How could I have said that aloud! Jason thought as he pulled Sage along with him, their fingers tightly clasped together. Now he has to know that I like him, and that makes this even harder! Quickly rushing away from Highlin, Jason felt the skin burning in his cheeks as he tried to ignore Sage's hand held tightly in his own.

"Where are we going?" Sage asked as they continued deeper into the forest.

"Anywhere but here." Jason answered curtly as he pulled them even deeper into the forest. Ignoring the strange feeling of deja vu, Jason continued forward almost as if his feet had a plan of their own and carried them away towards a set destination.

Beginning to fall behind, Sage had started to pant as he tried to keep up with Jason's rapid pace. "Can we slow down, you're walking too fast!" He begged between breaths.

Jason realized he was beginning to take deeper breaths as well as his legs continued to pull them both forward. Quickly slowing down, he paused for a moment to look back at Sage. "Yeah, sorry about that. Highlin just makes me so mad, always bashing on you like that. It makes no sense why she does it."

A soft squeeze on Jason's hand pulled him from his irritation as Sage slowly pulled them to a stop a little ways away. Jason's cheeks began to burn hotter as he saw the mixture of hope and disbelief quickly swimming through Sage's eyes. Before he could stop himself, words quickly tumbled from his mouth. "Look, what I said back there was just an excuse to get away from the situation." He lied, ignoring his heartache when he saw the crushed look that flooded Sage's eyes.

"Oh, yeah, I figured that you were doing that." Sage choked out, "I mean, we're both guys. There would never be a reason for us to be in love-" Sage quickly pulled his hand from Jason's and looked down at the ground as he tried anxiously not to give away his emotions.

Love...? Jason thought as Sage quickly began to backpaddle.

"-I mean, why would we ever have any relationship at all, we're just friends right, nothing more than that. You and I have to support the tribe, and we don't get to decide to just abandon them when they need us the most. That wouldn't be fair, we have to make sure they survive, and that means we have to sleep with the woman of the tribe regardless of whether we want to or not..." He paused, refusing to look up as Jason processed what Sage was saying.

Sage fell silent, leaving only the call of the forest to consume the empty space between them. "Yeah, besides," Jason started uncomfortably, "it would be weird if the two of us..." He quickly fell silent, the words hanging in the air between them. His heart practically screamed as he tried to resist his urge to reveal his true feelings. Standing there uncomfortably, Jason tried to think of what to say as Sage continued to look down at the ground.

"Maybe we should just start collecting firewood for tonight." Sage choked out as he knelt down next to a small patch of twigs and tried to keep a smile on his face.

Pain gripped Jason's chest as he saw Sage's disappointment, but forced himself to not show it. Taking a few steps away, he knelt down in another direction and started to pick up a few small pieces of wood. His heart ached when he thought he heard Sage sniffle, but continued to look in the other direction. It's better he has some heartache now instead of getting too attached and suffering heartbreak when the tribe begins to dig their claws into him.

The two gathered quietly for a few moments until Sage broke the silence. "Hey Jason," Lifting his head up, Jason refused to turn his head and meet Sage's beautiful gaze, but listened regardless as he picked at some dirt with one of the sticks. "I'm sorry if I got you into trouble with Highlin or the other villagers. I don't want to make your life any harder than it has to be, so if you want to sleep with one of the girls instead of having our hangout night tonight, I would understand..."

Sadness coursed through Jason as he felt the pain flow through Sage's remark. "No," Jason said suddenly, as he tried to keep his voice neutral. "I promised that I would spend my first night back with you, and I'm not going to break that promise. Screw Highlin, nobody will believe a word she has to say anyway. Everybody knows she's a liar and a jerk." Sage let out a small chuckle, and Jason smiled.

"Are you sure, I don't want to make it harder for you..." Sage asked timidly as he picked up something that cracked behind him.

Jason heard the sadness flowing in Sage's tone and couldn't take it any longer. Standing up, he turned around and walked over towards Sage, their eyes meeting as his heart fluttered. "I told you before Sage, and I'll tell you again. You are more important to me than anybody else in this village. Besides, I can't break my promise even if I wanted to. You're the only company I truly desire." He saw Sage's eyes light up, and realized what he said could come across as flirtatious and quickly turned back around and resumed his gathering. "Or something like that."

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"Hey, thanks for getting so much kindling. I should be able to ration it out for almost a week!" Sage said happily as he casually lifted his spear from the corner of his room.

Jason smirked as he wiped his hands on his pants and looked at the large pile of wood bits that they had brought back. "It's not a problem, I'm always happy to help you out." Silence took the room as Sage blushed. Realizing his wording, Jason tried to change the subject. "So uh, where are these pippers at? All that gathering made me hungry!"

"The pippers like to nest over by the river on the outskirts of the forest. I think they like the insects that live around there." Sage stated as he raised his spear carefully to his shoulder. "Strange enough, not many animals seem to eat them."

Concern flashed through Jason's mind as he remembered the delicious meal he had eaten before leaving. "They taste so good though, how do they even exist on the riverside? A bunch of animals hunt there. If these animals are as dumb as you say, they should have been hunted into extinction by now. How do they survive without protection?"

"I have an answer for that," Sage answered, smirking sheepishly as he started for the door. "The meat makes you sick if you don't cook it. I tried to make jerky out of it like the elders showed us with the hanging process, but I practically lived in the forest for the next few days because I was pooping my guts out. I guess they must have some kind of poison that gets removed when you cook it."

"Well then," Jason answered with a chuckle as he followed after him. "I guess we have to be careful to cook it for the right amount of time then."

Jason saw Sage nod his head as the two made their way back into the forest and started for the river. "Hey, do you remember our secret base?"

"You mean the one that's halfway between the river and the village?" Jason asked curiously as he followed behind him.

"Yeah, I wonder if it's still there!" Sager answered as the two wandered forward. He paused for a moment, then turned back around. "Let's make dinner there! We can make sure nobody tries to interrupt us this time!"

Spend the night under the stars all alone with Sage, and nobody to try and bother us? Jason felt his cheeks begin to burn as he pondered the romantic idea and felt his nether regions twitch. "I uh, I don't know if that's the best idea," He answered, trying to banish his quickly growing problem. "What if the village thinks we got lost and sends out a search party."

"They would know where to look," Sage responded with a laugh. "Remember when we were little? We would go out there to hide from the girls or adults, but the guards always knew where we were when the sun started to set. They would always come let us know when it was time to come back."

"Our base wasn't really all that secret was it..." Jason wondered aloud, thinking back with a fond smile as his problem began to fade. "I always thought it was strange how they knew where we were every single time."

"They probably sent scouts to follow us after the first few times." Sage said with a chuckle as they came to a halt near some ancient-looking undergrowth with a hole near the bottom that looked just big enough for a child to crawl through.

Jason felt his heart start to pound as the memories of their time together hidden away began to flash through his mind. "Let's go look inside, if our firepit is still in there, we can stay the night and cook our dinner in there; otherwise we have to go home to cook it."

"Sounds like a good deal to me, I can probably make it inside, and build a new firepit long before that big butt of yours can fit through the entrance!" Sage joked as he knelt down on all fours and started crawling into the undergrowth, moving a few vines as he did so.

Does that mean he's been looking at my butt? Jason thought with a smirk as he knelt down and instantly found himself entranced by Sage's swaying figure crawling deeper into the undergrowth.

Watching with fascination, Jason tried not to look as Sage's small body wiggled and shook, making his backside jerk from side to side. "Take a picture why don't you," Sage suddenly called from the underbrush, making Jason's cheeks burn hot as he instantly averted his eyes. "It will last longer, whatever a picture is."

Trying to ignore the burning feeling in his cheeks, Jason closed his eyes, trying to remember what a picture was to divert the awkward feeling in the pit of his stomach. "I think the people from a long time ago had these machines that could capture a moment in time, and the machine would instantly paint the moment, and they called that a picture."

"How does the machine get the colors right? Do they just have all the color they need inside it?" Sage called back, trying to worm his way deeper inside.

"I don't know Sage, the people from long ago had some crazy technology." Jason answered as he opened his eyes and began to look around the wall of green for any other way in.

"Well whatever the case, I can see the inside. It looks almost the exact same as when we were little. It's just a lot more cramped." Sage responded as Jason looked around the walls of green. "One thing's for sure, you won't be able to crawl through our old entrance." He joked as Jason spotted a large opening in the greenery. "I don't know if you could get in here anyway, you're pretty big!" Taking hold of the vines, Jason pulled them aside and saw his childhood hideaway revealed by the large vines. Stepping inside, Jason saw Sage's eyes shoot open in disbelief as his shoulders began to make their way through the small hole. "What the, how did you..."

"There's a huge entrance right behind the vines." Jason answered as he squatted down and saw two small objects bound with tight string and covered in green. "Hey, our old bedrolls are still here!" He exclaimed as he reached down and pulled the vines off the dirty old rolls. "I remember the elders face when we told her we lost them, she was so mad at us." He laughed as he undid one of the knots and began to unroll it.

"I remember that too!" Sage laughed as he squirmed the rest of the way through the hole. Quickly adjusting to his knees, he put down his spear down and brushed the vegetation off his shirt. "She made us work for weeks to 'pay' for the new ones."

Reaching for the second bedroll, Jason repeated the process, trying to get as much of the greenery off as possible. "It was totally worth it though, we didn't have to carry our bedrolls out here every night!"

"It's much smaller than I remember it being." Sage said suddenly, as he looked around the tiny space.

Jason smirked and looked back at him. "Well, we were much smaller back then. Man, how the time flys."

"It has to have been ten years since we've been here last." Sage said somewhat somberly as he stood up and looked around their tiny campground. "The campfire is still here too." He exclaimed with a sudden smile pointing towards the small circular piece of metal that had been burned black over hundreds of uses. "So, we can stay the night here then?" He asked hopefully as Jason pulled the large metal ring out from the corner and put it in front of their bedrolls.

"Yeah, if you want to brave the weather, we can do that!"Jason answered happily as more childhood memories continued to flash through his mind. "We might need to gather some more firewood though, it's a long walk back to the house."

"Well how about this." Sage offered as he stood up and looked at the vines where Jason had come from. "You get a fire going, and make sure we have somewhere safe to sleep that isn't on top of the fire pit; I'll go get us a pipper or two, and run home to get my spit from the house. Then when I get back, we can start to roast them. That way we can have dinner before it gets too dark."

"What if I go get the spit, then get the fire going." Jason countered, "That way, you don't have to run back to the village with the pippers, then back here. I was thinking maybe I could let the elder know where we are, and grab our blankets too, that way we don't freeze ourselves to death."

"Sounds like a plan," Sage answered as he grabbed his spear and stood up, quickly starting forward towards the vines where Jason had entered. "But I think I'll take this way instead of having to crawl through the dirt again.

"What, you don't like wiggling around like a worm?" Jason asked with a smirk.

I didn't mind the crawling part." Sage answered as he paused for a moment, quickly taking a deep breath. "I just couldn't help but feel anxious as a pair of eyes watched my body squirm. It gave me weird feelings that made crawling quite difficult."

Jason tried to hide his shock as Sage quickly exited the area, the vines swinging casually back into place as worry began to eat at him. He knows...

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Well that about does it for this chapter. Sorry I was out sick this week and didn't manage to get anything written. I tried to put in a chapter on both Tuesday and Thursday. Anyway, I'm feeling better now, and yes I drank lots of water. If you liked the chapter, and want to support me, don't forget to vote for the story, and leave a few comments! I always like to hear your feedback! Don't forget to drink lots of water yourselves friends and have a fantastic day! :)

-Asted!