The Road That Lies Ahead
"Oh COMMON already!" Miguel muttered to himself, stoking the fire. Tulio and Chel had gone off some distance to be alone - either not far enough or they underestimated the acoustics of the jungle. This was their first night out of El Dorado - straight in the opposite direction that Cortes' fleet went. Where ever they were going.
A moan here a giggle there. It was too much for Miguel, he had swallowed his pride and saved Tulio's life in the process of jumping onto that boat - but he was still no better off for it. He hunched his shoulders as though they could cover his ears and continued stabbing the fire. Over and over again while Altivo looked on as if to say 'glad it's the fire and not me'.
"As though this is going to last any longer than any of his other relationships with women!" A moment later Miguel realized that wouldn't be a bad thing and let out a small smile. Till Chel let out another whoop, then it was back to his pouting.
Then quiet, no more sounds of passion, just the wind blowing, birds calling, bugs chirping and the fire crackling. He heaved a heavy sigh and ate the rest of his dinner.
"WOO! - Hey Miguel any food left? Man I'm starving." Tulio stumbled towards the fireside in a blissful daze followed soon by Chel.
Oh the millions of dirty wise cracks Miguel could have made on Tulio and his wanting to eat. Oh well, let it slide, just...let it slide. "Over there," Miguel crudely gestured to the pile of fruits that he'd managed to keep altivo from eating.
Despite his distraction with Chel, Tulio could still see he was upset, not as much now, he was willing to deal with him and Chel being together now at least. He was avoiding eye contact so Miguel couldn't see Tulio's concerned gaze. Soon enough Chel demanded his attention back on her, they resumed their giggling and playing as much as they could with an audience there. Had Miguel allowed himself to look in their direction he'd see that Tulio was really ready for sleep, it was Chel egging him on for more games.
With an inaudible humph Miguel announced he was going to sleep and went over to the side of Altivo where the fire's light didn't reach to curl up and drift off. Slowly but surely Tulio and Chel's giggling faded off. After a while they went to sleep in each other's arms leaving Miguel with the horse.
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"Miguel." Tulio tapped Miguel's shoulder softly, then waited a moment for a response, then shook him. "Miguel, wake up."
Miguel yawned and woke finally and licked his chomps, "What's going on? Tulio?" It was the dead of night and the fire had died down considerably.
"Nothing, nothing. I just thought we could go ....for a walk." Tulio had a somewhat strained look on his face, eyes darting back and forth from Miguel to Chel.
Took Miguel a second or two to snap out of sleep, then he sat up with his hands on his lap. "Alright then where to?" He sounded very cheerful, couldn't have hid it if he wanted to. First one on one time he would have had with Tulio for a few days now. Well just three but still he missed it.
"Anywhere, I just want to cool off for a while, you know."
So they bounded off into the jungle towards a river they'd passed towards the end of the day. They passed the time talking about everything, their adventure in El Dorado, all sorts of ridiculous adventures Miguel had already cooked up in his head for the future. Tulio dismissed each one in turn, just like always, laughing and smiling fondly at each other. Arguing playfully.
One last big tree root to the river and Tulio hopped over it with no problem. Miguel however was in the middle of a grand dramatic gesture and stumbled over it. Tulio caught Miguel by the hand in an instant to keep him from falling. Both their eyes lit up at the contact. Instantly Miguel's chest heaved and felt on fire as he got himself up to his feet with Tulio's help. Tulio kept hold of his hand till they got to the river. All at once Miguel let his fantasies of him and Tulio being together flood back to him. He'd pushed them out of his mind that day Tulio uttered the words: "Forget Miguel."
Tulio went up to the bank and took his shoes off, Miguel did the same and they let their feet dangle in the cool rippling water in the hot night.
"So.."
"Yup."
"Well..."
"Right."
Then a moment without useless commentary passed. A moment after Tulio fell weeping into Miguel's arms.
"OH THANK YOU FOR COMING WITH ME! I don't know what it would have been like without you, I mean - you're everything to me and I was just going to leave you there! I'm so sorry!"
"Tulio, oh Tulio don't worry about it. I know you would have come back for me after a while." Miguel patted his friend's back while hugging him, trying to hide somewhat how enthused he was to have Tulio clutching his waist. He chuckled and ran his fingers through Tulio's hair, feeling ready to burst. "Come now, aw don't start crying on me."
"I'm Not!" Tulio stopped to sniff up his tears "I was so stubborn, I feel so awful about it all, Can you ever forgive me!?"
"Of course I can."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"But I was so-!"
"Oh common already stop it I forgave you already! We both said things we shouldn't have."
"Alright. Thank you, dear friend." Tulio sobbed for a bit longer clinging to Miguel's chest. Miguel held him close utterly elated. The only time before this that Tulio had volunteered his emotions like this were when they were about to die at sea. He'd always known Tulio cared for him though, why else would he still hang around with him even though he's always sneaking in snide remarks here and there. If it weren't for Chel now would have been the perfect time to make any sort of advance on Tulio. He'd always been fairly certain they could be together. While Tulio never had an outpouring of emotions like this before he would occasionally call Miguel 'darling' and other such things. Then there were the hot springs.....
Tulio pulled himself together somewhat but stayed in Miguel's hold. "Feeling better now?"
He sniffed, "Yes."
"Then in you go!"
"What? WAIT-!" And into the water Tulio was dumped clothes and all. Miguel started to take his clothes off before joining him but Tulio grabbed him by the leg and pulled him in as well. They wrestled each other for a while. Soon they'd forgotten that they were ever not on speaking terms. After the skirmish they laid their clothes out on a bush to let them dry.
They lay there gazing at the crack in the canopy through which they could see the stars, Miguel going on about what they were and which constellation was what. Tulio feigned disinterest so Miguel purposely spouted a wrong fact about one of the star clusters, which started Tulio on a rant. Not that either of them knew much on the subject but Tulio in particular was defensive of the knowledge he had. Miguel just sat and smiled at him till Tulio realized Miguel had gotten him involved in his star talk. That earned him a playful whack.
Miguel retaliated so that they were wrestling again. Then Tulio's lips quite accidentally pressed up against Miguel's face, followed by an almost unconscious but deliberate second kiss. Miguel quickly turned his head to face Tulio and kissed him back. They pulled away from each other for a moment and looked at each other wide-eyed, then kissed again. Once again Tulio was in Miguel's arms, though they were grasping at eachother much more passionately now. Tulio grabbed at Miguel's back and wet hair while Miguel's legs flailed and their tongues ran all over eachother's necks and mouths. Tulio would hesitate now and then, doubtless fleeting thoughts of Chel, but he pushed those thoughts out again and again.
Now Miguel was arched over a rock in the river with Tulio still kissing him. Their chests and stomachs rubbing against each other, hot and wet. Tulio began to explore Miguel's lovely chest with his mouth, thus freeing Miguel's mouth. After a few moans he managed to spurt out, "Oh Tulio, but what about Chel!?"
Tulio got up for a moment in frustrated thought, "She'll have to understand, you come first...when I decide to tell her...I don't know when that'll be..."
Not that anything Tulio would have said then would have mattered, they weren't going to stop. Tulio kissed him once more on the mouth then went back to his chest, and below. Miguel lay there panting, almost hyperventilating begging Tulio for more. Then Tulio stood up and forcefully turned Miguel around and lunged at him. They let out a simultaneous scream of passion. Miguel clinging to the rock and Tulio clinging to Miguel, their sweat intermingling and dripping into the water. Both of them tried to hold back their voices so as not to be heard, but they couldn't help themselves. Their elation escalated as Tulio's thrusts became more and more fierce.
Desperately gasping for air but still moaning and yelling they each let out one final utterance of their passion then separated. Miguel stayed on the rock for a moment while Tulio fell back into the water. Miguel laughed and pulled him out to face him. They sat there for a while exhausted and gazing into eachother's eyes. Then they went over to a softer sandy part of the bank and lay half in the river half out. Eachother's head nestled on the other.
Maybe an hour passed, or more. The edge of the sky was starting to turn lighter and the stars fade. Tulio was sleeping like a baby, Miguel hadn't slept at all. He'd gone back between admiring his sleeping lover, contemplating Chel, and how he fit into the mix now. He began feeling somewhat insecure, fearing this would end up as a dirty little secret to hide from Chel always, something that Tulio might feel guilty about. For a moment he felt a tinge of anger come over him, in one night Tulio had had both Chel and him! He was clearly coming out on top of all of this, but that feeling passed. Miguel was happy to be with him as they were, no matter how that ended up being.
Tulio turned and put his head on Miguel's chest, Miguel took this opportunity to voice his thoughts to Tulio. He looked down at himself sheepishly. He did feel guilty, but only for putting Miguel into such an awkward situation. It was going to be a long day for him if he worked up the nerve to tell Chel about this. Miguel said nothing more seeing that Tulio was confused enough as it was. He just ran his fingers through his hair and whispered things to reassure him.
"I think Chel is already a little confused..."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, when I was with her tonight, I guess you could say I wasn't all that focused on her...."
"You were thinking of me?" Miguel's face brightened.
Tulio gave him another soft playful whack, "Yeah, I guess I was. But I sure didn't see any of this coming! I mean, us two..."
"I know..."
"It was wonderful though." Miguel responded by holding him tighter.
As it turned out, Tulio didn't have to choose whether or not to tell Chel. She'd heard the noises coming from their general direction and ignored it in the night. She'd gone back to sleep not realizing Tulio wasn't by her side. But now she had woken up and seen him gone and went looking for him. She found him soon enough. Buck naked resting his head on Miguel's chest thoughrouly enjoying himself. What followed was a hail of fallen fruit and other things laying on the ground and statements like, "I should have never gotten so involved with you in the first place." And, "I did all this just to get out of that lousy city!?" She was furious as hell, but she wasn't crying at all as Tulio now was. He and Miguel scrambled to get after what shelter they could from her as fast as they could. They both sustained several blows.
And so the marvelous five day romance of Tulio and Chel came to an end. Turns out she couldn't understand his special relationship with his best friend. Tulio was heartbroken, but Chel insisted on his choosing between her and Miguel. He chose Miguel saying, "If I have to chose, I chose the one that doesn't make me play favorites between the two most important people in my life!"
As many arguments Miguel could have made about the other most important person in his life only having been in it for a few days he didn't. Let well enough alone.
They agreed to stay together till they came to a port city Chel knew of up the coast some ways. Then they'd go their separate ways.
All the way Miguel consoled Tulio. After all five days was the longest he'd ever lasted with a woman. Chel was quite taken aback at his decision and shifted between outright rage at the both of them and trying to be friendly. Being as awkward as it was they didn't go off for another romp till they came to the city she was leading them to. And so that was it, Tulio won her a Llama with his loaded dice as a fair well gesture. They kissed eachother goodbye one more time then Chel went on her way leaving them behind. By that point Tulio was no longer overwhelmed by her going.
"So, friend, what now?" Miguel asked. Tulio was about to answer with something when a local behind him started shouting out challenges.
"You tricked me with your strange game, I know you did! you see if you can play one of our games of chance, we'll see how lucky you are at that!"
Tulio and Miguel glanced at each other, "Alright, we'll need a day to learn your brilliant games then beat you at it, how's that!"
Tulio stood there for a moment staring at Miguel with flashbacks of the game they played in El Dorado. A jab in the side from Miguel made him snap out of it, "What do you say? - Come on I learned most of these games already we just need to rig a few pieces and we'll have it made!"
Tulio answered after looking around the place, "Great, we'll win all the fish and nets our hearts desire."
Again with the puppy faces, "Fine, er ahem We'll take you up on your challenge good sir! Meet us here tomorow and we'll see who the better man is!"
The locals dispersed, and once again Tulio felt he and Miguel were only getting into more trouble. But what the hell, there'd be things to laugh about afterwards, and they were together, that's all that mattered.
"So how do you set about getting a room around here, do they even have inns?"
"Hmmm, no, well, I don't know - Oh lets just sleep out in the jungle, I always liked that!"
"Are you kidding?! I have enough bites all over me from a whole assortment of weird little bugs and now we have the opportunity to sleep indoors again and you want to camp out in the woods!"
"Well yeah! after all we will go back to Spain at some point and then we'll miss out on all of this! Plus," Miguel grrred, "It's rather exciting out in the jungle isn't it?"
For a second a goofy look overtook Tulio's face, then he went back to arguing. And so they went on and on, bound to get into more trouble before long. But whatever they were about to get into they were ready to go into it together, this time as lovers, not just friends.
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