Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/1309969.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Dungeons_&_Dragons_(Roleplaying_Game), QDND
  Relationship:
      Havi_Miniti/Tanum_MacHault
  Character:
      Havi_Miniti, Tanum_MacHault
  Additional Tags:
      First_Time, dumb_boys_doing_dumb_things, QDND_-_Freeform
  Stats:
      Published: 2014-03-14 Words: 4439
****** Class Trip ******
by Deanon
Summary
     “Do you think there will be ghosts?” Tanum asked Havi, adjusting the
     straps of his pack again. “Do you think they’re going to haunt the
     campground? Maybe they’ll know we’re coming!” The thought sent
     shivers of equal parts excitement and fear down his spine.
      
      
     In which Havi and Tanum camp out, chase ghosts, and make what might
     be a couple of big mistakes.
Built up to nearly legendary status in the mythos of Havi and Tanum's school
was the School Camping Trip: a privilege reserved only for those in their last
years of school. The lower grades looked on it like a great coming of age
ceremony, and the number of rumors and legends that surrounded the night that
the upper years spent in the woods certainly backed up its reputation. Rumors
ranging from the woods being haunted to huge games of strip poker ending in
less-than-school-appropriate activities had built the class trip up into the
biggest event of their final year. The general lack of adult supervision out in
the woods helped, too.
 
Needless to say, Tanum was bouncing off the walls.
 
“Do you think there will be ghosts?” he asked Havi, adjusting the straps of his
pack again. “Do you think they’re going to haunt the campground? Maybe they’ll
know we’re coming!” The thought sent shivers of equal parts excitement and fear
down his spine.
 
“I don’t think they’d keep bringing us back to a campground known for
hauntings,” Havi pointed out. He was walking to Tanum’s left, frowning slightly
at all this talk about ghosts.
 
“I’m not sure that’s what the school administrators are worried about,” Arnam
said from behind them. Tanum jumped a little – he’d honestly forgotten Arnam
was there until that second. “The students are a bigger threat to themselves
than any ghosts.”
 
Tanum wasn’t so sure, but Havi didn’t have anything else to say to Tanum’s
babbled theories about ghosts and monsters in the woods for the rest of the
walk to the camp site.
 
Once they arrived there, they were split into groups of four – divided by
gender, much to some student’s disappointment (although Tanum was mostly just
glad that he got to stay with Havi) – and sent off to set up camp before the
official activities began.
 
When they reached the campsite, though, they found that it was only the three
of them setting up camp.
 
“Wait, where’d the fourth guy go?” Tanum said, already setting his pack down on
the ground after hauling it for over a mile. “I thought he was right behind
us.”
 
“Tanek,” Havi provided, from some place behind Tanum. “Tanek was the fourth
guy.” Tanum turned to find Havi looking around with concern at the space
campsite – which was basically just a field, surrounded by trees, with a fire
pit in the middle. “And, um, I… don’t know. Did you see where he got to?” The
question was addressed at Arnam, who’d just set his own pack on the ground.
 
“No,” Arnam said instantly, “but that’s one less person to share a tent with.”
 
“Arnam!” Tanum exclaimed. “What if he got lost?”
 
“Between the front of camp and here? It was  a few hundred yards, Tanum,” Havi
pointed out.
 
“What if the ghosts got him?”
 
“It’s broad daylight,” Arnam pointed out. “I’m going to set up before we have
to go back.” He pulled out his large, apparently brand new tent out of his bag,
and with that they all split up to the jobs of setting up the campsite. Tanum
had just gone to pull out his (pretty shabby) sleeping bag when Arnam suddenly
appeared next to him.
 
“Hey, Tanum,” Arnam said, with an attempt at casual conversation. “I was
wondering if you, uh, want to share a tent?”
 
Tanum dropped his sleeping bag, and then quickly picked it back up and tried
dusting the dirt off. “Well, uh,” he stumbled. Honestly, he’d been assuming
that he and Havi would  be sharing a tent, and, presented with an alternative,
he found he didn’t really want to change that. “…I thought you’d be excited to
get a tent to yourself?”
 
“Well,” Arnam said quickly, and then paused. He leaned down and helped Tanum
unpack more, which Tanum watched in confused silence. “I mean. I just thought,
since your tent is so beat up, it would be nicer for you to stay in mine. It’s
new, you know.”
 
Tanum took the supplies from Arnam’s arms, piling them precariously on top of
his sleeping bag. He could feel his face burning, and his behind the pile of
stuff. “I think we’ll be fine,” he said, and ran off to join Havi before Arnam
could wave his wealth in his face any more. “You can enjoy your tent.”
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
The rest of the day passed in a blur of setting up and activities that were
organized by the school, which were fun, but not the kind of excitement that
all the previous classes had made it sound like. Mostly, by the end of the day,
they were tired, their uniforms were dirty, and, by the time got back to their
campsites, it was getting cold.
 
“Not a single ghost,” Tanum said, a little disappointed, while plopping himself
down by the fire pit. He kicked his shoe in the dirt, looking around the
clearing in the fading light. “Not that all those nature magic lessons weren’t
fun, but isn’t there better stuff we could be doing in the woods? Hey, where’s
my tie?”
 
Havi sat down next to Tanum and handed him his tie, which Tanum stared at and
then tossed in the general direction of their tent. It would probably get lost,
but Tanum had lost so many ties at this point that one more didn’t seem very
important. School was nearly over, anyways, so it wasn't like he really needed
them anymore. Havi started the fire with a whispered spell, and Arnam sat
himself down on the opposite side, watching them.
 
“I dunno,” Havi said finally, “I thought it was pretty interesting.”
 
“You would,” Arnam said. “This is your kind of thing, right?”
 
“Well,” Tanum said, warming to the topic of magic, “There was that one spell
they showed us – “
 
Tanum and Havi (mostly Tanum) talked all through dinner, which was an
unpleasant fiasco of all of them trying not to burn their food over the fire,
and doing a pretty poor job. Arnam complained loudly and they ignored him,
which meant that the whole thing was business as usual.
 
“Man,” Tanum sighed, after the food was finished and the dishes had been put
aside to be dealt with later. “I was really hoping…”
 
“Hoping what?” Havi asked, exasperated. “It’s the woods, Tanum, not a magical
adventure.”
 
“…Hey,” Tanum said, looking up suddenly. “That’s an idea. They already sent us
off, right? They’re not going to check on us again.”
 
“...Tanum, no,” Havi said instantly, looking concerned. He could see the bad
ideas forming in his best friend's mind.
 
“So nobody would know if we just went and explored a little bit, right?”
 
“No,” Havi stressed. “We’ll get lost.”
 
“We won’t get lost,” Tanum said, rolling his eyes. “And even if we do, that’s
part of the adventure, right? Besides, weren’t you the one who was saying that
there’s nothing to worry about in these woods?”
 
“I didn’t say that exactly,” Havi said, but Tanum was already getting pulled to
his feet.
 
They were halfway out of the campsite before Tanum suddenly remembered
something and turned. “Do you want to come, Arnam?” he asked. His tone was more
subdued, and Arnam scowled down at the book he was reading by firelight.
 
“I’m good,” he said shortly. Havi looked back at him, frowning, but Tanum
shrugged, and pulled Havi off into the woods.
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
“So what do you think is in these woods?” Tanum said excitedly, his voice at a
stage whisper. “Ghosts, monsters? Orcs?”
 
“I don’t think there are orcs in these woods,” Havi said slowly. He didn’t
sound sure, and his hand was still clutched around Tanum’s.
 
The woods definitely looked more sinister by night, orcs or no.  Moonlight
filtered down to the ground through a thick layer of foliage, and the shaky
light spell that Havi had cast only revealed the thick trunks of trees all
around them. They couldn’t see more than a few feet in any direction. What they
couldn’t see, though, was made up for in what they could hear. Bird calls,
rustles of the wind, and unexplained shuffles seemed amplified in the
suffocating darkness.
 
“Tanum,” Havi said in a low whisper, “I really don’t think we should be out
here…”
 
“Don’t be dumb,” Tanum whispered back, huddling in close to Havi. “How are we
ever going to have an adventure if we don’t get out here? Do you know any ways
to summon ghosts?
 
“We are not summoning any ghosts,” Havi insisted, at the same time that a wolf
howled from what sounded like not very far away.
 
Tanum jumped and hid a little behind Havi, who threw the hand holding the light
out. It brightened, but the tree trunks were still in the way, and they
couldn’t see anything.
 
Havi’s hand was shaking in Tanum’s. “I think we should head back,” he said.
 
“No way,” Tanum said, with growing enthusiasm. He came out from behind Havi,
although he was still pressed to his shoulder. The warmth of his friend,
through their increasingly tattered uniforms, was comforting. “We’re definitely
going to find a ghost or something just a little bit ahead!”
 
“That’s kind of what I’m afraid of,” Havi groaned, as Tanum pulled him forward
again.
 
They’d only gone a few more meters when they passed into a clearing. Havi
looked around for other campers, but this clearing seemed empty, just a chance
of the forest. “I wonder,” he said, his academic curiosity getting the better
of him, “if this is – “
 
Across the clearing, somebody screamed.
 
Havi tried to bolt away at the same time that Tanum tried to run forward, and
their hands snapped apart. Tanum continued bolting across the clearing, hearing
and ignoring Havi’s whisper-scream behind him, “Tanum!”
 
“Is someone there?” Tanum called at the source of the scream. When he reached
the other side of the clearing, it appeared deserted. He was shaking, but it
was easier once Havi’s arrived at his side again, even if Havi was shaking just
as badly. “Are you okay? Are you a ghost?”
 
“Don’t just ask if it’s a ghost,” Havi hissed. He placed himself back-to-back
with Tanum, looking around frantically for the source of the noise.
 
“Why not? I mean, maybe it’ll answer,” Tanum whispered back.
 
Ghost or not, it didn’t answer back. The woods seemed more quiet after the
commotion, but both boys jumped at every whisper of the breeze. “I think we
should head back,” Havi said, and Tanum mumbled, “Yeah, okay,” and followed.
His heartbeat was still pounding in his chest, and he clung to Havi’s arm the
whole way back.
 
After a few arguments about directions (“I swear I saw that tree before – “ “It
looks exactly like every other tree, how would you know? – “) they managed to
make it back, nearly in the middle of the night. Arnam was nowhere to be found,
but the embers of the fire still glowed, giving them enough light to put out
the magic light in Havi’s hand and enter their tent. Tanum's heart had yet to
slow down completely, and he nearly suggested that they not go to bed quite yet
- but then he looked at Havi's face, and, for once, shut up.
 
“I can’t believe Arnam didn’t wait up,” Tanum groused as they got ready for
bed. There was hardly any room in the tent, so while he was trying to face away
from Havi while changing, he was only half succeeding. “What if we’d gotten
killed by ghosts while we were out there? Nobody would have known we were
missing until morning!”
 
“Maybe he’d thought we were already killed by ghosts,” Havi pointed out. He was
undressing too, and Tanum saw his shirt getting pulled over his head before he
turned his head to fully face the wall of the tent, his face burning.
 
“Y-yeah,” Tanum mumbled, distracted now. “Uh. Maybe.”
 
He was quiet the rest of the time that they were climbing into their separate
sleeping bags, trying hard not to look at Havi again. This whole evening had
been really… nice, he guessed, but still.
 
“This wasn’t exactly everything the upper years said it would be,” Tanum said
as he settled in to his thin sleeping bag. He couldn’t quite keep the
disappointment from his voice, even though he felt a little whiny saying it.
 
“I think a lot of the more ridiculous rumors came from alcohol,” Havi pointed
out, which made sense, but was way less fun.
 
“Maybe,” Tanum mumbled. “Or maybe we just scared all the ghost off!”
 
Havi laughed a little bit. He was in a separate sleeping bag, but he was
nearby, and Tanum could just barely see the outline of his friend, curled up a
foot away. They went quiet, but Tanum wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon. He
was still wound up, and besides, the temperature had dipped significantly in
the night. It felt like his sleeping bag was providing no insulation at all,
and he was starting to shiver slightly.
 
After another minute, to his embarrassment, his teeth started chattering. He
clenched them together to make them stop, but Havi was already saying, “Um,
Tanum, are you okay?”
 
“Y-yeah,” Tanum said, but opening his mouth to say that made his teeth start
chattering again. “Just a little cold,” he added after a second.
 
There was a long moment of silence before Havi scooted a little bit closer.
“Well,” he whispered, and Tanum was shivering a lot, wow, “I have a pretty big
sleeping bag. We could just, you know, share.” He couldn’t see Havi’s face at
all, even from this close. “It’d be warmer that way.”
 
Wind whispered by outside. Tanum’s heart pounded an unsteady rhythm against his
rib cage. Why am I so nervous? That’s a totally normal suggestion. And I’m
really cold. “Um,” he mumbled, uncharacteristically shy. “Well. Okay.”
 
They shuffled around, rearranging sleeping bags and scooting close enough
together that they were both totally ensconced in the blankets. Cold air had
rushed in with the movement, though, and Tanum, momentarily more cold than he
was nervous, burrowed in towards Havi.
 
“C-cold,” he mumbled, his cold nose pressed into Havi’s neck.
 
Havi’s breath hitched.
 
Tanum stopped breathing with him, and thought about where all his limbs had
ended up. Their knees were bumping together, his hand clutching Havi’s arm, his
nose buried in his neck. They were close friends and always had been, but this
was… weird.
 
What do I do? Tanum still wasn’t breathing, and he was going lightheaded.Do I
move away? Would that make it even weirder? Maybe Havi hasn’t even noticed that
it's weird. Am I overreacting?
 
Unable to avoid breathing any longer, Tanum took the shallowest breath possible
and released it again his friend’s neck. A shiver went through Havi’s whole
body.
 
Tanum’s face went beet red, so much that he was sure Havi could feel its warmth
and guess how embarrassed he was. Havi had definitely noticed, then. Without
being able to see his friend’s face, Tanum had no way of knowing what he
thought about it, though. Besides, laying like this, feeling Havi shiver a
little every time he breathed out, it was kind of… exciting?
 
Nervous-excitement twisted in Tanum’s stomach as he pressed his nose more
firmly into Havi’s neck. It could still be innocuous, really. His nose was
still cold, and he could just claim to be tickling Havi… if Havi asked, which
it didn’t seem like he was going to. Instead, Havi’s breathing had gone up a
little bit more, and Tanum felt a slow tingling start in his limbs. To his
embarrassment, he felt himself start to go hard.
 
Shit, shit. Tanum’s my best friend. Is this weird? Is it going to be weird? I
still don’t know if anything’s even… happening.
 
For a long minute – so long that Tanum started to relax a little – nothing
happened. And then Havi’s hand drifted up slowly, settling, almost-innocent, on
Tanum’s waist.
 
It wasn’t that weird in itself, but Tanum was painfully aware now of just how
intimate their position was becoming. With Havi’s hand there, it was a little
bit less like just two friends huddling together for warmth, and a little more
like… something else?
 
Tanum opened his mouth, trying to work up the courage to say – something,
anything. A joke, or something? Well, no, maybe not that, but –
 
He didn’t realize he’d been breathing on Havi’s neck until Havi’s hand came up
and wrapped in his hair to pull his head away, just slightly. He gasped –
mostly at the feeling, which was much, much more pleasant than it should have
been, and did nothing for the awkward situation in his pants – and tried to
find his friend’s eyes in the dark. “Havi?” Tanum whispered.
 
The mystery of where Havi’s face was was solved a moment later, when Havi’s
nose brushed his cheek, just slightly, but enough to send electricity racing
down Tanum’s nerves. He almost jumped away. He’s not going to…?
 
“Wha,” Tanum whispered, almost just a breath, and Havi let out this tiny breath
of laughter. They hovered there for a long second, so long that Tanum
couldn't stand it anymore, and, in a rush of impulsive I have to know, he
closed the last gap and pressed his lips to Havi's.
 
Havi let out a choked noise of surprise, but other than that, for a long second
nothing happened. Tanum’s lips just rested there, and he could feel his heart
beat like a hammer against his ribs as he thought, frantic,oh god what did i
just do did I just do this????
 
And then Tanum started to pull away, and this was awkward and he'd thought
about this before but now Havi's wasn't responding and maybe he'd messed
everything up and he should just - 
 
Havi pressed forward, renewing the kiss, and reality shifted shifted from shit,
shit to just oh.
 
And this was - oh, this was even nicer than he'd expected.
 
Havi's kiss wasn’t graceful, but it did the job, and after a moment Tanum
shifted and kissed back with enthusiasm. Havi sighed out this little moan and
clutched his hand in Tanum’s hair again, which make Tanum’s hips jolt a little
bit. “Tanum,” Havi sighed, and then kissed him. Actually kissed him, in a way
that made Tanum respond before he’d even really meant to.
 
While their lips were sliding together, the hand in Tanum’s hair tightened and
pulled him forward, and Tanum felt his whole body respond, from his lips to his
toes. He bit at Havi’s lips, which made Havi gasp, “Ah,” and then do it back,
which actually hurt, and Tanum mumbled “ow” before he could think about it, and
Havi leaned back and whispered “Sorry.” Tanum was about to say something – say
“no, it’s fine, I don’t care, just come back here” – when Havi’s lips moved
over to his jaw and then down to his neck.
 
And, uh, oh, well, okay then.
 
Havi moved down and pressed a kiss to the side of Tanum’s neck, and wow, wow,
if what Tanum had been doing earlier felt anything like that, no wonder this
had happened. His hips twitched forward again, and when he reached out
impulsively and grabbed at Havi’s waist he realized that he was a lot closer
than he had been a minute ago. Distracted, Tanum shifted his hips forward just
a little bit more, just enough so that they brushed.
 
He felt himself gasp at the same time that Havi groaned, his head pressing into
Tanum’s throat. His whole body felt hot, like he craved something that he
couldn’t get quite figure out.
 
“Do that again,” Havi whispered in Tanum’s ear (and wow, that was another thing
that made him shiver), and Tanum had just long enough to think this is going to
make being friends really weird before he did it.
 
His mind was an incoherent mess after that. He tangled one hand in Havi’s hair
and used the other one to pull his waist forward more, pressing them together
to rock slowly. Havi kept pressing little kisses to his neck, along with tiny
nips that made Tanum gasp out loud. They were both only half-dressed for bed,
and the places where he could feel Havi’s skin pressed to his – his stomach,
his legs, his arms – felt overwhelming. Desperate for more, Tanum pressed
forward, kissing Havi more enthusiastically as their limbs tangled together.
 
Havi let out another little groan against his neck, and Tanum could feel his
eyelashes flutter. Encouraged, his excitement finally beginning to overcome his
nervousness, he rocked forward again. And again. They were working into a
rhythm, Havi’s breath beginning to come in steady gasps against Tanum’s neck.
Havi’s hands were everywhere, twisting in Tanum’s hair, pushing up Tanum’s
shirt, scraping his nails down Tanum’s back.
 
It wasn’t enough, though. Tanum was too excited, his enthusiasm rushing ahead
as usual, and the hand that had been stroking Havi’s waist moved down and
played with the band of Havi’s pants.
 
“Yeah,” Havi gasped into his neck, which was all the encouragement Tanum needed
to slip his hand down into Havi’s pants.
 
Touching his friend’s dick was… a little weird. It was at a weird enough angle
that it wasn’t at all like touching himself, and Havi was a little thinner, a
little shorter, his skin burning hotter. He’d done… some things before, but
never anything this far, and he almost froze.
 
And then Havi’s groaned, sinking his teeth into Tanum’s neck around a
whispered, “Tanum,” and oh, my gosh, worth it.
 
He started to stroke, and Havi’s hands were suddenly very busy, pushing aside
Tanum’s own pants and bumping Tanum’s hands in the process. Tanum was gasping,
and everything felt foggy and hot, and then Havi got his hand around his dick
and everything went a little white for a second.
 
His hips had jolted so hard that their hands bumped together, crushing both
their knuckles, and Havi said “Ow,” but then his hand started moving again so
it was probably okay.  And then he got an idea, and he grabbed Havi’s wrist
before this could end too quickly.
 
“Wait,” Tanum gasped around a smile, “wait wait,” and he rearranged their hands
and hips  and pushed down their pants so that their dicks pressed together and
oh –
 
“Oh,” Havi echoed, and then his hips started moving again before they could get
into an entirely non-awkward position and Tanum’s leg kind of hurt, but Havi
was mumbling, “Tanum, Tanum,” over and over again into his ear.
 
“Um,” Tanum said, feeling not at all in control of this situation anymore.
Havi’s hand covered his, and then squeezed, and Tanum forgot how to move. “Um,
ah – “
 
Everything went white and fuzzy, and Havi was saying in his ear, now, loud
enough that Tanum had a split-second thought of Arnam?, “More, more, Tanum,
god, ah,ahh – “
 
Havi’s voice was so hot and Havi losing control was so hot and Tanum didn’t
stand a chance. Fire coursed through him, reminding himself of the first time
he did magic, and he pulsed against Havi.
 
Havi came a second later with a cry that bordered on a sob, his whole body
jerking against Tanum’s. He went limp after that, still entangled with Tanum.
 
Tanum had a few seconds to feel nervous, awkward, excited, confused. He hadn’t
really… meant for it to end like that, really. They were friends, and maybe
they could be more than that, but maybe he shouldn’t have…
 
But then, Havi had…
 
Tanum fell asleep.
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
He woke up alone the next morning.
 
His first thought was that he’d had a very embarrassing dream the night before,
and he could only hope that Havi hadn’t noticed anything. But then he realized
that he really was in Havi’s sleeping bag, and he was kind of sticky and his
limbs were stiff in a weird way, and that it probably, maybe, almost definitely
wasn’t a dream.
 
So where was Havi?
 
As Tanum started to get up, he realized that there was dim light outside,
enough for it to be dawn, although not much after. He heard voices from
outside, probably Arnam and Havi’s, and could smell a fire going already.
 
It was stupid, but he felt… abandoned, somehow. He hadn’t really expected Havi
to stay after he woke up, had he? Of course Havi was going to leave. But still,
after last night, it would have been… nice to talk about it. Or something. They
couldn’t bring anything like this up in front of Arnam.
 
After wiping off with a cloth that he suspected he was going to burn later,
Tanum got dressed and stumbled out of the tent, blinking in the dawn light.
Sure enough, Havi and Arnam were sitting there, cooking breakfast over a small,
crackling fire. It would have been a welcome sight if it wasn’t for… last
night, and for the fact that Havi didn’t look up at him at all.
 
“Oh, hey,” Arnam said, and he did look up from the fire. “We were just making
breakfast. Did you want an egg?” He didn’t seem to be quite meeting Tanum’s
eyes, and Tanum’s stomach went through this awful jolt of he knows.
 
“Um,” Tanum said, his voice hoarse. He coughed. “Sure.”
 
Breakfast was incredibly awkward, and packing up wasn’t any better, because
Havi didn’t speak a word to Tanum that entire time. It didn’t seem malicious or
anything – Havi was quiet in the mornings, and he wasn’t ignoring Tanum,
exactly, still passing him the toast before Tanum had to ask and deftly
handling his share of taking down the tent. Still, the silence was heavy,
especially because Arnam tried unsuccessfully to fill it.
 
It made it all the more startling when Havi finally did talk, appearing behind
Tanum with a scarf that Tanum didn’t remember bringing. “You should, uh,” Havi
said faintly. “Probably wear a scarf.” There was a long moment of silence where
Tanum just stared at the scarf, slightly baffled. He opened his mouth, mostly
to say something along the lines offuck the scarf or what happened last night?
or hey, so, if what happened last night happened again sometime, I’d be kind of
okay with that.
 
Havi said, quickly, “It’s cold out, you know, so you should,” and then shoved
the scarf into Tanum’s hand and not-quite-ran away.
 
Tanum slowly wrapped the scarf around his neck (even though it wasn’t very cold
out anymore), and watched his best friend quickly pack up the rest of the camp
without meeting anyone’s eyes.
 
A slow, heavy feeling settled in his stomach, choking him.
 
Maybe they had made a mistake.
 
 
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