The melodramatic hum of the crickets surrounding them, paired with the rhythmic crunching of leaves below gave them both something to focus on as Keralis walked and Bdubs held up the flashlight. There wasn't much else to do, because talking only winded Keralis more, and he was graciously carrying Bdubs, and there wasn't much to talk about.

The weather was nice?

The warmth from Keralis mixed with how late it was had Bdubs struggling a little to stay awake. He had to of course, with the super-duper important job of holding the flashlight, but the exhaustion settling into his bones was making it hard. It would be rude to fall asleep on Keralis. Not that he would hold it over Bdubs's head ever, but it was rude nonetheless.

Bdubs was about to close his eyes, just to let them rest for a second of course! But a blinking light in front of them had the shoot back open. Keralis noticed it too, slowing his pace a little.

"Bubbles..."

"What was that?" Bdubs asked, looking into the distance to try to find it again.

It happened again, but it wasn't actually a blinking light in the distance that caught their attention. The flashlight flickered in front of them. Keralis stopped moving.

"No, n-n-no no!" Bdubs chuckled hollowly. It flickered again, more violently and stayed out for a few seconds longer before Bdubs hit the side of it quickly, getting it to turn back on.

"Bubbles..." Keralis's voice wavered, mixed with his tired breathing. His bravery was wearing thin. It had been a while since they started walking, and there was still no sign of either camp or the trail.

"It's fine! See it's fine!" Bdubs said, waving it on a tree with totally not shaky hands.

The flashlight flickered again and Bdubs hit it again, but nothing happened. "You stupid-"

Bdubs hit it one last time and it shone more brightly than it had ever, before going out with a spark, causing Bdubs to drop it in a panic.

"aH!"

"Oh no." Keralis whispered.

It was really dark.

They thought it was dark before, in the woods at night without the moon or stars, but now they didn't have a flashlight, and it was so so so dark.

It didn't help that the clouds covered the sliver of moon left either, or that the trees covered the remaining stars. They could see the tiniest bit of night sky above, but it only made the pitch blackness around them feel even darker.

"Bubbles," Keralis said in a broken whisper. "What do we do?"

Bdubs looked around, and could barely make out his hand waving to the side of his face. He started to move around.

"Put me down for a second."

"But your foot-"

"I'll balance on one leg."

"Hold onto my hand. It's so dark." Keralis said as he let Bdubs down carefully.

"Ok. Don't turn around, ok? Otherwise we won't know what direction we came from."

Bdubs grabbed Keralis as he slid off and used it to balance better as he held his bad foot up. He started to let go as he bent down, to which Keralis squeezed tighter.

"I'm just trying to find the flashlight Ker."

Keralis bent down with him so Bdubs didn't have to let go to scour the ground with his other hand. He hadn't thrown it or anything, so it was pretty easy to find feeling around the area near Keralis's feet.

"Found it."

Bdubs flipped it around correctly and felt for the on and off switch. He flicked it rapidly, grunting in frustration when nothing happened. With an unseeable frown, he put it in his hoodie pocket.

It was really, really dark.

"I'm scared Bubbles."

"Me too."

"I was putting on a brave face before, 'cause you were hurt, but now, it's dark and cold, and I'm tired physically and mentally." Keralis laughed a little with a small sob, and the only thing Bdubs could do was squeeze his hand.

"It would be bad to just lay down and sleep here, right?" Keralis half joked.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind sleeping with you." Bdubs paused. "I mean! Not like that of course. But like, to preserve warmth and stuff because it's cold and- I'm just digging my own grave aren't I?" Bdubs laughed hollowly.

Keralis giggled. "A little bit Bubbles. I wouldn't mind cuddling for warmth either."

Bdubs heart sped up a beat faster as he tried to hold back a tired embarrassed smile, even if Keralis couldn't see it anyway in the dark.

Keralis was still facing the same direction, Bdubs turned towards him, and the shuffling of limbs and breaths were the only things to tell them where they were compared to each other.

"We can't stay here though." Bdubs whispered, breaking the silence.

"But what do we do? I can't see anything without the flashlight, and I don't want to walk into a tree while carrying you and hurt you more."

Bdubs shifted around, holding back a wince as his foot throbbed. It still hurt quite a bit, but he was getting used to it and could ignore it a little. He didn't want Keralis to worry anymore than he was.

Bdubs looked the direction he was pretty sure Keralis was facing, and spotted tiny light over a bush and behind a tree and under a branch, almost invisible if he wasn't looking for just that.

"Look! Over there!"

"What? I don't-" Keralis paused.

"Yeah see! There's a tiny bit of light! We found Camp!"

"We- we did it Bubbles!" Keralis laughed out, raising their held hands up victoriously.

"Sleep, here we come." Bdubs said in relief. Keralis chuckled and shifted around, and Bdubs assumed he was nodding as well.

Keralis let go of their hands a little reluctantly as he stood up.

"Do you need help Bubbles?"

"Uhm, a little. Just to stay steady."

It took a second to Bdubs to find Keralis's hand in the air, but when he did, he grabbed it to steady himself and stand up on his good foot.

"Ok Bubbles, I caught my breath. Hop on again sweetface."

"Ok, yeah."

It was sort of difficult to do it in pitch darkness and only one one foot again, but it was still easier than before, and Bdubs managed to wrap his arms around Keralis's neck comfortably a little quicker.

It was much slower to walk when you couldn't see, but Bdubs had picked up a stick to hold in front of Keralis and watch for trees to avoid, so they didn't have to reach out blindly for objects with their hands.

"It's getting bigger." Bdubs brought his voice back to a whisper, staring straight ahead at the light. The light that currently screamed safety.

It was tinted a dim blue-ish teal, and Bdubs wondered which hermit brought colored flashlights. It seemed like a Stress thing to do, or maybe Scar or Grian, and it was entirely possible any of them were awake to gossip or paint nails in the middle of the night. That actually sounded really fun, and if he weren't so tired, he might've considered going over to say hi right as they made it out.

"Wait Bubbles- how are we gonna sneak back?"

"Oh shoot yeah. What if X is up?"

"We tell Shaswammy we got lost going to the bathroom?" Keralis offered, smiling a little.

"It sounds like you're joking," Bdubs whispered. "But, only if anyone catches us, it might work?"

He dropped the stick as they got closer, not needing it anymore to watch for trees with the light to guide them. He wrapped his now free arm around Keralis's neck, which was more comfortable for both of them.

"Sure, but you have to talk, sweetface. I'm tired."

"Heh, ok Ker." Bdubs shifted his arms a little, hugging Keralis closer as taking in the warmth.

Keralis shifted Bdubs a little and leaned forward to walk a steeper uphill part a step or two before the land evened out. He had to walk around a bush and under a tree, which was much harder with someone on his back.

A branch hit Bdubs in the face lightly.

"Ack-"

"Sorry Bubbles!"

"No no, it's not your fault."

Bdubs opened his eyes again after the tree was out of the way, and looked forwards, gasping softly.

"Keralis..."

Keralis had been looking at the ground for the most part, trying not to trip on anything or fall, but when he stopped walking and Bdubs whispered his name, he looked up slowly.

This was not the Hermit Campground.

"Bubbles?" Keralis asked, not sure if this was real or if he was dreaming.

The waterfall was in front of them, moss and flowers glowing all around them. Fireflies swirled around the moss on the edges near the splashing water, and the moon reflected off the pool in the center.

"Woah..." Bdubs said, "Keralis, did we just-"

"Am I dreaming?" Keralis squinted at the area. "Pinch me, sweetface."

"Keralis-"

"Do it. Not hard but-"

Bdubs pinched his neck, the only exposed skin he could reach to pinch.

"Ow- ha!" Keralis laughed. "That tickled, Bubbles! It hurt, but it tickled too!"

Bdubs pinched himself next on the hand and felt it. This was real.

"Oh my goodness- we're really here!" Bdubs laughed, "We actually found it!"

"We did! We're not dreaming, I don't believe it." Keralis laughed too. "I don't believe it!"

They both stood like that for a few seconds in awe, not sure what to do. They knew where the trail was now and so theoretically they could easily walk back to camp, but at the same time, this is what they came out here in the first place, and they deserved the break after such a long night! It was only fair they got to appreciate the beauty a little bit.

"Put me down. I'll still hold onto your shoulder to balance."

Keralis obeyed, putting him down carefully and holding his arm up to help him balance. He sighed in relief as the weight was taken off his back, literally.

Bdubs gently lowered his foot, squeezing Keralis's shoulder tighter to keep steady. His toes touched the ground lightly, and he winced when his foot limply bent to the side.

"Haha nope!" He laughed with a sharp intake.

Keralis gave him a worried look, but Bdubs waved it off quickly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, just stings." Bdubs said.

He hopped forwards, Keralis walking forward in slow steps to keep up.

Bdubs crouched down on one foot, grabbing onto Keralis's hand as he went lower, and grabbed a smoothed piece of wood stripped from the original bark. It worked well as a walking stick, only a foot or so shorter than himself.

Bdubs let go of Keralis's hand and balanced his weight onto the stick tightly. Keralis reached forwards quickly, but Bdubs managed to stand upright confidently before Keralis needed to do anything.

"Ha!" Bdubs grinned. "I did it!"

"You did Bubbles!"

"Well whatcha waiting for Keralis? Let's go!" Bdubs laughed, hobbling off as quickly as he can like it's a race he's sure to win, and Keralis didn't know whether to laugh or rush to make sure Bdubs was safe.

Keralis, the good and caring friend he is, choose the first option happily.

He skipped along the rocks near the thin stretch of shore connecting the pool, staying in a slow pace to keep up with Bdubs, exaggerating his slow pace with a poorly hidden giggle.

"You jerk!" Bdubs cackled.

Keralis made it first, speeding up a tiny bit to beat Bdubs at the end which earned him a mock glare. He stopped at the edge, staring in awe at the whole place. It was magical up close.

"Ooh! Bubbles! Does your camera still work?"

"I didn't bring my camera." Bdubs gave him a confused look.

"No uh- the one one your phone!"

"Oh! Uh, yeah!" Bdubs fumbled a little to get one of his hands free from holding the stick so he could fish it out of his pocket.

"Take a picture of this place. I don't want to forget it."

"I don't think you will." Bdubs said softly with a half smile, the clear 'I won't' staying unsaid.

Bdubs held up the phone, frowning a bit at the camera quality in comparison to the real thing. He had a decent camera on his phone, but it wasn't doing the glowing atmosphere justice. He took a few anyway, trying flash with a handful.

Keralis was staring in awe, lips partially open and curling into a smile, with stars in his eyes.

Bdubs titled his camera slowly towards him secretly, holding the stick in the crook of his elbow so he could use both hands to focus it more clearly.

Finally, the perfect picture of Keralis. One click to secure it before Keralis could move.

He snapped a ton actually after, some zoomed in on Keralis's face, others with the whole background, as many as he could get before Keralis turned towards him with a beaming smile and Bdubs had to shove the phone's direction to the side to make it look like he was taking photos of the waterfall.

"Let's go in." Keralis half-whispered, almost like a secret.

"What?"

"Come'on! Hold onto me to balance, Bubbles."

"Wha- no!" Bdubs protested, but there was no bite to it. He willingly let Keralis slowly drag him close to the edge and guide him to sit on the flat-ish rocks for a second.

Bdubs dropped the stick to the side to sit down next to Keralis, who he was giving a confused look to. Keralis started to take off his shoes and socks and place them on a rock to the side.

"Do you want to get your shoes wet?" Keralis asked with a hint of 'if you don't take them off I'm dragging you in anyway.'

Bdubs got the message and scoffed as he took off his shoes on his good foot. He tried the other one, but winced as he put any pressure on it to slide it off.

"Are you o-" Keralis started quickly.

"I'll just hold my foot up, so my shoe doesn't get wet." Bdubs interrupted his worry.

Keralis hummed and nodded, standing up and rolling his pants up before offering a hand for Bdubs. It took some effort, but Bdubs managed to grab his stick again and stand stably, holding onto Keralis with his other hand.

He led them wading into the water, barely to their ankles

"Oh sheesh, that's cold!" Bdubs grit his teeth with a forced smile.

"Just gotta get used to it." Keralis said, tightly closing his eyes as well.

They shuffled further a little, laughing at the cold creeping up their ankles.

Bdubs peaked his eyes open to move his stick forwards and softly gasped, catching Keralis's attention.

"Bubbles are you-"

"Keralis, look."

The water was shimmering like glitter as they moved it, circling around their legs and the stick like a dance.

Bdubs stood up a little straighter, leaning on Keralis's arm tightly so he could lift the stick and swirl it around.

They stood there silently for a few moments, watching the swirling teal glitter with their eyes as they felt nothing but complete awe. It was gorgeous, breathtaking, inspiring- whatever other adjectives they could use to describe just wouldn't compare.

"Bdubs, hand me your phone and I'll take a video."

Bdubs wordlessly handed it over, trusting Keralis with it, even with the photo's of him most recently taken. Hopefully he didn't see those yet- Bdubs was sure he'd be embarrassed out of his mind if he was caught like that.

Bdubs swirled the stick, and Keralis took a slightly shaky video as he tried to balance their weight, and there was whispering the background, and the video was thrown all over the place before Keralis could click the stop button, and Bdubs didn't think it could be any more perfect than it was.

Bdubs pocketed his phone again and looked up at Keralis, still holding onto his arm a little more loosely.

"I gotta say this is pretty romantic right now." Bdubs giggled, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Keralis tried to hold back a laugh but failed. They were both dirty and tired and currently standing ankle deep in freezing cold water, and Bdubs still had one shoe on.

"Like I mean- yeah! I guess!" Keralis laughed.

"Us in the beautiful landscape... area?" Bdubs tried, still laughing.

"Wanna-"

"So beautiful." Bdubs whispered, looking over Keralis's shoulder the mossy cliffs behind the water. Maybe he was just avoiding looking at Keralis on purpose, because if he directed it at him he wouldn't be able to talk straight after, but he meant every word.

"Wanna kiss?" Keralis pursed his lips and looked upwards quickly. "Now kiss?"

"Not right now!"

"No? Ok ok!" Keralis shrugged, voice overlapping Bdubs a little.

"But you know-...no- I- I'm not- I wouldn't-" Bdubs struggled not to stutter. He was failing. "You know I would!"

"Oh?"

"But right now, I'm uh, trying to stand up and stuff." He made up an excuse, pulling away slightly on his stick.

"Okay, so so so." Keralis chuckled, possibly blushing madly, but the light made it impossible to tell. "Oh right! D'you wanna take a selfie here?"

"Oh yes!" Bdubs grabbed his phone back out, leaning closer to keralis to balance as he held it up.

"Say, uhm I don't know what to say actually?"

"Night time adventure!" Keralis sang out.

Bdubs shook his head lightly and rolled his eyes. "Night time-"

"Adventure!"

"Adventure!" They said at the same time.

Bdubs snapped the photo, a few of them, and tried a bunch of angles. He could sort through them later.

He leaned on the stick more. "I'm going to sit on that ledge over there. My foot can hang off the edge and I can take some great pictures." Bdubs said, slowly hopping out of the water.

"Ok Bubbles, grab onto me if you need."

The rock ledge was surprisingly comfortable, and Bdubs could sit with his legs dangling off the edge and the weight off his foot. Keralis kindly grabbed their shoes and socks and set his own on the shore where he could grab them later, and put Bdubs's next to him for when his foot dried off.

Keralis waded back into the water, just so the waves from the waterfall splashed his knees. It was shallow enough that he could walk around the little area near Bdubs easily without getting soaked. They had to walk back to camp before they could change after all.

"Woah this is the perfect spot for a picture of everything." Bdubs said aloud. Holding up his phone to get a perfect photo of the whole waterfall. It was still pretty dark, and this wasn't an expensive camera made for low light photography, so it wasn't perfect, but Bdubs loved them all the same.

Keralis was walking around the water, giggling softly at the sparkles following his movements as he splashed around.

Bdubs took a picture. He never wanted to forget this.

He turned a little on the edge so the water could be visible in a selfie. "Hey Ker! Turn around for a sec!" Bdubs called out.

Keralis turned waving towards the camera as Bdubs snapped a photo.

"Oh let me see it!" Keralis started to walk over quickly, half running as safely as he could through the cold water. Bdubs wasn't sure how he got in the deep without catching hypothermia.

Bdubs looked at himself while Keralis waked over, smiling fondly. He turned the phone and Keralis smiled too. It was a little blurry, and they were a little silhouetted from any light behind them, but you could still see the smiles on their faces, the gleam in their eyes, and the teal glitter hugging Keralis's legs. It was amazing.

The energy had died down a little bit, both of them a little exhausted from staying up this late and so much walking, but they were still having fun. Keralis was breathing slightly heavier to catch his breath from "running" in the water and Bdubs could see his breath in the cold air.

There was a moment of silence as both of them enjoyed the peace and quiet of the night. Keralis was clearly in deep thought, and Bdubs didn't want to interrupt whatever it was.

Keralis stepped forwards, staring at Bdubs with wide eyes that kept glancing to the side or at the water below. His pants were folded up above his knees to avoid getting wet, but a few laps of water managed to get the back of his pants a little wet when he had hurried over.

Bdubs couldn't look away. Keralis was glowing, and a part of him firmly decided it wasn't just because of the bioluminescence floating around them.

He gulped and his heart was pounding in his chest. They were face to face, with Bdubs sitting on a ledge that gave him an extra inch or two on Keralis for the first time in his life.

He chuckled at the realization. "I'm taller than you right now."

"Yeah." Keralis breathed out, looking up to stare into Bdubs's eyes.

Bdubs could see his breath in the cold air so close to his neck, and watched as Keralis's eyes flicked to Bdubs lips ever so quickly. He placed his hand next to Bdubs leg.

"Uhm- uh, Bubbles," Keralis gulped. "C-... can I-" He started to stutter, pulling back slightly as he got more nervous. Bdubs put his hand on Keralis's shoulder quickly to stop him from moving backwards, which promptly made Keralis freeze and inhale sharply.

Bdubs leaned forwards and gave Keralis a small comforting smile, nervous himself. Keralis, frozen in place, could only nod as Bdubs gently closed the gap between them, pulling Keralis closer towards him by the shoulder.

Oh.

Wow.

The kiss was soft and gentle, neither of them wanted to cross the boundaries of the other even as they pressed closer together. Keralis's head turned slightly and his hat bumped Bdubs's head, so Bdubs wrapped his other hand around to pull it off from behind as his first hand raked through Keralis's hair softly. Keralis copied the action, putting his other arm onto Bdubs shoulder and pulling him just a little closer.

Keralis hummed softly into the kiss, before gently pulling back to breathe. Bdubs pulled away too, chuckling into his breath as he pressed their foreheads together.

It was short and oh so sweet, nothing but curiosity and shy longing and just the presence of both of them in it, even as they separated. Their breaths mixed together in the cold air of the night, both running on shock and a new found adrenaline in their system. They just did that.

"Wow..."

"Yeah..."

Keralis was about to pull away a little, even just to get a better look at Bdubs, but Bdubs rushed forwards first, wrapping in a tight hug he didn't hesitate to reciprocate.

Somehow, Keralis managed to find his way next to Bdubs on the rock, shoulder to shoulder as they listened to the waterfall and the crickets.

Keralis had picked up a stick from the side and started to twirl it in the water again, watching the sparkling glow follow the movement of it. They both stared at it, still in awe of the miracle they stumbled upon together. Oh and the pretty water too.

"Should we go back now? We can find the trail now and I'm pretty sure, most of it is downhill so I can carry you longer." Keralis asked, lifting the stick out of the water and turning towards Bdubs.

Bdubs smiled fondly as Keralis reached out to take his hand with the one he wasn't leaning back on, ready to help him hop down gently. Bdubs squeezed his hand but didn't move it to get up, more so to keep Keralis from moving.

"Nah, I'm sure they haven't even noticed we're gone yet."

"Ok, a few more minutes then sweetface."

Getting lost in the woods at night without supplies or directions or light after a while was terrifying, maybe a little exhilarating, but terrifying nonetheless. But as Bdubs was able to hold his best friend's hand so naturally with a grin on his face, he decided that maybe, just maybe, it was worth it. 

(Art by me, reference photo in the link in the comment)

(Here's Keralis's episode and the timestamp in the comment as well)

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(4006 words!)

I would like to say, that basically the entire book has been leading up to this. The original outline didn't have them kissing, but I added it, as a treat. 

Fun Fact: This entire thing- this entire book is based off of one scene at the start of Season 8 in Keralis's episode where they find a spot alone together and Bdubs calls it romantic and Keralis asks for a kiss. That's it. That's the whole book. Keralis asked for a kiss, Bdubs said later, and that plus the idea of making a camping trip au with the hermits had me sprinting into this chaotic mess! 

To avoid confusion, this book is not done yet! There is still a lot to come, strings to tie up, ect! Also there may or may not be a second or even third book to this series that I've had planned for forever that are begging to see the light of day so stick around and maybe click that follow button if you want alerts for all of those!

Have an amazing day or night to everyone that made it this far! I hope it was worth it!