when temperatures start dropping; that’s what triggers the trees to start shedding their leaves. We don’t want to get there so early in the season that they’re all still green.”

Dee had grumbled a bit, but he’d waited impatiently until Ryo had told him he’d booked their vacation time, as well as a room at a small hotel in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. After that, he’d crossed the days off on his calendar like a kid eagerly counting down to Christmas.

Now, at long last, here they were, surrounded by trees in so many shades of russet, gold, yellow, red, and orange that the mountains looked like they were on fire. Why he’d ever thought hiking amid so much natural beauty would be boring, he couldn’t imagine. With such spectacular views in every direction, he hardly knew which way to look.

They’d arrived late the previous night, long after dark, and this morning they’d left the hotel soon after breakfast, with packed lunches, a flask of coffee, and bottles of water in their backpacks, cameras and binoculars slung around their necks. Three hours later, they were well up into the hills surrounding the small town where they’d be staying for the next five days.

“This is even better than last year!” Dee said, scrambling up some rocks to stand at the top, snapping off photos of the trees in the valley below, where a creek, glinting in the sunlight, wound between them, burbling over rocks.

Climbing up beside his lover, Ryo sat down. The sun was shining brightly, warming the rocks. “This is a good spot; why don’t we eat our lunch here and enjoy the views?”

“Fine with me.” Unslinging his backpack, Dee sat down. “Hikin’ up and down hills really works up an appetite.”

Neither man was in a hurry, the sun wouldn’t be setting for hours yet, so they enjoyed a leisurely meal and rested for a while before starting out again, checking first to make sure they hadn’t left any litter behind.

An hour or so later, as they neared the top of the steep slope at the other side of the valley, pulling themselves up by whatever handholds they could find, a rock rolled beneath Dee’s foot and he slipped, letting out a startled yell as the branch he was holding onto snapped and he plummeted back down the slope, his rapid descent halting when he fetched up against a mass of thorny shrubs.

“Dee!” Ryo turned and scrambled down to his lover as quickly as he could. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m good, no major damage.” He’d only slid about forty feet rather than tumbling all the way to the bottom again. “My own fault, should’a watched where I was puttin’ my feet instead of admirin’ the view.” He started untangling himself from the shrubbery, getting his feet under him to resume the climb, when… “OW!”

“What is it, your ankle?”

“No, they’re both fine.” Sturdy hiking boots had been a wise investment; without them he could have ended up with a nasty sprain. “Caught myself on one of those damned thorns.” Dee scrambled clear of the clutching undergrowth, turning his arm to reveal a tear in his shirtsleeve, and a jagged, bleeding, three-inch-long cut beneath. Part of the broken off thorn was still embedded in the wound. “It’s okay, I don’t think it’s deep.”

“That’s not the point; it needs cleaning and dressing before you get dirt in it.” Ryo shrugged his backpack off.

“I’m not abandoning our hike over a little scratch.”

“I wasn’t suggesting we should.” Rummaging in the bottom of his backpack, Ryo pulled out a first aid kit and a bottle of water. “Sit down while I patch you up.”

“Where’d that come from?” Dee frowned at the box as Ryo flipped the lid open.

“Standard equipment for a hiking trip. I never go anywhere without it; we’ve just never needed it before now. I’m surprised you don’t have one of your own. You should always be prepared.”

“Hey, not everyone was a boy scout. All this hikin’ in the wilderness is pretty new to me. What’s in there?”

“Basic first aid supplies. Bandages, pressure dressings, sticking plasters, cotton balls, antiseptic, cream for insect bites, antihistamines, painkillers, scissors… Tweezers!” Ryo brandished them, grinning. “Okay, let’s get that thorn out of your arm, then I’ll clean the wound out and bandage you up. I don’t think you’ll need stitches. Take your shirt off.”

The shirt was unfastened so Dee just slipped his arm out of the sleeve.

“Be gentle with me.”

Ryo snorted. “Just hold still.”

Like most cops, Dee included, Ryo was an experienced first-aider so treating Dee’s wound didn’t take long. He tweezed the thorn out, swabbed the wound with water and antiseptic, then applied lint and a bandage, which he fastened with a safety pin.

“There. You’re good to go.”

“You would’a made a great doctor.”

“Too many years of training involved; I’d rather be a cop.” Putting the first aid kit away, Ryo picked up his backpack. “Ready to get going?”

“You bet.”

“Just watch where you put your feet in future, or you might wind up in the creek at the bottom.”

Dee laughed. “Race ya to the top!”

The End