The Canoe Guide – Part 2: Northern Sky
Gay Stories·EN·2 min read·Published 2026-11-07, updated 2026-11-07·Part 2 of 2
"Yes," said Marcus. "Professionally or not."
The kiss was warm and tasted of woodsmoke. Étienne's hand came up slowly to Marcus's jaw, thumb on his cheekbone, and Marcus laughed softly and pulled him closer by the collar. Behind them the fire popped. Somewhere out on the lake a loon cried.
"I've never done this on a trip," said Étienne, quietly. "In nine years."
"Then I'm honoured."
"You should be." He smiled. "I'm very picky."
They put out the fire together and carried their sleeping bags to the flat granite point above the water. The night was clear and cold, and the stars came out in the thousands, more than Marcus had seen in his whole life, the Milky Way a pale river from one horizon to the other. Étienne unzipped both bags, laid them over each other and held up the edge.
"Is this all right?"
"This is perfect."
They lay side by side, then closer, then tangled, laughing under the wool, hands warm and exploring. The rock held the day's heat. The stars wheeled. Étienne's mouth found Marcus's neck, his shoulder, the inside of his wrist, and Marcus gave himself up to the quiet, to the long slow tenderness of being kissed without hurry by a man who knew the whole sky by name.
Afterwards, they lay watching a meteor streak overhead.
"Make a wish," said Étienne.
"I wished for a fourth day."
"There's a fourth day." Étienne turned and kissed his shoulder. "And I run trips every weekend until October."
"Is there a group discount?"
"For you, a very large one."
On the last morning they paddled out across a lake of mist, a heron lifting from the reeds. At the landing, Marcus turned on his phone for the first time in four days. It buzzed for a full minute. He looked at it, then at Étienne, then switched it off again.
"Same time next weekend?" he asked.
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