They'd been in St Lucia for a couple of days now, and after much settling in, job searching, and brutal discarding of over worn, unnecessary clothes, Thy decided it was finally time for a hike.

Carlos thought it was decidedly not time, nor would it ever be time.

Mila was mostly confused.

"It will be fun, non?" Thy smiled sweetly.

"Non, very much non," Carlos replied, shaking his fluffy hair as he shook his head no.

Thy pouted, turning to the others for backup. Ginny and Lou were out working, but Giani, Aster and Mila were all in the vicinity.

Gi was scrolling aimlessly on her phone, Mila was organising the pile of the groups' shoes that had mounted up next to the door and Aster was reading a book. All three of them sighed and turned to face Thy, having learnt the hard way there was no avoiding conversations with an excited Thy.

"Where is this hike to?" Aster humoured him.

"Well, we could either do the Petit Piton or the Gros Piton Mountain. You can choose which!"

"How kind," Carlos muttered sarcastically. He pulled out his phone, typing for a few moments before his eyes widened comically. "A nearly vertical ascent?! No fucking thank you."

Mila burst into laughter. "Vertical? As in, straight up? You want to climb straight up a mountain? Literally straight up?"

"Say 'straight up' again, he didn't hear you the first fifty times," Giani needled, but she was chuckling too.

"'Conquering the Petit Piton Hike'," Carlos began reading. "'I left my blood, sweat and tears on this trail'."

"Thy," Mila spoke. "I think it might be a little extreme."

"Holy shit," Aster swore. "The Petit Piton trail isn't even sanctioned by the government."

"What about the Gros Piton Mountain hike?" Thy pleaded.

A pause as the others googled.

"Average time of two hours, moderately easy, good for those with little hiking experience," Aster summarised. "It's amusing because you'd think Gros Piton would be harder given it's taller than Petit Piton."

"I bet the mountain being fucking vertical has something to do with it."

"So? The Gros Piton? Please?" Thy turned on the charm, giving a loving stare to each of them in turn.

"No," Carlos got up and walked towards the fridge. "I will stay here and drink your Coca Cola for you."

Aster was the first to cave. "Why not, it should be fun, shouldn't it?"

"Hiking's not for me," Mila smiled guiltily. "I'll keep Carlos company."

"Gi?"

"I don't want to third wheel."

Aster blushed, looking down at her book again to hide it.

"Third wheel? Aster and Lou aren't dating," Thy frowned.

"Lou's coming?" Giani frowned too. "She's working."

"Her and Imogen are coming. They get off work in an hour."

"Alright," Giani groaned. "Fine, I'll come with you on this stupid hike."

"Yes!" Thy did a little dance, pulling Aster off the sofa to dance with him. She laughed softly, embracing the madness.

This boy was just too sweet.

<<*>>

Somehow, the group had made it halfway through the mountain ascension with their mandatory guide, 'John', (Thy assured them he was legitimate, however the lack of paperwork and scary smile he offered them begged to differ) without anything happening to them.

Aster was pleasantly surprised at her own stamina, though nothing could beat Thy's obnoxiously high energy levels.

Ginny followed closely behind him and 'John', nodding along to whatever Thy was saying and grinning with the appropriate level of enthusiasm.

Gi and Lou had been in quiet conversation for most of the journey until a couple of minutes ago when Gi decided to start lingering awkwardly close to Aster as if she had something to say to her.

Eventually, just as Aster was going to ask her to spit it out, Giani spoke.

"I don't want you to get hurt."

Aster almost did a double take. That wasn't like the other girl at all. "Excuse me?"

"With what's going on with Thy, I mean," she clarified. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Nothing's going on with Thy," Aster said in a forcibly light tone.

"No, " Giani agreed. "And nothing will, if you don't get your ducks in a row quick enough."

"What?"

"Do I have to say it any simpler? If you don't get it together and ask him out before he finds someone else, or God forbid, my brother does, you'll miss the chance of a lifetime, Aster."

Midway through a sip of water, she choked at the brazen statement. "I— I— I don't— Y—your brother?"

"You've seen what he's like. Why should Thy be the exception?"

Aster was too busy coughing to question Giani's logic. When she eventually drew in enough breath to speak, she said, "You want me to ask out Thy even though your brother's into him?"

"No, idiot," Giani scoffed. "I want you to ask out Thy because you're into him."

"But what about Carlos?"

"Carlos won't care. I'm just saying, there's a pull there and sooner or later one of them will be drunk enough to act on it, if not now then definitely in the Carnival next month." She sighed, turning to face Aster. "Look, if those two get their hands on each other they won't be able to stop until it's too late and the train's crashed into a brick wall. Understand?"

"I... think so?" She bit her lip. "Thy's not even into me, though. I can't do it."

Giani laughed. "Are you kidding me? That boy may be oblivious as hell, but I had to listen to him talk about his love of the specific shade of green your eyes are for two and a half hours last night. For the record, they're not jade or gemstone or hazel, they're forest. #115D11, or so he thinks, but he hasn't got to examine them enough yet." She rolled her eyes.

She opened her mouth to protest that that wasn't enough evidence, but Gi cut her off.

"My French is a little rusty, but maybe you'll be able to translate this for me. The only time I'd want to see those eyes close is if she was kissing me." She raised her eyebrows as Aster blushed furiously. "I don't know what that means and I don't think I want to. You can say what you want, but if you wanted him, which you do, he'd come running. I'm not good at this crush conversation stuff, but I know that you'll regret this for the rest of your life if you don't."

Pleased with herself, Giani turned away and continued on the hike trail.

Aster stood still for a moment, starstruck.

Could she ask Thy on a date?

Looking up ahead at the blonde boy, who was cackling at Ginny's jokes and practically sparkling in the sunlight, she smiled. Maybe she could.

<<*>>

Thy 😊: we climbed a mountain let's go!!

Gi🤘: everything hurts

Carlos🤘: sucks to be you (affectionately) 

A/N 

we're back!

this is your reminder that travel huggers is about romanticising the chaotic moments that become 'remember when...' stories and the sweet memories of when everything goes right. it hints at the downsides of travelling: the constantly searching for and needing work, the insurance and visas and medical bills, the homesickness and the awkwardness of spending all your time with people you don't really know, but that's not what this is about. it's important to remember the reality but everything that happens on page is supposed to be an escape, a way to get lost in the fluffy positives of life. don't forget that. <3